I wouldn’t call any of it essential. The first dlc is a pretty decent sidequest, I haven’t played the next two but I hear the third is pretty decent too. The second seems like its more of an arena like thing(maybe someone could elaborate who has played them?). I am not a huge fan of the “4 to 10 hour side story with little relation to the main plot” dlc format though, and that’s definitely what these are.
The main thing with the dlc is they flesh out the sidekicks a fair amount. Ydwin is focused on in DLC1, Konstanten is in DLC02, and Fassina is DLC03 iirc. So if those characters interest you that might make them more worth checking out. Otherwise, if you get to the point of no return and really want more POE2 feel free to get them but if you are tired of the game you are mainly just missing some lore and side stories.
I played the first dlc and it was pretty fucking metal. So not essential but worth going through at least once. Just started a new game to see the other dlc content.
So, anybody else giving the turn-based combat a try? I got to lvl 3 so far, early on combat seems kinda underwhelming given how few abilities you have and how often you just miss your only attack but I'm sure it'll get better when you have more people and more abilities.
There's some bugs already too, I had a guy stealth and go attack an enemy and he just attacked the target as many times as it took to kill it while the target just stood there. Also pathfinding can suck, if you try to go somewhere you can't get to your guy will just run around back and forth and waste your whole movement while AI will do the good ol' "running at a wall" routine if it can't get past some of its own characters. Mostly it works alright, though.
Yeah I think I'll hold off on turn-based mode until they get it out of beta
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Looked super weird in that where they were in a turn based fight, everyone was paused waiting for their turn, and over the wall there’s enemies patrolling in real time.
Imagine coming across that fight. ‘What’s everyone standing here for, staring at each other?’.
Looked super weird in that where they were in a turn based fight, everyone was paused waiting for their turn, and over the wall there’s enemies patrolling in real time.
Imagine coming across that fight. ‘What’s everyone standing here for, staring at each other?’.
That happens in Divinity games as well, usually it just requires a bit of suspension of disbelief but sometimes a patrolling enemy joins the fight once it gets close enough which can feel a bit silly.
"Welcome to the stasis bubble! Now you are stuck here with us until you die."
How much does the turn based combat inflate the game time? Cause it's already looking like a 40-50 hour RPG, which is about my limit for what I can take. I can't imagine how much longer it would be with a slower combat system.
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How much does the turn based combat inflate the game time? Cause it's already looking like a 40-50 hour RPG, which is about my limit for what I can take. I can't imagine how much longer it would be with a slower combat system.
An astronomical amount.
Every single fight is going to take awhile. Certainly far, far longer then real time. Your first fight in a random dungeon will take much longer than clearing the dungeon in real time took.
So make sure you clear your schedules.
edit- Hm, this wasn't meant to sound like a negative critique, just stating that yeah turn-based will make the game much, much longer.
Axen on
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
Played it a bit more and found new bugs - spells that deal damage over X turns (Chilling Mist, Flame Ray) seem to get one round for free, making Flame Ray completely bonkers. A lvl 3 looter wizard hit Eder with it for 106 damage when he had like 85 max hp and that wasn't even a crit, on Veteran. Constantly missing with your only action keeps on being boring and dex/action speed only affecting your initiative makes the previous awesome stat almost pointless. Feels like beta alright.
I only plan on using turn based combat during the bigger fights. That is, assuming it can be toggled off and on.
This is exactly how I played Fallout: Tactics and I loved it. Easy fights you just keep it on real time and let your guys gun them down, the supermutants in the trenches with machineguns? Lets go turn based
In the video that introduces this new mode, Josh Sawyer says that "Turn-based" or "Real-time-with-pause" is something you pick when you start a new game, and you can't toggle back and forth between them (presumably because it changes the experience significantly, and - I'm guessing - would unbalance the game otherwise).
I've played some of the turn-based and I didn't find it that much slower. There's a "fast mode" in it which will speed up the animations.
Someone's gonna have to figure out just how "initiative" works though. It seems like you can't attack more than once per round no matter what your attack speed is. If that's actually how it works, that's a big nerf to attack speed, an indirect buff to heavier armor, and it also means the blunderbuss streetfighter build I wanted to use probably isn't really gonna work...
I hope this gets sorted. Pillars of Eternity in particular has always had a super-opaque and unintuitive system for determining how often you get to do things, and now it seems like they have it in turn-based mode too.
In the video that introduces this new mode, Josh Sawyer says that "Turn-based" or "Real-time-with-pause" is something you pick when you start a new game, and you can't toggle back and forth between them (presumably because it changes the experience significantly, and - I'm guessing - would unbalance the game otherwise).
Well that’s some bullshit. Arcanum let you toggle modes and it came out ages ago. I guess turn based combat will have to wait until I’m finished with my current run.
While that's true, I also remember Arcanum's combat system being not particularly great, and I had the impression that at least part of it was because they had to account for the fact that people might switch from turn-based to real-time and back at the press of a button. I could be wrong, though; it's been a very long time since I played any Arcanum.
I hope this gets sorted. Pillars of Eternity in particular has always had a super-opaque and unintuitive system for determining how often you get to do things, and now it seems like they have it in turn-based mode too.
Well, the system is really simple now. You get to do one action per turn and everybody gets more turns at the exact same rate, 1 turn per turn. :P
In other words, dex and action speed are useless and heavy armor (and all weapon modals that make you attack slower) are great.
While that's true, I also remember Arcanum's combat system being not particularly great, and I had the impression that at least part of it was because they had to account for the fact that people might switch from turn-based to real-time and back at the press of a button. I could be wrong, though; it's been a very long time since I played any Arcanum.
Arcanum’s combat was the worst of both worlds. The real-time was so fast as to be unplayable and the turn-based was incredibly stodgy.
How much does the turn based combat inflate the game time? Cause it's already looking like a 40-50 hour RPG, which is about my limit for what I can take. I can't imagine how much longer it would be with a slower combat system.
An astronomical amount.
Every single fight is going to take awhile. Certainly far, far longer then real time. Your first fight in a random dungeon will take much longer than clearing the dungeon in real time took.
So make sure you clear your schedules.
edit- Hm, this wasn't meant to sound like a negative critique, just stating that yeah turn-based will make the game much, much longer.
This is exactly why I loathe turn based RPGs. They are already slow as a genre and going slow is filth enough without going slower still.
Subtitles on, animations five hundred percent speed, skippable cutscenes and straight on til morning, I say.
I'm digging the new turned based stuff, though I really don't get the queue system for certain spells. I'l pick one spell and it shows under 'next turn' but casts right away. Then I'll select another that also shows under next turn, but it ACTUALLY has to wait for the next turn. It makes it really hard to use spells.
Because I was curious as to how it worked or if it did anything, I checked out Black Jacket. My first character through was Black Jacket/Ascendant which I found really effective because of the massive alpha strike and then switching to free/more powerful Cipher spells.
So in turn based mode, Black Jacket makes switching weapons a free action. But that really doesn't do anything for you because you can fire every turn with your equipped weapon anyway.
The turn based combat still needs a lot of work. Due to how initiative and actions work, some classes and abilities have become much more powerful while others have become much less useful. Fast casting spells are OP now since they're free actions and you can use as many as you want in a round. Dexterity is a dump stat now since fast action speed only affects your character's order in a round but doesn't give extra actions. Intelligence is more useful, especially at certain thresholds, since effect duration is based on rounds, so hitting a threshold to increase an ability's duration from 1 round to 2 rounds is huge.
They really need to rework the mechanics. Either make it so that high initiative can give extra actions or make it an action point system.
How much does the turn based combat inflate the game time? Cause it's already looking like a 40-50 hour RPG, which is about my limit for what I can take. I can't imagine how much longer it would be with a slower combat system.
An astronomical amount.
Every single fight is going to take awhile. Certainly far, far longer then real time. Your first fight in a random dungeon will take much longer than clearing the dungeon in real time took.
So make sure you clear your schedules.
edit- Hm, this wasn't meant to sound like a negative critique, just stating that yeah turn-based will make the game much, much longer.
Just catching up on the thread.
I bought this on Xbox as soon as it came out last month, and got about 2/3 of the main quest done, playing on turn-based.
I had to restart on real-time, as the play time was getting insane - some fights we taking up to around 30 mins, and longer for the huge fights such as boat boarding, with 20-odd characters in play.
My breaking point was a fight with a lich, who kept casting a spell that basically made him invulnerable to weapons for 10 turns, and I had no spells left. I’d spend the 10 turns doing 3 damage per hit, get one round of full damage, then have him cast it again.
I’ve been playing a few hours on a new game, and I’m already off to the lighthouse - I was still on the first island at this point on my first game.
I think the turn- based thing is something people asked a lot for, and they had already done one for tides of numenara anyway, but you really need a different design philosophy for a turn based game. One with a lot fewer but more impactful fights.
The pathfinder wrath of the righteous come out next year so you won’t have to wait too long . I will give this a shot when it releases just cause it’s obsidian but I don’t really have any real attachment to the pillars setting .
I'm so goddamn thirsty for another Elder Scrolls, and love the PoE setting enough, that there's just no way that I can avoid buying this.
I think we're going to see a lot of people buy this who don't care about PoE at all, they just want another Elder Scrolls and okay this isn't the same universe but fuck it.
I'm so goddamn thirsty for another Elder Scrolls, and love the PoE setting enough, that there's just no way that I can avoid buying this.
I think we're going to see a lot of people buy this who don't care about PoE at all, they just want another Elder Scrolls and okay this isn't the same universe but fuck it.
First person, open world, fantasy RPGs are surprisingly exceedingly rare. So I am always up for a new one.
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
I'm so goddamn thirsty for another Elder Scrolls, and love the PoE setting enough, that there's just no way that I can avoid buying this.
I think we're going to see a lot of people buy this who don't care about PoE at all, they just want another Elder Scrolls and okay this isn't the same universe but fuck it.
First person, open world, fantasy RPGs are surprisingly exceedingly rare. So I am always up for a new one.
Yeah I guess I've always forgiven Bethesda for their bugs because, hell, nobody else is making these kinds of games.
That would definitely change if someone else started taking up the space that they've vacated.
I'm so goddamn thirsty for another Elder Scrolls, and love the PoE setting enough, that there's just no way that I can avoid buying this.
I think we're going to see a lot of people buy this who don't care about PoE at all, they just want another Elder Scrolls and okay this isn't the same universe but fuck it.
First person, open world, fantasy RPGs are surprisingly exceedingly rare. So I am always up for a new one.
Yeah I guess I've always forgiven Bethesda for their bugs because, hell, nobody else is making these kinds of games.
That would definitely change if someone else started taking up the space that they've vacated.
Of course it being Obsidian it's going to come with some bugs.
I most certainly hope it isn't anything like Skyrim. But Obsidian hopefully gets free reign to make something interesting.
Most of the Journos are referring to it as "Skyrim-like" so you may possibly be in for a bit of disappointment.
Journalists have also described a very wide variety of games as "Dark souls-like", when they basically have nothing in common except being 3rd person fantasy games with a punishing difficulty.
Fiendishrabbit on
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The main thing with the dlc is they flesh out the sidekicks a fair amount. Ydwin is focused on in DLC1, Konstanten is in DLC02, and Fassina is DLC03 iirc. So if those characters interest you that might make them more worth checking out. Otherwise, if you get to the point of no return and really want more POE2 feel free to get them but if you are tired of the game you are mainly just missing some lore and side stories.
There's some bugs already too, I had a guy stealth and go attack an enemy and he just attacked the target as many times as it took to kill it while the target just stood there. Also pathfinding can suck, if you try to go somewhere you can't get to your guy will just run around back and forth and waste your whole movement while AI will do the good ol' "running at a wall" routine if it can't get past some of its own characters. Mostly it works alright, though.
Imagine coming across that fight. ‘What’s everyone standing here for, staring at each other?’.
That happens in Divinity games as well, usually it just requires a bit of suspension of disbelief but sometimes a patrolling enemy joins the fight once it gets close enough which can feel a bit silly.
"Welcome to the stasis bubble! Now you are stuck here with us until you die."
An astronomical amount.
Every single fight is going to take awhile. Certainly far, far longer then real time. Your first fight in a random dungeon will take much longer than clearing the dungeon in real time took.
So make sure you clear your schedules.
edit- Hm, this wasn't meant to sound like a negative critique, just stating that yeah turn-based will make the game much, much longer.
This is exactly how I played Fallout: Tactics and I loved it. Easy fights you just keep it on real time and let your guys gun them down, the supermutants in the trenches with machineguns? Lets go turn based
Someone's gonna have to figure out just how "initiative" works though. It seems like you can't attack more than once per round no matter what your attack speed is. If that's actually how it works, that's a big nerf to attack speed, an indirect buff to heavier armor, and it also means the blunderbuss streetfighter build I wanted to use probably isn't really gonna work...
I hope this gets sorted. Pillars of Eternity in particular has always had a super-opaque and unintuitive system for determining how often you get to do things, and now it seems like they have it in turn-based mode too.
Well, the system is really simple now. You get to do one action per turn and everybody gets more turns at the exact same rate, 1 turn per turn. :P
In other words, dex and action speed are useless and heavy armor (and all weapon modals that make you attack slower) are great.
Arcanum’s combat was the worst of both worlds. The real-time was so fast as to be unplayable and the turn-based was incredibly stodgy.
This is exactly why I loathe turn based RPGs. They are already slow as a genre and going slow is filth enough without going slower still.
Subtitles on, animations five hundred percent speed, skippable cutscenes and straight on til morning, I say.
So in turn based mode, Black Jacket makes switching weapons a free action. But that really doesn't do anything for you because you can fire every turn with your equipped weapon anyway.
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
They really need to rework the mechanics. Either make it so that high initiative can give extra actions or make it an action point system.
I do wonder how much work they are going to sink into this. Getting it all balanced all over again is a huge task.
Just catching up on the thread.
I bought this on Xbox as soon as it came out last month, and got about 2/3 of the main quest done, playing on turn-based.
I had to restart on real-time, as the play time was getting insane - some fights we taking up to around 30 mins, and longer for the huge fights such as boat boarding, with 20-odd characters in play.
My breaking point was a fight with a lich, who kept casting a spell that basically made him invulnerable to weapons for 10 turns, and I had no spells left. I’d spend the 10 turns doing 3 damage per hit, get one round of full damage, then have him cast it again.
I’ve been playing a few hours on a new game, and I’m already off to the lighthouse - I was still on the first island at this point on my first game.
Avowed - it's not PoE3, it's PoE Skyrim.
Neat!
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
Obsidian: "Here is PoE Skyrim instead."
Players: "Never in my life have I needed something so much, and never known until I received it."
Most of the Journos are referring to it as "Skyrim-like" so you may possibly be in for a bit of disappointment.
The pathfinder wrath of the righteous come out next year so you won’t have to wait too long . I will give this a shot when it releases just cause it’s obsidian but I don’t really have any real attachment to the pillars setting .
I think we're going to see a lot of people buy this who don't care about PoE at all, they just want another Elder Scrolls and okay this isn't the same universe but fuck it.
First person, open world, fantasy RPGs are surprisingly exceedingly rare. So I am always up for a new one.
Yeah I guess I've always forgiven Bethesda for their bugs because, hell, nobody else is making these kinds of games.
That would definitely change if someone else started taking up the space that they've vacated.
Of course it being Obsidian it's going to come with some bugs.
Journalists have also described a very wide variety of games as "Dark souls-like", when they basically have nothing in common except being 3rd person fantasy games with a punishing difficulty.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden