The definitive, last Pillars of Eternity rating thread!

[Riddler]

8

Just replayed PoE with white march after not touching the game since I ran through it on 1.0.

It was a vastly more enjoyable experience this time and white march was really good. There is lots of room for improvement but it was still a good game.

There are obvious flaws in both the gameplay and narrative that hold the game back significantly but at the end of the day it was enjoyable and far better than most of the shit out there.

One major complaint however was the difficulty. I played on hard and after the first few areas combat difficulty became really negligible. I'm not a good player nor am i min-maxer and I reloaded only on two encounters in the game (beyond reloads related to having stopped paying attention and not using abilities and waiting to heal between encounters): Llengrath and the bridge in the mines in white march (had no range weapons :s). I would expect there to be some challenge for normal players who are familiar with the genre...

I will try a playthrough with potd enabled and see if there is any difference.

 

[eXalted]

Playing White March. Really enjoying it.

They finally put dialogue descriptions after the dialogue lines of the voiced over NPCs/

 

[Lhynn]

PoE is more mature and tells at it's core a deeper story

No it doesnt, it hardly tells a story at all, its more about things happening for no other reason than you being there.

but it loses steam in the middle of the game (which sadly is the biggest part) and you can see, that they had to rewrite stuff and then no time to re-programme it (see the End of Durances Quest). And it's final Bossfight is just lame. The first and third act are still good though and White March shows that there is still a lot of potential for the world and it's themes.

Yep, it sucks after the first 2 hours, and for the next 60.

Pillars 1 is what BG1 was for BG2

People keep saying that, and being completely wrong. BG1s narrative is pretty great and the player character is masterfully woven into it.

it's rough and they still tried things out, but in it's current state it is already better than BG1 or even IWD1 and 2.

Fucking delusional, the game hasnt changed since release, the gameplay has improved slightly after a ton of patches and thats it.

 

[Gunnar]

It deserves the most balanced score: 5. The game is fucking boring at the end of the day though. The best parts were what MCA produced.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

One major complaint however was the difficulty. I played on hard and after the first few areas combat difficulty became really negligible. I'm not a good player nor am i min-maxer and I reloaded only on two encounters in the game (beyond reloads related to having stopped paying attention and not using abilities and waiting to heal between encounters)

Damn, that is crazy. I recently played IWD and died a good 50 times throughout the game. And it's a short game! :D

I was thinking of starting a new Path of the Damned LP sometime but I am having second thoughts now. Might as well just run through IWD with a different party.

 

[Haplo]

Well, I guess you eventually tend to snowball content anyway, since there is simply more content then xp needed.
But at least the beginning on PotD is tough as nails. Including the Raedrick Keep, which is the highlight IMO.
I think it might be the first time in a crpg when I was really grateful for the optional pathways which allowed me to infiltrate the keep and avoid most of the combat (skipping lots of not-very-valuable loot, though plate armors are still valuable for me at this point, and some xp). Otherwise I would have to reload and/or rest every second encounter... and backtrack several times to the village to replenish supplies.
I really dreaded that prospect.

Plus the final confrontation... at level 4, with the 3 default companions available at that time (guess I could have picked Kana Rua from outside Caed Nua) the only way I had a chance to beat it, was by exploiting the AI pathing issues, kiting the enemies and funneling them towards the side bedroom. Still, were it not for the AI pathing issues, and enemies running around like headless chickens trying to reach my characters and blocking each other, I probably couldn't have done it.

Supposedly the White March is plenty challenging as well. Especially if you go with a limited level party, like level 7. 6 is probably too low, but could offer even more challenge.
I guess I will find out in some time. Now I just reached Definace Bay and Dyrwood. Certainly the access to plenty of great items will make the game a little easier now.

So yeah, IMO its really worth playing and offers a good challenge - up to a point in the game, at least. Plus you can make it even more challenging by limiting the party size. For example to 4. Seems like the optimal number to handle for me, but personally I will probably go with 6, as I would struggle too much with 4 on PotD. Really liked the party size in Tyranny and am happy they are reducing the number in PoE2 by 1 at least.

 

[ArchAngel]

Well, I guess you eventually tend to snowball content anyway, since there is simply more content then xp needed.
But at least the beginning on PotD is tough as nails. Including the Raedrick Keep, which is the highlight IMO.
I think it might be the first time in a crpg when I was really grateful for the optional pathways which allowed me to infiltrate the keep and avoid most of the combat (skipping lots of not-very-valuable loot, though plate armors are still valuable for me at this point, and some xp). Otherwise I would have to reload and/or rest every second encounter... and backtrack several times to the village to replenish supplies.
I really dreaded that prospect.

Plus the final confrontation... at level 4, with the 3 default companions available at that time (guess I could have picked Kana Rua from outside Caed Nua) the only way I had a chance to beat it, was by exploiting the AI pathing issues, kiting the enemies and funneling them towards the side bedroom. Still, were it not for the AI pathing issues, and enemies running around like headless chickens trying to reach my characters and blocking each other, I probably couldn't have done it.

Supposedly the White March is plenty challenging as well. Especially if you go with a limited level party, like level 7. 6 is probably too low, but could offer even more challenge.
I guess I will find out in some time. Now I just reached Definace Bay and Dyrwood. Certainly the access to plenty of great items will make the game a little easier now.

So yeah, IMO its really worth playing and offers a good challenge - up to a point in the game, at least. Plus you can make it even more challenging by limiting the party size. For example to 4. Seems like the optimal number to handle for me, but personally I will probably go with 6, as I would struggle too much with 4 on PotD. Really liked the party size in Tyranny and am happy they are reducing the number in PoE2 by 1 at least.

There is nothing forcing you to go to Raedrick's Keep that early. It is side content.

 

[Haplo]

Perhaps, but it was kinda fun being on the edge that way though.
Plus I decided I want to get Brute Force on my Barbarian (level 5) before confronting the Caed Nua Phantoms.
In hindsight, the Phantoms likely would have been much easier then the Keep... but again, I rarely have so much fun as I had there, going underlevelled, undermanned and underequipped and still emerging victorious. Well, except the "exploiting the pathing AI" part... but it was par for the course.

 

[eXalted]

It's a little frustrating how the difficulty is all over the place.

The cave in the White March I - let's enter and see what's here... DU DUUUUUNNN....

Spoiler

A WILD DRAGON APPEARS!

Okay, posting a photo of your average wasn't funny I know.

 

[Luckmann]

Half of the people voting have extremely low standards.

 

[Falksi]

I've just got this and have to say I'm finding it annoying to play for reasons such as.....

Lowered my score to 6/10. POE is a game that, unlike classic RPGs, becomes worse the more you play it and try to like it. Because main gameplay - combat, - is still just irredeemable shit. The pathfinding, the dumb AOO system, the disparity between actions and speeds (for example running to a monster to make flank attack gives him time to make 3 ranged attacks), no decent command system, overly flashy animations, classes and abilities that just don't feel fun or give you no feeling of real impact in combat, trash mobs, boring loot, ecetera ecetera.

It should have been turn based game, you can't make rtwp game with this design.

It is just a very uncomfortable game to play.

......I wouldn't say I'm not enjoying it, I just hate the feeling of combat. It's like a shit version of Dragon Age: Origins without all the bugs ironed out (so far)

I agree, I'd have gone full turn based for it.

I'm playing as a druid, and I was wondering if there were any other classes which were more fun to play as?

My main gripe is that, after playing the likes of DA:O, I can't be arsed with the spell management anymore. BG 2 is a classic game, but one thing which I was so glad we moved on from was the sleep to restore spells/abilities BS.

I like the "abilities per encounter" aspect tho, so was wondering which class has the most fun "abilities per encounter", so I aint fannying about reserving spells or camping/going back to inns all the time?

 

[Haplo]

Maybe Cipher? They gain focus by dealing damage to enemies... and are quite respectable damage dealers. Some of their powers are outright broken.

 

[ilitarist]

I dunno, I thought combat was the best part of PoE. Story is OK but has too many fluff and words and cities don't feel big and lived in.

Meanwhile DAO felt completely unbalanced in terms of combat and rarely forced me to change tactics. Plus it has the same cheesiness as infinity engine games - just run around with your single character, kite enemies and close doors to divide them. Also DA added running around Benny Hill style waiting for your cooldowns to fade. DAI was a little better about it but in late game you became too overpowered to care even on highest difficulty and it also had too many trash fights. PoE didn't have that problem, every fight was interesting. Not to the extent of Divinity Original Sin 2 but still good.

 

[FreeKaner]

DA:O had a spell you could unlock at level 4 that oneshot any and every caster in an AOE. I don't know how people can say its combat was better, is this childhood obliviousness leaking into adulthood perceptions?

 

[ilitarist]

It also had infinite potion drinking. Yeah, there was a cooldown but still too many fights were reduced to tank just standing there on potion life support bombarded by magic heal and regeneration while archers and mages were doing their thing. If the enemy switches to damage dealers you just run around till he gets bored of chasing you and switches back to tank. Even liches with "get over here" spell designed to counter this tactic were susceptible to it.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Meanwhile DAO felt completely unbalanced in terms of combat and rarely forced me to change tactics. PoE didn't have that problem, every fight was interesting.

Patched PoE? Yeah, sort of.

Launch PoE? Lolno. Eder upfront, archers in the back, Aloth spamming CC, Durance spamming heals, done and mopped up, every fight ever from beginning to end.

 

[Haplo]

Yeah, that worked really well against spectres for example...

 

[Delterius]

Yeah, that worked really well against spectres for example...

And if you add Ogre Druids in that one cave you have the two examples in all of PoE's launch.

 

[Theldaran]

I agree about Bg2, they went overboard with magic items and crazy bandits and shit. That shit does not represent Faerun or how PnP D&D plays. It is just how Bioware was able to create BG2 in less than 5 years (it would take that long to create content that makes sense and challenges players at same time).
It is also one of the reasons why I replay BG1 every few years and not BG2.

Are you sure Faerun is not like that? Well, look at the shenanigans of the actual named characters in the canon fiction. That shit is like Fast&Furious. You may like it, or you may find it vulgar.

 

[Haplo]

Yeah, that worked really well against spectres for example...

And if you add Ogre Druids in that one cave you have the two examples in all of PoE's launch.

Well, you do have a point. But ogre druids are indeed pretty brutal if you're unprepared. So at least a few encounters were interesting

 

[Falksi]

Maybe Cipher? They gain focus by dealing damage to enemies... and are quite respectable damage dealers. Some of their powers are outright broken.

Bang on the money, cheers mate.

Just turned level 4 with a Cipher and finding it WAY better. Now that I've become more accustomed to the combat I'm enjoying loads more, and actually think it's rather brillliant.

A few key things have made a difference. 1) Not having to rely on "per rest" powers. I like to play aggressively, so find satisfaction starting every fight with a power of some kind, and indulging in them too. I also really like the more unique Cipher system; 2) Changing the combat to auto-slow - normal speed just doesn't feel right to me. It lacks weight, and having the combat slowed down gives it more punch & satisfaction. It does feel a tad too slow I'll admit, but prefer it to the normal speed. Ideally I'd have liked combat to have been somewhere betweem the two, with movement speed as it is in normal mode, but attack/power speed as it is in slow mode. 3) better appriciation of the new elements & camping. It is actually balanced really well, I guess I just played it from the off expecting it to be closer to BG than it is, so has taken me a little time to chance my perception on it.

Overall so far it's a very, very nice evolution from the BG basis. Although if I were them I would consider having a few more starting abilities for all classes to start with for the sequel. Nothing majorly powerful, just things which mean you can influence combat more, so feel more involved, and have a greater sense of choice from the off (e.g. does my fighter crouch down behind a shield, taking little damage in that position, but every hit against him has an increased chance of knocking him prone and he can't attack either etc.) Just stuff to get you more involved, and gives the potential for combat to be more varied at earlier levels with all classes.

 

[Haplo]

Glad you're enjoying the game. It is a fine one indeed.

I agree with most of your points and especially the combat speed. I've also played most encounters on slow. I'm able to control the battlefield much better this way.
I also liked the Endurance/Health and rest resource balance.

Quite surprised to read your request to provide MORE active abilities for various characters. Maybe because you're still so early in the game. If anything, there's too many of them IMO.
Of course you have influence on that as you choose whether you'll pick passive or active talents for your characters. But overall there's so many, that microing so many characters with so many different abilities trough many not-so-interesting encounters can become a little tedious.

 

[ilitarist]

Just turned level 4 with a Cipher and finding it WAY better. Now that I've become more accustomed to the combat I'm enjoying loads more, and actually think it's rather brillliant.

Glad you have seen the light. This is indeed an evolution. I too played my 3.0 playthrough with Cipher though I don't think it influenced the experience that much. After all it's just one of six characters.

 

[Falksi]

Just turned level 4 with a Cipher and finding it WAY better. Now that I've become more accustomed to the combat I'm enjoying loads more, and actually think it's rather brillliant.

Glad you have seen the light. This is indeed an evolution. I too played my 3.0 playthrough with Cipher though I don't think it influenced the experience that much. After all it's just one of six characters.

I just enjoy the feeling of it being a bit personal. That's just me. I always like an adventure to feel like it's me & my mates, so having a slightly closer connection to the main protagonist, and having them the main focus of combat, is how I like to play.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

8/10 would be my honest rating, on the strength of the story, quests, writing, reactivity (including The White March), soundtrack, visuals, character system and overall quality, and a couple of numbers knocked off for it being too slavishly devoted to Infinity Engine-style combat (RTWP isometric clusterfuck).

I bumped it up to 9/10 to cause maximum butthurt here.