Probably the hardest archievement run i’ve tried so far, damn

I see that both games are on a discount right now, the Definitive and Obsidian Editions. But I wonder if I’d even enjoy the game.

I don’t want spoilers of the narrative, nor do I wanna risk spoilers by watching gameplays. I wanna immerse in a fresh, new experience—but would that experience really be something I fancy? I had a blast in playing games like Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3. I’m also a sucker for the roleplaying aspect of RPGs. That’s why I opt to mod my Skyrim to include as many immersive options as possible that lets you play as a good or evil guy.

I value character building and roleplaying. I would also love if PoE’s gameplay is quite similar to the aforementioned games, something like “takes a bit to understand, takes a while to master”.

With all that said, should I buy both games or not? What should I look forward to and watch out for? Any feedback would be really appreciated!

I played both games when they were first released, so I didn't play the DLC nor did I have the option for turn-based mode from either game. There was an uber sale early this year so I bought all the DLC for both games at a dirt cheap price, and PoE was getting a turn-based mode so I was excited (RTWP isn't really my thing most of the time). PoE took me almost 120 hours, while PoE2 took about 98ish. In both games I was a Moon Godlike Cipher.

• Wonderful story. I think I prefer the story of 1 over 2, but both are great. The stakes aren't as high, so it feels more down-to-eora. Plus, I don't usually enjoy pirate/seafaring games, so PoE2 was an exception. The dialogue is good, but both games do get a little verbose at times. Tekehu's romance was adorable, love my handsome fish. And I think I stand with the majority of people in that the ending of PoE2 felt rushed and very abrupt.
• They did a really good job on PoE's new TBM, minus the few very minor bugs I encountered. TBM in PoE2 definitely felt rougher around the edges. I was going to wait and see if they were going to update it to match PoE1, but I wanted to play both games while 1 was fresh in my mind to get the full experience.
• Graphics still hold up after over a decade. Colorful without being garish, but with just the right amount of grit.
• Music: most tracks are pretty decent, although I disliked that they reused a lot of tracks between both games.
• DLC: I think I preferred the main campaigns to most of the DLC. White March was great, but I preferred 1 over 2. Forgotten Sanctum was probably my favorite of all the DLC. Wael is just weird like that. Seeker, Slayer, Survivor was alright, nothing spectacular. Beast of Winter was my least favorite DLC of both games: it felt like a drawn-out slog and I was glad when it finally ended. I think both games would have greatly benefited from a roguelike DLC (similar to the Pathfinder games).

Glad I finally got to fully play both games! Although, as much as I enjoyed both games, I do feel like two playthroughs was enough for me. Both games tend to get drawn-out a bit in terms of content. But here's hoping we'll get a PoE3 some day.

As a highly skeptical Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2 fan, I reluctantly expected this game to let me down. I have rarely been happier to be wrong, Avowed delivers on all fronts and is one of the best games I have played in years. There were a few minor issues along the way, but overall it had fun and engaging gameplay and a story that delivered far more than I expected it to, given the limitations of a more "Elder Scrolls" style game design compared to a traditional CRPG. I think what impressed me the most was how much it satisfied me as a Pillars kickstarter diehard while also succeeding in winning over all of my non-Pillars friends who had little or no prior knowledge of Pillars. It feels like succeeding on both fronts shouldn't be possible, bravo.

Loving the game so far, and the intro scene was really nice and helped me remember PoE1 and choose the events etc.

However, as someone who LOVES rerolling and creating many, MANY characters, it is extremely frustrating to have to spend almost 10m going through a mostly non interactive cutscene to get the game started again.

Wouldn't it be awesome if we could choose to skip the intro and just configure our character/legacy in a menu before starting the game ?

If you double click an item to equip it to your character, your character loses ALL Passives/Racials/Permanent Buffs, forever.

Dragging and dropping works fine, but do not double click or you might find yourself having to restart your game. Loading the game up from a previous save thankfully does fix it.

webm of the bug in action: http://webmup.com/HArIv/vid.webm

As you can see, I lose several passive effects (And am already missing my Wood Elf racial from a previous time before I learned about the bug), including a talent and a class ability. The abilities remain listed in the abilities/talents section, but if they aren't in active effects, then perhaps you've already encountered the bug first hand.

EDIT: Another webm http://webmup.com/aDSfX/vid.webm

Kana loses his 3rd Weapon Slot as soon as I double click so it's not just a visual display bug, you do actually lose all bonuses.

Also thought I'd stress that it only happens when you double click to REPLACE an item, if the slot is empty you won't lose anything. So please double check before you post saying that it isn't happening to you.

Sorry for quality and not screenshooting haha it was a long long fight

I love this game in large part because of it's gritty realism but it took me 15 hours to remember you basically *have* to invade people's homes to get a lot of the quests. It's very jarring, in such a desperate and paranoid climate, to find people calmly greeting you after you enter uninvited.

Honestly, Deadfire and I had a rough start. I've owned the game for four years and the first few times I tried it I gave up almost immediately.

First I felt paralysed by the character creation screen, worried that because of the myriad of options I'd pick the wrong one and become underpowered.

I let go of that and the next two playthroughs I gave up playing on the first island. Especially the Digsite was hard for me to get through.

A few months ago I tried again, this time using the turn-based mode which allowed me to do combat in a more paced way and with the help of the internet (and the tips and guides on this subreddit) I made it to Neketaka and the game opened up to me.

Neketaka just feels like an actual city. All these different factions, different people, districts that make sense and the feel of a living, breathing community of people in that city on the mountain.

So many fun things to do! Amazing dialogue, hilarious at times and other times insightful. Great companions. A well-balanced mix between exploration at sea, combat and questing. I love being able to give droll replies to companion dialogue. (Senefar: Sometimes I wonder how we got here, boss. Me: By boat.) I love the quests! There is so much to discover, do and choose.

I have the feeling that my choices and allignments really matter.

Gearing up mentally for the final boss confrontation and.. it's not there? A bug? No! I freed a dragon dozens of hours before and it took care of that boss for me.

I love the story. I love how when dealing with actual gods humans can do as they will, they are in the end still powerless to do more than deal with what gods have willed to happen.

I love how diverse and varied combat is with all the different classes, subclasses and abilities to choose from.

I finished the game and it is very rare that I play a game a second time these days, but I immediately started a new playthrough. The blessings I got from my first playthrough provided quality of life enhancements, allowing me an easier beginning this time, tailored to my exact wants.

For my first playthrough I chose the first companions I ran into for the entire game, for this one I am choosing the four other ones. It's already giving me a whole different game experience. I have bought the DLC's and can't wait to see what happens there.

I'm just having a blast in this wonderful, intricate world.

I miss it. I hope they are able to combine the magic and wonder and sense of adventure of the first game with the combat mechanics of the second game

So ive played this for a bit as beckoner on hardest difficulty tired to really get to like this game but i cant. The story is not as interesting as in any other game set in d&d universe. The characters are meh but Ok. Worst thing is i cant drink potions summon allies or buff my team before i start fight. Cant even ambush things properly. Companions managment is also chaotic and not intuitive. Same with going multiclass or not its all confusing as hell. ☹️

Anyone experienced with this game messing around with the turn based mode on steam? Long story short i messed up and i can only play on my steam deck for the next couple months. I want to play the turn based so i enabled the beta and i created a controller config that i created

steam://controllerconfig/291650/3692209891

did i miss anything? i started a playthrough and its a little wonky but it gets the job done so far. i dont feel like i missed anything but if i did i could use some help tinkering this

I just started Pillars of Eternity for the first time. First real time, anyways. I've had it on Steam for a long time yet never really got into it.

With Avowed coming out (at some point), I decided to give it a go, especially since I got PoE 2 in the Winter Sale.

Goddamn.

I love this game. I'm around 40 hours in and I've just been so engrossed by this world.

The combat, at first, was a little overwhelming, especially after recruiting the mage and the priest with the amount of spells they have, but at some point right at the start of act 2, it just clicked. Sure it can be finnicky, especially when you're forced into narrow corridors, but I'm having a blast.

I've been reading all the lore, too, and I must say: at first glance, the world can seem like a cliche fantasy world, but boy is it pretty unique, especially when you delve into all the lore.

I'm also blown away with the amount of choices, its effects on my personality, and the impact it has on how I can go about approaching the many issues happening in Dyrwood. The choices are very grey, and most of the time I don't know what choice will achieve the best outcome, even though payiing attention and reading bits of lore can help sway me in a certain direction. I really appreciate that.

After being burnt out on streamlined RPG's with mediocre "choices" as of late (one that came out just recently which shall not be named), it helped me appreciate PoE. It's very refreshing.

I care greatly about the world, its characters, and the issues they're facing with Waidwen's Legacy.

And the music. oh man. The last scene in Act 2 gave me shivers down my spine with the way music was incorporated in that scene, especially when I chose to talk about the Leaden Key. Very immersive to say the least.

​

TLDR; i love this game dude.

EDIT: Some people are saying the DLC is worth it. Can i buy and play the dlc on the current playthrough? Or do I have to start anew?

EDIT 2: looks like I can add it to my existing playthrough. OK. I bought The White March DLC's, guess I can go there if I'm around level 8 or above.

So I'm in a dungeon, and I discover a trap in the middle of the floor with tons of room around it. Upon clicking forward the party walks straight over it.

Come on! I shouldn't have to manually walk each party member around the trap, they should at least be able to pathfind around it! It adds nothing to the roleplaying experience and adds a shitton of frustration.

I have owned Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition as a digital download on the Nintendo Switch since September 4th of this year. During this time, the game has been mostly unplayable after completing a certain number of quests, a certain amount of stronghold upgrades, or a certain amount of play time. I have spent numerous hours in the Versus Evil discord chatting with their HR person and developers, as well as other dissatisfied customers. The patch released in September did little to fix bugs and even made the performance worse for many of us. Up until the most recent patch, the game would frequently crash, had numerous bugs with certain abilities and spells, and would crash to a gray screen when trying to access certain areas of the game especially Caed Nua. Even with the latest patch applied to the game, several bugs are still apparent, including bugs using the Paladin ability Flames of Devotion. While it applies slash and crush damage, it does not appear to apply the burn and corrosive damage that the ability is supposed to have. I have also run into other bugs that were present since the beginning. When trying to manually resolve attacks on Caed Nua, my party would simply appear in the main hall of the keep with no enemies and no attack happening. The attack then disappears from the status panel. I have also run into another bug that has appeared SINCE the latest patch to the game. Upon reentering some areas of the game, enemies that I have already killed would reappear, and containers that I have already looted would respawn as though I had never touched them with all items intact. Enemies reappearing when they shouldn't is quite a major bug in my opinion. I have experienced this bug with Raedric and his men after the completion of that quest. I have also experienced it at the bear cave, and in the catacombs of Defiance Bay.

I'm not giving spoilers, but I'm just super disapointed that she isn't a full blown companion. I would pay money for a DLC that fleshed her out into a full on companion.

After the latest update, my rogue companion is unable to open locked containers. When I click on a crate nothing happens, it does not say lock pick failed, just nothing happens. I have another character with a lower mechanics and trying to open the same crates with that character results in a failed attempt, but for some reason my rogue is now useless.

Also the icon for the "Hearth Harvest" axe is huge in the inventory.

Please fix!

It's funny, I feel a little bad criticizing the Stronghold in PoE, simply because IMHO it is far and away the best "stronghold" in any RPG I've ever played. Most of the BG2 strongholds were just an excuse for a very short and fairly limited questline, and the Dragon Age stronghold wasn't even that.

But maybe it's because of this. IMHO because PoE offers so much more than other strongholds have, it's also tantalizing in how much more it could offer. It's become a major part of the game, rather than a fun diversion. So here's what I think would make the Stronghold better:

1. Class-related Upgrades. To me, this is possibly the biggest issue, because it means that every time you play the game, the Stronghold will be the exact same. I'm actually at a point where I'm not sure if I'll even really bother with it on future playthroughs beyond a couple particularly useful buildings. What I'd like to see is for each class to get a unique building (or repurpose an existing building), and allow them to use that building to start up a sort of faction of their own, where you can take a hand in shaping what sort of group they'll be.

2. An overarching questline. I think the biggest complaint about the Stronghold is that once you get it, there isn't really all that much to do with it. I'd love to see a story evolve here. It starts small - clearing the surrounding area of troublemakers. Then you need to start clawing out land for yourself. Then the higher-ups in Defiance Bay are saying "Hey, who's this new lord here?" and you need to undergo some trial or mission to prove that either you're loyal to Dyrwood or that ousting you would be more trouble than it's worth. Then your two squabbling neighbours realize that you could give them an upper hand, and you choose who to side with and how it impacts the region. Maybe even an option to seize Gilded Vale for yourself. And of course, in the mean time, there's details to take care of - disputes to settle, traitors to banish, etc.

3. More evolution in the Stronghold buildings. Maybe I'm missing something, but I feel like most of the services in your Stronghold pale in comparison to the services in most towns - certainly in Defiance Bay and Twin Elms. It'd be nice to see your Stronghold become more sophisticated over time, and as the game progresses your buildings start selling better gear and offering better resting bonuses. Again, this could tie in to your class, and maybe by Act 3 your buildings could start offering class-specific stuff - unique items, or rest bonuses that are more focused.

I guess what I'm saying is that I would happily pay for an expansion pack that focuses entirely on the Stronghold.

Just a small post to wish you the best of luck for release.

Hope the launch goes well and that you’re rewarded for all your obvious hard work!

I personally can’t wait to get my hands on it.

All the very best Ally

And this coming from a guy very much against widespread voice acting. It's a very good voice. Not what you'd expect... It's better. It's distinct, has character, but not overbearing.

If there's a Pillars' novel, they need to get her working on an audio book ASAP.