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

[PsychoFox]

It is this better than poe1? i dropped it at 2/3 because despite being interested in the story, i couldn't stand anymore to read uninteresting essays about random stuff . Also i suck at micromanaging things in combat, couldn't get past the forge golems or whatever. Yes i'm bad at this kind of games, but if the rest of the game beside combat is good, i can force myself to finish the game

IMO it's much better than PoE 1, specially if you invest yourself in the factional politics and can turn a blind eye to the urgency of the main quest being totally artificial. I intend to do a write up comparing this game with its prequel once i'm done playing. After playing it for a good dozen hours, i fully believe that a lot of the hate this game gets is by people who either haven't played Deadfire and are judging it by standards of the first game, or two, people who have played the game, but are so upset with PoE 1 that can't reconcile themselves to see it as a standalone product. Not saying the game is perfect by any means, because that would be a lie (the game certainly has its own fair share of issues), but so far i'm having a blast with it, and i'm sure it's not just because it's good compared to the godawful prequel. It's genuinely a good game.

 

[Alphard]

It is this better than poe1? i dropped it at 2/3 because despite being interested in the story, i couldn't stand anymore to read uninteresting essays about random stuff . Also i suck at micromanaging things in combat, couldn't get past the forge golems or whatever. Yes i'm bad at this kind of games, but if the rest of the game beside combat is good, i can force myself to finish the game

IMO it's much better than PoE 1, specially if you invest yourself in the factional politics and can turn a blind eye to the urgency of the main quest being totally artificial. I intend to do a write up comparing this game with its prequel once i'm done playing. After playing it for a good dozen hours, i fully believe that a lot of the hate this game gets is by people who either haven't played Deadfire and are judging it by standards of the first game, or two, people who have played the game, but are so upset with PoE 1 that can't reconcile themselves to see it as a standalone product. Not saying the game is perfect by any means, because that would be a lie (the game certainly has its own fair share of issues), but so far i'm having a blast with it, and i'm sure it's not just because it's good compared to the godawful prequel. It's genuinely a good game.

does the micromanaging get better in this game? do i have to pause every second or does the combat flow better?

 

[Grimnir]

It is this better than poe1? i dropped it at 2/3 because despite being interested in the story, i couldn't stand anymore to read uninteresting essays about random stuff . Also i suck at micromanaging things in combat, couldn't get past the forge golems or whatever. Yes i'm bad at this kind of games, but if the rest of the game beside combat is good, i can force myself to finish the game

The story is shit, pacing is shit, combat requires less micromanagement, overall I can't be bothered to touch the game again to try the dlcs or TB mode.

 

[PsychoFox]

It is this better than poe1? i dropped it at 2/3 because despite being interested in the story, i couldn't stand anymore to read uninteresting essays about random stuff . Also i suck at micromanaging things in combat, couldn't get past the forge golems or whatever. Yes i'm bad at this kind of games, but if the rest of the game beside combat is good, i can force myself to finish the game

IMO it's much better than PoE 1, specially if you invest yourself in the factional politics and can turn a blind eye to the urgency of the main quest being totally artificial. I intend to do a write up comparing this game with its prequel once i'm done playing. After playing it for a good dozen hours, i fully believe that a lot of the hate this game gets is by people who either haven't played Deadfire and are judging it by standards of the first game, or two, people who have played the game, but are so upset with PoE 1 that can't reconcile themselves to see it as a standalone product. Not saying the game is perfect by any means, because that would be a lie (the game certainly has its own fair share of issues), but so far i'm having a blast with it, and i'm sure it's not just because it's good compared to the godawful prequel. It's genuinely a good game.

does the micromanaging get better in this game? do i have to pause every second or does the combat flow better?

With how granular the AI editor is, i'm willing to bet you could figure out a system that'll have you fight through most of the encounters without much micromanagement at all.

I gotta say though, personally, much of the enjoyment i get from the game's combat IS the micromanagement, specially since i'm playing a rogue. One thing i really like about the game over the prequel is that playing as different classes with the PC drastically changes the flow of combat.

 

[Sergiu64]

does the micromanaging get better in this game? do i have to pause every second or does the combat flow better?

Depends on difficulty setting you choose and how good your scripts are. Pretty sure you can run over things on Autopilot you've set up on lower difficulties if you don't use friendly fire AoEs.

 

[AwesomeButton]

The writers were not even trying.

 

[Elephantman]

But that's not even the worst part, the worst part is that now each fight takes two to five times as long.

What did you expect...?

Also, most fights in the game are not filller. Most fights are ship/bounties...
Some people consider the formulaic island with water and fruits and a single-room dungeon with a fight and a unique to be filler though.

Having started sailing around a "exploring" I have to agree that this is shit design. They should have scraped 3 islands into 1 and made something worthwhile that has an identity in the setting and a story - like the Oathbinder pyramid, for example.

Port Maje - good
Deadlight - good
Neketaka - overall good
Oathbinder - good
Hasongo - ok+, no need to fight
Tikiwara - ok, no need to fight
Poko Kohara - trashfilled but tolerable
Sayuka - if we count the expedition than maybe ok
Crookspur - boring, at least has a trash bypass
Wakasomthing tribals - boring
Dunnage - banal shit boring
to be continued

 

[Butter]

It is this better than poe1? i dropped it at 2/3 because despite being interested in the story, i couldn't stand anymore to read uninteresting essays about random stuff . Also i suck at micromanaging things in combat, couldn't get past the forge golems or whatever. Yes i'm bad at this kind of games, but if the rest of the game beside combat is good, i can force myself to finish the game

First game is better. It's tonally consistent, and actually feels like an homage to the IE games. And none of your companions try to buttfuck you.

 

[Jimmious]

No, the second game is overall better apart from the whole story which SOMEHOW manages to be even worse than the relatively boring one of the first game.
At least the first game maintained a bleak atmosphere consistently.

 

[Agame]

The writers were not even trying.

I think they were, thats the problem.

 

[PsychoFox]

Here's my question: What exactly is the problem with the writing in PoE2? I mean the biggest issue with PoE 1's story was how it was delivered, and not the story itself (and how it failed to connect to the player's character). Everything was hidden behind walls of autistic drivel. PoE 2 doesn't have that issue, and tbh the plot is fairly interesting (subjective) and technically competent (objective). The inter-factional politics is some of the best since New Vegas, and that alone makes the whole thing worthwhile imo. Some of the returning cast (Aloth) are still dumb and boring, but others (Eder) are no longer lame. It's like the writers have finally managed to inject some personality into the characters. NPCs are no longer generic and they often have complex motivations for what they do. Even non-consequential ones are like that, and again, the factions play a huge role here, since almost every NPC is now part of a faction and plays some sort of role within their hierarchy. So i want to know why people dislike PoE 2's writing as much as they do. I'm not interested in subjective reasoning because there' cant be any reasonable debate in matters of taste, but what else do you not like about it?

Here's how my experience with them has been so far: I went to the seat of the royal family and saw the different factions vying for power and politiking. The royal family itself - which operates on a complex set of social roles has its own agenda. Then I went to the slums and saw the downtrodden who the royals bleed dry. The game now gives me the option to side with any of these factions (at least four major ones, and a bunch of minor ones). Each faction has internal politics as well with different sects, all of which you can influence. You can weaken factions, strengthen them, play them against each other etc. and all of this is written competently and its engaging. So again, why does the game get such bad rep with writing? Even the gods have their own politics. And all of this directly contributes to that sweet RP, because what faction you choose to ally yourself with determines your role in the game's world. The game even seems to allow you to stay independent and totally play the sides to your own favor.

Also, this time around, the plot is immediately related to the player's character and the motivations for you doing what you do is very clear. And ofc, engaging with the factions creates even more connection.

Does this all fall apart at some point? Is that what the issue is?

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

I'm not as critical of the story or both PoE's in general as most people here.
Where I find it lacking though is that while PoE I only seems to have Gods that are somehow progressive except for the evul one, PoE II only seems to have factions that are progressive. The one somewhat non-progressive leader is Furrante,

Spoiler

which doesn't matter in the ending slides since if you side with him it's just as if you sided with random egotistic pirates.

 

[PsychoFox]

I'm not as critical of the story or both PoE's in general as most people here.
Where I find it lacking though is that while PoE I only seems to have Gods that are somehow progressive except for the evul one, PoE II only seems to have factions that are progressive. The one somewhat non-progressive leader is Furrante,

Spoiler

which doesn't matter in the ending slides since if you side with him it's just as if you sided with random egotistic pirates.

That's reasonable criticism. If the story and the ending fails to recognize the player's choices then all of that would be for nothing.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

Here's my question: What exactly is the problem with the writing in PoE2? I mean the biggest issue with PoE 1's story was how it was delivered, and not the story itself (and how it failed to connect to the player's character). Everything was hidden behind walls of autistic drivel. PoE 2 doesn't have that issue, and tbh the plot is fairly interesting (subjective) and technically competent (objective). The inter-factional politics is some of the best since New Vegas, and that alone makes the whole thing worthwhile imo. Some of the returning cast (Aloth) are still dumb and boring, but others (Eder) are no longer lame. It's like the writers have finally managed to inject some personality into the characters. NPCs are no longer generic and they often have complex motivations for what they do. Even non-consequential ones are like that, and again, the factions play a huge role here, since almost every NPC is now part of a faction and plays some sort of role within their hierarchy. So i want to know why people dislike PoE 2's writing as much as they do. I'm not interested in subjective reasoning because there' cant be any reasonable debate in matters of taste, but what else do you not like about it?

Here's how my experience with them has been so far: I went to the seat of the royal family and saw the different factions vying for power and politiking. The royal family itself - which operates on a complex set of social roles has its own agenda. Then I went to the slums and saw the downtrodden who the royals bleed dry. The game now gives me the option to side with any of these factions (at least four major ones, and a bunch of minor ones). Each faction has internal politics as well with different sects, all of which you can influence. You can weaken factions, strengthen them, play them against each other etc. and all of this is written competently and its engaging. So again, why does the game get such bad rep with writing? Even the gods have their own politics. And all of this directly contributes to that sweet RP, because what faction you choose to ally yourself with determines your role in the game's world. The game even seems to allow you to stay independent and totally play the sides to your own favor.

Also, this time around, the plot is immediately related to the player's character and the motivations for you doing what you do is very clear. And ofc, engaging with the factions creates even more connection.

Does this all fall apart at some point? Is that what the issue is?

Some people get so triggered at the thought of a woman blacksmith in their magical fantasy games they can't even (but the faction writing is sooo good I totally agree )

 

[Jimmious]

The main issue with the writing is that there is a tremendous reason that you are there in the first place... but you barely care about it after approximately 1 hour into the game. And no one seems to care a lot about A HUGE STATUE OF A GOD THAT IS DESTROYING EVERYTHING ON ITS PATH.
The faction stories are not bad but that's the thing, you are supposedly for a different reason completely in the area and instead you get involved into local politics and what have you

 

[PsychoFox]

The main issue with the writing is that there is a tremendous reason that you are there in the first place... but you barely care about it after approximately 1 hour into the game. And no one seems to care a lot about A HUGE STATUE OF A GOD THAT IS DESTROYING EVERYTHING ON ITS PATH.
The faction stories are not bad but that's the thing, you are supposedly for a different reason completely in the area and instead you get involved into local politics and what have you

Yeah i mentioned this somewhere else. There is definitely a disconnect between the urgency of the main plot and the factional gameplay. It's something obsidian has admitted too. I wouldn't say it's causing me to dislike the game or the story overall though. I do find it idiosyncratic, but it has 0 impact on the experience of the stories themselves (for me).

 

[AwesomeButton]

A huge statue of a god is destroying everything in its path in a fantasy world that's so poorly presented that no one really cares.

 

[Tigranes]

Criticisms around POE1/2 are hard to navigate because people will say "combat/story/x SUCKS ASS" but might do so for differing reasons that sometimes apply to one or both of them.

With writing, for instance, 1 and 2 are a bit different. 1 primarily suffers from overstuffing itself with lore and basically becoming a drag. 2 doesn't really have this problem at all, but it exacerbates another key problem from 1: the various key themes don't synergise well with each other, and they end up abandoning the most interesting themes (hollowborn crisis, colonial conflict) for the least interesting (GODS GODS) and half-baking the end product. Pillars as a franchise needed a much stronger sense of "this is the vision, this is the key theme, this is the story, fuck it" from the start.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

Omg!

 

[pomenitul]

For those who are still experiencing constant micro-stuttering, check out this potential fix:

https://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/cf6fs8/i_solved_my_microstuttering_for_poe2/

Working pretty well so far on my end.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

First game is better. It's tonally consistent.

 

[Sergiu64]

For those who are still experiencing constant micro-stuttering, check out this potential fix:

https://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/cf6fs8/i_solved_my_microstuttering_for_poe2/

Working pretty well so far on my end.

I wish someone would have a fix for the load times. All my hds are SSDs but its still annoyingly slow when moving around Neketaka, going into buildings, etc.

 

[pomenitul]

Huh, loading times are perfectly normal on my PC. You can likely chalk it up to poor and inconsistent optimization, once again.

In other news, some nerd just beat the Ultimate:

 

[Piotrovitz]

Ok, I'm making another attempt here, previously never got past Hasongo.

Got a question about some Nature's Resolve perma-buff - where the fuck does it come from?
I've read somewhere that you get this if your MC is a cipher and you meditate at some certain shrine. I cannot recall where I got it tbh.

That's cool, but should entire party be affected by this, or is it a bug?
If so, this is hilarious, because it's fucking permanent +10 accuracy and +2 resolve, and I got it like 5 hours into the game.

 

[Tigranes]

Huh, loading times are perfectly normal on my PC. You can likely chalk it up to poor and inconsistent optimization, once again.

In other news, some nerd just beat the Ultimate:

Jesus, I wondered if anybody would.... if anything, for that stupid keep Vela safe clause. Pretty cool that people worked it out, I think a lot of people's efforts were based on Brilliant procs.