Someone had to..

[TheisEjsing]

PoE II review on the codex by Darth Roxor. What a shill.. Anyways, enjoy x)

 

http://www.rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=10984

 

Edit: I hadn't seen it was posted inside a different thread. >.<

Edited August 28, 2018 by TheisEjsing

[daven]

' Nearly every companion is a flaming homo who wants a piece of your butt.'

 

Ahahahaha. Okay that really made me crack up.

 

I think it's a reasonably fair review, well I skimmed a lot of it but agree with many of his points.

[MaxQuest]

That review is kinda snarky.
But, he makes a few points with which I do agree, like: main quest length/interaction, bickering and not so competent behavior from the gods, and Plucked Fruit quest.

Edited August 29, 2018 by MaxQuest

[Boeroer]

It's from the Codex. If it wasn't snarky reality would fold itself up and the universe would implode. 

[bugarup]

Hey, "pretty alright" is high praise coming from a Codexian, so he must have really loved the game then, flaming homos and all.

[Teclis23]

Omg this is basicaly my review in a tea cup 100% my thought excactly.

 

“ deadfire is a game of fun exploration and horrible writing”

 

“When you learn to ignore the stupid ship combat and just use the boat to remove fog of war”

 

“Skype calls from the gods”

 

“ stupid bickering from gods”

 

“Game is more fun when you learn to ignore the gods crap”

 

Great review. I hope onsidian are reading this they need to sack there writing team for POE3

Edited August 28, 2018 by Teclis23

[Big-Ben]

I was under the impression that RPGCodex hated everything. Reading through that website it's like something threw all their trash into a website, defecated on it and lit it on fire.

[cokane]

Thanks for posting. Agreed with a lot of it. Exploration was definitely the game's chief strength.

 

This passage, on the combat system, really captured my thoughts succinctly:

 

"But as it is now, long-term planning or temperance in ability use is neither required nor recommended, and once your Awesome stuff becomes your bread and butter, it stops being fun."

[Teclis23]

Yes it was an awesom review and was spot on.

 

So good to see none biased and honest reviews get wriitten from critics.

 

And yes that comment is so spot on!

 

Dont even bother trying master the spells and abilities because when you hit level 13 on potd the game becomes so easy it’s impossible to die anyway!!!

 

Best review ever!

Edited August 28, 2018 by Teclis23

[Murp]

The Codex is neckbeard incarnate. How would they even know what a relationship is really like?

[house2fly]

There are relationships in Planescape Torment, so they know

[Teclis23]

Excactly

And this reviewer guy has clearly shown that he likes and enjoys the game and thinks its awesome. No need to attack the guy because he is just being honest with the games sore points.

 

But making the raging homos comment wont help him. People who are sympathetic to that kind of stuff will attack his review and do there best to discredit him so they can further there pro- gay agenda.  You can already see evidence of that on this thread.

Hopefully obsidain are watching this and take note. They have allready clarified they are going to change the way ship combat works so thankfully they are listening to critisism

Edited August 29, 2018 by Teclis23

[bugarup]

Yeah, well, dude above -- what with your level of literacy and style, I don't think you are eligible to criticize any writing anywhere, except perhaps on walls in public toilets. See, you do not look acquainted enough with reading to recognize good one even if it donned a tinfoil cap and gave you a lap dance while rapping about gay agenda. 

[Tigranes]

Some bits I agree, some bits I don't, but some points I think are worthwhile:

 

 

 

Every place you go to is also ripe with text adventures, which are another strong part of Deadfire. Whereas in the first game they all used to work like “1. Do things; 2. Use an item to do things; 3. Leave,” this one actually gives them proper depth, freedom of choice and variety of outcomes.

 

Probably one of the great new additions POE franchise has made to the IE formula. I really hope we see more of this in other RPGs. I mean, it's also great for lower budget RPGs - no need for superexpensive voice acting or cutscenes to have good writing and player choice.

 

 

 

after visiting each Eothas-stomped place, you get Skype calls from the gods, where they bicker and banter like children, and somehow you are expected to care about all this nonsense and ignore the fact that Eothas is the real protagonist of the story, while you’re only there along for the ride

 

I don't even mind that the PC isn't the protagonist and basically just follows Eothas and misses out on doing anything massively consequential. It's refreshing to be in the shadows of a truly powerful entity making a momentous decision. But jesus, listening to the 'gods' were excruciating. Half the time they're trying to sound important when they're clearly not going to do, say, or debate anything of import, and the other half is spent trying to establish their portfolio - "hey, I'm Rymrgand, did I mention I think everybody should just die?"

 

 

 

the magic/special items are a big improvement compared to the first game. Unique items now feel like actual artefacts, with their own exclusive properties, some of which can be very interesting or powerful, or upgraded even further for additional functionalities.

 

Itemisation is so often poorly done in RPGs, that it's worth calling out when it's done halfway right. And unlike the reviewer I think the patches haven't fundamentally changed this strong point.

 

 

 

the unreadability of Deadfire’s combat is simply off the charts. It retains all the flaws of its predecessor – mainly overlapping flashy effects that all look the same – and then ups the ante.

It's also pretty shocking that after all the feedback about lack of clear combat visual feedback & chaotic spell effects, we still got:

(Great, I can't copy images, I can't IMG code their image, and when I save & upload it myself it's the size of a wilted testicle.)

 

We shouldn't have to check a massive chart on how Hobbled compares to Weakened and whatnot, if you can even mouse over the wound icons to see what's wrong with you (and anyway there are often so many effects on a well buffed character that it spills off-screen).

Edited August 29, 2018 by Tigranes

[bringingyouthefuture]

If I have kids I hope I never find them reading the comments on that site ...

 

But in regards to the combat, slo-mo mode can be liking pulling teeth, but I never have the same issue that I did with Pillars 1 where combat got confusing even when I am losing...  Funny thing, every time combat did get confusing in Pillars 1 - I was on the verge of getting beat to a pulp, most of the time it meant I wasn't tackling it the right way ...

 

Well, than there was that bug in POE1 bug with Commander Baelorin - it took me awhile to figure out why that fight was so tough ...

Edited August 29, 2018 by aaronghowell

[Big-Ben]

The Codex is neckbeard incarnate. How would they even know what a relationship is really like?

This is essentially what I wanted to say but lacked the courage to do. I mean what does being gay have to do with the narrative? Surely they've played other Obsidian games that ALSO have gay characters right? I mean come on.

[Tigranes]

I'm pretty sure this thread now contains a lot more talk about gays than that entire review....

 

 

 

The far bigger one is that the writing in Deadfire is simply bad, bad, bad. Player character responses read like they’ve been written by a snarky high-schooler. Nearly every companion is a flaming homo who wants a piece of your butt. Dialogues are still pestered by completely skippable narration bits. Characters don’t talk like real people.

 

...in which the writer isn't ranting about queers, but using offensive language to criticise romances & other aspects of the writing.

[Big-Ben]

The intent behind the criticism and the site itself is what is drawing the ire. Again RPGCodex isn't known for being mature but rather the opposite. It's certainly true that there's criticism there but it's compounded by the reality that you have to sift through trash to achieve any sort of discernible and concrete critical analysis. The review is also not satirical and is instead inundated with unnecessary and occasionally hostile verbiage. One most certainly isn't going to sift through a pile of trash to find gold and take both the garbage and the gold. 

 

And speaking strictly from an incentive point of view no developer is going to wade into a pool of people who won't be happy regardless of what they do. People on that site seem far more entrenched with the idea that games should not deviate from what they remember from twenty years ago. That, more than anything makes me think they're far less interested in enjoying themselves with any new product than they are attempting to rekindle past nostalgia and bias ridden memories by attacking things that deviate from some deified format.

[daven]

That's a bit over the top surely, the review was quite funny. He's just making it a bit entertaining in the way he wrote it.

 

(I have never been on that site until reading this review)

[Boeroer]

I don't like anti-gay ranting and all that "SJW want to suppress freedom of spech and rule the world !!!1!!eleven!!" crap, but this comment

 

 

 

Nearly every companion is a flaming homo who wants a piece of your butt.

 

made me chuckle a bit. I'm not even sure it's meant to be anti-gay. Ach whatever...

 

If they only listened to me and AndreaColombo and whomnot and omitted those awkward romances. Those are always weird in RPGs. Like in real life... but unpleasently weird.  

[Manveru123]

I was about to write that in real life it is rather uncommon to have someone declare love after like two conversations, but then I realized that technically The Watcher is a hot piece of ass from their perspective, which throws logic out of the window :D

[Teclis23]

Yeah, well, dude above -- what with your level of literacy and style, I don't think you are eligible to criticize any writing anywhere, except perhaps on walls in public toilets. See, you do not look acquainted enough with reading to recognize good one even if it donned a tinfoil cap and gave you a lap dance while rapping about gay agenda. 

IF you are gay or have a close friend who is gay i meant no offense

[Dorftek]

Wow.. Teclis u weren't the one who personally insulted anyone, he did. Probably unhappy with his life and flaming ppl over the Internet makes him feel big and strong. Just wow.. Never stops to amaze me how ppl behave when they are safe behind their monitor.

[house2fly]

I don't like anti-gay ranting and all that "SJW want to suppress freedom of spech and rule the world !!!1!!eleven!!" crap, but this comment

 

Nearly every companion is a flaming homo who wants a piece of your butt.

made me chuckle a bit. I'm not even sure it's meant to be anti-gay. Ach whatever...

 

If they only listened to me and AndreaColombo and whomnot and omitted those awkward romances. Those are always weird in RPGs. Like in real life... but unpleasently weird.

it's very generous to rpgcodex to suggest that line in the review is just being facetious without any other intent. Their thread on Deadfire is thick with people lamenting that Obsidian has been taken over by dyed-hair SJWs who want to push pro-gay agendas onto people's children. You know, children, the audience of this M-rated game

[Amentep]

A friendly reminder that insulting other members isn't allowed. We ask that the users of this board treat one another with respect, even when opinions differ.

 

And while a lot of the commentary is about an off-site review with questionable turns of phrase, since I'm already here I'll point out that Obsidian has a zero-tolerance policy with regard to racial, ethnic, gender, religious, disablement, and/or sexually discriminating remarks.