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Pillars Of Eternity:Complete Edition|OT| The perfect chance to revisit Raedric's Hold

GHG

Member
I don't think this has been answered, but is there any Pro specific enhancements?, 4k?

Also, as it's £5 more on the PS4 than the XBO, any major performance differences between the two?

I'd like to know this as well since I want to buy the game this evening. Just a cut and dry answer without nonsensical fanboy drivel would be useful.

That is, unless the controller support has also reached the PC version?
 

danowat

Banned
I'd like to know this as well since I want to buy the game this evening. Just a cut and dry answer without nonsensical fanboy drivel would be useful.

That is, unless the controller support has also reached the PC version?

Yeah, that's where I am at, if the PS4 version has no pro support, and isn't significantly beater in terms of performance, I'll take the £5 reduction and go for the XBO version.
 

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
Amazon UK now saying between the 14th September till 2nd October for delivery, anyone in the UK know why?

Yeah, I got that too. Cancelled and ordered with base.com instead. Noticed that the Amazon price went up to £50 (though not on Prime). Maybe it's a sneaky move to do with that?

Base.com is about £5 cheaper and apparently arrives on 01/09. I've got Absolver to occupy me till then, at least.
 
Yeah, I got that too. Cancelled and ordered with base.com instead. Noticed that the Amazon price went up to £50 (though not on Prime). Maybe it's a sneaky move to do with that?

Base.com is about £5 cheaper and apparently arrives on 01/09. I've got Absolver to occupy me till then, at least.

It's very sneaky of them, I wonder if they've not got enough stock or like you say are cashing in, I've cancelled now and gone with shop to and it was £36 on there, I've just got round to starting the Witcher dlc so I've enough to be getting on with.
 

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
It's very sneaky of them, I wonder if they've not got enough stock or like you say are cashing in, I've cancelled now and gone with shop to and it was £36 on there, I've just got round to starting the Witcher dlc so I've enough to be getting on with.

Could be. While I doubt demand for PoE on consoles is that high, maybe they underestimated it anyway. Still, the timing of the sudden (?) price hike makes my cynic-sense tingle.

Guess I'll see you here in a few days :D
 
Could be. While I doubt demand for PoE on consoles is that high, maybe they underestimated it anyway. Still, the timing of the sudden (?) price hike makes my cynic-sense tingle.

Guess I'll see you here in a few days :D

You shall, I'm away at weekend but hopefully I have Monday off to get started!
 

Hostile_18

Banned
Got the first bug already, on the character creation scene. The voice previews stopped working or if they do once ever 5 or so clicks so hard to choose the one I want to go with.
 

Staf

Member
One thing that bugs me. You can't examine an item in a container without first putting it in your backpack. Or am i missing something?
 

Anno

Member
A few people asked about general starter tips. And since this conference call is really boring I figured I'd type up a few. I mostly avoid class-specific advise as that's more detailed and situational than most of this. If I think of some more I'll post back.


- Stats in PoE are set up so that even the worst character is still viable, so don’t worry about making a character that just can’t compete. If you’re unsure of what to do with your stats just put them in the stats that are suggested and keep the rest at 10-12. You can always retrain later when you are more sure of what kind of build you want to pursue.

- When targeting an AoE spell you’ll see three possible colors. The spell will hit everyone in the red area, enemies-only in the yellow area and allies-only in the greenish/tealish area. If you read the tooltip for a spell and it says “Foe-Only” then the whole targeting area should be yellow and you can cast with impunity. If it’s a spell that would normally hit friendly targets then there will likely be a yellow area around the edges of the spell. That area represents both the area of the spell that’s been increased by your intelligence but also the area of a spell that normally hits allies that’s now Foe-only. So intelligence increases not only the size of an AoE spell but also the part of the spell that is safe to your allies.

- The first wilderness once you get outside of the tutorial will have a few encounters that you may not be able to solo, especially if you’re playing on Hard or PotD. Some classes can, some can’t. So if you’re repeatedly dying then just resolve to come back to the map later. Go South to continue on the main quest and you’ll soon have friends to help you out.

- The dungeon under the first town is a notorious difficulty spike. If you go in and are having a tough time then quest back above ground for a bit until you have probably 4 characters minimum.

- Remember that you have (at least) 2 weapon sets, so make use of them to trade a bit of micromanagement for some extra DPS. The cooldown to switch sets isn’t too burdensome. Some examples:
o Have your tank and/or other melee fire a crossbow or gun either to engage the enemies or if they are running at you from far enough away, then switch to your melee weapons.
o If you have a ranged character who uses a crossbow or gun which require reloading you can shoot one, switch to a second and skip the first reload timer for better front loaded damage.
o Give your squishy characters a second set of weapons with a shield that you can switch to should they get engaged and you don’t have a better method to disengage or improve their defenses.

- Wizards, Priests and Druids all need to rest (at an inn or using camping supplies in the wilderness) in order to recharge their spells. So be judicious in their use as you don’t have many in the early levels. All three have a per-encounter ability to make up for this – Priests get an AoE heal that damages certain enemies, wizards get 2 blasts that deal unmitigated damage and daze the target (good for setting up rogue sneak attacks) and druids get a shape-shift where they become very capable melee combatants. In later levels you will have plenty of spell charges to use them more regularly and the first four spell levels will eventually gain one spell of your choice that becomes per-encounter.

- Wizards, especially early in the game, tend to be better served saving their spells for crowd control rather than damage. Your auto attack and 2/encounter arcane blast will carry your damage just fine in the early levels so save your limited spell casts for something that can lock down a crowd of monsters.

- You have to be in sneaking mode in order to detect traps and hidden caches of items. Sneak + fast mode is about the speed of normal travel.
 

Staf

Member
Sheesh, i hope i find a new tanky/warrior companion soon. Only got
Aloth and the ugly(lol) priest
. I'm a wizard.
 

Altazor

Member
- Wizards, especially early in the game, tend to be better served saving their spells for crowd control rather than damage. Your auto attack and 2/encounter arcane blast will carry your damage just fine in the early levels so save your limited spell casts for something that can lock down a crowd of monsters.

As an addendum: Slicken and Chill Fog are useful for crowd control. They used to be incredibly OP (especially Slicken... so good <3) but even after successive patches they are useful enough for wizards to use against group of enemies. Use them wisely and don't put your wizard on the front line, that's what tanks are for :p

Sheesh, i hope i find a new tanky/warrior companion soon. Only got
Aloth and the ugly(lol) priest
. I'm a wizard.

you should. (vague spoilers)
you can recruit him after completing one of the first quests in Gilded Vale
 

Anno

Member
Sheesh, i hope i find a new tanky/warrior companion soon. Only got
Aloth and the ugly(lol) priest
. I'm a wizard.

If you have Durance then you've already missed the fighter companion. Explore around Gilded Vale more.
 

xuchu

Member
Sheesh, i hope i find a new tanky/warrior companion soon. Only got
Aloth and the ugly(lol) priest
. I'm a wizard.

There's Eder (tank fighter) by the big tree in the first town. And that ugly priest is the best character in the game both in and out of combat :p
 

Staf

Member
Thanks for the tip. Will head back and further explore the town. Figured i would get more companions following the main story line.

Edit: And oh, got my ass handed to me by bandits in the area after the ugly priest lol.
 

NeoBob688

Member
How does the control system differ on consoles? I have wanted to jump in, but never got the PC version. I prefer a more casual, story playthrough.
 
How does the control system differ on consoles? I have wanted to jump in, but never got the PC version. I prefer a more casual, story playthrough.

It's taking me a bit to get used to, but once I do I think it'll be fine. I prefer a mouse for this type of game, but I think the controller will get the job done.
 

xuchu

Member
How are the load times on console? On PC they were quite long, upwards of a minute or even two. Granted I played quite a long time ago and they may have patched in better load times. Maybe on SSD it was lightning fast too.
 
How are the load times on console? On PC they were quite long, upwards of a minute or even two. Granted I played quite a long time ago and they may have patched in better load times. Maybe on SSD it was lightning fast too.

Still a little lengthy but honestly never truly bothered me.
 

Lister

Banned
One thing that bugs me. You can't examine an item in a container without first putting it in your backpack. Or am i missing something?

You can on PC. This is probably a context issue on the console gui, maybe not triggering a hover when selecting an item in a container.
 

Lister

Banned
I'd like to know this as well since I want to buy the game this evening. Just a cut and dry answer without nonsensical fanboy drivel would be useful.

That is, unless the controller support has also reached the PC version?

The Steam controller has some great community profiles for this game. I've played it on occasion with it. If you have one of those I'd deifnitely recommend that over the console version, just for load times alone.
 

Lister

Banned
How are the load times on console? On PC they were quite long, upwards of a minute or even two. Granted I played quite a long time ago and they may have patched in better load times. Maybe on SSD it was lightning fast too.

They patched them on PC, and ar emuch better than they were on launch, but still wha tI'd consider longish for PC and the frequency you encounter them. The consoles seem to be (base don the little I've sene on streams) between what they ar eon Pc now and what they used to be on PC on release, leaning more towards what they used ot be.

Might be different if you have an SSD on your console though.

EDIT: The gameplay I saw might have been on a console with an SSD then, because DualShockers says this on their console review:

dualshockers said:
One of the notable downsides is the port to the PlayStation 4 doesn't feel perfect &#8212; even on my PlayStation 4 Pro. With close to minute-long loading times between maps,...

That's going to get nanoying quick.
 

danowat

Banned
I'd like to know this as well since I want to buy the game this evening. Just a cut and dry answer without nonsensical fanboy drivel would be useful.

That is, unless the controller support has also reached the PC version?

This is mentioned in the ZTGD review.

The Xbox One version seemed to perform decent enough, though there are times when smoke effects or other graphical elements kick into play that causes some system performance issues.

Anyone know if the PS4 version exhibits the same?
 

GHG

Member
One of the notable downsides is the port to the PlayStation 4 doesn’t feel perfect — even on my PlayStation 4 Pro. With close to minute-long loading times between maps, occasional staggering, and getting stuck in boxes every five (or so) hours, the game is either deceptively hard to program or the port wasn’t executed with the same deft hand that crafted the underlying game.

Hmm...

*goes to find steam controller and check price on the PC*
 

Anno

Member
There are quite a few reviews up on Open Critic. 85 average across 11 reviews. Seems like a well thought of port across the board aside from issues present even in the PC version.
 

owlbeak

Member
I own this on PC, played about 20 hours and loved it and then got distracted with another game.

I'm a huge fan of classic Black Isle/Infinity Engine games, but the idea of playing this on my couch with my Dualshock 4 is super intriguing. Probably should buy this on PS4. Any enhancements for PS4 Pro or any major issues that should make me just stick to PC?
 

Lister

Banned
I own this on PC, played about 20 hours and loved it and then got distracted with another game.

I'm a huge fan of classic Black Isle/Infinity Engine games, but the idea of playing this on my couch with my Dualshock 4 is super intriguing. Probably should buy this on PS4. Any enhancements for PS4 Pro or any major issues that should make me just stick to PC?

As mentioned, I would recommend the steam controller for this over going with the console versions. Alternatively, the Dual Shock has full customizability thanks to the Steam ctonroller API now a days, right?

Anyone know if it can replicate atleast some of what the Steam Controller does with mosue and keybaor dgames?

That might be somehting to atleast try, before getting the console version.

The main issues with the console verison right now are frame rate (30 FPS with dips) and load times (up to a minute per load, which happens quite often in this game unfortunately - something the sequal is remedying). And while gamepad controls are reportedly good, I'm going to say that Stema controller would be abetter fit, and of course mouse and keyboard will be best.

You can also just wait a bit and see if they patch it up and improve these issues on consoles.
 

J Jizzle

Member
I don't mind long loading screens provided enough of the map is loaded with it each time that I don't see it too often.

Unfortunately for Pillars every building (even if they have only 1 small room) pulls you into that bloody loading screen!

I don't have the console version by the way but it's an issue that hit the PC version.
 

Lister

Banned
I don't mind long loading screens provided enough of the map is loaded with it each time that I don't see it too often.

Unfortunately for Pillars every building (even if that only have 1 small room) pulls you into that bloody loading screen!

I don't have the console version by the way but it's an issue that hit the PC version.

Yep. PIllars is always on my SSD for that reason, and even then the 5-20 second loads can be annoying as hell... I can't imagine minute plus ones!
 

Anno

Member
Reduced loads and interiors being streamed in is probably one of the three things I'm looking forward to the most in Deadfire.
 

Lister

Banned
Reduced loads and interiors being streamed in is probably one of the three things I'm looking forward to the most in Deadfire.

Yep. Wasn't there talk abotut he possibility of bringing in those improvements to the first game?

Or is that just my imagination? 'cause that would make a huge difference, especially on consoles since they all have a lot of RAM these days.
 

J Jizzle

Member
Yep. Wasn't there talk abotut he possibility of bringing in those improvements to the first game?

Or is that just my imagination? 'cause that would make a huge difference, especially on consoles since they all have a lot of RAM these days.

Nope think it's related to the version of Unity engine they are using for Deadfire in comparison to PoE1.
 

Staf

Member
I just love the combat in this game so far. Never would have thought a RTWP combat system could be translated so well to the controller. I also love the 'fast' and 'slow' mode. Really makes the exploring less of a hassle.

Edit: Also, the music is fucking ace!
Edit2: Also love the way you can customize the AI so you don't have to micromanage fights at weaker enemies such as the "not-kobolds"
 

Staf

Member
Ok, sorry for spamming in this thread but i just love this game so damn much. For someone who's favorite game ever is Baldur's gate 2, adores Dragon age: Origins and gave up on PC-gaming over 10 years ago this game is a godsend. I'm not very far but the side-quests in this game are so fucking great. They are up there with Witcher 3 in terms of quality, and do an even better job of giving you agency in them.

If this game keeps on delivering in terms of story and characters it might even beat out Divinity:OS which, as far as i'm concerned, got the best combat system ever.
 

Crumbtiny

Member
Got to play for a little bit last night and had a lot of fun with it. What makes this feel special for me is just how much like D&D it feels, just the way characters and dialogue are presented. My friends and I just started learning to play D&D and that's making the game feel a little extra fun to me.

It did take me about an hour to get through the character creator though. So many choices! Interesting races, plenty of backgrounds. I usually agonize over choices vacillating back and forth between playing what sounds fun and what makes a strong character. I tried reading about different character builds, but wasn't sure how up to date the info was. Then some of it starts to conflict about what build works best.

Eventually i just said nuts to it all and made what sounded fun. Went with a Cipher, because it sounds pretty awesome to get inside your enemy's head, not to mention turn your teammates into a shock bomb. The other classes sound fun too and I'm glad to read that almost all of them can be viable.

Any advice on weapon choices though? My background started me off with a pike (side note, it's a pretty awesome touch that after i made a menu-based story choice to throw my weapon at an enemy, once i regain control my weapon is gone instead of magically reappearing in my hands! so i had to scavenge for new weapons). Can any class use any weapon, or do you need to use a weapon that plays off your best stats? I think mine are intelligence, then dex and might. Having two weapons sets is nice too, bow in one set and axe/shield in the other. Like i said i am very, very early on, but loving it. Music so far has been excellent! Can you zoom in any during battle? A little hard to tell what's going on when several characters are bunched up.

Any tips are welcome!

edit: just saw on the loading screen that you can indeed zoom in and out.
 

Lister

Banned
Ok, sorry for spamming in this thread but i just love this game so damn much. For someone who's favorite game ever is Baldur's gate 2, adores Dragon age: Origins and gave up on PC-gaming over 10 years ago this game is a godsend. I'm not very far but the side-quests in this game are so fucking great. They are up there with Witcher 3 in terms of quality, and do an even better job of giving you agency in them.

If this game keeps on delivering in terms of story and characters it might even beat out Divinity:OS which, as far as i'm concerned, got the best combat system ever.

The genre is experiencing a renaissance on PC. I would suggest you consider coming back to PC gaming if you want to ride that wave instead of waiting for possible late ports that might not ever materialize.

A PC that plays these games well without the loading issues can be had for less than what an XboneX will cost.
 

Anno

Member
Ok, sorry for spamming in this thread but i just love this game so damn much. For someone who's favorite game ever is Baldur's gate 2, adores Dragon age: Origins and gave up on PC-gaming over 10 years ago this game is a godsend. I'm not very far but the side-quests in this game are so fucking great. They are up there with Witcher 3 in terms of quality, and do an even better job of giving you agency in them.

If this game keeps on delivering in terms of story and characters it might even beat out Divinity:OS which, as far as i'm concerned, got the best combat system ever.

I think the game holds up well until the last maybe 20%. That's the point where you can tell that maybe the budget was running tight and it's time to get the game shipped. It's not awful or anything, just not paced well.

The good news is that the console version comes with both White March expansions which are a lot more hours of content that's noticeably better than most of the base game, IMO.

Got to play for a little bit last night and had a lot of fun with it. What makes this feel special for me is just how much like D&D it feels, just the way characters and dialogue are presented. My friends and I just started learning to play D&D and that's making the game feel a little extra fun to me.

It did take me about an hour to get through the character creator though. So many choices! Interesting races, plenty of backgrounds. I usually agonize over choices vacillating back and forth between playing what sounds fun and what makes a strong character. I tried reading about different character builds, but wasn't sure how up to date the info was. Then some of it starts to conflict about what build works best.

Eventually i just said nuts to it all and made what sounded fun. Went with a Cipher, because it sounds pretty awesome to get inside your enemy's head, not to mention turn your teammates into a shock bomb. The other classes sound fun too and I'm glad to read that almost all of them can be viable.

Any advice on weapon choices though? My background started me off with a pike (side note, it's a pretty awesome touch that after i made a menu-based story choice to throw my weapon at an enemy, once i regain control my weapon is gone instead of magically reappearing in my hands! so i had to scavenge for new weapons). Can any class use any weapon, or do you need to use a weapon that plays off your best stats? I think mine are intelligence, then dex and might. Having two weapons sets is nice too, bow in one set and axe/shield in the other. Like i said i am very, very early on, but loving it. Music so far has been excellent! Can you zoom in any during battle? A little hard to tell what's going on when several characters are bunched up.

Any tips are welcome!

edit: just saw on the loading screen that you can indeed zoom in and out.

Any class can use any weapon. Might, weapon base stats and enchantments on the weapon largely control the damage you do when you hit.

Ciphers can do well either at range or in melee by taking the powers that siphon power from the enemy for themselves. They're still pretty squishy and sometimes just lose half their health in one second but melee dual wielding Cipher is probably my favorite class to play. You won't run into one for awhile but blunderbusses tend to be popular ranged weapons for awhile as they fire a bunch of small attacks that can generate a lot of focus quickly and mostly avoid the problem that comes up when you miss three straight shots and can't build any focus to get off that charm or binding.

Speaking of which, your first power chosen at level 3 should be Mental Binding. There are very few spells as good in the game.
 
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