Completed the game quite a while ago. Some thoughts for you, if interested.

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

I think PoE and PoE2 will always be an acquired taste for a lot of people and less so for others. Some just ease into these games quicker than most. 

 

I say that because I will come back to PoE2 after some time, find more things, and like the game more than I did when playing it the first time. The same thing happened with PoE. 

 

I also took quite some time off before writing this to let memory sort out which of the things stood out to me. And also, I will talk about these things in the order I thought about them when deciding to post this. 

 

Right from the bat I can tell you that I really liked how the old companions had evolved. Too bad their quests were so short... but perhaps they didn't want to bore the lot of us with too much reading... or maybe pay too much for voice acting. Who knows? I wouldn't mind more reading, though. Wasn't that enthusiastic on full voice acting, too. They could have saved a bit of gold for something else. 

 

Was there a guy that wanted to fly in the other gods' faces?... Think there was...

 

Ah, yes. A giant statue I used to gawk every detail at when strolling down the spider infested cellar of my keep.

 

It is very important for a video game to establish SOME background of the main playable character simply because if we are let to imagine too much about our characters, we would end up being disappointed. 'The keep was destroyed' bit was done ok. But I just couldn't get the vibe of the giant, unstoppable, soul-sucking statue, marching through the middle of the ocean too much. Think there is a clash in this game's (almost) open world design and main quest. I think Eothas' persona should have been exhibited more often for shorter periods. More of the various locations you visit having smaller bits of info, that you piece together the more you look around. Maybe have (short) conversations with each of the gods here and there, with some degree of optional shenanigans for the ending? 

 

Speaking of the gods, I am quite positive about how they appear in the game. I think here they built upon the first one well. There really is no surprise when they start bickering about and I think that's exactly the way they should act. Quite pleased with their personalities, too.    

 

In the same vein of thinking, the companions' quests were kind of short, but again, like in the first one, they served more of an expositional role to talk to you about the world you live in. But since this is a rambling on how the game made me feel, I wished there were longer, harder, with more story content, companion quests. 

 

Speaking of harder... not only is this game way too easy for it's own good. The formula it uses does not utilise the resources well enough. There are way too many unique items and not enough various fights to test them out. Even if there is a fight that you think might be difficult, a single spell turns that into a cake walk. The only fight that came close to what the fights in this game should have been was the Guardian of Uknowhere. I don't mind the absence of dungeon crawling. Come to think of it, without proper per rest mechanic, dungeon crawling becomes useless. Why? Because you test yourself versus the game with the amount of rests you need to do. No per rest mechanic, no need for dungeon crawling.

 

What we have instead are instanced locations with singular encounters. For instance, in one I could toss a grenade at a Naga totem during a lithographic sequence before the fight. During another one I needed to fight the Fampyrs in their cave somewhere to the north-west. That one I liked, because two of my backline were charmed and I needed to paralyse them, because otherwise Maia would have stun-locked the Watcher with her arbalest(broken modal, imho). Thinking about the first one, I wish the game had more punishing lithographic sequences where you really go--Damn! How will I get out of that?! Once, Eder slipped a rope while crossing a chasm, him being top athletics in the team. The game wants to hold your hand so much that my Watcher, a hairy Orlan with almost sub-ten might, reached for him and managed to grab him, while holding himself to the rope with one arm, and in doing so Eder's shoulder got wrenched for some minor injury that you couldn't possibly care about, because he still stun-locks everything with mule kicks, aoe two handed weapon and good attack speed.

 

The second fight I mention because it was one of the very few that broke the monotony the game quickly settled for. Earlier I wrote about the Guardian fight and how more needed to be like it. The instanced location mechanic, together with more singular, but much tougher encounters, with some of them having punishing lithographic sequences is what this game should have had. Challenging you more. Hell... could even do some rng for some of the lithographics. Imagine a fight in PoE2 where you had to aim cannons at a dragon. Only your strongest team members can move the cannons, and only those with good mechanics can do decent damage with them. But in the mean time there are small critters swarming the place, trying to interrupt you. Take too much time, the dragon flies away. Sorry, no loot. Things like that are needed in this game. There are a bit too many generic and copy pasted mobs around and a bit too much hand-holding.  

 

Something similar applies for the ship shenanigans. You should have been able to gather more water and food the higher your survival skill is, while food and water being an ACTUAL thing to worry about during long sailing times. Sailing wasn't easy back then and they do it some justice with proper writing, but it has no impact on gameplay. A mutiny from the crew should bring you very close to game over. But no, you can drive your ship by blowing mouth into it's sails.      

 

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On a general note, I did enjoy the game. There is a lot more colour in this one, for instance. The music I absolutely adored. The writing is still very coherent, just shorter--to appeal to more people. 

 

All in all, I think that as a piece of art PoE2 is VERY GOOD(VERI GUD!). I wouldn't have been able to finish it if I didn't care about my Watcher and the world he lives in. Graphically very pleasing environments, most of which I can recall right now.   

 

My main personal issues come from the main plot not being too well integrated into the game's semi-open world, and the excessive hand holding at top difficulty. 

[AeonsLegend]

I disagree.

[Abel]

Did not play the game yet, but reading you, we are from the same school

 

 

 

Come to think of it, without proper per rest mechanic, dungeon crawling becomes useless. Why? Because you test yourself versus the game with the amount of rests you need to do. No per rest mechanic, no need for dungeon crawling.

 

This, especially. Can't even tell how much i agree with that. Without any resources to manage over time, dungeon crawling becomes hack n slash. No one could find a way to solve the rest abuse problem, so they just avoided the whole point. Players who love to actually manage their resources pools, and never abused rest spam, by avoiding resting more than once/day are the big losers here. Hard difficulty was just right in Pillars 1 in order to play like this with no min-maxing.

 

 

 

The game wants to hold your hand so much that my Watcher, a hairy Orlan with almost sub-ten might, reached for him and managed to grab him, while holding himself to the rope with one arm, and in doing so Eder's shoulder got wrenched for some minor injury that you couldn't possibly care about, because he still stun-locks everything with mule kicks, aoe two handed weapon and good attack speed.

 

This, too. It would definitely break my desire to even play, as it did in Pillars 1. It's not the exact same thing, but i still experienced nonsensical things like that in Pillars 1, because of the Might Attribute. My biggest gripe regarding Pillars 1 (with the auto heal system after a nap).

 

 

 

A mutiny from the crew should bring you very close to game over

 

I strongly agree with this, too. I really dislike games that make sure their players can't lose. But, sadly, nowadays, it seems it's the way to go. And Obsidian, at the difference from inXile, really tries to cater to everyone in my opinion, while trying their best not to offend their core supporters at the same time. I already said this after Pillars 1's release, but i really think Obs is on a slippery slope. I loved to see the ''Game Over'' screen while playing Wasteland 2. The whole Nuke thing in the basement is actually pretty hilarious. The way it's done, you can't help but push the button, even though you know it's silly

Edited June 20, 2018 by Abel

[AndreaColombo]

Eder's shoulder got wrenched for some minor injury that you couldn't possibly care about, because he still stun-locks everything with mule kicks, aoe two handed weapon and good attack speed.

 

Are we playing the same game?

[gloomseeker]

The music certainly doesn't get enough praise.