I'm sure it cost more to produce than Tyranny did. I honestly think the reason Deadfire sold so poorly comes entirely down to PoE having a weak opening. The game does such a bad job of enticing players into its world, most casuals never stuck with it. Then they were supposed to be excited about a direct sequel to the game they didn't finish?
Deadfire's beginning isn't much better either, imo.
The "your ship is attacked by pirates, you wreck on an island and have to repair it" part is cool and a decent beginning to give you motivation.
But the whole "walk slowly along some ghostly path while flashbacks from the first game flash in the back of the screen, then talk to some goddess about some destiny shit before you can even create your character" part was utter shit.
I didn't finish PoE1, but wanted to give Deadfire a try. Why swamp me with exposition about shit I don't care about right in the first couple of minutes? Just let me create my character, drop me on the ship during the pirate attack, and let's go. This is the worst kind of intro you can give to a direct sequel.
People who played the previous game will remember the most important moments. If not, they can be reminded of them when it becomes important. Forcing every player to sit through a 5 minute flashback scene before char gen is just lame. Who cares about that shit?
People who didn't play the first game will have no connection to anything said during this scene, and will feel like they won't get the story if they haven't played the first game. This potentially puts off newcomers to the series.
Meanwhile Baldur's Gate 2 was also a direct sequel that continued the first game's story, but it starts like this:
- some weird creepy dude performs torturous experiments on you
- he tells you that he's doing this because you're the son/daughter of a god
- you have to escape from captivity
It's cool. It tells you the most important plot points (you're a Bhaalspawn, that makes you special and powerful, but also motivates some people to work against you). Short and concise, you know what's going on, the details that don't matter aren't mentioned until they matter. You are introduced to the main antagonist within the first minutes of the game. Nobody throws exposition at you, everything is experienced by your character directly. The only thing you're told is "You're a Bhaalspawn". The torture you are subjected to is shown in a cutscene. You explore Irenicus' lab and pick up notes and books along the way. You exit the lab, there's a fight with cowled wizards who take Imoen in for using magic. Your goal is to get her back and get revenge on Irenicus.
Zero exposition. Only directly experienced plot that gives you an incentive to go forwards.
Meanwhile PoE2: here, have 5 to 10 minutes of mandatory exposition about stuff you don't care about at this point, since you haven't even created a character yet. It's deep, complex stuff about gods, souls, and other metaphysical shit. No, you haven't seen the
actual world yet. You have to sit through this metaphysics lesson first.
Who thought that was a good idea?
