After so many patches and DLC - Poe1 Worth playing?

[Parabalus]

You have a fortress that is useless? Check.

The fortress is pgood in >3.0. Certainly on the level of Crossroads Keep.

Not much competition in that department though. Kingmaker's is better, but that's much more than a fortress.

 

[Sweeper]

It's better than Trashfire at least.

 

[gurugeorge]

Does the game have the most boring, banal smug liberal take at religion that can be summed up by: "religion bad." , "atheism good, atheism smart."?

It's a curious thing.

Spoiler

If there were entities like the Engwithan "gods," then surely worship would be rational (they are beings of inconceivable power after all)?

IOW, what is the discernible difference between "gods" as conceived in our world (and as conceived in the pre-ascension world of Eora), and the beings the Engwithans became? Just some whiff of spirituality, or the vague idea that "true" gods' power would be truly limitless, whereas these "gods"' powers, while inconceivably vast, are limited by the soul power of the people who were fed into the mincer to create them?

In that light, what difference would "revealing the secret of the gods" in Eora make? For the ordinary person, what difference would it make to them to know that their gods were once humans who attained a kind of Singularity, what's the thing they're not that would upset people by finding out they're not that? They're still inconceivably powerful, respond to prayer, bring benefits to their followers and curses to their enemies, etc. They're functionally identical to gods as traditionally conceived. IOW, it's still perfectly rational to worship them, more rational than the pre-ascension Eorians worshipping the non-existent gods that didn't exist prior to the Engwithan Singularity, and (this is probably the main jibe against believers today) more rational than people in our world who worship non-existent gods who have no powers at all.

Also, even if one were trying to get rid of the "spiritual" aspect to gods, hasn't all that mystery just been shunted off to the mystery of "soul power" itself? In which case, what was the point of all the song and dance of making the gods seem plausible, if you're just going to use a mcguffin to get rid of a mcguffin?

I do like the lore a lot, at least some thought has been put into it. I particularly like the cosmic-level superhero-ish take on the origin of these "gods" (powerful, knowledgeable beings who use their power to try to benefit humanity on a higher level than just fighting bad guys - basically The Authority on soul power steroids). But I'm not sure it's as coherent as it would evidently like to be.

 

[Ibn Sina]

PoE is like Obsidian decided to remake the NWN 2 OC and removed the only good part of it, 3.5e DnD, replacing it with a chinese knock off version.

Seems I'm joking but I'm not, lets see:
You have a fortress that is useless? Check.
There is a fake trial where whatever you do doesnt matter? Check.
You character is super special because weird barely explained conveniences like having a sword stick on the ass and witnessing some soul magic because apparently watching magic that can fuck you turns you into soul superman? Check.
The first half is you walking on some random country side areas with zero coherency and zero explanation on what the fuck is happening with the most convoluted excuses the game can find to explain why cant you just go straight to the big city where your objective is? Check.
The big city is boring as fuck with almost no real content? Check.
The NPCs are the types that you need to read PoE wiki to remember who they are if you pause for a few weeks and no, you dont have Alzheimer yet? Check
There is an ancient civilization with special powers that you must understand but it was done with the profoundity of a TV tropes ancient civilization trait sheet? Check.
The villain was a misunderstood guy that was a tragic figure that was just doing what he tought it was right and ended corrupted? Check.
Most characters except the ones written by Avellone are boring losers that do nothing of worth to justify their existance? Check. Here it is a bit better because there is Durance, on NWN 2 OC even the ones written by Avellone were shit.
The game devolves into a boring ultra linear series of setpieces maps involving glorified trashmobs at the end and totally not worthy the pain? Check.
Does the game have the most boring, banal smug liberal take at religion that can be summed up by: "religion bad." , "atheism good, atheism smart."? Yes, there wasnt this on NWN 2 OC but I guess this is Obsidian evolving the formula.
Do they the whole "The villain escaped you on custcenes while you sit on your ass watching on what supposedly is a video game." to the point you think this is a JRPG and you are on Final Fantasy 7? Check. Actually NWN 2 OC wasnt that bad at this.

I would forgive all of this if the game at least let me murder some kobolds and rob the living shit of them in peace but nope, there are no Kobolds but xaurips and the weapons are shit. Do you think a volley of flintlock guns at close distance would do a nice damage and sound powerful right? They sound like a volley of wetfarts and are as useful at killing things at distance as Star Wars storm troopers. Most magic is just, what kind of color you want to smear the enemy in until they are a christmas tree and you cant see shit? There is green cloud, there is purple cloud, they are only useful to reduce the obscene amount of cheating of PoTD. If you are truly desperate... there are better games out there, please, be a champ, dont do drugs.

Despite that there is truth to what you say, NWN 2 was much more fun to me and engaging than pillars. Companions were better. The fortress mechanic was a thousand time better than the shit we had at pillars.

 

[Desiderius]

yes

 

[the_shadow]

PoE is a decent game with fun combat and character building, that also has a fair amount of dumb stuff mixed in. Seems like every major RPG these days needs to have a poorly implemented 'build your own fortress' included, much like RPGs from the last decade needed to have some dumb card mini-game mixed in. On the bright side, all the fortress management stuff is optional.

It also falters near the finish line, but even many of the best RPGs are guilty of that (eg. Planescape: Torment, Gothic, KOTOR, Bloodlines)

 

[the_shadow]

Spoiler

In that light, what difference would "revealing the secret of the gods" in Eora make? For the ordinary person, what difference would it make to them to know that their gods were once humans who attained a kind of Singularity, what's the thing they're not that would upset people by finding out they're not that?

I'm not sure how quick people would be to worship 'Gods' that were just humans who engaged in soul mincing magic. Even if you consider such beings 'Gods', there is clearly a huge difference between a Divine Power that existed long before humans and had a hand in creating the world, and a human who had managed to amass enough power to elevate themselves to 'Godhood'.

 

[Hafnar the Jester]

The engine of PoE1&2 is a disaster. Memory leaks forcing you to restart the game every two hours and constant UI lags are but a tip of the iceberg.

 

[cretin]

The engine of PoE1&2 is a disaster. Memory leaks forcing you to restart the game every two hours and constant UI lags are but a tip of the iceberg.

works on my machine

 

[Goldschmidt]

It's better than Trashfire at least.

I played Deadfire and prefer it over the original. I like how they took stamina out of the equation. Abilities that can be used per battle. More advanced party AI. Lots of cool new unique items, more akin to BG 2. The backer npc's is what killed it for me in the original.

 

[gurugeorge]

It's better than Trashfire at least.

I played Deadfire and prefer it over the original. I like how they took stamina out of the equation. Abilities that can be used per battle. More advanced party AI. Lots of cool new unique items, more akin to BG 2. The backer npc's is what killed it for me in the original.

Yeah those are definite improvements. I'm semi-playing POE concurrently with POE2 and it's always a bit painful going back to the stamina thing in POE - and I'm using the IEMod's "per encounter" switch as well, as it's psychologically too annoying to go back to having less toys to play with per encounter.

 

[Goldschmidt]

^^^^^

Yeah but I guess if you hate RTWP, the game is shittier than a goat turd. On the other hand if you appreciate RTWP, like I do, it is a lot of fun to strategically place your party members and call on their abilities in a much more improved way than the original.

 

[volklore]

I remember having enjoyed the first act, and a part of the lore (the whole waidwen/godhammer story, I thought was pretty cool although sadly I'd rather have played this plot than the one I had to play through). This lore line is so prominent in the early game that it feels like it should be very central to the main plot but as far as I remember it was just a side-story. I lost some interest in the big city and the final act in LoreDumpCity(tm) destroyed any remaining interest I had for the game.

 

[fantadomat]

Wasteland 3 (probably, didn't play it but it has to be way better than PoE)

W3 is complete mediocrity and I'm highly suspicious of anyone pretending otherwise.

What’s wrong with W3?

It is one of the most mediocre and boring rpgs ever made.

 

[oldmanpaco]

It's better than Trashfire at least.

I played Deadfire and prefer it over the original. I like how they took stamina out of the equation. Abilities that can be used per battle. More advanced party AI. Lots of cool new unique items, more akin to BG 2. The backer npc's is what killed it for me in the original.

Use the IE mod to turn off their retarded (and supper gay for some reason) dialogue. Also murder them anytime you get them out of site of real npc's. Makes the whole experience better.

 

[Desiderius]

Once you figure out that they do nothing (the first town) they’re easily avoided.

 

[Atchodas]

First PoE game is okay all the way up to last act and DLC's are decent too. However when you reach last act might as well uninstall and obviously avoid Derpfire as its unsalvageable trash.

Also the mega dungeon... if you skip it nothing of value will be lost.

 

[moleman]

I remember having enjoyed the first act, and a part of the lore (the whole waidwen/godhammer story, I thought was pretty cool although sadly I'd rather have played this plot than the one I had to play through). . .

Yes, thas was pretty cool. Also how Eders story was connected with this. What they should have done is leave it to the player's interpretation if Waidwen was Eothas incarnation or an impostor.
Unfortunately they shat all over this with the game's retarded ending which sucked all mystery out of it.

Spoiler

Gods were created by the Ancients (forgot what they were called)

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Just play Fallout again

 

[volklore]

I remember having enjoyed the first act, and a part of the lore (the whole waidwen/godhammer story, I thought was pretty cool although sadly I'd rather have played this plot than the one I had to play through). . .

Yes, thas was pretty cool. Also how Eders story was connected with this. What they should have done is leave it to the player's interpretation if Waidwen was Eothas incarnation or an impostor.
Unfortunately they shat all over this with the game's retarded ending which sucked all mystery out of it.

Spoiler

Gods were created by the Ancients (forgot what they were called)

Yeah this is a major issue in PoE, a big theme that comes and goes in the lore and characters is faith (generally well written) and then they shit all over this work with the last act.

 

[cretin]

I got enough hours in to have my own opinions and mechanically its a good game. Story/presentation is a little dull mostly for a lack of strong motivations. Direction was clearly going for tragic but ends up with an atmosphere that feels like a funeral parlor.

Also the music especially in the early areas is fucking garbage. Worst shit I've heard since ELEX's garbage composition. But by far, the absolute shoddiest, most infuriatingly bad thing in this game, is the fucking ambient track in the Inn, which was clearly recorded from some office party, and you can hear california girl vocal fry on a loop. thaaaannnk you, thaaaaank you! oh my gawdddddd......

 

[gurugeorge]

Also the music especially in the early areas is fucking garbage.

Agree with a lot of what you say, but not sure if serious re. that. POE has some of the most evocative, beautifully composed music I've ever heard in any RPG. For example this:-



Or this:-

 

[oscar]

Spoiler

I'm not sure how quick people would be to worship 'Gods' that were just humans who engaged in soul mincing magic. Even if you consider such beings 'Gods', there is clearly a huge difference between a Divine Power that existed long before humans and had a hand in creating the world, and a human who had managed to amass enough power to elevate themselves to 'Godhood'.

Yeah it would be like worshiping Spiderman.

 

[Desiderius]

So capeshit then.

 

[gurugeorge]

It really is, kind of capeshit.

There's a particular comics setup that comes to mind, it's one of the big Grant Morrison "crisis" type things - one of the more recent ones from like 5 or so years back. He has a scenario where there are several deeper and deeper levels of superhero-like beings who are guarding more and more ultimate aspects of the universe. Each of them is like a superhero team - like the JLA or the Avengers or The Authority on steroids - with similar internal team dynamics (the love/hate relationship, the infighting, etc.).

But ultimately they're all "science heroes" in the Moore definition - it all comes from knowledge and science, transforming what were once human beings into entities with godlike powers.

The scenario in this lore really reminds me of that type of thing.