Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Butter]

I'm about 10 minutes into this video. It seems pretty good so far.

 

[Ryan muller]

Is PoE 2 any good?

 

[Butter]

Is PoE 2 any good?

It's about on par with the first game. Itemization and character building are better. Stealth is better. The prose is less indulgent and overwrought. The companions are worse. The UI is worse. The story is worse. The systems design is worse. You play it to try out different multi-class and sub-class combinations in an open world. The first game is a more cohesive and satisfying experience IMO.

 

[Ryan muller]

Is PoE 2 any good?

It's about on par with the first game. Itemization and character building are better. Stealth is better. The prose is less indulgent and overwrought. The companions are worse. The UI is worse. The story is worse. The systems design is worse. You play it to try out different multi-class and sub-class combinations in an open world. The first game is a more cohesive and satisfying experience IMO.

Atleast the exposition problem is less terrible?

1 had absolutely zero sense of pacing, i was tired of reading 15 hours in

 

[Lios]

Is PoE 2 any good?

PoE 2 has maybe the best rpg itemization of all time.
Multiclassing means that you have even more options and toys to play with in character creation which is always good.
Open world with freedom to tackle your own battles and various factions which you can appease or betray to progress means replayability.
More skill checks and CYOA segments.

Writing is mostly bad sitcom-tier "Let's have a pirate cruise!!!". This goes for companions too which are OK, but I liked PoE 1 companions better (and I must say, I found PoE 1 companions well written in general, not just in comparison to the PoE microcosm)
There is no solid pacing here either, but you don't care anyway because it's open world. Work for a faction for a while and unlock the final island. Really bad endgame, by the way. The story in general doesn't go anywhere. Just don't think about it too much and have fun in a virtual playground.

I vastly prefer PoE 1 sombre and mournful atmosphere and writing, but I had much, much more fun with PoE 2. It's like being in a vacation for a few days after a year of getting wrecked by your day job: you want to have some fun without caring about anything else for as long as the vacations last.

Oh and make sure to download this: https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/32
It improves the experience so much, it should be part of the official game.

 

[Haplo]

Is PoE 2 any good?

It's about on par with the first game. Itemization and character building are better. Stealth is better. The prose is less indulgent and overwrought. The companions are worse. The UI is worse. The story is worse. The systems design is worse. You play it to try out different multi-class and sub-class combinations in an open world. The first game is a more cohesive and satisfying experience IMO.

Atleast the exposition problem is less terrible?

1 had absolutely zero sense of pacing, i was tired of reading 15 hours in

Yeah, I'd say general gameplay and exploration is much better. Also the city hub is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better. Although trying to absorb its content all in one go might lead to fatigue. Good idea to make some exploration breaks between conquering the city - even if only on the very same island.

One other huge factor - combat is far better and less repetitive. PoE1 was sending hordes of same-ish mobs map after map after map. PoE2 has MUCH better encounter design and far fewer trash mobs/unnecessary combat.

Itemization might be the best in a computer game, ever.

 

[almondblight]

One thing that gets me is that PotD feels about right for the boss fights but it makes the trash fights a real slog, especially given how many of them there are. It's also annoying that they don't let you switch the difficulty during the game. I'd be interested in seeing what Hard mode is like and comparing, but not so interested in that I'd be willing to go through that prologue again.

 

[Grunker]

Is PoE 2 any good?

It's about on par with the first game. Itemization and character building are better. Stealth is better. The prose is less indulgent and overwrought. The companions are worse. The UI is worse. The story is worse. The systems design is worse. You play it to try out different multi-class and sub-class combinations in an open world. The first game is a more cohesive and satisfying experience IMO.

Astoundingly precise summary. Overall I like PoE2 better, especially because of turn-based mode, but the above is pretty much correct

 

[General Disarray]

Playing through the game with a fighter that mainly use long guns. Works pretty well and is fun. But I just realised that PoE char system with muscle wizards is the best system to roleplay as Judge Holden! Normally strength and int combo is unintuitive in rpgs but it worlds perfectly in PoE system. I imagine him being lawful evil. Maybe it might work to play him in DA:O also sense it has more evil choices in that game.