Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pre-DLC Thread [GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Grampy_Bone]

for some bizarre reason it feels much more compelling than the first game so far

It's that loud "Ka-THWACK!" sound effect that plays when you wail on dudes.

 

[Quillon]

There is no chance this game will flop, just look at the fucking thing; it'll either be a successful game or will break new ground and redefine the RPG

 

[Darth Roxor]

The mechanics themselves aren't dumbed down, they are more complex than PoE1.

how so

all i see so far on this front are

- popamole health regen
- awesome button abilities
- universal spellcasting per encounter

feels like the weapons are a bit more fiddly now with the penetrashun and attack modes an shiet (was that even in the first game? i dont remember), and finally seeing a skellington going "lololo immune" at me shooping it with a crossbow was a welcome change, but those things hardly make it net more complex with the losses stemming from the above three things

ofc i might be missing something given that this is more or less still tutorial area

 

[AwesomeButton]

Infinitron is right here, 28-29 March was a weekend in 2015. If Deadfire doesn't get similar numbers this weekend it's a flop.

And we have no way to know what they will be, with an accuracy better than 50 000 copies.

We're talking about an estimation of the game's success by looking at the peak number of concurrent players.

Yes, and this is what I say is pointless. The company gets money for copies sold, not for players playing, obviously.

 

[Darth Roxor]

for some bizarre reason it feels much more compelling than the first game so far

It's the Storm of Zehir effect. Everything is more d&d'ish and basic, but game is more open so you actually explore new places and it gives a better feeling of adventure. Heck, even dungeons are less retarded now. And the content is spread out in smaller pockets so you're not dying under boring quest chains.

I can't put my finger on it too yet.

yeah it might be that

the moment i went out to the overland map and found a stash of cannonballs next to my starting area I immediately reacted with SOZZY

r00fles!

 

[Hellion]

Steam just downloaded a huge update for the game, probably fixes everything.

 

[Trash Player]

The mechanics themselves aren't dumbed down, they are more complex than PoE1.

how so

all i see so far on this front are

- popamole health regen
- awesome button abilities
- universal spellcasting per encounter

feels like the weapons are a bit more fiddly now with the penetrashun and attack modes an shiet (was that even in the first game? i dont remember), and finally seeing a skellington going "lololo immune" at me shooping it with a crossbow was a welcome change, but those things hardly make it net more complex with the losses stemming from the above three things

ofc i might be missing something given that this is more or less still tutorial area

Tuning and encounters aside, the tactical part is easily more complex, what with resource pool, multiclass and what not. But yes, they pretty much do away with majority of strategic resources anymore.

 

[Parabalus]

The mechanics themselves aren't dumbed down, they are more complex than PoE1.

how so

all i see so far on this front are

- popamole health regen
- awesome button abilities
- universal spellcasting per encounter

feels like the weapons are a bit more fiddly now with the penetrashun and attack modes an shiet (was that even in the first game? i dont remember), and finally seeing a skellington going "lololo immune" at me shooping it with a crossbow was a welcome change, but those things hardly make it net more complex with the losses stemming from the above three things

ofc i might be missing something given that this is more or less still tutorial area

All 3 things you mention were already in Bg2, Sawyer just made everyone a rest spammer.

Strategic resource management in an open world game is all self-imposed anyway, was the same in Bg2.

Infinitron is right here, 28-29 March was a weekend in 2015. If Deadfire doesn't get similar numbers this weekend it's a flop.

And we have no way to know what they will be, with an accuracy better than 50 000 copies.

Aren't just the total sales from Steamspy borked, and not concurrent players?

 

[Prime Junta]

how so

For example:

- the counter system, where fire counters water, inspirations counter matching afflictions and so on
- the stealth system which makes backstabbing a very viable tactic again, with tweaks to rogue abilities to better support this
- changes to engagement -- making it fighter only, providing counters to it e.g. via the Swift inspiration -- which makes for a wider range of tactics and better differentiates melee classes
- grenades
- much improved itemisation, enchantment, and crafting

 

[Infinitron]

The fundamental tradeoff that Josh Sawyer made with Pillars 2 - better tactics (encounter design, hard counters, etc) in exchange for worse strategy (per-rest resources, non-regenerating health). Parabalus and the people who agree with him think that tradeoff is a net positive.

That's debatable of course, but considering the things people seemed to hate the most about the first game, it seems like a reasonable opinion. It's like, dude, if you whined about trash mobs and hard counters for three years and said that was the worst thing ever, don't tell me you're not happier now even with health regen.

 

[Prime Junta]

The fundamental tradeoff that Josh Sawyer made with Pillars 2 - better tactics (encounter design, hard counters, etc) in exchange for worse strategy (per-rest resources, non-regenerating health).

'cept it wasn't a trade-off

Josh could have kept the strategic aspects of the system just fine while keeping all the in the moment-to-moment game. There is no reason whatsoever that per-rest spells or split endurance/health would have made the fights worse. Would've just needed a light rebalance.

 

[2house2fly]

Eh don't shit your pants yet. Torment was a "disaster". Tyranny did better and was merely a "disappointment". Before its first weekend this game already has more concurrent players than Tyranny ever had.

If it does somewhat worse than the first game then eh, so be it. Baldur's Gate 2 never got a sequel either, maybe it was meant to be.

Somewhat worse? The first game had like 40k 2nd day and this one barely stays afloat at under 20k, that's worse than somewhat worse, that's abysmal. Personally I blame the generic setting and how verbose was the first one, idiots thought that people wanted to read interactive novels instead of playing the damn game, look at what that did, they pushed away a large part of player base, even fans of the original IE games.

PoE1 had 30k until its first weekend. A ~33% drop is not a cataclysm, the game is making money. The Pillars of Eternity IP is Obsidian's baby, they'll keep investing in it and earn money on the long tail. I wouldn't worry too much.

tl;dr Wait for the weekend.

Who's "worried" nobody here works there (well, except badler, Anthony Davis, and of course IHaveHugeNick)

 

[Alienman]

Finally ran into something I couldn't defeat. Random island, with skeletons and a mage that one-shotted my crew! Ouch. Anyways, how can I see if they are too much for me to handle? I rather just stealth away then to try my hand and reload (for immersion). I have the difficulty thing on in options, but not sure what I'm looking for?

 

[Parabalus]

The fundamental tradeoff that Josh Sawyer made with Pillars 2 - better tactics (encounter design, hard counters, etc) in exchange for worse strategy (per-rest resources, non-regenerating health). Parabalus and the people who agree with him think that tradeoff is a net positive.

All the "strategy" in all IE games and PoE1 is just self-imposed anyway, since you can always backtrack. I don't think it's a big loss because of that.

When I want proper resource management I play Xcom, Battle Brothers or w/e, preferably on Iron Man. On that note money seems extremely tight in Deadfire, at least early on. Prices for enchants and ships components are super high.

Finally ran into something I couldn't defeat. Random island, with skeletons and a mage that one-shotted my crew! Ouch. Anyways, how can I see if they are too much for me to handle? I rather just stealth away then to try my hand and reload (for immersion). I have the difficulty thing on in options, but not sure what I'm looking for?

I think it's bugged if you chose to only UPscale, never saw any indicators myself even when I got mauled by level 15+ stuff.

 

[Pizzashoes]

Finally ran into something I couldn't defeat. Random island, with skeletons and a mage that one-shotted my crew! Ouch. Anyways, how can I see if they are too much for me to handle? I rather just stealth away then to try my hand and reload (for immersion). I have the difficulty thing on in options, but not sure what I'm looking for?

If you toggle the option in the game menu called "git gud," you'll find that nothing in the game is too much for you to handle.

Also, I don't know. I just start whacking and see as it goes.

 

[Alienman]

Whacking and see how it goes is what I want to avoid.

 

[Shadenuat]

Just got obliterated by invulnerable teleporting backstabbing xaurips armed with exceptional weapons and armor. Neither of my characters could Pen their armor.

 

[Prime Junta]

Yeah I had my face pushed in too, poking it somewhere it didn't belong. Good fun.

 

[2house2fly]

(was that even in the first game? i dont remember),

Looking forward to a well-informed review.

 

[Daedalos]

I kind of like Benny's boss, Aelys.

I do find it quite funny, that obsidian chose to make the watcher into basically a pirate.

You go from SEARCHUNG FOR ANCIENTS GODS AND CIVILIZATIONS AND WEIRD MACHINES.. to basically lolpirates n shiet oh and a big green statue walking arounds.

In that regard, it feels like a funny spin-off to poe1, but the game is fun and good. Just thought it's a weird transistion into PIRATES theme from the more serious themes of poe1

 

[Pizzashoes]

Whacking and see how it goes is what I want to avoid.

Real adventurers don't see level bars. When they come up against a dragon, they prepare as best they can and pray for the rest.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Yes, for an RPG to work as a videogame, the player has to impose it on himself not to abuse stuff. A concept that many elite codexers have not ripened up to grasping.

 

[Darth Roxor]

All 3 things you mention were already in Bg2

this isnt and has never been a valid excuse

changes to engagement -- making it fighter only

oh yeah this is much welcome too

 

[Trash Player]

On that note money seems extremely tight in Deadfire, at least early on. Prices for enchants and ships components are super high.

The key is having good stuffs in shop and make players go to great lengths for them. I also found very good items to be pilfered one way or another in town, which make the associated skills more than just for shit and giggles or pocketchanges.

 

[Alienman]

Whacking and see how it goes is what I want to avoid.

Real adventurers don't see level bars. When they come up against a dragon, they prepare as best they can and pray for the rest.

Yeah, sure, but since the game now have levels I kinda want to know if this is a level 3 soy dragon or a chad dragon that will send my party home crying for momma. I just find reloading immersion breaking. I rather just use my stealthy guy to scout, determine that this is way too hard and get back to it later than dying and basically doing the same but avoiding the thing that takes me out of the game. But I guess the armor rating is telling, just noticed that my stealth guy had zero chance of hitting an enemy