Pillars of Eternity 3

[Perundor]

Plot.   The Valilan Republic has been attacked by a powerful new enemy.    After suffering crucial defeats in battle against this implacable powerful, overwhelming enemy. Pallegina who barely survived a battle is sent to seek aid where ever she can get it.  She immediately travels to find, her great friend the hero of Caed Nua and Deadfire.    Convinced of the threat to all, not just the Vallians and because of your friendship with Pallegina, you travel with her to find your allies and friends.  Recruit old and new factions, Recruit nations to join with the Vallians to stop this seeming unstoppable Tide. Of course some will ask for all sorts of favours and send you on missions for them.   Whilst the allies are planning and gather forces. You first have to liberate and save Vallian areas, then  you have to find out who is behind this great enemy, go behind enemy lines and eventually confront the great evil who is driving this war. 

Anyone like this idea?  Isn't it about time we got to see Vallia?  

Additions I would like to see.

Cut scenes, ala Baldurs Gate, The Witcher etc but more extensive and beyond what they have done. This I feel creates a better game immersion. Including down time joining with friends (social) and with significant game other.  Walks, social, intimate. 

Conversational Ai.  (Ala "Alexa" Siri" etc.).  

More interaction with party members.  Giving you the initiative, telling them what you thing of them.  Gift giving, support giviing, friendship/love expression.   More expressions of a wide range of  emotion in the game both scripted and visual.  Lets make it more real.

Companion battle fatigue.   Every one needs downtime.  Each companion should have there own level of battle fatigue.  After so many missions they need to be rested for a time.  

Personally Created Characters should have "Personality, Character, Back story, mission scripts" that can be randomly assigned to the created character.   

Random Item Creation Engine.   This could kick in before game start, assigning all sorts of items randomly (but according to rules, you find a Vorpal sword in some ones trash for example)

Party Member Assigned Missions.   We had this in POP 1 but it was just script. How about actually playing the mission, maybe the main character needs downtime too or maybe he/she is too busy doing something else. 

Stat Training at a cost for self and companions.  However a max of 5pts can be added (1 at a time and over time at increasing cost) BUT there is a chance of failure to advance a stat and IF you fail twice in a row to advance that stat, it cannot be trained further.    This will mean players will love to create new characters.

Companions.  Back to six please!

Personality traits.

Courage.  If it gives out........character runs off or cowers in fear.

Fearlessness.  Well some people just arn't phased by anything.   If you have or gain this, you can't be feared and courage won't give out.  Fearlessness actually negates courage, as it's not required.

Charisma.        Helps make friends and influence people.

Seduction.      Well very important if you are determined to gain the affection of even the most difficult but also useful in game to influence others or get information "spy".  

 

I hope everyone likes these ideas and I hope Obsidian do POP 3.

[Valdarr]

(PLEASE understand I only speak for myself and don't state this post as a general rule for everyone)

I'd love to see a Pillars of Eternity 3 but I have to say there is something about PoE 2 that needs to be understood as of why it didn't perform so well.
Maybe Obsidian figured it out, but I have to say that I am an avid RPG and C-RPG gamer, and since PoE 1 (that I have finished once), I also have finished Pathfinder: Kingmaker (Almost finished a second time), Divinity Original Sin (finished twice), Divinity Original Sin 2 (Finished twice as well), Solasta (finished once I might do another run) and I am awaiting for Baldur's Gate 3 and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.

However I have to say that I tried playing PoE 2 multiple times but I always ended up not going so far and I was always wondering why is that.
Is it the setting? I actually do not dig the setting all that much to be fair, playing pirates or corsair or, ... I don't know that is something in PoE 2 that makes it feel a lot more like a game taking place in the 18th century instead of 14th that I usually don't enjoy as much. Is it the main reason ? I doubt it but it might add on to other reason why I wasn't pulled too much into playing PoE 2 compared to the other games mentioned above.

I wasn't extremely intrigued by the narrative plot starting in PoE 2. You're supposed to follow a god by the injunction of the other gods but it didn't feel you had anything too special about you. You died you're a watcher you can speak to dead people, ... it's nice but, ... I don't know it doesn't feel like you were empowered, nor are you looking to find something on your own volition. You're just told to but don't necessarily want to so I guess it failed to give me a drive.
A god killed me, I'm resurrected by a different one just to spy on that one god that woke up, ... the rest of the world seems to be ok I had no sense of urgency to drive me.
In PoE you survive an incident that killed your early companions and you want to understand what's going on and what's up with you (that event kinda does both drive empowerment since you're the only survivor so you feel special and urgency since you're feeling bad and need care quick).
In DoS 2 you are a special kind of wizard (Empowerment) and have to escape a prison (Drive and urgency).
In Pathfinder: Kingmaker there is a spy you want to pursue and kill as he lies to try to frame you (Drive) and you have to race him (urgency) to become lord of the land (empowerment).
In BG3 you are afflicted by something and you want to find a cure (Drive and urgency), but you quickly see what affects you also gives you strange power (empowerment)
In the Witcher 3 you are playing a famous monster hunter (empowerment) in the search of a mysterious Wizard and your (adoptive) daughter to save her (drive and urgency since you fear she's currently in danger).

I am only speaking about the first few hooks in the narrative because I think they give you a reason to get into the world and the narrative, then other plots or narrative hooks appear but the first few ones are extremely important IMHO to sink into the world and the rhythm of the game.
I do think this is the main reason that prevented me from really digging into the game especially since then you get to the big city Neketaka and then the initial narrative hook wasn't strong enough (for me) I was just walking down that huge city aimlessly doing seemingly unrelated quests one after another until I simply lost interest in the main quest and stopped playing.

Then, there is the game mechanics.
So unlike BG3, Solasta and Pathfinder adapting an existing system that many players already know and love, players will have to learn a new system. Which isn't a problem per say but you lose out on the dedication of some fans of those system.
D:OS and D:OS 2 have their own system too and did perform extremely well so why would there be a difference between PoE and D:OS?

I think there is the problem of:
1. Immersion:
In PoE, all stats are all over the place, some like, some don't. I'm not here to give a judgement but stats don't affect your character as most player would expect (Muscle wizard, low/average strength but intelligent Barbarian etc.) . And while some might find it fun, interesting, (I didn't hate it I still finished PoE 1), I still think that plays against PoE 2's immersion and how you relate/envision your characters.

2. Simplicity (no to confond with depth, D:OS 2 has a simple stat system but with a lot of depth in it's gameplay)
Stats in PoE are so strange and their impact isn't well represented you usually don't know what to do unless you look up guides or spend a lot of time reading everything and even then, ...
Which is best between +1 Might giving extra 3% damage or Dext giving +3% action speed ?
I think PoE system is too complicated at first sight and it really removes a lot of room for experimentation because You're never sure what you're doing.

I think the devs wanted to make a system were all stats are desirable for most characters to avoid the min-maxing but in the end there is still a lot of min maxing but it's really confusing to get into and in the end all my DPS, no matter their class, were always full perception/might. I really find it breaks the immersion and diversity of the builds you come up with. and the tanks/support were all resolve/constitution/int. So I only had 2 builds for all character I wanted to make.
And all of that simply to play with a few percentage of effectiveness without adding too much depth in the combat system (not saying PoE combat doesn't have depth, just stats don't contribute all that much to its depth but make everything confusing and unintuitive at first approach).

In the end to summarize (TLDR):
Unlike many other recent C-RPG that I have played and finished, to me PoE 2 failed in a few aspect ending up with me trying several time to play the game but never got past Neketaka (first big city):
- Initial plot line didn't drive me in, I didn't feel too involved nor empowered as a person. and it felt more like a coincidence and they could just send someone else to do the quest.
- The setting didn't feel like a medieval but more like a renaissance game (I don't dig renaissance), and I wasn't interested to be a pirate/corsair.
- The overall stats/game mechanics felt too obscure and unintuitive making every decision feeling like I am unsure and doing something wrong. I spent too much time thinking about it for no reason. (it was already something I was feeling in PoE 1 but PoE 1 it didn't have previous 2 issues mentioned.)

The accumulation of all the above was too much and I simply never really played the game.
I am sure other players will have different reasons and some player won't have any issue with the "problems" I mentioned but since the game didn't perform too well, I think it's interesting to understand why some players didn't dig PoE 2 as much as PoE 1 or many other C-RPG of the same era.

Yours Truly,

Valdarr
 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Valdarr

[kanisatha]

10 hours ago, Valdarr said:

Then, there is the game mechanics.
So unlike BG3, Solasta and Pathfinder adapting an existing system that many players already know and love, players will have to learn a new system. Which isn't a problem per say but you lose out on the dedication of some fans of those system.
D:OS and D:OS 2 have their own system too and did perform extremely well so why would there be a difference between PoE and D:OS?

I've said this myself, but for me the conclusion is that I am so very glad Obsidian went with a brand new system because the existing D20 D&D-based systems just plain suck. Kudos to Obsidian for creating a new system from scratch.

10 hours ago, Valdarr said:

2. Simplicity (no to confond with depth, D:OS 2 has a simple stat system but with a lot of depth in it's gameplay)
Stats in PoE are so strange and their impact isn't well represented you usually don't know what to do unless you look up guides or spend a lot of time reading everything and even then, ...
Which is best between +1 Might giving extra 3% damage or Dext giving +3% action speed ?
I think PoE system is too complicated at first sight and it really removes a lot of room for experimentation because You're never sure what you're doing.

Yes the DO:S system represents simplicity, but strongly disagree that it somehow also provides gameplay depth. I find the D:OS system to be mind-numbingly shallow, superficial, and often just plain silly. It is precisely its shallow simplicity that makes it popular with so many of today's gamers who can't handle or don't want to be bothered with anything complex or sophisticated.

[uuuhhii]

11 hours ago, Valdarr said:

(PLEASE understand I only speak for myself and don't state this post as a general rule for everyone)

I'd love to see a Pillars of Eternity 3 but I have to say there is something about PoE 2 that needs to be understood as of why it didn't perform so well.
Maybe Obsidian figured it out, but I have to say that I am an avid RPG and C-RPG gamer, and since PoE 1 (that I have finished once), I also have finished Pathfinder: Kingmaker (Almost finished a second time), Divinity Original Sin (finished twice), Divinity Original Sin 2 (Finished twice as well), Solasta (finished once I might do another run) and I am awaiting for Baldur's Gate 3 and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.

However I have to say that I tried playing PoE 2 multiple times but I always ended up not going so far and I was always wondering why is that.
Is it the setting? I actually do not dig the setting all that much to be fair, playing pirates or corsair or, ... I don't know that is something in PoE 2 that makes it feel a lot more like a game taking place in the 18th century instead of 14th that I usually don't enjoy as much. Is it the main reason ? I doubt it but it might add on to other reason why I wasn't pulled too much into playing PoE 2 compared to the other games mentioned above.

I wasn't extremely intrigued by the narrative plot starting in PoE 2. You're supposed to follow a god by the injunction of the other gods but it didn't feel you had anything too special about you. You died you're a watcher you can speak to dead people, ... it's nice but, ... I don't know it doesn't feel like you were empowered, nor are you looking to find something on your own volition. You're just told to but don't necessarily want to so I guess it failed to give me a drive.
A god killed me, I'm resurrected by a different one just to spy on that one god that woke up, ... the rest of the world seems to be ok I had no sense of urgency to drive me.
In PoE you survive an incident that killed your early companions and you want to understand what's going on and what's up with you (that event kinda does both drive empowerment since you're the only survivor so you feel special and urgency since you're feeling bad and need care quick).
In DoS 2 you are a special kind of wizard (Empowerment) and have to escape a prison (Drive and urgency).
In Pathfinder: Kingmaker there is a spy you want to pursue and kill as he lies to try to frame you (Drive) and you have to race him (urgency) to become lord of the land (empowerment).
In BG3 you are afflicted by something and you want to find a cure (Drive and urgency), but you quickly see what affects you also gives you strange power (empowerment)
In the Witcher 3 you are playing a famous monster hunter (empowerment) in the search of a mysterious Wizard and your (adoptive) daughter to save her (drive and urgency since you fear she's currently in danger).

I am only speaking about the first few hooks in the narrative because I think they give you a reason to get into the world and the narrative, then other plots or narrative hooks appear but the first few ones are extremely important IMHO to sink into the world and the rhythm of the game.
I do think this is the main reason that prevented me from really digging into the game especially since then you get to the big city Neketaka and then the initial narrative hook wasn't strong enough (for me) I was just walking down that huge city aimlessly doing seemingly unrelated quests one after another until I simply lost interest in the main quest and stopped playing.

Then, there is the game mechanics.
So unlike BG3, Solasta and Pathfinder adapting an existing system that many players already know and love, players will have to learn a new system. Which isn't a problem per say but you lose out on the dedication of some fans of those system.
D:OS and D:OS 2 have their own system too and did perform extremely well so why would there be a difference between PoE and D:OS?

I think there is the problem of:
1. Immersion:
In PoE, all stats are all over the place, some like, some don't. I'm not here to give a judgement but stats don't affect your character as most player would expect (Muscle wizard, low/average strength but intelligent Barbarian etc.) . And while some might find it fun, interesting, (I didn't hate it I still finished PoE 1), I still think that plays against PoE 2's immersion and how you relate/envision your characters.

2. Simplicity (no to confond with depth, D:OS 2 has a simple stat system but with a lot of depth in it's gameplay)
Stats in PoE are so strange and their impact isn't well represented you usually don't know what to do unless you look up guides or spend a lot of time reading everything and even then, ...
Which is best between +1 Might giving extra 3% damage or Dext giving +3% action speed ?
I think PoE system is too complicated at first sight and it really removes a lot of room for experimentation because You're never sure what you're doing.

I think the devs wanted to make a system were all stats are desirable for most characters to avoid the min-maxing but in the end there is still a lot of min maxing but it's really confusing to get into and in the end all my DPS, no matter their class, were always full perception/might. I really find it breaks the immersion and diversity of the builds you come up with. and the tanks/support were all resolve/constitution/int. So I only had 2 builds for all character I wanted to make.
And all of that simply to play with a few percentage of effectiveness without adding too much depth in the combat system (not saying PoE combat doesn't have depth, just stats don't contribute all that much to its depth but make everything confusing and unintuitive at first approach).

In the end to summarize (TLDR):
Unlike many other recent C-RPG that I have played and finished, to me PoE 2 failed in a few aspect ending up with me trying several time to play the game but never got past Neketaka (first big city):
- Initial plot line didn't drive me in, I didn't feel too involved nor empowered as a person. and it felt more like a coincidence and they could just send someone else to do the quest.
- The setting didn't feel like a medieval but more like a renaissance game (I don't dig renaissance), and I wasn't interested to be a pirate/corsair.
- The overall stats/game mechanics felt too obscure and unintuitive making every decision feeling like I am unsure and doing something wrong. I spent too much time thinking about it for no reason. (it was already something I was feeling in PoE 1 but PoE 1 it didn't have previous 2 issues mentioned.)

The accumulation of all the above was too much and I simply never really played the game.
I am sure other players will have different reasons and some player won't have any issue with the "problems" I mentioned but since the game didn't perform too well, I think it's interesting to understand why some players didn't dig PoE 2 as much as PoE 1 or many other C-RPG of the same era.

Yours Truly,

Valdarr
 

always weird to see some poe player couldn't get into deadfire

from plot dialogue lore atmosphere to combat and equipment deadfire vastly improve on almost every aspect

damaged soul are much better start than whatever awoken watcher nonsense started poe

the system poe use are painful to learn but include a lot of things only possible in video game instead of limiting it self to table top math

[Valdarr]

6 hours ago, kanisatha said:

I've said this myself, but for me the conclusion is that I am so very glad Obsidian went with a brand new system because the existing D20 D&D-based systems just plain suck. Kudos to Obsidian for creating a new system from scratch.

Yes the DO:S system represents simplicity, but strongly disagree that it somehow also provides gameplay depth. I find the D:OS system to be mind-numbingly shallow, superficial, and often just plain silly. It is precisely its shallow simplicity that makes it popular with so many of today's gamers who can't handle or don't want to be bothered with anything complex or sophisticated.

Ho I wasn't saying D:OS has more complexity because of the simple stats.
What I meant is the depth of the gameplay doesn't require complex stat system, and I was talking about D:OS 2 and sorry but DO:S 2 has a lot of depth with all interactions with the skills it has although their stats are very simple.

Plus I don't think that alone explains why PoE 2 performed less than PoE 1 since the system is the same with a few tweaks. Although as I mentioned it's several little things playing against it. To me they could keep their system, but at least make the stats more familiar (Strength for Warrior and Barbarian, Intelligence for Mages or spells, etc.). It's fun to have some exceptions but to me it really breaks how I envision the character to have the muscle wizard, genius barbarian, etc. And I know some players like it but I think it's detrimental to having a larger public.

And I'll say it again, In the end I didn't find the stat system so interesting because I was going with 2 stat build for all classes, ... Now I don't know as much as many expert that would have the best build in the game, but having 2 basic build (Might/Perception/Dext) for damage (Resolve/Constitution/Int) for Tank/CC and I was doing well. So the stats didn't feel too compelling or interesting.

I'll add that I disagree when people says "Nowadays, players can't handle/don't enjoy complex game". There are very popular complex and difficult games (MTG, Crusader Kings, Dark Souls, League of Legends, DOTA, etc.) so I really do not think that is what held PoE 2 sells. And I think that if you can hold the player drive long enough or present the system well enough the player will dig into the complexity.

 

4 hours ago, uuuhhii said:

always weird to see some poe player couldn't get into deadfire

from plot dialogue lore atmosphere to combat and equipment deadfire vastly improve on almost every aspect

damaged soul are much better start than whatever awoken watcher nonsense started poe

the system poe use are painful to learn but include a lot of things only possible in video game instead of limiting it self to table top math

Yeah I agree, it's weird. Not only I played and and finished PoE 1 but I play and finish many other RPG coming out. Overall Deadfire is probably just better, but I didn't feel compelled, I didn't have an urge to do something from the narrative aspect. Maybe the dialogues are better etc. but I couldn't care less for the goal and I didn't have a sense of urgency that I needed to really solve something.
I killed the Pirate that attacked my boat, then became friend with the pirate boss that invites you back. So from then I didn't really have a visceral drive to do the god's biddings, ... I honestly didn't feel interested in doing it.
For the stats I don't mind it too much but I dislike some aspect of it. I even tried Turn-based mode but it pretty much renders Dexterity useless :(.

And I'm not here to have a debate on PoE 2 quality. I have the profile of the typical target audience of Deadfire, and I wanted to understand why I couldn't get into it. Maybe my experience (as personal as it may be) can give some insight to Obsidian as of why PoE 2 didn't do so well because I would still be interested in seeing PoE 3.

Edited June 14, 2021 by Valdarr

[the_dog_days]

On 6/14/2021 at 11:16 AM, uuuhhii said:

always weird to see some poe player couldn't get into deadfire

from plot dialogue lore atmosphere to combat and equipment deadfire vastly improve on almost every aspect

I played and enjoyed both but strongly disagree with this. POE had a better plot that made more sense, with better dialog and companions despite having almost twice as many. POE oozes atmosphere and sets a tone that for most players lasts longer in their memories. Combat was smoother and the difficulties felt better than deadfire's vland ballooning of stats with increased difficulty. Character progression was also smoother. The only thing I'd agree with is items.

[uuuhhii]

2 hours ago, the_dog_days said:

I played and enjoyed both but strongly disagree with this. POE had a better plot that made more sense, with better dialog and companions despite having almost twice as many. POE oozes atmosphere and sets a tone that for most players lasts longer in their memories. Combat was smoother and the difficulties felt better than deadfire's vland ballooning of stats with increased difficulty. Character progression was also smoother. The only thing I'd agree with is items.

atmosphere are one of the strength of poe

but deadfire manage to convey depressive and desperate with mostly sunny tropical environment instead of boring standard fantasy with gun and slightly weird aedyran pronunciation

the other strength would be saint war story line

not in deadfire due to beening in a massive statue body walking around

high level combat are faster in poe but few part are more interesting

and player no longer need to constantly check if item give the same bonus was much better design

[Valdarr]

17 hours ago, uuuhhii said:

"[...] but deadfire manage to convey depressive and desperate with mostly sunny tropical environment instead of boring standard fantasy with gun and slightly weird aedyran pronunciation [...]"

I didn't really feel the depressive part honestly, or if I did that didn't leave a lasting impression. I felt too detached from the world although I saw some of misery of certain part of Neketaka.
And I much prefer the "boring" standard fantasy. Just a matter of taste I suppose. However, you calling it boring is very subjective and I wouldn't be sure it matches with the majority of the target audience of the game.

And I am happy to explore different and other type of world but PoE2 didn't grab me. I liked the Mass effect, 
Tyranny for example, did a much better job in the those specific aspect than PoE2 did (for me) and I wouldn't say it's your typical fantasy either.

Edited June 28, 2021 by Valdarr

[uuuhhii]

1 hour ago, Valdarr said:

I didn't really feel the depressive part honestly, or if I did that didn't leave a lasting impression. I felt too detached from the world although I saw some of misery of certain part of Neketaka.
And I much prefer the "boring" standard fantasy. Just a matter of taste I suppose. However, you calling it boring is very subjective and I wouldn't be sure it matches with the majority of the target audience of the game.

And I am happy to explore different and other type of world but PoE2 didn't grab me. I liked the Mass effect, 
Tyranny for example, did a much better job in the those specific aspect than PoE2 did (for me) and I wouldn't say it's your typical fantasy either.

most of dyrwood looks undistinguishable from most other generic fantasy setting other than adra

white march improved somewhat

deadfire is the best crafted in recent years

 

[Svartypops]

The first thing a lot of people seem to be reaching for is the stat system. I have to say that's a good point. it's really arcane, but I have to say I quite like it - it forces difficult choices, which is often good, but the game seems to be difficult choice after difficult choice when it comes to gear and stats. Sometimes it's hard to know which gear is better for a role.

 

I love the setting, but the "Follow Eothas" story is ... uninspiring ... and conversing with gods ... makes it the world seem less mysterious than it should, imo.

 

[daven]

I think a lot of folk played the first and didn't like that game, so never bothered with the second.

[VanTrellen]

Personally, I found PoE2's system the absolute best I've ever played for a cRPG (better than BG, DOS, PoE1, and even Pathfinder). It feels just right and smooth.

The problems, IMO were:

1) PoE1 didn't have such a great system when it was released and it took several years of patching to get to a good place. People might have feared the same would happen from PoE2 [I really didn't like PoE1 the first few times I played, but after patching was done, I managed to finish it) and probably didn't know about PoE2 superior system.

2) The Pirate setting is not something I particularly associate with fantasy nor I like that much. I skipped all of Piranha's Bytes [the makers of Gothic] "pirate themed" games for that reason. It's not because it's "too modern" (I loved Arcanum).

3) The Naval management system was very simplistic.

4) I would have preferred moving around with Teleports, flying (Wings/Transformation spells, Flying spells, magical mounts). Comparing that to a "mundane ship" you can see how unappealing it really is.

Edited November 16, 2021 by VanTrellen

[kronozord]

On 7/1/2021 at 9:40 PM, daven said:

I think a lot of folk played the first and didn't like that game, so never bothered with the second.

Yes, I think the answer is as simple as this.

People wanted that Baldur's Gate fix, some people got it what they wanted and moved on, others saw that after all they craved other things and well moved on.

Relying on nostalgia as sales pitch only works once...

[Bosmer]

5 hours ago, kronozord said:

Relying on nostalgia as sales pitch only works once...

I agree that the nostalgia sales pitch worked for selling the first one, but I'm not even sure if they "nostalgia pitched" the second one.. in retrospective I believe to remember that they were far more confident in highlighting the gameplay and graphics advances they made in Deadfire, than trying to speak to the atmosphere of BG1+2. Maybe they should have pitched it more as a "standalone" game than a direct successor to reach more people that never touched the first one or just didn't enjoy the first one.

Anyway, it comes down to a failed marketing campaign. 

[Obsidianware]

On 6/29/2021 at 8:27 AM, Valdarr said:

And I am happy to explore different and other type of world but PoE2 didn't grab me.

I'd like to see Eora's version of China, it could be a spiritual Jade Empire in cRPG format.

On 6/14/2021 at 2:08 PM, Valdarr said:

Which is best between +1 Might giving extra 3% damage or Dext giving +3% action speed ?

I'm not a numbers guy but that seems pretty easy, I'd give might to my fighters and action speed to my priest and ciphers. But the point of Pillars system is that most classes can benefit from either anyway.

On 6/29/2021 at 10:51 AM, Svartypops said:

and conversing with gods ... makes it the world seem less mysterious than it should, imo.

I definitely agree with that, less is more, doesn't matter what we learn about them, they should still be hidden behind the curtain and left to our imagination.

On 6/15/2021 at 4:09 AM, Valdarr said:

but I didn't feel compelled, I didn't have an urge to do something from the narrative aspect.

I do feel like Deadfire could have worked better as just an open world game. As soon as I got the ship I was more interested in sailing to different islands to explore rather than go straight to Neketaka. 

However Eothas Challenge does put a very lore friendly sense of urgency to the campaign and I enjoyed that challenge run, from a narrative and difficulty aspect.

On 12/1/2021 at 2:34 AM, Bosmer said:

but I'm not even sure if they "nostalgia pitched" the second one..

Yeah I don't think they did, and it looked so much more modern as well, it almost felt by the change in scenery alone they were trying to get away from the nostalgia. As everyone says for better and worse, it felt more like a pirate game than fantasy.