Pillars of Eternity II - Review @ Mortismal Gaming

Mortismal Gaming reviewed Pillars Of Eternity 2: Deadfire:

Pillars Of Eternity 2: Deadfire - Review After 100%

Reviewing Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire after achieving 100%

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Thanks Redglyph!

More information.

Not the same quality as a NeverKnowsBest, or the same depth of analysis, but shorter and more "hands-on". He's giving a few interesting tips and reveals a few hidden features of the game

Just finished the complete edition yesterday after around 65h, the dlc with wael's body was pretty cool, same for beast of winter with the time travel thing. The eothas ending was pretty simple but i really liked how the factions storylines conclude.

I finished PoE2 fully at launch, and then again when turn-based mode released with all the DLCs, the mega-bosses and such, and both times I was glued to the game day and night from beginning to end. I can say without a doubt it's the most enjoyable isometric CRPG I've ever played, and I've played every one of them from 1998 to 2021.

And yes, the game had flaws. The combat systems were a bit obscure, some stats didn't work so well, the story wasn't the most appealing to a lot of people, some companions and the writing in general weren't even spectacular a lot of the time. But at the end of the day all I can quantify is the amount of hours I sank into the game wishing days lasted longer or sleep wasn't a thing for human beings, and very few games have given me that feeling like PoE2 did.

It is just unfortunate that for whatever reason this game wasn't a financial success, meaning that probably we won't see more of it, but only watching a few snippets of this review video brings me such good memories. In my opinion, this was Obsidian at the best point it ever was, and it will ever be.

I didn't play it until a year later, when all content was available and the turn mode was completed. All that said, this is one of the best games of the past twenty years for me, one I know I'll be playing many times again.

Nereida said:

I finished PoE2 fully at launch, and then again when turn-based mode released with all the DLCs, the mega-bosses and such, and both times I was glued to the game day and night from beginning to end. I can say without a doubt it's the most enjoyable isometric CRPG I've ever played, and I've played every one of them from 1998 to 2021.

And yes, the game had flaws. The combat systems were a bit obscure, some stats didn't work so well, the story wasn't the most appealing to a lot of people, some companions and the writing in general weren't even spectacular a lot of the time. But at the end of the day all I can quantify is the amount of hours I sank into the game wishing days lasted longer or sleep wasn't a thing for human beings, and very few games have given me that feeling like PoE2 did.

It is just unfortunate that for whatever reason this game wasn't a financial success, meaning that probably we won't see more of it, but only watching a few snippets of this review video brings me such good memories. In my opinion, this was Obsidian at the best point it ever was, and it will ever be.

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Loved this game as well. But actually have love/hate relationship. The original POE was the BG successor game I wanted so badly. They had to spend so much time and money building all their own IP (content and mechanics), and it resulted in 2 games and some DLCs. If they could have pulled off deal with WoC to just get D&D content, they could have made such an awesome BG spiritual successor. Happy with what we got, but just can't help but feel the gaming world missed a great opportunity. Then we got Kingmaker which was pretty close to the mark but Pathfinder based. And now we get BG3 which for me personally is looking really lame. It was either bad timing - WoC not licensing as much as they are now - or I guess Obsidian couldn't pony up enough dough back in the day to get a deal. All just a shame IMHO. And all that Pillars content they created is now just going to go into the trash heap I guess.

bizorker said:

Loved this game as well. But actually have love/hate relationship. The original POE was the BG successor game I wanted so badly. They had to spend so much time and money building all their own IP (content and mechanics), and it resulted in 2 games and some DLCs. If they could have pulled off deal with WoC to just get D&D content, they could have made such an awesome BG spiritual successor. Happy with what we got, but just can't help but feel the gaming world missed a great opportunity.

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I have to disagree here. We have a decent amount of D&D games already. Sure, we could always use more, but it's nice to have alternatives as well. I don't want every game of this style to take place in the same universe.

Hmm I really must play this at some point. I recently replayed the first one and really enjoyed it.

Daniel.

bizorker said:

If they could have pulled off deal with WoC to just get D&D content, they could have made such an awesome BG spiritual successor. Happy with what we got, but just can't help but feel the gaming world missed a great opportunity. Then we got Kingmaker which was pretty close to the mark but Pathfinder based. And now we get BG3 which for me personally is looking really lame.

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Yes, their ruleset is a bit out there, and it's really not TB-friendly so adding that mode was a strange move.

From what I understood, it was their will to have simplified "modern" rules fit for computer and they didn't feel that tabletop-based rules were necessary. Or has Obsidian actually tried to get a licence from WotC for PoE, is that what you mean?

For my part I would have preferred a D&D PoE (at least for the rules), but it's just the matter of getting used to the other system, sometimes it's refreshing to change a little bit. As long as the system is sound and balanced... but I don't have any opinion on that, haven't played it enough to tell.

Ah, or maybe you're referring to the D&D lore, not the rules?

Pathfinder is a fork of D&D 3.5, it's very similar, and the lore is pretty good. So for me, the 2 Pathfinder games made by Owlcat Games are more than enough to satisfy this need And there's Solasta, even though it won't have as much content, it's still a very good first D5E game.

I'm not sure what to think of Pillars 2. The combat system is not intuitive for me and I feel the AI system was an attempt to compensate for this by allowing the player to essentially skip this. The ship combat was a disaster and sunk the game for the mainstream. I told them to make it like Sid Meier's Pirates in the Obsidian forums but got ignored like most feedback does, c'est la vie, what can you do. The writing was okay but felt unnatural some of the time and I distinctly remember feeling pestered by companions constantly and surprised in a not good way by the topic of conversation and the choices I was expected to make.

I like to think Obsidian could produce a decent D&D game but then I'm reminded of NWN2. Their games always seem disjointed with some parts working poorly and falling flat with other parts showing potential but ultimately not delivering on it. A consequence of being an indie developer for most of their history and having a limited budget? Probably but something always seems missing or wrong headed about their approach to game making, except for the parts Chris Avellone produced. It maybe different now with Microsoft money but the new breed of writers Obsidian has don't cut the mustard for me.

Wizards should give the 5th edition license to Solasta devs. They have already proven themselves capable and their efforts compare favourably with Larian.

darklord said:

Hmm I really must play this at some point. I recently replayed the first one and really enjoyed it.

Daniel.

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For me personally 2 was big improvement. I believe many of the 'set piece' encounters / maps are some of the most fun and well designed in RPG land.

Silver said:

A consequence of being an indie developer for most of their history and having a limited budget?

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Didn't they have a larger budget for The Outer Worlds though? If so, it certainly didn't help. I thought it was significantly inferior to their previous games that I've played.

Redglyph said:

Yes, their ruleset is a bit out there, and it's really not TB-friendly so adding that mode was a strange move.

From what I understood, it was their will to have simplified "modern" rules fit for computer and they didn't feel that tabletop-based rules were necessary. Or has Obsidian actually tried to get a licence from WotC for PoE, is that what you mean?

For my part I would have preferred a D&D PoE (at least for the rules), but it's just the matter of getting used to the other system, sometimes it's refreshing to change a little bit. As long as the system is sound and balanced… but I don't have any opinion on that, haven't played it enough to tell.

Ah, or maybe you're referring to the D&D lore, not the rules?

Pathfinder is a fork of D&D 3.5, it's very similar, and the lore is pretty good. So for me, the 2 Pathfinder games made by Owlcat Games are more than enough to satisfy this need And there's Solasta, even though it won't have as much content, it's still a very good first D5E game.

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Maybe my post was a little too confusing. Here is my main point. Way, way back when I first backed as kickstarter I was really starving for a BG successor game, and the kickstarter billed it as such. I got PoE 1 and 2, both great games, but I would have preferred Forgotten Realms setting, and they could have spent more of their energy on story and maybe a nice adaptation of PnP rules, instead of creating this whole new universe and mechanic which aren't likely to survive beyond PoE2.

And in addition, it took many, many, many years after I backed the PoE kickstarter before I got Kingmaker (which hit closest to the mark for me as a BG-like, D&D 'sort of', PC RPG). And there were notorious disasters along the way - like that Sword Coast Adventures fiasco. And even looking at BG3 I'm not really digging the direction at the moment.

I haven't played a really fun PC-based, Forgotten Realms setting, RPG in a long long time. Solasta looks pretty cool and I have my eye on that one.

It is a good game but the flaw that ruined it for me is the dialogue, often voiced by some of the most untalented , disinterested voice actors I've ever heard in a game of this supposed stature.

Not the party voices, but other NPC's are truly abysmal.

And every "authority figure" you converse with talks in this weird fortune-cookie drivel bullshit meant to show how 'wise' and 'philosophical they are.

Some of it is really dreadful and silly.

bizorker said:

and they could have spent more of their energy on story and maybe a nice adaptation of PnP rules, instead of creating this whole new universe and mechanic which aren't likely to survive beyond PoE2.

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Perhaps you weren't aware, but the game they're developing now (Avowed) uses the same setting.

JDR13 said:

Perhaps you weren't aware, but the game they're developing now (Avowed) uses the same setting.

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Oh! No didn't know that. Well that is good news indeed. Glad to hear the investments they've made continue to pay dividends.

bizorker said:

Oh! No didn't know that. Well that is good news indeed. Glad to hear the investments they've made continue to pay dividends.

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Avowed is an action RPG by the looks of things. First person perspective like Skyrim so its doubtful you will see the same rules system as Pillars games.

I keep hearing how PoE2 is so much better than 1 from so many sources, but I probably wont ever play it. I tired PoE1 and I couldn't bare it for some unknown reason, and likewise I couldn't bare Tyranny. And, as Silver says, Obsidian hasn't ever really changed and NWN2 was almost unbearable. NWN2 still stands as the only Obsidian game I've managed to complete & that finished up as a stubborn determination to see just how bad it could get.

Also like silver says, the reasons for this are too nuanced for them to be ever neatly illustrated in a forum post, even a big wall of text, suffice to say, yeah, PoE2 might well be 'better', 'good' or whatever, but I can no longer continue passing any time or money Obsidian's way, I'm kinda done with them.

I find Obsidian to be massively variable.
I enjoyed PoE 1 way more than I thought I would (PoE 2 will be soon...), and loved The Outer Worlds (with some criticisms) and FO:NV.

But...
Dungeon Siege III was shite.
NWN2 was shoddy. It had its moments, but so much was awful. The MQ was a massive disappointment, and The Mask of the Betrayer was at best "goodish".
I liked Alpha Protocol, but in many respects it was as janky as fuck.

Come to think of it, even the ones that I loved had some pretty shoddy aspects.

Pillars did the exact opposite of Original Sin. Where the latter severely decreased in quality from the first game to second, Pillars only got better. They kept everything great from the first game and just increased the second in all areas, in a profound and meaningful way. I sure hope we get a third!