If you want to see all the story there is to see minus the combat and whatnot, there is a "story time mode" that makes enemies a lot easier and whatnot so you can focus on the plot. The actual description is: "Story Time mode is for players who are more interested in exploration and story development than combat. While story time is active, enemy composition of battles is the same as normal mode, but biased in the player's favor. Additionally, the party can carry an unlimited number of Camping Supplies."
It sounds perfect for you, and no, I'm not trying to call you a "lightweight casual". I just want you to see everything Pillars has to offer without being stuck due to repetitious combat.
@Ragemage
So easy combat that'll just get in the way of the narrative? No thanks. Look, if I have to indulge in combat then I want it to be interesting and challenging. Either the narrative 'and' the combat are both good and fun or one gets in the way of the other.
@AskWazzup
I like Dark Souls, it is a difficult game that is about learning patterns and using your skill to slay thy enemy but nearing the end of that game I also started to feel real bored with it all. Doesn't matter if hard difficulty makes the combat more challenging and forces me to use tactics a lot more; Cause the problem is still that there's too much of it and I get extremely stressed out and get anxiety attacks when a game just bombards me with fight for your life situations (which is why I had to drop the difficulty in Divinity OS right quick).
I want a challenge, life and death 'every damn time' is too much for my poor old heart.
Rantaholic:
I think there's a youtuber out there (TUN something?) who went into detail about it with POE's design. It's too balanced. It feels sterile. It feels like everything is constantly scaling to me and like there's no sense of achievement. And upping the difficulty so that every fight becomes a fight to the death would just stress me the fuck out. That's the same reason why I lowered the difficulty in Divinity Original Sin. When 'every' fight feels like it is about life and death regardless of what it is, regardless of my level, then I just start to stress and I feel anxiety building up every time I boot up the game. There's no sense of achievement there either because that is just one fight out of potential hundreds ahead of me.
Something about POE's combat simply doesn't sit right with me. It's been too long so I can't put my finger on it. I can't go into detail about it because I don't remember what exactly it is but I know that there are things that bugged the hell out of me. And the combat ain't the only thing I had a problem with. But again, too much time has passed, I've forgotten what exactly is annoying the hell out of me.
Another thing that bothered me about POE is what always bother me about open world RPG's with "the big quest hub"; It feels overwhelming and like a huge chore to through. I don't want to stumble onto an event that requires my attention and then be given 'yet another' quest when I'm already busy with 5 quests. And then stumble into 4 more quests as I'm trying to navigate through a place I've never been to. The first quest hub overwhelmed me like they always do but I managed to push through it and when the 2nd hub came along I was screaming on the inside to get the fuck out, turn around and go away, don't you dare go inside and stumble across 10 quests as you're just trying to find your way around the place.
I can't stand giant quest hubs. They too stress me out. It's completely subjective, of course.
Anyway, we're kind of digressing here. My point is that I don't like it when games go on for far too long. Most of the time I stumbled across main story content in POE I had to sit there and scratch my head and go "wuuut.... wait... Oh.... Oh you mean that thing? That kind happened before? What the fuck was that... With the uh... Guy.... And the things.... And uh.... Wut?"
There is such a thing as 'too' much side-content.
>_>
<_<
I mean, do I really have to bring up Bethesda's distraction-extravaganzas?
I really don't like games like that were the main story comes to a grinding halt constantly and then picks up again sometimes out of nowhere. POE is that kind of game. I loved the story when I could remember what the fuck it was about and when those parts finally started to pick up and connect with one another. But at the same time it is such a blur that I can hardly remember much of anything about POE's story.
A shorter story with less side-content means that they can put as much work into the content they 'do' have and make sure that it is as reactive as it can be, and isn't that what an RPG is all about? The gameworld reacting to your choices and actions?
It was a great RPG. But it had it's flaws. And I definetly like Diablo 2 for well ... being Diablo 2. I definetly would not want to see ALL RPGs made like Fallout 2. Diversity is the best thing in the world. But I definetly would agree, yeah, there should be MORE RPGs like Fallout 1 and 2.
I think there's a youtuber out there (TUN something?) who went into detail about it with POE's design. It's too balanced. It feels sterile. It feels like everything is constantly scaling to me and like there's no sense of achievement. And upping the difficulty so that every fight becomes a fight to the death would just stress me the fuck out. That's the same reason why I lowered the difficulty in Divinity Original Sin. When 'every' fight feels like it is about life and death regardless of what it is, regardless of my level, then I just start to stress and I feel anxiety building up every time I boot up the game. There's no sense of achievement there either because that is just one fight out of potential hundreds ahead of me.
Something about POE's combat simply doesn't sit right with me. It's been too long so I can't put my finger on it. I can't go into detail about it because I don't remember what exactly it is but I know that there are things that bugged the hell out of me. And the combat ain't the only thing I had a problem with. But again, too much time has passed, I've forgotten what exactly is annoying the hell out of me.
Another thing that bothered me about POE is what always bother me about open world RPG's with "the big quest hub"; It feels overwhelming and like a huge chore to through. I don't want to stumble onto an event that requires my attention and then be given 'yet another' quest when I'm already busy with 5 quests. And then stumble into 4 more quests as I'm trying to navigate through a place I've never been to. The first quest hub overwhelmed me like they always do but I managed to push through it and when the 2nd hub came along I was screaming on the inside to get the fuck out, turn around and go away, don't you dare go inside and stumble across 10 quests as you're just trying to find your way around the place.
I can't stand giant quest hubs. They too stress me out. It's completely subjective, of course.
Anyway, we're kind of digressing here. My point is that I don't like it when games go on for far too long. Most of the time I stumbled across main story content in POE I had to sit there and scratch my head and go "wuuut.... wait... Oh.... Oh you mean that thing? That kind happened before? What the fuck was that... With the uh... Guy.... And the things.... And uh.... Wut?"
There is such a thing as 'too' much side-content.
>_>
<_<
I mean, do I really have to bring up Bethesda's distraction-extravaganzas?
I really don't like games like that were the main story comes to a grinding halt constantly and then picks up again sometimes out of nowhere. POE is that kind of game. I loved the story when I could remember what the fuck it was about and when those parts finally started to pick up and connect with one another. But at the same time it is such a blur that I can hardly remember much of anything about POE's story.
A shorter story with less side-content means that they can put as much work into the content they 'do' have and make sure that it is as reactive as it can be, and isn't that what an RPG is all about? The gameworld reacting to your choices and actions?
Well, you are describing the start of the game, once you reach higher levels you feel much more powerful and can slay the formerly difficult foes with ease. Say you are level 12, with a full party, the wolves, spiders even those damned ghosts are EASY pickings, but you still have some, like Cean Gŵla, Pŵgra, vampires, Ogres that are difficult opponents. It may feel like all opponents are kind of equal and you are not achieving much for maybe the first 5-6 lvls ~, after that you clearly feel like there is a hierarchy that you are going up in. The ultimate of that is the boss of the endless paths.... Without full party of lvl 12, you have no chance against it in hard and you have to use all your resources in that fight, but once you bring it down, there is a huge sense of achievement, probably the biggest i ever got, because that was the most difficult boss fight i ever had (and what is crazy, that you don't even need to do it, but it's there for the picking).
If the quest hub making you anxious, well, don't pick up all the quests at once! You can even skip a good amount of them, because you can still recover that xp with bounty hunting later in game. The games does not require you to do any of the side quests, it's your choice what you choose to do and where you want to go. This is the same with Fallout and Fallout 2, so i don't see why this is bothering you so greatly, or are you not the fan of those games also? Just man up and ROLE PLAY your way out of these situations.
I can't help it, it is this ingrained idea that I have to go over everything with a fine tooth comb, leave no stone unturned. I usually leave actual roleplaying for playthroughs 'after' the first one (I have no idea 'what' I can roleplay in the first playthrough so I don't want to create a character with a preconception of what the game's content is going to be about only to end up disappointed that I can't roleplay the character I had in mind). I want to be able to give a full assessment of a game so I try to do as much as possible so that I don't miss out on anything. It's a flaw of mine that I can't stand but like I said I can't help. I subconsciously do it even when I try to tell myself not to do it I end up being lured by the siren call.
It isn't 'just' about the quests, it's about a lot of other things too, but whatever. We've digressed enough as it is. My point was that shorter games are better than longer games IMO and even though I'm not all too into Tyranny it does sound like a good idea to design it to be shorter but with more reactivity which allows for far more interesting subsequent playthroughs.
I have no idea 'what' I can roleplay in the first playthrough so I don't want to create a character with a preconception of what the game's content is going to be about only to end up disappointed that I can't roleplay the character I had in mind.
That seems like a bad idea to me. When I role play with a preconception of the storyline I end up playing a game like a checklist, just going through the motions making the correct choices when I know I'm supposed to, if I play blind however my character is confronted with difficult choices and he/she has as much difficulty choosing between them as they should in real life.
That seems like a bad idea to me. When I role play with a preconception of the storyline I end up playing a game like a checklist, just going through the motions making the correct choices when I know I'm supposed to, if I play blind however my character is confronted with difficult choices and he/she has as much difficulty choosing between them as they should in real life.
Again, totally opposite for me. Blind is when I feel like the game is like a checklist of things to do, 2nd playthrough is when I know what to expect and I know what kind of character I roleplay as. But shit, man. Just cause I have a vague idea of what to expect doesn't mean that I know exactly what the turnout will be. If it is a good RPG that I know I'll replay again then I'll even leave some stuff alone so that I can keep it fresh for a future playthrough.
For example, with FNV, I didn't go into The Thorn (not compete, I mean just walk into that interior cell) until my 8th or something playthrough.
Again, totally opposite for me. Blind is when I feel like the game is like a checklist of things to do, 2nd playthrough is when I know what to expect and I know what kind of character I roleplay as. But shit, man. Just cause I have a vague idea of what to expect doesn't mean that I know exactly what the turnout will be. If it is a good RPG that I know I'll replay again then I'll even leave some stuff alone so that I can keep it fresh for a future playthrough.
For example, with FNV, I didn't go into The Thorn (not compete, I mean just walk into that interior cell) until my 8th or something playthrough.
After some thought, I feel like i have been a very similar player to you in the recent past, as the points you outlined have also in one time or another bugged me. However i'm trying to free myself from those shackles and try out various methods of playing. So much so, that i even thought about making a thread "the way you play a video rpg game" (or some such title) which would explore how people experience and interact with the game and maybe would provide some interesting ideas for people to share with each other.
I have become a more spontaneous player, in that i'm more lenient in accepting consequences and changes that i might not have expected or wanted. Like paying a ransom, when in the past i would try any method that would make my char avoid being backed down.
So much so, that i even thought about making a thread "the way you play a video rpg game" (or some such title) which would explore how people experience and interact with the game and maybe would provide some interesting ideas for people to share with each other
That would be a very interesting thread. I thought about something like this for some time as well.
I personnally do nto really roleplay during my first playthrough, or at least create a role before playing, since the choices in the game usually ends being so restrictive that my character ends up not making much sense. I simply make some choices as I go along and attempt to create a personnality around those (with variable success). Second playthrough is where it's at for me.
Also, do you people LARP in the Codex sense of the word?
Well Paradox is working on it so you can already count out it not being good--they're going to flood it with 56 DLC packs just so that you can get what should've been in the game in the first place.
Well Paradox is working on it so you can already count out it not being good--they're going to flood it with 56 DLC packs just so that you can get what should've been in the game in the first place.
Paradox isn't working on it at all, they're just publishing it. Obsidian's doing all the work. Just like Pillars of Eternity, that was also published by Paradox but they had nothing to do with it. Pillars of Eternity just had 2 expansion packs and that's it. I imagine it will be the same with Tyranny if it has DLC at all.
Paradox isn't working on it at all, they're just publishing it. Obsidian's doing all the work. Just like Pillars of Eternity, that was also published by Paradox but they had nothing to do with it. Pillars of Eternity just had 2 expansion packs and that's it. I imagine it will be the same with Tyranny if it has DLC at all.
Well Paradox is working on it so you can already count out it not being good--they're going to flood it with 56 DLC packs just so that you can get what should've been in the game in the first place.
Well look at it this way. I load up vanilla CK2 and I can't play as muslims, can't play as indians, nomadis, republics, fuck I can play like 1/3 of the world or less without DLC. But their DLC isn't in an ultimate edition or anything. It's just $150 of raw content. Now imagine playing Tyranny with this BS: You're creating your character, and then "You need the [bla bla bla] DLC to play as a mage!" I'm just scared that it'll be like that
Well look at it this way. I load up vanilla CK2 and I can't play as muslims, can't play as indians, nomadis, republics, fuck I can play like 1/3 of the world or less without DLC. But their DLC isn't in an ultimate edition or anything. It's just $150 of raw content. Now imagine playing Tyranny with this BS: You're creating your character, and then "You need the [bla bla bla] DLC to play as a mage!" I'm just scared that it'll be like that
