I finally finished the game and here's what I liked and didn't like about it

[Sedrefilos]

So, after two years following the development and participating in the forums while waiting for the game's release, I finally played it and finished it yesterday, April 16 at 23:50

 

This is my personal opinion ,of course, and, since I don't believe it's gonna matter much to players, is mostly directed to the developers as a feedack of the game (provided they care to read this ).

 

Let's say, for starters, that I loved the game in general and had a great time playing it. Also, I've finished it on normal. Also, there may be spoilers to the parts I elaborate more.

 

So, let's start from the things I liked completely:

- Setting, lore. The world is great. Familiar to fantasy lovers yet new in it's own way. History, cultures, races everything is well worked and believable.

- Graphics and sound. Both excellent. Character models are better that I'd wish for and the backgrounds just gorgeous. I loved all the combat music tracks and some of the more calm tracks (especially combined with wilds at night) where just magical.

- Aesthetics. Another high point of the game. The architecture of settlements, wilds and dungeons is just fantastic. The design of clothing and gear also. Not rel-life boring nor over-the-top cartoonish.

- Character creation. Well, this is, imo, the best character creation process I've ever experienced in a crpg. So many interesting and meaningful stuff. I just couldn't decide what character I should make. And given I knew the classes, races etc way before I played the game. it says much. I never have a problem creating a character. In most games the choice is almost instant. But not here

- Adventuring and dugeoneering. I liked the way the game implemented exploration with different exit paths from each area and the the use of tools in scripted interactions. The dungeons also were all great. I can't remeber a dungeon I dind't like. Their design, their thematics, their aesthetics, everything was greatly done.

- Ruleset. I liked the way the devs approached this. With every stat matter to each class. The classes also were very different from each other; each with something unique to add to the experience.

- Rest system. Resting was one thing I hated in IE games. With spells spent after use and spellcasting classes being useless without them, spam-resting after each and every combat was a no-brainer for me, which made the whole mechanic just pointless. Just go with mana and be done already! But here, we have a much more effective resting system. Abilities have per-encounter or per-rest usages and along with the health/endurance system and the limited camping supplies make resting much more meaningfull and, most importantly, more immersive.

- Combat. Yes, I liked combat a lot. It was fast (didn't find it as much fast as meny people from the beta were saying) and fun. Whith many abilities so different from one another, many weapons and encounters more interesting and challenging (not all the time, to be honest) than I'd though, I had a blast fighting my party through enemies. And thank for engagement system! No more running around like fools chasing one another!

- Main story. Although it takes a bit long to unfold, it surely turns out to be better than you believe it's gonna be when you're in mid-game. A very pleasant surprise!

- Dialogues and options. With stats, skills, reputation, background, culture, class, race options to pop-up in dialogues, this just makes it the best dialogue system in crpgs thus far.

- Disposition system. Best reputation system ever.

- Crafting. Simple and to-the-point. I felt more as an adventurer with this crafting system. Crafting mostly adventuring stuff such as scrolls, food and potions and just improving upon existed items and not be the expert blacksmith, armorsmith, leatherworker, alchemist and whatever, I felt much more immersed in my role as an adventurer.

- Stronghold. A fun and useful feature. Somewere to spend my treasure and a place to rest and resupply. It also had

- The Endless Paths. The mega-dungeon I loved so much. I was so thrilled when I finally reached the 14th and 15th levels and I missed it when I finished it.

- Roleplay. Everything mattered here: class, background, reputation... great work. I also loved that I could even choose my past actions in my previous life instead of just given to me fixed!

- The gear. Loved the magical items in both stats and looks. Very adventury.

- Scripted iteractions. A clever and immersive way to add action and adventure in an isometric game.

- Night time. The moonligh especially in the wilds and in Twin Elms was just magical

- Game options. Great variety. Best of all the font size slider! :D I needed that thing. I always had such a hard time with IE and Neverwinter Nights games with their super tiny fonts that I used to skip text just for that!

 

Now, some things that although I liked, I didn't see them in full potential:

- Scripted interactions. The game needen like +200% more I believe.

- Companions. Although I liked them as characters, some had more stuff than others. Durance and Grieving mother (Avellone's characters; coincidence? Who knows )were the most interesting and mysterious ones. Aloth was next but you got over with his quest quite soon. Hiravias and Sagani both had interesting stories but nothing very "deep" and Eder, Pallegina and Kana were just "go to point x, have a dialogue and that's it".

Also, and this was very important to me. Most of the time, more specifically, before Twin Elms, you just forget you have companions with you. Very rarely do they talk, interject, interact etc. I was dissapointed with that and when I reached Twin Elms and saw them just becoming "alive" I thought "why the hell were they not doing this the rest of the time?!". After a certain point they start talking alot, interject in dialogues, asking your opponion etc. You feel the companions more as companions in the last 1/3 or 2/5 of the game.

- Stats, skills, reputation options in dialogues. We need more of those. They were many at the beggining ut then not so often. Not as often as I expected at least. Also, resolve and perception were more used than other stats. I'd like to see much more stats, skills, class, reputation, background, culture options in dialogue in the fututre.

- Stronghold. I'd like to see it having more impact in the world. Only once or twice did I had to mention it in dialogues that mattered (one was with Korgrak - I took him as a hireling, and another I mentioned to someone I was lord of Caed Nua or something). Also, I resided in a ruined keep and somehow everybody acknowledged me as their ruler and start paying me taxes? What the hell, and who were those people? That made no sense and it was a bit annoying.

 

To the things I didn't like:

- Some writing and stories/themes in mid-game were not as good as in general for some reason. We had some super generic stuff going on, some nonsensical options, some stereotype talk that I felt they were out of place and ruined a bit my experince at that time. Most of them were in Defiance Bay which was, after all...

- ... my biggest dissapointment in the game! Yes, Defiance Bay was the thing I liked least in Pillars of Eternity and let me explain why.

First of all, I believe it needed at least +50% more content.

It is supposed to be the big city of the game, the capital of Dyrwood, a city bustling with people and refugees. Well, were were they?! Compared to Twin Elms, a, supposedly, much smaller city, it looked empty! Twin Elms was great regarding that. People everywere, with their animals, talking, walking, teaching each other stuff, people from Dyrwood and Vailian Republics too doing their stuff... It felt full of people. Defiance Bay on the other hand had some guards here and there, some merchants here and there, very few people standing and talking... Were were the refugees? There should have been one district somwere inside or outtside the city dedicated to these people. With npcs in there, quests, storylines and all. To know them, to see what's going on, what's happening.

The main city factions were also dissapointing. You don't get to know them much. You pretty much make one or two quests for each and that's it! Compare it to New Vegas (another Obsidian game) were you get to know and bond (or not) with each and every faction in the land (and it has many!). I picked the knights of Crucible but I couldn't care much about them or any other of the main factions.

The animancers and all that. Just not enough stuff to dig deep into. You go to the academy, you make a quest and it's over... no different quests from different people to see what animancy really is from all sides.

The detective house of Lady Webb (can't remember the name now). One simplistic mystery to solve and we're done. Couldn't care much about them either.

First Fires is a district with only three buildings, which you'll visit zero to three times each and that's it. Especially the Vailian embassy which has nothing special to do there.

The most interesting part of the Bay is the dungeon-district Heritage Hill.

Then

 

the meeting with the duc. You hear the representatives of the factions talk and you pop out like a weiner and say your things and the duc respects your opinion like he's knowing you for years! There was not enough preconstruction for that scene and it felt awkward.

Then the duc is assassinated and in seconds the city is in riot! How? How did everyone learned about that so fast? And wtf, the duc is killed and for some reason the people feel they have to riot? Why? What's the purpose? The animancers? Do everyone hate them so much? And who's fighting against who and why? Will you riot if the leader of your country is assissinated? I don't think so. Anyway this too felt... well, to me, it felt designed bad.

 

 

Defiance Bay... not good. Needed more work, much more content.

 

And finally, some things that I believe Obsidian needs to take a different approach:

- Text and dialogue portraits. Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem reading stuff. But the description texts were very long at times and it just took me out out of the game sometimes. Same thing with dialogues with non-companion npcs. Let me explain what I mean.

You are experiencing the game world through the visuals, the graphics. You get to see the characters there in the environment and all. At some point, things happen and are presented to you through text. You take your focus off the game world and put it in reading the text.

This, me at least, puts me out of place. I'm losing focus and immersion. Instead of just text, there should have been some visuals too. Changing o rpartially moving pictures, so, while reading the text, I'm still in the game.

Same thing with dialogues. You talk to different npcs and you don't see who they are. You look at a small character from afar, but not their faces. Sometimes, some npc will come talk to you and you won't remeber who they were because of their strange name. I may forget their names but I won't forget their faces. That's why I believe each and every single npc that can initiate dialogue with you, should have their own portrait to look at when you're talking to them. And your portrait too when you're about to select an answer.

 

- Voice-over. I believe a full voice-over should be attempted next time. Or no voice over at all. The partial one is a bit annoying. I liked what Larian did with their voice over in Divinity: Original Sin. They had no voiced dialogues at all but everything in the environment was voiced. People talking around you were voiced and enemies taunting you and saying there stuff was also voiced and it worked well with me. The partial voice with no voice of the random npcs around me didn't work for me.

 

- Stat checks in dialogues. Of course the idea is fantastic and when I heared Saywer in presentations saying that, because you have the right ammount of a stat to unlock a dialogue option, that doesen't mean this is the correct option always, made me very happy, I didn't see that happening much in the game. Most of the times when I was picking the stat or skill option it was a win negotiation. Just a suggestion here; if it is not to be used that way, then maybe a percentile success would be better. Like you have 10 intellect, this dialogue option needs 19 intellect to convince the npc (hidden from the player), so you see an indicator beside it -like "hardly" or whatever- and you have a chance, depending how low your stat is and how high it needs to be, to succeed in persuading the npc.

 

 

In conclusion, I see this game as the beggining of a series or the establishment of a setting. Let the sequel be what Baldur's Gate 2 was for Baldur's Gate 1 and the third game be the best rpg ever. Or just skip the second phase and make the sequel the best rpg ever

 

I hope the developers read this and see it as useful feedback. See you next game!

Edited April 17, 2015 by LadyCrimson
spoiler tag added

[Veynn]

I agree. 

 

Hell, Beregost and Nashkel were much more interesting than the whole Defiance Bay for crying out loud.

[archangel979]

I agree with your whole list (except for less text descriptions but having portraits of people or talking heads like in Fallout 1 and 2 would be cool) of things that needed to be more of and things that were not good enough.

But I also need to add that combat was not enough fun, it was way too much copy and paste with enemies all being to similar as none of them were really immune to anything it made sense. How do you blind or knockdown Shadows or Oozes?

 

And Skaen Cultists area was particularly bad with 50 cultists to murder (on Hard), which is more than people that live in village above and their leaders not caring that you did that if you let the girl go.

 

BTW, this topic will need to be moved into a subforum that allows spoilers.

Edited April 17, 2015 by archangel979

[PrimeJunta]

Good review.

 

I disagree entirely on all of your "different approach needed" points though, I think Obsidian did those exactly right.

[Daemonjax]

 

- Scripted interactions. The game needs like +200% more I believe.

 

 

Yeah, I think they should really turn this feature up to 11 because it's pretty unique in a CRPG. 

 

We want more of them, and don't be afraid to make some of them longer to fully re-create that Choose Your Own Adventure story vibe.  Remember those?

[EdwinP]

As mentioned above, the Stronghold needs to seem alive.

 

As the Stronghold is repaired the player should encounter low level NPCs - workers, cooks, maids and servants and local farmers.

 

I would like to see more quests focused around the stronghold and see it mentioned in conversations with other NPCs. As the Stronghold is repaired more people are attracted to it, the chances of it being mentioned increase. It may attract the attention of a lord that seeks to add it to his realm or become the target of an assault from a hostile fraction in Defiance. This could lead to a major battle. The player could prepare for it by purchasing scorpions & catapults and hiring low level mercenaries. And what type of troops will you hire: Swordsmen or Archers. A few experienced troops or green troops.

 

Perhaps, you as Lord are asked to pass judgment on a dispute and the solution affects your reputation. Do you let a bribe or the defendants / plaintiff's position affect your ruling? Set taxes low and you attract more people, set taxes high you encourages unrest, set them too high and people will leave. Its a fine line between being judged weak, just or harsh.

If you do not want to manage your Stronghold, let the personality of a hired Castellan , determine its taxes, improvements and justice rendered.

 

Perhaps the player as Lord of the Stronghold decides to establish an order of warriors, a school of wizards, a school for Monks, temple to one of the gods or the base of a thieves' guild. This too could affect the stronghold, its NPCs, its reputation and the quests received at the Stronghold.

 

A thieves guild may attract offers to purchase stolen goods, acquire (steal) selected items for purchase by others or slay enemies of clients. Fencing items stolen from powerful lords comes with great risks and great rewards. Hirelings attracted to this stronghold would tend to favor rogues and fighters.

 

Perhaps the player decides to turn the Stronghold into a Temple for one of the deities,such as Eothras. Temple specific improvements could be available - such as a statue to the deity. The more temple specific improvements you have the more worshipers who are attracted to the temple and the more you collect in donations. This temple would be more likely to attract hirelings who are priests of the deity and paladins who are warriors for this deity. Quests would revolve around dealing with threats to the deities followers and rendering aid to worshipers of the deity.

Edited April 18, 2015 by EdwinP

[Serdan]

I agree. 

 

Hell, Beregost and Nashkel were much more interesting than the whole Defiance Bay for crying out loud.

An argument could maybe be made for Beregost, but Nashkel? Nuh uh. That's your nostalgia talking.

[Matt516]

I must be in the minority - I tend to hate the big cities in those games.

I'd be ok if there wasn't even a Defiance Bay in the game. That said, given that there was one... there could certainly have been more content. I think they did what they could with the time and budget they had, though. Hopefully PoE is successful enough that they'll have plenty of funding and motivation to make many, many more.

[TheisEjsing]

 

I agree. 

 

Hell, Beregost and Nashkel were much more interesting than the whole Defiance Bay for crying out loud.

An argument could maybe be made for Beregost, but Nashkel? Nuh uh. That's your nostalgia talking.

 

Beregost and Naskhel better than Defiance Bay? Come on. Beregost is 90% filler homes. If that's your fancy, Beregost is the best ****ing city in gaming ever. And Naskhel? Sure, if you're a Volo fanboy. But for the rest of us, those cities aren't even close to be on par with Defiance Bay. That said, Defiance Bay isn't on par with Baldurs Gate or the City of Coin.

[Veynn]

 

 

I agree. 

 

Hell, Beregost and Nashkel were much more interesting than the whole Defiance Bay for crying out loud.

An argument could maybe be made for Beregost, but Nashkel? Nuh uh. That's your nostalgia talking.

 

Beregost and Naskhel better than Defiance Bay? Come on. Beregost is 90% filler homes. If that's your fancy, Beregost is the best ****ing city in gaming ever. And Naskhel? Sure, if you're a Volo fanboy. But for the rest of us, those cities aren't even close to be on par with Defiance Bay. That said, Defiance Bay isn't on par with Baldurs Gate or the City of Coin.

 

 

Of course they werent. I'm just speaking out of disappointment about this so called " two Big Cities" Obsidian promised us. Defiance Bay and Twin Elms were more like large towns compared to Baldur's Gate and Athkatla.

[TheisEjsing]

 

 

 

I agree. 

 

Hell, Beregost and Nashkel were much more interesting than the whole Defiance Bay for crying out loud.

An argument could maybe be made for Beregost, but Nashkel? Nuh uh. That's your nostalgia talking.

 

Beregost and Naskhel better than Defiance Bay? Come on. Beregost is 90% filler homes. If that's your fancy, Beregost is the best ****ing city in gaming ever. And Naskhel? Sure, if you're a Volo fanboy. But for the rest of us, those cities aren't even close to be on par with Defiance Bay. That said, Defiance Bay isn't on par with Baldurs Gate or the City of Coin.

 

 

Of course they werent. I'm just speaking out of disappointment about this so called " two Big Cities" Obsidian promised us. Defiance Bay and Twin Elms were more like large towns compared to Baldur's Gate and Athkatla.

 

I responded to your post about Beregost and Naskhel. This is a different discussion.