Pillars of Eternity II - Review

PCGamer Radio checked out Pillars of Eternity II - Deadfire:

WTF is Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire

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It's a rave: "This is an incredible story, incredible RPG, and it is huge"

But he likes the turn-based combat better than the RTwP: "So much more focused and strategized"

I think saying it's an incredible story is a bit of an overstatement, but it's still a good story. To me, the only downfall of PoE2 was RtWP, and they fixed that.

Christ can't there be one news-bit on the watch were someone doesn't complain about RTwP? Guess I'll have to step up my campaign against Turn-based RPGs then.



The day every RPG goes TB again is the day I quit gaming.

I'm actually playing through PoE2 right now in turn-based mode, and I definitely prefer that to the RTwP in the original PoE. It's much easier for me to keep track of what's going on. Combat has a tactical flavor, where in the original PoE it felt more like managing a set of cooldown timers.

RTwP combat isn't a deal-breaker for me, but I'm enjoying the gradual return of turn-based combat in the wake of XCOM.

Sorry @Couchpotato, I have my opinions, and you shall endure them.

No hard feelings though, I respect your inferior taste.

We need a TB option so the people who can't handle RTwP can enjoy these games too.

Originally Posted by JDR13
We need a TB option so the people who can't handle RTwP can enjoy these games too.

Personally, I beat the game in PotD difficulty in both settings. Only difference is that in one setting there was a point around halfway through the game when I started autopiloting by selecting all the party and clicking enemies one by one till they died. In the other setting I felt combat was meaningful and engaging and I had fun til the end despite having already beaten the game before. You can guess which is which.

A great game in-spite of them adding the mind-bendingly dull and tedious TB combat mode

Pillars of Eternal copy/paste islands. Regardless of playmode.

Btw, isn't it bad taste to use the WTF gimmick? Considering that was TotalBiscuit's, who died just recently?

Originally Posted by Drithius
Btw, isn't it bad taste to use the WTF gimmick? Considering that was TotalBiscuit's, who died just recently?

Yeah that used to be TotalBiscuit's signature review trademark. He's been dead for almost two years now. Guess some YouTuber is trying to be like him I guess.

I spent 220 hours with PoE2 while bulk of that time was spent on 2 playtroughs, one in RTwP and one TB and finished neither yet. In TB I enjoyed combat much more, but it couldnt improve other shortcomings, most visible being lacking ruleset and totally uninspiring main plot.

Although Im more fond of TB combat, I spent over 300 hours with vanilla Kingmaker and finished it in one breath. For me the main question is not TB or RtWP, but implementation of ruleset and quality of execution.

Originally Posted by Andrew23
For me the main question is not TB or RtWP, but implementation of ruleset and quality of execution.

That's the same side I swing as I don't follow there can only be one debate. While I favor Action combat over TB it really depends on the game, and how it's implemented.

Doubt we'll see another Pillar's of Eternity game anyway as as sales flopped for part two, and obsidian is hiring for a modern unannounced Microsoft funded RPG.

Turn-based only probably wouldn't have saved the franchise either.

Are the megabosses easier in TB mode?
I beat all of the megabosses on the second highest difficulty but I had to cheese my way through them.

Originally Posted by bjon045
Are the megabosses easier in TB mode?
I beat all of the megabosses on the second highest difficulty but I had to cheese my way through them.

In general, they are about the same I'd say, but I found Dorudugan (The giant golem) is harder in TB because of his bomb detonation mechanic. In Path of the Damned at least, those bombs one-shot your party members, and here's the tricky part. While in real-time he spreads the bombs and they detonate in a certain time and all you have to do is pause and move all your characters simultaneously out of the danger, in TB those bombs sometimes are spred out and detonated before some of your members actually had a chance to act in between, leading to inevitable deaths, that in a tough and long fight as it is, ends up beating you through attrition, because your characters hit final death after 3 "knockouts" and can't be brought back anymore.

In the end you learn to manipulate a bit the turn order to try to guarantee that all your members can move in between the time the bombs are laid out and the time they detonate, together with some widespread fanning out so with luck some of the members won't have to move at all makes the fight doable, but it's never a guarantee that it will work. It makes it into a highly strategical and at times frustrating fight. To me it is by far the toughest encounter in the whole game, as it took me a good amount tries to get it down while for example, I got the Sigilmaster down on the first try, and the others within the first five attempts, give or take, which were mostly to get familiar with their mechanics and combat phases.

I also thought the TB mode in PoE was vastly superior.

The problem was that the game was still designed like a RTwP game, meaning endless trash encounters that simply don't warrant the possibilities given to you by TB.
Those encounters you can just auto-pilot through in RTwP, but in TB, they take a very long time despite offering no challenge at all, even on the highest difficulty.

Really just highlights what a crappy design trash encounters are.

Originally Posted by TheSHEEEP
I also thought the TB mode in PoE was vastly superior.

The problem was that the game was still designed like a RTwP game, meaning endless trash encounters that simply don't warrant the possibilities given to you by TB.
Those encounters you can just auto-pilot through in RTwP, but in TB, they take a very long time despite offering no challenge at all, even on the highest difficulty.

Really just highlights what a crappy design trash encounters are.

I find a few trash encounters in a game fun, since they make me feel powerful. It is faster in rtwp of course, but even in tb I think it's alright. The problem to me, is if there are too many.

I agree. There's nothing wrong with lesser encounters. Not every encounter can be against some epic foe.

In reality, it just highlights one of the drawbacks of TB combat. Combat simply takes too long for some people. I got burned out on Divinty: OS because of the combat despite really liking most other aspects of the game. Every encounter was…just…so….fucking…..long. I hear D:OS II is even worse in that way, and I've seen a lot of people say they quit because of it.

I think it's matter of whether you're having fun with it or not. I never had a problem with something fun I already paid for lasting longer, especially if I can choose my pace and time to consume those hours of fun. It'd be different if I was chained to the computer playing without sleeping or eating til the game is completed.

I guess I get the concept, since I always get bored of Bethesda games because of how long they are and how redundant combat gets, topped by the fact that dungeons get repopped and as a completionist it annoys the hell out of me that I can't 100% the game, but there's no respawns in games like Pillars of Eternity or Original Sin, so to me it's hard to understand how something that someone hand placed there with their hard work to provide loot, experience and fun can be boring as long as you're getting loot, experience and fun out of it.

Plus honestly, in Original Sin at least for me most fights were over in the first couple turns, just mater of setting up a couple of nice combos.

Turn-based finally. Kidnapping the developers families and threatening them to be burned at the stake - good witch-burney medieval-style - apparently had its effect. UI is nicely designed and that blonde "shopkeeper" girl character is really well made, as are the 3D maps. This looks to be a nice game, so I have to try it out. Let's see, how it supports low resolutions and IS IT good enough for me to HACK THE FCKNG FONTS? And Make them BIG..

So regards graphics, 3D characters, UI, I respect the developers, they did an amazing job. Only if the developers earn my respect.. Only games that are good enough.. receive my Big Font MOD blessings.