Pillars of Eternity II - Review @ One Angry Gamer

HiddenX

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One Angry Gamer checked out Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire:

Pillars Of Eternity 2 Review: Improving On The Original In Every Way

For me, the Baldur’s Gate style of RPG has always been the most faithful digital recreation of the pen and paper tabletop games. That used to be partly because Bioware built its games based on the same number crunching that your DM would be doing every time you played a quest in his cellar or attic bedroom. Bioware may well have taken a more action orientated path with the last Dragon Age, but Obsidian Entertainment’s original Pillars of Eternity was one of several games that retain the feel of the original Baldur’s Gate series.

And, much as Baldur’s Gate II improved on its predecessor in almost every way, whilst remaining true to the original formula, so too is Pillars of Eternity II more evolution than revolution. Picking up immediately where the first game ends, this incredible sequel makes iterative improvements in almost every area and never misses a beat with its story, it’s pacing or it’s combat. If you loved the first game and wanted more, then simply put, you can stop reading right now to go and and buy this incredible sequel.
[...]
Ultimately, whether you jump into Pillars II for the incredibly rich story, the fantastic presentation or the deep and tactical combat, it is one of the best RPG’s money can buy. Literally my only reservation with it comes on behalf of those who didn’t play the first game and might as well do so before investing in this sequel. Whilst Pillars II does, as I said before, improve on every aspect of the original, it is certainly a direct sequel that really benefits from a good understanding of the original game. For returning players who enjoyed the first game, Pillars II is simply a:
Buy It
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"...incredibly rich story..."

I am wondering about this. The overall storyline is where I got hung up on the first game, which I enjoyed for a while but eventually gave up on. A review on YouTube (Buy, Rent, ...) indicated that the story for 2 is not good.
 
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"…incredibly rich story…"

I am wondering about this. The overall storyline is where I got hung up on the first game, which I enjoyed for a while but eventually gave up on. A review on YouTube (Buy, Rent, …) indicated that the story for 2 is not good.

So far I'm really enjoying all the story in the game. I suspect those reviewers doesn't like it because it's not an ego-massaging "save the world" plot or they didn't understand anything because unlike POE1, POE2 doesn't waste time explaining the lore, but the plot is even more lore filled than POE1 was.
 
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I had the same outcome for DOS1 than for POE1: Pleased at the beginning, tired in the middle and totally bored by the end of the game.

Well, at the moment, POE2 is like DOS2, at least for me, a very very nice surprise.

Story is here and rich but the game is more open and gives you more freedom to do what you want (You can explore or pirate your way without touching the main quests for instance).
I understand than some people more used to the "I am here to save the world" or "hold my hand along the main path, please" can feel a bit frustrated.
 
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I had the same outcome for DOS1 than for POE1: Pleased at the beginning, tired in the middle and totally bored by the end of the game.

Well, at the moment, POE2 is like DOS2, at least for me, a very very nice surprise.

Story is here and rich but the game is more open and gives you more freedom to do what you want (You can explore or pirate your way without touching the main quests for instance).
I understand than some people more used to the "I am here to save the world" or "hold my hand along the main path, please" can feel a bit frustrated.
I'm one of those. When a game is too open it makes me anxious. I like clear objectives and a clear path. If there are 5 islands I need to know which island I should go to first, if they're all open without any indication of which one I'm supposed to visit first my mouth gapes open and drool starts coming out, not knowing what to do until I die of starvation.
 
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Ack, I certainly hope it is nothing at all like the second Original Sin game. Two friends of mine are playing it and have good things to say, which when combined with all the positive news I see here on the product gives me high hopes for how much I'll enjoy it when the game of the year version is ready.
 
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I'm one of those. When a game is too open it makes me anxious. I like clear objectives and a clear path. If there are 5 islands I need to know which island I should go to first, if they're all open without any indication of which one I'm supposed to visit first my mouth gapes open and drool starts coming out, not knowing what to do until I die of starvation.

Well, once you get a sea worthy ship, you got a single place marked on the map. You might get another spot marked based upon receiving a side quest and the rest you'll have to discover. My suggestion, follow the quests.

Note though that the first thing marked on the map is pretty much Athkatla in BG2, aka you'll get drowned in side quests once you get there.
 
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Personally I was or am loving the game.

Was as in I think I tried to do to much at one time and got way to sided tracked so I am going to start over today.

Also wasn't paying enough attention to my builds when leveling up.
 
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Story is here and rich but the game is more open and gives you more freedom to do what you want (You can explore or pirate your way without touching the main quests for instance).

That's encouraging to me. I'm a bit worried about only 4 characters in the party, though. I'm slowly playing through PoE now, hoping to be done when the expansions are all out for the sequel. One of the things I'm enjoying about the first game, however, is controlling a full party of 6 again. A good game certainly can have only 4 members. Original Sin 2 leaps to mind.....but whenever I play a game that has 6, it just feels right.
 
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That's encouraging to me. I'm a bit worried about only 4 characters in the party, though. I'm slowly playing through PoE now, hoping to be done when the expansions are all out for the sequel. One of the things I'm enjoying about the first game, however, is controlling a full party of 6 again. A good game certainly can have only 4 members. Original Sin 2 leaps to mind…..but whenever I play a game that has 6, it just feels right.

You can have 5 party members. I still wish it was 6 though. :)
 
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Even though i said to myself i won't buy it, i did. The first one bored me quite soon. This one looks much better to me.
There are much less filler encounters, an important thing for me, the writing is more focused on your quests and not in generic lore. The battles remain easy in classic mode and i'm thinking on switching to harder modes.
The main quest is just ok. It is still early to have a full taste but for now i'm going slowly, reading everything, which is a good sign for me.
 
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Note though that the first thing marked on the map is pretty much Athkatla in BG2, aka you'll get drowned in side quests once you get there.

Anyone done a count? My gut suspicion is it's only about 25% of the quest number of that particular place.
 
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You can have 5 party members. I still wish it was 6 though. :)
6? What for exactly? Even if they enabled 6, you'd still have one companion with personal story on hold without any clue where and what triggers that story as smalltalk is not enough (at least not for Pellegrina, unlike the ranger chick who's trigger is easy - just talk to her while on the ship).
If you mean combat, again nah. On normal difficulty all you need is micromanage equipment, turn on AI, let the party do what they want only control Xoti here and there (heals). Assuming of course you don't attack trashmob groups where all of them have three skulls.
There are much less filler encounters, an important thing for me, the writing is more focused on your quests and not in generic lore. The battles remain easy in classic mode and i'm thinking on switching to harder modes.
The main quest is just ok. It is still early to have a full taste but for now i'm going slowly, reading everything, which is a good sign for me.
+1
Anyone done a count? My gut suspicion is it's only about 25% of the quest number of that particular place.
Noone did the count but if you add bounties, it's more than 50%.
 
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Anyone done a count? My gut suspicion is it's only about 25% of the quest number of that particular place.

You mean 25% of the amount of quests that BG2 city has or 25% of the Deadfire total quests?

BG2 chapter 2 has 45 side quests, 10 of these are companion quests, not all of these quests start in the city and all the city quests outside one which requires to romance someone are available in that chapter (but don't need to be finished in it).

I got to Neketaka and after a while I got a bit annoyed by "yet another quest" so I counted how many I had unresolved: 22. That include 4 companion quests and 1 main quests and I had resolved 1 city quest at that point. So 18 side quests before I visited all the districts of the city (2 were unvisited) and speeding through another district because I just wanted to advance the main quest. After advancing the main quest and getting the remaining companions, I got like 5 more side quests and stopped talking to people so I could finish quests instead of getting them.
 
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You mean 25% of the amount of quests that BG2 city has or 25% of the Deadfire total quests?

BG2 chapter 2 has 45 side quests, 10 of these are companion quests, not all of these quests start in the city and all the city quests outside one which requires to romance someone are available in that chapter (but don't need to be finished in it).

I got to Neketaka and after a while I got a bit annoyed by "yet another quest" so I counted how many I had unresolved: 22. That include 4 companion quests and 1 main quests and I had resolved 1 city quest at that point. So 18 side quests before I visited all the districts of the city (2 were unvisited) and speeding through another district because I just wanted to advance the main quest. After advancing the main quest and getting the remaining companions, I got like 5 more side quests and stopped talking to people so I could finish quests instead of getting them.

Yes I hate cities in RPGs for this reason, quest overflow. I'd rather have 5 quests with 10 steps each (even if the steps are fetch) than 50 fetch quests. When I have more than about 10 open quests I forget and lose track of them and I just follow the markers like a zombie.
 
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I wonder if poe2 is selling well..
No one knows really but SteamSpy has some stats.

Link - http://steamspy.com/app/560130

Owners: 100,000 .. 200,000
Peak concurrent players yesterday: 22,724

I have also seen a few sales with 30% or more off in the last week.
 
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Yes I hate cities in RPGs for this reason, quest overflow. I'd rather have 5 quests with 10 steps each (even if the steps are fetch) than 50 fetch quests. When I have more than about 10 open quests I forget and lose track of them and I just follow the markers like a zombie.
- There are fetch quests but there is a reason and a story why are you fetching something. For example the game has several factions and everyone wants to find a rumored city with riches that was lost, of course you'll fetch them hints on where it is. Or you won't. You can always refuse.

- Didn't I mention that journal has a "sort by location" quest part? Yea, you don't have to check one by one 78456345864563 from the whole game just to know which one is happening in the area you currently are, but a few for example in a district of Neketaka you're currently visiting. It's not perfect, but that's related to companions and linking to Eternity1 stupidity (example is ranger chick personal quest).

- Although listed in journal, bounties are more of assassination tasks to earn $ than actual quests.


Me? I adore quest overflow. Choosing between that or endless respawning trashmobs overflow, I'd take quests any day.
Seems I've developed love/hate towards Eternity2.
 
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No one knows really but SteamSpy has some stats.

Link - http://steamspy.com/app/560130

Owners: 100,000 .. 200,000
Peak concurrent players yesterday: 22,724

I have also seen a few sales with 30% or more off in the last week.

Since the changes to account privacy on Steam, Steamspy owners count is worthless. They can't see the games on private accounts to count them anymore.

Saying that, I know many people who are waiting for 6+ months before buying (or playing) the game or waiting for sales because for some reasons spending $60 on a 10 hours long game is worth it, but spending $50 on a 100+ hours game is not. All that clearly won't help sales. I'm currently expecting the game to be a financial flop actually and that is despite very good word of mouth on the internet.

Oh and I saw people mention they were going to refund their game because they can't romance the companion they wanted. :roll:
 
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Since the changes to account privacy on Steam, Steamspy owners count is worthless. They can't see the games on private accounts to count them anymore.
Yes already know this and said nobody knows the sales in my post above.:p
Saying that, I know many people who are waiting for 6+ months before buying (or playing) the game or waiting for sales because for some reasons spending $60 on a 10 hours long game is worth it, but spending $50 on a 100+ hours game is not. All that clearly won't help sales. I'm currently expecting the game to be a financial flop actually and that is despite very good word of mouth on the internet.
Sad but true.

I'm waiting for all the expansion's to be released before I play. It may be wrong but I believe in playing the game with everything included in one run.

We can blame Obsidian, Larain, and Inxile as they always release a GOTY or Ultimate edition a year after the game is released. Any smart buyer will wait till then.
 
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