I'm currently at the 11th level of the endless paths. Quit the place after running out of camping suplies. The enemies keep targetting my level 9 wizard which means that he's getting knocked out constantly. Does anyone know how the enemy ai judges who to attack?

 

I'm on the hardest difficulty but not as far as you. It seems to be only a little arbitrary at times, how the AI acts -- 90% of the time they will target the closest available thing. It's not available if it's already engaging too many opponents. So, the more enemies your front line can keep engaged the better - if they can't engage more enemies they will sometimes walk around your front line and gang up on your back line. If you only present your front line to the AI, they will be forced to attack it even if they normally would prefer to target unengaged targets. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I have been playing the game with this assumption, and it's been working out.

I've been able to keep my maimed 1 hp Durance or Aloth from taking a single point of damage in many fights just by engaging with the front line, waiting about 3 seconds for all enemies to find their targets, then send them in. Enemies never disengage targets unless they get disengaged from your actions - so you should never suddenly be surprised by targeting.

So I recommend starting fights with a long range spell (like the roaming fireball spell) and keeping your ranged group way back until enemies are just forced to engage your front line. Abuse choke points too, so they are forced to bunch up and get less hits in. If you are disorienting or knocking down targets frequently, that might reset their engagement and cause them to prioritize your back line, but I don't know, I don't use those spells frequently.

Priest spells, especially the second level one which constantly heals targets near the priest, are extremely useful at keeping the backline alive if they get targeted, but I imagine you know this. Combine that with the necessary priest buffs (+WILL or +resist debuff stuff helps against certain enemies) and I've only had a few tricky fights so far.

I noticed that Aloth wasn't doing much for me (runs out of spells quickly and most of his spells are unwieldy or hit my allies too). I swapped him out for Grieving Mother - who has ridiculous (and safe) magic damage and charm powers and is amazing with the right pistol (the one you get for the ogre-pig quest). She was no worse for taking hits either.

 

The enemies have aoe damage so can't stop them doing damage to my backline. Beetles and spirits have an ability to teleport which they like to use to attack my backline and then there are enemies that have charms to use against my tanks. Most enemies will attack my frontline but when some enemy casts a spell or they teleport it's usually against my wizard. Maybe it's just my imagination and the enemies really target everyone equally, i just notice the ones against "me".

 

Buff up. Food + resting bonus is very important. Don't forget about priest spells also, circle of protection etc.

Wizard cloud of miasma (the one that lowers the enemy stats) is very good against casters, - 10 int is quite a bit.

Chill Fog is also wonderful, AoE, enemy only blind + minor damage.

 

Just finished my first playthrough, clocking 58 hours total. I did not complete three sidequests (that I know of), but other than those I fully cleared the game.

I can't properly express how satisfying this game has been. The dungeons and zones are, for the most part, very unique and well designed (the random caves are the only exception, with all but one of the having identical layouts). The characters are interesting, unique, and worth using over custom companions if possible, especially in the end game, for the depth they provide.

The system of reputation and characteristics is refreshing, with me actively making choices based on the character I was playing instead of trying to "max" all stats or some such nonsense (which I admit to being guilty of in many recent RPGs, Inquisition being the most notable culprit).

The most powerful part of the game, in this first playthrough, was a rekindling of the enjoyment of a game that is telling a story. Many of the more recent RPGs I've played have either been of the Bethesda (Fallout, Elder Scrolls) variety, or the most recent Bioware titles (Mass Effect, Dragon Age). Those games are fun, interactive, and have somewhat engaging stories (with some being more substantial than others), but they have all failed to really grasp the elaborate, vivid details that Pillars captured so perfectly. I think that the popularization of voice acting has a lot to do with this. In Pillars, only a handful of lines are voiced, with most being left for the player to read through at her or his leisure. The usage of more text-based storytelling really does seem to allow for a far more elaborate series of stories and quests, I think.

The Endless Paths were one hell of a ride. I played on Hard this playthrough, so I do not really even want to think about how painful it will be in PotD. I went through the first two levels just as Ii gained access to the dungeon, and cleared them with a number of rather close calls (wurms do, in fact, hurt, when one is level 4-5). Of course, on the third level of the Paths, I ran into a wonderful group of Ogres. I managed to kill two via baiting and spamming daze/blind status conditions on them, but when the first Druid cast Swarm of Insects, I was forced to retreat. Fast-forward to right before I finish act 2, I was level 8, and I began the slow grind towards the bottom. I had to retreat and obtain more camping supplies once between levels 3 and 7, but I had to go back both immediately after reaching level 8, and again right before fighting the final group of enemies in level 8 (a group that is technically optional, but meh). Between levels 8 and 14, I had to go buy more campfires every level, basically. I realize that this probably means that I was too low a level to really be doing the dungeon, but I am weird like that. I did get much better at using my abilities sparingly, though, and learned that priests are kinda op (their seals, specifically).

The final boss of the Paths insta-gibbed me though. One attack wiped out my backline, and another got everyone in the frontline. Fortunately for me, you can do a quest to avoid having to fight the boss, and still get the loot at the end. A nice set of superb weapons, a piece of armor, and a shield are the final items I got out of it, all in all a very rewarding experience, if a bit frustrating at times (I hate all specters, especially banshees.) When I do my next playthrough, I'm going to wait until I'm max level before I try to fight that boss though. I want to kill it at least once.

I probably finished the Paths way earlier than I was supposed to, though, because the rest of the game, even on hard, did not require a single reload (with the exception of the final boss, who took a single reload, and some significant abuse of revival scrolls). In fact, I barely even used spells on most mobs, with the exception of the bounties ( which are all rather difficult, although some are much worse than others).

In case anyone is interested, I played a Pale Elf Cipher, with my party consisting of Me, Durance, Eder, Kana Rua, Pallegina, and either Aloth or Hiravias (both of whom are exceptionally amusing characters, although Aloth is less obvious). Druids, priests, and chanters are probably my favorite classes as of right now, although I feel kinda bad about the way I abuse priest seals and traps to win fights I have no business fighting at my level.

Ciphers are amazing, although their roles seem to change over the course of the game (depending on how you play them, I suppose). They have high damage potential early game, especially with Mind Blades and the ability to spam spells every fight, without worrying about spells per rest. Towards the mid-game their spells seem to focus more on support and status infliction that damage, but I think once they get their 6th level spells, they have the highest damage output total due to the single target Disintegrate (which, I think, does the highest amount or Raw damage of anything in the game), and the Mind Wave that does extremely high crush damage to all enemies in a large AoE, on top of having a high chance to knock them all prone. The fact that one can use those spells as what amounts to encounter powers (because of the way focus works) is honestly a little bit silly.

Anyway, I loved the game, and will probably play through as a melee class next.

The only thing really have that I am somewhat disappointed by, and I think someone else mentioned this earlier in the thread, is the lack of any romantic sub-plots (with a single semi-exception). But, the romance options were always more Bioware's thing than Obsidian's, so I can't complain too much I suppose. I always enjoy them, though, so not having access to one made me a bit sad.

What did everyone else think? As positive a reaction as I had, or am I being blind to some things? Does everyone use companions, or do you create your own adventurers? Has anyone tried a solo run yet?

 

I don't like chill fog that much since slicken is the same level spell and in my opinion much superior. My preferred combo of spells is slicken + fireball + fireball.
Btw how do i quote people, show who i'm quoting and link to the comment i'm quoting?

 

Bottom right of the post.



The white circle is for multiple posts. Click it on each post you wish to quote.

 

Thanks! Feeling pretty foolish right now. :facepalm
I noticed you had the ability to like posts. When/how is that "unlocked"?

 

Need a certain number of posts...

And what priest is the most entertaining to play as? I thought of rolling a fire godborn Magran priest but the other gods also seem interesting. (especially Berath considering the first act)

 

I'm gonna try and get that freaking smirk off of John Sawyer's face by grabbing the Triple Crown SOLO achievement which will require me to have 0 life for the unforeseeable future.

Played on Hard, it's pretty easy with Eder having 170 deflect (Sword and Board) 120+ Fort, Will, Reflex and him being able to occupy 3 targets at the same time with my rogue archers/crossbow/arbalest on the back dealing 2x sneak attack per hit while my priest buffs crits per hit (+20% buff + 20% Rogue skill + 3% Pally + 0.10 crit damage multiplier + 1.25% item enchant damage).

Having Aloth with his broken Slicken 1st level skill really broke the game IMO. Thank god they nerfed it.

Try to min/max instead of role-play (1st playthrough was role play and it was damn hard) and you can cheese your way through the game. Will go for Path of the Damned first before trying the Triple Crown SOLO.

Easy way of killing the teleporting Specters, just switch to dual wield and smack em right in the pussy. Really, with 18 raw dex + bonuses (you can get it up to 25 or more with food, rest and item bonus) + Chanter skill that gives you 1.2 bonus aspd. You can pretty much decimate anything that stands in your way with Sneak Attacks.

Quick and easy for Grieving Mother is to give her that Unique blunderbuss item to have an insane focus recovery per shot (7 hit per shot).

Right now I'm playing with

Edar as tank (this guy can run through traps and not get hit)
Aloth as debuffer (SLICKEN, BLIND, PARALYZE)
Hireling 1 and 2 (Rogues. Either Arbalest, or Crossbows) Update: They nerfed Arbalest Damage. :<
PC: Rogue damage dealer
Durance.

End-Boss was cheese with 3 Rogues doing Finishing Blows. So was Od Nua.

Also, hint for max damage. Go for Death Godlike (1.2x damage against low endurance and the generic talent 1.2x damage for low endurance makes the game a dull boy)


EDIT: I guess the update fixed some sort of bug since my Edar no longer has 170 deflection... shit. It's down to 120.

 

Bit late, but here's 1.03 patch notes:

https://forums.obsidian.net/blog/7/entry-179-patch-notes-103/

 

So I know Con's basically a dump stat, but how are Resolve and Perception considered? Which would be best to pull points out of or should I leave both at 9?

 

Resolve seems to come up fairly frequently as a conversation option. I've only seen perception used a handful of times.

 

If you want access to 60% of locked dialogue options, you'll want to max resolve. If you're okay with opening up about half that, aim for 16 resolve. 14 intelligence and might will open up about 20% of dialogue options each. There are a few radom dex/perception dialogue options, but they're surprisingly rare. Constitution only comes into play during action sequences (like climbing) and is infrequent.

Constitution isn't that important. Class determines most of your health pool - an 18 con cipher has no hope of getting the same endurance and max health as even a 3 con fighter (and ciphers have no hope even with 18 con of staying around for long while under fire). The game's attribute system is a little broken in that way. Same goes for accuracy, getting all the str/dex you want won't make your wizard that great of a weapon user (and forget tanking).

In general, you should min/max as hard as you can. Go 18 con for a fighter unless you're planning to make them a damage dealing fighter instead of a tank (in which case, it's not too bad to go all the way down to 3 con just to max dex/might/perception, if you can afford having a weaker durability in your party).

My main character fighter in my second playthrough has a stat arrangement of something like... 5 might, 3 dex, 20 con, 16 perception, 14 int, 20 resolve (about that) - just so I can min/max those dialogue options - tank fighters do piss damage so I don't see the point of letting them have 10 dex/might.

I did a monk on my first playthrough - low resolve. I didn't miss having the resolve options locked, so I wouldn't worry about it if you want to do a class that shouldn't waste points in resolve.

Depending on the class, you can have 3 con or 3 resolve and it won't hurt you at all (it'll likely help you). Maxing int at the cost of resolve negates the Will loss from losing resolve and if you don't need concentration you're gold. Maxing might at the cost of con is another strategy, or dex at the cost of perception. Perception is pretty piss poor, you can dump it in most cases.

 

I've been busy with work, so I'm still on my first playthrough.

But damn, I love how easy it is to steal things in this game. And with the infinite stash, my rogue is just lifting every item possible. I'm not sure how you could advance in this game without a char that specializes in mechanics.

 

You could do it, but you will miss a few good items.

You need one character who can scout and steal for sure, but thankfully any class can kind of fill that role.

 

I'm loving Defiance Bay. The ammount of side-quests reminds me of Athkatla from BG2 and my OCD has reared it's head and comppeled my to finish every last quest there is before venturing forth with the main story line

Also, Grieving Mother reminds me of Planescape and its characters.

 

Started up another character, druid is very fun.

Step 1: Eder being wallish
Step 2: Turn into a bear
Step 3: Debuff essentially every enemy on the map
Step 4: Rogue causing havok behind the lines, Aloth lighting shit on fire, Paladin hitting things with heavy pieces of metal
Step 5: ??? (I think it involves fatal amounts of sunlight or thorny vines or lightning)
Step 6: Maul everything

 

So this is everything I hoped for and more. I want to second the Grimoir thing, that is awesome. Party system was a little confusing at first but you can get hang of it fast. I decided do an easy mode run because I didn't have too much time - conclusion: this game was not developed for beginners because those fucking zombie thingies were harder to kill then the fucking Rodrick and his Archmage.

So buying this game.

 

Yeah, the cities in Pillars are good. Almost perfect - but the content is just lacking a smidgen, like, if only they'd one more district... Or if the catacombs had connected to something grander, like the Beholder lair or the vampire den.

Twin Elms is interesting - Act 3 gets a huge difficulty spike too. Everything before Act 3 is piss easy, pretty much.