ABSofficial

Just wanted to start off by mentioning that I play this game in RTWP, as I come from the Baldur's Gate era. This thread was enlightening. That being said, I haven't finished the game yet - I've managed to read enough of this thread to not read spoilers, but several questions have been answered as far as things being 'broken'. To put it into perspective; I never experienced the transition, since I am new to the game after its final update when allegedly the entire game was left in what has been described as a broken state. I can definitely see why that leaves a lot of you frustrated and disappointed. I can also definitely see some of the shortcomings as a result, in comparison to PoE1 - which I've gone through 4 different endings now at this point, however; So far my PoE2 experience is hovering around a very modest 100 hours. I think the biggest thing has been some hiccups with using AI in tandem with health potions - sometimes I have to make sure I issue the command close enough to the round timer's end to make sure they aren't changing a command on me halfway through the round. Other than that, I haven't really encountered anything that produces any unhealthy levels of frustration. I am probably not even halfway done with the game at this point, even though my party is level 17. I have been so deeply immersed by the absolutely terrific selection of side quests and content, which has been maintaining a firm distraction from my main goal, and in my opinion is one of the most beautiful things to to ever have in a CRPG of this style. The cream of the crop for me was being introduced to what essentially boils down to a truly open world through various map levels. The "Ship Management" page, the ship combat system (which clearly stands out to me as needing more polish than many other things in the game but is still a... blast... none-the-less), and especially the on-deck encounters when you board enemy ships. All of this combined really stand out for me as one of the most epic, fun and truly satisfying combinations of systems in a game like this. Everywhere else, the plot and the character development seem much more deep and meaningful so far than PoE1 did, and the world just feels exponentially more alive. I am very happy that every other NPC isn't a gold-plated backer with a vague soul-peering event. That aspect of PoE1 made that game feel empty and... soulless... (go figure...) and even though some of it was still interesting, it was only to a very shallow degree and is definitely something I'm grateful that they pretty much did away with here. Nothing game-breaking so far. Hopefully the sailing stays this smooth 'as we sail down the Deadfire way' toward of the end of the game. Edit: I'll report back if I do happen to encounter anything game-breaking

...I can picture the conversations between her and Lilarcor. This would be the funniest thing in the world!!! edit: (I'm sure I'm not the first person to mention this)

The writing in this game.... powerful. I finished WM and I think I'm almost done with Hollowing. Between the cutscenes, the storyboard parts, the music, the writing... this has seriously won a place among my top 10 favorite games of all time. Probably booting out a AAA title too. Lol.

.... that it took Baldur's Gate 3 hype in 2020 for me to find this game. This is literally one of the best CRPGs I've played since the old Infinity engine days.