I've just completed the game (every quest, every fight, every dragon, everything) with a 2 man party. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it but I just last night killed the Alpine Dragon and the Kraken and then killed Thaos, all other quests were already done (and all bounties, the . My main character is a Bleak Walker Paladin (only because I need to get Gift from the Machine in Heritage Hill, and then sacrifice Eder to the blood whatever for 1 might and 2 deflection, which require Cruel rep which will hose any other paladin's Deep Faith), and my second character is a Chanter. We are both Wild Orlans because Defiant Resolve is easily the best racial passive for tank-types IMO. It was really hard. Alpine Dragon took me about 10 tries. Kraken actually is a joke fight and was super easy. To be honest the most difficult encounter in the entire game was the Brynlod bounty, as everyone (not literally everyone, but many people) is in exceptional plate + exceptional large shields + cautious attack AND THERE ARE THREE CHANTERS ("Shanty-Singers") who are constantly healing everyone, so from a survival point of view it is not that difficult (actually that's a lie because the "Deadfire Backstabbers" are rogues who do raw damage constantly which is a big problem) but from a DPS point of view it is a complete nightmare for 2 man parties. I had to separate the chanters by summoning things between waves of them, and then you can have part of the group keep following you while most of the group deals with your spiders or whatever, but I don't think there is any way at all to handle this group as a full force with 2 people, there is just too much mitigation and too much healing. Anyway I am extremely satisfied with having pulled it off, was not entirely sure it was possible but I did not cheat in any way, was on Path of the Damned difficulty and I just have to say there is tremendous synergy between pallies and chanters in PoE 1. I did not use any of the items introduced in the pre-deadfire patch (hat, belt, whatever) as they are obviously completely out of sync with the gear that the developer initially intended the game to be played with.
I can post more details if anyone wants to know, but my gear was Maegfolk Skull/Ryona's Breastplate/Ring of Deflection/Ring of Protection/Viettro's Formal Footwear/Concelhaut's Skull/Cloak of Comfort/Siegebreaker Gauntlets/Binging Rope/Steadfast/Little Savior (Legendary, Durgan-enchanted).
My chanter's gear was Gharod's Chorus (retaliation)/He Carries Many Scars (Legendary, Durgan-enchanted, Shock-proofed, +2 Int), Ring of Protection, Ring of Changing Heart, Frythr's Plated Greaves/Mantle of the Excavator/Glittering Gauntlets/Looped Rope/Wodewys (Exceptional, Durgan-enchanted), Little Savior (Legendary, Durgan-Enchanted, I used the Helwax Mold to dupe this once it was legendary and durgan-enchanted, enabling me to have 3 legendary pieces of armor)
There is incredible synergy between these two people and the only fight which really gave me a lot of trouble was the Alpine Dragon. I am going to try Deadfire with this same crew although they have changed Paladin and Chanter mechanics both quite a bit.
FWIW I am also pretty far though another 2 man PT where my main character is a Ranger and my other character is a chanter tank... but I don't think they are nearly as effective as my original party.
