Who's played Pillars of Eternity 2 turnbased mode?

[Bloodeyes]

Is it good? Worth my money? I like the character system of the first game just fine and the setting is cool but the combat doesn't really do it for me. Controlling a six man party in RTwP is like herding cats. Is the game better in turn based mode? Also, if I buy the sequel do I need to read a plot summary of the original or is it a separate story?

 

[undecaf]

Deadfire’s TB is fairly simplistic, but it makes the game and the dryness of its writing much more tolerable.

It’s a ”separate” story, but you will get a better grasp on things, if you know at least something about the events and characters of the first game.

 

[Sentinel]

I did. Too slow, too many trash mobs, gave up. P:K's turn based is miles better if you're looking for a D&D turn-based experience in a cRPG.

Story is a direct sequel to 1, although only 2 companions from 1 show up.

 

[Nano]

Too slow, too many trash mobs, gave up

P:K's turn based is miles better

 

[Sentinel]

Too slow, too many trash mobs, gave up

P:K's turn based is miles better

You can dynamically change between TB and RTwP as well as change TB speed up to 16x in P:K. You can do neither in PoE2.

 

[Prime Junta]

/me raises hand

TB was okay. Nothing mind-blowing but not teeth-gratingly bad either. Definitely more deliberate and made the synergies and buffs/debuffs/counters system more transparent. If you don't like RTwP it's perfectly serviceable, and it's tolerable even if you do.

Hint: DEX becomes a dump stat and all of the abilities/spells/perks/whatever that affect action speed are as good as worthless, with spell casting speed the only exception as it makes interrupts less likely.

Biggest issue for me was, surprise surprise, a bug. Pretty often when you're targeting a spell or an ability it would just execute the default action on that -- primary attack if targeting an enemy, move if targeting the ground. Fortunately it's possible to interrupt the latter and try again but you have to be quick about it.

 

[Bloodeyes]

/me raises hand

TB was okay. Nothing mind-blowing but not teeth-gratingly bad either. Definitely more deliberate and made the synergies and buffs/debuffs/counters system more transparent. If you don't like RTwP it's perfectly serviceable, and it's tolerable even if you do.

Hint: DEX becomes a dump stat and all of the abilities/spells/perks/whatever that affect action speed are as good as worthless, with spell casting speed the only exception as it makes interrupts less likely.

Biggest issue for me was, surprise surprise, a bug. Pretty often when you're targeting a spell or an ability it would just execute the default action on that -- primary attack if targeting an enemy, move if targeting the ground. Fortunately it's possible to interrupt the latter and try again but you have to be quick about it.

That sounds at least worth trying. Thanks, I'll get it then.

 

[Prime Junta]

Story is a direct sequel to 1, although only 2 companions from 1 show up.

Three.

And it's really grade A retardation that it's a direct sequel. They should have pulled a Dragon Age and gone with a new protag, the continuity is so badly shoehorned in that it's not even funny.

 

[fantadomat]

Is it good? Worth my money? I like the character system of the first game just fine and the setting is cool but the combat doesn't really do it for me. Controlling a six man party in RTwP is like herding cats. Is the game better in turn based mode? Also, if I buy the sequel do I need to read a plot summary of the original or is it a separate story?

It is bad,slow and tedious. The game was made to be played in rtwp,that was the core design. Also change of combat mode doesn't change the writing from "one of the worst eva" to passable.

 

[NJClaw]

Haplo is the resident authority on Deadfire's TB mode.

 

[Atchodas]

Derpfire TB is trash,
Fighting trash mobs now takes much more time than in rtwp

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I have.

Spoiler

Twice.

It's not very good and was clearly rushed just for the console port. I'm honestly surprised that Sawyer was OK with such an unbalanced game mode being released.

Still better than RTwP IMO.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

, although only 2 companions from 1 show up.

5, 3 of which can join your party.

 

[Quillon]

5, 3 of which can join your party.

4th Kana, 5th? Caroc's armor?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

5, 3 of which can join your party.

4th Kana, 5th? Caroc's armor?

Maneha

 

[Tenebris]

I tried it. Didn't like it. None of the encounters were balanced around the slowness of turn based so many encounters end up taking a lot longer than it needs to. I'd be more inclined to try it if they allow you to switch between the two.

 

[Prime Junta]

5, 3 of which can join your party.

4th Kana, 5th? Caroc's armor?

Maneha

Wow, you really know your Pillars lore.

Spoiler

 

[Dyspaire]

I've been playing tabletop rpgs consistently since 1977.

I've been playing crpgs consistently since 1979.

I played Akalabeth in 1980, Ultima IV in 1985, Wasteland and Pool of Radiance in 1988, Fallout in 1997 and BG1 in '98, etc...

I've been doing this awhile now.

My favorite tabletop system, while I concede it's maybe not the best pnp system by some metrics, is AD&D 2nd Edition. Purely because I've had the most fun with it over the years, and because it's more than just a little wonky.


Deadfire 5.0 in turn-based mode with PotD difficulty enabled is the most fun I've had with an isometric crpg in nearly 20 years. Since the release of BG2.


Make of that what you will. I found it to be a lot of fun. I had so many hour-long, use-every-trick-I-have-to-survive combat encounters over the course of the game I lost count.

The story is okay for what it is, but the game is so beautiful, I loved the music for the most part, and the word is vast and interesting; with lots of places and secrets to discover...


Also, why not take a chance and just try it out for yourself to see if you like it?


2c

 

[NJClaw]

Worth my money?

If you want to give it a try, avoid buying it at full price. The "obsidian edition" with all DLCs (as with the first game, two of them are really good, but you might get tired before ever reaching their content) has a 60% discount on GOG right now:

https://af.gog.com/game/pillars_of_eternity_ii_deadfire_obsidian_edition_release?as=1649904300

But you can find deals on legit sites through IsThereAnyDeal almost every single day.

The plot of the first game is relevant, but a quick TL;DR should be enough.

 

[Lacrymas]

I've been playing tabletop rpgs consistently since 1977.

I've been playing crpgs consistently since 1979.

I played Akalabeth in 1980, Ultima IV in 1985, Wasteland and Pool of Radiance in 1988, Fallout in 1997 and BG1 in '98, etc...

I've been doing this awhile now.

My favorite tabletop system, while I concede it's maybe not the best pnp system by some metrics, is AD&D 2nd Edition. Purely because I've had the most fun with it over the years, and because it's more than just a little wonky.


Deadfire 5.0 in turn-based mode with PotD difficulty enabled is the most fun I've had with an isometric crpg in nearly 20 years. Since the release of BG2.


Make of that what you will. I found it to be a lot of fun. I had so many hour-long, use-every-trick-I-have-to-survive combat encounters over the course of the game I lost count.

The story is okay for what it is, but the game is so beautiful, I loved the music for the most part, and the word is vast and interesting; with lots of places and secrets to discover...


Also, why not take a chance and just try it out for yourself to see if you like it?


2c

Are you absolutely sure it's not just dementia setting in?

 

[Bloodeyes]

If anyone gives a shit chatbox talked me into getting Pathfinder Kingmaker instead. Didn't think my laptop would run it but it does and oh god its haeven. Will maybe still play this afterwards though

 

[Haplo]

Haplo is the resident authority on Deadfire's TB mode.

Thank you for the invitation and distinction, NJClaw.

A lot has already been said and the OP seems to have made up his mind. I do consider Kingmaker the better game. And the Turn Based mode is vastly better there.

There are advantages to the Turn Based mode - combat is more organized, systematic. If you use casters and aoes, hordes of enemies aren't such a huge deal IMO. But some bullet sponges are.
Some fights clearly last too long in Turn Based mode, some enemies take too long to down. You can usually quickly eliminate the actual threats, but some more tanky mobs will take a lot of time and effort to bring down.

Plus, a lot of important game systems related to action and recovery speeds have been butchered. Dump Dex, wear the heaviest plate, use the slowest weapon/shield modals (like arquebus aimed shots with +20 Accuracy) - it doesn't really matter, you only get 1 action per round anyway (plus free actions). You can't even delay your turn in a controlled way in order to interrupt enemy casts.

Its... playable. Particularly as a spellcaster (action economy means that generally 1 spell is worth a lot more then 1 sword swing).
But I greatly prefer Deadfire in Real Time mode with the Gambit-style party AI.

 

[Grunker]

I liked PoE2 better on TB. PoE's system is a better fit for TB.

 

[Grunker]

However some of the megabosses become horribru slogs on TB due to the HP bloat (unless you're not on PotD and/or you optimize the fuck out of your party). Whereas on RTwP they are suitably frantic.

 

[Tigranes]

If you liked POE1, then broadly speaking, you should like POE2 well enough.

If you found POE1 sucky because it's RTwP, then POE2 TB should be serviceable. Nothing fancy, it's just what you'd imagine a bare bones TB switch to be.

You don't really need to know what happened first game, it's fine.