Mazisky
-
Posts
459 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Posts posted by Mazisky
-
-
LoL, I discovered now that Chris Avellone work for WOTC, so I am even more suprised about the disappointing writing
-
4 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:
It's such a shame that BG3 is turn-based only. I tried to enjoy turn-based in D:OS2, but it just doesn't work for me. So, unless there is going to be real time with pause in BG3, I'm simply going to skip it. It may be a great game, but heck, turn-based is too much for me.
Well, I am in a weird situation about this. I loved only RTPW since I've started play those games from Baldur's Gate 1 in 90's till Deadfire now.
But, I am also a huge Xcom player and fan, so I've found myself in this weird position where I was upset about BG being turn based but then played it and realized that I like it being turn based too.
But I understand those who can only play RTWP that feel disappointed. Unfortunately RTWP is going to disappear since Larian took over the mainstream and Obsidian switched to Skyrim clones. -
2 hours ago, Bosmer said:
Most of their employees in Belgium might be Dutch-speaking, although I assume that their work-language is English by now, with three studios over the world. Owlcat definitely have my respect for working on text-heavy crpgs with a group of mostly Russian employees ( I assume) and small budgets.
I actually backed WOTC and I'm curious to see what follows.. but don't know if it's going to be my cup of tea.. I tried DOS1 and DOS2 and put them away after 1 or 2 hours. I can see how people might appreciate these titles and I am certainly looking forward to BG3, but if I compare these games to POE1 and POE2 I think they are inferior in every aspect:
The PoE's outclass them in setting, world building, lore, art design, combat gameplay, companion depth, itemization and dialogue for sure. I cannot speak to the pacing of the other recent CRPGs, but it might be Deadfire's biggest design flaw. However, providing a compelling main story in an "open world" is a notoriously challenging task (look at the elder scrolls titles...).
I can tell you that Baldur's Gate 3 has a total different and much better writing than DOS 1 and 2.
Dos 1 and 2 are very silly and comparable to a cartoon made by Disney mixed with South Park.
Dunno what happened to Larian with Baldur's Gate 3 writing because it feels so much better, it's very similar to the Middle-Era of Bioware, it reminds me the writing of Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect 1 to give you reference.
Pathfinder WOTC however is a very disaster in terms of writing, it's like you take my goth edgy 12 years old sister secret diary content and put it in the game.
Also, and that is another thing that's highly subjective, the game is extremely progressist, there is huge (really huge) focus on LGBTQ and Female celebration content. This is not a complaint because it's subjective, but I write this as an added info for those who cares about this stuff and want to know what kind of writing priorities the developers decided to embrace.
If you like this type of content, you will love the game. If you don't, well...
However, every other aspect of the game is so good and well crafted that the game experience is still top notch and I consider it at the top of any CRPG.
-
1
-
-
Yeah, I didn't consider the translation issues and you may be right about the writing feeling much different between original and localized version.
Maybe it contributed with my non-enjoyment of Deadfire writing.
However, I've played PoE1 in italian too and it was great. Maybe they changed the localization team and Deadfire was localized way worse
-
1
-
-
40 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:
Please don't make assumptions from what I write. I am not biased for Deadfire, and I don't love it.
Again, if you claim that Deadfire was written by some "amateur young guy", you should be able to explain that view a little, because it is very hard to understand. You are also being unnecessarily condescending when you bet that parts of Deadfire were written by American teenagers -- I am almost certain they were not, and if they were, those teenagers were quite competent. I only agree with the problem of "too American-sounding" in the sense that one of the wizards in the The Forgotten Sanctum DLC is acted in an overtly American style which I did not particularly care for.
But again, the differences between Deadfire and P:K are just huge. There are grammatical errors and even spelling problems in P:K. The dialogue trees are extremely simplistic and they rarely allow you to make proper choices. Every single character is so shallow that they are essentially a parody: Amiri is a butch stereotype, Linzi is a naivety stereotype, Tartuccio is an evil villain stereotype. There is no development in any of the characters, and no mystery, either.
I am almost certainly going to give Wrath of the Righteous a try, but if the writing really is as bad as in P:K, that's a huge problem and a great disappointment. P:K could have been a great game, but there are two things that kept it from being one: the quality of the writing and some of the encounter design (because the game so clearly cheats against you, which is a huge no-no).
I've found PoE2 companions and main plot uninteresting and undeveloped, factions are boring and uninspired,. Also, forced unnatural romances and too many funny and unnecessary cringy jokes typical of teenagers(same as Dos2).
If that's quality writing for you, then you will love WOTC.
I consider the writing in WOTR and Deadfire bad at the same level, so if you enjoyed Deadfire writing you will probably love WOTC too.
-
18 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:
I cannot comment on D:OS2, because I lost my interest in about an hour, but your comparison between Deadfire and Kingmaker makes no sense. If you cannot see the huge difference in the quality of writing, then I cannot help you. It's clear as day. If Pathfinder: Kingmaker is someone who has been playing the piano for a few months and keeps making terrible mistakes, Deadfire is an accomplished concert pianist. Not a virtuoso, but somebody who knows what he's doing, understands the style, has technique under control and is pleasant to listen to.
Here's the paradox: taste is a subjective matter. Despite this, there are still objective degrees of proficiency. These can even be analyzed: how much depth there is in characterization, how nuanced the narration is, how variable and/or repetitive the language is, and so on. This here my friend you see is no good sentence in the writing of English language. This, on the other hand, has nothing wrong with it, and although you may dislike its length and perhaps consider some of the words too perspicacious for their own good, the sentence is written by someone who knows what he's doing.
So I'm sorry to say but you're just wrong. The writing in Deadfire is worlds away from Pathfinder: Kingmaker. It is so much better than there is just no comparison. If you prefer P:K as a game, that's just fine, but that's not the question here. The question is the writing.
I never had problem with dialogues "lenght" or verbosity in Deadfire.
I've found the writing in Pillars 1 one of the best i've ever experienced, to give you reference about my tastes, and that was certainly verbose and long.
I've found the difference between Poe1 and 2 too noticeable, Poe1 was competent and immersive, engaging till the end, Deadfire writing felt like it was written by an amateur young guy, some characters speak like american teenagers (which i bet the writers also were american teenagers) and totally out of place, feels like playing with American Pie movie guys and not adult people like in POE1, if you can't see the difference I think you may be too biased only because you like the game.
So no, I can understand you love Deadfire and that's fine, but this does not automatically make its writing universally good.
Also, as added bonus info, I do not like Kingmaker as a game (got bored after 5 hours) so I cannot be biased in its favor
-
2 hours ago, xzar_monty said:
That's a terrible flaw. I played Pathfinder: Kingmaker, but much of the writing was just awful. I have in fact wondered on these forums whether the writing was meant as a parody, because it was so bad.
It's a huge disappointment if the writing in Wrath of the Righteous is of the same quality.
I agree to some extent, but most of the modern Crpgs are on the same boat.
Both Deadfire and Divinity Original Sin 2 have awful and certainly not better writing than Kingmaker or WOTR, but a lot of people still loved and ejoyed those games, so the same applies here.
WOTC has no good writing but at least it is fun and engaging, Deadfire has no good writing either but it's also boring. (still talking about the writing\story here, not the game as a whole)
-
A lof of people I know were turned off by pirates and careibbean setting, so I bet this is part of the answer.
Pirates and nautical its more niche, while classic fantasy is universally acclaimed and more popular.
-
I highly reccomend Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous
I've put 40 hours into it (beta version) and in my opinion is the best Crpg ever made since Baldur's gate 2.
My favourite games of this genre are Baldur's Gate and Pillars of Eternity 1.
I did not like much Deadfire (mostly for the setting cause i hate pirates and seas), I did not like much Kingmaker (too buggy and repetitive) and I didn't like at all Divinity original Sin (too silly). This is for reference to my tastes.
Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous has the best atmosphere I've ever felt in a Crpg. It is the pinnacle of classic\dark medieval setting, there are beautiful castles and woods to explore, cathedrals, a demon invasion and you get early game a fortress as base of operations, similar to Caed Nua but more in-depth.There is an incredible amount of classes and combinations, thousands of spells and abilites.
There is RTWP and Turn-based you can switch in-game any time you want.
Graphics is beautiful, as detailed as Pillars 2: Deadfire but full 3D, this is an achivement because 3D usually has less details than 2D-prerendered but in this game a single castle room is incredibly detailed with a lot of high quality objects on screen.
The soundtrack has become my favourite of all times. I can't believe in 2021 a Crpg composer managed to make an ost that can stand against old glories such as Skyrim or Baldur's Gate ost.
The only flaw I could find in this game is the writing, there are lot of dialogues and characters but the writing is really simple and cartoony.
At the end, every fan of this genre should keep eyes on it, full release is expected for June.
-
1
-
-
Did devs said something interesting? i had to watch with bad audio.
-
Wow. This thread took a dark turn.
We've already had 2 big DLCs, so I think we more or less know what we're getting into at this stage.
Yes, but what interest me is the fact they said the last will be Dungeon focused.
Yeah, curious what form will it take. I wouldn't expect a straight up dungeon in style of old, or Caed Nua. In one of the streams when they said that they will be exploring "dungeon" area in 3rd DLC they mentioned Fort Deadlight as example. If we consider such dungeon than there are few already in the main game, though I would expect this one to me more robuts than what we already have in the main game.
A multiplayers dungeon in style of Watcher's Keep or Durlag's Tower would be delightful, and it would be a nice space to take advantage of all the improvements made in previous DLC (memorable encounters with a gimmick, a wee bit more setpiece based storytelling, and in some cases freedom of approach from base game, supporting different character types). We will see what they will cook up, though. Maybe it will be one big sudoku puzzle.
You are wrong, one dev mentioned Fort Deadlight as example of the next DLC. Brandon Adler if im not wrong.
-
Wow. This thread took a dark turn.
We've already had 2 big DLCs, so I think we more or less know what we're getting into at this stage.
Yes, but what interest me is the fact they said the last will be Dungeon focused.
-
They said it will be a big dungeon....the only thing the game lacks imho.
There are some cool dungeons in the game but they are short. I'm pretty hyped for this last DLC, it may be the missing piece.
-
1
-
-
- there's no equivalent to the 15-level dungeon (closest is probably Old City or Oathkeeper's Sanctum, and both are just 3 maps each), but SSS DLC helps scratch my itch for grindy-combat.
You forgot the Drowned Barrows, that's a pretty good and large one.
However, it seems like the last DLC will be based on a giant dungeon, so it may fix this.
-
If i activate a god challenge, i cannot change difficulty or level scaling before starting a new game, was it intended?
-
Hello Justin!
I really like the Deadfire soundtrack, my favourites are the exploration tracks and those in the Neketaka districts!!! Very great mood
The only issue i have is a single combat music (the one a guy posted here), it really feels incomplete. Others are great.
Also i liked the "remake" of some Poe1 music, good work as always
-
Even after the last patch there is something who slowdown the game after a couple hours of playing.
Restarting the game solve the issue. Still a memory leak i guess.
I noticed that after a big battle, when lot of FX are used and the engine is stressed, the downgrade begins.
So maybe it's something related to some graphical effect who may be the "trigger" for the leak
-
1
-
-
I found Endless Paths to be dull. I liked the idea and story behind it, but it was filled with the same trash mob which you would be fighting outside. Very few unique encounters there. Deadfire on the other hand is filled with unique content and dungeons. I wouldn’t mind something more meaty, but at least i will remember those. Endless paths are for the most part on autopilot until the couple intersting encounters. To little content spread across to many levels. Kickstarter promise curse.
Still, I hope that the 2nd expansion + some rebalances will bring some combat joy into the game.
True, all Deadfire dungeons are quite small, but pretty unique.
-
Damn, i loved the Endless path. I don't know why people complained so much about it, it had lot of trash encounter but it was still cool, very dungeon crawler style.
-
There is less fight encounters in the game atm then there was in POE1, as there are no real dungeons in the game atm.
Most side maps are really small areas with 1-2 fights.
Bit shame, we have to hope for good beafy expansions.
Uncharted Islands are nowhere near Endless Paths.
I'm half game and all dungeons i have gone through are 10 times better than Poe1 ones.
-
1
-
-
The best balance example of Humor and grim is the Witcher 3.
Lot of dark, grim, and dramatic situations, but also lot of light-hearted and fun stuff to contrast that. It's almost perfect in this regard.
-
2
-
-
Deadfire atmosphere isn't worse, just different. But PoE 1 classic setting was better imho.
For the same reason i liked BG more than BG2, but it's all to personal tastes.
I am always looking for isometric games with classical medieval fantasy setting, but there are very few of them (modern games i mean).
-
Hi everyone,
I paused my run on Deadfire after the Intro because I'm perfectionnist and hardcore gamer. So I'm waiting for fix, new contents and new difficulty for a perfect first run.
But what's your feeling about atmosphere?
Personnaly I like dark fantasy, adult theme, mystical and gloomy medieval ambience. PoE1 is really cool in this way. Divinity Original Sin II was a pain in the ass for me with no serious and intensity.
Is this spirit still the same in Deadfire and what's your feeling about this "pirate road trip"? Too "fun"? Too "shiny and too distant from the first PoE?"
My man, the atmosphere is totally different.
Poe 2 to Poe 1 is like comparing Diablo 1 to Diablo 3 in terms of mood. Xcom 1994 to Xcom 2.
Deadfire is more like "Adventure theme" a la Indiana jones.
Deadfire is pretty cool and very different from Dyrwood but in all honesty i like Poe1 theme more.
Raedric hold, Durgan Battery, Concelhaut keep, all classic dark medieval fashion stuff. Deadfire is too shiny for me but i understand that it fits the Pirate\Caribbean theme.
The only Poe1 stuff i found in Deadfire are the dungeons, those are pretty dark and cool. The slaves dungeon, altought small, feels like from Diablo 1.
I really hope they return to Dyrwood in Pillars 3
-
2
-
-
i Think they have no banter but they occasionally talk about stuff during the game.
Suggestions for CRPGs like PoE
in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
Posted · Edited by Mazisky
The problem with Kingmaker is that is too long and there isn't much variety, most of the game are forests and meadows, few dungeons and lot of slow-paced hours in-between.
WOTR fixes this, pacing is very intense with few moments to relax and there is a lot more of scenery variety, such as cities, castles, etc. along with the typical wilderness forests.
Not to mention interiors are incredibly detailed now and a pleasure to go through, lot of different rooms filled with objects and assets as opposed to very barren and copy-pasted Kingmaker dungeons\interiors
I am always opposed to 3d because it gives a very flat feeling compared to the more detailed 2d (see NWN or DAO vs Pillars), but WOTC is the first 3D Crpg which is as much detailed as a 2d one.
example:
Also the game will be shorter than Kingmaker with an estimated 80 hs, so more quality over quantity