Hi all, I'm new to the forums, but really enjoyed POE 1 and was excited to back Deadfire. I haven't finished the beta yet, but I thought I would contribute because I am so jazzed about this game. I also think I may have slightly different opinions than some others on the board here, so I thought it might be good for Obsidian to see some different opinions.
The game is just gorgeous. Everything feels alive. When I got to the waterfall area and saw the parallax from looking off the cliff I swooned. I have never seen anything like that in an IE style game before - just incredible. I also love the resting/idle animations. I think most would agree that the graphics are improved around the board.
A couple of things that I was nervous about but ending up really enjoying:
1. 5-person party. With the number of active skills in the game, 5 characters feels like enough, and certainly keeps me occupied giving orders in combat.
2. Wound system. When POE1 came out, I was also worried that the health/endurance mechanic wouldn't work well, but I ended up really liking it. When I saw that you regain health after every combat, I was worried about Deadfire. My primary concern was that it would feel too gamey, and that getting knocked out in a fight wouldn't matter and would reduce the tactical necessity of each encounter. And yet, because the wounds are so devastating, it really makes it worth it to keep every member conscious for every fight! So far I really enjoy this, and it kind of raises the stakes when sending my already squishy rogue into an encounter with 2 wounds.
3. Per-encounter spells/ abilities. I was a bit nervous about this, because casting spells can start to feel really spammy when you get them back after every encounter. However, with the longer cast times, I felt like I needed to be more strategic with my spell choices, and I wasn't simply spamming my Arcane Blast + 1st level spell every single fight (looking at you, POE1).
4. Empower ability. I was concerned that this wouldn't feel impactful, but I think it turned out really neat. I was in a life-or death situation with my rogue and needed to get the killing blow on a Lagufaeth, so I empowered my next ability and managed to eke out a victory. Very satisfying.
Regarding universal talents: I'm currently playing a single class Rogue (Assassin) and it feels good. Sure, I kind of wanted the dual wielding feat (because my rogue has always had a dual wielding feat, since playing D&D when I was young) but at the same time, he didn't feel under-powered without it. So, in general I think the passive abilities being unique is really good, although it's obvious there needs to be some tuning (such as the Stalker sub-class).
There is some other great feedback regarding combat speed, armor penetration, etc, which I think are valid concerns.
Anyway, that's all for now - gonna head over to Poko Kohara!