Pillars of Eternity: which Challenge mode are you most excited for?
SmilingSword
Member Posts: 827
Yeah so Pillars has 3 very interesting Challenge modes to choose from, they can in fact be used in tandem.
This seems to be the perfect excuse to power game to my hearts content XD
Challenge Modes descriptions:
Pillars of Eternity features three game modes: Trial by Iron, Expert Mode, and Path of the Damned, that players seeking extra challenge can opt-into at the beginning of each game. All three modes are optional and can be combined together in any combination on top of the standard difficulty settings.
Expert Mode:
Enable more punitive and demanding game-play elements, in and out of combat, including all the individual options above. The mode is similar to Fallout: New Vegas' Hardcore Mode, Expert Mode.[7] Because it disables all of the common ease-of-use "helper" information, it is regarded by some players as the most realistic way to play.
Trial of Iron:
The player has one save game that persists for the entire campaign... or until player characters die.[7] Trial of Iron save games are distinguished with metal textures instead of wood.[8] when you quit your current state is automatically saved and you can re-enter that saved game to continue playing. However, if your party dies, the game ends and your save is deleted — you must begin a new Trials of Iron game.[7]
The mode is similar to Temple of Elemental Evil's Ironman Mode. It is likely a wink to classic CRPGs of the 80s, intended to restricting any reloads to counteract regrettable decisions, thus increase game difficulty, making it harder for players to abuse save/load to get the results they like also known as Save Scumming.
Path of the Damned:
is a spiritual successor to Icewind Dale's Heart of Fury mode. In the encounters, individual combatants will be turned on and off based on the level of difficulty. In an area on Easy, maybe casters are replaced with weak melee enemies. On Hard, maybe the casters are augmented by a tough melee enemy or two. With Path of the Damned, that goes out the window. All enemies from all levels of difficulty are enabled and the combat mechanics are amplified to make battles much more brutal for everyone involved.
all descriptions pulled from:
http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Mode
This seems to be the perfect excuse to power game to my hearts content XD
Challenge Modes descriptions:
Pillars of Eternity features three game modes: Trial by Iron, Expert Mode, and Path of the Damned, that players seeking extra challenge can opt-into at the beginning of each game. All three modes are optional and can be combined together in any combination on top of the standard difficulty settings.
Expert Mode:
Enable more punitive and demanding game-play elements, in and out of combat, including all the individual options above. The mode is similar to Fallout: New Vegas' Hardcore Mode, Expert Mode.[7] Because it disables all of the common ease-of-use "helper" information, it is regarded by some players as the most realistic way to play.
Trial of Iron:
The player has one save game that persists for the entire campaign... or until player characters die.[7] Trial of Iron save games are distinguished with metal textures instead of wood.[8] when you quit your current state is automatically saved and you can re-enter that saved game to continue playing. However, if your party dies, the game ends and your save is deleted — you must begin a new Trials of Iron game.[7]
The mode is similar to Temple of Elemental Evil's Ironman Mode. It is likely a wink to classic CRPGs of the 80s, intended to restricting any reloads to counteract regrettable decisions, thus increase game difficulty, making it harder for players to abuse save/load to get the results they like also known as Save Scumming.
Path of the Damned:
is a spiritual successor to Icewind Dale's Heart of Fury mode. In the encounters, individual combatants will be turned on and off based on the level of difficulty. In an area on Easy, maybe casters are replaced with weak melee enemies. On Hard, maybe the casters are augmented by a tough melee enemy or two. With Path of the Damned, that goes out the window. All enemies from all levels of difficulty are enabled and the combat mechanics are amplified to make battles much more brutal for everyone involved.
all descriptions pulled from:
http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Mode
- Pillars of Eternity: which Challenge mode are you most excited for?28 votes
- Expert Mode7.14%
- Trial of Iron17.86%
- Path of the Damned3.57%
- Combo of two of the above21.43%
- Combo of all three7.14%
- None of the above42.86%
2
Comments
Could never do the Iron man mode stuff, losing a character after 50+ hrs is way too hardcore for me, but a tactical challenge i can try over and over till i figure out the perfect way too complete it sounds like a alot of fun.
To me, it's the most exiting of the challenges.
But for my first playthrough, I'm going to play just on a hard difficulty, without any additional mode.
I might dabble with the harder options for a second playthrough
TBH I'm not really that excited about any of them. Expert disables ease of use features I want, so I'll probably never play with it on. Ironman can be really fun, but I'll leave that and PotD until I've mastered the game. My first playthrough will be with just plain old hard difficulty.
With the Trial of Iron mode, does the game end when only your main character losts all Endurance during a fight or when all your party members do so?
Also, does this mode mean a permadeath: i.e. when a character loses all his Health (not Endurance, but Health), he's dead and you should take a new companion or make a new character in a tavern?
As for the second I'm pretty sure that's a setting not related to difficulty. Game options, maim characters before death or something.
As for the main topic, I wouldn't dream of playing on expert mode. Figuring out the AoE of 9001 spells with this and that int score is unreal. I can spend 10 seconds fine-tuning my aim with the reticule on - I would be outright calculating it if I couldn't see it.
I believe they did not implement adaptative enemies scaling with your lvl or event or whatever.
I bet the game becomes much easier after a couple of playthroughs.
If so this will probably have an impact on the replayability because even if you can still decide to face a difficult challenge on purpose, many other areas will just become "messenger" quests subject to boredom.
Obviously there's no visual aid in BG, but there's very few spells to keep track of, and Fireball for example has travel time.
PotD+ToI is scary as hell. An estimated 95% chance to win is always viewed as an estimated 5% chance to lose
ToI can be (and has already been) cheated and abused so again not the winner for me.
I see those two things as a kind of helpers used to improve your mastery of the game but perhaps this is more a tool than a public challenge.
PotD is different. I have always been fond of this type of feature even though I clearly prefer a challenge based on an enhanced AI.
I suppose we cannot have everything. If the paradigm is "who gives the first hard punch wins the fight", so be it, I am glad to face the challenge anyway.
There is a lot of strategy to develop in order to make sure you can reproduce and control a fight evolution.
Anyway... yeah, long story short I find Ironman to be a bit of a rush, and it forces me to play a tighter tactical game with better micromanagement.