Deadfire predictions: Expectations vs. reality

[The Sharmat]

This might be fun to have on record somewhere. Release is coming up. Let's talk about what we expect (for good reasons or bad) to experience then revisit the thread when we've finished the game. I'll start.

 

Plot:

Eothas will be sympathetic and always meant to be blown up.

Berath will turn out to be evil.
It's all Ondra's fault. Again.

Whatever God your watcher pledged itself to will be meaningless unless it was Berath. Especially Skaen/Woedica

Durance and "Falanroed" will actually appear in the game and have significance. No other save import features will have any real impact.

At some point we'll learn about a powerful rival to the Engwithan civilization.

The pacing will be very weird if you just follow the main story due to open world shenanigans.

 

Gameplay:

In most cases, multiclasses will prove superior to single classes.

All but the highest end armor will be useless.

Direct damage spells will be trash.

 

Companions:

 

Edér will be less likeable than in the first game. Writers felt he was too flawless so they'll play up new flaws and exaggerate old ones to try to force more nuance.

Aloth/Iselmyr will seem cool but be stymied by lack of save import reactivity. Retread of the first game.

Pallegina will surprise me by actually being really interesting this time around. Most people won't use her though because she'll constantly fight with their favorite companion(s)

Xoti will prove to either be the Durance/Edér/Zahua of this game in terms of depth, or just shallow waifu bait. There can be no middle ground. I'll probably keep her around even in the worst case scenario because priest + I like her voice.

Maia will be cool but ultimately straightforward.

Serafen will annoy me. A lot.

Tekehu will annoy me at first but end up entertaining me.

All the sidekicks will bore me

The best pet will remain Concelhaut's skull

Relationships:

All the romances will standard video game fair, meaning I'll find them insultingly pandering.

The following companions will hate each other: Pallegina, Xoti, and Tekehu. Edér and Xoti. Serafen, Maia, and Tekehu.

 

Overall:

I'll complain a lot but rate it 9/10

[Wormerine]

I don't have predictions anymore, I just check every five minutes if its Tuesday already. Now I feel the rage some people feel that the reviewers get to play the game, while we wait in darkness. 

[PaleHorse6]

Honestly I'm optimistic about the relationships in the game, I felt the companions were interesting and well written in the first game. So fingers crossed

[The Sharmat]

I'm optimistic about all the relationships but the romances.

[KaiG]

I'm optimistic that I can get Eder and Xoti together romantically, and you can't stop me.

 

 

EDIT: Also, I don't think Eothas meant to be blown up, but I do think we'll find out that he was indeed invading the Dyrwood to prevent Woedica's plan before it started. I'd like to think that he hasn't changed for the worse following his death, or at least I hope we have the option of influencing the way he bounces back, similar to Abydon at the end of WM2.

Edited May 3, 2018 by KaiG

[The Sharmat]

Anyone that repaid Abydon's sacrifice with a thorough brain scrubbing deserves what they get when Eothas puts them up against the wall.

EDIT: Also Edér is probably a good 10 to 15 years older than Xoti. Not saying it's wrong if that's the case necessarily, but it might impact your feelings on the subject.

Edited May 4, 2018 by The Sharmat

[Voss]

I'm optimistic that I can get Eder and Xoti together romantically, and you can't stop me.

 

The voice actors might, since Eder (and Aloth and Iselmyr) are married to Maia, and Tekehu and Xoti are expecting a kid...

[PantherX14]

 

I'm optimistic that I can get Eder and Xoti together romantically, and you can't stop me.

 

The voice actors might, since Eder (and Aloth and Iselmyr) are married to Maia, and Tekehu and Xoti are expecting a kid...

 

 

So? They're actors - it's their job to portray other people, including people who are in relationships with other people. You can even see this on Critical Role - several of them had their characters enter into relationships with each other, and most if not all of those were with characters played by people other than their spouse.

[bonarbill]

This might be fun to have on record somewhere. Release is coming up. Let's talk about what we expect (for good reasons or bad) to experience then revisit the thread when we've finished the game. I'll start.

 

Plot:

Eothas will be sympathetic and always meant to be blown up.

Berath will turn out to be evil.

It's all Ondra's fault. Again.

Whatever God your watcher pledged itself to will be meaningless unless it was Berath. Especially Skaen/Woedica

Durance and "Falanroed" will actually appear in the game and have significance. No other save import features will have any real impact.

At some point we'll learn about a powerful rival to the Engwithan civilization.

The pacing will be very weird if you just follow the main story due to open world shenanigans.

 

Gameplay:

 

In most cases, multiclasses will prove superior to single classes.

All but the highest end armor will be useless.

Direct damage spells will be trash.

 

Companions:

 

Edér will be less likeable than in the first game. Writers felt he was too flawless so they'll play up new flaws and exaggerate old ones to try to force more nuance.

Aloth/Iselmyr will seem cool but be stymied by lack of save import reactivity. Retread of the first game.

Pallegina will surprise me by actually being really interesting this time around. Most people won't use her though because she'll constantly fight with their favorite companion(s)

Xoti will prove to either be the Durance/Edér/Zahua of this game in terms of depth, or just shallow waifu bait. There can be no middle ground. I'll probably keep her around even in the worst case scenario because priest + I like her voice.

Maia will be cool but ultimately straightforward.

Serafen will annoy me. A lot.

Tekehu will annoy me at first but end up entertaining me.

All the sidekicks will bore me

The best pet will remain Concelhaut's skull

Relationships:

All the romances will standard video game fair, meaning I'll find them insultingly pandering.

The following companions will hate each other: Pallegina, Xoti, and Tekehu. Edér and Xoti. Serafen, Maia, and Tekehu.

 

Overall:

I'll complain a lot but rate it 9/10

 

I swear you sound like one of the regulars I've seen on 4chan.  

[Ganrich]

Haha.  I didn't read the last line of the OP the first time I checked this thread.  I regret it.  "I'll complain a lot but rate it 9/10"

 

I'll do the same. 

[Urthor]

Expect: Baldur's gate 2.  Game with double the budget or more of PoE1 that made Obsidian an 8 figure sum should be a brilliant 95 on metacritic masterpiece.  Level design will be on par with the extraordinarily well done White March 2. 

 

Reality: quests won't be as interesting as Larian's or CD Projects, writing in general will feel like a slight let down because of turnover at Obsidian, combat will have very little CC at all and pretty much just be a damage range between both parties, unlike in BG2 where managing mage CC was king, and PoE1 where it was tank and spank with disengage.   All the hype will lead to mild 8/10 disappointment followed by enjoyment. 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Urthor

[Voss]

 

 

I'm optimistic that I can get Eder and Xoti together romantically, and you can't stop me.

 

The voice actors might, since Eder (and Aloth and Iselmyr) are married to Maia, and Tekehu and Xoti are expecting a kid...

 

So? They're actors - it's their job to portray other people, including people who are in relationships with other people. You can even see this on Critical Role - several of them had their characters enter into relationships with each other, and most if not all of those were with characters played by people other than their spouse.

And they weren't particularly convincing about it. That would be the 'so.' It was either a teen dramedy 'romance' or a pro forma thing, neither of which were interesting or engaging. It will be somewhat better here, since they would have been isolated in recording booths rather than sniggering up their sleeves at each other, but expecting deep and convincing cross NPC romances is... setting up for disappointment.

[Villentretenmerth]

Fascinating how quickly this thread has turned into pessimism olympics  

Personally this game is the highlight of my year, so I doubt I'll even start noticing the negatives within the first 100 hours of gameplay.

[jones092201@gmail.com]

my predictions--

jon snow is the primary antagonist, after having 'awakened' at the end of dances with dragons (or season 6, I guess?), after Bran gives him the infinity gem that was the three-eyed ravens third eye (this is our link to the marvel cinematic universe) we discover that Durance burned himself alive at the end of POE I, but lived. He now has purple skin and goes by Thanos. After coming to earth, he sends that creepy guy who pulls our hearts in Temple of Doom to find another infinity stone buried beneath a castle in India. Luckily, Indiana jones and short round are there to stop him.  

That stone, eventually, is hidden on planet called tattooine, in the belly of sarlaac. Until, that is, bobba fett blasts his armored ass out the big cthullu mother fukers stomach.

But wait-- star was happens in a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away?  So how could the stone have been on earth first?

 

Enter Marty Mcfly with the dolorian....

Edited May 4, 2018 by jones092201@gmail.com

[The Sharmat]

Also it will turn out the Engwithans really made tyrannical artificial Gods to prevent people from making tyrannical artificial Gods.

[Alot]

Also it will turn out the Engwithans really made tyrannical artificial Gods to prevent people from making tyrannical artificial Gods.

Uhh... didn't that already turn out somewhat?

[HAWmaro]

From what littel I saw from Coh stream(watched like 40min total or) am really gonna hate Xoti, give me back Durance plss :'(  

Otherwise game looks awesome(outside POTD looking like a complete joke but I hope late game and mid game fix that)

[The Sharmat]

Yeah I haven't actually watched the stream but I'm hearing Xoti really is the most transparent kind of waifubait. I hope my experience differs from others in game but I'm bracing myself for disappointment.

[Ryz009]

From what littel I saw from Coh stream(watched like 40min total or) am really gonna hate Xoti, give me back Durance plss :'(  

Otherwise game looks awesome(outside POTD looking like a complete joke but I hope late game and mid game fix that)

 

eh they both are pretty iffy. Xoti at least doesn't make me wanna make a custom priest.

[Yria]

While I quite like Durance and find him interesting, I always had a problem of being unable to come up with a justification for keeping him around rp-wise. It seems things will be easier with Xoti. 

[The Sharmat]

I don't know, I think most priests would be mad that you want to kill their God. it's likely to be a problem for a lot of characters. Durance would just laugh.

[Voss]

Yeah I haven't actually watched the stream but I'm hearing Xoti really is the most transparent kind of waifubait. I hope my experience differs from others in game but I'm bracing myself for disappointment.

Maybe.  I'm... suspicious.  She's got a thing she isn't really talking about, and it looks horribly sinister to me.   The nightmares don't help either.  Nor does her firm conviction that she knows what goes on when gods come back from the dead.  For no apparent reason.

 

 

Anyway- my big expectation is the Big Walking Plothook is a red herring.  Particularly that certain other parties engineered where he woke up, and the mess that resulted was intentional and out of his control.  So the other parties, out of spite, jealousy and/or cutting down on the number of gods involved in the cycle of death (3 seems a bit high). Or... keeping spirits stuck in the beyond to exploit in some fashion.  If lack of Eothas limits rebirth somehow... who benefits?

[The Sharmat]

Stop trying to make me optimistic.

[The Sharmat]

Wait I found a way to be pessimistic about the character: She knows the stuff you're saying she knows because she's actually the good part of Eothas that split off when Eothas possessed Waidwen, or when Waidwen was destroyed. The end game has a forced dramatic sacrifice where the player can kill her to reunite her with the rest of Eothas and turn him back into a Lawful Good redemption deity.

[Voss]

'turn him back?'  I don't think much of the PoE gods, but even they aren't that shallow.

 

Besides, the duality of Eothas/Gaun goes back to the first game (and the flail you find in the Gilded Vale temple basement).  He's never ever been the 'LG god of redemption.'