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Giving PoE another chance

Lhynn

Arcane
Joined
Aug 28, 2013
Messages
9,825
Nah, they aren't. If you had any bit of honesty and actually bothered comparing PoE's gameplay to the other cRPGs of its kind without your hivemind-induced cynicism
Hivemind induced? Dude, i was one of the first ones to deride this piece of shit.
bias and nostalgia
None of those are a factor when i judge a game. Game is objectively shit and ive proved it many times.
There's no point arguing over this. None of us will convince the other,
Never stopped me before.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
I enjoyed quite a bit the slower pace of the RTwP-style of combat in PoE; in fact I find it much more enjoyable than the RTwP-style combat in BG1 or 2.

Yes, I know this is very unpopular opinion, and yes, I have been insulted many times for expressing it. It's fine, I don't mind.

I also think this is the best itemization and combat encounter design of any Obsidian game which is, of course, not much praise at all since the itemizatoin and combat encounter design in their previous games was barely past amateurish.

Finally, I feel very proud to say I finished the bae game + WM1 without ever, ever reading a single entire paragraph of any dialog throughout the entire base game. :)

(Only WM1 featured any dialogs where I bothered reading past the 1st paragraph).
 

Zboj Lamignat

Arcane
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
5,523
Are they even done patching this wreck? Or does the hunt for the sweet, sweet balance in an old-school, single player crpg continue?

I also think this is the best itemization and combat encounter design of any Obsidian game which is, of course, not much praise at all since the itemizatoin and combat encounter design in their previous games was barely past amateurish.
Itemization in FNV wasn't half-bad, especially considering it's a console action rpg. I have hard time believing PoE beats it.
 

Lacrymas

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Messages
17,948
Pathfinder: Wrath
Not only faster, but also unclear due to the atrocious combat UI. In the IE games, I'm never confused what is going on during combat or if I'm doing damage or whatever.
 
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Lacrymas

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Messages
17,948
Pathfinder: Wrath
Yes, there is, but I'm not watching it while I'm fighting, I'm watching the battlefield.
 

Lhynn

Arcane
Joined
Aug 28, 2013
Messages
9,825
I watch it sometimes, its a clusterfuck of useless information mixed with useful information. Which wouldnt be that different from IE if it wasnt because IE is much slower and less chaotic.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
Yes, PoE "RTwP" combat is technically faster than the BG combat but it ends up being a useless distinction because, due to the combat log, the way PoE's RTwP combat is played ends up amounting to the player pausing the game every 3-6 frames of game animation in order to queue up commands and to read through the combat log.

My personal experience playing BG1/2, which AFAIK didn't have a combat log (joke, joke), was simply stuff happening on-screen and my initial commands sometimes working and sometimes not working. Oh, sure, there was a whole lot less pausing throughout the encounter but, in the end, I also felt much less in control of the "micro" of the encounter.

I also feel, and again this is merely my personal experience of BG's RTwP versus PoE's RTwP combat styles, that there are simply more stuff (options) for my characters in PoE to do at any given moment. Sure, I have to pause every 3-6 frames of animation that are playing out and make sure I "micro" those options in PoE, but that ends up being more enjoyable to the equivalent BG encounter where it usually feels like I had very little stuff to order my characters to do, with the important caveat that what they could actually do (in BGs) was usually much more encounter-affecting than whatever it was that I micro'd in PoE.

Conclusion? I enjoyed PoE's implementation of RTwP more because it offered me the tools to intentionally slow down the game, and the pace, of each encounter and it also made sure to provide me with access to more banal-shit-boring stuff I had to click on and, lastly, it did a good job of making me feel like I was constantly controlling each encounter via the command queue-ing system.

Second conclusion? The reader can easily and safely infer from my primary conclusion that PoE would have benefitted immensely from being Turn-Based instead of RTwP.

TL;DR version: I prefer PoE's implementation over BG's implementation simply because I have a heavy dislike of RTS-rooted mechanics.
 

Lacrymas

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Messages
17,948
Pathfinder: Wrath
I.e. PoE's combat is more MMOish due to the amount of banal-shit-boring buttons you have to press every turn. Tyranny went even further with that concept and just turned it into a full-blown MMO combat complete with cooldowns. The joys of modern "RPGs". I agree that it would've been better as turn-based, but they would have to significantly reduce the trash fights.
 
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Kev Inkline

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Messages
5,074
A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I like PoE. It's like being force to buy ice cream flavor you like the third best because the stand has run out of your top favorites already.

I.e. pretty bland in taste, but still better than minced liver.
 

Haplo

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Sep 14, 2016
Messages
6,138
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
I do agree with aweigh on both accounts. PoE combat is superior to BG combat. And it would be vastly superior as a Turn Based game.
 

Sizzle

Arcane
Joined
Feb 17, 2012
Messages
2,471
To the OP - if you've liked it at least a little bit the first time you've played it, you might as well try it again: the patches changed quite a bit of stuff for the better, and the expansions feature some of the best content, fights, and items in the game.
 

imweasel

Guest
I didn't manage to get more than 6 or 7 hours in without getting bored. After all the patches and the 2 expansions is it worth another go?
No, because it is still the same game. A polished turd is still a turd.

Replay the Infinity Engine games or work on your back library if you are bored.
 

pippin

Guest
PoE's combat is more MMOish due to the amount of banal-shit-boring buttons you have to press every turn.

I think that's one of the things that bothered me the most about the game. It's like they added 100 unnecessary stages to the already clean cut and straight forward IE combat, and it's kinda dizzying. Not going full TB was a mistake since it would have given more space to do proper planning instead of doing something which feels more like a rhythm game at times.
 

Lacrymas

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Messages
17,948
Pathfinder: Wrath
Even just by slowing it down it would've been better, but the whole combat system is kinda ...wrong, I guess. Like someone fucked it up along the way. Keep in mind that I haven't played it since it came out, so they may have fixed some things.
 

prettyfits

Literate
Joined
Nov 7, 2016
Messages
12
I don't really dislike POE but it's not really pulling me in. I've only gotten to Act 2 once not because the game is hard but I just never find the interest in playing the game. It's kinda bland, needs some spice or something.
 

Haplo

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Sep 14, 2016
Messages
6,138
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
PoE combat is superior to BG combat.

? :eek: How ?
Well you can't really compare the amount of skills and active abilities in both games. Fighters, Rogues, Paladins and such classes were banal-shit-boring in the old DnD editions. In IE games they couldn't even knock the enemy down, shield bash, charge or grapple him. Druids were weaksauce also. The only 2 classes that were interesting were mages/sorcerors and clerics.

In PoE every class is unique and interesting to play. And for example the Cipher is pure awesome sauce. Every class has plenty to do. It's not really fair to compare PoE with BG... the PoE systems are far more advanced and refined. There's just no contest and ADnD 2.0 rules are terribly outdated. Regarding combat, admittedly the magic system is one of the most comprehensive and interesting in the IE games and the bestiary is good too. The rest sucks however.
If we were comparing PoE with NWN for example (3.0 rules), it would be a closer match with all the character building options, multiclassing and feats (but then some other game aspects were not so great in the base NWN).
 

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