Verde

Then they missed out on all the dialogue options.

It's simple...disable achievements when using Blessings and Challenges. Keeps the integrity with Challenge mode and allows the options to mix and max with Blessings. Personally I don't want to bother slugging through Port Maje at lvl 1 with no rewards after beating the game 3 times :/.

It's surprising how Resolve went from the go-to stat in PoE1 to near-dump in PoE2. I think mostly removing it from dialogue was a big cause.

It also has some other glaring issues that are hard to argue against. Has serious bugs, both mechanically, in dialogue, and quest breaking/wonkiness. I mean if it resonates w someone, sure they think it's a 10. But if it was a more serious review, trying to be objective, it's hard to consider it a 10.

The story missions in Deadfire are 2-3 hrs w no branching paths

You have a major choice on how to handle the DLC's antagonist. And there is def no hand holding in the various puzzles. Did you play the DLC?! There are several threads asking for help re: draining the water and the bridges ablaze. There is nothing remotely this stimulating in the vanilla game. Nor is there anywhere near the quality storytelling, which is quite subpar in the maingame.

My only concession with PoE1 vs PoE2 is the first had a much more interesting and engaging story. Sure PoE2 starts off great but once you know how many quests the main story spans, it's just disappointment. Please the common dilemma of urgent main quest + urge to explore.

The thing is, POE2 has some seriously good combat. That helps a lot, but isn't everything.

Welp to each their own! It's certainly a subjective matter.

Also, you get far too little compensation for quests.

Obsidian doesn't understand their base.

"I think I found a bug" should be the tagline of every Obs game haha.

BoW not as good as White March 0_o? I will have to vehemently disagree with you there. White March was just a hodgepodge of random content jammed together with wayyyy too much fighting. It was disjointed imho. BoW on the other hand is one of the best narrative pieces Obsidian has done in either game. And instead of just throwing tons of random enemies at you, BoW provides backstory and puzzles. And don't even get me started on White March II. That was just an overall terrible expansion and had no business being made.

Well PoE1 had better choices imho. I think about the Lord Herron quest. BoW is top notch story telling tho. Haven't played SSS yet. And there are some late game missions that are "oh wow!" in the way you can subvert morality *evil grin*

Dumbed down compared to what? I agree, that sometimes the multitude of possible ways of approaching a quest can be delivered in a hamfisted way. Is there any point in BG2 or PoE where one had to think on how to resolve a quest? Deadfire delivers a much more complex and flexible quests than both of those games. I do agree that they way some of the soluti9ns are presented could be better handled. But it is hardly handholding or “dumbing down”. How are the quests flexible? I find them rigid and nonsensical. Poko Horo for example. You can't give the notes to the Chief if you disable the adra?! What?! That's the one person I DO want to give it to! Another example is finding the mosaic in the underground. Why is the only option to tell you know who where it is?! I only went down there to loot and Tekehu doesn't want me to tell! There are some good pts later on I will say, depending on which side you choose. But most quests have randomly rigid circumstances.

I have seen one puzzle, and there are no intellectually challenging quests, simply because answers and solutions are handed to you in a way which makes it almost impossible to fail. For example: in one room, there is a piece of clothing. How convenient, then, that next to this piece of clothing is a diary entry saying "If I wear this piece of clothing, certain critters will mistake me for someone else". Sheesh, I thought. Also: who writes down stuff like this? That bit is flawed in two ways: 1) you are given the answer before you even knew there was a question, and 2) the answer is handed to you in a way that makes a character in the game look completely fake and artificial. (Of course that person IS artificial, but it shouldn't be stressed like this.) @Tagaziel: We're talking about different things, yes. Agreed xzar they dumbed the quests down in the main game.

Mostly everything is better except for the main story and your options within quests and the world's reactivity to your choices. Combat first and foremost is a ball, prob my fav in any CRPG ever. And the game is purty with great sound and music (play w headphones).

So how exactly does this work Boeroer?

They will become hostile again, but...hey you just gotta try it alright ? You're making it seem much worse than it is. Heck Ringleader is one of the most OP spells in the game...prob should be lvl 8 or 9.

It's a bit on the rails compared to say Divinity 2, but I find it more playable than most RPGs. My biggest gripe with exploration quests is the lack of puzzles and intellectually challenging quests...but Beast of Winter shows Obs can do it.

I can't imagine a Death Godlike growing up kind and loving haha.

They really can't consider every multi and whether it's too powerful or not. The game rewards your for experimenting.

Well, I may change my mind, but I don't want the AI having my buffs like it always did in PoE 1 when they reverted back to being bad. But I may get a single target ones first to experiment.I dont think I've ever run into this in PoE2 and the durations are sufficient. Ok, I am going to try; and I will cast Disintegrate on you if you are wrong! If you don't kill your foes while they are Dominated, I'm reflecting that Disengration back at you.

Well, I may change my mind, but I don't want the AI having my buffs like it always did in PoE 1 when they reverted back to being bad. But I may get a single target ones first to experiment. I dont think I've ever run into this in PoE2 and the durations are sufficient.

To echo what other posters have said, you should really include *some* mind control spells in your repertoire, as they a key strength of Ciphers.