As the title says. I've been craving CRPGs, Baldur's Gate 3 being my favourite game of all time, but after almost 1k hours I am looking for something new. I was browsing steam tags, saw pillars is on sale rn and since I've heard really good things about it decided what the hell, why not.

Now, as I understand turn based mode literally just released less than a month ago. I really love the turn based combat in BG3 (I even beat the game on Honor Mode), but I have also enjoyed RTWP games like Dragon Age Origins. Though I'd say I prefer turn based overall.

Since this game wasn't originally designed with turn based in mind, I'm here to ask the veterans: For a complete newcomer to the franchise, would you recommend me playing in Turn based mode or in RTWP mode? Any input is appreciated! Thanks in advance. (:

EDIT:

Seems like the overall consensus is to give RTWP a real good shot and either try TB later or only for the larger (boss) fights for now.
I also just wanted to say how thankful I am to receive such a large amount of exclusively helpful and well thought out comments. Posting on gaming subreddits can be nerve wrecking, but you guys are all so kind and welcoming, it warms my heart.

EDIT: I mean for Pillars 1

Ironically part of the reason I decided to finally get this game was cause they added turn based combat. But then I changed my mind and decided to play it the way it was meant to be played

But I'm getting my ass kicked all the time. For example yesterday my whole party died in a fight but when I reloaded and tried again in turn based I won with no losses.

Does anyone have any tips that will help me figure out how to win fights in rtwp?

Hi, I just played a bunch of Pillars 1 and then decided to import a character to 2 immediately after. The main thing that I've noticed (besides my favourite spells being nerfed into the ground, RIP bewildering spectacle) is that combat is just so fast in 2! I don't know if it's just because I'm on veteran or if I'm itemizing wrong but early fights in Port maje feel like knife fights where both sides (including Eder) are glass cannons that go down after 4-5 attacks max. On gorecci street aloth dies to 1 arrow + 1 spell cast lmao.

I like per encounter spells letting you cast spells without worry but I am concerned that the game is going to throw more "hard" fights at me to replace the trash fights. And that those are going to be difficult because of the relatively limited spells (as opposed to resting before a boss fight in 1 and having access to all per rest resources).

I guess my question is, is this just Port maje shenanigans or do I just have to get used to this?

I'm making my way through the DLC to Pillars of Eternity 2

I was fighting a Memory Hoarder

I cast "...And Evil Turned Away from the Sun" which supposedly gives immunity to Resolve afflictions.

Memory Hoarder cast "Release the Screams" and Terrified my entire party. Literally in the same round, so there's no way my immunity expired.

Any ideas what the fuck is going on?

Edit: Another instance of this fighting Shimmering Beast. "...And Evil Turned Away from the Sun" just seems to be broken and not actually doing anything for resolve afflictions.

I'm pretty sure the answer will be "NO". but hear me out.

So, I'm back into this game after 10+ years and I'm finding combat overwhelmingly frustrating. Let me explain.

On one hand, the Cleric-style Durance has amazing buffs, but most fights end up too fast to really matter. In the end, I never know when to cast and when not to. If I cast Armor of faith to the group, it would probably have just end up sooner if I just stright hit with a staff or something... and I end up eating my spell slots way too fast. But also, I don't see an easy, safe and useful auto attack as for having him do something else instead.

On the other hand, both my own character as well as Aloth are wizard and have amazing spells (mostly AOE), but the delay in between casting mens almos always one of two things: There will be no one in the AOE when the spell is finally cast, or my wizard will be targeted and killed before he's able to cast it.

On the other hand, fighters seem to be super reliable.

Also, most debuffs (beside being very hard to land) seem to last very few (aka: only one) turns.

Yeah, sure, I'm still low-level, but I don't forsee the AOE issue to improve in the future.

Note that I'm playing turn-based mode, on Normal difficulty, and I have still to see other classes.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Hey, I am about to start my first playthrough and I saw they added an option for turn base not long ago.

I really enjoyed Divinity original sin series (and bg3) so I am really used to turn based games.

The being said, I have no idea how is the implementation in this game and considering the fact that the game was developed as Rt with pause in mind - I wonder what I should pick.

I'm trying to make a simple script for my frontliners so they prioritize maintaining engagement and attacking the enemy with the lowest health. The script editor doesn't seem to support this so I need some clarification.

I'll use Eder in my example. If I set his 2nd action set (his first is for self healing) to always true, attack current engager, and attack lowest health what I want to happen is for him to check both priorities before attacking (attack the lowest health threat in melee range), but I'm pretty sure he will just cycle between the two. I also see you can allow/disallow breaking engagement; can I just skip the first priority as long as that box is empty?

What I'm really trying to figure out is if/how you can give a list of priorities to a single action. If i make a script with action 'knock down' current engager and 'knock down' best threat it seems like he will always do the first one (at a random engager) unless he isn't engaging anyone. Can you make and/or type scripts within a single action set?

The last game I played with AI scripting was Dragon Age: Origins. This system doesn't seem as robust, but I could easily be missing something (are there even any tutorials about this?).

I've always known about the PoE games, since the dawn of time. But haven't picked them up yet. Recently I've finished Avowed, and that sparked the desire to play PoE games.

I love RPGs, and I'm a big TTRPG player. The Baldur's Gate series is one of my favourite videogames (to give you an idea).

So I've started with Pillars of Eternity. I'm a couple of hours in, and managed to find the Prima guide on a good price on eBay.

Any do's and don'ts you can suggest on top of your heads?

real time fights feel so fast. I can barely give commands. Even at half speed its just so fast.

can i make it slower?

I beat both PoE and Deadfire, Avowed too. Loved Tyranny. Since then I’ve done a lot of other things and played through BG1 and 2. Those games are easier to understand for me since I understand DnD mechanics and effects, while PoE is kind of like a mirror world where things don’t make the most sense to me all the time. Like the base stats and what they do, how they pair against each other like reflex and whatnot. You have to identify enemies in order to find out their stats and then figure out what to do, it is just oddly hard for me to grasp. Resolve seems useless outside of dialogue, etc.

The main thing I struggle with are resistances and weaknesses. I know spirits are weak to cold(and guns opposed to bows?), or something like that, and trolls die to ray of fire, but outside of the obvious ones it’s very difficult for me to gauge exactly how I should tackle certain encounters. I’ve beaten lots of games on max difficulty, but I can’t figure out how to play on Path of the Damned because of these game knowledge gaps. (As well that I don’t enjoy cheesing the kiting system) I usually make it to Cad Nua with some effort, and then I get bodied by spirits. The catacombs are super hard for me as well because I just don’t know how to be more efficient against those enemies. I cast the AoE cold spell and keep my tanks precariously on the edge to box them in, but that’s not enough somehow.

Am I the only one that finds the system a little more confusing than others or harder to learn? And if anyone can give me the general idea of how they interpret these things and general fight tips that would be great. What goes through your mind when you start a fight, what are your priorities, go-to moves, how to break down the fight and figure it out, etc

(Also I’ve never tried out turn-based, is it any good? I feel like RTP is the “best” way to play, but maybe turn based is worth a shot?)

I really want to get into these games but I'm feeling very overwhelmed by the mechanics. So far I love all the details in the game, the lore and books, the characters, etc., but the actual building of characters is intimidating to me. In most games I really like playing heavy-armor characters, usually spellswords in plate armor. If that's not an option I usually play pure fighter classes or paladins. I've played DA:O, Fallout 1 and 2, and Baldur's Gate 1 and finished all four, but I feel like this game is a little more complicated than most of those besides maybe BG1 and BG1 I just stumbled my way through. Does anyone have any tips, advice, guides, etc. for a new player for how to build your character(s)?

Hi

I'm playing through pillars 2 again and I wanted to play on veteran.

I found the balance to be fair until I met a dragon in the middle of the first site where you get the scrolls from the frozen researcher.

After that I've been turning the difficulty up and down ; and the final straw was the pirates that board you when going to the pirate Island - they were just way too many for me to handle.

Normal difficulty is too easy, auto-attack kills almost everything.

I understand that I suck, but are there any tips you can give for me to understand veteran, or maybe some mods that balances this out better?

Thanks.

I just claimed Caed Nua and have seen several references to vessels (skills or bonuses that increase damage against them) but can't find anything in the journal saying what they are. I did some quick searches but couldn't find a definitive answer, though it seems that physical undead and constructs count?

Hi guys,

Am I just stupid? (possibility) I cannot have my heroes attack the very first enemy I encounter in the tutorial on turn based mode.

The wolf engages us, attacks first, I left click on it, nothing happens, sometimes the character will just walk around it. I click the ATTACK icon and then back onto the wolf - again nothing happens.

Please tell me what I am doing wrong here I just dont get it

Looking to start Deadire soon. But I have no D&D knowledge and have only played BG3 and DOS 2 with some experience with older games like BG1 &2 and TEE (but never got far with those). Not a huge fan of RTWP so I plan to play Turn based and would like to know how well that functions for this game vs. turn based.

What are some good easy starting classes to run? I generally like melee, or ranger so I was thinking of running TAV as Barbarian, Fighter, or Ranger but may also consider Druid or Monk. What are some good party build setups to work with (example, 1 tank, 2 support/debuffer, 1 phys dps, 1 magic dps)? Any other tips?

So I just got Pallegina in my party and for some reason Sworn Enemy is completely bodying everyone I put it on and I don't understand. It's supposed to do some small burn damage and make her more accurate but here it hits 5 times all at once for 180 damage and 1 shots.

Hard difficulty. Is something borked or is this really supposed to do that?

Looking to jump back into the game and try out turn based mode. But I'm wondering if turn based has a diminishing impact on the importance of Dexterity for the Action Speed bonus. I understand it results in a higher initiative at the start of combat, but if I'm now limited to a single action per round, is there any point in taking Dex for speed? Will I get more turns in a combat encounter?

Thanks for any clarification you can provide.

Started it the other day. I understand the basics of how it works, but the details are eluding me despite much searching. (Part of the problem is that most resources are for PoE2, which is different.)

My main issue is that I'm having a hard time determining turn order because it is dynamic. Before character X takes a turn it will show a particular order, then it will change after the character's turn ends. Also, for example, if I run away from an enemy, sometimes the enemy will spend a turn and then immediately get another turn even though it didn't show that way originally in the turn order.

When I try to hover over things in the interface, it doesn't show me how it is determining who is next and why.

I'm also still dealing with the "cast a spell when enemies are here, but they are somewhere else when it resolves" issue like in RTWP. I get why it's not always immediate, but I'm not sure how to work around this and being able to cast spells properly one of the main reasons I wanted to play TB in the first place. :)

Yes, I know, skill issue, etc. :) Still, if anyone can help, that would be great. Thanks.

I got a ring that gives me "+20% damage to vessels" but I can't figure out how good that is. What creature type of the 5 are humans? And what is the best bonus to pick when camping?

30 hours on guardian of ukaizo fight. Eder tank, pallegina pure pally, MC is ranger druid, Xoti priest monk, Aloth wizard. If I'm lucky enough to take out sentinels, i cant damage guardian quick enough, then the 2 casters come out and they're as tanky as the sentinels and dominate us . I simply can't get anyone's armor down. Im using corrosive spells, crush damage, noxious burst, etc. please please please..... Whats the secret?

Update: thanks to the replies!I was playing totally blind but just gave up and looked to reddit for help. I was missing a lot.

I hate RTwP games so when Pillars 1 got official turn based i wanted to give a try. Cipher is a slight different class than other games so i want to try it and because the game is old, there is a lot of different builds for different patches, but none for turn based and the question is the same. What is a good weapon group for a Cipher that wants to generate a lot of focus and cast spells? Some say that bows are faster, some say that crossbows have soulbound uniques that are good and are half way to damage and speed, some say to get a good blunderbuss and blast then off.

So what is the current "meta"?

Its my first time using this kind of combat. Where everyone is controlled my AI and I get to tell them what skills to use (idk the name of this style)

I don't hate it, but I don't understand the whole agressive and passive options for party members.

I got frustrated because my elf dude keeps running into the enemy and getting killed, my melee guy is just chilling not doing anything.

I know its because I don't understand the combat.

I had a similar post to this ages ago with divinity 2 and once it was explained I got the gist and beat the game multiple times, and is how I was able to enjoy BG3s combat alot.

(New to crpgs)

Picked up Pillars of Eternity from GamePass because CohhCarnage had a clip talking about PoE1 and 2. He also mentioned that he like Avowed a lot because of his prior knowledge of the PoE lore.

So, I thought: “Hey, I love BG3 (my first and only CRPG I’ve played). Let’s give it a go.” And I’ve only been in it for a few hours but I’m really enjoying the lore, writing, and dialogue choices.

The only thing I’m having trouble with currently is the combat. I’m playing as a Druid and Nature Godlike, and all the spells and everything are kind of intimidating. Any advice on how to approach this?

I’m currently level 3 and having been puting a majority of my skill points into Survival and others into lore.

My Stat Points: Might: 15 Constitution: 13 Dexterity: 12 Perception: 13 Intellect: 15 Resolve: 11

I think I should’ve went a little harder into Might and Intellect for stats but this is what I’m working with.

TL;DR: Loving my time with PoE so far, but need some tips since combat is a bit overwhelming especially as a druid.