Pillars of Eternity II Review Thread

[Wormerine]

gamespot giving an 8.. that's really an average score for me. shame on them. but again i dont really trust these reviewers. if i'm good at writing i probably few hundred times better than the reviewers do with their job. most reviewers i see is that they play the game for the sake of just reviewing the game. they don't even have passion for games they reviewed for and hence giving a low score.

Oh comeon. Criticizing score before being able to play the game. Scores are stupid anyway. Though as I would give PoE1 7/10, 8 is an improvemenet. 

 

The few reviews I glanced through did have some issues with the game. We will see. It will take weeks before I form my opinion.

[Odoakar]

The start of the game is a bit shaky for me.

 

Some notes, maybe mild spoilers, but it's just the start of the game...

 

- opening scene when you wake up in ship interior looks horrible. Low res statue, horrible shadows, not something you want to immediately show to new players

- being locked into class choice for Eder, ok I kinda get it (even though I wanted to roleplay him into fighter/priest), but at least let me inspect fighter and rouge skill trees before permanently locking me into a class

- first cave I enter as a dwarf, who do I find? My long lost twin - an NPC with the same portrait I choose for my guy. Sticking like a sore thumb.

- narrator at the start and then as the game starts, she is no longer to be heard? I thought this would be fully voice like DoS:2

-

[HAWmaro]

 

gamespot giving an 8.. that's really an average score for me. shame on them. but again i dont really trust these reviewers. if i'm good at writing i probably few hundred times better than the reviewers do with their job. most reviewers i see is that they play the game for the sake of just reviewing the game. they don't even have passion for games they reviewed for and hence giving a low score.

Oh comeon. Criticizing score before being able to play the game. Scores are stupid anyway. Though as I would give PoE1 7/10, 8 is an improvemenet. 

 

The few reviews I glanced through did have some issues with the game. We will see. It will take weeks before I form my opinion.

 

while I agree with you in general, that gamespot review was bad to say the least, in the sense am wondering if the reviewer played the original or deadfire saying stuff like "Eder changed and started smoking in deadfire" or "the game is part turn based" like makes really wonder how much effort he put in there so am ignoring that gamespot review.

other negative reviews I read seem to bring a few good points though. I'll form my opinion in a month or so.

Also am glad the narrator isn't voiced in most of the game, it was awfull in DOS2 it would have been awfull in POE2.

Edited May 8, 2018 by HAWmaro

[Koth]

 

 

gamespot giving an 8.. that's really an average score for me. shame on them. but again i dont really trust these reviewers. if i'm good at writing i probably few hundred times better than the reviewers do with their job. most reviewers i see is that they play the game for the sake of just reviewing the game. they don't even have passion for games they reviewed for and hence giving a low score.

Oh comeon. Criticizing score before being able to play the game. Scores are stupid anyway. Though as I would give PoE1 7/10, 8 is an improvemenet. 

 

The few reviews I glanced through did have some issues with the game. We will see. It will take weeks before I form my opinion.

 

while I agree with you in general, that gamespot review was bad to say the least, in the sense am wondering if the reviewer played the original or deadfire saying stuff like "Eder changed and started smoking in deadfire" or "the game is part turn based" like makes really wonder how much effort he put in there so am ignoring that gamespot review.

other negative reviews I read seem to bring a few good points though. I'll form my opinion in a month or so.

Also am glad the narrator isn't voiced in most of the game, it was awfull in DOS2 it would have been awfull in POE2.

 

I couldn't agree more... the fact that he didn't even know that Eder always smoked, or even referenced turn based at all immediately put me off this review. I mean, get your facts right...

 

That and I wish they would get the old-school veteran crpg reviewers to write these up. IGN didn't even have Dan Stapleton, "The CRPG" guy to review the game. I feel as though most of these reviews are written by millennials whose idea of the perfect game is fortnite.

 

As someone who grew up playing the gold box crpg's like pools of radiance and curse of the azure bonds etc before heading over to baldur's gate and planescape torment, I really appreciate the time and attention that goes into a well written crpg. And yet these reviews score negatively due to their "verbosity".

 

I guess times have changed, and game's ain't what they used to be and all, but please for the love of god, at least get someone who semi-enjoy's the genre to write the reviews rather than these damn 20 year olds. I apologise in advance for the generalisation. I'm well aware that are many young men and women who do appreciate the genre, but the vast majority (especially it seems in the game journalism profession) that do not.

Edited May 8, 2018 by Koth

[Sedrefilos]

Most reviews give it good score but not outstanding score. Expected as Deadfire is a great rpg but it brings nothing new to the genre or the games in general (like DOS2 did, for instance, and made it insta-classic for many). I've played to the first settlement and I'm having a blast. Everything is so improved upon the first one, especially writting! But I understand the reviewers point of view.

 

Who cares, though, right?

[SonicMage117]

Most reviews give it good score but not outstanding score. Expected as Deadfire is a great rpg but it brings nothing new to the genre or the games in general (like DOS2 did, for instance, and made it insta-classic for many). I've played to the first settlement and I'm having a blast. Everything is so improved upon the first one, especially writting! But I understand the reviewers point of view.

 

Who cares, though, right?

I'm not surprised, I think I said it in another thread. Deadfire has some great ambitious purpose, you can really tell it's scope is awe-inspiring but with that comes the heavy burden of not being exactly well focused. I think we all knew this from the get-go but I think many decieved themselves into thinking/believing that it would be 10x's better than the first.

 

But like you say, it really comes down to if you have fun with it, that's all that really should matter. The review score system is irrelevant because fun is fun and the fun differs from person to peson. Just grateful we are getting to continue the story and those dlc look BA!

[kozzy]

Amazing game so far, much improved over the first POE, which I enjoyed but still had a good amount of issues.

[AlphaShard]

Well this game is going to be my personal Game of the Year, I love what they've done and I'm only a couple hours in! 

[Kirk]

Polygamia.pl gave Deadfire 5 out of 5 stars:

http://polygamia.pl/pillars-of-eternity-2-deadfire-recenzja-rpg-bez-granic/ (polish only)

[speed]

Angry Centaur Gaming's review didn't have great things to say about the story. That, opinions can be subjective, was made clear but I'm a bit disappointed nonetheless. I was really hoping the story would just blow my mind. Still gonna go ahead and buy POE2.

[Sedrefilos]

Polygamia.pl gave Deadfire 5 out of 5 stars:

 

http://polygamia.pl/pillars-of-eternity-2-deadfire-recenzja-rpg-bez-granic/ (polish only)

Ok, that site's name is a really funny pun

[Powerslave]

https://ragequit.gr/reviews/item/pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire-english-review/

92/100

[Sedrefilos]

An interesting insight by the Ragequit reviewer regarding scores for Pillars and Deadfire (excert from Powerslave's linked review):

"Coming back to the start with regards to the “trouble” of being the reviewer of Deadfire, another aspect of my “woe” is that of the necessary evil: the grade. My general conclusion explicitly states that Deadfire is a “wholly improved sequel in every aspect”. However, back in the day I graded POE1 with 99% for many and different reasons, which may have had merit during the time of the review but not necessarily so after 3 years. In hindsight, a score of 87-88% may have been more just, but alas, scripta manent and grades should not be changed (if only to keep reliable consistency with Metacritic).

Forced by the reprehensible trend of the gaming community to focus almost exclusively on a bland score grade at the end of a review to draw their conclusions of desirability of X game instead of the essential context within the actual review that backs up that grade, I am left with 2 options. Option A: grade Deadfire with 100%, since it’s “better than its predecessor”, which would also imply that the game is virtually flawless (not true). Option B: grade it with a more “representative” score, ready to face the hordes who are ready to wield their pitchforks screaming “OMG, another useless reviewer, he praises the game as being an improvement but he graded it lower than the first Pillars. He’s a filthy, vile little man who deserves unhappiness and misfortune. May his floppy burn in flames”.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Sedrefilos

[Karkarov]

An interesting insight by the Ragequit reviewer regarding scores for Pillars and Deadfire (excert from Powerslave's linked review):

So basically he admits he fanboi'd on the first game and gave it a score it didn't deserve.

 

Well at least he is honest.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Karkarov

[Sedrefilos]

 

An interesting insight by the Ragequit reviewer regarding scores for Pillars and Deadfire (excert from Powerslave's linked review):

So basically he admits he fanboi'd on the first game and gave it a score it didn't deserve.

 

Well at least he is honest.

 

Greek reviewers are like this a lot hehehe. Especially when it comes to niche genres and even more specifically to rpgs    They were like this at least from the 90s when I first started reading pc games magazines

Edited May 9, 2018 by Sedrefilos

[M4xw0lf]

https://ragequit.gr/reviews/item/pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire-english-review/

 

92/100

ragequit.gr has a place in my heart for their Fallout 4 review.

[NorthlanderRQ]

 

An interesting insight by the Ragequit reviewer regarding scores for Pillars and Deadfire (excert from Powerslave's linked review):

So basically he admits he fanboi'd on the first game and gave it a score it didn't deserve.

 

Well at least he is honest.

 

Literally his first sentence on the review too.