PoE Tips for a new starter ?

Pillars of Eternity

Alrik Fassbauer

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Hello everyone,

I started POE (perhaps I should have named my character Edgar ?) a few days ago …

I really like the Initial Setting of People coming forth in a Caravan … I've never seen that before.

I didn't do anything yet other than listening to the Initial speech of the treck leader …

So, what you say, what should I look after without Spoilers ?
For example, are there stats I should pay especially Attention to ? Or does the game's expierience change with taking emphasis on different stats ?

As usually, I started what I think is called an elven ranger … if possible, I always do so in games.

Alrik
 
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There are NPCs that have golden symbols or names in town. Don't talk to them, they're basically rewards for people who paid more in the kickstarter, just ignore those.
 
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Through my quarter delirium of my heaviest flu since 10 years or so I was playing the very first part of it …

Getting out of the first dungeon - I'm not even at Goldentown yet ! - leaves me dazed and confused with too many questions and no answers at all.

And, it gives me a few teachings by Obsidian : "Again, like always in games, your hero is the sole survivor of a whole party. And these temporary companions were only plot devices, you'd better forget them (and their deaths) quickly."

Obsidian ? Really ? You did do that stunt ? Draw that old, battered and worn-out card again "you are the only survivor" AGAIN ?

I'm very didappointed. As soon as my last companion had died, I lost interest. Far too many deaths were on my way anyway.

I'm going to play more through it, but I was so much delighted to see that my character was NOT NOT NOT a hero, but rather a SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE member of a caravan … And I had found it new and refreshing if "nothing special had happened. You reach Goldtown and the caravan disbands."

I'm so much utterly disapponted that AGAIN I have to get through everything ALONE …


Yes, I do know that there might be other companions, but I'm speaking of the part I played until now …
 
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It might please you to hear that you aren't really a hero, really depends what choices you make in the game.

You might be less please to hear that this is not a happy game, the Dyrwood is a super bleak place (especially Gilded Vale, the first town you get to…just outch).

The game plot is more of a philosophical debate than something about grand heroics too.
 
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I'd recommend sticking it out for the first act. If you're still not feeling it by then, go ahead and give it up. The first act is arguably the best part of the game, especially Raedric's Hold.

You'll also quickly find new companions once you get to Gilded Vale and surrounding areas, who are much more interesting than the tutorial companions you get in the caravan.
 
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@Alrik Fassbauer;

In the first town (with the giant dead tree) there is one of the kickstarter gold named people you should pay attention to. Hes wearing shiny plate armor. Kill him and it drops :)
About the only useful Kickstarter NPC in the game.
 
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You've got to meet Grieving Mother!
 
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I'd have to agree that the beginning is actually the strong part of this particular game. Not that the rest totally sucks, but it certainly dropped a bit in quality, at least in my opinion. Worth finishing, though.
 
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Hey Alrik

Glad to hear you're trying to get into Pillars of Eternity mate. Take heart in the fact that you don't have to go very far until you meet your first companions - you don't have to go it alone for very long. Eder and Aloth are available quite quickly and if you've enough funds accumulated, you can also create another character in the Gilded Vale Inn to help you get ahead in the early part of the game. In my case for my first play-through I created a rogue to assist my main fighter, which I know other players have done too.

From my observations reading your posts over the years, personality wise I think you'll enjoy Kana when you meet him. He has a jovial optimism and scholarly enthusiasm about the world and its inhabitants. He is useful from distance with his arquebus but can also switch to melee in a fix. For great writing and character based story-telling I also echo Zloth's call to do your best to meet Grieving Mother in Dyrford.

Apart from this, try to ensure you cover most of the key bases (melee/damage dealer/buffs/magic) for party balance. If you've played any D&D and Infinity Engine games you'll know what I mean. I'd recommend getting to around level 4 before heading to Raedric's Hold - there are many surrounding maps to explore and quests to help achieve this. There's also the "starter dungeon" as like to call it which you can safely start in Gilded Vale with Aloth and Eder.

Anyway, hope this helps. Hopefully you're enjoying the soundtrack too - do your best to make it to Ansolg's Compass to the south at some point as the theme there is quite wonderful. :)
 
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Thanks. I don't feel ill anymore, so I'll go on. My last impression was at least to some part written under influence of what I had called above "quater flu delirium".

But no matter what, i'm still angry that Obsidian decided that NO= companion from the original caravan should survive. This smelles far too much like "plot device" for me. It's a think I will always have in the back of my mind when looking at future Obsidian games : That they treat NPCs whom one grows fond of and might even manage to develop some kind of connection to gets thrown down the cliff by some writers who thought who were clever doing so.

Having just written a short story of some sort of town major being able to persuade tghe spirits of the dead of a small town to be friendly to the town's inhabitants, help them against wolves, undeads and other dangers and even do a fun fair for them, I have a very strong idea of how NPCs should be treated in a given setting - and at least not as if everything happening to them was screaming "plot device" a mile or so afar.
 
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The caravan characters dying isn't the plot device actually. The plot device is why you didn't die along with them.

In fact, you could have gotten them killed earlier in the intro, health reach 0 = permadeath in this game. Unless you take the maimed option but that doesn't remove entirely the permadeath feature, just post-pone it.
 
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I just noticed that I never noticed or realized that : What rules set is Pillars Of Eternity actually using ?
 
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Thanks.
 
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Did you finish the game? Did you enjoy it?

I finally finished it right before POE2 came out ... and enjoyed it so much started a new game with a druid, my first was a ranger, for POE2.
 
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I'm in thqat Gold Village now … First biger town after the start ...
My SWTOR guild draws a lot of time from me, plus, I really enjoy to play King's Bounty & Armored Princess these days. It's so much bright & colourful …
 
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Besides, I only want to play this game at night, because its graphics are so dark that i just can't see a thing at daylight.
And during the week I just don't want to dig myself into this rather heavy thing after work, when I'm exhausted and rather want to relax a bit.
 
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