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

[Haplo]

Deadfire is not perfect, I admit it.
Thing is, it does a few things not merely good, but exceptionally well. Best in class in fact. I guess that makes it a flawed gem.

 

[Shadenuat]

What about some of the best itemization ever made for crpgs?

hey think up a number
now pick a card

is this your favorite card? [holds 5-of-sabers]

 

[MajorMace]

PoE2 was great, even if not perfect. Solid 8/10.

True.

What about some of the best itemization ever made for crpgs? Quirky, overpowered item/class combos? Best graphics in quasi-isometric crpgs?
Great central city - hub.

If the Dragon Age Origins praise thread is any indication, it takes around ten years for people to admit a disappointing game can be good.
PoE(I & II) is basically good-looking DAO with an actual combat system, after all.

 

[Haplo]

What about some of the best itemization ever made for crpgs?

hey think up a number
now pick a card

is this your favorite card? [holds 5-of-sabers]

Touche!

Actually nah, we still have Hand Mortar & Fire in the Hole (blunderbusses), Engoliero de Espirs (estoc), Seeker's Fang (rapier), Modwyr (longsword), Lord Darryn's Voulge (pollaxe), Whispers of the Endless Paths (greatsword), Magran's Favor (axe), Slayer's Claw (axe), Amra (greataxe), Oathbreaker's End (greataxe), Voidwheel (greatsword), Karaboru (greatsword), Sun & Moon (flail), Sungrazer (flail), Keeper of the Flame (flail), Kapana Taga (club), Willbreaker (morningstar), Frostfall (mace), Eager Blade (estoc), Thundercrack (pistol), Eccea's Arcane Blaster (pistol), Kitchen Stove (blunderbuss), Marux Amath (dagger), Street Sweeper (quarterstaff) and many other interesting and unique weapons.

 

[Grunker]

If the Dragon Age Origins praise thread is any indication, it takes around ten years for people to admit a disappointing game can be good.

I dunno. Both me and Vince said the same things about DA:O then as we do now. Heck, he even praised it more than me. I think it's less that people "come around" and more that the edgy, angry minority forgets it's supposed to hate the game, which makes the consensus look more clear.

 

[Shadenuat]

Actually nah, we still have

there's like 10 DLC or patch 2.xyzsomething weapons in your list. u like counting seconds of x doing something on a crit? enjoy, but it's not best itemization evar rpgs, because lists of on hit effects is not what actually makes items memorable for players.

I think it's less that people "come around" and more that the edgy, angry minority forgets it's supposed to hate the game

edgy angry minority left after PoE1, ergo Deadfire fate to be forgotten.

ill be here to ruin your fun tho, dont worry.

 

[Haplo]

Actually nah, we still have

there's like 10 DLC or patch 2.xyzsomething weapons in your list. u like counting seconds of x doing something on a crit? enjoy, but it's not best itemization evar rpgs, because lists of on hit effects is not what actually makes items memorable for players.

Only a few of those rely on "on-crit" effects. In general their properties are too varied to describe without going into details about each individual weapon and making a wall of text. Each does something interesting/unique and/or allows for interesting combos with builds. I intentionally skipped most of the uniques where the only/main property was moar accuracy/moar speed/moar damage.

 

[MajorMace]

edgy angry minority left after PoE1

You underestimate the free time and sheer force of will of the average hater of the average product of pop culture.

 

[Shadenuat]

Each does something interesting/unique and/or allows for interesting combos with builds.

I trust u man. I did not play all the DLCs. But I just don't judge itemization on amount of abilities weapon has or if it does something fiddly with a build after x of upgrades.

You underestimate the free time and sheer force of will of the average hater of the average product of pop culture.

I'd say surely people moved to hating BG3? Since it's the most hot thing.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I'm still butthurt POE2's production values will probably never be used in another iso crpg.

 

[BarbequeMasta]

the systems were fine, but when your encounter design is dogshit and the game is piss easy even on the highest difficulty then the game is gonna suck no matter what mechanics it has.

I disagree, the problem with deadfire wasn't the encounter design and you can find some endgame areas that have pretty well designed encounters if you explore enough. The bigger issues stem from the systems; the instant healing after combat, the dumbed down and pointless resting mechanic, the unlimited spell usage and the armor/penetration system that makes every encounter a chore where you chip away at the enemy's health 10 hp at a time.

It's really these kinds of streamlined and dumbed down mechanics that prevent it from being a great game, but unlike the first pillars it at least had potential.

I disagree on the encounter design being anything more than mediocre, But yeah you're right about the systems. i guess I tried to forget this garbage game too much, nothing is redeemable about about dumpsterfire.

 

[Haplo]

Each does something interesting/unique and/or allows for interesting combos with builds.

I trust u man. I did not play all the DLCs. But I just don't judge itemization on amount of abilities weapon has or if it does something fiddly with a build after x of upgrades.

There are 7 weapons that come from patches/DLC on that list. Its still a solid list, even without DLC or free patches.

 

[Grunker]

edgy angry minority left after PoE1, ergo Deadfire fate to be forgotten.

ill be here to ruin your fun tho, dont worry.

Also, you do know that people like you are not qualified as the edgy, angry crowd I'm talking about? In fact, most of that crowd seems to be newfags trying very extra hard for KKKs

 

[adddeed]

What about some of the best itemization ever made for crpgs? Quirky, overpowered item/class combos? Best graphics in quasi-isometric crpgs?
Great central city - hub.

PoE1 and 2 are probably the best cRPGs from the past couple decades, and in TOP 10 ever made, and thats a fact.
People here are just really butthurt about it and its really funny to see.
Comparing them to the filth thats Dragon Age? Really ?
Shows you what these douchenozzles know.

 

[Savecummer]

I'm still butthurt POE2's production values will probably never be used in another iso crpg.

What about Pathfinder and BG3?
But yeah, iso crpgs going the way of tactikewl games means that there are gonna be droughts of them until the market gets hungry from time to time.

 

[barghwata]

I disagree on the encounter design being anything more than mediocre, But yeah you're right about the systems. i guess I tried to forget this garbage game too much, nothing is redeemable about about dumpsterfire.

Meh, being edgy and hating on shit is fun and all but it doesn't add much to the conversation, Deadfire does have a lot of qualities to it, an interesting setting and a good atmosphere, fun exploration of the overworld map and the occasional well designed quest here and there (Arkemyr's manor, clearing out cookspur, tip of the spear, fort deadlight, capturing the floating hangman etc..... ) plus the overall polish of the game, unfortunatly the lackluster combat system and the half assed main storyline ultimately make it a mostly unmemorable experience.

As for the encounter design, i didn't say it's amazing or anything; my point was that the underlying mechanics and systems of the game are probably the main reason why encounters seem so badly designed, i mean it makes sense that in a game where you can spam rest and hurl your strongest spells at the enemy in each encounter, almost any encounter is bound to become a trash mob. I think the utter lack of resource management and risk associated to the combat is probably the core issue here.

 

[adddeed]

I think the core issue is you not knowing how to play. There is plenty of resource management and risk if you dont play on story mode.
PoEs comabt system isnt perfect but its leagues better than antthing with DnD in it.

 

[barghwata]

I think the core issue is you not knowing how to play. There is plenty of resource management if you dont play on story mode.

And i think whoever gave you the possibly retarded tag should change it to just retarded, i played on veteran and it was piss easy.

PoEs comabt system isnt perfect but its leagues better than antthing with DnD in it.

I hate D&D but no, not even close.

And sorry you're a story fag, maybe read some books or something if youre into that.

Well good for you that you have such low standards, but personally when a game asks me to read walls of its dialogue and text i prefer it be well written.

 

[copebot]

I think it's really unfortunate that the game released in the state that it did, because it made it harder for the game's positive qualities (itemization, a lot about the combat system that isn't the armor system, class design, some limited elements of the presentation and writing) to stand out above the negative qualities related to lame writing and presentation. I think in their mind just getting it released on time was what mattered, and the community would be patient for a POE1 style encounter rework later down the line. The game did improve quite a bit with the DLC and other fixes, but nothing can fix the snoozer plot.

They focused a lot of effort into "fixing" imbalance between Vancian caster classes and non-Vancian casters, but in the process they didn't really make the experience that much better. I don't have any suggestions as to how they could have done it better within the confines of an Infinity engine clone, but I think the difficulty in 'fixing' it shows that CRPGs that try to adapt TTRPGs should focus more on creating systems that mimic the conventions that work in tabletop for policing player cheese like rest spamming.

There are lots of gamey things that could be done to reward efficiency: make the wages paid to the party significant, add inventory limits + supply requirements, make it so that enemies react rationally to an assault on their sanctum by rotating more troops to a dungeon if you give them time to do it, give the enemy bonuses for being on alert if you take too long, make reinforcements flood into an area if you delay, reduce your quest rewards for failing to complete a dungeon in a time limit, the enemy moves loot away from a dungeon if you delay your assault, and so on and so forth. There's just a lot that could be done beyond just spawning ambush encounters every time the party tries to camp, but it also requires moving away from a game design that relies heavily on canned encounters in static positions.

 

[Nano]

My problem with PoE2's turn based mode is that it takes forever to cast spells. It's just so lame. Especially when the enemies move and the mage still slings his Fireball at nothing like an idiot.

 

[JarlFrank]

If the Dragon Age Origins praise thread is any indication, it takes around ten years for people to admit a disappointing game can be good.
PoE(I & II) is basically good-looking DAO with an actual combat system, after all.

I thought DAO was good back in the day, because it was in the middle of the RPG draught and it was good for what it is.

But nowadays I can't bring myself to replay it due to its utterly atrocious encounter design, absolute bottom of the barrel trash mob filler shit. Whenever I think of DAO, what comes to my mind is the feeling of exhaustion due to all those copypasted mobs I was forced to slay my way through.

Terrible.

 

[barghwata]

My problem with PoE2's turn based mode is that it takes forever to cast spells. It's just so lame. Especially when the enemies move and the mage still slings his Fireball at nothing like an idiot.

On the contrary, it's done to simulate the fact that spells take time to cast, time in which someone can interrupt the mage or dodge their spell, instant spell casting would probably remove alot of tactical depth from the combat and turn it into a spell throwing match where whoever uses their spells faster wins, which would be further exasperated by the fact that the game lets you use your strongest spells in every encounter with no limits.

I agree however that there should've been perhaps a mechanic that allows mages to cancel their casting on the second turn if it's no longer beneficial.

 

[copebot]

My problem with PoE2's turn based mode is that it takes forever to cast spells. It's just so lame. Especially when the enemies move and the mage still slings his Fireball at nothing like an idiot.

On the contrary, it's done to simulate the fact that spells take time to cast, time in which someone can interrupt the mage or dodge their spell, instant spell casting would probably remove alot of tactical depth from the combat and turn it into a spell throwing match where whoever uses their spells faster wins, which would be further exasperated by the fact that the game lets you use your strongest spells in every encounter with no limits.

I agree however that there should've been perhaps a mechanic that allows mages to cancel their casting on the second turn if it's no longer beneficial.

In real time mode, you can retarget a spell dynamically while the character is casting it -- can you not do that in TB mode? Never tried TB so I don't know.

 

[barghwata]

In real time mode, you can retarget a spell dynamically while the character is casting it -- can you not do that in TB mode? Never tried TB so I don't know.

I think it used to be a feature and then it was removed in later patches, i am not sure.

 

[adddeed]

I love all the butthurt fuckwits mad over how much better PoE2 is compared to whatever shit crpg they're playing.