Even though I was planning on waiting for it to go on sale, I ended up budging and purchased it. Played it for a while, and even though it is overall clicking much better with me than the first one, I'm still at the point where I might refund.
So, in order to make up my mind, I thought I'd ask the folks in this thread some questions about how it plays in the long run:
-Regarding exploration, the whole idea that you can freely roam the archipelago and explore individual islands with optional dungeons and encounters is very appealing to me on its face. But I wonder about the extent to which it synergizes with the PoE exp system, since part of the fun of exploring for me is gaining exp and developing my character in the process. So, are the encounters varied enough that you generally will get exp from exploring, or are there unmarked quests or triggers that give you exp as you do so? If not, what prevents the exploration from feeling pointless? The loot? Just to be clear, I am not talking about side quests, but about free exploration.
-So there has been a lot of talk about how easy the game is. In terms of challenge, how do Normal and PotD compare to their counterparts in similar games like PoE1, the BGs, IWDs, and Tyranny?
-Are the romances intrusive? I plan on running a custom party, so I imagine that won't be a problem.
-Yes, I know it will make things easier, but party customization is one of the things I always did enjoy about this franchise, and I plan on exploiting the multiclassing and trying different stuff. Any tips on fun combos?
-So there is multiclassing now, and also subclassing, which seems like kits pretty much. Is there also some form of dual classing?
-Are the ship mechanics intrusive/annoying?
The first issue I mentioned is probably the one I am most curious about right now, but info on all of this stuff is much appreciated.
1. Exploration reveals dungeons, quests, items, and a side-kick that you would not cross on the critical path. The critical path by itself is rather short and compact, and much of the map is side content. That side content is the best part in my opinion, because there are a lot of different dungeons, not all of which are combat focused. For example, there is a dungeon of purely traps that grow increasingly harder to find/disable. Furthermore, you do receive xp for exploring certain island chains.
2. I would not say that PotD stacks up to PoE1 even. I would point to three reasons: overpowered multiclass combinations; empowered spells; and certain item combinations. Avoid the use of empower, especially if you want to maintain any semblance of difficulty past level 10-12. For example, a single cast of empowered minolleta's concussive missiles from a multiclass character (damage is weaker than a pure mage) is enough to win most encounters, especially encounters in which melee enemies bunch up. Otherwise, Obsidian just needs to rebalance PotD.
3. I would not call the romances intrusive per se, because you can just ignore it and move on. I would say that it is a distraction due to all the triggers that can happen.
4. Rogue, fighter, and chanter make decent classes to multi with. Spellblade (Assasin/Wizard) is incredibly strong, because your spells receive the sneak attack bonus if you attack from stealth. Herald (paladin/chanter) can make a sturdy tank. Swashbuckler (rogue/fighter) can also make a good tank, because rogue has a passive feat named Persistent Distraction which applies a -5 perception debuff to all enemies engaged by the character. Combine persistent distraction with the fighters engagement abilities/feats and you have a nice support tank.
My favorite is Thaumaturge (Priest of Eothas/Wizard). It is far from optimal, because you obtain more spells than you can possibly cast. The multitude of spells is why I like it though. You can interweave a variety of buffs, damage spells, and heals. With the buffs, I believe you have a plethora of options to min/maxing attributes. For example, Wizards obtain the spell Infuse with Vital Essence that grants 5+ intellect and constitution very early in the game, which has a .4 second cast time. With that spell, I do not believe you need to max intellect, and you can perhaps skip on constitution. For these reasons, I find Thaumaturge flexible, but you need to bring a lot of dexterity and forgo most armor in my opinion.
5. I am on the fence with respect to the ship mechanics. I actually enjoyed some of the CYOA canon fights, but whether you choose boarding actions or CYOA battles, it can become monotonous after a while.
