The First Impressions Thread

[Jayngo]

 

My first impressions (4 -5 hours in, still on first island):

 

----

- Length of game. In PoE 1 (including WM 1/2) I put in 96 hrs. I've read reviews saying this game is 40-50 hrs long. That seems a tad short imo. Everyone plays these games at a different pace, and I usually play at a slower pace, exploring everything, doing all side-quests, etc; so I expect to get more time than that out of it. Still, I was hoping to break toe 100 hour mark.

 

I saw people claims the game has just 32 hours of content (then that person confessed he didn't do all side content), while another took more than 70 hours to finish their game (not idea if they did everything or not). I think like POE1 the rushed (34hrs) vs leisure (190hrs) divide is going to be wide. It depends too much on difficulty level, party composition and if the players use the accelerated speed all the time outside of combat or not.

 

Nice. The more I think about it, it probably goes like this for most reviewers: "Ok, i need to get this game completed so OUR review can be out on DAY ONE. EVERYONE must read our review so we get the most views. Sooooo, that means I'll skip these 27 side quests I have in my journal. There's just not enough time to complete them before day one review launch."

[InsaneCommander]

EDIT: Yeah, relationship system is great. I had a serious talk with Eder for stealing from Eothesians. :-P

 

I barely played the game and I had that talk with him too. I wanted some companions in my party, but now I see that they won't like me.

 

I think I'll roleplay my deceptive, clever, passionate pirate and just accept whatever happens with companions. With luck the sidekicks won't reject me.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Barely played it, but here goes:

Beginning takes too long, similarly to NuTorment. Cool as it is, an option to skip straight to character creation and waking up would be nice for future playthroughs.

Weapon Proficiency should show more information than the modal. With the changes made to weapons from PoE it would help to have a description there.

I can understand the reasoning behind no passives at lvl 1, but I don't like it for whatever reason.

Could use more portraits, especially for non-human races.

It's pretty.

Complete VA grates me after a while because I read fast, but so far sounds good.

Combat feels much better than the beta.

Pacing feels faster, which I enjoy.

I haven't looked too hard, but I didn't notice any story related abilities from PoE, imo they should return with levels.

Spells look way cooler.

 

I'll play more later, but so far really digging it.

[floredon]

it's really good

[xzar_monty]

Barely played it, but here goes:

Beginning takes too long, similarly to NuTorment. Cool as it is, an option to skip straight to character creation and waking up would be nice for future playthroughs.

 

Yeah, this. Makes no sense to make a beginning that takes as long as that. Particularly when that "walk through the mist" or whatever is just there for effect and reminiscence. At least 50% of that should have been cut. I agree that an option is definitely needed: seeing it once was bad enough, and not being able to skip it after that would be really bad.

[Skazz]

Another early observation: it reminds me of Storm of Zehir a lot. In a good way!

[Vyrulisse]

Love the game so far. 

 

My biggest gripe is that all the cool hats make my girl completely bald. C'mon Obsidian...I'd take some clipping over being competely bald. Um, no offense intended to all your bald people I just think it ruins the in-game look of the hats.

 

At least we can hide them.

[algroth]

 

My first impressions (4 -5 hours in, still on first island):

 

----

- Length of game. In PoE 1 (including WM 1/2) I put in 96 hrs. I've read reviews saying this game is 40-50 hrs long. That seems a tad short imo. Everyone plays these games at a different pace, and I usually play at a slower pace, exploring everything, doing all side-quests, etc; so I expect to get more time than that out of it. Still, I was hoping to break toe 100 hour mark.

 

I saw people claims the game has just 32 hours of content (then that person confessed he didn't do all side content), while another took more than 70 hours to finish their game (not idea if they did everything or not). I think like POE1 the rushed (34hrs) vs leisure (190hrs) divide is going to be wide. It depends too much on difficulty level, party composition and if the players use the accelerated speed all the time outside of combat or not.

 

What I have heard is that the core story is shorter this time around, but the side content is more extensive. I think Josh mentioned something to this effect in the Drowned Barrows stream.

 

As for my first impressions so far, I'm loving it. The game is an absolute joy to watch and hear, the sound design, music and visuals are wonderful. Love the look of Port Maje, the colourful paint wearing off on the wooden planks that make many of the houses and establishments there, it feels very genuine with respect to the constructions at the coast of many places I've been to (particularly those with histories as former colonies and so on). The Kraken's Eye is especially notable.

 

With regards to writing, the two aspects that are so far jarring to me are Edér and Aloth's introduction, which feels very cold and sudden for what is a first reunion after half a decade; and secondly what little I've seen of Vela worries me a little bit since her initial lines at least sound like they're spoken less by a child and more by the victim of a lobotomy, and it sets off a red light in my mind as I've seen far too many pieces of media that make the mistake of thinking that writing a child character is achieved merely by dumbing down dialogue you'd normally write for an adult. Overall I think the writing's pretty damn good so far though, roughly on the level you'd expect of a Pillars game - and if I say that I've been liking this game roughly as much as the first game up to a comparable point, it's hardly any criticism as I reckon I'm one of the few here who absolutely loved the opening and whole first act to the first Pillars.

[demeisen]

So far (potd wizard):

​

+ The game is gorgeous.  Agreed with someone above: it's the prettiest RPG I've encountered.  Craftmanship permeates all aspects of the world-building that I've seen so far.  I'm only a little ways in, but it's just a nicely imagined world.  I wager Obsidian is the premier CRPG studio when it comes to this.

​

​+ The NPC voice acting has been pretty solid so far - even some of the one off minor parts.

​

​+ Dialog (so far) is nicely tightened up compared to POE1, but is still well done.  No huge lore dumps, but you still get a feel for the world.

​

​+ The archipelago environment is a nice changeup from the usual fantasy setting.  Looking forward to seeing more of it.

​

​+ Jury's still out, but I'm optimistic about the power level mechanic.

 

+ So far, I've seen no significant bugs.

 

​- Auto-health and spell regeneration seems more appropriate for console or action style RPGs.  It detracts from the feel of the game: I'm not on a journey any more, I'm on a series of (nearly) stand-alone fights.  I no longer have to consider whether to forgo using this or that spell: it's coming back right after, so it no longer matters, and a whole dynamic evaporates.  I understand some people like this, but it should be a game option.  IMO, this is a huge step backward from POE1 and it's my main problem so far trying to get into the game.

​

​- Wizards have lost some flexibility and thus are no longer as fun to play as they were in POE1.  They might still be effective, but a core element present since pen and paper days is dynamic spell mix and match.  This is an important attraction for many players.  Switching grimoires is not a suitable substitute.

 

Unfortunately those two drawbacks are major ones in my view, and it feels like an overall "casualization", but everything else looks top tier.  If those two could be somehow addressed, even as options so people can have it whichever way they want, the game would be borderline perfect.

​

[Suxamethonium]

Played a few hours last night. Overall very nice, graphics are a good step up from the first, spell effects are excellent. Plot too early to tell.

 

On the flip side I dislike the new spell system for wizards and for druids/priests. For me both classes have lost their innate flexibility. Wizards were flexible for the breadth of spells they could know, just had to plan what they would know at any time, while priests and druids knew less spells but having access to the whole repertoire made up for it. It may in the end be psychological, in reality I don’t think I often changed my grimoire in poe (nor in the infinity engine games) once I had it set, equally I use a handful of priest spells frequently. For me the priest was always good that you could pull out that spell you rarely used in a situation where it happened to be the right move, but no longer! I also must say I liked having to ration my spells, made spell use feel more deliberate.

 

Overall I think there is an attempt to broaden the audience, but I think that has come with sacrifices to those who came with pre-existing nostalgia.

[theBalthazar]

First impression...

 

+ Full VO

+ Beautiful

+ Good stacking rules and diversity for items.

 

- - Awful french localization (Like a scandal... hope it will not affect test rating...)

- Level 8 and 9 a little bit... deceptive for single. (Globally)

- Bad diversity for passives abilities and stacking rules.

- Few actives inconsistent abilities (ranger, rogue...)

 

I will go back here when I will finish the game.

Edited May 10, 2018 by theBalthazar

[Ashen Rohk]

+Beautiful

+Feels much more polished and streamlined than PoE1

+ VO is gorgeous

+ Environment and setting is wonderfully realised

+ Xoti, oh lovely Xoti <3

+ The BG2 style city map

+ BOATS! :D

+ The breaks to the Choose Your Own Adventure screens and how all the mini encounters play out.

+ The reputation system, and seeing how your party not only react to you but to each other.

 

= Classic is too easy at the point I'm at. Might need rebalancing

= Undecided on multiclassing, but suspect I'm missing the disgusting broken builds.

 

- Give me more VO

- I know I've been a relatively big defender of 5v6 party members but based on the characters I'm finding I want that extra space for the roleplaying!

- Modal abilities could be a bit more involved in combat

- From a D&D background, I dislike having to choose druid/priest spells instead of getting them all like in IE games and PoE1. Probably will just grow into it.

- The passive skill system is still by and large total bull****. I really resent having to choose between an active skill and an essential passive skill for my class even though I ended up choosing passives at random once I'd finished my build in the first game.

- Eder might steal Xoti from me.

 

Stuck at work and want to go play

[M4xw0lf]

I only played the opening sequence, but the game already managed to make me snort at some of the dialogue or at least dialogue options. *squints dramatically at the ocean*

 

Oh yeah, weapon modals still don't tell you what they do at character creation/level up. That still sucks.

Edited May 10, 2018 by M4xw0lf

[daven]

I much prefer this slower speed of the combat. Hits actually feel like they have some weight to them.

 

I agree about the intro being way too long, it just dumps a load of words at you what don't really mean anything if you're a first time player. Then you spend ages waiting to get to character creation... it's Dark Souls 2 all over again!

[Not Hypebringer]

This game is great so far. It managed to fix all design choices that i hated in PoE 1 (food system, meaningless traps, per-rest resources for some classes) Graphics are great, audio is great, voice acting is also pretty good so far, multiclassing and character development seems pretty balanced. Plot has much better exposition and is much more interesting early on, there are a lot more interesting characters. Combat is much better paced now and I love changes to armor system. There are a lot more text-based events and encounters, which is another thing i really like, dialogues work way better. And exploration is great.

If anything bothers me, it is ranger and barbarian active skills tree. I understand that they were going to be "low amount of micromanagement" classes, but they need some love. IMO they have simply too few options comparing to say fighters or paladins. 

 

* Bonus points for Berath' power fantasy mode, I simply love the idea.

Edited May 10, 2018 by Not Hypebringer

[rheingold]

First impressions: good, but not as good as the first. Writing seems to be the weak point, reckon they spent to many resources on the "open world" which for me, at least, has compromised the story. Reminds me a lot of Storm of Zehir to be honest. Still it seems to be a good game, maybe even a very good game, just not necessarily what I wanted for a sequel. I was kinda hoping for a Pillars 2, not an update of SoZ...

But before everyone gets there knickers in a knot, I am really enjoying it, just not as much as the first.

[Starwars]

I'm one of the people who prefers the start of PoE1. I liked the mysterious, low-key opening for that a lot more.

 

I was not a huge fan of the first area of Deadfire, the beginning island so to speak. But I must say, I am *really* enjoying myself now that I've reached Neketaka. It is what I hoped for, a great RPG city filled with content and interesting sites to explore. They've done a great job with it, it feels vibrant, alive and fun to explore.

 

A lot of the mechanical changes are... well, not to my taste but I knew that since the beta so nothing new there.

 

So yeah, was slighty disappointed right off the bat but it's really growing on me right now, highly enjoying it.

[CAlmond]

Weapon Proficiency should show more information than the modal. With the changes made to weapons from PoE it would help to have a description there.

 

 

Right click is your friend.

 

Agree about portraits.

 

There are story related abilities. I'm pretty sure at least one of my abilities is a story one and I'm only level 5 or so. Fairly sure I got it from the story quest, not from levelling though.

 

 

I'm not that far in myself, but so far I'm liking it more than PoE, because the thing I enjoy most about games like these is the random exploring and dithering around for no reason, which you can do plenty in PoE 2. It's the same reason I liked BGI more than BGII, because BGI has a bunch of maps that realistically you never have to actually go to, and yet they are there and there's random stuff there.

 

I'm neutral towards the full voicing, I do personally read very quickly, but it doesn't bother me either that they're talking.

 

I'm not a fan of overly sexual/innuendo laced dialogue because sometimes when I play, my nephew likes to watch and he's way too young to be exposed to innuendo. But I understand these are mainly pirates so it fits the setting.

 

I haven't encountered any major bugs, although I've seen some minor ones. One thing that I disliked in PoE that is still a thing in PoE 2 is how your character's hair disappear when wearing certain headgear. But I know how difficult it would be to try and model all the different hair styles against all the different headgears, so it's more of a personal pet peeve rather than an actual issue.

Edited May 10, 2018 by CAlmond

[Silent Winter]

First impressions:

(+)
Looks fantastic, sounds fantastic, Feels fantastic.

Already agonized over a cut-scene choice (the first one, choose A or B)(not that my benevolent druid would choose any other way, but it was tempting).

The VA is top-notch so far (only got as far as the first cave before I had to go to work).  I could still live without full VA but at least it's well done.  I like the narrator but glad she stopped narrating every description once the game got underway.

Combat is fun (what limited combat I've had) - will take a little getting used to the changes, especially the health v. health/endurance thing, but so far so good.

 

(-)

My import save seems to have a couple of bugs (like Eder's PoE1 ending) but I hear that's not just me.

The opening needs a skip for replays (but I hear that the non-skippable-ness is a bug to be fixed)

I don't have enough time to play (but I hear Obsidian can't really do anything about that ).

[Sedrefilos]

I want to stick to the opening a little. I do find the Pillars 1 opening way better. I was hoping for a mini chapter (with a couple of maps maybe) in Dyrwood were I'd gather Eder, Aloth and Pallegina befor heading to Deadfire. Instead we got this limbo walking and talking and starting immediately in the ship with Eder over our head (dafaq's doing the mayor of Dyrford there?? - hm, now that I think of it... it can be surrelistically funny ).

 

On the other hand, I didn't find the opening long or boring. I thought it would be, but it wasn't. It was just a few dialogue options with Berath (which I loved 'cause I came face to face with a god and it was somthing new for Pillar's universe) and then into the ship. The dialogues this time around are way more fun, short, consistent and intriguing than Pillars 1, so I have no problem with them Pillars 1 could be sooo boring sometimes, especially when it threw text walls on you :/

Edited May 10, 2018 by Sedrefilos

[Ashen Rohk]

 

 

* Bonus points for Berath' power fantasy mode, I simply love the idea.

 

The what now?

[morhilane]

and secondly what little I've seen of Vela worries me a little bit since her initial lines at least sound like they're spoken less by a child and more by the victim of a lobotomy

She's drunk the first time you meet her on the beach, Eld is not a very good uncle. Now if the dialogues fit with a drunk 5 years old is a good question.

[Archaven]

First off, loving the game. It's beautiful. It looks totally like a new game. Really big improvements compared to the first PoE  where i can't describe with words. Below are some of my gripes

 

- No UI scaling. Everything looks big. It's good if you were to play it on TV. I'm playing with monitor.

- Very few portraits.

- Female body. I know what you did there Obsidian . Not that i care much but you pander. Elf is still short and no customization for height.

- Not many godlikes variation and customization. Really 

- Awkward pet animation when running especially the big cat. It looks worst if you toggle Fast/Running.

- Pet icon covers the main character portrait. Worst than first PoE. With 1 less party character, can't you make the pet icon on top like an ability?

- Not sure if it's just me sound effects character mainly has some kind of effects (echo or something)

- Anyway to toggle/disable the force center camera?

- Now i've seen it with my own eyes, i don't like the water-colored portraits and widely used for all characters in dialogue.

- They have the same animation as you walk in mud when you walk in water. I rather you dont be obstructed when walking in shallow waters. Just walk/run normally like in first PoE. Perhaps add some water splashes?

- No options to choose pet colors or different variation? I want a white lion or a black panther. No such options?

- UI aesthetically i prefer the first PoE. Looks far more beautiful.

- I can't re-customized my character hair, head and skin color after game started. Why?

- I missed the 6th character and nothing Josh can't do to change what i love.

- Everytime you create a new character.. i hated the slow walk for you to reach the Pallid Knight.

- Combat is so slow. And i play POTD and i kinda hated difficulty still based on ACC as the main factor. Let me explain a little. For melee characters 1.1s attack, 4s recovery? And you will MISS all the time early game if you play POTD. Combat is not fun when you miss all the time and you just wait there and die.

- Ranger sharpshooter. The penalty is sooo steep (-10 DEF and +50% recovery correct me if im wrong). For like increase ACC and +2 PEN? What i'm pointing is the penalties outweighs the benefits. Which make the class underpowered.

- I want a button to preview my skilltrees for my single/multiclass. I can only view it on level up?

- Character creation, you need to undo (click previous) for so many times to change your gender/race,etc.? This looks like very bad UI desgin.

- The walk on foot map to leave the island. I was stucked in Port Maje and couldn't progress! Until i notice what i need to do.

 

Here's what i like:

- If you have companion (ranger pet) there are slight mention of your pet. These are minor addition but it's brilliant!

- Loving the Valian slang? Ado,Cue,Bazzo,etc. it's awesome!

- Loving the living world. The world is so much alive. I'm loving it.

- The VOs are top notch. Loving the fully spoken dialogues too. My hats off to you Critical Role.

- Met the first companion priestess and i'm loving her already <3

- I like the health/endurance and per encounter design.

- Loving the music, the ambience, the lighting, the visuals, the art. The game is almost a masterpiece!

- Loving the stealth system, sleight of hand.

 

My final verdict: 9/10. If all above being addressed, it will be 10/10. Still updating the list as i've played.

Edited May 10, 2018 by Archaven

[theBalthazar]

I check all french test/review of this game :

 

Mains problems :

 

1) Ship battles.

2) Abilities and Stacking rules (balancing)

3) Localization.

 

https://www.millenium.org/news/296323.html

 

Ship battles, it is here I say : I told you so...

Edited May 10, 2018 by theBalthazar

[Wormerine]

Ship battles, it is here I say : I told you so...

And I have seen revie praise ship battles as tasteful and best addition to the game. *shrug* to be honest reviews seem to say things completely contrary to each other.