For those who've beat it, what are your thoughts?

[Selky]

I'll keep replaying the first game, but I don't intend to touch Deadfire ever again. I just don't care about the companions, factions, gods or anyone in this game. I need an emotional hook to care about a story and I can't find one.

[aksrasjel]

I know it boils down to personal experience and all that, but strangely enough, I also felt emotionally disconnected from most what was going on in the game. Don't get me wrong - the game is definately fun "in the moment" - gameplay is pretty solid, with mutliclassing giving a lot of mileage out of character creation, with only combat being too easy (although I deliberately played on Normal, so I'm not holding it against the game too much). I don't agree with all design decisions (penetration, per-encounter ability regen, regenerating health), but overall the game was mechanically servicable. But I don't think I will be replaying it any time soon - and this comes from the guy that replays Baldur's Gate 2 on yearly basis.

The story and writing failed to have any emotional impact that made me care about anything that was going on. The main plot seemed like an afterthought, with faction subplot being given much more love and attention, companions were fun if rather unremarkable and bland (I probably won't be remembering Maia or Aloth existing 2 months from now) and the reason the Watcher hunts down Eothas and/or joins the faction conflict felt a bit contrived for me, with nothing really adding up to the big picture.

Still, I am not writing off this game just yet, beacuse I think it can be salvaged for me. I remember Dragon Age Origins having the most bland and cliched story in the recent memory, yet I really liked this game.  I didn't care about the "kill giant dragon god" plot at all, but I cared about Alistair, Leliana, Sten and co. and it kept me going. And in the end I had genuine fun. 

Maybe if Obsidian were to add new interesting storylines (explore the Beyond? fight Dagon in some underwater ancient city ? have some grand murder-mystery noir storyline, so that Watcher can use their abilities to full extent?) and unique and charismatic companions in upcoming DLCs (Ydwin and Rekke are still desperately and sharply nodding their heads, begging to be noticed) you might get something out of that. 

I am quite critical of this game for sure - but the reason is I really *want* to like this franchise. It's just really difficult for me to get invested in it.

Edited June 10, 2018 by aksrasjel

[Celan]

90 hours on my first playthrough (with some restarts)

 

 

+ Beautiful locations and effects

+ Sea shanties

+ Reactivity from PoE1- even with some import bugs, it was still really nice

+ Multiclassing- I was skeptical at first, but ended up enjoying a druid-ranger hybrid, and Tekehu's druid-chanter hybrid was useful. You run out of spells very fast with the new combat system.

+ Fast travel to interior locations.

 

Mixed: Companion stories were hit or miss. I misted up at Serafen's, and was surprised by how well Maia's was resolved. Eder's was frustrating. Aloth's and Pallegina's seemed a little bit shoehorned in. I'm still confused by Xoti's- what were we really doing with her lantern? Why is she so happy even though she learned the gods are fake? Tekehu's was interesting when taken together with the Watershaper Guild quest and Ukaizo, but I probably picked the wrong thing by having him go his own way since it seems all he does is create whimsical water statues, just bigger ones.

 

- Companion interaction felt lacking and the disposition system seemed forced- this is my biggest negative in the game, since I give a lot of importance to companions.

- Sidekicks were kind of wasted IMO. I never used them, wish we had gotten more with the full companions instead. Rekke a possible exception, but he could have been an NPC encounter.

- Faction quest lines gave me no particular reason to care about them and all want to involve you in dastardly deeds. I ended up going solo to Ukaizo.

- Ship combat could use some work. At the beginning you're being attacked a lot and it's repetitive. By the time I got enough gold to buy a bigger ship, there were no more enemies.

 

I have mixed feelings about the main quest. The interaction with Eothas was good. Ukaizo was impressive. By the end I was confused why I was there- what was I supposed to accomplish?

 

Overall I would give it 3/5, with companion stories and faction ambiguity holding things back.

[Normandy]

I'll keep replaying the first game, but I don't intend to touch Deadfire ever again. I just don't care about the companions, factions, gods or anyone in this game. I need an emotional hook to care about a story and I can't find one.

Same for me. I tried to find at least something/someone to care about in this game and found nothing. Aloth and Eder is only ones I care about and they don't really well written in this game.

[Verde]

Ok so replaying with 1.1 (and knowing more about the the preferred order)...it's a lot better. And I don't think it's a placebo effect of me wanting it to be better.

 

For example, hit the Wild Mare and got a ton of banter with the team, banter I never heard in 45 hrs before. I suspected there were issues with triggers.

 

Also, apparently I never got the Whispers of Yenwood pieces on the first playthrough despite my history, now I was able craft Whispers of Endless Paths which is perfect for a certain Paladin. And admittedly the Beraths Blessings add a bit more flavor and fun to the game.

 

Plus Veteran is noticeably more difficult, but not so much so that it's inorganic. So overall glad to jump back in

Edited June 11, 2018 by Verde

[Nemesis7884]

my thought was that the whole story was slightly pointless if you think about it....you don't really have ANY effect on the main story...

 

I think it might have been a more interesting storyline when the story basically started when the story of deadfire ended - all is in chaos and you need to play through the game to either restore the old order or create a new one without you know who...but maybe we'll see that in POE3

[Alessio]

I just finished the game (VTC controls Ukaizo, empowered animancers around the world) and I want to share my impressions together with suggestions for a better POE3

 

THE GOODS:

Let me start saying that is is a very well done game. There is a lot of attention to details and this is MUCH appreciated. Subplots are complex a rich and there are tons of lore disseminated around that are really deep. BTW this was also true for POE1.

You managed to deliver a game that almost stands together with the great infinity engine games (BG1/2, sorry Planescape is out of reach).

Graphics are good blah blah... none really plays these games for the graphics, really. However good graphics are always good to have, provided they don't steal time or resources from the game itself.

I don't want to spend to much time praising you because I feel that it's more productive to understand what was done bad in order to improve. Praises are unproductive. )

Overall I repeat that this is really a good game (for contemporary standards its a masterpiece, but you get judged against everything that came before you...)

 

THE BADS:

I'll make a lot of reference to BG series because I think this is your target. I mean the classic fantasy roleplay that aim to be a blockbuster. There is a note to make: BG is a fantastic game, a "pillar of eternity" in the real sense. Planescape Torment is the best RPG ever made, but that is art. I guess that Tyranny falls in the same category of Planescape (I mean, trying to make a masterpiece of art, not actually achieving the result). POE aims to be a blockbuster so it must reach compromises between originality, innovation and the satisfaction of the average gamer.

 

1) The main plot is shallow and uncompulsive. In BG1/2 you had reasons for going around because someone was actually chasing you and each "chapter" of the game sort of compelled you to move. In POE1 and POE2 you don't really feel compelled to do anything, despite wanting to see what comes next. Here in POE2 basically you go around following a giant statue that did something to you but that is out of the game. The gods aren't much present. This thing of the "Herald of Berath", which seems quite cool, actually isn't exploited at all. After the show on the docks of Nekataka you actually  never see Berath intervention anywhere. Also, apart from casual boasting, you never really play out this herald of death title. It's just a tag.

You should at least had the game to start in your castle and play out the coming of Eothas, so that you could actually feel more the loss of your manor. Also you should have placed more real contrasts between you and the gods, forcing you to do hard choices well before reaching Ukaizo. Finally you should have planed a more rich interaction between you and Berath, including the herald thing.

 

2) Despite having a lot of details and good lore, the game misses the important plot points. Unanswered questions are ok, badly answered questions are worse that anything. They say that breaking the wheel will make the world slowly die, however the life existed for (probably) billions of years before the engwitians and the gods, so this is clearly false. Why none comments on this in the game? Also, why anyone vaguely rational would risk really dying over the (bugged?) reincarnation circle? Answers here are ridiculous. There is no way to dissuade Eothas from destroying the wheel, however it is assumed that a world without the wheel is better. He says that something marvelous is coming... marvelous? Are you mad? He says to Xoti that she doesn't have to worry for the fate of the souls, why this is clearly false in the end. It is illogic, which is worse than stupiid. It seems to me the "Mass Effect 3" ending, where the justification is "The machines will kill anyone because else there is a risk of the machines rising and kill anyone"... WTF??? The gods here seems powerless and stupid, never making an actual useful to any purpose, even their own good. They actually calls you from time to time making useless boasts and then waiting for your opinion lion crucial matters of which you are supposed to be ignorant, like childrens. Also if gods were created by the engwitians to make the world turn around in a supposedly good way, what is the purpose of gods like Skaen or Rimgand? They are ridiculous gods that serve no purpose apart from being evil for no good reason at all.

 

3) There are tons of little choices, but no real big choice. Also the vision bias of the developers is present everywhere. RTC, VTC, Natives, Pirates... it is clear as the sun which is the right choice. RTC are clearly the bad guys, providing stability at all costs and using any dirty method to obtain supremacy (a sort of evil dictatorship), with little care for innovation. Pirates are basically criminals. The Natives are an undeveloped civilization relying on tradition. Since Eothas is destroying the wheel, and there is no choice about that, the only way to avoid the slow death of all life (see point 2 about its inconsistency, but let's assume this is true) is to point everything you have on scientific research on animancy, so you are forced to go with VTC and governor Caizo. Every other choice is irresponsible since it will lead to everything dying, including eventually you. I would have appreciated the possibility tho choose between viable alternatives with rationally justifiable reasons.

 

4) The main quest is short. Basically 4-5 quests, each short in itself. Basically you follow Eothas around and are given instructions on where to meet next. I know that there is a basically unsolvable dilemma: giving players freedom in going around the world VS compelling them to follow the main quest. However, being a good storyteller means dealing with this dilemma and find an optimal compromise. Here the compromise is poor. How you rationally justify the fact that you are spending months going around and doing menial tasks (like bounties) while there is a giant statue that ate your soul headed full speed to destroy the world? There is no "plot pause" in between the main quests that allows you to take your time. I feel that you spent a lot of time caring the little details of the world while taking too little time thinking about the fundamentals.

 

5) You are one of the few mortals that know a secret that gods desperately tried to hide from the rest of the world because of its supposedly disruptive content. Gods aren't real. And what you do? You spend your time in leisure in your castle until the only god that wanted to reveal the secret to the world kills you. Never in the whole game you get the opportunity to reveal this grand truth to the world, apart few casual dialogs. Also the gods are fine releasing again the world the one who can reveal their secret. Berath, really you couldn't find anyone better for such a small task of following a massive giant statue that you can see from miles away? What happened to POE1 plot? Ok we stopped Woedica (still not clear the reason why we did it, apart for her personal antipathy), did we forget something important?

 

6) Companion relationships are practically nonexistent. Apart from the fact that the level of inter-character interactions is really low, just a quick example: I remember that on BG my romance with Jaheira was long and had a lot of interactions behind it. Now I got in a relation with Xoti more by chance than by real interest, and then got no more interactions from here after doing her (short) quest. The whole romance was done in basically a couple of dialogs.

 

7) Spell system is boring. I know that I'm a picky guy here, but I really think that the applications of magic in a vaguely realistic (rational) world are many more than simply causing damage. I appreciate the rework done from POE1, with the new tome mechanics, however spell variety is nonexistent. All you can do is causing damage in various forms, but little else. It ends with most spells being never used since they are really useless in practice. An example of good magic system is BG2. There mages were really hard to take down, unless you had a mage (or two) to start tearing down their multi-layered defenses. Please take inspiration from BG2 to calibrate the spell mechanics in POE3. Also the new  book system is good (I mean, better than POE1), however I think it's not so realistic to have all books contain all 9 spell levels. You should have the option to have powerful books (with spells up to level 9) and common books (with less spell levels). Also you should have the option to enchant your own books.

 

Cyper should be reworked in order to have more spells to buff itself rather than being a party-support character.

 

CLOSING:

I'm closing here since I covered the main topics, however please keep in mind that despite the bad points, there is a lot of good work done in this game. For the next one, please continue doing all that you did with POE2, but please address the previous topics. If you don't pay to the main plot the same level of attention that you pay to the subplots, the final product will have a reduced impact. Also try playing out radically different characters (I mean roleplay, not playing different classes) in order to understand if the game experience is enjoyable from multiple points of view.

I suggest you to take inspiration from Tyranny (which is a great game for its originality and plot depth, despite fundamental flaws which are partially similar to POE1/2) and Age of Decadence (which is a game with a fantastic plot complexity). The latter has still flaws, however it has none of the above.

[Slotharingia]

4) The main quest is short. Basically 4-5 quests, each short in itself. Basically you follow Eothas around and are given instructions on where to meet next. I know that there is a basically unsolvable dilemma: giving players freedom in going around the world VS compelling them to follow the main quest. However, being a good storyteller means dealing with this dilemma and find an optimal compromise. Here the compromise is poor. How you rationally justify the fact that you are spending months going around and doing menial tasks (like bounties) while there is a giant statue that ate your soul headed full speed to destroy the world? There is no "plot pause" in between the main quests that allows you to take your time. I feel that you spent a lot of time caring the little details of the world while taking too little time thinking about the fundamentals.

 

To make matters worse, he even tells you where he's going next, and at Hasango seems to suggest it's your fault he killed the people there. The only point at which it makes sense you cannot progress is after Magran's Teeth, as one could argue you don't know where Ukaizo is, but even then, Eothas isn't going to hang around for a year or however long it takes you to catch up. That's assuming you progressed the main plot  asap, but didn't do the other stuff, as if you did, you'll know where Ukaizo is at that point and just have to pcik someone or no one to ally with.

[Alessio]

The whole point in doing all the other quests is to "level up", which clearly breaks roleplay. It is really bad because there is a lot of well-done work behind this game. It is sad to see that with little more effort (just brain effort) you would have achieved a masterpiece.

The ideas behind the plot are quite good. It seems they had a good writer for the "global" plot and poor writers for the actual implementation of the main questline. Or the same person become lazy at some point and rushed the work. I often do the same when writing my own Pen&Paper adventures, but none is paying me for this ). People working on subquests were not so lazy. Maybe you should switch the teams...

 

Don't take it personally, but from experience, and judging the RPGs that went out in the last few years, I think that US companies are not in a good shape, after the sparkles of the start of this millennium. European companies, despite much lower budgets, are producing much more innovative and original games, especially from the "plot depth" point of view. Again see "Age of Decadence" for reference.

I think you should hire an European team to write plot and quests, while you could do the programming and graphics (which shouldn't be the selling point of a true RPG, it's the "roleplay" that counts...).

 

BTW, another important critic:

Who did the translations?? Did  you translate with google? I can't speak for all translations (I know only english, french and italian, with just a bit of german and spanish), however the italian one is terrible. Apart for clear mistakes, the sense of the whole translation is awful. It seems like playing Harry Potter with those silly names... You know that you can't translate literally word to word... do you?

Edited June 12, 2018 by Alessio

[Verde]

So Age of Decadence is worth it? I'm honestly pining for good dialogue at this point. The dialogue in POE2 is about 6/10 for me, barely passable because of the humor. The serious responses are 4/10 most of the time.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

So Age of Decadence is worth it? I'm honestly pining for good dialogue at this point. The dialogue in POE2 is about 6/10 for me, barely passable because of the humor. The serious responses are 4/10 most of the time.

Watch The Wind that Shakes the Barley instead.

[Alessio]

So Age of Decadence is worth it? I'm honestly pining for good dialogue at this point. The dialogue in POE2 is about 6/10 for me, barely passable because of the humor. The serious responses are 4/10 most of the time.

 

IMHO it's worthy. It's less polished than big budget projects like POE, however it has original ideas and no plot loopholes. Also a true replayability, in the sense that you can't possibly experience everything that is in the came with a single character build. Depending on your choices you see a very different game.

I know that many great games in the past had little original ideas... despite my love for BG I have to admit that the backstory is quite a cliche... however it was perfectly made. The story of POE is more original than BG, however it's the realization that is lacking. I still believe that they have a poor (lazy) main team and a fantastic subquest team. They only have to switch the two.

[B003]

Liked it a lot, wish I could've sailed and fought pirates forever. Looking forward to a DLC or waiting for a POE3.

[mosspit]

The story to be honest is quite disappointing.

 

Maybe I overlooked the story as I wasn't particularly invested, but I think they should expanded more on the part of gods being "man-made". Instead I thought I was on a glorified "follow the breadcrumbs" journey.

 

Also I was wondering if I was the only one that totally had no idea the last boss was the Guardian of Ukazio? I kinda expected to have a go at the BFG. In fact, I did the superb/legendary upgrades after the said fight....

Edited June 17, 2018 by mosspit

[George_Truman]

For some reason I love this game. I've beat it twice or once (I only have the pre-endgame save with my second playthrough and can't remember if I actually went all the way through). Right now I am experimenting with all the different party comps you can make with custom characters. I know that eventually they will include challenges like solo achievements and such, but I hope they consider creating a mode that is designed for a no-holds barred optimized party. I really like messing with the synergy of a full party and solo runs seem really boring to me.

 

I liked the tone and setting of the first game more but I still enjoyed the tropical colonization theme. This one definitely is lighter and a bit funnier.

 

I can't stand the narrator and I would love to disable her. (sploiter) I hate that she voices my soul too. On the other hand I enjoyed most of the other voice acting, especially imps and Eothas.

 

Some of the continuity bothered me. (splonkers) I thought that llengrath's succession involved passing down it's soul, so after I #rekt it, why is there another one? Also, it seemed Concelhaut referred to Maura with respect in the first game and it seemed odd that she was part of the Circle but maybe there's more to it. Also ninagauth's involvement in the circle seemed odd. The two of them seem a bit more sinister than some of the other archmages. I guess the circle as a whole bothered me because I don't think it was ever mentioned before in circumstances where it should have been if it existed. Pallegina joining through the VTC as a brother of the 5 suns is a bit of a stretch to me, I really wish they had done a little more work with her recruitment. 

 

I didn't like that the only way to meet Arkemyr is to steal from him. That gates a really interesting part of the game with an odd moral choice. There were a few too many parts of the game where there weren't enough reasonable reactions in dialogue and there are quite a few forced or unannounced reputation gains that are annoying as a priest or paladin.

 

It kind of bothered me that Berath intervenes directly when you dock in Neketaka. Of all the obstacles you face in the game, Berath intervenes directly only once, to scare off 5 goons after an extremely short dialogue. It doesn't serve a major purpose either except that people bring it up a few times. Maybe to prove to everyone that you are Berath's Herald? But how would that prove anything when magic is capable of so much in the game?

 

I think a few modals could use some altering. Savage attack is notably bad. Also hatchets should absolutely not give a bonus to deflection. Of all the weapons in the game, hatchets may indeed offer the worst defense. They are very short, offer no hand protection, and their center of mass is disadvantageous for deft motion. Sabres make quite a bit more sense for bonus deflection; they have the best hand protection, decent enough reach, and a thick enough blade with decent leverage to deflect forceful blows.

 

That basically sums up what I don't like about the game. Everything else I really enjoy. I love that they experimented with new combat, I like the new affliction system, and I love the removal of per rest abilities. I know a lot of people hate that last bit, but per rest abilities make individual fights so much harder to balance. I hope that they continue to tweak difficulty and beef up some of the more useless abilities (looking at you priest).

[Ashen Rohk]

Just finished it.

 

While short, I thought the main story path was really interesting and well done.

 

HOWEVER.

 

I believe I got the most out of it by doing literally everything in the game. Side quests, faction stuff, bounties, exploration, companion quests - all the stuff that helps build a world that you feel more connected to.

 

After just finishing it, I prefer it to vanilla PoE1, but will have to go back and do a full PoE + WM expansion run. I did think that Maia/Serafen/Pallegina's sidequests were way too short and lacked the punch of the others, despite me finding Maia to be one of the most interesting companions.

 

But yeah, loved it. More please.

[Flouride]

I enjoyed the game, could have used a few less bugs in the game, but that's a risk I took when playing it immediately after launch.

 

I loved the parts with the archmages and the gods (that includes Nemnok). I think the game really kicked in to gear with those areas and conversations. Main questline could have used an another quest or two. Now it just seemed so fast to play through after running around the Deadfire sailing around and killing everything.

 

Loved the graphics and lighting. The game looks just so much better than Pillars. Not missing the long load times either from Pillars. Level design was a lot better than it was on Pillars as well. There was more consistency when it comes to overall quality of areas, even though some areas were clearly better than most (Fort Deadlight for example).

 

It took me 52 hours to finish the game. I missed at least 3 quests and some bounties. So maybe around 55 hours to go through everything. Don't think I will play replay the game, but I will definately play the DLCs and finish up the quests I missed.

 

While I understand the freedom to roam around was the point in this game, I hope the 3rd game will be a bit more focused on the main plot. Not quite sure I would rate it among Obsidian's other games. Definately one of the best games I've played this year.

[mirwir]

Why is it more expensive than divinity original sin 2

[Verde]

Well I'm finding quests even more frustrating.

 

Just did Storms of Poko Kohara and at no point could I tell the chief that the priestess killed the Valians. Um ok. Then I have Beza pages but can't show the Director or Governer. I know it's hard to code different variables but this stuff seems pretty obvious.

[house2fly]

The main story seems like an afterthought. Which I wouldn't mind, except it's the entire story which feels that way. The intro feels that way, the three quests which make up the bulk of the critical path have no connection to the factions and ship exploration which is what we're here for, almost like they did them way after everything else was locked in. In a game about exploration, the main quest... doesn't require you to explore at all, since Eothas tells you where he's going next. The gods hijack your dreams a couple of times to bicker, there's no point to any of it except for showing their cool visual designs. Ukaizo is three medium-sized rooms with two boss fights. I like the faction you opposed showing up to fight you, but that's the only meaningful content in the endgame, the Guardian is just a monster you kill.

 

And then you talk to Eothas. Why? Because he's about to destroy the Wheel, and you decide what happens after. Why do you decide? Because you're the player character. There's no reason for Eothas to talk to you or listen to you except that it's written to be so. In Pillars 1 I healed my soul, defeated the villain, and learned the shocking truth he'd been trying to hide; in Pillars 2 I walked through some rooms and chose from the options the writer had provided for me. It feels really unsatisfying.

 

The rest of the game is really good, which makes this issue with the endgame so annoying.

 

As for other criticisms, I think they overreached with this complex companion relationship stuff. Whether it's Obsidian's famous technical incompetence or this kind of stuff just being really hard to implement I don't know, but either way it's better when they keep it simple. Party members had a go at me and each other after one interaction, romances tried to fire almost immediately and if you turn them down you seem to never get an opportunity to pick them back up... just give me my party of friends and let them but in in conversations, that's all I want.

 

These issues aside, I would definitely recommend the game, and I'll be replaying for the DLC

[Tick]

I'm going to babble because I think I'm sort of still organizing my thoughts after playing the whole thing.

 

I adored this game.  It's flawed, but it's so well done otherwise, and I was also really glad to get back into the PoE universe.  There's not really another game like it.  It's so rare to see a fantasy genre that questions ethics and thinks about human/not-human systems.

 

I loved that they tried to make the companions more dynamic with each other and the player character, I thought the returning characters were on point (Pallegina was an improvement actually, to me), I loved the funny, smart, sometimes surprising writing throughout the whole game.  I loved that Eothas was kind and well meaning and actually trying to go in a similar direction that an Anti-Leaden Key Watcher might, but also kind of arguably just as bad as the other gods, because I like how that twisted expectations and made him a flawed individual.  

 

I thought the main story was really interesting and cool and well done (when it was there), but I really wish there had been more focus on it or it had been fleshed out more.  To be fair, I'm not sure how they would have done it.  But one of the things I love about Pillars of Eternity is the way the souls "mechanic" of the entire universe works in tons of little and big ways, and the history of its universe - the Engwithins messing with how the universe works, the (not gods) gods, the several existentialist nightmare-y elements of the game and the sort of positive/optimistic nihilism philosophy.

 

That said, everything with Eothas was well done, and the additional information about how the Engwithins had changed the wheel and how that was linked to Ukaizo was great.

 

I'll probably have to post later with little categories and sentences under those categories.   I actually do have big complaints, but I love the game anyways.

[Daggerknight]

I enjoyed the game enough that I've already started my second run of it. 

 

Far as actual game play goes, this is definately an improvement over POE 1, getting you right into the action much faster than the original. Build choices also seem a bit more varied. 

 

What I'm not a huge fan of: 

 

1. The main plot feels drowned out by the sheer multitude of other things to do in the mean time. It ends up feeling more important to chase bounties and other random missions just to regain some power, than to get right to tracking Eothas. 

 

2. I was not a huge fan of how the ending results in Eothas doing his thing regardless, despite the whole adventure being billed as leading to a major choice. The actual end-game options honestly feel inconsequential, amounting to "which faction rules Deadfire". Yes, the final choices have some influence over the future, but it's far more subdued than POE 1, in which you directly decide the fate of the entire country's souls, the secrets of the gods, and resolve a struggle thousands of years in the making. 

 

3. Palegina. She just seems so... cold and harsh? It's like we didn't adventure together in POE 1 and see the very edge of eternity itself. She barely seems to care that we traveled, fought and bled together till we learnt the truth of the universe. She's just... a mook for the Republic. One who initially just barely tolerates my existence (even when I haven't done anything against the VTC). She takes every chance to remind me that the VTC is her priority, to hell with anything and everything, never mind that the Republics took a huge dump on her for years... In my first run through of the game, I actually ended up kicking her off my ship, which is the first time I've ever done that to a companion in an RPG. 

 

4. No Soul whip VFX?

 

5. Soul Bound items are not quite as neat as they were in POE 1. (Except Modwyr). For that matter, I'm not so fond of how the crafting system in general feels very downgraded. 

 

8. Naval combat is sort of meh. 

 

What I loved: 

 

1. The game play is very well executed. 

 

2. Multiclasses!

 

3. Eder and Aloth are back! And unlike Palegina, they seem to actually remember the epic journey we had together. 

 

4. The fact that so much of what you did in POE 1 actually carries over directly here, from simple conversations with random folks to entire quest arcs. Aufrey's letter in the Defiant's cabin actually brought a smile to my face. 

 

5. The little idiosyncrasies  that can be found in the various cultures. I loved how the Valien insult for "idiot" translates to something so mundane as "carrot". Small phrases and words like that being weird when translated literally is in fact a thing in the real world (small example; in India, calling someone an owl is a very scathing way of calling them stupid). It was really nice to see Obsidian go this extra step to flesh out cultures instead of the easy route Bioware and co. seem to keep taking. 

 

6. The entire "Colonialism vs. Native culture" thing was done VERY WELL, and addresses exactly the kind of issues that come with it far better than any other game I've played. I love how it actually takes a moment to talk about how, despite colonialism evils, sometimes even the local culture has troublesome things going on.  Maybe it's my own Indian heritage and upbringing that makes the theme resonate with me, but I really appreciated how tastefully and realistically it was handled. 

 

7. Sneaking has far more uses in this game than most CRPG's of its kind. 

 

8. BLOOD! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! Making things EXPLODE as a ciphere has never been so awesome!

 

9. And finally... NEMNOK! NEMNOK! NEMNOK!

Edited June 19, 2018 by Daggerknight

[Verde]

When you know a decent order for quests the game is outstanding. Exploring too much can mess with the intersection of quests and resolutions.

[Slotharingia]

Why is it more expensive than divinity original sin 2

Maybe because it's new?

[the streaker]

The game is huge, and it's great. Loved the gameplay, the politics between the factions and within the factions, etc. The novel-style "cutscenes" and the dialogue were also quite interesting.

However I just could not get into the main plot.

 

- Why am I following Eothas and why do I need my soul back? I did not understand the motivation behind the watcher chasing Eothas. No idea which part of my soul was missing and when/if I got it back.

 

- What the heck are the implications of "destroying the Wheel"? The Engwithans created all of this, so obviously people have survived and grown prior to the wheel and the fabricated gods. Why will people suffer if the Wheel is broken and why would people need to adapt?

 

Unfortunately these two questions did not get answered thoroughly enough for me, so I never really got into the main story.