I did not expect such a heated discussion in this thread. Looks like this is the one game that stirs Codex's emotions the most.
I have not yet finished PoE myself (struggling to do it before
May 19th, still might succeed), but my impression is that people that post overall negative impressions ("haters" implies various things, and I do not mean those) of it, focus to much on the flaws, overblowing them in their heads, while ignoring the good parts. Darth Roxor's review is the epitome of this.
Or maybe people are just so spoiled by the abundance of great RPGs out there, that any flaws, regardless how minor, destroy all the fun they could otherwise have.
Or maybe people got so overhyped for PoE during the 2.5 years since its Kickstarer campaign that it could never reach quality level that would suit their expectations.
But it is probably just that different people enjoy different aspects of RPGs on various levels. This is a hugely varied genre like this - more than any other, probably. If someone enjoys X in RPGs the most (like, let us say, itemization), and that aspect is lackluster, it will shroud the quality of everything else and drag the whole experience down. And I get it, I have been there with Divinity: Original Sin and its story/writing. I just could not care about how awesome the overall design is if I got bored trying to "uncover" the murder plot by obvious necromancers - it just was not interesting to me. So, I guess, to each his/her own.
Let me explain why this got so emotional:
PoE apologist: Man, I understand you are disappointed but PoE would never reach the level of those terrible impossible games of the past, you have to accept it. The game is good, it's you that were over hyped.
"Hater": But I didn't have fun with it and I think it is a poor game on itself.
PoE apologist: Man, I understand you are disappointed but PoE would never reach the level of those terrible impossible games of the past, you have to accept it. You were over hyped.The game is good, it's you that were over hyped.
"Hater": Ehhh... I didn't have fun with it, it has too much flaws that are affecting my enjoyment.
PoE apologist: Man, I understand you are disappointed but PoE would never reach the level of those terrible impossible games of the past, you have to accept it. You were over hyped.The game is good, it's you that were over hyped.
"Hater": Ehhh... I mean, the plot has serious pacing, plot holes, presentation issues and convoluted pseudo philosophical BS, there are copy pasted boring trash mobs everywhere, the stronghold is a shitty facebook game, boring fedex quests everywhere, shitty itemization, there is lack of any meaningful reactivity not even Volo the bard to tell about your exploits and what people are thinking, there is lack of meaningful choices involving companions and on the main quest line and they seem barely connected to what is happening around them, the main quest is railroaded and they even samelessly recycled the railroaded fake trial of NWN 2, factions that would be better if they weren't there, Defiance Bay and Twin Elms are barely developed mostly having empty streets and sidequests of no importance and consequence. PoE feels like an unfinished game and Obsidian run out of money on it but that is hardly the first time that happens but I can't even give it the status of a flawed gem this time, its too unremarkable for that.
PoE apologist: Man, I understand you are disappointed but PoE would never reach the level of those terrible impossible games of the past, you have to accept it. You were over hyped.The game is good, it's you that were over hyped.
"Hater": Dude... are you in there?
PoE apologist: Man, I understand you are disappointed but PoE would never reach the level of those terrible impossible games of the past, you have to accept it. You were over hyped.The game is good, it's you that were over hyped.
"Hater": There must be something wrong.
PoE apologist: Man, I understand you are disappointed but PoE would never reach the level of those terrible impossible games of the past, you have to accept it. You were over hyped.The game is good, it's you that were over hyped.
"Hater": Hater after getting curious about what is happening to the PoE apologist, he pulls the curtain that separates both, on the other side he see a statue made of Adra holding a fragmented soul circling around a heart made of Obsidian, the tortured soul repeates the following words: "Man, I understand you are disappointed but PoE would never reach the level of those terrible impossible games of the past, you have to accept it. You were over hyped.The game is good, it's you that were over hyped."
Now he understands and leaves the room, leaving the struggle forever.
Anyway I liked the Lord of the shadows (or whatever his generic as fuck name was.) magical construct protecting some old civilization that doesn't exist anymore is cool. PoE gods are kinda that way too, it would be nice if they were malfunctioning and Weidwen legacy was just Berath running out of fuel and getting crazy while you tought Thaos was the villain all along, he and his cult were just trying to fix that shit instead anyway... instead of the whole story depended on Woedica's petty power struggle(I didn't care.) and a bunch of pseudo philosophical nonsense (it was silly on PS:T already, here is silly and way too much.)... in the end Berath was going SHODAN on you going crazier by the minute and if you helped Thaos fix it instead of revealing the nature of the gods and ended the game getting drunk with Thaos that was really annoyed of being a babysit of the gods for 2000 years and wanted a break would be better.
