Why are all the characters starting from level 1 again?

[Maximus Viridius]

As above. Played through PoE1 and fought some epic battles, leveled up to the cap (whatever it was) and overall felt pretty powerful by the end of the game... so why after a few years break would your character and party members forget everything?

Is there a canon reason later in the game explaining this? If not, I feel it's a tad lazy.

(I should add that I loved the first game and am really enjoying what I've played of 2 so far, but it's been bugging me a bit).

Just a confirmation that this is canonically explained or not is good enough to avoid spoilers!

[Cutlass Jack]

Well the reason your watcher started over is he got most of his/her life force stolen at the beginning of the game. They didn't really explain it for recurring companions though.

[Maximus Viridius]

Yeah, I thought MAYBE for the Watcher (but why would Berath do that if it wants an effective hunter of Eothas?). Seems more likely that Berath would simply return the Watcher to life as normal

[Drake]

It's not lazy and they implemented a canon to fit it (a big one, like it's actually the main quest).

The main issue is that a lot of people asked for the devs to redo a lot of the gameplay, so they did. They redid skills, added multiclass, removed rest and per rest skills, removed the health/endurance management etc.

So basically it's way to much different from the first game, so much they couldn't make an import by level from the first game and had to make you go back to lv1.

This is what happens when you ask for change, things change, you can't have it both ways.

[Maximus Viridius]

cough cough - seem somewhat defensive here friend. We're all fellows here.

I'm as big a fan of Obsidian as the next player, backed both games early on.

So you can confirm that later in the game, the reason for all the recurring characters losing their experience and starting at level 1 again is revealed?

[Tawm]

It's just a design choice for the sake of pacing and progression.

[[K98] Schwatvogel]

You just could give them like 5-10 levelups, when you load a savegame from the first one and choose the skills yourself to fit into the new system. After that a little autobalancing to some mobs. But if Mainquest require to start over it´s ok. I only hope they didnt change the Story to explain the exp loose.

[bakasora]

Is this your first day playing video games?
It's called game balancing.
What's the point of playing the game when you have access to all skills/spells right at the start?
Add more levels? To level 40? Just make everything higher numbers?

[Maximus Viridius]

Well this is my quibble.

Baldur's Gate 2 magnificently managed to hold the pace of and continue a story whilst picking up from the level cap of Baldur's Gate 1.

I totally understand why they started from level 1 again in terms of gameplay, character building, etc, but in terms of story it does seem a bit odd and breaks immersion a bit (that is - if there isn't some explanation later on). It's certainly justified to start from level 1 again because of the new choices players have whilst building characters. But that's a different question

[Sloul Des Tucs]

Originally posted by Sajah:

It's not lazy and they implemented a canon to fit it (a big one, like it's actually the main quest).

The main issue is that a lot of people asked for the devs to redo a lot of the gameplay, so they did. They redid skills, added multiclass, removed rest and per rest skills, removed the health/endurance management etc.

So basically it's way to much different from the first game, so much they couldn't make an import by level from the first game and had to make you go back to lv1.

This is what happens when you ask for change, things change, you can't have it both ways.

You actually can.
For instance BG2 changed many things comparred to BG1, but you could still import your character with its level and its items.

In PoE2 you could have started with the level of your previous character by making your savegame check for its level. And during the creation of your character you would have gone through all levels.
That's one way to do it.

[Lem]

Obviously the answer to 'why?' is all about the gameplay experienced of starting with nothing and working your way back up.

The story explains it very well for the main character, right from the start. The recurring companions though have no explanation and it really does feel silly. In my POE1, Eder was one of the companions I always kept with me. He was badass geared up in all the best stuff. Now he's a newbie warrior and pauper. What?! Eder, you really let yourself go over those 5 years... tsk tsk.

I just sort of headcannon it that all my companions came to Ced Nua for some big social event. Maybe like how kings in Mount & Blade always throw feasts and invite all the lords to attend. We probably had vast vats of butter, because it's the superior food for lords. When the place gets smashed by freakin giant god, they're all afflicted, like the main character, but to a lesser extent where they aren't put in a coma. I guess god stomps literally crush your soul, squeezing out some of that magic mojo that makes you 20 levels of awesome, leaving only 1 level of semi-competence. Also, it breaks your gear. Through all the godly chaos, Eder salvages me and sticks me on that boat. Now we don't who's alive or dead, or even where they are.

EDIT: Also, hardtack is poor replacement for butter.

[Maximus Viridius]

lulz

I mean, that's an explanation. IS THIS NOW CANON?

The original question was simply to determine if there was a canon reason, as opposed to mechanical, for delevelling everyone. But as you say, my main problem is with the complete scrubification of my previously incredibly badass party members, whilst I'm also still quite dubious about the explanation for the player character too (yeah the soul was stolen by Eothas but Berath has rejuvinated you or something...).

Gameplay is outstanding so far, I must say though.

EDIT: Hardtack is what Eder calls his tool

[LadyErica]

Originally posted by Sajah:

The main issue is that a lot of people asked for the devs to redo a lot of the gameplay, so they did.

You could put it like that. Another way to put it is you were very powerful at the end of PoT1, so why would you start PoT2 with all your powers? Where's the fun of being godlike at the start of the game? The only way this would even work is if the enemies were near godlike too, so you would be forced to become even more powerful than you already were. Which takes us back to square one, with you weak compared to the enemies around you. If not the ordinary people around you.

For this reason, I hope we can start over from scratch in PoT3, with an all new main character and all new cast. Maybe leave in some of the NPCs and companions from this game, or even the MC himself/herself, but as a NPC. I want to go back to level 1 again, and build my character and team from scratch again. That's the best part of the game. :-) Besides, what if we never played PoT1 in the first place? PoT2 is coming to Switch, after all. So we could start the series and have everything handed to us right from the start. Where's the fun in that?

[Bijat]

Originally posted by Maximus Viridius:

Well this is my quibble.

Baldur's Gate 2 magnificently managed to hold the pace of and continue a story whilst picking up from the level cap of Baldur's Gate 1.

I totally understand why they started from level 1 again in terms of gameplay, character building, etc, but in terms of story it does seem a bit odd and breaks immersion a bit (that is - if there isn't some explanation later on). It's certainly justified to start from level 1 again because of the new choices players have whilst building characters. But that's a different question

Well in BG 1 was lev 7 equal to maby level 4 in PoE 1. Levels mainly give higher stats and a few new spells. If Obsidian planed PoE to be a trillogy or w/e they coud plan the levling so you only get 1-5 in the first game but im 100% sure ALOT of ppl woud complain about the slow progression. Also BG 1 was shorter then PoE 1 so the slower progression woud hit you mutch more.

[Esmian]

POE 1 to 2 would be more akin to BG2 to Thrones of Bhaal which was an absolute nightmare of just spamming high level abilities over and over again.

[Maximus Viridius]

These explainations are mechanical, as in gameplay, development, character building etc - all of which I agree with. My point is why - in the story - do all your characters start out at level 1 after being superheroes. That's literally all I'm asking.

I think it's quite clear now that there is no canon explanation - which is why I thought it was a bit lazy in terms of writing but ho hum.