Deadfire

[lindenul]

Disclosure....I played Pillars and then realized there was an entire P1 world, the White March and so on and fell in love with the game and the world. I played each game, and Deadfire, in GOD mode because the combat really does not interest me. I like the quests, figuring things out, the puzzles and so on. I give myself a crapload of gold so i dont worry about expenses and basically play the story.

 

I was very excited for Deadfire because i loved the world so much. Previously it was great fantasy and set, what i felt like, was a medieval type world. The only thing that really ruined it for me was the use of guns, which IMHO did not fit the time period i thought i was in but i could deal with it.

 

Upon starting Deadfire i had no idea what to do. The starting point was very vague and i bet i sat there 30 minutes before i figured out i had to walk this long path but it was ok because i was anxious to get going. I wanted some way to rebuild Cad Nua and to get it all back the way it was. I was a bit disappointed that this would not be the case but i got over it.

 

What disappointed me the most in this game is the timeline, at least how i see it. This is no longer a medieval world. More guns, cannons, big ships (that i can get past) but to put the world setting in the Archipelago gave it too much of a Caribbean feel and that felt too modern. The time period that i was looking forward to was no longer there. Granted the ships were great. Ship combat was a bit confusing but it was cool but it all felt to modern like the world had advanced 5000 years in the future for this game. That really ruined it for me for some reason. Well that and having to back to some ports over and over and over. That got a bit tedious.

 

After finishing Pillars and then Pillars The White March i felt kinda sad since it was over. This one? Not so much. I enjoyed what i did here but i didnt feel that i wished there was more. I love the characters, dont get me wrong, and would love to play with them again but in a better timeline i guess. If i have a save that allows it i might go back and explore more of the islands that i missed but its still kind of ah....meh....and I hate that.

 

Anyway, just my opinion.

[Boeroer]

If you think that Deadfire feels 5000 years past PoE you simply didn't get the world lore right while playing PoE.

 

It's quite obvious during PoE that there are cannons, huge ships, more advanced animancy and other more sophisticated stuff outside the Dyrwood - and that the Dyrwood itself has the image of an underdeveloped ex-colony full of renitent and uneducated farmers who like to form angry mobs and burn people on stakes for believing in the "wrong" god etc.

[Lorfean]

Yeah, for someone who says they play these games for the story / world, it seems that you didn't exactly pick up on a lot of the world building in PoE -- either that, or you just ignored the stuff you didn't like and pretended the setting was technologically and socially more like the middle ages than the renaissance.

 

All the signs were there that this world was in the early stages of the renaissance in PoE, and Deadfire continues that theme while changing the stage and the players, IMO resulting in one of the more unique and interesting settings we've seen in fantasy RPG's.

[Tigranes]

POE was set in a quasi-renaissance, guns and science intruding on medieval fantasy world, moment from the very beginning. I love that, because we have 80 million medieval high fantasy worlds - but of course it's fair that you might have preferred the latter.

 

If you haven't yet, I'd recommend checking out Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale (originals, not 'enhanced'), and upcoming old school isometric games set in a more typical fantasy world - the Pathfinder RPG, and of course Realms Beyond:

 

Edited June 22, 2018 by Tigranes

[Taevyr]

Eora has a heavy "age of discovery" feel to it, and mostly seems to correspond to our 1500's- early 1600's. Religious strife, general scientific advancements, colonialism, and gunpowder as a key war resource are all important parts of that. I loved the way Durance mentions gunpowder being developed to put "normal" people on equal footing with mages in PoE1, as it made it sound like a believable historical development; and the gods/animancy strife is a great fantasy equivalent to Europe's religious troubles in that age. When you rebuild Caed Nua, Pallegina also mentions that forts aren't built like that anymore as they're too vulnerable to cannons: in other words, the Vailians are now using the Eora equivalent to star forts, which equates to our mid-1500's.

 

The eastern reach has an older feel to it because: 1) It's an underdeveloped, slightly backward colony in clear decline, and the farmer population opposes scientific progress as represented by animancy; and 2) the large presence of an less developed tribal society in Eir Glanfath gives the impression of a less advanced world. It was a good way to introduce the setting while still "playing it safe" by adhering to most classic fantasy tropes. Meanwhile, the Deadfire has colonialism in full swing when you arrive, which means the advanced empires have a far larger presence in the area. I imagine if we ever visit the republics/Rauatai we'll see an early modern nation in full swing.

 

The colonial setting is one of the most unique I've seen in fantasy, similar to how Tyranny does a great job in presenting fantasy at the advent of the iron age. It's normal that it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a welcome change from the horde of high medieval RPG settings out there.