Pillars of Eternity II - Exploring Neketaka

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Pillars of Eternity II's latest update explores the city of Neketaka.

Update #38 - Exploring Neketaka

Hello everyone! We hope you're ready to do a bit of exploring. Bobby Null, Lead Designer on Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, will be our guide for a tour of Neketaka, the biggest city in the Deadfire. Bobby will not only show off Neketaka's different neighborhoods, but also some new features of the city. Come see what awaits you when you make your own journey to the Deadfire.

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Titicaca?
 
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I like that you can steal shop inventory and that the inventory has been physically realised. Also what rjshae said about magic outside of combat gets a thumbs up from me.
 
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Looks good. I'm currently in the process of starting my second playthrough of the first game. The first time I went in blind, but this time I figured I might as well make an informed decision on class and attributes for the MC. I'm having a really hard time choosing though, any tips on a fun and powerful build?
 
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I like the big city…reminds me of Baldur's Gate 2. I would say to try and make as big a city as possible. It would be awesome to have a ton of quests to do in the city, and make plenty of secret underground areas and dungeons in the city as well.

And one other thing, I would say to limit those random encounters where it goes into "storybook mode". Those would eventually get highly annoying if we have to experience those every time we transition to different parts of the city…just don't go overboard with those please. Or make an option available to skip them. Those little storybook bits could quickly kill immersion and be jarring to the game play, in my opinion anyway.
 
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I'm having a really hard time choosing though, any tips on a fun and powerful build?

Powerful - Try having 6 Moon Godlikes. Chanters/Ciphers/Druids are god-tier classes.

Fun - Fire Godlike Barbarian solo. I'll probably do that on my next play-through.
 
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Looks good. I'm currently in the process of starting my second playthrough of the first game. The first time I went in blind, but this time I figured I might as well make an informed decision on class and attributes for the MC. I'm having a really hard time choosing though, any tips on a fun and powerful build?

For me, the druid class kicked arse. They have a lot of offense/AoE spells and their shifted form can do considerable damage (16-25), especially when you take some wildstrike talents. Good with high Mig, Int, and Res stats. Tastes vary, of course. You could always just recruit Hiravias and then boost his Mig/Int with gear.
 
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Hopefully the druid class is nerfed to some degree in PoE 2; Hiravias dealing out 200+ dmg nonstop in shapeshifted form while simultaneously AoE stunning was ridiculous.

Regarding the comments about out-of-combat casting, you could cast certain spells outside of combat in PoE 1 as well (such as slicken), so the above video doesn't prove much.
 
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I'd say it is all more about party composition in PoE. This isn't really a game with "builds" thanks to the laughable skill system. You unlock all abilities as you level up so there isn't really too much choice where you need to agonize over taking your character in a certain direction.

Yes, there is some picking & choosing of skills at levelup but it is not that vital. With casters of the same class in your party, you can also cross-teach each other the skills/spells so instead of two choices at levelup, you get four effectively.

Druid is definitely a good character class but if you plan on making Hiravias a permanent party member then it is kind of redundant.
The least redundant is probably a pure rogue since you will (usually) not get access to a rogue for a very long time.

If you have played the game before and if there is a party member that you can not stand at all then that is probably the role I would try to fill with my MC.
If I were to play again (I won't ;) ), I might go for a cleric since I really did not like the -IMO- obnoxious Durance very much. Unless you are a masochist, you do need a healer though so that's what I would do then but YMMV.

Anyway, TLDR = Especially when replaying and having a rough idea at which points in the game you will receive access to which party members and their respective classes, I'd suggest to focus on party composition and not "builds" (of which there is effectively zero variety anyway).
 
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Looks good. I'm currently in the process of starting my second playthrough of the first game. The first time I went in blind, but this time I figured I might as well make an informed decision on class and attributes for the MC. I'm having a really hard time choosing though, any tips on a fun and powerful build?

Cipher or Druid, probably. I'd go with first, open up with stealth+blunderbuss for quick high damage/focus gain, then jump/escape and attack in close with dual wield, while distracted by tank/Eder.
Also can serve as decent rogue ( which you only gain as companion, very later on).
 
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The least redundant is probably a pure rogue since you will (usually) not get access to a rogue for a very long time.
Actually, you can make a level 1 rogue as soon as you arrive at Gilded Vale in the Inn. I've done this in two of my runs through the game. If you mean getting access to actual npc rogue content via the Devil of Caroc, then I agree - that's not possible until early White March Part 1 unfortunately.

I've played Fighter, Wizard and Priest in my three times through the game, as well as a Rogue for a bit in my first failed attempt at the triple crown. I'd argue the Rogue is the melee powerhouse of the game and is quite fun to play with and would make a good role-playing choice if you haven't sided with House Doemenal previously.

As far as redundancy is concerned, if one is only interested in party balance class wise, (i.e building a traditional party) then what you say is true. However, if a player wants to experiment and enjoy the tactical enhancements/differences which can come with having more than one class type, then this is a non issue really. I had two priests in my Path of the Damned run for instance which created some very fun dynamics compared to my previous games.
 
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I'd argue the Rogue is the melee powerhouse of the game and is quite fun to play with and would make a good role-playing choice if you haven't sided with House Doemenal previously.

I agree about the rogue in that it is tactically one of the more interesting and versatile combat classes. My rogue character was an archer, because of old D&D habits, but in retrospect a melee rogue would have been better. It seems like the class adopted a number of the features of the DA:O rogue.
 
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I like the area map.

Neketaka.png
 
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Yes, an interesting layout for a city. It kind of cries out for seamless exploration across bridges, through alleyways, journeying upward as you see landmarks you passed fade into the distance below you. But that won't happen with load screens :(
 
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That would be very nice, but you're probably right. A shame though, as it wouldn't be much of a technical hurdle these days to stream load the different areas as you move around.
 
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They flashed another map in the video, but it was so quick it was difficult to make out much detail. Sounds like there will be more though.
 
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I think when I get back home from holidays I will replay again the first one.
 
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