I'm very early in - but I'm reminded just how awesome good writing is playing this game. I enjoy the modern action-RPGs of today (Mass Effect etc.), but frankly I find myself far more immersed by a well written description of a character's reaction/features in this game than anything I've played in the last few years. 

 

Combined with the nice modern UI touches (UI is seriously awesome I love how easy it is to see what various gameplay mechanics do) it's just killer.

I agree. I was playing DA:I for a bit and it has its fun moments, but I just couldn't keep playing. The characters are interesting and I like the setting, but it just got boring over time. I guess I didn't care enough about what happened. Then I started playing Baldur's Gate Extended Edition and I was hooked. A 2D game from over a decade ago held my attention far more than some of the modern RPG's out there. I can't wait to keep going on POE. The writing is wonderfully done.

Yup, writing is just amazing. I am 10 hours in and its just so awesome

I don't like the writting in this game, actually. The overly descriptive text bothers the living hell out of me. Its a game, not a book. I can see the world, already. I'm supposed to be reading dialogues and an advancing story... but I feel like I'm reading narratives 99% of the time, and it bothers the living hell out of me.

 

And is it actually that good? Not really. So far its quite bland and lacks distinction, or I just don't like the style at all. I'm not a book reader, though. Main point really is just that I loved reading everything in Baldur's Gate, but it was actual dialogues.

 

This is just way too slow and awkward.

Someone who isn't a book reader isn't the audience for this game.

Description is a cheap way to do cinematics. At least they are well written.

Tbh, I'd like more a cut-scene, say, when you reach one's soul and look to the past, than a huge description. But, as I said before, at least they are well written.

 

Dialogues is the beast part, though. Especially when attributes and skills kick in!

I've been pleasantly surprised so far.  Avellone is a good writer but I have heavily disliked all his stuff in the past.  He's like a really good niche writer delivering stuff to the wrong audience.  It feels like he's reined it in so far though.   Not everyone in this world is 100% miserable for instance.

Digging the writing too. Though I fully expected it to be top notch.

It's amazingly detailed.

I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed in the companions in PoE - So far none of them have been memorable. Not anything like all of the companions I remember every quote from in the Baldur's Gate series.

 

They're too serious - Too... dull. Where's my perky rogue bhaalspawn, my snarky wizard who hates everyone - or my "dropped on his head as a child" ranger who keeps a small furry animal? Even the less "focal" companions like the Witch, the Cleric and the others felt more interesting.

 

That being said - I am digging the main story so far. It starts out so incredibly dark and depressing. If your settler had any measure of optimism left in them when they left the caves after losing everyone from the Caravan, they are definitely full on depression by the time they reach the village - their new "home".

The prose in the game so far has been tediously melodramatic, overly descriptive and so self-conscious that I half expect to find the narrator behind me in thespian garb reading it to me from a script. If you think PoE's writing is good then you have no idea what good writing is.

 

Good fantasy writing engages the imagination, it doesn't bedazzle it with written confetti. Every other word doesn't have to be extra-vivid or emotionally charged. Good writing is like perfume...it draws you in wondering what that enticing aroma is wanting just a little bit more. Instead PoE's wiritng is like bug spray designed to knock you flat. Did Baldur's Gate describe the hair on a Gibberling's ass? Did Ravel hurl obscenities at the Nameless one then disrobe in Planescape Torment? Of course not, it's comcial to even consider that. Yet in PoE, that's what I've seen so far.

 

I'm only a few maps in and the desciptions have never risen above the level of sophomoric words-smithing. Exposition described as story with a high-school level thesaurus style-checker and a high-school level of world expereince. Things which should not be detailed, are. Things which should be mentioned, aren't. PoE's writing is like CoD's first person shooting...obvious and uninspiring.

 

I reserve the right to be even more critical as I have more of the story read to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^--I agree. While I like the writing, it does tend to err a bit on the flowery side. In general, fewer adjectives are better than more.

I agree completely. It's refreshing when a developer expects it's customers to be intelligent and engaged.

The prose in the game so far has been tediously melodramatic, overly descriptive and so self-conscious that I half expect to find the narrator behind me in thespian garb reading it to me from a script. If you think PoE's writing is good then you have no idea what good writing is.

 

Good fantasy writing engages the imagination, it doesn't bedazzle it with written confetti. Every other word doesn't have to be extra-vivid or emotionally charged. Good writing is like perfume...it draws you in wondering what that enticing aroma is wanting just a little bit more. Instead PoE's wiritng is like bug spray designed to knock you flat. Did Baldur's Gate describe the hair on a Gibberling's ass? Did Ravel hurl obscenities at the Nameless one then disrobe in Planescape Torment? Of course not, it's comcial to even consider that. Yet in PoE, that's what I've seen so far.

 

I'm only a few maps in and the desciptions have never risen above the level of sophomoric words-smithing. Exposition described as story with a high-school level thesaurus style-checker and a high-school level of world expereince. Things which should not be detailed, are. Things which should be mentioned, aren't. PoE's writing is like CoD's first person shooting...obvious and uninspiring.

 

I reserve the right to be even more critical as I have more of the story read to me.

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It's possible that everyone who likes it is wrong and that you're right.  I think that it's more likely that it's just not to your taste - and I doubt that you're going to be able to convince an audience of more than one that your taste is objectively the best on the planet.

Edited March 28, 201510 yr by Ohioastro

As someone who does a fair bit of reading, I find the descriptions to be just OK. But the effort is appreciated, and it adds enough to the game, despite not being quite on par with some of the better published writers out there. (Or much worse, depending on which writer we're talking about. )

Edited March 28, 201510 yr by Ignatius

As someone who does a fair bit of reading, I find the descriptions to be just OK. But the effort is appreciated, and it adds enough to the game, despite not being quite on par with some of the better published writers out there.

 

 

As somebody who reads obsessively and widely at every given opportunity, I disagree. But that's okay, we all have our opinions.

Edited March 28, 201510 yr by Katarack21

Personally I love everything about the story and I think the characters are well done without being intrusive or overbearing. I don't like games that try to overdo the humor, I much prefer a subtle laugh//chuckle (Eador is hilarious) than an forced "I'm funny!" outright bluster when it comes to comedy. Sorry those that feel differently but I like this game's story more than I like the story for Baldur's Gate 2 and I love the characters even more. There isn't anyone I dislike so far.

Edited March 28, 201510 yr by Ultimo Noressi

It does get slightly too flowery at times, and some characters (Edér in particular) have not much more than a decent backstory going for them. The writing isn't as good as Planescape, for sure. The only character that really oozes personality, so far, is Durance (who, surprise surprise, was written by ChrisA and shares his fetish for short, abrupt sentences followed by monologues). 

I thought Chris A wrote Grieving Mother? Who, by the way, is an amazingly cool companion.

Someone who isn't a book reader isn't the audience for this game.

*rolls eyes*

 

Oh, please.

I thought Chris A wrote Grieving Mother? Who, by the way, is an amazingly cool companion.

 

He created two

Hold on to your ****, subjective opinions stated as fact incoming.

I dig the humor. Even the fourth-wall breaking humor.

 

 

Kana Rua after me entering Caed Nua the third time or so after dying miserably in the rather nasty fight just beyond: "Once more through the gates... with better luck this time, I hope."

 

So far its quite bland and lacks distinction, or I just don't like the style at all. 

You mean the thread? No wonder - it was dead for a looong time.