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Hey folks! I am a Youtuber who posted a thread a while back asking for peer review for an upcoming class tier list video I was making for Deadfire. The video is complete and I am linking it below for anyone interested in following up. Thelee from these forums makes a guest appearance at the end to discuss the finer details of the rankings. Here is the link:

finally got to Malenia in Elden Ring, attempting her pushed my total play time over 240 hours, and I have yet to even burn the friggin' tree. at least I'll be ready for the DLC once I get around to trying it.

Thanks! My voice is something I work on a lot. In many ways I am bad youtuber - I'm not a good editor or sound engineer, for example - but my voice is something I do put some time and energy into, so its nice of you to notice. I usually try to answer the "what is fun to play?" question in my build videos. I think the whole point of a build is that its a mechanical/narrative concept that hooks me for an entire run, and so I share it so others can have that experience. I'm already working on some builds of my own, but it could be a good idea to make a video introducing the excellent build content already on this forum. Just brainstorming here, but you would be the perfect person to interview for that video! Your PoE1 builds in particular were invaluable for me learning the game and probably the single most influential content for how I make builds myself. Let me know if you are interested!

It is brewing in Dagestan again. Locals are starting to attack Dagestani “collaborators, who served in Russian Army in Ukraine.

After almost three busy months, when I spent about 1 hour per week on gaming, I have finally found some more time during today, and started Dark Souls 2: SotFS on PS4. I have cleared few areas and I had some comedy wipes already I have defeated The Last Giant, and I’ll be deciding if I should go for the Pursuer or Dragonrider. For me, It’s easier to get to Pursuer, but it’s easier to defeat Dragonrider. So for now, the winner is Dragonrider. We’ll see how it changes tomorrow, when my ass will get kicked few times Anyway, I started this time with Cleric, as I plan to go for melee Paladin-like lightning build, so the toon needs a lot of Faith. If I get steamrolled to much during my playthrough, I will still have chance to switch to Hexer caster, which should be easier to play for my skills. But hopefully I’ll get as far as possible into the game, before I will have to switch.

Ooooh, a Dragon Age II remake!

...We've never had someone serve as VP for more than two terms, right? I'm pretty sure we haven't... (e): Nope: there have been seven VPs who have all tied for longest time in office at 2,922 days.

Harris should pick Joe as her VP.

Biden announced that he will drop out

Awesome! Let me think through how I'd want to do that video and I'll DM you when I'm ready. No one who matters cares. There are always folks in my comments nitpicking me on accent/pronunciation, and English is my only language.

Dragonrider and Flexile Sentry have been defeated. I am still trying to get back into the controls after not touching controller for three months, so I am using summon mechanics at bossfights. It’s much easier that way, but if the game offers me helping hand, I do not say no The other good thing is, that it looks like, I became much more patient than few years ago, when I have played it for the first time, so after three bosses only 15 wipes. This will probably change a lot at the Pursuer, but we’ll see on PS3 I have spent more than 3 hours and countless wipes to get through No-man’s Wharf, today just 1 and half and 2 wipes. Not bad, not bad. Mace is fine weapon and Old Knight Chest armour helped me a lot with mitigating damage. Although, I am running a lot out of Stamina due to this combination.

Thank you! Sure. My spoken English with that German accent might not be the most pleasant experience for listeners I guess - but who cares...?

Sorry, edited while you were reading (see addendum above).

Yes. They do stack their effects. Indeed - it does work like that. It's a very good combo of spells - especially because both spells as a combination can be accessed so early (tiers 1 and 2). A similarly great combination with Combusting Wounds is to use Kalakoth's Minor Blights and combine it with the Blast talent. You will produce a lot of individual attack rolls (Blights' projectiles have their own AoE - and every hit in that AoE will trigger a Blast AoE) which will all trigger Combusting Wounds.

I played Jack Move. It is a cute little cyberpunk pixel art indy rpg. It is very short, probably under 8 hours. At the same time, I found the combat to be overstaying its welcome. I uninstalled during the final boss fight. It is too tedious and boring for me. I know I could beat it if I invested the time, but there is nothing rewarding about slowly nibbling at the silly health of the boss, defend before the big attack, heal, repeat. I can watch the ending on YouTube.

Nice video. First of all your voice is pleasant and well suited for this - which is really the exception rather than the rule with (not so big) channels. Great! I also like your explanations regarding your thought procress on every class. I do not agree on several things - but I'm able to relate to the decision making. I also enjoyed hearing @thelee's voice for the first time, yay! --- Edit: as I said before somewhere during the initial discussion I would very much like to see a list (or maybe simply a presentation) of the most enjoyable (multi)classes. Like "what makes Deadfire builds fun to play (for you)?" And then maybe assume and speculate what might be fun for other potential players and give arguments why some stuff might be boring (yet powerful) and other stuff might be fun (even if not OP). Maybe that could be a topic that's helpful to new players (especially the ones who don't want to play several runs but prefer to have the most fun with just one playthrough). I mean if the thought processes and reasons "why" would be equally well explained as in this video above it should be nice content, right? It's all subjective of course - but maybe entertaining and helpful nonetheless. Examples: I agree that Barbarians are pretty niche in general - but it also happens to be that Berserker/Helwalker is one of the most enjoyable combos I always come back to for a fun little playthrough. It can be very powerful and especially carries the character very well in the early and mid game, yet is def. not overpowered, it has very effective synergies while it still poses a challange with its downsides. It just makes me hoot and holler when you go against weaker enemies while it's still viable against the bigger ones. Or how a certain Arcane Archer/Chanter can be so incredibly enjoyable and great against single targets and mobs alike - despite having a class like the Ranger in it which usually focuses on the niche of "AC vs. single targets". Yet there's also the very powerful stuff that's still very enjoyable (at least to me) which is the Mortar Monk for example (thought about it when you spoke about Resonant Touch). It's great during he mid game (INT bonus working with the mortars' AoE, Stunning Surge being awesome with mortars etc.) while it's not breaking the game in an unfun way - and when you get the really gamebreaking stuff like Whipers of the Wind + Resonant Touch + mortars' multi AoE... well it's the endgame and I think one can be allowed a little OP for the last few hours. Or the Psion/Troubadour which combines two very powerful classes into a very fun and powerful enough experience (when you focus on spamming different CC and damage options without pause) or into a potentially boring one which is gamebreakingly good (focus on summons and mind control). You already adressed it in the video above: that using very powerful stuff can be boring... but I think this topic deserves its own video. Because it's a very complex topic and highly subjective - and because a lot of people enjoy different things. I think this could lead to good engagement with viewers and also fruitful discussions. I also think this point rarely gets the attention it deserves. After all it's a game and is usually played for fun. So imo the most enjoyable characters are the most "powerful" when it comes to serving the purpose of a game so to speak. Anyway, excuse my ramblings: again - nice video.

I've just received an answer by Obsidian. They are already aware of this issue, which is affecting many people, and will address it in their new patch - which they don't know when will be released, but still.

Here is the completed video for anyone interested! Thank you so much for your thoughtful critique, y'all saved me from making some embarrassing mistakes! Special thanks to Thelee recording a discussion with me which is included at the end of the video. Here is the link:

Weird... I'm honestly not sure which the game uses. Could be both are used but in different contexts? Like the sprite tokens used to mark background specific dialogue. Either way from what I can tell, creating a similar file path inside the override folder doesn't work for adding individual icons like it does for load screens and scripted/super interaction images. As for additions to the "GameSystemIcons" atlas, assuming I am understanding the code right "ItemIcons" & "SpellAbilityIcons" are the only atlases that Obsidian have set up to accept additions.

Create the following folder structure ->override->your mod folder->atlases and the following 2 files inside: SpellAbilityIcons.png SpellAbilityIcons.txt In the image file you can add image icons sized 42 x 42 and add 2 empty pixel between each icon. In the text file add the following lines: First_Icon = 0 0 42 42 Second_Icon = 44 0 42 42 Third_Icon = 0 44 42 42 etc First_Icon is the name that you will give to an icon which will be used to be referenced in the editor, 0 0 are x y coordinates and 42 42 are icon size. So first icon is at the top left of the file, second under the first while third right of first. If you setup everthing correctly, you should be able to view your icons when you open your mod folder inside the editor. If something is unclear, I suggest you download a mod from nexus such as community patch and check how the folder for icons is set up. Hope this helps. Edit: You can also find most of the icons in the wikia.

En Garde! Cookie Cutter A boss. The final boss, I assume. Getting the ball to the socket was slightly challenging. Not Ornstein and Smaugh, but close enough. Gore and spoilers. I struggled to see the MC here during combat. Still, I am quite happy about the absence of the contact damage. Wrong texture. A main boss and some gore. Softlocked - activating the pink thing required energy, which I did not have, while getting back was not possible either due the elevated surface. The platforming section which I discovered to be optional after spending about an hour to complete it. Mail Time The character creator was rather nice and minimalistic. The Outer Worlds

Oooh, found the atlas in ...\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\sharedassets2.assets Names & Sprite coordinates in UIAtlas (PathID: 632)

I can't for the life of me find where it is located but I'm pretty sure Background and Culture icons are stored in a sprite atlas somewhere. I know I have stumbled upon it at various points whilst searching through assetbundles for something else. Frustratingly I never made a note of where! The only other evidence I have for its existence is there being a version of it uploaded to the PoE2 wiki: https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Pillars_of_Eternity_II:_Deadfire_images_-_Interface?file=Poe2_GameSystemIcons.png If that is indeed the case I think that would make additions to it not possible with the override folder sadly

Hi, this is the right place to ask! Also good timing, I've been working on some updates these last weeks and can take a look at your issues as well Icons in general are baked into one of the .unity3d or .assets files in ...\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\*.assets ...\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\assetbundles\*.unity3d I've been using this tool: https://github.com/Perfare/AssetStudio to view & extract them. Background icons specifically can be found in: ...\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\resources.assets @Kvellen has had success replacing loading screen images, maybe a similar method could be used to override/add new background icons? Yeah this is functionality I really should add There's no way to do it currently, you'll have to open the mod's .gamedatabundle and remove the json manually. Sorry. I also want to add some way to compare and revert individual changes made by a mod. Ops, absolutely not intended. It's meant to open the wiki https://gitlab.com/noqn/apotheosis/-/wikis/home May I ask what's your OS & web browser? Anyhow, I'll change the method for opening the browser...

It's like the weirdest bit someone has ever committed to.

Well, on the bright side, next time someone asks me why I don't want anything messing with my kernel, such as anti-cheat, I can now point to this as an extreme example.

Mod files for BPM usually fix or alter each individual ability separately, just download and install the mod, find the file for that ability and delete all other files.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cnk4jdwp49et Apparently some cybersecurity package has decided that Windows is malware and tries forcefully to remove it… all over the world. Affecting everything from cloud hosting over airlines to scheduled surgeries and tv stations There have been reports suggesting that a cybersecurity company called Crowdstrike, which produces antivirus software, issued a software update that has gone horribly wrong and is bricking Windows devices - prompting the so-called "blue screen of death" on PCs.

So I'm enjoying the game overall, but reading/hearing some criticisms on the game contributed to a potential realization. Now, disclaimer, I've not finished the game yet. I've done a good chunk of the side content, and finished the main story quest where you escape the volcano. And while I could most definitely be wrong about this, it's something that concerned me enough that I was posting it in a Q and A stream as often as I could (There was a 120 second timer between posts to prevent spam, so it's not like I was just destroying the chat with posts. But I apologize to the devs for continually asking this). I'm getting the impression that much of the content of Deadfire has almost no relevance to the main plot. What I mean is, even though you might have to take a side at some point, that seems to be all the connection the factions have to Eothas and his goals. Not to mention that, thematically, the factions are more about colonialism, while Eothas' story is more about the nature of gods and their relationship with people. Now, one might argue that the factions are relevant to Eothas in the sense that they represent the conflicts that arise as a result of the intervention, or lack thereof, of gods, thus providing an example of the sort of stuff Eothas and the gods promote or oppose. But I feel that theory is a bit too much like grasping at straws. Another argument might be that, the whole point of PoE2 wasn't just about the Eothas plot, but about exploring the Deadfire and getting into unrelated adventures along the way. And while I don't think this is a totally invalid argument, as plenty of games do just fine with this mindset, I personally feel like a game like PoE, which has a heavy focus on story, should put more focus into a tight narrative. And by a tight narrative, I mean one where the characters, the setting, the side content, have something to say that is relevant to the central plot and its themes. I don't know...I might be right, I might be wrong, I might just be rambling. Maybe I'm missing something. There are a lot of things I like about this game, but I just can't shake the feeling that it ought to have been more narratively...cohesive than it was. Bit of a disjointed post, I know, especially since I haven't even finished the game, but feel free to give your thoughts. I'd be down to discuss.

Okay, after finishing Ashen Maw myself (as opposed to just reading spoilers) I have to say that my biggest gripe with the game isn't even about the terribly short main story or unfocused narrative. It's about making my character way more important for the game's world than I like them to be, silly as this might sound. I enjoyed it in PoE 1 that while we were somewhat rare as a watcher, we were still by no means unique. Our ties to the plot came from having known Thaos in a previous life, not from being the Chosen One. Running into Adaryc and having him read our soul was really cool because it drove home this exact message: the Watcher is no special snowflake, there are dozens of others like them out there in the world. I loved that. But now we have to be this Herald of Berath, Chaser of Eothas, super special THE Watcher of Caed Nua character to whom even the gods actually listen. What the actual f... If I wanted to feel that special, I'd just go play ME again. Eothas, why couldn't you awaken under somebody else's keep, why did you have to do this to me?

This has to be the worst main plot Obsidian has ever written. Follow someone else around the Deadfire and listen to the gods ramble about inane nonsense, wow, much exciting. Anyone who thinks this is better than the first game's plot has to be smoking crack.

Actually, you totally can. PoE1's story happens without you as written. Because the story of PoE 1 is the Leaden Key doing the Hollowborn thing. And they actually succeed. You come to every site too late, they've already done their little dances. You're always behind Thaos. He gets down to the bottom of Sun-in-Shadow way before you do (as you've got sidequesting to do, and he just paused to collapse a doorway) he has enough soul energy from all those soulless kids to do exactly what he intends to do (empower Woedica), and just needs to flip a few more switches on the machine to do it. But to make you feel special, the writing forces him to wait until the player shows up, regardless of whether you got down there in 8 hours or if you took 8 months to tidy up the loose ends. Thaos won, but bounced on your plot armor at the last minute, trapped in stasis for no good reason. The Watcher's Awakening is completely irrelevant to what's actually going on in the Dyrwood.

Actually thinking about ME2, it has another thing in relation this aspect of the game/story integration I really liked - for most of the game, when something important is happening that the story is saying is happening now (e.g. collector attacks on colonies), you have to go and deal with it now. And then, as you don't have an immediate lead on what to do next with regards the main plot, you are free to do what you want while your boss does off-screen research into the Collectors. After a certain amount of time (represented by a number of missions - which can be whatever missions you want), another major event happens that you have to deal with immediately. It gives a nice mix of giving the player freedom to make decisions as to what they do, while also making it seem that things in the universe happen without your direct input, and I love that there are significant sections of the game where you don't have a clear direction from the main plot outside of a vague "make your squad better" goal, as it makes sense for you to be doing your own thing during those times. Deadfire's story could really have done with this latter aspect.

I wouldn't want a hard time cap with game loss as failure on the main quest, that's getting into unfun territory, but I would like there to be some impact on how things play out if I ignore the main story when it is implying that I should be hurrying. Maybe different post game outcomes, or certain characters dying or something like that. A good example would be Mass Effect 2, with the bit where your crew get abducted - the longer you go without rescuing them, the more that die. It doesn't break your game or anything, but its definitely a bad thing, especially if you're fond of the characters and it makes the game feel more realistic, that your choices do really have consequences, that you can't just wander around ignoring what the story is telling you. Overall, I just really want my decision to not pursue the main quest to be recognised in the game as I find it somewhat immersion breaking that nothing happens despite me spending months sailing aimlessly around.

It only gets mentioned a couple of times, but apparently you can't stray too far away from Eothas because you start feeling worse. Your crew had to chase him while you were chatting with Berath in the prologue just to keep ypu alive. Also, when Eothas gives you back a piece of your soul at Hasongo, it is stated that you get some memories back with it. So yeah... I guess you do have memory loss but it's conveyed poorly in the game.

I think the entire problem comes from three factors. 1. You're playing as the Watcher, 2. You're playing before Eothas breaks the wheel, and 3. A lack of drive in the main story. Playing as the Watcher Feels like the cons of this far outweighs the benefits. First the pros of playing as the Watcher. Obviously you're continuing this characters story, which means plenty of links back to the first game, from companions to side characters you can meet again and continue their story. Far as I can tell that is really the only benefit.. But I don't even think that is of much note. The links back to the first game are all very superficial. First, characters: Companions have little to do in the second game, nothing really NEW to say. Old companions feel like old companions. Its nice to see them, but they do not grow and change in the same meaningful way compared to their interactions in Pillars. Choices made in Pillars also amount to one line of dialogue for the most part. There are a few more major ones such as Vela, but she isn't even a companion or side character.. And a whole other bottle I could rant about. You adopt a child in the first game only to have a SINGLE line of dialogue with them in the second. You also have that child on a ship drinking substances while you throw her into pitch naval battles and violent storms. Parent of the year. Okay but moving on from that, the bigger effect choices can have are characters existing or not. Vela, Wirtan etc. All these amount to conversations at best, a letter in your cabin (For Aufra) at worst. I don't believe they add enough substance to outweigh how strange it felt to be back as the Watcher. In Pillars, the story of the Watcher is the story of the game itself. You could not pick up and replace the Watcher with someone else. You're linked directly with Thaos by your soul, Edar couldn't be the Watcher, for example. You were the main character. In Deadfire your status as the Watcher means very little. You are, as Berath puts it the best choice. But not the only choice. In fact if you decline the ending slide simply says she picked a new champion. The fact you are the Watcher means very little, and all it does it limit the games story massively. Playing before the Wheels broken / A Lack of Drive First, the lack of drive. Eothas, a living god and giant living adra statue is stomping across Deadfire, each step crushing the land below his feet, each stride causing rogue waves that devastate coastal villages and ports. Or.. Not? There are a few ports and villages that have been effected, but for all the game giving the choice to claim Eothas is killing thousands, you don't really see much evidence of that. Just in terms of numbers of "footprinted" areas compared to places untouched; Pirates and monsters are a far greater threat to the Deadfire. The other issue the caused a lack of motivation for me to care for the main story, is how its presented. You are given no hints as to how you can stop Eothas, no magical keycard you need to go collect to bring him down. The drive to follow him seems to be focused completely on finding out what he is doing, and 'getting your soul back'. I've got issues with both. Firstly once you find out what he is planning, there isn't really anything done about it. You just tell the Gods, and.. Shrug your shoulders? The only option you have is to go chin wag with him. The only plan. You are told very clearly you can't fight him. He is a God. For me it felt like you were simply waiting for Eothas to do what he came to Deadfire to do, then the story would get started. I've seen a lot of people mention they feel like Deadfire plays more like a Prologue than anything. So then there is your soul. Why do you need it back? Your character seems perfectly fine. You walk around, you interact, fight, sail, you remember who everyone is. There seems to be pretty much no big deal with the fact he has your soul. For all the Watchers dialogue choices demanding their soul back, I was just thinking.. Why? You seem to be perfectly okay without it. When you do get your soul back, it just reinforces this. Nothing changes it. You get a storyboard saying you feel better? Or something? Maybe I missed a line of dialogue but this just felt incredibly pointless. Now if perhaps your character woke up after Eothas had broken the machine, and if that stopped souls from leaving the physical world right away.. Everything would suddenly fit into place. The lack of drive would be fine. "Watcher, the wheels busted can you go check it out" leads itself a lot more to the side content the devs clearly want you to focus on, rather than "There is a giant running around crushing everyone, and its very tragic (trust me) also he has your soul which I guess is a problem, not that you seem at all broken in any way". How I would fix things maybe I don't know. Drop the Watcher. Perhaps bring them back for Pillars 3, but they simply don't feel like they mesh with Deadfire. Removing the Watcher would leave you able to be open to roleplay. The biggest strength the start of Pillars had was the clean slate. You could be anyone, and the game reenforced this in the 'tutorial' section with conversation, asking you why you came to the Dyrwood, who you were before, and if you came to settle or you were simply traveling. Endless choice there as to what your character was. In Deadfire, you are the Watcher. And the problem in my eyes is everyones Watcher by the end of Pillars is their own character, and forcing narrative on a character someone has spent 30+ hours building is kinda.. Crappy? My Watcher would not have been down with Deadfire at all. I'm sure plenty of others are the same. You spend all that time in the Dyrwood only to be moved on, abandoning it. The first thing my Watcher would have done is told Edar to perhaps maybe not drag my corpse onto a ship and sail to who knows where, maybe also not with a child on board I don't know. My point is you're missing the open roleplay choices the first game had, and what you get from being the Watcher character I don't think justifies what you miss out on. Playing as the Watcher also goes against how the game seemingly wants you to play. Its clear there is a giant focus on side content, on the factions. You're meant to care more about that than the main quest, obvious given the main quest itself is shockingly short. Perhaps only a few hours long. Yet as you're playing the Watcher.. Well it makes the most sense that you'd continue doing your Godly business, and tracking down the giant **** who stomped your keep and killed a bunch of your kitchen staff. But hey you could also.. Not do that? And be a pirate? Or something? Sure, perhaps your Watcher is sick of it all and wants to simply get away from it all. That works, but in the narrative Bearth tasks you with a job, and ignoring it should lead to them killing you. It doesn't. She won't do anything if you ignore the main quest. But in my mind its always a nagging issue that she said "Go do these things" and you can just not bother without any issues what so ever. So if you didn't play as the Watcher, everything would start to fit. You're not chasing down your soul. You're not looking for revenge for your keep. Your reasons for hunting the God could be your own. Perhaps you're an island native who is a bit upset he stomped your canoe. Maybe you work for one of the Companies, and have been tasked with seeing what the hell all that God business is. You could be a pirate, who thinks bringing down a God could be pretty damn profitable. Who knows. Sure you can be all these things in the game now, but you're hamstrung by being the Watcher. .. Wow this post is way too long.

Deadfire is far from the only game to do it, but the disconnect between the story heavily encouraging you to rush after Eothas, and the gameplay heavily encouraging you to ignore the story and go exploring is particularly egregious here. It really felt to me that Deadfire is two very different games - one story driven game about chasing down a god, and one open world game about being a pirate - stuck together without any real thought as to how to properly integrate them. That's not to say I haven't been enjoying it, on the contrary, I had a lot of fun on my first playthrough and intend to do several more runs, but having such an obvious disconnect between what the story is telling me and what the game is telling me really hurts the immersion. At the very least, there should be some consequences to ignoring the main plot in order to go explore desert islands - my choices in the game should matter and yet a decision of this level, which, given what is going on according to the story, probably outweighs any of those the game actually tracks, is ignored. Part of the problem is that you always have a really good lead on where to go with the main quest. If you had to actually go looking around for information in order to track down Eothas, it might make more sense to go exploring in the hope of finding clues, but as it is, you really should be chasing after him ASAP.

OP is absolutely correct. Pillars 1 starts with a caravan of people blindly groping along the road with indifferent stars (Gods) refusing to reveal what they know. The prologue ends with Glanfathan warriors trying to kill you to please Gods who will never actually respond to them. Maerwald is at war with two different versions of himself who committed terrible crimes against each other because each thought it was what their gods wanted. Edér doesn't know if his brother betrayed his country and if so, why, and never will. Aloth becomes totally lost after losing contact with his superiors in the Leaden Key for no apparent reason. Durance worships a God that no longer speaks to him. Kana is searching for the original, true version of his nation's founding epic, and he can never find it. Sagana has left her family behind on a traditional quest that cannot be comprehended by the person it's meant to serve. Pallegina serves Ducs that refuse to even work in their own best interest much less reward those that help them. Hiravias behaved exactly as a devout Glanfathan should and was rewarded with a bewildering blessing that led to his exile. The Grieving Mother has no identity due to tampered memories but also points out that all memories are being altered all the time, so the certainty in anyone else is an illusion. Zahua is trying to save a people that no longer exist. The Devil of Caroc seeks meaning in taking sadistic revenge on people that wronged her that she can no longer even feel. Maneha found more of her identity and longs for blissful ignorance because it was so far from how she saw herself it became intolerable. Thaos believes in nothing but dedicates his life to deceiving others into believing in his pantheon. Iovara believed in people, and in the Watcher's past life, and was tortured to death for it. Virtually everything, even sidequests in Pillars 1 like the one from the Magran priestess in Defiance Bay, is about trying to find meaning in a universe that offers no clear one. There is a clear theme and thesis visible from the start. As far as I can tell, Deadfire has no theme. Just a sandbox with a bunch of toys to play with. An improvement for some no doubt, a lateral move for others. Personally I don't see why the couldn't have had that and a decent main story, but I suppose Deadfire was a pretty cheap game and resources are limited. Hard to deny that the story and companions are a major step back though, unless you just really like Xoti's eyelashes fluttering in dark amusement because [impassioned].

The middle road is tying the story to exploration, directly or indirectly, and the appropriate placement of drama and mystery. Skyrim wanted you to go exploring, but the writing almost never told/allowed for you to. The main questline and all the faction questlines constantly ratcheted up the drama to a higher level than the previous step(The College of Winterhold was a particularly frantic storyline). Writing stuff like "There's no time to waste! You must leave at once or we all doomed!" isn't conducive for the immersive roleplayer to want to stop and help someone find their lost satchel. Morrowind was far better in this regard. The main thing is that major questlines need moments of downtime for players to veer off into other things. The form this downtime can take are many. For example, if you want the player to go to some town to kill some guy, don't provide them with the information of where in the town the guy lives. Maybe don't even tell them who he is, if you can. Maybe all you know is that there's someone in the town doing something you need to stop. The downtime in this example derives from your lack of knowledge of how to proceed. You're not dawdling by ingratiating yourself into the town. I'm also a big fan of just straight up telling the player to wait. Time is needed to make preparations, time is needed for events to unfold. Telling the player they might as well go do other things in the meantime can be perfectly fine.

Yes. This is why I think the game would have been better if you weren't the Watcher. The Watcher can show up, wearing a hooded mask or whatever, and maybe you get to accompany him on quests to find Eothas. I would rather he not though, and this could just be about you, the privateer captain, making a name for yourself in the Deadfire. Flesh out factions, flesh out sea battles, make ships attack each other and not just you, have fleets, essentially make a Sid Meier's Pirates! RPG.

Yes, this is the weakest part of the main story. Any guy could do it. It's worse than that; if you romance Maia, you find that Hylea can watch what's going on in the world from birds. Any birds. Finding Eothas was never any problem for the gods. As for his motives, most of them give no f's for his motives. Some of them even get involved in what I view as one of the cardinal sins of storytelling: having a solution but just not executing it. Ondra and Magran suddenly start advocating for blowing Eothas the hell up with volcanos and underwater vents and crap. You can actually agree with them, and they settle on this being a fine solution to the problem. And then... they don't do that. They actually come to decision about taking action and simply... don't, and you go back on the rails. The last time I saw this in a game was the terrible 'Siege of Dragonspear' 'expansion' for Baldur's Gate, where the villain proposes you team up with her, you agree and then she disagrees. Seriously, wtf? This seems cut in the same mold and 'quality' of writing. i really want an non 'epic' game where an adventurer/adventurers have exciting adventures and interesting campaign arcs on a local/regional level, not philosophical drivel and kicking over the entire setting shortly after its introduced to the audience. Seen it too many times (Bioware is especially guilty of this, but several D&D settings have the same problem- Dark Sun being the poster child for this. City States with Dragon Kings! Year one: Mostly dead Dragon Kings by way of the intro novels and first adventure trilogy) ---- @Ontarah- the really aggravating thing about PoE1 and the belief/disbelief thing is the answer presented is horrifyingly simplistic: they absolutely exist, are giant jerks, and belief/disbelief does not matter in any way at all, rendering all questions raised entirely moot. Except for Sagani's, because she actually behaved like a person rather than a flawed attempt at a philosophical archetype, and could focus on what her journey meant for her.

Needing to gather strength, either your own or that of allies, is a good way for a main questline to encourage side questing. That's not really an option in Deadfire, though, because they made Eothas utterly unstoppable. Gather the entire might of Eora and it would avail you nothing. The only thing the story allows you to do is follow him and talk with him, neither of which are helped by resolving tribal rights or pirate rivalries. Until Ondra's Mortar. What do you mean about Magran's Teeth? No it isn't. The fact that he has a piece of your soul and that your continued existence is contingent on you finding Eothas for Berath is not what I would describe as allowing you to just do whatever. I haven't encountered a single conversation where someone told my character he was going to die (again) if I didn't find Eothas right away after Berath resurrected him. I got no timetable from Berath either. You are asked to find Eothas, you are given "he has a piece of your soul" as a motivation to do so among others (revenge, divine mission, stop Eothas destruction, etc) along a reason as to why finding Eothas should be easier at least until he cut the cord and you lose the connection. Once you get a ship you can go "I'm gonna be a pirate" instead of "Lets hunt Eothas"...and if you could break vows to gods in POE1, I don't see why you should feel like what Berath is demanding is imperative and urgent in POE2. Also, Berath doesn't even need you to find and talk to Eothas, if you pick the "take the Wheel" choice at the beginning you learn that they will simply find another Watcher for the task. If you don't do what Berath asked you die. That Berath will just find another Watcher is only more proof of that. You think Berath will have you die for refusing the job, but will let it pass if you're not doing it? If you're under the impression Berath can't kill you once you left the Beyond, remember the deathknell within you: Your goal is to catch up with Eothas and ascertain his plans, and the longer you dawdle about the further along Eothas gets. The timetable and urgency is inherent in the premise. Yes, the game lets you say "It's a pirate's life for me!" and spend months plundering ships and islands only to find that Eothas hasn't budged from where you were told he was, but that doesn't mean it makes any narrative sense.

I'll spoiler a lot, so dont read on if you haven't finished the game. I agree with the part about the mystery. Not only are Eothas' whereabouts not a mystery, also his intentions are quite clear from the beginning, and they don't seem evil at all. Most RPGs feature a very prominent antagonist. A huge nemesis to the world, an evil that needs to be destroyed; or if you're into playing evil characters, then they at least stole something significant from you, that lets you tremble, leaves you weak, so that you have only pursuit in mind. Irenicus or the White Hunt come into my mind. Here the main plot is to get favor with 4 factions, then turn them against each other and ultimately decide for one, to then "find" an island, which is not very well hidden, but all people want to find it, and when you finally prepared enough to get into Eldorado(Cant keep the name, Ukuzi or what it was :D), all you get is a fight against a guard, and not the giant the game made to be the main antagonist. Of Eldorado itself or why it's so sought after, there's little and less to be seen, and the giant who stole part of your soul already gave it back and doesn't fight against you. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the game, I loved some of the quests, and like the item-design, but I most certainly see it as a "narrative mistake" like the guy I quoted. You get to fight 2-3 dragons(if you want to), which is nice, can stop slave-trading if you want to, can kill or succumb to a imp-demon-god, all of which I found really great, but then after this, there should be the ultimate fight, the real challenge, the hardest or most story-relevant fight in the game, but there's not, which I found sad. There's just the "hey, care about those that get stuck in the in-between" - "ok, will do, thanks for pointing out" - "cool, have fun destroying the wheel then"

No it isn't. The fact that he has a piece of your soul and that your continued existence is contingent on you finding Eothas for Berath is not what I would describe as allowing you to just do whatever.

I mostly like the side content, I like that it doesn't necessarily have to have anything to do with the main story. The problem is that the Main story itself is way too short and uneventful.

I dunno, I think they found a good compromise, with showing you right at the beginning, that you might be to weak. You have to do some quests, so you spend time with your environment and get sucked in. So the illusion of starting to live in the Archipelo is given. Not a bad solution and with Magran's Teeth we have an in-story reason, why we leave Eothas alone for a while. Wait, what's showing your weakness? Combat is faceroll from waking up onwards. There really isn't any reason not to chase the jolly green giant, and party dialogue (and NPCs) encourage you to so just that.

That the side quests don't relate much to the main questline doesn't inherently bother me. What does bother me is that the main questline allowed for hardly any room for side quests to breath, which perhaps gets at part of what bothered you. After arriving in Neketaka it's a straight arrow to Eothas: you always know where to go next to track him, and there's little to no justification to get involved in anything else. One of the ways they could have fixed this would be what you're hoping for. If they had made Eothas's whereabouts more of a mystery, then searching the islands and seas for him could have been a bigger deal. You could have had to do favors for these factions to either use their resources to help you search, or divulge information they already know. But Eothas was a gargantuan marching impervious statue with a singular and simplistic goal in mind. Subtlety wasn't in the cards. This is a narrative mistake most non-linear RPGs have been making for quite awhile. They give you giant worlds to play in but forget the issue of pacing; the main questline constantly urges you forward with all due haste, while the game simultaneously throws mountains of side quests at you without batting an eye. RPGs, especially ones like this, need the main quest written in such a way as to allow for exploration.

I agree with you. I found that this felt more like they were trying to do a Sid Meier's Pirates! RPG (which is great, I love Pirates! Gold) and they had 90% of that done, then realized that they needed to shoehorn in the Watcher because it says Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire on the title, so they squeezed in the main plot. But there is such a huge disconnect between that and the rest of the game, and it seems like not much effort was put into writing the main plot, that I feel like I would have preferred this as a Pirates! RPG set in Eora instead. Have a different main plot that factors into the powers in the Deadfire Archipelago, flesh out the faction system, make the sea more lively, get rid of the Watcher and have a privateer captain as the main character, and just call the game Deadfire: A Pillars of Eternity game. They have such a well crafted world (san retcons), that it would be a waste to just have it focus on the Watcher whose story arc already ended in the first game. His reason for being here is... well not that great really but you should finish the game first. I loved the game, would have wished more polish to the ship aspect (pirates attacking other factions and not just you, trading, working politics, maybe just make the ship battles be like regular battles except the player is a ship with a class and skills like fire broadside/port and jibe, etc), but found the main quest to be the weakest part of the game.