Admirable Design Decisions

[Night Stalker]

 

 

Vignettes

 

What's that?

 

 

I assume flamesium is talking about the scripted interactions.

[Lord_Mord]

 

I assume flamesium is talking about the scripted interactions.

 

Oh yes. Those are nice. By the way: Thank you all very, very much for a thread that points out the many great things about Deadfire, without the usual complaints and whining. It's a great game. Maybe the best I ever played. Can't tell at the moment, as I didn't finish it yet. Of course there are things I don't like, but those things are in every game. Deadfire comes incredibly close to the perfect RPG for me.

 

My favorite thing is how the factions and companions are designed. They are so believable and you have lots of reasons to either like or dislike them. Like real ****ing people. Nobody is just plain good or bad and you don't have to decide too early with whom you want to side. In PoE1 my decisions where always the same, no matter how much I tried to roleplay different characters. I cant wait to play Deadfire again to make totally different choices. The companions all have kind of a Durance side, where they are just complete ****ing ***holes or idiots, but on the other hand they are completely OK in some way. The companions I thought I would dislike have some aspects to them that make them still interesting (Even Imoen Xoti), while the ones I thought I would like (Aloth for example) can be just plain ****, depending on where you take them, whom you take with you and what you decide to do or say. More of that please!

[Wormerine]

 

 

I assume flamesium is talking about the scripted interactions.

 

 

Oh yes. Those are nice. By the way: Thank you all very, very much for a thread that points out the many great things about Deadfire, without the usual complaints and whining. It's a great game. Maybe the best I ever played. Can't tell at the moment, as I didn't finish it yet. Of course there are things I don't like, but those things are in every game. Deadfire comes incredibly close to the perfect RPG for me.

My favorite thing is how the factions and companions are designed. They are so believable and you have lots of reasons to either like or dislike them. Like real ****ing people. Nobody is just plain good or bad and you don't have to decide too early with whom you want to side. In PoE1 my decisions where always the same, no matter how much I tried to roleplay different characters. I cant wait to play Deadfire again to make totally different choices. The companions all have kind of a Durance side, where they are just complete ****ing ***holes or idiots, but on the other hand they are completely OK in some way. The companions I thought I would dislike have some aspects to them that make them still interesting (Even Imoen Xoti), while the ones I thought I would like (Aloth for example) can be just plain ****, depending on where you take them, whom you take with you and what you decide to do or say. More of that please!

Cuious. While I agree about factions, I have completely opposite feeling about companions. They didn’t feel like humans at all, and had very little to them outside robotic responses to what they like in reputation sheet, without much explaining what motivates them or what they believe with. In PoE they acted as “sound board” strenghting and amplifying stories wider themes, showing individual humans affected by revelations. In Deadfire they are just combat meat, who get upset if you not support the faction they have been attached too, with their personal quest having little to do with anything, and being of little consequence, story and character wise. They feel like what I hoped sidekicks would feel like - a basic character concept with little exploration and development.

[Yenkaz]

 

 

 

I assume flamesium is talking about the scripted interactions.

 

Oh yes. Those are nice. By the way: Thank you all very, very much for a thread that points out the many great things about Deadfire, without the usual complaints and whining. It's a great game. Maybe the best I ever played. Can't tell at the moment, as I didn't finish it yet. Of course there are things I don't like, but those things are in every game. Deadfire comes incredibly close to the perfect RPG for me.

My favorite thing is how the factions and companions are designed. They are so believable and you have lots of reasons to either like or dislike them. Like real ****ing people. Nobody is just plain good or bad and you don't have to decide too early with whom you want to side. In PoE1 my decisions where always the same, no matter how much I tried to roleplay different characters. I cant wait to play Deadfire again to make totally different choices. The companions all have kind of a Durance side, where they are just complete ****ing ***holes or idiots, but on the other hand they are completely OK in some way. The companions I thought I would dislike have some aspects to them that make them still interesting (Even Imoen Xoti), while the ones I thought I would like (Aloth for example) can be just plain ****, depending on where you take them, whom you take with you and what you decide to do or say. More of that please!

Cuious. While I agree about factions, I have completely opposite feeling about companions. They didn’t feel like humans at all, and had very little to them outside robotic responses to what they like in reputation sheet, without much explaining what motivates them or what they believe with. In PoE they acted as “sound board” strenghting and amplifying stories wider themes, showing individual humans affected by revelations. In Deadfire they are just combat meat, who get upset if you not support the faction they have been attached too, with their personal quest having little to do with anything, and being of little consequence, story and character wise. They feel like what I hoped sidekicks would feel like - a basic character concept with little exploration and development.

 

 

To be fair, Maia is a soldier and through side quests can start openly questioning her side, meanwhile Pallagina literally derives superhuman power from sheer belief in patriotism.

 

I really don't see them as robotic as you say, though in general I'd have liked it if they simply scrapped the disposition system and replaced it with arguments if you cross the boundaries of the character. Obviously a soldier won't accept that you willingly harm their home country, for instance.

[BlessedHeretic]

Definitely loving Multi-class. Although the one thing I wish was in the game was multi-class acknowledgement. Although it's great I can be noted for being a paladin and a cipher.

 

The AI scripting makes this game worth it 100%. Reminds me of Dragon Age : Origins and makes combat feel not tedious and lets me focus on enjoying the terrain and effects in combat more.

 

Unlike many, I enjoy the ship system. Although the conflicts with some quests by exploring to much due to the open world ship part is kinda weighing on me over time as well. Still like it though.

[Verde]

Great stuff! I started a second playthrough with a Druid but I'm kinda missing my merc-for-hire Swashy. I love all the different quests you can get tangled up in.

[Wormerine]

To be fair, Maia is a soldier and through side quests can start openly questioning her side, meanwhile Pallagina literally derives superhuman power from sheer belief in patriotism.

 

I really don't see them as robotic as you say, though in general I'd have liked it if they simply scrapped the disposition system and replaced it with arguments if you cross the boundaries of the character. Obviously a soldier won't accept that you willingly harm their home country, for instance.

Yeah, but why. I get that Pallegina is pro-Valian and i get that Maia is pro-rauatai. I have less problems with returning companions, as i got to know them in PoE1. I understand why Pallgina is so attatched to brotherhood and what it means to her. I liked Serafim the most out of the new companions as we actually learn about him - his upbringing and i can believe that Principi ideals would appeal to him. All i can say about Maia is: she is an well disciplined Rauataian soldier with a bird. Cool. Throughout the game i got to know her job and that she is good in what she does. That isnt a person, thats a business card content. Edited May 22, 2018 by Wormerine

[whiskiz]

I’m probably going to get some flak for this, but words can’t describe how glad I was that almost every class spell/ability is Per Encounter now.

 

I had way more fun with my Loremaster than I had expected.

 

But, like, severely restricting your gameplay and auto attacking 80% of the games combat, is much better and the only way to make it challenging.

 

 

Now to wait for the balancing to go with it - to make it some of the most awesome combat that the RPG genre will have seen in awhile.

Edited May 22, 2018 by whiskiz

[Masticator]

I like the little bit of brighter colors. POE 1 can be too dreary sometimes with the colors. Sometimes I think the reason why DOS games sell better is they are much more brighter and less dreary. Though I don't care for the cartoony feel of the DOS games and lack of a compelling main quest. I don't mind dark subject matter, but that doesn't mean all the colors of the map need to be dark as well. Sometimes I think they need to get the Planescape: Torment mentality out of their heads. While it worked for that game (though I wish that game was brighter as well), most games shouldn't be that dark (visually).

[Crucis]

Every single aspect of PoE 2 is improved over PoE. I mean that; from the graphics to the quests to the classes and combinations to the combat to the reactivity of the world to the epic scale of the story, and more. I can't find anything about the game that isn't superior to the original, and that's ****ing impressive.

 

I can't agree with this.  Oh, I think that there are a LOT of things that are improved, but not everything.

 

1.  I don't like the graphical abilities trees.  I really HATE having to slide my mouse over all the damned abilities to be able to read what each is.  HATE HATE HATE it!!!  I greatly prefer POE1's text based version.  This one is pure bovine fecal matter, it's so bad.

 

2.  I don't like the lack of any need to rest from simple fatigue.  They implemented diurnal cycles around the rest of the game and yet removed it from the party.  That's just wrong.  Your party members should need to rest at least once per day or suffer increasingly bad fatigue penalties.  And that's just on the most basic level.  On a more detailed level, perhaps the party should have to rest after some number of engagements as well, because just doing nothing is less exhausting than fighting battle after battle.  The trick with this is though that you can have a number of smaller engagements in quick succession at times when the bad guys in the second group don't get triggered to come running to assist the first group.  So maybe this would be solved by some sort of count of the number of enemies you've fought, or perhaps how much time you've spent in combat (probably better).  Maybe that's too much underlying complexity.  it just bugs me that you don't have to rest  at all in this game unless you've taken injuries or been hit by curses that can only be removed by rest.

 

3.  Subclasses.  I have no problem with the concept of subclasses.  I just don't like the lack of flavor in them.  They're bland as hell.  Subclasses seem to me to be little more than (usually) 3 different play styles for each class with next to no attention being paid to developing some true flavor to the subclasses.  Personally, I think that most of the old kits in BG2 felt like they had more flavor than the subclasses in PoE2, which is a shame.  And let me say, for me, it's not that subclasses are unplayable.  They're just much too bland in most cases for my taste.

 

I could go on, but I don't have the time right now.

[kanisatha]

Thanks, OP, for this thread. So great and so on point. I find myself in agreement with pretty much everything that's been brought up here. I was (and still am) one of those who was very disappointed with the decision to drop party size, and yet because pretty much every aspect of this game - large and small - is just so incredibly awesome and well done I find myself not caring that much about my party size issue. And that says a LOT!! This game truly is a gem.

[Katarack21]

 

Every single aspect of PoE 2 is improved over PoE. I mean that; from the graphics to the quests to the classes and combinations to the combat to the reactivity of the world to the epic scale of the story, and more. I can't find anything about the game that isn't superior to the original, and that's ****ing impressive.

 

I can't agree with this.  Oh, I think that there are a LOT of things that are improved, but not everything.

 

1.  I don't like the graphical abilities trees.  I really HATE having to slide my mouse over all the damned abilities to be able to read what each is.  HATE HATE HATE it!!!  I greatly prefer POE1's text based version.  This one is pure bovine fecal matter, it's so bad.

 

2.  I don't like the lack of any need to rest from simple fatigue.  They implemented diurnal cycles around the rest of the game and yet removed it from the party.  That's just wrong.  Your party members should need to rest at least once per day or suffer increasingly bad fatigue penalties.  And that's just on the most basic level.  On a more detailed level, perhaps the party should have to rest after some number of engagements as well, because just doing nothing is less exhausting than fighting battle after battle.  The trick with this is though that you can have a number of smaller engagements in quick succession at times when the bad guys in the second group don't get triggered to come running to assist the first group.  So maybe this would be solved by some sort of count of the number of enemies you've fought, or perhaps how much time you've spent in combat (probably better).  Maybe that's too much underlying complexity.  it just bugs me that you don't have to rest  at all in this game unless you've taken injuries or been hit by curses that can only be removed by rest.

 

3.  Subclasses.  I have no problem with the concept of subclasses.  I just don't like the lack of flavor in them.  They're bland as hell.  Subclasses seem to me to be little more than (usually) 3 different play styles for each class with next to no attention being paid to developing some true flavor to the subclasses.  Personally, I think that most of the old kits in BG2 felt like they had more flavor than the subclasses in PoE2, which is a shame.  And let me say, for me, it's not that subclasses are unplayable.  They're just much too bland in most cases for my taste.

 

I could go on, but I don't have the time right now.

 

1) I like the visual angle because it's much more clear, at a glance, what my character is. Once I learn where all the abilities are in the visual display, I can glance at the screen for one second and know exactly what abilities my character has because of the visual display system.

 

2) I strongly disagree. I consider the need to rest from fatigue to be right up there with requiring food and water intake or weight limitations in the inventory; it's annoying micromanagement that adds nothing to the game play for me and just forces me to have to calculate for no damn reason.

 

3) While you have something of a point, you lose it when you bring up BG2. The kits had no flavor, no lore, no reactivity of any sort, they existed solely as powergaming exercises.

[EngelsLeMao]

How hovering certain terms in the dialogue explains what it means. I wish it was a thing in the first game I kept having to look up terms. 

[the_dog_days]

 

To be fair, Maia is a soldier and through side quests can start openly questioning her side, meanwhile Pallagina literally derives superhuman power from sheer belief in patriotism.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogMBLRHJYXU

Edited May 23, 2018 by the_dog_days

[Varana]

Prompted by the last Extra Credits episode:

It's really nice to have an easy and comparatively affordable respec option available at all times from the start. Stat-heavy games should do that more often.