Codex Review RPG Codex Review: Pillars of Eternity II - It's Pretty Alright

[Infinitron]

Upcoming DLCs sound like they might add more stuff like that.

 

[Darth Roxor]

consider me sceptical

 

[Flou]

Oh fuck I think I spoiled it when I read the part about POE2's writing, but that line, “Pallegina, you should learn to respect her opinions” is worth it.
Please tell me this is a word-by-word quote from the game. Honestly who wrote this.

Don't know who wrote it, but it was one of the few moments in the game when I thought the writing is actually terrible and badly paced/placed. (My playthrough had the companion reputation bug in it, so some of the conversations started very suddenly. Nothing like a fishman pledging his love for me when we just met)

Overall I thought the writing was just fine. They should have toned down on the companion romance options though by at least a few. Playersexual characters are just a horrible idea.

 

[Flou]

I'd say Concelhaut is a good test for how well you understand the defences / spells / buffs / etc. (I guess you could cheese him instead, but that's a bit like cheesing Kangaxx.) And if you're soloing things like the imp fight can be pretty interestingly tough. But what we really needed is more of that stuff on that puts the ante up, real equivalents to the Twisted Rune or such.

Hopefully the "megaboss" fights and the last DLC fixes that problem. Still the game has far too few actually challenging fights in it's current state.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Good job Darth Roxor. I'm sure someone will read this review. Someday.

 

[Kev Inkline]

Sounds like a bunch of wasted potential.

Granted, today he writes reviews for the codex, but who is to say what he'll become!

 

[Tacgnol]

Overall I thought the writing was just fine. They should have toned down on the companion romance options though by at least a few. Playersexual characters are just a horrible idea.

We need more games where plot companions don't try to get involved with the PC.

This Bioware-esque romance shit really needs to die, especially in games like Pillars 2 that handle it so badly.

 

[Jarmaro]

Good job Darth Roxor. I'm sure someone will read this review. Someday.

Does it really take that much time? I read it in, like, >20 minutes.


Darth Roxor Don't you think that game which is so focused on story&writting, advertised as such and is praised for it, is a gigantic failure if it doesn't meet expectations? Gameplay and exploration may be good, but they are second to story.
According to your review this game is a failure.

 

[Tacgnol]

Gameplay and exploration may be good, but they are second to story.

Depends on whether you're a storyfag or not.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Gameplay and exploration may be good, but they are second to story.

that might be true if you're a dumbshit maybe

 

[ERYFKRAD]

ameplay and exploration may be good, but they are second to story.

No.

 

[Trashos]

Combat gameplay is #1, but I just can't stand dumb writing in RPGs or anywhere. I should have gotten used to it by now, but I can't. It just makes me depressed.

On the plus side, I then play some well written RPGs (like some indies, in recent years), and it feels like I am reading Salinger's latest masterpiece. You have to lose yourself into the darkness before you appreciate the light, I guess.

Pretty good review, Roxor. I commend you for taking pity on Obsidian, in such tough times.

 

[Zerth]

Gameplay and exploration may be good, but they are second to story.

Nope. As much, storytelling can be conveyed through gameplay and exploration. Infodumps belong somewhere else.

 

[Septaryeth]

Combat gameplay is #1, but I just can't stand dumb writing in RPGs or anywhere. I should have gotten used to it by now, but I can't. It just makes me depressed.
On the plus side, I then play some well written RPGs (like some indies, in recent years), and it feels like I am reading Salinger's latest masterpiece. You have to lose yourself into the darkness before you appreciate the light, I guess..

Can you give me some recommendations? Anything equals or above PoE's quality is welcomed.
(Personally I don't mind PoE's writing. The lore dump and kickstarter characters were a bit much but I enjoyed the story, right until the third act that is.)
Seeing PoE II's story is worse than PoE makes me reconsider buying this thing at the first place but then I'd have nothing to do for the next few months.

 

[Flou]

We need more games where plot companions don't try to get involved with the PC.

This Bioware-esque romance shit really needs to die, especially in games like Pillars 2 that handle it so badly.

It just needs to die. No game has gotten better because the companions are playersexual. It's shit for the writers as well, having to make the relationship from normal companionship to romance no matter the gender or race with pretty much every companion in the game.
It ruins the characters completely and leads to weak writing. If the romance feels forced, there's nothing the writer can do to make it any better. He/She/It has to write some clichee lines to get the characters from point A to point B in few moments. There's no room for the relationship to build naturally over time that would actually support the writer and help them to build the romance as a sorta natural progression for the characters instead of them just blurting out how they have deep feelings for you and they want to fuck right now and here with these giant spiders lurking around the corner.

It's just really bad design to begin with. If they want romance in the game then they should just pick the characters and their sexuality that fit their personalities. It's not only a lot easier for the writer to come up with it when it's orlan on orlan romance or fish vs. male PC etc, but it also feels less forced on the player when everyone in the goddamn game isn't trying to fuck you.

 

[Septaryeth]

We need more games where plot companions don't try to get involved with the PC.

This Bioware-esque romance shit really needs to die, especially in games like Pillars 2 that handle it so badly.

It just needs to die. No game has gotten better because the companions are playersexual. It's shit for the writers as well, having to make the relationship from normal companionship to romance no matter the gender or race with pretty much every companion in the game.
It ruins the characters completely and leads to weak writing. If the romance feels forced, there's nothing the writer can do to make it any better. He/She/It has to write some clichee lines to get the characters from point A to point B in few moments. There's no room for the relationship to build naturally over time that would actually support the writer and help them to build the romance as a sorta natural progression for the characters instead of them just blurting out how they have deep feelings for you and they want to fuck right now and here with these giant spiders lurking around the corner.

It's just really bad design to begin with. If they want romance in the game then they should just pick the characters and their sexuality that fit their personalities. It's not only a lot easier for the writer to come up with it when it's orlan on orlan romance or fish vs. male PC etc, but it also feels less forced on the player when everyone in the goddamn game isn't trying to fuck you.

I recalled back when the PoE kickstarter update announced that they won't add romance into the game.
There was a huge uproar from a specific group of players that "need companionship to immerse in their characters" and I admired Obsidian for sticking with their decision.
I wonder why Obsidian changed its mind.

 

[Bocian]

Gameplay and exploration may be good, but they are second to story.

In my eyes putting one next to each other and trying to determine what comes first is senseless. Gameplay and story are two completely independent things, unrelated to each other, and working separately. You can have a game with great combat but shit or no story, and it can work (barely) and be good for what it is, and you can have a weak combat that is just a filler, but a great story that keeps pushing you forward and keeping you hooked, like P:T.
But probably we can agree that it's the best when both combat and story are great, like in Age of Decadence. We can see that pulling it off is more than possible with some effort and brain power. I think Pillars of Eternity is missing either former or latter. Or both.

 

[Shadenuat]

I'd say Concelhaut is a good test for how well you understand the defences / spells / buffs / etc. (I guess you could cheese him instead, but that's a bit like cheesing Kangaxx.) And if you're soloing things like the imp fight can be pretty interestingly tough. But what we really needed is more of that stuff on that puts the ante up, real equivalents to the Twisted Rune or such.

Concelhaut is a joke and a boring one. Half of his troops may even forget you exist if you pull the first part of the group due to bad AI unaware that its allies are fighting right now meters away. It's not even spells that fight for him, apart from occasional fear, but more like high HP & defences. The fact that he is the only one who seems to be using fear/reflect just makes it all more sad. In BG1 first time you have to learn to deal with afflictions is 3d level mage in front of Friendly Arms Inn, and it only goes up later. Think about that.

 

[Jarmaro]

I might have said it messy, so I will clarify: I did not mean that "Gameplay and exploration may be good, but they are second to story" applies EVERYWHERE.
I meant that it applies to PoE 2 as it is "focused on story&writting, advertised as such and is praised for it".
I am not saying that all games are supposed to have story #1 or anything like that, only that PoE2 is supposed to have it that way. And it doesn't, thus, it's a failure.

 

[Urthor]

Secret area that's only around at a certain time of the game year???

Wut

 

[Darth Roxor]

I might have said it messy, so I will clarify: I did not mean that "Gameplay and exploration may be good, but they are second to story" applies EVERYWHERE.
I meant that it applies to PoE 2 as it is "focused on story&writting, advertised as such and is praised for it".
I am not saying that all games are supposed to have story #1 or anything like that, only that PoE2 is supposed to have it that way. And it doesn't, thus, it's a failure.

The entire point of the PoE series is to try to appeal to baldur's gate fanbois. Was the story the primary focus of baldur's gate?

 

[Safav Hamon]

Secret area that's only around at a certain time of the game year???

Wut

There's a location on the map that's empty except for on the 16th of the month, when there's a human sacrifice ritual. The only way to find out about it is through an elaborate unmarked sidequest, or by just accidentally stumbling on it.

 

[himmy]

Sounds like a bunch of wasted potential.

rpg codex > Sounds like a bunch of wasted potential

 

[Trashos]

Can you give me some recommendations? Anything equals or above PoE's quality is welcomed.
(Personally I don't mind PoE's writing. The lore dump and kickstarter characters were a bit much but I enjoyed the story, right until the third act that is.)
Seeing PoE II's story is worse than PoE makes me reconsider buying this thing at the first place but then I'd have nothing to do for the next few months.

The indies I had in mind when I was writing my post: Age of Decadence & Underrail. Very different styles, though. AoD is full of pessimism (realism?) and dark humor, and I was also impressed by the technique with which its lore was revealed (different perspective for each character you create, you puzzle the lore together through several playthoughs). Underrail has both very intriguing (and convoluted) lore and exceptionally cool characters, especially as compared to most other RPGs.

Do I need to mention Planescape Torment? Probably not.

All the above have much better writing than PoEs, although PoE1 had its strong moments (but it was uneven).

 

[Crescent Hawk]

The worst thing for me is the setting. The races, the gods, its absolute shit.