Lexi

I don't remember where they were in the lengthy chain, but I do have the images. (Sorry whoever edited them)

Dispositions are so laughably broken. Its kinda amusing seeing Aloth be a huge ass though. Traveled with him through Dyrwood and the Deadfire, helped him with his awakened soul and his hunt for the Keys. Disposition: Zero. What a jerk.

Um... I'm afraid your age is showing, sir. Have you seen him lately? Guys still hot.

I didn't consider that. Good point.

These might make for some interesting portraits? Edit: Removed the one that was done.

When you're tasked to kill a single slaver but you end up clearing the entire fort.

Black Hound. Where is my dog Obsidian? What happened to him!

How to be a good parent, Watcher edition. Bring your child onto a ship of war. Let your child drink ale Do not under any circumstances talk to your child When facing a storm designed by the very Gods themselves, heading into uncharted waters following a rogue God with no assurances you'll make it back, do not leave your child in someone elses care. How will they grow strong otherwise? Investigate as many plague ships as you can.

Stand under her hut and wait around, near the merchant. I don't know what kind of ghost crap she is pulling its the only place I was ever able to catch her in her wanderings.

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.

Hey, the man loves animals. A lot.

Its so strange that they would change pistols to a one hander yet not make dual wielding them viable from a min-max perspective. No idea what they could do, but something. Maybe a melee/ranged weapon style that increases accuracy or reload speed for your offhand pistol.

The most fun I had in Deadfire were the side quests, the factions and exploring. The least fun I had was the main story. You're not really discovering anything, or even doing anything but following the God around and turning on some adra pillars. Which does.. Stuff. I guess. Meanwhile in Pillars 1 I found the main story to be far more engaging, its more personal, has lots of mystery and pays off.

The quest in the er, town with the large coral. Its part of the Royal Company questline. You need to shut down the machine to get the boss.

Does Aloth feel rather out of place to anyone else? He is by no means bad in Deadfire. But I don't know, coming across him randomly on the same island you crash on? That feels a little much, and while his personal quest was interesting it feels a bit tacked on given there is no other mention of the Key cult in Deadfire outside of it. I like his character a lot, but it feels like it might have been an idea to sit him out (Guys busy dismantling/running the Key) for Deadfire, give others time to shine and bring him back for the third?