The character system is too bland for my taste. It feels like a declawed version of NWN2, with many choices that don't have much impact, and levelling up is underwhelming - it never has an impact on your playstyle past the first couple of levels, it's just numbers++. It also makes too many gamey abstractions for the sake of allowing every build permutation its place in the sun, and you end up with absurd things like genius barbarians.
Ok, you are not a retard like that Dragonul idiot and you at least know how to make a coherent argument. However, I don't understand why would having genius barbarians be a problem, and I don't understand why allowing every build permutation its place in the sun is a bad thing. I also think you are ignoring some very positive changes like the fact that your attributes and skills matter not only in combat, but inside dialogues, text-adventure screens and they allow you to interact with the world in a unique way, something that very few older games incorporated. For example, in Baldur's Gate playing an intelligent and wise warrior or barbarian was impossible, so investing into those attributes was just a waste. Now, please explain why is that a bad thing?
Combat is probably the weakest part of the game, partly because of the engagement system and partly because of poor encounter design. Fights that would be fair and challenging in BG because of needing to use careful tactics, maneuvering, crowd control spells and preparation after scouting the encounter, if ported to PoE combat, always turn into some kind of WWI-esque trench warfare with an immutable frontline of tanks vs xaurips, with wizards pounding everything with aoe. There are too many trash mobs, their AI isn't very good and later on their compositions make no sense lorewise. For a game where you run the gamut from spiderlings to elemental dragons, it never loses the feeling of being a low level adventure.
Look, I agree that BG handled combat better, but to give it just 2/5 is ridiculous. since it is not that much different from IE combat which it was aiming for. Now true, if you didn't like IE combat to begin with and would give it a 3/5, then 2/5 makes sense for PoE. However then you are going into the area of personal preferences which nobody really cares about. What I care about is how does the combat compare to the IE games. From that (more objective) perspective giving it 2/5 doesn't make any sense. There are some new mechanics which some people seem to have a problem with, but nothing that would justify the amount of criticism it is receiving.
Exploration, loot, crafting, sneaking, bell puzzle, etc are ok but nothing special.
This here I don't understand at all. I mean, does this mean that similar puzzles in Baldur's Gate are nothing special as well? Because if that is what you are claiming, then I would like to know just what would it take for you to consider something special. Need I remind you that these sort of non-handholding things have been NON-EXISTENT in the newer RPGs and I really don't see a difference when I compare it to how BG handled it, except that in PoE you sometimes have more than one way to solve things which is a positive thing. Ok, PST had better puzzles overall, but on the other hand IWD for example had almost no puzzles, yet the consensus is that IWD is an amazing game. Furthermore, crafting didn't even exist in IE games, so I fail to see how introducing a crafting system (no matter how rudimentary it is) is a bad thing. Loot and exploration is therefore the only thing where I can agree with your analysis since there are some valid complaints people raise with the size of areas which really are too small in PoE.
Writing is average, with some high points and some low points. The selection of story NPCs is pretty small, it's like half the size of BG, and while their stories and personal quests are pretty cool, there's not much inter-companion conflict or much interaction at all beyond short banter. Nothing like Edwin/Minsc/Jaheira relations or Okku/One of Many relations even Xzar/Montarong relations. Even their reactions to new areas are just a sequence of unrelated remarks one after the other.
I agree completely here. But again, compare it to IWD or BG1 where you had 0 interactions. Doesn't make it bad or average games, now does it.
Quest design is also average, lots of fedex and inexplicable reactions ("You killed my cousins! This is the happiest day of my life!"), but the ones that aren't fedex are pretty cool, especially the handful of detective quests there are.
I think you are confusing quests with tasks. Tasks are not quests, and quests in PoE feel like real quests. Ok,.. you will say irrelevant semantics, but the thing with PoE tasks is that they are still better than majority of tripple A quests we get today. In other words a huge incline and let us not pretend like smaller quests didn't exist in IE games.
The graphics and music are wonderful! The backgrounds look great and the animations are fluid (but not perfect). I haven't enjoyed looking at an RPG this much in many years, pretty much since ToEE. With a few patches and some proofreading, the UI can become good as well and fast mode is a godsend for running around the woods checking every nook and cranny. The soundtrack has long periods of silence, especially when you alt-tab back into the game, but when it plays it's a damn treat.
Final score
or 6/10, but a decisive advantage of this game is that mods
really can fix a lot of the stupid design decisions and lazy content, so it could very well turn out a
, here's hoping.
Well, I disagree obviously. Not only for the reasons I mentioned, but also for all the positive things you did not mention. Like text adventure elements which allows you to interact with the environment in unique ways, multiple solutions to problems, addition of skill checks in dialogues, addition of crafting system and enchantment, and other things which I don't have time to get into. Also I am very happy that developers are finally catering to the crowd who was starving for real rpgs and that this is a huge step in the right direction, even if it is still not where everyone would want to see it at. Obviously, limited budget and Obsidian's financial problems didn't help things, so I give it 8/10 considering everything. It is not as good as BG or PST, but the fact that it is even comparable with those games is a huge achievement. It is better than IWD and that is a fact which is already putting PoE up there with the classics.