Attention future viewers of this video: 90% of this video was about setting up characters, and the last 10% is about actual combat-- like combat where buttons are being pressed which are causing actions to happen and damage is exchanged between fighters. No bad vibes; just saying when i saw combat guide, i was expecting action, not character creation stuff.
The best guide i've been so far. You don't pull enemies, you just head and engage them. And you do use some abilities. This is how this game should be play to make it fun. Thanks for the Guide, keep up the good work.
The problem is NOT that combat is difficult, but rather the lack of feedback it gives you (both visual and autio). This, together with the amount of usable skills all classes seem to get makes the battles choatic and hard to assess at all times. Play any of the old IE games, and you will know at all times during battle who is targeting who, if spellcasters are casting something or not, if someone got hit, if it was a crit or not, ect. ect. I'm playing through Icewind Dale: EE right now, and even during large battles with hordes of goblins or what have you, I never feel like somthing is amiss. Just my 2 cents (old IE vet here). P.S The other thing is, I believe, the fact that DnD just makes sense to me, I know that at lvl 4 my dwarven defender, with -2 AC will not be getting hit much, in PoE I just don't know by heart what my stats mean.
I don't find the combat difficult. It's really easy. This is a video for those that are finding it difficult (there's a few people that have been saying that on the forums and stuff). If you check my youtube channel you will see that I am an IE veteran and have a pretty munchkin Let's Play of Icewind Dale. On hard difficulty (what I play PE on) I find the combat easy but pretty boring and lacking tactical depth.
Enverxis Yes, sorry I should've had been more clear. What I mean was not that you yourself find combat hard, but rather that quite a few people on the forums seem to think that. My comment was meant to be a general one, not directed at you specifically. Cheers.
darkholyPL Right, no worries. I think it's a combination of things. Clearer explanation of the basics (which is the intention of this series of videos) should help people along. I don't think it's their inability to improve, just that they're not used to this style of play / not aware of how to play / can't grasp the why the game is different from the IE games. I do think there are problems with combat, particularly the speed of it (quick to begin, quick to end), among other things. I also think that some people may not know about the Melee Engagement system and when they try and move a character back from melee that is hurt like you can do in pretty much every other game they get insta-KO'd.
This is my first time playing a or giving a crpg game a try, I mostly play on consoles, so this was really hard, but your video helped a bunch, thanks.
The final product will have some new minor features (Auto-Slow, optional area looting, a couple of other things) and quite a few balance changes. But it shouldn't feel too different.
Thanks man, i found combat a little hard to start with, even though i have played Baldurs gate Icewind dale,Neverwinter nights 1+2 etc, but your Video helped me to kill the spider queen and clear the caves so thanks it helped me a lot,also the stats are very confusing considering i used to DnD back in the day it is not immediately apparent what your stats do in a classic sense, anyway thanks again you earned a sub!
I must admit that I'm a huge fan of the necessary pausing in games like this. I can't really comment on Pillars of Eternity yet seeing as I don't have the game yet (you lucky bastard :P) but in the old games like baldurs gate, icewind dale, planescape torment etc. I loved it endlessly and I'm looking forward to it in Pillars of Eternity :)
Thank you for this summary and explanation of the combat. I was already wondering why other people (including the developers) were headlessly running into mobs without pausing at the beginning. However I have one question regarding to that: Is there a downside to resting often to restore your health? Does it cost anything? Does time play a role in PoE so that you actually need to be time efficient? Besides that I am seeing the typical problems I see with all RTwP games where you have direct control like NWN2, Dragon Age 1, Drakensang: River of Time, and so on: To be as efficient as possible you basically have to pause the game so often that it is much less fluent than it would be if you had a turn based game. For people not so much into efficiency it might be a further bummer that there is no comanion AI, so they cant just lean back and watch, but have to go through parts of the same hassle perfectionists are going through. You mentioned that the Perception Attribute is the single most important attribute in the game. Is this still the case almost 10 days before release? Or did they change anything regarding that?
Perception was nerfed it's now the worst attribute. The game still has issues with combat pace - and it's mostly due to high per hit damage relative to unit endurance. I also don't like the resting frequency, it's A LOT more frequent than how often I rested in the Infinity Engine games (all of them).
I know people are going to disagree. But like others have said. I wish it was turn based combat. It's probably because I am not used to the IE games. For me this is very hard and confusing keeping track of it all. Constantly pausing
Can you go into more detail about what you don't like about the combat system? I did not get the beta so I don't have a feel for what people are complaining about. How different is it from old IE games?
Thanks for this guide. I finished POE1 several years ago and I basically brute forced my way through all combat. I'm playing it again but this time I want to master the combat so that the fights with the Adra enemies aren't as tedious as they were in the last playthrough. Don't need to always read the enemy character sheets to allow my characters to wear a build that counters all?
I might not be the person to ask. I have some other guides that go into more detail, but I haven't played the game since shortly after I released the guides and some of the information is out of date (such as what the attributes affect). It also depends what difficulty you are playing on. Not super important below Hard difficulty.
@@Enverxis No problem. I'm playing on Hard difficulty. I prefer the turn based option of POE2 (though I want to finish POE1 before I continue the sequel) as I get more control of character placement and it is easier to land AOE since characters will not run out of the way as they B-line towards me.
I wonder how many non-infinty veterans are gona play this game! I believe there are also alot of young RPG gamer who gona play this game. It would be awesome if this game could give them the same feeling and experience as the infinity games to the older generations! Do you think this will gona happen with this game?
Somewhat, the principles of gameplay are the same but the AI is now better and some of the stats and stuff have been changed. I have a more updated version here: ruclips.net/video/EoWw5swpfX0/видео.html
Hi, just wondering whether the combat'll be very difficult if it's not paused(it's a bit obnoxious to pause that often)? I mean, can we treat it as an RTS game(just the combat part)?
U hv to play ring around posey w enemies all time. Dragon age origins had same issue. The amount of buffing fr allies & debuffing on large groups of enemies is atrocious on normal difficulty.
You can’t do a video for beginners but then make your choices based on what you know about the game already. This is good for more experienced players but I’m just tryna see how to basic combat in general. Like when a bad guy appears what do I do?!
Hi this video is from the beta . I have more complete guides for the full game on my channel including one that covers combat. The videos should be chaptered so you can skip ahead if you wish to.
I know this is video is 9 yrs old but i just started this game 2024 on Xbox and it would be impossible to play like this on Console lol. Everything is on a wheel that requires different button mashups. I wish i could play it on PC.
Hi, this is a very old video from the beta of the game in 2014. I made a 2015 guide here: ruclips.net/video/EoWw5swpfX0/видео.html however the game has changed quite a bit since v1.0 and newer 3.0 / The White March videos from others may have a more up to date explanation of the mechanics.
I'm really glad it's not, turn based is a turn off for me and I prefer the pause and play. I am a IE vet and donated because the game was a promise to go back to IE style of games which I'm all for. You may like Tides of Numenera though since they are going the turn based route.
Fuck no. You TB guys have a lot of games already and Numenera is TB, which turned me off from the game even though I was greatly looking forward to it. RTwP is where it's at, it's way better.
Atrahasis7 I've already played enough TB games to know what they are, inferior to the RTwP system. a2c2a.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/turn-based-vs-real-time-with-pause-which-is-the-superior-time-keeping-system/
This game is definetly not for everyone. The combat is semi-final fantasy styled combat. If you like fast pace RPG (Diablo, Torchlight, even Skyrim) you MIGHT not like this game.
Attention future viewers of this video:
90% of this video was about setting up characters, and the last 10% is about actual combat-- like combat where buttons are being pressed which are causing actions to happen and damage is exchanged between fighters.
No bad vibes; just saying when i saw combat guide, i was expecting action, not character creation stuff.
*but good video all the same
Thank you
The best guide i've been so far. You don't pull enemies, you just head and engage them. And you do use some abilities. This is how this game should be play to make it fun. Thanks for the Guide, keep up the good work.
The problem is NOT that combat is difficult, but rather the lack of feedback it gives you (both visual and autio). This, together with the amount of usable skills all classes seem to get makes the battles choatic and hard to assess at all times. Play any of the old IE games, and you will know at all times during battle who is targeting who, if spellcasters are casting something or not, if someone got hit, if it was a crit or not, ect. ect. I'm playing through Icewind Dale: EE right now, and even during large battles with hordes of goblins or what have you, I never feel like somthing is amiss. Just my 2 cents (old IE vet here). P.S The other thing is, I believe, the fact that DnD just makes sense to me, I know that at lvl 4 my dwarven defender, with -2 AC will not be getting hit much, in PoE I just don't know by heart what my stats mean.
I don't find the combat difficult. It's really easy. This is a video for those that are finding it difficult (there's a few people that have been saying that on the forums and stuff). If you check my youtube channel you will see that I am an IE veteran and have a pretty munchkin Let's Play of Icewind Dale.
On hard difficulty (what I play PE on) I find the combat easy but pretty boring and lacking tactical depth.
Enverxis Yes, sorry I should've had been more clear. What I mean was not that you yourself find combat hard, but rather that quite a few people on the forums seem to think that. My comment was meant to be a general one, not directed at you specifically. Cheers.
darkholyPL Right, no worries. I think it's a combination of things. Clearer explanation of the basics (which is the intention of this series of videos) should help people along. I don't think it's their inability to improve, just that they're not used to this style of play / not aware of how to play / can't grasp the why the game is different from the IE games.
I do think there are problems with combat, particularly the speed of it (quick to begin, quick to end), among other things. I also think that some people may not know about the Melee Engagement system and when they try and move a character back from melee that is hurt like you can do in pretty much every other game they get insta-KO'd.
Enverxis Animation and Audio feedback are a concern as well, same with the VFX obscuring the battlefield.
Enverxis BTW is that a model M keyboard I hear in some of your vids? Just curious :)
This is my first time playing a or giving a crpg game a try, I mostly play on consoles, so this was really hard, but your video helped a bunch, thanks.
Good stuff. I'll be making more as well. Did you get a press copy, or are you trying the backer beta?
Video is a bit out of date now, too I should update it - Attributes have changed a bit, and stuff like that
Enverxis i'm trying the backer beta, I wonder how much is going to change on the final product.
Enverxis well if you want to, go for it, it would help a lot
The final product will have some new minor features (Auto-Slow, optional area looting, a couple of other things) and quite a few balance changes.
But it shouldn't feel too different.
Thanks man, i found combat a little hard to start with, even though i have played Baldurs gate Icewind dale,Neverwinter nights 1+2 etc, but your Video helped me to kill the spider queen and clear the caves so thanks it helped me a lot,also the stats are very confusing considering i used to DnD back in the day it is not immediately apparent what your stats do in a classic sense, anyway thanks again you earned a sub!
No problem, I will be doing more - glad it was helpful.
I must admit that I'm a huge fan of the necessary pausing in games like this. I can't really comment on Pillars of Eternity yet seeing as I don't have the game yet (you lucky bastard :P) but in the old games like baldurs gate, icewind dale, planescape torment etc. I loved it endlessly and I'm looking forward to it in Pillars of Eternity :)
Thank you for this summary and explanation of the combat. I was already wondering why other people (including the developers) were headlessly running into mobs without pausing at the beginning. However I have one question regarding to that: Is there a downside to resting often to restore your health? Does it cost anything? Does time play a role in PoE so that you actually need to be time efficient?
Besides that I am seeing the typical problems I see with all RTwP games where you have direct control like NWN2, Dragon Age 1, Drakensang: River of Time, and so on: To be as efficient as possible you basically have to pause the game so often that it is much less fluent than it would be if you had a turn based game. For people not so much into efficiency it might be a further bummer that there is no comanion AI, so they cant just lean back and watch, but have to go through parts of the same hassle perfectionists are going through.
You mentioned that the Perception Attribute is the single most important attribute in the game. Is this still the case almost 10 days before release? Or did they change anything regarding that?
Perception was nerfed it's now the worst attribute. The game still has issues with combat pace - and it's mostly due to high per hit damage relative to unit endurance.
I also don't like the resting frequency, it's A LOT more frequent than how often I rested in the Infinity Engine games (all of them).
Enverxis Thank you! Can you elaborate in a couple of words in what way Perception differs now?
Kordanor It no longer grants bonus Accuracy like it used to, only Interrupt (which on it's own is not worth very much)
I know people are going to disagree. But like others have said. I wish it was turn based combat. It's probably because I am not used to the IE games. For me this is very hard and confusing keeping track of it all. Constantly pausing
Can you go into more detail about what you don't like about the combat system? I did not get the beta so I don't have a feel for what people are complaining about. How different is it from old IE games?
finally a decent helpful video... thumbs up for you
Dude awesome video! Please can you do a video on Wizard spells, learning, etc. It is very difficult yo figure out how this works!
There's this one: ruclips.net/video/wG1FL9FQhAc/видео.html
Thanks for this guide.
I finished POE1 several years ago and I basically brute forced my way through all combat.
I'm playing it again but this time I want to master the combat so that the fights with the Adra enemies aren't as tedious as they were in the last playthrough.
Don't need to always read the enemy character sheets to allow my characters to wear a build that counters all?
I might not be the person to ask. I have some other guides that go into more detail, but I haven't played the game since shortly after I released the guides and some of the information is out of date (such as what the attributes affect). It also depends what difficulty you are playing on. Not super important below Hard difficulty.
@@Enverxis No problem. I'm playing on Hard difficulty.
I prefer the turn based option of POE2 (though I want to finish POE1 before I continue the sequel) as I get more control of character placement and it is easier to land AOE since characters will not run out of the way as they B-line towards me.
I wonder how many non-infinty veterans are gona play this game! I believe there are also alot of young RPG gamer who gona play this game. It would be awesome if this game could give them the same feeling and experience as the infinity games to the older generations! Do you think this will gona happen with this game?
Don't know man. We can try though, by giving good feedback. It's up to Obsidian to do the rest.
Really struggling as to whether combat "autoplays" or you program every move...
Is this video still relevant for the launch build?
Somewhat, the principles of gameplay are the same but the AI is now better and some of the stats and stuff have been changed. I have a more updated version here: ruclips.net/video/EoWw5swpfX0/видео.html
Nice will watch now, only played 2 hours so far. Actually enjoying it and this video helped me even if its outdated.
Hi, just wondering whether the combat'll be very difficult if it's not paused(it's a bit obnoxious to pause that often)? I mean, can we treat it as an RTS game(just the combat part)?
The amount of pausing will probably be reduced by release. That's one of the things we are advocating for during the beta.
Thanks, that's good to know. This game has lots of potential. I'm not an IE game veteran like you are, but it somehow caught my eye.
hope you make more videos like this
U hv to play ring around posey w enemies all time. Dragon age origins had same issue. The amount of buffing fr allies & debuffing on large groups of enemies is atrocious on normal difficulty.
last time i checked sailor moon isnt a barbarian... she is a mage type character...
paladins are broken..... in a good way or a bad way :S?
You can’t do a video for beginners but then make your choices based on what you know about the game already. This is good for more experienced players but I’m just tryna see how to basic combat in general. Like when a bad guy appears what do I do?!
Hi this video is from the beta . I have more complete guides for the full game on my channel including one that covers combat. The videos should be chaptered so you can skip ahead if you wish to.
@Andrew Luhring this one is more recent: ruclips.net/video/EoWw5swpfX0/видео.html
I know this is video is 9 yrs old but i just started this game 2024 on Xbox and it would be impossible to play like this on Console lol. Everything is on a wheel that requires different button mashups. I wish i could play it on PC.
stories is amazing!! game is ok but I've never played i.e games I really want to like it reminds me of dioblo
I thought you were going to talk about the actual mechanics of the combat ....
Hi, this is a very old video from the beta of the game in 2014. I made a 2015 guide here: ruclips.net/video/EoWw5swpfX0/видео.html however the game has changed quite a bit since v1.0 and newer 3.0 / The White March videos from others may have a more up to date explanation of the mechanics.
Cheers friend!
First 60% of this video is non-combat chit chat. Stick to your topic.
Wish it was turn based.
I'm really glad it's not, turn based is a turn off for me and I prefer the pause and play. I am a IE vet and donated because the game was a promise to go back to IE style of games which I'm all for. You may like Tides of Numenera though since they are going the turn based route.
Kharkiv85
Dont get me wrong, being real time never stoped me from enjoying baldurs gate or PT. Its personal preference. I will enjoy POE neverthless.
Fuck no. You TB guys have a lot of games already and Numenera is TB, which turned me off from the game even though I was greatly looking forward to it. RTwP is where it's at, it's way better.
*****
Thats debatable. You will one day understand.
Atrahasis7 I've already played enough TB games to know what they are, inferior to the RTwP system. a2c2a.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/turn-based-vs-real-time-with-pause-which-is-the-superior-time-keeping-system/
This game is definetly not for everyone. The combat is semi-final fantasy styled combat. If you like fast pace RPG (Diablo, Torchlight, even Skyrim) you MIGHT not like this game.
Jesus Christ, a 20 minute video describing how to fight beetles in the game. Thanks for helping me decide to not buy it.
+kesayo Good
I'm perfectly familiar with Infinity Engine game, and this combat is terrible
Yep, unfortunately.
Is this what passes for "difficult" these days? Dear lord how gaming has degenerated.
What would you consider a difficult game?
worst game in gaming history the combat is 100% trash this game is an insult to any real BG fans, BG was a godly game this game should be burnt
***** agree
its just so frustrating how little effort is put into a game these days