The one move, one action point system makes so that you pretty much have to spend your action point on attacking. Since most battles are over within two "rounds", if you spend one action on casting a debuff or a buff, that will not really have any effect on the outcome. What point is there to adding bleeding effect for 3 round when not a single battle so far has lasted more than 3 round in total and often less?
I won't get a really good go at the game until next weekend. But can you really only spend one action per round? I played the first, introductory battle, and just assumed my character would get more action points later (like in Fallout and Arcanum). So you can't, say, attack, move, and use a healing item all in one round with a fast character?
I am (guessing) maybe two thirds into the game, at least, maybe more as I am about 75% from the level cap and I still have one movement and one action point. I doubt that will change.
There are a few skills that let you attack with your movement speed, but some skills I've chosen I have never even used once since they use my only action point, like summoning a simulacra that does 0 damage but will soak up a hit and make your other attacks hit better. So I spend my only action point to make my attack hit better, but spending it I can no longer hit? This might be worth it if all your other guys are attacking that same opponent, but that is rarely the case. Especially since the pacing is kinda bad and you frequently get opponents either hidden behind character sprites so you cannot click attack on them, or blocked because there are already people standing close to them so there is no more room. After a while I changed so at least one, but often two, of my four chars always use ranged weapons to make sure I don't waste an action point doing nothing because they can't reach any opponent.
It was a star shaped organic thing with a string that could be worn as a belt or as an eyepatch in scripted dialogue. I was trying it on regularly in new areas for a while since it said that it made the world look beautiful and I was thinking maybe I would find something otherwise hidden by using it. After a while it got tedious and I sold it to a vendor. Still haven't been able to shrug of that idea though, heh..
About a certain area you reach after the initial town and something that has been nagging me for some time now..
There is a glowing alcove in the valley of dead tombs which has a herder's crook in it. It says that I might have better luck taking the crook if it's owner were with me. I tried googling it but couldn't find anything on the generic, bland walkthroughs and it's been nagging me since! I hate (and love!) mysteries like this and want it solved!
Aha, thanks! Didn't use him at all in this playthrough. That's one of the good and bad things about NPCs that don't level with you, if you don't use them in the beginning, you will never use them. I actually kept one anyways, the most useless NPC in the game, because or RP reasons. Couldn't afford two slots to be used for under-leveled chars. Makes it more interresting to do another playthrough using other NPCs though!
it's a very good thing that they don't level with you. it's a respectable hardcore feature.
i unexpetedly lost 2 npc's due to story developments in my playthrough and i replaced them. the two newcomers, at tier 1 technically weren't useless and gained some strength relatively quickly, but it didn't matter because
my observant /focused on perception and lore/ nano who breathes shadow /chose stealth to keep her out of the way/ obliterates everything in one turn from unbreakable invisibility with pumped irresistible aoe spell-backstabs...it's fun for a very short time and one of the reasons why i dislike the game
nasty spoilers about losing NPCs (in short: don't worry about it):
- you can permanently lose erritis if you send him away (i did it just to experiment with matkina in the bloom because it was her home supposedly) after his quest has progressed after a certain point. i don't know if the way i did his quest had a bad outcome and if there was a better solution, but that's what it looked like. i didn't know that i won't be getting him back and i went far enough without him to lose the right autosaves. i was very saddened because all unequipped artifacts, ornaments and weapons i had were with him, half of it better than what i was left with (i experimented with equipment a bit)...but i just accepted it and went on. - you can permanently involuntarily lose rhin if you make some bad moral choices and at a specific point in the main questline she will say that she can't take it any more and that you must enable her to go home. i can't describe to you how much i hate rhin and how much she sucks as a follower even after predictably gaining the single cheesy ability that she has. i don't know if this is fully correct and if there's an option to have her with you in the end but it only makes sense that there is
nasty spoilers about losing NPCs (in short: don't worry about it):
- you can permanently lose erritis if you send him away (i did it just to experiment with matkina in the bloom because it was her home supposedly) after his quest has progressed after a certain point. i don't know if the way i did his quest had a bad outcome and if there was a better solution, but that's what it looked like. i didn't know that i won't be getting him back and i went far enough without him to lose the right autosaves. i was very saddened because all unequipped artifacts, ornaments and weapons i had were with him, half of it better than what i was left with (i experimented with equipment a bit)...but i just accepted it and went on. - you can permanently involuntarily lose rhin if you make some bad moral choices and at a specific point in the main questline she will say that she can't take it any more and that you must enable her to go home. i can't describe to you how much i hate rhin and how much she sucks as a follower even after predictably gaining the single cheesy ability that she has. i don't know if this is fully correct and if there's an option to have her with you in the end but it only makes sense that there is
Yupp, my post above about keeping one useless NPC was about Rhin as well. I got her very late, mainchar was around tier 3 I believe, and I had read briefly about her cheese skill. So first I tried her a bit since the rest of my team by then was strong enough to take out anything the game threw at me, but then I actually started to care for the little rascal. I am just done with ascension so I guess I am closing in on the end-game and she still haven't reached tier 3. I have kept all except 2 cyphers IIRC, just for that one, huge chesse bomb I intended to unleash on the endgame. I had planned to use all +1 stat cyphers with her then dump her, but since I like no other NPC anyways (I really dislike all, including Aligern who's supposed to the "good guy cleric dude" and Erritis "Mr Goody Two Shoes Paladin") I had planned to keep her. Matinka is the only NPC I don't dislike so far, but I haven't progressed Erritis or Callistege very far though, will keep them for another playthrough. Tybir is a douchebag and I can't see how any mainchar would ever trust him after you progress his quest. I met the guy in the mutant enclave in the Bloom where you can send Rhin away but I decided not to. Same with the time gate woman in Sagus, the lil'brat and I kept together. Based on your post I guess that will reach an end sooner or later then, but let's see.
I'll have more to say once I have completed the game, but this thought has occured to me. The lack of "trash mobs" means there isn't really opportunity to learn effective stratagies, so, when a fight does break out it is made even more difficult.
Wow! - I can't believe that after all the talk and anticipation about this game, this thread just died upon its release!
Personally, I think the game is FANTASTIC so far - the setting is stunning and mystifying, the story is very engaging, and the characters are genuinely interesting. Sure, the game may not be for everyone, but that was true of the original PS:T as well.
I do agree with what seems to be the one consensus criticism of the game, which is that the combat leaves a fair bit to be desired (it certainly pales in comparison to the combat in Divinity:OS, which is currently the standard for any turn-based games IMO). But even then, the game does compensate somewhat by
not only making your character revivable, but also offering ways to actually advance the story when you're killed.
Besides, even playing as a glaive, I still look for as many non-combat ways to resolve situations as possible, and feel quite a sense of satisfaction (and perhaps relief as well) every time that I find one.
I've actually been waiting a bit to play it...I decided to try to finally get all the way Pillars of Eternity. TToN is next up on my list, unless PSTEE arrives before I get to it!
Wow! - I can't believe that after all the talk and anticipation about this game, this thread just died upon its release!
I fully agree. I've visited their own forums and they aren't as active as I had imagined them to be either. It's a new world now vs 15 years ago. Due to the higher number of new titles, fewer ppl have time and energy to invest in any new game enough to create a massive, ongoing community that lives on for a long time. Well, that's my theory anyways.
Kinda disappointed not more ppl joined this thread though, would have been great to read more ppl's insights and experiences. In the end it was just me and @bob_veng and we took it to PMs instead.
fully agree. I've visited their own forums and they aren't as active as I had imagined them to be either.
I may have used a powerful Tidal Surge to keep things quiet, after inXile's little community management hiccups.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Let there be praising of Torment: Tides of Numenera!
Gold Tide raised a tiny amount.
Didn't have to fight anyone or anything throughout the entire game. This alone is enough for me to anoint Torment: Tides of Numenera as rightful heir of Planescape: Torment's regal bloodline. And there's much more to Torment than that.
It was a star shaped organic thing with a string that could be worn as a belt or as an eyepatch in scripted dialogue. I was trying it on regularly in new areas for a while since it said that it made the world look beautiful and I was thinking maybe I would find something otherwise hidden by using it. After a while it got tedious and I sold it to a vendor. Still haven't been able to shrug of that idea though, heh..
I've encountered at least two oddities that can be interacted with, including the one that you describe here. However, I'm fairly certain that there are no practical uses for oddities - a few can be interacted with, but it only seems to be for "s's and g's" and not any sort of quest development, meaning that you shouldn't be missing out on anything useful and/or quest-related by selling them.
However, there IS at least one oddity I've come across that does appear to give some sort of foreshadowing:
a mirror that's supposed to show the face of the user's father, but when you look into it, it only shows you're own face.
I'm going to hold out for the next patch, which will add some additional content. I'm kind of itching to get started on it now, but still have a good chunk of Pillars of Eternity to get through (I swore to myself I wouldn't start anything else before beating PoE with the expansions...). Curious to hear if the banters have actually increased. The bit I did play of Torment seemed oddly quiet.
Has anyone played the game with the first patch? In the release version, I counted about 10 banters between party members in a full playthrough. The patch notes state that party members should banter more now.
I do find it a bit irksome that this game would actually need patches after it spent nearly FIVE YEARS in development.
Has anyone played the game with the first patch? In the release version, I counted about 10 banters between party members in a full playthrough. The patch notes state that party members should banter more now.
Has anyone played the game with the first patch? In the release version, I counted about 10 banters between party members in a full playthrough. The patch notes state that party members should banter more now.
I do find it a bit irksome that this game would actually need patches after it spent nearly FIVE YEARS in development.
Point of order: It's been four years. The kickstarter campaign started in March 2013.
This doesn't actually change the thrust of your point in any measurable way and is just me being pedantic.
Has anyone played the game with the first patch? In the release version, I counted about 10 banters between party members in a full playthrough. The patch notes state that party members should banter more now.
i had 1 (one) banter
Only ONE?! o_O Ouch. I was being generous. I think I saw ~8 banters.
Still haven't finished the game, I was at the end though before I put it on hold, and even though I didn't keep count I am sure I had no more than 5. Probably even fewer since I can only really remember one on the top of my head.
On top of this the actual interaction with the NPCs are surprisingly shallow*. Sure, they have some background stories to tell, but it was obviously not in focus during the development. One the one hand I would have liked more depth, but on the other hand I kinda like it that not all NPCs are special snowflakes. I haven't tried all NPCs though and one of them I haven't used yet really do feel like a snowflake.
Edit: "shallow" might be a a bit too negative of a word to properly describe the game dialogues.
Off-topic comparison:
I mean, I've just replayed Mass Effect 1 and 3 of your 6 companions are like semi-royalty with oediplus complex: Wrex is like a krogan leader and son of warlord whom he killed, Liara is the daughter of a high matriarch who went rogue and we kill and Talia is the daughter of a high commander/council member in the quarion fleet. Almost makes you miss a couple of regular grunts, hehe.. IMHO both Kaidan and Ashley more balanced characters, but of course Garrus is the best written of them all.
Comments
frankly...
@Skatan
nope, don't remember that one
i unexpetedly lost 2 npc's due to story developments in my playthrough and i replaced them. the two newcomers, at tier 1 technically weren't useless and gained some strength relatively quickly, but it didn't matter because
nasty spoilers about losing NPCs (in short: don't worry about it):
- you can permanently involuntarily lose rhin if you make some bad moral choices and at a specific point in the main questline she will say that she can't take it any more and that you must enable her to go home. i can't describe to you how much i hate rhin and how much she sucks as a follower even after predictably gaining the single cheesy ability that she has. i don't know if this is fully correct and if there's an option to have her with you in the end but it only makes sense that there is
Yupp, my post above about keeping one useless NPC was about Rhin as well. I got her very late, mainchar was around tier 3 I believe, and I had read briefly about her cheese skill. So first I tried her a bit since the rest of my team by then was strong enough to take out anything the game threw at me, but then I actually started to care for the little rascal. I am just done with ascension so I guess I am closing in on the end-game and she still haven't reached tier 3. I have kept all except 2 cyphers IIRC, just for that one, huge chesse bomb I intended to unleash on the endgame. I had planned to use all +1 stat cyphers with her then dump her, but since I like no other NPC anyways (I really dislike all, including Aligern who's supposed to the "good guy cleric dude" and Erritis "Mr Goody Two Shoes Paladin") I had planned to keep her. Matinka is the only NPC I don't dislike so far, but I haven't progressed Erritis or Callistege very far though, will keep them for another playthrough. Tybir is a douchebag and I can't see how any mainchar would ever trust him after you progress his quest. I met the guy in the mutant enclave in the Bloom where you can send Rhin away but I decided not to. Same with the time gate woman in Sagus, the lil'brat and I kept together. Based on your post I guess that will reach an end sooner or later then, but let's see.
Wow! - I can't believe that after all the talk and anticipation about this game, this thread just died upon its release!
Personally, I think the game is FANTASTIC so far - the setting is stunning and mystifying, the story is very engaging, and the characters are genuinely interesting. Sure, the game may not be for everyone, but that was true of the original PS:T as well.
I do agree with what seems to be the one consensus criticism of the game, which is that the combat leaves a fair bit to be desired (it certainly pales in comparison to the combat in Divinity:OS, which is currently the standard for any turn-based games IMO). But even then, the game does compensate somewhat by
Kinda disappointed not more ppl joined this thread though, would have been great to read more ppl's insights and experiences. In the end it was just me and @bob_veng and we took it to PMs instead.
I may have used a powerful Tidal Surge to keep things quiet, after inXile's little community management hiccups.Sorry for the inconvenience.
Let there be praising of Torment: Tides of Numenera!
Gold Tide raised a tiny amount.
Didn't have to fight anyone or anything throughout the entire game.This alone is enough for me to anoint Torment: Tides of Numenera as rightful heir of Planescape: Torment's regal bloodline.
And there's much more to Torment than that.
However, there IS at least one oddity I've come across that does appear to give some sort of foreshadowing:
This doesn't actually change the thrust of your point in any measurable way and is just me being pedantic.
On top of this the actual interaction with the NPCs are surprisingly shallow*. Sure, they have some background stories to tell, but it was obviously not in focus during the development. One the one hand I would have liked more depth, but on the other hand I kinda like it that not all NPCs are special snowflakes. I haven't tried all NPCs though and one of them I haven't used yet really do feel like a snowflake.
Edit: "shallow" might be a a bit too negative of a word to properly describe the game dialogues.
Off-topic comparison: