The post of appreciation of Obsidian's efforts

[sorophx]

so, been playing all weekend, come to check out the forums in my downtime and the whole board is swarming with complaints, praises are few and far in-between, all the while the game is doing exceptionally well on Steam and with reviewers.

 

so, I'm guessing people who like it are playing the game and not wasting their time on these forums. this thread is a call to action, then. if you like the game, make a thread about it. preferably describing what exactly you like about it. 

 

here goes my part of singing praises to Obsidian. first of all, PoE is fantastic. it looks great, plays great, sounds great, not too short, not too long, delivers the proper Black Hound experience and is nominally worse than New Vegas (really, good luck surpassing that game, which is pretty much the greatest RPG of the last decade). anyway, great job, guys!

 

now for details.

 

I'll start with combat, which has been the soar point for a lot of you, fellow forumites. I think it's absolutely fantastic. yes, some of the mechanics it relies on are bugged, but it's still enjoyable, when the encounter design permits it (that's a big caveat, though). a lot of people are bashing the combat based on two things: pathfinding and disengagement attacks. 

 

personally, I think they complement each other quite nicely. it's so satisfying to see enemy AI get intercepted by my tanks when the enemy is bee-lining for my back line, it's so cool to see enemies change their mind when they see they're being overwhelmed and switch targets. the whole system just clicks, I don't know how else to explain it. the only downside is lack of diversity in enemy types. most of them are either humanoid or wildlife with no unique abilities that make an encounter unlike previous ones (with a few notable exceptions *waves at Shadows*)

 

it's still miles better than Baldur's Gate. where PoE falls a little short is combat encounters. too many of them (at least on Normal) are easily resolved with nothing but per encounter abilities. which makes them a chore. 

 

but, there are quite a few encounters that actually made me consider my choices carefully, it's certainly not IWD level of awesome, not even IWD 2 level (which is what Obsids should've been shooting for, since PoE is such a combat-heavy game), but still fun.

 

really, for me the fact that encounter design is better than Torment's combat is good enough.

 

I'll skip the progression system, because I think it's good at what it's trying to do. next, locations. they're gorgeous, and most of the dungeons have at least two ways of going through them, coupled with the fact that you don't get combat XP and the only incentive to explore the whole thing is PHAT LEWT, this gives me the chance to go straight for the objective, which is a nice change of pace after games like BG 2, where I can't stop myself from killing everything just to squeeze out an extra level up or two.

 

I'm really running out of things to say, because I love just about everything about this game. yeah, there are a few things I'd like to see changed, but I'll post that in another forum (the feedback one).

[sim-h]

You're late to the party - there were loads of positive praise threads a few days ago. Everyone (apart from D&D diehards) agrees the game is a solid 9/10.

 

However we all want our personal 10/10 game. Sadly one man's 10/10 is another man's 7/10!

[PrimeJunta]

Many of the D&D diehards think it's a solid 9/10 as well. Some of the hardest grogs have come around, even if many of them qualify their praise.

 

Yeah, Obsidian hit this one out of the park. 

[Namutree]

This game is sweet. Actually better than I expected.

[wanderon]

Totally agree with the OP setiments about the masses of

"this _____ sucks"

"How ____ should have been done"

"Why you have to do ____"

and other

"why my opinion beats everyone elses opinion so you have to do this NOW"  threads -

 

All of this of course as the game is less than a week old and would be the perfect time to come to the forums for real (non-spoiler) discussions about PLAYING the game which of course are off the bottom of the page minutes after they are posted. I was going to post about this last night but then sighed "why bother" - thanks for offering me a platform for this small rant!

 

Thank you Obsidian - the game is awesome - keep up the good work! 

[Sacred_Path]

Many of the D&D diehards think it's a solid 9/10 as well.

 

 

Definitely is, compared to anything that came out in the last 15 years. The whole is definitely more than the sum of its parts - and so it can satisfy grognards, roleplayers and people who just come for the fantasy fluff.

[Justinian]

The game is great and with a couple of patches will be even greater.

 

The forums will always be full of the vocal minority raising complaints and issues, and that's a good thing. We're vocal because we care!

[Excalibur_2102]

There were a lot of praise threads here a few days ago.  Those threads seem to have a few replies and then die away.  Hate threads (or even just constructive criticism) on the other hand seem to invoke more discussion or disagreement... Or Flame wars, lol.bn  Which of course means they are top of the list more often

[PrimeJunta]

Surprised?

[Starwars]

The game is absolutely *fantastic*. I'm completely hooked. One of those rare games you just wish would keep going and going (and it does, for a long time to be honest!).

[Kiya]

Last night i fell asleep in front of my PC while playing - from continuing to play for hours when I should have gone to bed... so yeah.   Love the game.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Kiya

[Osvir]

It's a work of art 

EDIT: I want to talk about the game plot much more in detail but, I don't want to spoil anyone with my eagerness. It's been 5 days I should replay it again with another party, and take a different route (Maybe on PotD?). So much to explore! And there's some bugs to squash and report as well.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Osvir

[sorophx]

There were a lot of praise threads here a few days ago.  Those threads seem to have a few replies and then die away.  Hate threads (or even just constructive criticism) on the other hand seem to invoke more discussion or disagreement... Or Flame wars, lol.bn  Which of course means they are top of the list more often

that's my main concern, really. I remember reading about how bad developers can take negativity towards their work they poured years of their lives into. and since this forum is pretty much all about criticism (often times unwarranted), I am attempting to start a fire, kind of, an avalanche of positive threads, so the devs know we care 

[Monte Carlo]

Nobody (and I repeat nobody) ever learned anything from adulation.

[PrimeJunta]

And nobody ever was delighted to meet a wet blanket.

 

Even if it was true, does everything have to be about teaching someone something?

 

What's wrong with telling someone they did a great job if in fact they did do a great job?

[Monte Carlo]

Have already done that. I take my hat off to Obsidian's success.

[PrimeJunta]

Good job, MC. I appreciate that.

 

Now, would it be too much to ask for you not to rain on threads where other people are doing that?

[IrithylStarym]

Pillars of Eternity 9.9/10. The other 0.1 we will get through patching :D

[Emerwyn]

Criticism is necessary so that PoE2 doesn't become a complacent product that lives off the success of the first. Seen it happen too many times.

 

Obsidian needs to be clever enough to separate the honest, useful feedback from the crapload of trolls and niche hunters out there that will complain about every little thing that it's not exactly as they want it to be.

 

Gods I'm glad I'm just a player, and not a game developer. Nothing's as easy as sitting back enjoying a game that has thousands upon thousands of hours of work dumped on it and feeling that I have the right to **** on it and everyone who made it just because I spent half a day's work cash on it.

 

In any case, my score for PoE is a solid 92/100

Edited March 31, 2015 by Emerwyn

[Matt516]

Great game. Attribute stacking and double click bugs are huge. They fix those, and it'll be a stellar game.

[Alsark]

I think the game is amazing, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. As mentioned, there are some pretty bad bugs, but those will be fixed here soon. It's been so long since we've had a good game like this that I'm absolutely thrilled to be playing it. 

[sorophx]

Nobody (and I repeat nobody) ever learned anything from adulation.

I'm not saying we shouldn't criticize what parts we think are poorly implemented or outright bad, and just blindly sing praises to Obsids.

 

but browsing through this forum alone, reading thread titles I get the impression that people just hate this game. imagine what it feels like to have worked on PoE and then come here to see what your fans are saying and be greeted with this flood of "your combat sucks!", "your system sucks, I could do better!", "where are my romances! this is not a true IE experience without them!". I think one could get the impression a lot of fans disliked PoE.

 

and god forbid the devs read what the chaps from RPGCodex have to say, their PoE release thread is just vile.  

[Monte Carlo]

 

 

and god forbid the devs read what the chaps from RPGCodex have to say, their PoE release thread is just vile.

 

What did you expect? It isn't Fallout 1.

[CaptainMace]

Rpgcodex folks aren't that harsh about the game. Beside roxxor doing his roxxor and sensuki pretty mad after he realised people actually don't care about engagement, it's pretty much like here in a more codexian way (ie. they always tone down the appreciation so they keep their street-cred yo).

I mean, their rating thread is pretty clear about that.

Although i think that press and player reviews is enough praise, and it's now about fixing bugs and reworking stuff, so it's kinda counter-productive to create another thread for that.

Edited March 31, 2015 by CaptainMace

[Silverstar]

I saw something in the game that offended me. I also encountered a bug. Therefore the only logical conclusion can be that PoE is a horrible game and Obsidian are all evil people.