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

[Sailor Woedica]

I don't follow why they would want to do that? Wouldn't they want to get themselves more attention by making fanart of the better-selling game?

btw it’s not just the amount of high quality fan art that Deadfire gets compared to Kingmaker but also engagement, sis!

And luckily the amazing tumblr artist Riessene has done such good lewks for both Deadfire and Kingmaker’s companions so we can totally see and compare the notes (likes and reblogs for people that don’t know tumblr) to totally see this! I’ve gathered their top 3 most high scoring Deadfire and Kingmaker companion fanarts, excluding any art that had an oc, for this super scientific method:

1. Pallegina in full republics regalia vs. Regongar

Pallegina is renaissance snatched so it is a little unfair to compare with some so emotional head drawings but she has twice the notes (over 2000) compared to the orc sorcerer. Tho Regongar is getting help reaching more people with the ‘dungeons and dragons’ and ‘fantasy’ and ‘video games’ tag while Pallegina relies solely on the strength of the Pillars of Eternity setting, her strong brows and her dazzling lewk. 1000 notes is still really good tho but after this Kingmaker doesn’t really do as wel!

Pallegina vs. Regongar

2. Regongar and Octavia celebrate Pride vs. Tekehu, Aloth and Pallegina with long hair

Tumblr is super LGBTQ+ friendly so Regongar and Octavia should be totally slaying but they only get 471 notes while Deadfire’s squad with big volume hair

crushes it at 1400.

Regongar and Octavia vs Tekehu and Aloth and Pallegina

3.Octavia and Reongar vs. Aloth

Ok i had to include an oc after all for Kingmaker but they didn’t have anymore drawings that broke 300 notes and I didn’t want to be mean. Aloth totally curves them with his soft dew glow with 332 vs. 835

Octavia Regongar oc vs. Aloth

https://riessene.tumblr.com/post/168336246865/when-the-game-isnt-out-yet-but-youre-already-got

Soo not only does Deadfire have more fan art the art also gets legit way more engagement than kingmaker. Thanks for listening to my ted talk

 

[RaptorRex888]

So with Maia's quest, if I get the guy killed and force the woman to take the missive without dealing with the stalker first are the leaders spared assassination in the ending? I've seen conflicting reports but they are all pretty old. Judging from my current playthrough however I'm quite apprehensive about Obsidian's bugfixing capabilities.

 

[Andhaira]

Ok guys, this has probbly been asked but the thread is too fucking huge to make sense of:

How is the turnbased option? Is it worth buying the game for? And can you switch between the 2 on the fly like in Arcanum?

I'd say yes. You can't switch on the fly like Arcanum as stats have different functions between TB and RTWP.

But having finished the game and the dlcs I'd say TB is definitely worth it. I was weary of the game feeling slow but after ramping up the game speed to fast the turns happen pretty quickly whilst still being quite clear in what is going on. I never really felt like the game dragged all that much. I don't know if I'd call the dlcs worth it if you're on the fence about the game as a whole but the main campaign was entertaining enough and TB mode was incredibly fun - less prone to stat bloat and requiring constant cheesing/degenerative gameplay compared to DOS2 and far less of a clusterfuck of the RTWP of Kingmaker with far fewer trash mobs.

The main things going against it is the bland writing of the companions other than Eder (I genuinely didn't like anyone other than Eder and Aloth as a distant second) and the general overbearing nature of the Gods constantly showing up and acting holier than thou without much chance to really call them out. The overall Eothas storyline is a bit too on the rails with the Watcher playing far too passive a role in it but honestly I thought the factions interplay and the role you can play in it was the main focus of the story and was far more interesting anyway.

Can you tell me a bit how the stats change in TB vs RTwP? I mean, are the changes huge, and does it affect special abilities/talents/spells/magic items?

 

[Stinger]

Can you tell me a bit how the stats change in TB vs RTwP? I mean, are the changes huge, and does it affect special abilities/talents/spells/magic items?

TBH I don't know much as I only played Pillars 2 very recently after 5.0 came out and never played the RTWP version. The main thing I'm aware of is that Attributes have a different role between turn based and RTWP such that a build with attributes that are good for RTWP may not be as effective in Turn Based. Again, I don't know the finer nuances but for example Dexterity is basically a dump stat in TB mode as increasing action speed makes a big difference in RTWP but is hardly of much use in TB mode when you're taking clear distinct turns anyway.

 

[vortex]

---------- ted talk

--------------

Fan art is endorsed but please don't turn into a Sailor Justice Woedica (SJW).

 

[Imrahil]

I...the general overbearing nature of the Gods constantly showing up and acting holier than thou...

I mean... if anyone should, right?

 

[Xeon]

The gods felt like little kids bickering with each other.

 

[RickOmbo]

The worst thing about POE 2 is how Obsidian has spent some of Tyranny's budget on it.

 

[Quillon]

The worst thing about POE 2 is how Obsidian has spent some of Tyranny's budget on it.

It was PoE 1.

 

[TheChickenKing]

The worst thing about POE 2 is how Obsidian has spent some of Tyranny's budget on it.

It was PoE 1.

Is this a joke I don't get, or did Obsidian really use funds from Tyranny to aid in the development of a boring-ass game? I don't think I'd mind so much, but Tyranny felt like it was an awesome idea that would've been significantly better if it had a bigger budget and more development time (more enemies for improved variety in combat, a bit more spit and polish on the C&C, and a more satisfying finale).

 

[Shaewaroz]

I don't know what it's about this game, but I just can't enjoy playing it. I really would like to enjoy it - the graphics are so incredibly beautiful I'm willing to forgive some shortcomings. The navel combats sound super interesting and the Pirates style exploration of the numerous small islands sounds awesome. But every time I try to get into the game I'm stabbed in the eye ball by some annoying feature. Somehow playing Kingmaker felt so much more satisfying.

Here are some things that bug me to no end.

- In early game every character class is pretty much equal in terms of combat efficiency. Every character class can oneshot a bad guy from stealth pre-combat. Enemies seem to hit your characters pretty reliably whether they're wearing a plate mail with shield or a simple cotton shirt.
- Every character can use all weapons and most of the equipment. This is a huge negative for me, since I don't feel the classes to be any different. What ever happened to wizards with quarterstaves, thieves with daggers and clerics with maces? There can be no class restrictions anymore?
- All the "reactivity" due to character skills checks, their race etc mostly amount to nothing more than flavor text or maybe a bit of EXP or an item. Skills make barely any real impact - failed skill checks don't prevent you from taking on a quest, for instance. In other words, you have PLENTY of choices, but ultimately they have no REAL consequences.
- There's so much fucking shit in my inventory. I haven't read even a small fraction of what all that shit is or does. Every container gives me some new item that temporarily gives +1 to Resolve or some shit like that. I already know I will never use any of that shit. Finding new stuff doesn't feel like anything. In Baldur's Gate finding a new piece of equipment felt like a huge accomplishment.
- Characters autoheal after combat. (maybe I can disable this from options?)
- Second Wind ability. So every character class is a healer now?
- Voice acting is uninspired. In the first city everyone has really terrible Spanish accent - get it, Conquistadors, wink, wink? The blonde chad NPC companion says everything in a monotone voice that makes me fall asleep.
- I only have 1 NPC companion, the blonde chad guy, but I already want to hang him from his guts. He feels more like a soulless henchmen rather than a real person. He commented on my immoral behavior and even threatened to leave the party, which I appreciate, but mostly he just throws bland, meaningless comments about things we see and characters we meet. Nothing has any impact. Nothing matters. I want to die.
- How is it possible I felt 1000 times more engaged while playing Knights of The Chalice? It's an amateurish indie sketch with little to no story and basically zero NPC interactions. Yet everything felt so much more meaningful in that game. Why is that??? Am I going insane here???
- The world map makes me feel like I'm floating in an empty void. Kingmaker has so much more interesting world map.
- The story is too epic in scale. WTF, I just reincarnated back into my old body and now I have to go kill a giant god? I just want to go kill some rats and skeletons in a stinky dungeon, thank you very much. I want to be an unknown nobody, a blank slate, not the fucking Graywarden all over again.

I hope the game could get better later on, but I dunno if I can force myself any further.

 

[Yosharian]

Ok guys, this has probbly been asked but the thread is too fucking huge to make sense of:

How is the turnbased option? Is it worth buying the game for? And can you switch between the 2 on the fly like in Arcanum?

Some people like it, some don't. The consensus is 'meh'

 

[Haplo]

I don't know what it's about this game, but I just can't enjoy playing it. I really would like to enjoy it - the graphics are so incredibly beautiful I'm willing to forgive some shortcomings. The navel combats sound super interesting and the Pirates style exploration of the numerous small islands sounds awesome. But every time I try to get into the game I'm stabbed in the eye ball by some annoying feature. Somehow playing Kingmaker felt so much more satisfying.

Here are some things that bug me to no end.

- In early game every character class is pretty much equal in terms of combat efficiency. Every character class can oneshot a bad guy from stealth pre-combat. Enemies seem to hit your characters pretty reliably whether they're wearing a plate mail with shield or a simple cotton shirt.
- Every character can use all weapons and most of the equipment. This is a huge negative for me, since I don't feel the classes to be any different. What ever happened to wizards with quarterstaves, thieves with daggers and clerics with maces? There can be no class restrictions anymore?
- All the "reactivity" due to character skills checks, their race etc mostly amount to nothing more than flavor text or maybe a bit of EXP or an item. Skills make barely any real impact - failed skill checks don't prevent you from taking on a quest, for instance. In other words, you have PLENTY of choices, but ultimately they have no REAL consequences.
- There's so much fucking shit in my inventory. I haven't read even a small fraction of what all that shit is or does. Every container gives me some new item that temporarily gives +1 to Resolve or some shit like that. I already know I will never use any of that shit. Finding new stuff doesn't feel like anything. In Baldur's Gate finding a new piece of equipment felt like a huge accomplishment.
- Characters autoheal after combat. (maybe I can disable this from options?)
- Second Wind ability. So every character class is a healer now?
- Voice acting is uninspired. In the first city everyone has really terrible Spanish accent - get it, Conquistadors, wink, wink? The blonde chad NPC companion says everything in a monotone voice that makes me fall asleep.
- I only have 1 NPC companion, the blonde chad guy, but I already want to hang him from his guts. He feels more like a soulless henchmen rather than a real person. He commented on my immoral behavior and even threatened to leave the party, which I appreciate, but mostly he just throws bland, meaningless comments about things we see and characters we meet. Nothing has any impact. Nothing matters. I want to die.
- How is it possible I felt 1000 times more engaged while playing Knights of The Chalice? It's an amateurish indie sketch with little to no story and basically zero NPC interactions. Yet everything felt so much more meaningful in that game. Why is that??? Am I going insane here???
- The world map makes me feel like I'm floating in empty void. Kingmaker has so much more interesting world map.
- The story is too epic in scale. WTF, I just reincarnated back into my old body and now I have to go kill a giant god? I just want to go kill some rats and skeletons in a stinky dungeon, thank you very much. I want to be an unknown nobody, a blank slate, not the fucking Graywarden all over again.

I hope the game could get better later on, but I dunno if I can force myself any further.

Well, I would address at least some of those points, if I may.

1. Sure, alpha strikes, particularly with high damage weapons, like Arquebusses are very strong. Sometimes there are a lot of enemies and you can't alpha strike everyone though.
More importantly regarding armor. Initially you can't reliably tank on higher difficulties, true. But that changes pretty fast (how fast depends on ability and shield choices). Some characters soon become nigh-unkillable. Particularly Paladins and Fighters become VERY tanky (Palading due to Faith defense boosts & Lay on Hands, Fighters due to self-regeneration effects, particularly Unbroken). Note that you can generally multiclass them with a DD class (for example Rogue or SoulBlade) and still remain very durable.

2. Items with temporary bonuses probably relate to food you can consume while resting to get a small bonus. Generally I don't care much about it either, but the high-end food can give very substantial bonuses that last till the next rest (immunity to an affliction group, Penetration or Caster level bonuses).
Finding new, sometimes awesome equipment doesn't always feel like an "accomplishment" here (seriously, some OP items are probably too easy to get early), but some do (Engoliero the Espirs, Kitchen stove!) and the itemization in PoE is up there among the best crpg examples. As well as unique weapon property enchanting.

3. Second Wind is nice. But its one off and will eventually fall off in its effectiveness. Makes durable characters more durable, but it won't hold squishy ones alive for long.

 

[RickOmbo]

The worst thing about POE 2 is how Obsidian has spent some of Tyranny's budget on it.

It was PoE 1.

Is this a joke I don't get, or did Obsidian really use funds from Tyranny to aid in the development of a boring-ass game? I don't think I'd mind so much, but Tyranny felt like it was an awesome idea that would've been significantly better if it had a bigger budget and more development time (more enemies for improved variety in combat, a bit more spit and polish on the C&C, and a more satisfying finale).

After the breakup, Chris Avellone has revealed that significant amount of Tyranny's funding has went on other projects of the studio. Basically, Feargus has stolen Paradox's money in order to make Pillars of Eternity better.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

If that was true shouldn't Kingmaker have waaay more fan art?

POE2 famously has got extremely low sales, not Kingmaker.

So your galaxy brain take is games that have seriously low sales get way bigger fandoms than games that sell well?

The discussion was about fan-art. As I said before, those artists want to give the underperforming game more attention.

If your game doesn't get regular fan art does it even have a fandom tho

did someone say fanart

Omg hahaha Critical Role crossover fanart!

 

[lophiaspis]

Nothing has any impact. Nothing matters. I want to die.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Nothing has any impact. Nothing matters. I want to die.

I like it how 4 years after PoE, there are still people who independently arrive at the same impressions.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

Could Deadfire still show up glowed up on that Microsoft e3 stage!!!

 

[RickOmbo]

I hope POE2 does well on the consoles, in that case, we will get HALO Tactics a little bit faster.

 

[Mastermind]

Why do people want to play a mouse-heavy game on a console?

 

[Daidre]

You can plug mouse + KB into consoles. Although I had no idea whether POE compatible for control scheme.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

Josh made the Digital Dragons aftermovie!!!!! So hope they upload his talk soon, he's still so the only good lewking game dev!

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Why do people want to play a mouse-heavy game on a console?

They don't.

 

[DalekFlay]

Why do people want to play a mouse-heavy game on a console?

Who knows how many they sold, but there are a ton of people who refuse to game on a PC no matter what. I just read a Eurogamer article the other day about all the old Infinity Engine games coming to consoles and the comments were alive with "ooh I can finally play these!" despite the fact those games would run on a fucking toaster at this point. I'd guess at least some small portion of people in these situations are interested in the game.

 

[Jimmious]

Finally doing my run now that everything's done. The game is 10 times better with TB combat imo. Fuck RTwP.