Humor in Deadfire

[Guest Blutwurstritter]

I personally like black humor, sarcasm, irony and absurdities. Those usually fit games with a more serious tone and i think they would fit PoE2 too. PoE1 was quite lacking in that department in my opinion so i am curious if there is more in PoE2. A world with magic and technology certainly provides enough eventualities to include some. Ambitious experiments that go horribly wrong, magical rituals that end in disaster, hopes and dreams that get crushed or turn out in an unexpected manner.

Is there any of that or should there be none of that ?  

[injurai]

I thought it was pretty balanced. Some of the humor probably didn't land as well as it would if the player was more familiar with the world. Over time you start to pick up on the humor of your companions, like Kana.

 

General I really like when humor is used to show a handle on language issues, and I think the occasional misunderstand is important to make a world feel real. Pillars 1 had some of that, I think I'd like to see that expanded a bit. Eder seemed to the primary character to employ sort of awareness to language and yet also had proneness to blundering over language. Which would result in blowing out the scope of conversation to include layers of rapid conflict resolution which I think was always interesting. Often there was a sort of morose underpining of throwness when Eder grappled with his beliefs and views, which would unwind into amusement tinged with existential humor as he would think out loud with the watcher. Which I always found to be rather amusing myself.

[Wormerine]

Humor? Nah, but more tonal variance yes. White Match introduced more adventure and some more playful quests (investigation of Ondra Church, stealing booze and dealing with consequences.) 

 

[Tigranes]

Yeah, I'm fine with a bit more 'tonal variance'. Sometimes the funny and absurd sets up the most meaningful moments for the serious themes - e.g. Mourns-for-Trees, PST.

[SonicMage117]

The first Pillars had great A-list humor. It wasn't anything too obvious like say, what we see in a Divinity game... but it was there if one understood it they were able to pick it up. The subtlety fit well within the first game due to it's setting. However, I could see the humor being louder and more notably referred in Deadfire because the tone is overall very different from the first game.

 

I could see a dual-wielding Peter Griffin running around in Deadfire and it fitting well, whereas in the first game would not make much sense.

[ShakotanSolari]

While the overall subject of pillars 1 was more somber than that of Deadfire (stealing souls from babis vs. angry god breaks my castle), I still think it had plenty of well-nuanced humor, especially via companion banter - Eder, Hiravias, Durance and Zahua (god I'm going to miss Zahua) all had some pretty funny dialogue points throughout the game. That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing the humor expanded beyond the party in Deadfire, so long as it's not too over-the-top.

[Yosharian]

I'm surprised to see people saying the humour in PoE1 was ok.

 

I can't remember any funny moments from Pillars 1.

 

One of the best things about BG2 was its humour.  The Edwina affair for example was hilarious.  Jan Jansen is another really funny character.

 

I don't think PoE1 had anything like that.  It was super bleak.

[Messier-31]

I'm surprised to see people saying the humour in PoE1 was ok.

 

I can't remember any funny moments from Pillars 1.

 

One of the best things about BG2 was its humour.  The Edwina affair for example was hilarious.  Jan Jansen is another really funny character.

 

I don't think PoE1 had anything like that.  It was super bleak.

 

By "humour was ok" they mean they don't want more of it, so the game doesn't turn itself into a tongue-in-cheek thing, like D:OS.

 

And for the record, if you can't remember any funny moment, then you probably weren't paying attention (e.g. Hiravias and Eder banter at the gates of the Durgan Battery in WM2... "Moooom?")

 

Voted: yes, there was enough

[algroth]

There was plenty of humour involving Hiravias and Edér, but I do agree that the mood was pretty predominantly bleak all the same. I didn't mind it terribly, but I wouldn't gag at the thought of adding more levity. And as a matter of fact this *has* been addressed in one of the earlier Q&As, and here's Josh's response:

 

 

Will there be more humor than in the first game?

JS: Yeah. We're not going to make it a bunch of slapstick crazy stuff, but that something that we noticed is that, the overall tone of our story is very dark, most of the humor that we did have is very dry. We don't want to go wacky slapstick with it, but when everything is consistently dark and dry you don't have the high points to lift you out of it, and then fall back into. We want more of an emotional range with that and more humor to lighten the mood a little bit so that when it goes dark again it carries the player along with it emotionally and it feels more impactful.

Edited January 16, 2018 by algroth

[Tigranes]

POE was pretty doom and gloom, and yeah, I think it could have done with certain moments of levity. Not to make it less bleak, but as others have pointed out, that accentuates the bleakness when done right.

[SonicMage117]

There was plenty of humour involving Hiravias and Edér, but I do agree that the mood was pretty predominantly bleak all the same. I didn't mind it terribly, but I wouldn't gag at the thought of adding more levity. And as a matter of fact this *has* been addressed in one of the earlier Q&As, and here's Josh's response:

 

 

 

Will there be more humor than in the first game?

JS: Yeah. We're not going to make it a bunch of slapstick crazy stuff, but that something that we noticed is that, the overall tone of our story is very dark, most of the humor that we did have is very dry. We don't want to go wacky slapstick with it, but when everything is consistently dark and dry you don't have the high points to lift you out of it, and then fall back into. We want more of an emotional range with that and more humor to lighten the mood a little bit so that when it goes dark again it carries the player along with it emotionally and it feels more impactful.

 

I did remember him saying that but I didn't post it because I wasn't sure exactly where or how he said it.

 

Like I said, Deadfire's locale really allows for them to push humor more. The brighter colors and island-ish scene makes for fun and what have you so it's no surprise.

[Wormerine]

One of the best things about BG2 was its humour.  The Edwina affair for example was hilarious.  Jan Jansen is another really funny character.

 

Yeah, no, there was nothing that extreme in PoE. I did miss those for a half of my first play through, as that is what I expected to get. I did accept pillars as it’s own thing by know and appreciate how it’s different from Games that inspired it.

 

There is certainly space for lighter quests, and more playful characters, and so far it’s difficult to say how much the tone will shift in Deadfire (judging from beta it still seems to be spot on). I don’t think those extreme slapstick’s like Edwin’s quests would fit the grounded world of PoE. I would prefer to see more of Coen Brothers humor, rather than Monty Python’s.

[Night Stalker]

I feel PoE2 could do with a smidgen more humor than PoE1.

[Guest 4ward]

@Wormerine

no! We need Monty Python humour!

 

http://www.it-he.org/u9_g_2.php

[Wormerine]

@Wormerine

no! We need Monty Python humour!

 

http://www.it-he.org/u9_g_2.php

ONLY if we get “silly walk” toggle.

[Ninjamestari]

It's true that PoE1 didn't really have any humorous elements, but I really don't play Obsidian games for the humor anyway. I'm not going to complain if there's more humor in Deadfire and it's well written, but I'm not going to slit my wrists hoping for a more slapstick approach either.

[bonarbill]

It's true that PoE1 didn't really have any humorous elements,

 

.but it did.  It wasn't super slapstick, but there was a plenty of moments extremely humorous, especially if you're using characters like Eder, Hiravias, and Zahua.

 

I urge anyone that's a fan of more light-hearted elements to put Hiravias in your party.  It seems he doesn't get enough love. 

Edited January 16, 2018 by bonarbill

[injurai]

 

@Wormerine

no! We need Monty Python humour!

 

http://www.it-he.org/u9_g_2.php

ONLY if we get “silly walk” toggle.

 

 

This is now a walking animation thread, everyone better strap in.

[daven]

It's true that PoE1 didn't really have any humorous elements, but I really don't play Obsidian games for the humor anyway. I'm not going to complain if there's more humor in Deadfire and it's well written, but I'm not going to slit my wrists hoping for a more slapstick approach either.

Gotta agree with that one. Obsidian games have always had that darker streak to it and less comedy. Not sure they could pull it off, no point for the sake of it.

 

Unnecessary jokes usually really detract. I couldn't finish watching The Force Awakens because of the constant, terrible out of place jokes. Don't be like that!

Edited January 16, 2018 by daven

[cokane]

Disagree that the game wasn't humorous. It's just that none of it was as over the top and obvious as what you had in BG2 or Divinity.

 

People have already listed great examples, but man there was excellent dark humor from the Devil of Caroc and Durance, once you got in to the game's lore. And the things your characters shout during crits? Sagani's "Settle!" Lots of great little moments.

[Guest Blutwurstritter]

I do not advocate slapstick humor or toilet humor nor did i miss that kind of humor, but for a serious/bleak setting it had in my opinion a low amount of say sarcasm, irony, dark humor, escapism. NPC's seemed mostly lethargic, which is fine to some degree but not exactly exciting all the time.  I think a bit more contrast would have helped. 

[Silent Winter]

Eder: Does your fox bite?

Sagani: Yep.

Eder: ... Can I pet 'im anyway?

Sagani: They're your fingers.

Eder: .... I'm gonna pet 'im.

 

among a lot of other stuff.

It wasn't slapstick humour or outrageous humour but it was still pretty funny.  I thought the balance was about right, but agree with the above regarding the overall tonal balance.

[Tigranes]

It's also a question of whether the writers personally want to put in humour, and/or feel comfortable writing lighter things. 

[Heijoushin]

This is just the right amount of humour. I could never get into Divinity with all its silly jokes.

[Tigranes]

Well, I don't think getting rid of humour would help Divinity, you know..