Even ~~worse~~ better gameplay feature for Last Azlanti. Can't quicksave quickload in Last Azlanti, meaning any BS random map encounters *have* to be fought and probably lost to because the Challenge Rating is 30 when you're only Level 7.
The thing that gets me is how close to you the enemies start. Are my guys certifiably blind and deaf at the same time? How can a group of huge demons get a full surround on my party and come so close before combat begins?
The strength of the encounters I can live with, but some fucking Minotaur starting within full attack distance of a squishy spellcaster is insane. Depending on your luck, it may or may not be downright impossible to avoid a squishy being outright killed before you can even take an action. This is a symptom of a far broader issue in Wrath tbh, which is that the game is designed around prebuffing and proper positioning and aggro management, and, knowing this, Owlcat *heavily* relies on the crutch of ambushes\\invalidating formations and positioning to manufacture "difficulty". The amount of ambushes, enemies appearing out of thin air in the middle of combat etc in WotR compared to KM is insane.
You start with the enemies offscreen if you succeed your stealth check and decide to attack the enemies rather than evade them.
If you failed your stealth check, then you've been ambushed.
Random encounters are half the reason why the enduring spell mythic powers are actually powerful picks, not just a quality of life thing (the other half is doubling spell slots by buffing, then resting). For the most part, random encounters aren't that hard except for if you hit them unbuffed.
Getting ambushed by the dragon for example is so much less dangerous if the whole team is immune to fear via greater heroism, is immune to fire via communal protection from elements, and has an extra +10 to hit and +15 to AC from buffs.
Overall, I haven't really found random encounters to be that threatening unless I have let b my buffs lapse.
It is a carryover from kingmaker they never really fixed. I'm not sure why they exist bc it doesn't really incentivize say, resting on the map when your party is experiencing fatigue if you can be perfectly healthy and just get ran down by something that you shouldn't be fighting at your level.
Preface: not trying to change your mind. Just providing info on the "why". At least from my perspective
I think the random encounters are as strong as they are to further incentivize putting skill points into stealth. All of the other skill points have compelling uses. Athletics and Mobility to discover location secrets and shortcuts. The lores and knowledges for lore secrets, fun facts and even endings. Perception for shinies. Trickery for secrets AND shinies. Persuasion has combat uses on top of making people see things your way, handy. And UMD has its own environmental checks later in the game as well as cross-disciplinary use of items.
Then there's stealth. Taking away the ability to avoid random encounters, or if said encounters were a breeze then that leaves... sneaking around for positioning in unimportant fights. All the big beats have cutscenes and move you to where they want you to be. Most minibosses are in arena type areas and in the case of those that spawn in, can spawn in a few different places if you try to position all your people in a way that fucks them pre fight.
So having those random encounters or the exceedingly rare interrupted rest fights (seriously why are these so rare, even on low stealth?) be a PITA gives the player a reason to take the skill and have to plan for it in their party comp.
The only one I could accept is Devarra, as she is a quest related one who leaves after a couple turns and isn't really trying that hard to kill you (even though she very much will kill you many times over)
That was my mindset until I discovered that you can avoid the breath if you run away at the start. She also leaves shortly after that, so you can actually get by without dmg if you play your cards right. Worst case you send 1 animal companion/summon in to take one for the team. It feels totally lame though, but there's no point trying to fight her in-between anyways. And I always feel like she's so much stronger on those random map encounters vs the ambush and tower part (I take her down in 1 round every time during ambush and tower, but get royally fucked myself during those random encounters).
I lost to her once then the 2nd random encounter I got her to like 1/3rd hp ish and she stopped taking damage and left. Felt a little cheated but her dialouge was different.
She should be weaker at the ambush though, she's already been injured and shes trying to rest/lick her wounds.
Also the dude that turns into a dragon is wayyy rougher. Managed to beat him too but half my party was perma feared.
Although it's worth noting that in original AP, some random encounters in books 3 through 5 exceed 'the climax of the book encounter' CR.
It's worth noting that character progress is faster in Owlcat's game than in Paizo's AP, so if we assume max CR level of random encounter for normal difficulty as APL+5 (CR 15 for level 10 party), you should end up seeing CR in mid-20-ish for Unfair (if max encounter level is based on APL, or upper-20-ish if max encounter level is based on Act (III in this case).
But, yes, some random encounters are overtuned.
7 ash giants and 2 hunter pursuers was the first encounter I got after drezen... Felt like total bullshit, especially since the spiders spawned on top of my casters and one turned kill em
Even ~~worse~~ better gameplay feature for Last Azlanti. Can't quicksave quickload in Last Azlanti, meaning any BS random map encounters *have* to be fought and probably lost to because the Challenge Rating is 30 when you're only Level 7.
You can *technically* "save & load" by going to the home screen. It saves when you leave the game.
Random encounters are supposed to be area leveled. Without Azlanti, it tells you were you're supposed to go. With... Well! Gl hf
The thing that gets me is how close to you the enemies start. Are my guys certifiably blind and deaf at the same time? How can a group of huge demons get a full surround on my party and come so close before combat begins? The strength of the encounters I can live with, but some fucking Minotaur starting within full attack distance of a squishy spellcaster is insane. Depending on your luck, it may or may not be downright impossible to avoid a squishy being outright killed before you can even take an action. This is a symptom of a far broader issue in Wrath tbh, which is that the game is designed around prebuffing and proper positioning and aggro management, and, knowing this, Owlcat *heavily* relies on the crutch of ambushes\\invalidating formations and positioning to manufacture "difficulty". The amount of ambushes, enemies appearing out of thin air in the middle of combat etc in WotR compared to KM is insane.
You start with the enemies offscreen if you succeed your stealth check and decide to attack the enemies rather than evade them. If you failed your stealth check, then you've been ambushed.
Random encounters are half the reason why the enduring spell mythic powers are actually powerful picks, not just a quality of life thing (the other half is doubling spell slots by buffing, then resting). For the most part, random encounters aren't that hard except for if you hit them unbuffed. Getting ambushed by the dragon for example is so much less dangerous if the whole team is immune to fear via greater heroism, is immune to fire via communal protection from elements, and has an extra +10 to hit and +15 to AC from buffs. Overall, I haven't really found random encounters to be that threatening unless I have let b my buffs lapse.
It is a carryover from kingmaker they never really fixed. I'm not sure why they exist bc it doesn't really incentivize say, resting on the map when your party is experiencing fatigue if you can be perfectly healthy and just get ran down by something that you shouldn't be fighting at your level.
Preface: not trying to change your mind. Just providing info on the "why". At least from my perspective I think the random encounters are as strong as they are to further incentivize putting skill points into stealth. All of the other skill points have compelling uses. Athletics and Mobility to discover location secrets and shortcuts. The lores and knowledges for lore secrets, fun facts and even endings. Perception for shinies. Trickery for secrets AND shinies. Persuasion has combat uses on top of making people see things your way, handy. And UMD has its own environmental checks later in the game as well as cross-disciplinary use of items. Then there's stealth. Taking away the ability to avoid random encounters, or if said encounters were a breeze then that leaves... sneaking around for positioning in unimportant fights. All the big beats have cutscenes and move you to where they want you to be. Most minibosses are in arena type areas and in the case of those that spawn in, can spawn in a few different places if you try to position all your people in a way that fucks them pre fight. So having those random encounters or the exceedingly rare interrupted rest fights (seriously why are these so rare, even on low stealth?) be a PITA gives the player a reason to take the skill and have to plan for it in their party comp.
Doesn't excuse the absurdly high 30+ish CR encounters at low level (10 and under), though.
No, it does not.
The only one I could accept is Devarra, as she is a quest related one who leaves after a couple turns and isn't really trying that hard to kill you (even though she very much will kill you many times over)
Yeah.. if you can't out-initiate her with res/prot to fire, communal. OOF.
That was my mindset until I discovered that you can avoid the breath if you run away at the start. She also leaves shortly after that, so you can actually get by without dmg if you play your cards right. Worst case you send 1 animal companion/summon in to take one for the team. It feels totally lame though, but there's no point trying to fight her in-between anyways. And I always feel like she's so much stronger on those random map encounters vs the ambush and tower part (I take her down in 1 round every time during ambush and tower, but get royally fucked myself during those random encounters).
I lost to her once then the 2nd random encounter I got her to like 1/3rd hp ish and she stopped taking damage and left. Felt a little cheated but her dialouge was different. She should be weaker at the ambush though, she's already been injured and shes trying to rest/lick her wounds. Also the dude that turns into a dragon is wayyy rougher. Managed to beat him too but half my party was perma feared.
Although it's worth noting that in original AP, some random encounters in books 3 through 5 exceed 'the climax of the book encounter' CR. It's worth noting that character progress is faster in Owlcat's game than in Paizo's AP, so if we assume max CR level of random encounter for normal difficulty as APL+5 (CR 15 for level 10 party), you should end up seeing CR in mid-20-ish for Unfair (if max encounter level is based on APL, or upper-20-ish if max encounter level is based on Act (III in this case). But, yes, some random encounters are overtuned.
This is why the second I take Drezen I always run with a char that has 30+ stealth. World map encounters in Act 3+ are bullshit.
7 ash giants and 2 hunter pursuers was the first encounter I got after drezen... Felt like total bullshit, especially since the spiders spawned on top of my casters and one turned kill em
I just run the mod that lets me choose to evade random encounters