Mix the formula up somehow. The layout of areas/zones, their size and pacing, the distribution of enemies, the interface, the layout of Defiance Bay and it's factions and questlines (compared to the city of Baldur's Gate), the overall structure and pacing of the main questline, is all exactly like BG. There's not really anything new and interesting to me, just more of the good old same and like I've played the game already just with different trappings. I don't think they should be getting as much praise as they are for cribbing so heavily from past efforts and making it so ridiculously safe.

The only thing I've found so far that didn't feel entirely ripped from an Infinity game is the stronghold system, which while entertaining feels like a sideshow diversion. Maybe when I get further in the game it'll be more interesting.

With the current save/buff bug I imagine lots of players are playing the game effectively over leveled to the content.

Not touching it till that is fixed.

The cookie cutter NPC hire mechanic is very different, the whole class system obviously very different, and I felt the tone was very different when I walked into the

Big patch coming soon

Patch Notes: 1.03

this game is so ****ing good

my team feels a bit too strong on hard at near lvl 10 right now and crushing the endless path.

Im starting a parallel game on the POTD difficulty, will tryout the classes I havent played yet, paladin tank, monk as semi-dps/tank and druid. (druid felt OP i didnt want it in my main game )

Barbarian seems very meh on hard difficulties, will probably be the only class I pass.

yeah really, this game is insanely good. I was looking forward to it so much for the last 2 years, and it somehow exceeded my expectations.

nooo my arbalests

i have given up on trying to play a monk since i realized they needed to take dmg to do stuff. Seems like a big nono on POTD.

My hardest difficulty team is (all attributes are unbuffed):

Main tank paladin, attributes 2/19/15/20/3/19

Offtank chanter/aurabot with a shield, attributes 5/16/2/18/18/19

Druid, 19/3/19/3/18/16

Ranged Rogue 15/3/20/19/3/18

Priest 17/3/18/3/19/18


6th was my toughest choice, between cipher and wizard. I ended up going with

Wizard 16/3/19/3/18/19

Quite a few of those changes will impact my tactics, esp the removal of foe aoe change of freezing fog to just normal aoe.

There's two parts in particular which I think are impossible. After reading the reddit forums sounds like the devs think it's currently impossible too

Left it running constantly so not sure but less than 30 hours. Doing an easy solo run and a triple crown run. Solo run is going surprisingly quickly, got through act one in maybe 3 hours and rested only 3 times. Will be even easier with the buff to xp after the patch.

Potd with only one save is going to be tough. Might have to wait for a guide.


Kirby: cipher is my main and I think the class is really fun, would recommend. First run through was wizard and I was underwhelmed with the class.

Which faction did you all do in defiance bay? I did the Knights my first tune through because I liked them the least and prefer to save the other two for later. Think I'll do dozens on potd and the nobles with my solo run since it sounds like less killing.

Is there any reason/advantage for wizards/priests etc to use wands etc for ranged attacks?

They use two different damages and hit with the best.

lvl 2 wizard can get Blast, an ability that makes your wands or scepter attacks do some splash dmg

So bearing that in mind, if a standard ranged weapon like bow, crossbow etc gives better dps etc you can equip it for no penalty?

yurp

my priest has a crossbow n' stuff

Would an all Chanter group, all using 'Sure-Handed Ila Nocked Her Arrows with Speed' = machine gun fire?

I think so, but didn't they just nerf sure handed ila? That said it should still work. Chants do seem to stack.

Has anyone else had problems with the game not saving?

I've just started the game in the last 10 minutes.

Fixed this.

Just needed to run it as an admin.

crushed raedric's hold on potd ^.^

this is fun and not as painful as I was expecting

Am I the only one who has been somewhat disappointed by this game?

The role-playing stats for choices seem just numbers in the corner (stoic=1, woo). Also sometimes it feels like the choices I make make no real difference in the story line. Nobody seems to have an unique reaction to my main character either. It's just another custom NPC traveling trough pretty paintings.

The biggest gripe is that most of the combat situations are not strategic nor challenging. There's very few times that I have to adjust my strategy. Start with ranged heavy hitting weapons, switch to melee, engage, bring in DPS melee guys, buff, de-buff, do damage spells and repeat. I'm actually trying to avoid combat because it's so bland and 80 % of the time offers no challenge and are over in 20 seconds. I just end up having to switch all the ranged weapons back to hand, wait for loading animation and stealth the whole team for the next conflict. The enemy types and encounters lack creativity and the same strategy works every time. How about an archer ambush? Stealth enemies? Hard to reach bosses behind traps? Time based defense mission? Protective fields that require killing minions? Interactive objects in the field that would help/hinder in combat? Maybe a puzzle of some sort while in combat? Dodging area effects that are signaled beforehand? Teleporting my characters during combat? Crowd-controlling a huge mass attack? Getting random helpers for some massive battles or some OP NPC that would follow your party just for one specific cave quest?

To add to the frustration, it's pretty hard to figure out if someone is attacking, loading a weapon or just standing idle. Combat AI path-finding is horrible and can not be trusted at all. All this adds to the unnecessary micromanagement and makes combat feel like a job.

The itemization is pretty bad. Most of the items are garbage and the unique items are pretty mediocre compared to what you can craft (crafting system isn't the greatest either and lacks soul). Giving 100 basic swords just seem unnecessary.

The damage reduction system rewards min-maxing heavily as if it wasn't already the best tactics.

Custom NPC's vastly overpower the companions that you can find.

The combat log just fills at insane speed so it's somewhat useless to follow what is happening there, but most of the time it doesn't matter. It would be nice to filter somehow or shorten the messages.

It's not a bad game by any means but as an experience personally it doesn't hold a candle to something like Divinity: Original Sin from last year. The combat imo is worse than Dragon Age: Origins. I remember Icewind Dale 2 having better combat but maybe that's just nostalgia. I'm like 10-15 hours into this game, maybe it gets better.

best rpg of the last 10 years

wayyyy better than divinity and dragon age imo, played all of them.

Yeah, not feeling it here

I agree with weewil's criticism as well. I've played this game already. BG2 wasn't perfect and I don't think you get away just copying it.

I wrote a big review with my thoughts on it but deleted it by accident

Basically I'd put BG2 at 95%, PoE at ~90% (I'm only about 2/3s through). There are lots of little petty things I find slightly wrong/annoying that I wouldn't mind on any other game, but stick out to me as PoE is so good, or at least has the potential to be.

Here's a pretty scathing review of the game from some rpg geek forum I saw. It's similar to a lot of your complaints F(r)iend and, while I agree with many of them, I still think this is a phenomenal game, and really hope there are future updates or add-ons which iron out some of the issues.

Ya it was good, but not quite as much content as I would have like.