Playing POE II - Turn-based or RTWP…. what do you think ?

I finally started my TB playthrough of Deadfire…after months of playing MMOs.

I'm doing it with a tactician/wizard and I like it a lot more than with RtWP so far (20 hours in). Especially spellcasters, so much easier to manage AOEs.

I'm also using things I didn't use in RtWP, like wall of fire. TB really seems to open up the tactical aspect of the combat for me. And considering how much I paused in RtWP, I don't think it's necessarily slower.

Tip about ship battles, engaging in the ship-to-ship minigame and using grapeshot ammo will decrease enemies once you board, but I don't find the trade-off in time worth it personally.

I also started TB gameplay some time ago. I already mentioned in another thread I enjoy it, but I had to stop by and share this feeling is getting stronger the more I play. I really did not expect this but TB mode really increased my enjoyment from game a lot. Cannot recommend it enough. Thumbs up Obsidian. Pity we wont get more games like this from them.

I just started playing this game yesterday, I put about four hours in so far and I'm liking it a lot. Of course I picked the turn based option, and the combat to date is enjoyable and very tactical. I haven't explored much so far, one island and a city so far, but I just headed out into the wilderness to find some dig site, so I expect to be romping out doors for some time.

I had the game in stand-by for several months not, but right now Turn-based mode made it fresh and enjoyable again. I know it is the same campaign, but it feels different in TB and requires a different approach.
Dex is an absolute dump stat, for starters.

What are you guys doing to me? I'm already playing three games right now and you are trying to add a fourth.

I'm having quite the time playing this one. I spent almost an entire session just mapping out the world and picking a few naval battles along my way, then yesterday I spent some time progressing a few quests. I feel pretty confident with my current roster, and I have a few bench-warmers waiting on stand-by if the need arises.

The more I play this, the more I enjoy it. I'm quite impressed with how they decided to award experience in this game, you seem to get huge rewards for exploration and completing quests, and hardly any just for mowing down opponents. As it should be.

I think it's one of the best cRPG I've played now. It's pretty clean for an Obsidian game, story is cool, setting is exotic, and now with the turn-based mode, the rules and systems actually works.

It's a great game and a truly professional product, if I were Microsoft I would have bought Obsidian too…

I thought I was heading for the final showdown, then found an island in the middle of the map that I'd not visited before, and found like a chain of twenty or so coliseum type quests/event battles. Those kept me busy for the better part of two full plays, and I've still not done the ones that require you to leave the island and explore elsewhere. If nothing else, I certainly got my moneys' worth from this game, but more than that I've had a great time exploring and playing.

I haven't said anything after I said I started a TB playthrough.

And that's because my HD crashed and I lost my save (I was about 20 hours in). I ended-up restarting with a shadowdancer instead and I had a lots of fun for about 30 hours. That's when I decided to play the Beast of Winter DLC and I found it boring. Well more like annoying than boring, the lore stuff is super interesting, the mechanics and fights in it aren't.

Then I saw some Cyberpunk 2077 stuff and I wanted to play some cyberpunk so I installed DX:MD and played that until Greedfall released which I completed a week ago…and now I'm alternating between AC Odyssey (I also lost my save to that in the HD crash) and Daggerfall Unity.

I did finish the Beast of Winter DLC though. I might return to finish my TB playthrough eventually. I am already level 18 and got enough money for the ship upgrades, so I could beeline for the ending technically, but I kinda wanted to do a full completion run and I still have a lots of things to do for that (2 DLCs and a lots of factions quests).

So it seems the consensus is that TB is the way to go? Or does anyone prefer RTwP still?

Just checking because if I start this I will only play through it once, so I want to make sure I play with the most enjoyable system. Note that I like RTwP (like in BG) but absolutely abhorred the chaotic implementation in the first PoE.

I do, but I prefer RTwP in general.

I certainly prefer the turn based model myself. I'm not sure if it's offered for the first Pillars, if it is I might wind up replaying that one.

Originally Posted by wiretripped
So it seems the consensus is that TB is the way to go? Or does anyone prefer RTwP still?

It's different.

TB feels more tactical and less stressful to me. RTwP probably takes a lot less time once your character are OP though.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
I certainly prefer the turn based model myself. I'm not sure if it's offered for the first Pillars, if it is I might wind up replaying that one.

It's not.

Well, that's a bummer, then. I still might wind up replaying it based on the sheer amount of joy I've experienced while playing the second game.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Well, that's a bummer, then. I still might wind up replaying it based on the sheer amount of joy I've experienced while playing the second game.

It depends on who you speak to, but I think POE II is so much better that POE (I). You might have better things to do with your time.

That's my impression as well, but I still plan to replay the first game at some point, just to give it a fair shake. I only know that the second game grabbed and held me much better than the first did, it wasn't even a contest.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
That's my impression as well, but I still plan to replay the first game at some point, just to give it a fair shake. I only know that the second game grabbed and held me much better than the first did, it wasn't even a contest.

Did you play PoE with the expansions? I played through it at release but found it only average, my second playthrough (with expansions and loads of patching) was a LOT more enjoyable.

I've yet to finish PoE2, I keep getting sidetracked. I plan to though, just have to get back in…

I did go back and play the expansion later, but I've never played it all through in one shot, so that's what I intend to remedy, likely sometime later this year. I'm sure playing the way I did sullied the whole experience for me, to my own detriment. I made sure I didn't repeat that error with the second game.