I don't think I am able to get into this game, which is a huge shame and probably my fault or my own stupidity

[scottii]

playing this on a tablet may be more convenient during your busy schedule.

[Updraft]

playing this on a tablet may be more convenient during your busy schedule.

I'm guessing you mean an Android tablet? I found something called "GamePro POE Version" for the iPad, but it's not the game itself--screenshots, tips, etc. If the game is available for play on the iPad (current model, mini), I'd really like to know about it. Thanks.

[Trogdor]

I'm guessing you mean an Android tablet? I found something called "GamePro POE Version" for the iPad, but it's not the game itself--screenshots, tips, etc. If the game is available for play on the iPad (current model, mini), I'd really like to know about it. Thanks.

 

He must mean an x86 type tablets that can run a full version of Windows like Surface Pro etc. iPad and Android pads run on an ARM type processor that probably doesn't have enough processing power to run a game like PoE.

[Bleak]

I hated certain things about combat when I started playing it. I felt (and still feel) that some mechanics are just aimed at annoying you and could have been more intuitive. For example the very frequent spell misses on early stages, or the status locking.

 

As for the story I managed to get into it, but it wasn't easy. I feel it tries to unload a bunch of lore on you for quite a while into the game and I felt npcs rambled on about complicated events I had no idea of, thing which kind of alienated me. Now I am used to it, but I didn't like it early on. Didn't feel the same with many other such crpgs.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Bleak

[HawkSoft]

On  my first play-through I also found the lore dumps to be off-putting but as I play the game more I am discoveiring more depth to the game world as pieces click into place, a bit like like how a casual acquaintance can become a friend. In contrast with games like Torchlight 2 (which I still enjoy playing) I find the thin coating of lore rapidly dissipates like morning dew leaving the game mechanics fully exposed.

[lobotomy42]

TL;DR - I agree with a lot of katie's frustrations and my experience has been similar to hers.

 

I think your experiences and frustrations with the game are reasonable reactions to some design decisions (some, such as I, would say problems) with the game. 

 

The difficulty in this game is very weird.  All the difficulty spikes in the game happen early on - the ghosts, as you mentioned, are incredibly difficult if you don't already have a party of 6 and some levelling under your belt.  And as the game progresses, if you do any serious amount of exploring, the combat shifts to become absurdly easy to the point where the most efficient route through most fights is selecting all party members and clicking "Attack" on each enemy one by one.

 

The combat *feels* like the Infinity Engine games at first, but under the hood it's quite different.  The spells are mostly all different across classes, so learning what the spells do from one caster doesn't give you any leg up when you start learning the next caster.  (As opposed to there being overlap between wizard / sorceror / cleric spells in D&D.)  Compound this with sometimes acquiring a party member later in the game who has four tiers of spells already, and the incentive to learn what the spells are is small. 

 

As for the story and writing, let me repost what I wrote on reddit awhile back:

 

 

The writing is highly literate but the actual quality (good vs bad) varies wildly throughout the game. There's a lot of "telling" rather than "showing" - every character seems to be an expert on the history of some group or faction and will promptly expound at length about it at a moment's notice. But lots of eloquent words and details does not make a story, it makes an encyclopedia. I get the impression that Obsidian was trying to sell us on the world first and the story second, which may have been a mistake. Lots of people have learned to love the Dragon Age universe or Forgotten Realms, and it's not because either of those universes are particularly coherent or plausible -- it's because those players got invested in the story happening in front of them in the game, and became attached to the world as a result. If Obsidian had focused just a little bit more on the "problem at hand" aspect of the plot, it could have gone a long way towards bringing people along. (For example, very few of your companions are involved in the main plot in a significant way.) As it stands, the "main plot" feels like just another expendable sidequest.

Don't get me wrong - many quests and characters are fantastic. The opening tutorial segment is, perhaps, the best I've seen in this style of RPG. But it often feels like it's only a matter of time before any given character will chirp in with a "Let me tell you about the made-up etymology of this made-up word describing a made-up species that is only relevant to you in that you must kill them all."

[Fenixp]

The point about a lot of characters essentially being lore dispensers is an excellent one, and is one of my big beefs with the game's writing. And it's not because of the dumb argument of "Nobody talks like that" as nobody ever talks like characters in literature, it's because it takes away a part of their often carefully written characterization to dump a bunch of information on player's head.

 

Other than that tho, the reason why I like fantasy as a genre is to explore new and interesting worlds. Sure, Pillars of Eternity took a bit more traditional approach, but I liked the themes it explored trough its lore, the world's history and various nationalities. And the best thing is that this lore eventually ties into the main plot and understanding of the lore becomes essential to fully understand main storyline itself. So when it comes to that aspect of the game, I'm definitely a fan.

 

The reason why I still don't particularly dig Dragon Age Origins is precisely because I feel like delving into its lore is completely pointless. There are some mildly interesting aspects but nowhere close to what Pillars presents.

[Boeroer]

 

And as the game progresses, if you do any serious amount of exploring, the combat shifts to become absurdly easy to the point where the most efficient route through most fights is selecting all party members and clicking "Attack" on each enemy one by one.

Now this is absolutely true.  

[FlintlockJazz]

It's nowhere near as bad as Bioware where every character is pretty much a mouthpiece for their entire culture and a perfect Mar(t)y Sue one at that whose endorsement of their civilisation could not be questioned, though a certain crazy bint comes close whose name I will put in spoilers:

 

 

 

Iovara

 

 

 

Other than her they manage to avoid the horrible plot-driven info-dump characters of other, less reputable developers.