PoE Thoughts/discussion/first impressions of Pillars of Eternity!

Pillars of Eternity
I've played about 8.5 hours of PoE so far. My impression is not different to a lot of posters here.

It feels painfully generic and bland. It is so familiar, there's no sense of anything new in this game. It screams out "go play BG or IWD". It's a bit ironic really, I wanted a game like BG/IWD for so long and now that I've got what I wanted, I'm terribly disappointed. Truth is, I wanted a similar game but with something different too. An exciting new universe, new companions that are not clones from other well-known games, engaging story.... you know. I'm hoping the story will pick up soon and once I get to know my companions I will find them more interesting. Oh, and is it just me or many of you find voice acting dreadful? There's no personality in it.

On top of this, my hubby is experiencing this bug that takes up huge amount of his RAM when he runs PoE (he's game is like a slideshow)... anyone else experienced this?
 
While I can understand your point of view its basically like saying "Guess, a Baldurs Gate 3 wouldn't be my cup of tea either".
I mean you will never get something completely new in a game which wants to be a successor of a classic RPG, with classic gameplay.

I mean, what would be an exciting new universe for you? Is there any game which has such a universe for you?
Personally I didn't feel like the companions were clones from other games, but I probably didn't play the games you mentioned. But at some point they have to repeat I guess or show similarities.
That said, imho their story-quests are all kinda disappointing.
About the story itself I kinda agree. I liked the Story in the first 2/3 of the game, but not how it was told (not dense enough). It seems to be a little denser in the third part, but there I don't really like the story itself much anymore (becomes too extreme like in games where you talk to gods/ become gods, destroy concepts like "death" or "void").

The Ram issue your husband is experiencing might be something related to unity. I think I have seen several reports regarding that, but no idea where. If you cant find anything on the POE boards, you might want to check MMX or WL2 boards as well.
 
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I've played about 8.5 hours of PoE so far. My impression is not different to a lot of posters here.
I was under the impression or understanding that most like myself really enjoyed the first half to two thirds of the game. It was near the end that it seemed to lose a lot of the story to me.

It isn't ground breaking but it was for the most part what they had said it was going to be.
 
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I mean, what would be an exciting new universe for you? Is there any game which has such a universe for you?

I'm not sure if I explained myself well enough, but basically what I want is not a clone of BG2. I already have BG2. What I wanted was isometric party based RPG with different settings, lores, story and well-developed/interesting companions.

So far, the game feels like wanna-be clones of other IE games, namely BG and IWD, as the codex review mentioned. I thought Obsidian's so-called strength is writing. I didn't feel anything drawing me in. Dialogues, story, settings, lores so far has been "meh". Yes, I understand that I'm still very early in the game. I will continue play PoE, it's not like I hate the game or something. I just feel disappointed, that is all.
 
I'm not sure if I explained myself well enough, but basically what I want is not a clone of BG2. I already have BG2. What I wanted was isometric party based RPG with different settings, lores, story and well-developed/interesting companions.

So far, the game feels like wanna-be clones of other IE games, namely BG and IWD, as the codex review mentioned. I thought Obsidian's so-called strength is writing. I didn't feel anything drawing me in. Dialogues, story, settings, lores so far has been "meh". Yes, I understand that I'm still very early in the game. I will continue play PoE, it's not like I hate the game or something. I just feel disappointed, that is all.

Yeah, I mostly agree with you, though I don't think it's THAT bland or generic. It's fine, really - but it's just not very exciting.

I was very excited for a few hours, because I expected this rich and intricate set of mechanics - all new and shiny. But that wore off, as soon as I realised it was a typical example of modern balancing and the trendy "all builds must work" or "all stats are equal - no matter how little sense it makes" design approach.

I really hate that - because it takes away the impact of choice, and the game feels like I don't have to think much to make an efficient character.

I absolutely love messing around with builds and mechanics, so naturally - this was sort of a death sentence for the game.

Combat is a mess - but once you adjust to the quirky unwieldy nature of it, I found 9 out of 10 fights on Hard trivial and basically auto-wins. I'm sure that changes towards the end, but it's not enough for me.

I'm primarily into this subgenre for the character building/progression, exploration and the tactical challenges. The writing is secondary - as I've never found the isometric perspective good for immersion, and that's paramount for me if I'm to be engaged by a world and its setting.

So, while the writing was decent enough, it was still pretty par for the course with Obsidian - which is to say over-written and pretentious.

The exploration was ok, but it was really just a matter of "scout mode on" and combing every inch of every map. Typical modern design with no player engagement needed.

Maybe I'll get back to it after some patches and the expansions. Not sure I'll bother, though.

I'm more likely to replay BG - even though I'm not a big fan of 2nd Edition AD&D. But at least that system has a lot choice with a lot of impact.
 
I played BG1EE a lot in last few months waiting for PoE so I cannot say I would rather replays BG1EE :D

I enjoyed my 100+ hours play of PoE but unlike IE games I don't have this huge need to replay it over and over with different characters and different companion combinations.

As it was said, all build choices feel samey.
But the main story is the biggest problem. I liked the side quests in all parts of the game and I would replay it once more only to choose different options in those.
I know these choices in the end are not real choices but I like roleplaying in cRPGs and enjoyed these fake choices in Shadowrun games as well.
 
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Sinked in a lot more hours into it, and now I believe I'm about 2/3 way through 2nd chapter. My impression of PoE haven't changed much since beginning. It's a decent game but nothing special.

Game runs smoothly, I like the GUI. I have mixed feeling about the journal - I just don't like how finished quests still stay in the log (just greyed out, not being moved to different tab etc). I'm a bit of a completionist, so I don't like seeing a long list of things not crossed out.

I've been travelling with same party members since I've got them (with the exception of Durance, who I got rid of - he's a keep quest monkey now), and yet I don't feel very close to them. I remember reading there's a bug that NPCs seldom talk, and I wonder if it's that bug I'm experience. There really weren't that much interactions between my PC and NPCs.

I find story telling very confusing thus far. I feel like I wasn't given enough info to make some deductions and yet it seem to make sense to my PC (while I'm sitting there, trying to figure out how things are connected). On top of that, as usual, Obsidian's story tend to me so depressing…. is there any joy left in this world?? Everything is screaming out depressing.

City of Defiance Bay was disappointing too. I found it underwhelming, it's like city of Baldur's Gate, except less interesting. The fact there's Ducal palace and heaps of loading screens really reminded me of the BG.

Still having difficulties understanding combat as well. You see, I love caster classes. That's why I chose a mage for my PC. If I knew how underwhelming spells are, I probably would have chosen a different class…. This is probably my fault, but I find it so hard to aim a spell at enemies in this game… I often miss with fireball etc and when I do actually hit the enemies, the spell doesn't seem to last long. I know the duration of spell is affected by my intelligence or something, but I don't know how much of difference it's going to make.

Speaking of attributes, I also find it annoying that most of dialogues are unlocked by "perception". Or rather the fact, all dialogue options shows up but in red if you don't meet requirement. I find it annoying that I've missed out on few dialogue options by 1-2 points off perception or something. I would prefer not knowing at all.

You guys probably think I'm nitpicking, but hey, they set their bar high by calling this game "spiritual successor of IE games". In saying that, it's still enjoyable enough - I can see myself finishing this game and keen for at least one replay through.
 
all dialogue options shows up but in red if you don't meet requirement. I find it annoying that I've missed out on few dialogue options by 1-2 points off perception or something. I would prefer not knowing at all.
- That's actually something you can turn off in options, to remain in the dark.

I personally found the writing decent enough. I like extended prose and we haven't really had an RPG with this much detail (some say too much detail) in a long time. As to its subject matter, sure it's cliche… this is a nostalgia game borne out out of the design doctrine of 'playing it safe' after all, to salvage the fate of a developer studio. There's only so much that can be done with a Forgoten Realms clone on a shoestring budget ;)

I haven't played in a few weeks now. Still waiting on patch 1.05. Not sure why - probably, mostly, to start with a fresh mindset after being annoyed by bugs the first time around. And annoyed by hype-bots ignoring obvious issues to label this as super-duper-radical-omgzors.

If there is ever a PoE 2, my one wish would be that Obsidian implement the combat mechanics (and Turn-based gameplay) of D:OS.
 
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I finished the game last weekend. Did everything except a couple seemingly pointless murderous quests. Only took 2 tries to beat the last boss, thank goodness. :)

Really got engaged by the story, and the fate of the Dyrwood. The lovely 2-d backgrounds are wonderful, and the music pretty good as well.

I found the character development fine. Liked the wide variety of skill and attribute checks in dialogs and scripted interactions.

However, most battles I played out the same way. Get my fighter and druid in front, ciphers to the side, mage and priest in second row. Trigger the mob. Paralyze with ciphers while priest, mage, druid debuff, followed by mage and druid and ciphers obliterating with spells, and the fighter and priest shooting. Tank is there in case an enemy gets close (which happened very rarely until the end). Very repetitive and thankfully no respawns but still too much combat for my taste

I was a little disappointed in the endings slide show. Should have done a couple things differently apparently. But overall I enjoyed the game quite a bit. Although I don't know how I could beat the 2 hardest fights without paralyze and petrify spells. Seems unbalanced…

I pre-payed for the expansion. But I can't really say I'm eager to jump right in again. The repetition has been a bit much…

Somehow I am finding the might and magic X combat a lot more interesting. But it could just be the change to turn based blobber. Pretty different from PoS's isometric RtWP. :)
 
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However, most battles I played out the same way. Get my fighter and druid in front, ciphers to the side, mage and priest in second row. Trigger the mob. Paralyze with ciphers while priest, mage, druid debuff, followed by mage and druid and ciphers obliterating with spells, and the fighter and priest shooting. Tank is there in case an enemy gets close (which happened very rarely until the end). Very repetitive and thankfully no respawns but still too much combat for my taste

Next time you play it might not be as simple. They recently nerfed ciphers, they start with 1/4 instead of 1/2 power, and paralysis I believe is less likely to hit. They also nerfed druid spells a bit (ice storm or whatever the name is, and a couple of others).
 
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Oh great, more tedium! ;)

I hope the expansion is a whole new game and not just an addon to play before the finale save game.
 
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I've been travelling with same party members since I've got them (with the exception of Durance, who I got rid of - he's a keep quest monkey now), and yet I don't feel very close to them. I remember reading there's a bug that NPCs seldom talk, and I wonder if it's that bug I'm experience. There really weren't that much interactions between my PC and NPCs.
I found the implementation of party members quite underwhelming as a whole. The quests are almost all done by dialogues only. Some of which are so absurd that you think "why haven't you done this before on your own?". I somewhat miss interactions that matter like in Dragon Age. Most times when a party member jumps into a conversation it's purely cosmetic and his comment is so irrelevant that you cannt even react on it.

I find story telling very confusing thus far. I feel like I wasn't given enough info to make some deductions and yet it seem to make sense to my PC (while I'm sitting there, trying to figure out how things are connected). On top of that, as usual, Obsidian's story tend to me so depressing…. is there any joy left in this world?? Everything is screaming out depressing.
While depressing isn't an issue for me, I agree that it wasn't dense enough to drag you in. It gets better at the end, but unfortunately it gets more absurd at the same time. I think the story I enjoyed most was the Raedrics castle and the story around the meeting at the end of act 2.

City of Defiance Bay was disappointing too. I found it underwhelming, it's like city of Baldur's Gate, except less interesting. The fact there's Ducal palace and heaps of loading screens really reminded me of the BG.
I like the concept of big cities in such games as a whole.
The reason behind that is, that you know that you will do nothing but read for hours once you enter the city. In PoE they at least managed to throw some combats into it to make it a little more interesting.

Still having difficulties understanding combat as well. You see, I love caster classes. That's why I chose a mage for my PC. If I knew how underwhelming spells are, I probably would have chosen a different class…. This is probably my fault, but I find it so hard to aim a spell at enemies in this game… I often miss with fireball etc and when I do actually hit the enemies, the spell doesn't seem to last long. I know the duration of spell is affected by my intelligence or something, but I don't know how much of difference it's going to make.
Casters are extremely powerful, but you need to know how to utilize them. And probably it doesn't matter that much on lower difficulties anyways. Another reason I always play on highest difficulty as even small changes in tactics or equipment make an impact you can feel.
I like the attribute system quite a lot. My problem with it is, that the most fun thing about it, is basically over at character generation as you never come in contact with it again.

Speaking of attributes, I also find it annoying that most of dialogues are unlocked by "perception". Or rather the fact, all dialogue options shows up but in red if you don't meet requirement. I find it annoying that I've missed out on few dialogue options by 1-2 points off perception or something. I would prefer not knowing at all.
Perception, Resolve and Intelligence. And if you are a brute, also might.
Imho the system works good, albeit it does not work as the developers promised.
The dialogue options unlocked by attributes hardly give you negative options, and most times they are actually the better way to go.
 
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I play in Expert Mode and don't even know what the various dialogue options are exactly. I just pick one that sounds good and hope for the best. :cool:
 
I play in Expert Mode and don't even know what the various dialogue options are exactly. I just pick one that sounds good and hope for the best. :cool:

That's ok if you don't play as a priest or paladin, but if you do, it matters that you keep your responses in line to that of your character's deity.
 
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Plaaayed it...somewhere to the middle, I think. Has everything in place, but leaves a sense of identity crisis. I think they could have added those BG I dream sequences, would work well here, since the player, as I understand it, is slowly going insane. Or turning into a catholic. :p
I'll probably pick it up, when it's fully patched and done, but it feels like it's lacking direction and focus and some of that charm that 'old school' had.
 
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I'll probably pick it up, when it's fully patched and done, but it feels like it's lacking direction and focus and some of that charm that 'old school' had.

That could be in about 10 years as the two new patches seem to make it worst. I stopped my replay of it and went back to playing online poker until DOS EE is out.
 
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That could be in about 10 years as the two new patches seem to make it worst. I stopped my replay of it and went back to playing online poker until DOS EE is out.

You were so warned!
 
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