I really want to like this game. But I'm just not a fan of the writing, there's basically a problem with over-exposition and there dialogue is not clever or witty in the least, so there is eventually no reason to read it. 

I found myself playing Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition and I am having so much more fun with that. Being able to fully customize a 6-man party without managing fake "relationships" between my characters is more appealing. Icewind Dale let my imagination do a lot of the work and really felt like I was roleplaying through a game in my own style.

 

In Pillars of Eternity I cringe so often from the dialogue and writing it makes it impossible for me to enjoy or get through the game. Should I keep playing and try to get hooked on it? 

No. You clearly want different things from your RPGs - and that’s fine. Different strokes and all that.

 

If PoE hasn’t appealed to you by this point, it’s probably time to move on.

Edited May 12, 20187 yr by Skazz

If you want no-nonsense no-story combat-heavy, stick to Icewind Dale, IWD2, then other tactical RPGs. Lots of great/good ones out there. Blackguards 1. Strategy hybrids like King's Bounty. Single-character ones like Age of Decadence and Underrail. The king of tactical RPG-ish combat, Jagged Alliance 2. Some modern twists like Expeditions: Conquistador and sequel.

Different tastes for different folks. And that's perfectly fine.

It doesn't sound at all that Deadfire is your kind of game. And that's okay.

 

I'd say time to move on.

Go and find something that interests you. It's that simple.

If you found PoE boring, why would you buy the second game?

That's pretty funny, I played IWD and IWD2 and the few NPCs and complete lack of companions made the entire world feel super soul-less; you just walk from place to place murdering stuff following a bare-bones main quest. The decisions alone in which faction(s) to help for a handful of quests in POE2 has already been more thought-provoking for me than anything IWD ever presented.

That's pretty funny, I played IWD and IWD2 and the few NPCs and complete lack of companions made the entire world feel super soul-less; you just walk from place to place murdering stuff following a bare-bones main quest. The decisions alone in which faction(s) to help for a handful of quests in POE2 has already been more thought-provoking for me than anything IWD ever presented.

If you played IWDs for gripping story and characters, then sure it was disappointing. But OP mentions what he enjoyed in IWD games, and those are not a focus of PoEs. Why would he looks for IWD fulfillment in PoE1&2 is beyond me.

That said, Icewind Dale, in particular the first one, needs some luvin'. https://www.pcgamesn.com/icewind-dale-enhanced-edition/looking-back-why-its-still-worth-bracing-against-the-cold-in-icewind-dale Compared to your typical dungeon crawl there's a lot more going on, and I don't merely mean the diverse locations you get to clear from beasties visit . One moment that I will always remember fondly is how they even pulled off a little twist right in the midst of crawling a multi-level dungeon in Yxonumei's lair. Might&Magic, Diablo and company just didn't do this.

If you consider that both IWD projects in particular weren't as large in scale as the BGs or PST -- I wouldn't mind if Obsi would one day do similar again to keep things going.

Edited May 14, 20187 yr by Sven_

That said, Icewind Dale, in particular the first one, needs some luvin'. https://www.pcgamesn.com/icewind-dale-enhanced-edition/looking-back-why-its-still-worth-bracing-against-the-cold-in-icewind-dale Compared to your typical dungeon crawl there's a lot more going on, and I don't merely mean the diverse locations you get to clear from beasties visit . One moment that I will always remember fondly is how they even pulled off a little twist right in the midst of crawling a multi-level dungeon in Yxonumei's lair. Might&Magic, Diablo and company just didn't do this.

If you consider that both IWD projects in particular weren't as large in scale as the BGs or PST -- I wouldn't mind if Obsi would one day do similar again to keep things going.

Yeah, they are not bad, just provide different kind of thrills than BGs or Planescape. I played IWD2 fairly recently for the first time, and I was pleasantly surprised. I was shocked how different stats and classes influenced dialogues - something older IE games didn’t do.

The king of tactical RPG-ish combat, Jagged Alliance 2. 

Quoted for truth. 

 

Yeah, there's nothing wrong for not being into writing in RPGs and instead playing them for combat. I used to be in that camp until I played BG2. That game has such great companions. 

Edited May 14, 20187 yr by Multihog

 

Yeah, they are not bad, just provide different kind of thrills than BGs or Planescape.

 

 

Yes, absolutely. By the way, the Throne Of Bhaal expansion to BG2 has a very similar structure, actually. I was shocked firing it up immediately after SoA -- and was actually quite underwhelmed. I think it's not nearly as atmospheric or well laid out as Icewind Dale though. The ending made up for it a bit, but...

I think the first IWD is the superior one -- from all the IE titles, I like IWD2 the least. The areas in the second are a bit hit and miss (and some recycled from the first), and it's not as well structured. However, considering the circumstance under which it was made it's almost a miracle that they a) didn't only pull of a finished proper last hooray to the engine. But also b) managed to sneak in a working transition to the 3rd edition D&D ruleset.