How much wiggle room is there for the 3 paths.

[meiam]

Is this one of these game where you have to stick to the dialogue choice 100% of the time (heretic/iconoclass/dogmatic) or you're screwed, or can you actually sometime deviate?

Its kinda pointless to not let the player pick different choice once in awhile, might as well just pick a path on character creation, but so many game just punish you for going outside their rigid railroad.

[Deitrix]

I haven't finished the game, but I've heard people say even if you DO stick 100% to one path it's hard to reach the 5th tier... so...

[Burdy333]

I was wondering this as well.

[MacabreLion]

Originally posted by meiam:

Is this one of these game where you have to stick to the dialogue choice 100% of the time (heretic/iconoclass/dogmatic) or you're screwed, or can you actually sometime deviate?

Its kinda pointless to not let the player pick different choice once in awhile, might as well just pick a path on character creation, but so many game just punish you for going outside their rigid railroad.

Define screwed. If it's "I got locked out this evil weapon I wouldn't have otherwise known existed without looking it up because I made too many good guy choices. This sucks!" - you're totally screwed dude.

You're certainly not nerfed in any significant way or locked out from beating the last boss.

You're mostly going to miss things playing out in very particular ways only accessible by being extreme with a conviction. All convictions can hit 500 on their own pre dlc, some easier than others so assume you don't have much to work with stock. Void Shadows adds, idk maybe 50+ish? I had around 580 heretical, 70-80ish dogmatic, and 43 iconoclast on my last playthrough. Points get pretty specific in the last 3 chapters though, so don't assume it's going to look that high for you blind (A lot of those other conviction points came from DLC as well with me basically clicking everything that seemed to not conflict with me boosting heretical at any chance I got). Seems like a lot of people struggle for some reason to hit even 400 on just one.

[alex010300]

Once you reached 3rd Rank and if the other 2 are lower, the game expects you to go that path.

[corisai]

In average there are ~550 points per convinction (of course many of them are mutually exclusive).

So yean, if you want to reach lvl 5 convinction then you must pick almost every option for it.

[Roknar]

100% or you're screwed. There are VERY few fanatic level replies, but they exist. If you don't 100% the corresponding choice, you are not getting that. It's to a point where even if you DO, you might not make it.

From an RP pov, it makes more sense to mix and match replies and you can still reach level 3 by the skin of your teeth to use that when those options start showing up, but I was not even able to reach level 4 doing that.

[BrotherGRim]

Hit iconoclast top in act 3 (and dog rank 2) so you can deviate at least with iconoclast. I'm guessing it could be harder to max heretical though? Some iconoclast choices are straight up dumb like dropping off the genestealer cult onto a planet and I couldnt bring myself to select them :)

[MacabreLion]

Originally posted by BrotherGRim:

Hit iconoclast top in act 3 (and dog rank 2) so you can deviate at least with iconoclast. I'm guessing it could be harder to max heretical though? Some iconoclast choices are straight up dumb like dropping off the genestealer cult onto a planet and I couldnt bring myself to select them :)

there are more recorded points for heretical than the other two. dogmatic has the least from what I can tell.

Idk how you're writing this on a post where just a few comments up I wrote that I hit about 580 heretical, and I missed some things I know could have boosted score a bit higher.

and it's not dropping off genestealers on a planet. It's leaving them on a DESOLATE world in exchange for a peaceful surrender instead of losing more men to a boobytrapped room. I swear I read people complain about events in this game extremely devoid of half the dialogue that allow it to make sense.

[Morgian]

Look at it like this: there are 15 special abilities locked behind your alignment. Since you are locked out of going higher than rank 2 on two paths, the maximum of abilities you can attain is 9 out of 15. If you miss rank 5, you still got 8 of the 9 possibles. Not the end of the world in my opinion.
You will still beat the game if you only rank 0 or 1 in all of the three :)

I have attained rank 5 in all paths, so I know it is possible, I did not have to pick always the same alignment, but I went all in from act 3 onwards, where the higher points are. Sometimes you get a choice between only two options and not three, and this is where you can collect for rank 2 in the other paths.

Check out what a rank will give you, so you can see if it is even worth having rank 4 or 5. Heretic 5 is neat, dogmatic 4 less so (with an operative strong enemies don't have armor), and 5 is not important (I always forgot I have it). Iconoclast 5 did not work the one time I would have needed it, so it is maybe bugged...Argenta perforated Abelard like swiss cheese.

[meiam]

Originally posted by Morgian:

Look at it like this: there are 15 special abilities locked behind your alignment. Since you are locked out of going higher than rank 2 on two paths, the maximum of abilities you can attain is 9 out of 15. If you miss rank 5, you still got 8 of the 9 possibles. Not the end of the world in my opinion.
You will still beat the game if you only rank 0 or 1 in all of the three :)

I have attained rank 5 in all paths, so I know it is possible, I did not have to pick always the same alignment, but I went all in from act 3 onwards, where the higher points are. Sometimes you get a choice between only two options and not three, and this is where you can collect for rank 2 in the other paths.

Check out what a rank will give you, so you can see if it is even worth having rank 4 or 5. Heretic 5 is neat, dogmatic 4 less so (with an operative strong enemies don't have armor), and 5 is not important (I always forgot I have it). Iconoclast 5 did not work the one time I would have needed it, so it is maybe bugged...Argenta perforated Abelard like swiss cheese.

I don't care so much about the ability (game is pretty easy so far, so I don't think not having them will be an issue), but I don't want to get to a point where my character can't save a planet about to die because he doesn't have enough iconoclast point or insult the emperor to his face because his dogmatic is too low or w/e.

[MacabreLion]

Originally posted by meiam:

Originally posted by Morgian:

Look at it like this: there are 15 special abilities locked behind your alignment. Since you are locked out of going higher than rank 2 on two paths, the maximum of abilities you can attain is 9 out of 15. If you miss rank 5, you still got 8 of the 9 possibles. Not the end of the world in my opinion.
You will still beat the game if you only rank 0 or 1 in all of the three :)

I have attained rank 5 in all paths, so I know it is possible, I did not have to pick always the same alignment, but I went all in from act 3 onwards, where the higher points are. Sometimes you get a choice between only two options and not three, and this is where you can collect for rank 2 in the other paths.

Check out what a rank will give you, so you can see if it is even worth having rank 4 or 5. Heretic 5 is neat, dogmatic 4 less so (with an operative strong enemies don't have armor), and 5 is not important (I always forgot I have it). Iconoclast 5 did not work the one time I would have needed it, so it is maybe bugged...Argenta perforated Abelard like swiss cheese.

I don't care so much about the ability (game is pretty easy so far, so I don't think not having them will be an issue), but I don't want to get to a point where my character can't save a planet about to die because he doesn't have enough iconoclast point or insult the emperor to his face because his dogmatic is too low or w/e.

Theres definitely dialogue and probably ending slides as a result tied to outcomes from conviction stuff. But it's not yours. You want outcomes you didn't earn. You lose out on seeing those because you chose to see something else earlier.

[meiam]

Originally posted by MacabreLion:

Originally posted by meiam:

I don't care so much about the ability (game is pretty easy so far, so I don't think not having them will be an issue), but I don't want to get to a point where my character can't save a planet about to die because he doesn't have enough iconoclast point or insult the emperor to his face because his dogmatic is too low or w/e.

Theres definitely dialogue and probably ending slides as a result tied to outcomes from conviction stuff. But it's not yours. You want outcomes you didn't earn. You lose out on seeing those because you chose to see something else earlier.

I'm fine if its a natural progression (ie, you picked the dogmatic option and killed a Xeno and later you need a Xeno to open a door but oupsie...). But when its just "you don't have the point so can't do this thing that you should obviously be able to do" just kill my enjoyment. Can the game save be easily modified like the pathfinder one?

[MacabreLion]

Originally posted by meiam:

Originally posted by MacabreLion:

Theres definitely dialogue and probably ending slides as a result tied to outcomes from conviction stuff. But it's not yours. You want outcomes you didn't earn. You lose out on seeing those because you chose to see something else earlier.

I'm fine if its a natural progression (ie, you picked the dogmatic option and killed a Xeno and later you need a Xeno to open a door but oupsie...). But when its just "you don't have the point so can't do this thing that you should obviously be able to do" just kill my enjoyment. Can the game save be easily modified like the pathfinder one?

Think of it more like; if you're a Heretic RT for example, and you want to join Chaos. You have to prove you're evil enough. There are no points in Chapter 5 for the most part with some extremely minor example(s). If by the end of Chapter 4 you haven't gotten enough evil points and did what they asked of you - you're not going to see that content, and you're not going to be able to wear the gear. You didn't earn it.

[BrotherGRim]

Originally posted by MacabreLion:

Originally posted by BrotherGRim:

Hit iconoclast top in act 3 (and dog rank 2) so you can deviate at least with iconoclast. I'm guessing it could be harder to max heretical though? Some iconoclast choices are straight up dumb like dropping off the genestealer cult onto a planet and I couldnt bring myself to select them :)

there are more recorded points for heretical than the other two. dogmatic has the least from what I can tell.

Idk how you're writing this on a post where just a few comments up I wrote that I hit about 580 heretical, and I missed some things I know could have boosted score a bit higher.

and it's not dropping off genestealers on a planet. It's leaving them on a DESOLATE world in exchange for a peaceful surrender instead of losing more men to a boobytrapped room. I swear I read people complain about events in this game extremely devoid of half the dialogue that allow it to make sense.

re first bit just re-enforcing what you said is all from my play through. Haven't done the other paths..just pointing out i hit max at act 3 so definitely wriggle room and didnt struggle at all.

Re the genestealers yep it does say its a desolate/unpopulated planet but think you misread my comment as a complaint...It was not a complaint about the choice (I understand the spare your crew part hence iconoclast) but its not something I could not justify as a iconoclast personally .

All we had to go on is them saying they have no means of producing a pure blood (aka someone able to bestow the 'kiss') again but are you willing to trust them? If they managed to create one in a future generation it just takes one curious prospector/rogue trader/junker to investigate the world and it could all kick off again.
Its a personal choice (I viewed it as its my pain for 'derisking' the future).

Your right chances are they'd die out...but there's always a chance they get rescued.
(now if there was a choice to drop them off peacefully then bomb them...that I could go for but I wouldnt expect any iconoclast points for it :P )

I actually loved the DLC story (was a tyranid player way back/played space hulk) they kinda got me into 40k so was cool seeing the cult make an appearance :)

[corisai]

Originally posted by BrotherGRim:

All we had to go on is them saying they have no means of producing a pure blood (aka someone able to bestow the 'kiss') again but are you willing to trust them?

I always expected we're going to bomb their landing site from orbit...