Dezeption

Look at me! I am not super late for the party for once! I enjoyed Pathfinder: Kingmaker quite a lot - but as I was late for the CRPG party in general, I missed out on the legendary bug launch of it. I even pre-purchased Wrath of the Righteous (WotR) as I like Owlcat as a studio. Here's my small (wall of text...) take on WotR (with as little spoilers as possible!) primarily compared to PoE (1+2), but might include other titles as well for the sake of it. :] Here goes! Small background: So before starting anyone who actually bothers reading should know just a little bit of my history to understand my perspective and priorities. I am still pretty new to CRPGs (started fall 2020) and I have been playing all of the big (and some small) titles since then. DoS2 was my first CRPG game, and PoE1 followed shortly after completion and PoE(1) has been my favorite game ever since. I play CRPGs the way most people watch series or read a book (with the small detail of being able to design the main character yourself), and hence my priorities goes as following: 1) A lot of role-playing options and great immersion. 2) The general story setting and main story arc. 3) Companions, and how well they function with the game. 4) Character freedom - I am very fond of the PnP-style where my character is assumed with as little background as possible to not snare my character design. Anything else - be it combat, the actual appearance of the game or voiced (or non-voiced) NPCs/companions/PCs - I can make do. Also, I like owls, a lot. :] Alright, let's go! General Story Arc - I have never been fond of the story arcs that are driven by a chase of divinity - it just doesn't suit my most typical main character. This is one of the things that I did not appreciate about DoS2, and similarly - it is one of the things that I am not too fond of when it comes to WotR (granted that it can be mostly avoided with certain paths). As most PoE(1) fans could guess, this was one of the major points that I *ADORED* about PoE(1) - my character was not necessarily chasing after godly powers - the connection to divinity (that primarily came with PoE:D) is just the way the cookie crumbled when the PC wanted answers to their condition. I still get goosebumps thinking about the PoE story. Anyways - in general, I am kind of neutral with Owlcat's story arc writing in WotR. Similarly to in Kingmaker, I feel like the character that I have designed is an ill fit for the obviously very righteous path that they are pursuing (I felt the same way about "having to" my own Kingdom in Kingmaker), but that is kind of the point of the game so I'll just roll with it. RP will find a way! The WotR story has an INSANE lot of flavor driven primarily by your mythic path choices, and I guarantee that the different paths will feel VERY different, even those close in alignment. Combat - I am not a RtwP player. Infact, PoE(1) is the only game where I've played with RtwP without struggling big time. Thus, when presented the option - I will more often than not prefer turn-based. Same goes for WotR - however, some fights are just a complete mess for a TB-player. This is however a minor setback as I am well aware of that the game is designed for RtwP, and as such I am just happy the TB option is available and reasonably clean. Anyways, regarding the combat scaling, Pathfinder (at least from Owlcats) is well known for being merciless at times and I have read a lot of complaints about how many encounters are too difficult. However, in general I'd say that even on "normal"/"standard" (I forgot the exact term that they use) difficulty, the battles are more than fair and you are always free to adjust the difficulty if it is necessary. If you play on core or above, then you're asking for a challenge - so don't be upset when you get one. :'] Builds - Just like Kingmaker, WotR has an insane amount of builds available. It feels similar to the PoE:Deadfire in how one can multi-class, but in WotR you can do so with even more freedom than PoE:D (for the better or worse). :] Graphics - It is for sure an upgrade from Pathfinder Kingmaker when it comes to the actual game character designs, but you'll definitely recognize the style if you played Kingmaker. Loads of gorgeous portraits for both NPCs, companions and, of course, for player options (unless you wanna import your own :] ). Time for my favorite subject! Companions: Personality / Writing - It is no secret on any forum that I absolutely adore many (*cough* all *cough*) companions from PoE(1). They remain my favorites to this day! That said, I can appreciate good companion writing when I see it (well, in my opinion at least :] ). Many of the companions from WotR fill certain stereotypes, but imo they do so in a very good way. Even some of the evil companions are *mostly* bearable for a good aligned character, thanks to good writing and good character motivations. I'd imagine vice versa might be true as well. I personally feel like the romance options are a bit of a lackluster (for both genres, regardless of sexuality), so I'll be passing on the romance run - however, from what I've read the actual romances seem to be very well written, so if any of the romancable options fall into your (character's) taste, then do try it! I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised! And just as in KM, your interactions with your companions matter for their development. Without going into too much detail (and spoilers), I'll just put it out there that Ember (our elven child-minded witch) can respond very poorly if you continuously push her away from her character drive to help people. Companions: Interactions - As expected from Owlcat, the companion banter is superb and there is A LOT of interesting dialogues that open up depending on which companion you bring when speaking to certain NPCs. This is similar to the companion commentary that I've been so fond of ever since PoE(1) and DA:O, so I am delighted to see more games doing more of this (Larian, please take notes , _ , )! Unfortunately, similar to Kingmaker (and both PoE games), WotR puts much more focus on quality rather than quantity when it comes to actual companion dialogues (between the player and the companion). The times when you get to properly interact with a companion (often accompanied with them approaching you regarding some matter) are very few and often far between, and that is especially painful when the interactions often are so well-written. :'[ Truly the very same problem that I had with PoE:D! However, the companion commentary is, also similarly to PoE(1) + PoE:D, very well written and occurs often. They will often have comments about the situation that you're in, and sometimes about the decisions you do - however these comments are (more often than not) not something that the PC can respond to, however it still adds sooo much to the companion's character and this was one of my favorite things about PoE(1)! In short: Companion banter, check. Companion commentary, double check. Companion dialogues, mmmh... Half-checked with a question-mark. It is also worth noting that companions often react to each others commentary. If one companion has a comment, then another companion might respond to that particular comment. :] And that is it, folks! At least for tonight's wall of text. :'] In short, I'd say that Pathfinder WotR definitely is worth playing, at least for most PoE fans! I think Owlcat and Obsidian Entertainment have the same priorities in many important factors regarding cRPGs - and that makes me very happy! Of course, PoE remains my favorite by far and the series exceed both Pathfinder games in most ways - but Owlcat did, imo, a pretty good job with WotR. Fair warning though, if you're afraid of bugs (huehuehue), then I'd suggest waiting a little bit just in case. Owlcats have been very quick with the bug fixing so you probably won't have to wait for long though!

Happy anniversary, Obsidian ! I am looking forward to see your future games! (... The PoE1 part gave me goosebumps )

Late for the party - but here goes! I absolutely ADORED the PoE series. The first game is actually my favorite of all time - and that comes from someone who has been playing computer games since I was old enough to hold the computer mouse. *Literally.* Thing is - I played both PoE and Deadfire for the first time *less than 6 months ago.* I do not have any real nostalgia associated with the products (although, I certainly feel nostalgic listening to PoE music tracks on YouTube), as I was late for the CRPG party overall and been playing everything from BG2-3 (EA), DA:O, DOS2, Tyranny, Pathfinder: Kingmaker and, of course, PoE since fall 2020. And, like I said, PoE was by *far* my favorite (not just among CRPGs, but OVERALL) - and that is although I sincerely enjoyed each and every one of these titles. My heart broke a little when I wrapped up the series to move on to Pathfinder: Kingmaker (I had the post-series depression for days). It might be because I come from an ARPG-heavy background - with a lot of games like Diablo, Grim Dawn, some Path of Exile and Wolcen - but eveything about PoE(1) rubbed me the right way. The main plot felt personal, with a moderate sense of urgency instead of "yeah uhm, doomsday is near - but imma solve your pity squabbles anyways" (like stated in the comments above). I enjoyed the combat (despite having a poor history with RtwP since DA:O that really had me struggling), I absolutely adored the available voice acting and I would any day prefer that kind of quality over full VO, I loved *each and every single one* of the companions of PoE(1), the music was so beyond next level that I have an entire playlist dedicated to Justin Bell, and I did every single companion quest line during my very first playthrough. Cannot say I did the same for Deadfire. Deadfire was a good game in many aspects - especially regarding combat (and multi-classing <3), the small "book"-events that even included individual characteristics of the companions (loved these sooo much!), well written romances (although disappointing endings to them, imo), continued amazing companion interactions (their monologues that pop up during quests and events) - and of course, yet more amazing music! ... But I also experienced a lot of issues with Deadfire that never occurred to me in the first game. Like the very long intervals of dialogue silence during side quests (as companion dialogues only would pop up after progressing the main story) - which lead to the remarkable time of *13 hours real time dialogue silence while I wrapped up some side-content*. Then once I proceeded with the main story - ALL of my companions wanted to chatter at the same time (right in front of our enemies!!). That left me very annoyed and "un-immersed", and quite honestly? I struggled picking up the immersion in general after that (this must've been around 30ish hours in). The ending also left a rather sour taste in my mouth - and without giving any spoilers I just felt like I didn't get the option to explain my reasoning to Eothas properly and that the game read my motivation all wrong. I mean - I felt like my choice of action (and reasoning) was anything but unique and mind blowing (judging by previous commentary), yet the writers did not seem to account for it at all - although they included passages that were much more complicated / elaborate (which is a good thing! I just wish they would have any reasonable response for people in my seat). Either way - the way Eothas interpreted my actions, and (more importantly) the lack of proper explanation-options from my side had me salty for WEEKS! Anyways, back on the main subject - I also watched the "Breaking the mold"-presentation and read many of the interviews with Sawyer - and they break my heart. It saddens me to see Sawyer's apparent disappointment in a, imo, not just great but FANTASTIC game series. I remain hopeful for a PoE3 - and I'd be willing to wait more than 10 years if that is necessary. HOWEVER, I only want PoE3 if the developers come back to it with the same love and effort that radiated throughout Pillars of Eternity (1). Otherwise, I'd prefer them to leave the two games as they are and have the developers move on to something else that they can properly fill with genuine love and attention - no matter how saddened I'd be. I get that the investments require success because... Well, companies need money to not bankrupt. Especially since they nowdays are with Microsoft that really want to maximize their profits. But I really, really, really wish that the developers could see PoE2 not for what it became (which is not a bad game by any standard, even if it did not reach their expectations), but rather - the absolutely AMAZING game that it could develop into if they just gave it some time, love and thought. :[ I also very much hope that Obsidian realize that a huge blame for the poor start was due to limited marketing! I would have bought the game in a heartbeat, had I known about it at the time... But alas - I did not, and I arrived many years later as a result. Deadfire might not have been perfect - but nothing will ever be when you choose to experiment with new techniques and get rushed the way they did. It was overall a great game - and more importantly, it pawed a good path for a PoE3 with the data that you acquired from the successes and failures of Dreadfire. Sorry for the long post - I just feel very passionate about the entire series as they, imo, make the best CRPGs in the market (from someone with no nostalgic bias :] ).