Pseudechis

I'm definitely of the crowd that loved POE but had no idea that deadfire was even a thing. If I'd known I would have backed it from day 1. POE was the best iso crpg I've played since the glory days of BG and IWD, a close second is Tyranny. Its not just nostalgia either it's genuine enjoyment of iso CRPG party control gameplay. I wish there was more of it but it can be hard to find good ones. I really tried to get into pathfinder kingmaker but its buggy as hell and kinda clunky gameplay. People have discussed deadfire sales and POE3 again and again and all sorts of reasons crop up but some I see voiced a lot by players is too much narrative, not enough gameplay, setting wasn't typical fantasy setting. I think all these points a terrible because the narrative in POE and POE2 paints a really immersive world one of the best in a long time, the games weren't the longest but had sufficient content to keep you busy both for the side quest story OCD's and the power big fight min maxers. Lastly the setting was refreshing. Fantasy is always set in the same dark age medievil tolkien-esque eurocentric setting. There is nothing wrong with this setting but its been done to death. Setting a rich fantasy world in the early age of exploration was amazing. It also gives oportunity to explore some really adult themes such as colonialism, resource exploitation, salvery and land title. It may have been set on a ship but you didn't have to be a pirate as many claim, you could be a merchant, an explorer, a raider, the game lent itself to any of these ideas with its faction choices. I'm still holging out for a POE3, but then again I've been waiting for KOTOR 3 for years and what we got was a lacklustre MMO so I'm not holding my breath sadly.

Its been a couple of years now but I keep coming back to POE and POE2 Deadfire. I especially enjoy Deadfire and I'm perplexed as to why it wasn't more popular. Eora is a brilliantly fleshed out world with a very real and believable level of story charater and depth. The main plot is subdued and subtle like a good film rather than the typical over the top epic where you are the centre of the universe. While you can smash your way through the main story fairly quickly, the world itself gives great sense of scale, everytime I play it I find some extra lil thing that I missed the previous play through, or interacts differently because of history choices or disposition. Its remarkably rewarding. I like the story book style scripted interactions they create a narritive feel. I also like the ship combat, its fun, simple but fun. Its also different and something that I haven't seen in a iso RPG before. I think its great and for those that don't it has the option to bypass it, so you're not even forced to partake in it if you don't want to. As a principi pirate though I go around raiding every merchant I can find. People hate on it and I just don't get why. Yeah it could have been something more complex or compelling but its a side game not the main event and does that role well. Deadfire stands out in particular because its not the typical fantasy tropes. High fantasy suffers from a lord of the rings obsession. Tolkien was great but the fantasy genre has been so tied up in re-creating it that games are almost an insufferable collection of tired cliches at this point. Deadfire's setting is refreshing. I wish there were more fantasy games set in an age of exploration type world. (Greedfall is another that comes to mind). I get there are some pitfalls with this setting as a lot of the inequalities in the world were born out of the age of colonialism. How is this any different though from the slavery, exploitation and religious oppression of the dark ages where most high fantasy is set. When done well it creates a compelling and conflicted world that Eora has captured beautifully. The factions are all very believable. The idea of a mobile stronghold in the form of your ship is great too and I just wish there were more uncharted islands to find, explore and name. I'd love to see POE 3 but given how POE2 was recieved it probably won't happen and that really bums me out because frankly pillars of eternity 1 and 2 are the best RPG games I've played since BG1, 2 and IWD. I just wanted to post up a thanks for an awesome game and say don't give up on it because I'd love to see more isometric adventures set in the world of Eora.