PoE Reviews

[roshan]

Ok, I guess I was wrong. I took my number from faulty memory of a guide site where I was checking out all companions stats and classes while planning my next play.

BTW, I never played the tutorial in BG1 but I watched someone on stream play it at end. And same companions from the game were in it: for example Branwen was showing priest spells.

The tutorial companions (I'm talking here about the mock battles in Candlekeep) have different names but reuse portraits of the characters in the main game. When you get back to Candlekeep in Chapter 6, you fight some of them as doppelgangers or perhaps find them killed in the Candlekeep catacombs, I can't recall exactly. I don't know the details of any possible external tutorial mode added by Beamdog to the EE games.

 

[J_C]

Not actually very different from typical Codex complaints. It's great to see that even some of those outside these forums can tell the game is mostly shit.

"Baldurs Gate had 30 companions."
This is a quality review we got here!!

It had 25 companions, so that's not really too far off the mark. Pillars of Eternity has only 8 companions, and with that number, you would expect them to have surprising levels of depth, but that is not the case.

EDIT: If you count tutorial companions, then the 30 vs 10 figure is accurate.

Damn, it really had that many NPCs? My memory is foggy about that, but I never knew it had 25. Still, 30 missed the mark.

It has 21. Bg1EE added 4 more.

Wow what is it with classics being mentally downgraded? First it was Infinitron claiming that BG1 had two redundant stealth skills, now apparently no one can even believe how many NPCs the game had.

Baldur's Gate 1 had 25 companions. Alora, Ajantis, Tiax, Branwen, Shar Teel, Eldoth, Skie, Quayle, Dynaheir, Minsc, Edwin, Garrick, Xzar, Montaron, Khalid, Jaheira, Coran, Xan, Yeslick, Imoen, Viconia, Kagain, Kivan, Faldorn, Safana.

In addition to these 25 companions, there are 5 training companions in Candlekeep. For a total of 30 vs 10, which counts the two training companions in POE.

I'm sorry, you are right. I feel ashamed now.

 

[ArchAngel]

Ok, I guess I was wrong. I took my number from faulty memory of a guide site where I was checking out all companions stats and classes while planning my next play.

BTW, I never played the tutorial in BG1 but I watched someone on stream play it at end. And same companions from the game were in it: for example Branwen was showing priest spells.

The tutorial companions (I'm talking here about the mock battles in Candlekeep) have different names but reuse portraits of the characters in the main game. When you get back to Candlekeep in Chapter 6, you fight some of them as doppelgangers or perhaps find them killed in the Candlekeep catacombs, I can't recall exactly. I don't know the details of any possible external tutorial mode added by Beamdog to the EE games.

Ah you are talking about that fake combat in the warehouse. I did that once 15 years ago. I forgot these details :D

 

[Immortal]

Ok, I guess I was wrong. I took my number from faulty memory of a guide site where I was checking out all companions stats and classes while planning my next play.

BTW, I never played the tutorial in BG1 but I watched someone on stream play it at end. And same companions from the game were in it: for example Branwen was showing priest spells.

The tutorial companions (I'm talking here about the mock battles in Candlekeep) have different names but reuse portraits of the characters in the main game. When you get back to Candlekeep in Chapter 6, you fight some of them as doppelgangers or perhaps find them killed in the Candlekeep catacombs, I can't recall exactly. I don't know the details of any possible external tutorial mode added by Beamdog to the EE games.

Ah you are talking about that fake combat in the warehouse. I did that once 15 years ago. I forgot these details :D

BTW, I never played the tutorial in BG1 but I watched someone on stream play it at end.

 

[ArchAngel]

To me the tutorial is what Bg1EE has. I didn't remember if BG1 also had that one. The warehouse battle in Candlekeep I never considered a tutorial.

 

[J_C]

PoE's metascore dropped to 89 after being on 90 for months. FUCK!

 

[ArchAngel]

PoE's metascore dropped to 89 after being on 90 for months. FUCK!

That is the effect of people trying to replay the game and figuring out that unlike IE games there is nothing worthy of replay in PoE.

 

[Neanderthal]

Finally finished the game, took a long break to waste time on the Witcher 3, and coming back to Poe was a chore. The game had atmosphere, a nice well realised setting and some very interesting situations, but i've got to admit that it was a slog to finish. The combat became far too tedious towards the end, I really didn't change my tactics for the last two thirds of the game, and it always felt just off. I can see why people have stated that it would be better as a turn based game.

However to me this wasn't really the main problem with the game, i'd say that the problem was (ironically enough for all of the walls of text) a lack of detail in the setting and too huge a scope to cover in detail...in essence I think that it was too little butter spread over too much bread. It needed more integration and gelling of all the elements, for instance the stronghold was just a crying shame, all that work for no real effect on the game. Stretchgoals fucked it?

I was strangely enough just left cold by Poe, and that's an unusual feeling to have for me at the end of an Obsidian game, even the worst of them (to me NWN2 vanilla) left me with positive impressions: For instance Nolaloth the Dragon was a damn interesting part of NWN2, and there were other parts that hinted at greatness but were let down by the mundanity of the rest of the game. The simple and expedient method of having the shard implanted in the protagonists chest as a babe, that was a brilliant method of winding him into the plot, he was simply unlucky rather than chosen by anyone or thing. I even thought that the fayre was a nice method of introducing the game and setting. With Poe I just felt glad that I wouldn't have to grind any more mobs, but in fairness this is not unique to just Poe, too much combat is the standard in the industry, and this was a BG successor after all.

Maybe I was let down by the plot, I just felt it wasn't coherent enough and that maybe the central concept was introduced too early. I mean the nature of the gods, their relationship with the world and their creation is no small beer, i'd have personally stuck that at the end of some bloody big mega campaign, rather than an introduction to the setting. Still follow up might be up to snuff, still I don't think i'll be chucking me money at 'em like I did in this last Kickstarter.

 

[Immortal]

PoE's metascore dropped to 89 after being on 90 for months. FUCK!

As more casual gamers realize the quality of the tutorial dungeon doesn't carry through the whole game, that score is gonna keep plummeting. I am just waiting for the Stockholm syndrome to clear up for most fanboys - then I think we will see a much more accurate rating for PoE.

 

[J_C]

PoE's metascore dropped to 89 after being on 90 for months. FUCK!

As more casual gamers realize the quality of the tutorial dungeon doesn't carry through the whole game, that score is gonna keep plummeting. I am just waiting for the Stockholm syndrome to clear up for most fanboys - then I think we will see a much more accurate rating for PoE.

That is the critic score I'm talking about, I hope it won't plummet even more. Not that 89 is a bad scrore, it is great, it was just good to see an Obsidian game in the 90s.

 

[Immortal]

PoE's metascore dropped to 89 after being on 90 for months. FUCK!

As more casual gamers realize the quality of the tutorial dungeon doesn't carry through the whole game, that score is gonna keep plummeting. I am just waiting for the Stockholm syndrome to clear up for most fanboys - then I think we will see a much more accurate rating for PoE.

That is the critic score I'm talking about, I hope it won't plummet even more. Not that 89 is a bad scrore, it is great, it was just good to see an Obsidian game in the 90s.

I hope it plummets more to reflect the actual quality of the game devoid of any financial / obsidian obsession bias. Obsidian won't improve / tighten Josh's leash if we all just sit around sucking up to how great it is. I want PoE 2 to be better.

 

[J_C]

PoE's metascore dropped to 89 after being on 90 for months. FUCK!

As more casual gamers realize the quality of the tutorial dungeon doesn't carry through the whole game, that score is gonna keep plummeting. I am just waiting for the Stockholm syndrome to clear up for most fanboys - then I think we will see a much more accurate rating for PoE.

That is the critic score I'm talking about, I hope it won't plummet even more. Not that 89 is a bad scrore, it is great, it was just good to see an Obsidian game in the 90s.

I hope it plummets more to reflect the actual quality of the game devoid of any financial / obsidian obsession bias. Obsidian won't improve / tighten Josh's leash if we all just sit around sucking up to how great it is. I want PoE 2 to be better.

I don't think the metascore will make them make a better game. I'm optimistic that the sequel (if it will be any) will be even better anyway.

 

[Immortal]

I don't think the metascore will make them make a better game. I'm optimistic that the sequel (if it will be any) will be even better anyway.

Critique and Lower User scores reveals problems. Why would they change or improve the game if people vote it 99.9 on meta critic. To me that says people love it and want more of the same, if your gonna give any value to a site like metacritic in the first place.

There are huge issues with PoE and it's taking some people way too long to leap off the sinking ship - but they are coming around.

J_C I like you man but I feel like your the pseudo captain of this metaphorical shipwreck (The SS Fanboytanic) I picture you and Iren saluting from the bridge, stoic - faced forward as you reach waist deep in water.

 

[J_C]

And the review which brought it down a notch was RPGamer's review:
http://www.rpgamer.com/games/eternity/poe/reviews/poestrev1.html

70/100, but the laughable part is they criticise it for the wrong reasons:

+ Great old-school 2.0 combat
+ Old classes with new tricks
+ Rich setting...
- That could be better presented at times
- Lack of character art
- Lack of voice over (roofles!!!)

 

[Sensuki]

They also gave the graphics a 2/5

 

[adddeed]

I have 30hrs clocked so far but the only thing preventing me from loading up the game is...the loading time. In this day and age, an isometric game having this many and this LONG loading screens is criminal. I load up Risen 3, twice quicker, ONCE. If i want to load another ISLAND, it takes me a three seconds. Loading a TAVERN in PoE takes longer. Screw PoE and screw Obsidian.

 

[CyberWhale]

I have 30hrs clocked so far but the only thing preventing me from loading up the game is...the loading time. In this day and age, an isometric game having this many and this LONG loading screens is criminal. I load up Risen 3, twice quicker, ONCE. If i want to load another ISLAND, it takes me a three seconds. Loading a TAVERN in PoE takes longer. Screw PoE and screw Obsidian.

And screw Unity while you're at it.

 

[AwesomeButton]

This one isn't so much a review as a critique on the philosophical background behind some main concepts of PoE's setting/lore. Mainly about souls and life. The author says it's just the first part though, so probably more posts will follow.

Some parts of the whole post, to give you an idea:

I recently finished Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity, their Kickstarter-funded videogame that deliberately hearkens back to the 90s and Interplay’s computer RPG classics, Planescape: Torment and Baldur’s Gate, and I think I have three or four posts’ worth of material I’d like to talk about from that experience. Later, I’ll discuss the game’s gods, the design and writing of the NPC companions, and what I didn’t like about the game. Today, I’ll discuss the game’s ending, in the context of Eugene Thacker’s writings about life in Starry Speculative Corpse. As I hope was implied by saying that I’m going to discuss the game’s ending, there will be spoilers.

...

...our typical conception of life is always in terms of abundance–life is “generative, proliferating, productive and reproductive.” It’s thought of as affirmative, and as with many affirmations in western philosophy, we treat its opposing negation as something subsumed in it–in this case, it’s a truism that death is a part of life, and we have concepts like the circle of life (thanks, Lion King) to reinforce that subsuming. To bring it back to Pillars of Eternity, life as affirmation can be thought of as the option to return the souls to cycle. But what happens if we treat life as if constituted not by affirmation but negation?

I find it a very interesting read. It also contains spoilers, so beware.

https://literallygames.wordpress.com/2015/08/24/pillars-of-eternity-always-recycle-your-souls/