Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire + DLC Thread - now with turn-based combat!

[AwesomeButton]

Also i didn't get the dialogue option to finish a few quests because the game assumed that because i had done ashen maw they are already finished.

For me, all factions' bounty questgivers suddenly decided they are out of bounties, although the respective captains were still cruising the world map, once I was done with Ashen Maw. I don't know if this is intentional or a bug.

 

[2house2fly]

Was Deadfire supposed to be a comedy game? Did I misjudge it so?

Based on a lot of NPC and party member dialogue: yes. Though you can find petty and childish characters outside of comedy narratives

 

[AwesomeButton]

Based on a lot of NPC and party member dialogue: yes. Though you can find petty and childish characters outside of comedy narratives

That's news. I thought Deadfire was supposed to "low-key" fantasy, inspired by the 80s and 90s models.

 

[TT1]

3 CTD in 5 minutes, trying to leave Hall of the Unseen. Congrats, Obsidian.

 

[pomenitul]

That's news. I thought Deadfire was supposed to "low-key" fantasy, inspired by the 80s and 90s models.

If memory serves, a significant amount of 'customers' complained about the supposedly dour, severe atmosphere of PoE1. That, paired with the expectation that Deadfire surpass BG2 in every respect, led Obsidian to inject more levity into the dialogue, because every GOTY needs its Minsc. While paring down was the right stylistic choice for the most part, I'm not sold on the tonal shifts. The gods' insipid bickering is the most obvious offender.

 

[2house2fly]

That's news. I thought Deadfire was supposed to "low-key" fantasy, inspired by the 80s and 90s models.

I was being facetious because there's a lot of jokey dialogue and conversation options, eg "lick the runes"

 

[Tigranes]

That's news. I thought Deadfire was supposed to "low-key" fantasy, inspired by the 80s and 90s models.

If memory serves, a significant amount of 'customers' complained about the supposedly dour, severe atmosphere of PoE1. That, paired with the expectation that Deadfire surpass BG2 in every respect, led Obsidian to inject more levity into the dialogue, because every GOTY needs its Minsc. While paring down was the right stylistic choice for the most part, I'm not sold on the tonal shifts. The gods' insipid bickering is the most obvious offender.

The problem wasn't that POE1 was too depressing or that POE2 was too upbeat, both were valid choices that worked well with the theme.

The problem is if you aren't very good at writing, neither the depressive nor the upbeat is going to be very good. HK47 was funny without winning any Pulitzers the same way Minsc was, they can't seem to manage that anymore.

 

[FreeKaner]

This dumpsterfire has scripts that were working at like 1.2 patch broken now. It's unbelievable how talented the programmers at obshitian are.

 

[Roguey]

That's news. I thought Deadfire was supposed to "low-key" fantasy, inspired by the 80s and 90s models.

If memory serves, a significant amount of 'customers' complained about the supposedly dour, severe atmosphere of PoE1. That, paired with the expectation that Deadfire surpass BG2 in every respect, led Obsidian to inject more levity into the dialogue, because every GOTY needs its Minsc. While paring down was the right stylistic choice for the most part, I'm not sold on the tonal shifts. The gods' insipid bickering is the most obvious offender.

Yeah Josh talked about it at GDC https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...expansion-thread.100006/page-173#post-4694551

Players and reviewers had mixed to favorable reactions about the
world and lore. There was a lot to learn and keep track of. Many
players wished for more light, funny, or silly elements.
• Lesson: The tone and density of your source material is valuable and
important to consider.
• Future: Introduce more diverse locations, be attentive to lore pacing,
use Tyranny’s highlight system, include some sillier characters –
possibly a different companion type.

 

[OneCityGal]

Fine line between silly and retarded.

 

[AwesomeButton]

- Introduce sillier writers
- End up with an all-silly cast :D

 

[santino27]

If only there was some middle ground between dry as dirt and looney toons silliness.

 

[Riddler]

If only there was some middle ground between dry as dirt and looney toons silliness.

 

[Perkel]

Ehm. POE1 companions were not ?

furry druid
chick eskimo who fucks dogs
insane dude
bipolar wussy elf
chick who wasn't there

and Eder.

Whole POE1 cast was circus on wheels much more than any infinity cast was aside from Eder which was simply bad companion with no opinion on his own on anything of value.

 

[FreeKaner]

If only there was some middle ground between dry as dirt and looney toons silliness.

What looney tunes silliness? I feel like just because one companion (teheku) is silly they apply that to all.

 

[fantadomat]

furry druid
chick eskimo who fucks dogs
insane dude

Anarchist hermit that likes eating people raw and puzzles
a mother with strong sense of duty and honour
a war hero returning home to only find that it is not the place for him....aka my brother Rambo

 

[Perkel]

which stills make them circus compared to cast of BG2 which was supposed to be more "outlandish" by someone argument.

 

[pomenitul]

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I actually found PoE1's companions to be quite solid and believable overall. I don't dislike Deadfire's per se, but aside from Serafen, who benefits from Alex Scokel's direction, the rest are amusing at best and self-evident instances of decline at worst. The returning companions in particular fare poorly: Edér comes across as obliviously dumb whereas in PoE1 he was a shrewd bro who happened to be a country bumpkin; Pallegina is robbed of any dramatic tension by a faceless business consortium; Aloth is quite interesting in terms of sequel reactivity, but his quest isn't gripping enough (it's the Leaden Key we're talking about, for fuck's sake). Xoti and especially Tekehu have their occasional moments of charm, but don't exhibit nearly the same nuance as their PoE1 forebears, Durance (goes without saying) and Hiravias. Maia is a more successful instance of what Sawyer was going for with Pallegina, but I found her personal quest to be less moving than Sagani's absurd existential errand, perhaps because I don't much care for the Royal Deadfire Company's lore to begin with. Vatnir and Ydwin deserve a promotion, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Anyhow, I don't think any of Deadfire's companions and sidekicks are bona fide awful in the grand scheme of CRPGs – none of them are worse than, say, Nalia or Cernd – but it's hard not to see the squandered potential. I suppose it was bound to happen given the game's self-avowed epic scope.

 

[Lone Wolf]

My favourite BG2 character was more schtick than actual character (Minsc). Then there was lots of bland (Yoshimo, Cernd, Anomen, Haer'Dalis, Korgan, Mazzy, Nalia, Valygar), a few semi-interesting (Viconia, Jan, Jaheira), and one interesting (Keldorn) companion.

POE had a similar spread, just fewer characters. Eder, Durance and Grieving Mother were all pretty well realised.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I don't know guys, whatever "analysis" and categorization of companions I chip in with, it will not match yours' perfectly and will be directly opposed to some, because your impression of the companions was different than mine. Different people have different tolerance for goofy characters and draw the line between goofy and annoying at a different place.

I think the companions would have benefited from actually being more open to interpretation than they are now. Yes - less dialogue, less reactivity but moments with reactivity being chosen more strategically. Fewer voiced lines too! Leave some space for the players' imagination to fill in some blanks.

If you think about it - BG/BGII's companions could also have been much more annoying if the writing had gone overdboard with the quantity. Which I suppose they gladly would have done, had they had the experience and budget that Obsidian had with Deadfire...

 

[Perkel]

The thing about BG2 was that if you didn't like someone you could get someone else because there were plenty of them.
And yes a lot of BG2 characters were bunch of cunts who had their own goals.

That is what made them strong.

Whole POE1 cast aside from you know who feels like they are there for your to cry into their arms. But generally it not problem with POE but with Obsidian writing design which Avellone also put forward which later on (after quitting, commented that it was mistake).

Basically they never want player character to have any opinion which later on transferred to their companions.
Yeah and i agree with AwesomeButton . Less is more.

 

[aweigh]

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I actually found PoE1's companions to be quite solid and believable overall. I don't dislike Deadfire's per se, but aside from Serafen, who benefits from Alex Scokel's direction, the rest are amusing at best and self-evident instances of decline at worst. The returning companions in particular fare poorly: Edér comes across as obliviously dumb whereas in PoE1 he was a shrewd bro who happened to be a country bumpkin; Pallegina is robbed of any dramatic tension by a faceless business consortium; Aloth is quite interesting in terms of sequel reactivity, but his quest isn't gripping enough (it's the Leaden Key we're talking about, for fuck's sake). Xoti and especially Tekehu have their occasional moments of charm, but don't exhibit nearly the same nuance as their PoE1 forebears, Durance (goes without saying) and Hiravias. Maia is a more successful instance of what Sawyer was going for with Pallegina, but I found her personal quest to be less moving than Sagani's absurd existential errand, perhaps because I don't much care for the Royal Deadfire Company's lore to begin with. Vatnir and Ydwin deserve a promotion, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Anyhow, I don't think any of Deadfire's companions and sidekicks are bona fide awful in the grand scheme of CRPGs – none of them are worse than, say, Nalia or Cernd – but it's hard not to see the squandered potential. I suppose it was bound to happen given the game's self-avowed epic scope.

Actually I think it's safe to say that the MAJORITY prefers PoE1's writing/companions/story to Deadfire, myself included. Even the returning PoE1 companions were reduced to caricatures in Deadfire.

Also: did they add turn-based mode yet or what?

 

[pomenitul]

Of course these impressions are all subjective to a degree, but for what it's worth I'll take PoE1&2's companions over NWN1&2's (MotB notwithstanding) any day of the week.

 

[AwesomeButton]

The returning companions in particular fare poorly

I agree, each has been reduced to one trait, and then this trait has been overemphasized to an absurd level. A caricature, in other words.

Vatnir and Ydwin deserve a promotion, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

But do they? Isn't the fact that you are interested in them the whole point, and developing them further would satiate your interest and thus you'll proclaim them uninteresting? Especially if they are developed by the writing team that gave us Deadfire's returning companions.

 

[aweigh]

Of course these impressions are all subjective to a degree, but for what it's worth I'll take PoE1&2's companions over NWN1&2's (MotB notwithstanding) any day of the week.

Neeshka > all PoE companions combined. Fight me. Tiefling waifu is OP as evidenced by Planetscape Torrent, Patchfinder Kangzmaker and NWN2. It's the tail, I think.