Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pre-DLC Thread [GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Sigourn]

I installed the game 30 minutes ago.

I just uninstalled the game too. Between it running like crap, but most importantly the fucking cringy foreign words interjection, I'm not touching this for a long time. Sorry Obsidian, but I can only tolerate so much garbage writing before my desire to pluck my eyes out kicks in. Bisexual companions are the least of the problems here.

 

[cruel]

I barely started playing this, but... Wow, I didn't realize how much did I miss spending 1h+ on character creation

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[Pizzashoes]

Of course, this is something obsidian would have the hang of already if they had written a single romance in a game in the last decade

It has nothing to do with "learning". Obsidian has written romances in the past. The difference is, they weren't the BioWare approach of "here's your personal brothel - choose from these 8 companions the one you want to fuck". Obsidian's romances have always been tied to the story and served a purpose.

Speaking of, despite not playing Deadfire I'm completely confident that the playersexual pseudo-romance you can choose to have with Iovara is better written than any given romance in Deadfire.

Not fair at all. Iovara is a pure elven babe. Of course my elf would have consummated that ass.

 

[fantadomat]

I, as a male mountain dwarf, paid for a male elven prostitute.

You really have some strange taste mate. Soo which one of you was drilling the mountain?

 

[Prime Junta]

I think the ghey in P2 is more representative of a missed opportunity than anything else.

Josh has laid out the general social structure of each faction there with some thought and depth -- Rauatai are patriotic and militaristic, Vailians are mercantile, Principi are like the 'ndrangheta, Huana are caste-ridden and communitarian -- but aside from a few somewhat painfully in-your-face moments, it doesn't really show in the characters. They're all middle-class Americans with accents and costumes. That everybody's a sex-positive bi and all the cultures are perfectly fine with it is just one aspect of it.

And yes it is nu-BioWarian and .

Every single line of fucking YA-tier, drivel romance in this game is a partial man hour that could have been dedicated to better things.

And what exactly makes you think the writers who wrote those romances could have done any better writing about something else?

 

[FreeKaner]

I don't think everyone is sex-positive and bi, just the companions. Also I started playing the game now and it seems WM level quality overall, the companions are worse but the characters in the world are just fine. The voice acting is actually stellar, despite the writing quality.

 

[AN4RCHID]

The voice acting is actually stellar, despite the writing quality.

I guess you haven't met any of the Vailians yet

 

[Belegarsson]

I, as a male mountain dwarf, paid for a male elven prostitute.

You really have some strange taste mate. Soo which one of you was drilling the mountain?

The hipster kind that y'all make fun of
I just did it for the sake of curiosity, and while I knew that these sort of things in this game didn't aim for anything more than a disappointment, I still found it to be a missed oppurtunity. It's simply too minor and insignificant to worth any outrage, but at the same time, I can't help but feel like this situation is the result of writers' lack of confidence at their own characters. Serafen already convinced me as a true bro, I don't need to bang him so we can be eternal soulmates. It just isn't worth it to ruin good characters with how sloppily written their sexuality is.

 

[Pizzashoes]

I figured it out now. Anyway, either I go with some scale shit for stats but looks twinkish or plate that looks fit for a knight. Why would the developers force me into making this decision?

Spoiler

 

[Prime Junta]

I don't think everyone is sex-positive and bi, just the companions.

Yeah. Just the companions.

Also I started playing the game now and it seems WM level quality overall, the companions are worse but the characters in the world are just fine.

Yeah the occasional characters are overall pretty good and do communicate a quite a bit about the world in the short convos you have with them. But it's a crying shame that the companions aren't, since they supposedly come from this same world. Not very far in of course but so far only Serafen pulls it off reasonably well.

The voice acting is actually stellar, despite the writing quality.

No it's not. VtM:B has stellar voice acting. Deadfire has acceptable voice acting. It's not so bad you'd notice (much) but it does sound a lot like an actor in a studio reading out lines during a loooong day of work.

 

[you know what time it is]

I'd say stop derailing the thread, but it's PoE and local troglodytes are equally retarded, so yeah. Ya'll need jesus though, mhm.

Finished the game (because even though it's pretty fun to fuck around, plundering things and whatnot... eventually it gets sort of silly to pretend like nothing is happening when 100 ft. tall personification of god wrecks shit a few blocks over). The main storyline is surprisingly short and with the whole impending doom thing it kinda clashes a bit with the backdrop of free waters, adventures and shit. I'm still on the fence about writing, the premise isn't bad, companions are alright, but it never really surprises you. You are facing some tough choices at times but the responses are severely limited, not in their quantity, but rigidness of the approach. Wish they'd explore more on some (if not most) themes present in the game, but oh well. They did a good job with background and lore though.

Overall it's a good game, not just a foundation or proof of concept like the first PoE was. Obsidian seem to be good at following up things, every system present in the first game was improved and fixed just right, it even applies in broader terms, like with NWN2 (which sucked), but it was followed by MOTB (which is brilliant), FNV, even first PoE expansions were already much better than vanilla. However some of the new shit that was introduced (ship and sailing related systems, islands exploration etc.) are very barebones. They might have a shot at greatness with a third attempt, but ironically (read up on recent Avellone diaries), to do so they need to secure better writers and give them room to work.

 

[FreeKaner]

There will be no third game. This game flopped.

 

[Prime Junta]

There will be no third game. This game flopped.

I thought it didn't exist?

 

[Pizzashoes]

because even though it's pretty fun to fuck around, plundering things and whatnot... eventually it gets sort of silly to pretend like nothing is happening when 100 ft. tall personification of god wrecks shit a few blocks over

I've got Eothas waiting for me over at Magran's Teeth. The stupid sumbitch actually thinks I'm going there immediately instead of powering up.

 

[Sentinel]

How far away from the end is that? I'm also at the Magran's Teeth quest. The dialogue gives the impression that it's the final confrontation almost.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

All right, give me some good Rogue multiclass ideas. I was thinking Ranger, specifically with Assassin for big dick range burst but I kind of want to try Cipher. Has anyone tried Trickster?

 

[you know what time it is]

How far away from the end is that? I'm also at the Magran's Teeth quest. The dialogue gives the impression that it's the final confrontation almost.

It's not the ending, the game gives you a warning that you are crossing the point of no return prior to the endgame.

 

[santino27]

these mental gymnastics to try and justify player sexual romances...

It's not as much as "player-sexual romances" as "bay area young adults trying to write cool characters and they think bisexuality is cool".

Irvine, not Bay area, I believe.

 

[you know what time it is]

because even though it's pretty fun to fuck around, plundering things and whatnot... eventually it gets sort of silly to pretend like nothing is happening when 100 ft. tall personification of god wrecks shit a few blocks over

I've got Eothas waiting for me over at Magran's Teeth. The stupid sumbitch actually thinks I'm going there immediately instead of powering up.

I think I was about lvl 15 when I went back to the main campaign. Btw this is one of the few games that did level scaling right, 'upscale only' is where it's at.

 

[aweigh]

Kind of boring but the best combos with Rogue are also the most obvious ones: Fighter and Paladin.

Fighter for cleaving stance and Paladin for FoD-augmented alpha-strike backstabbing.

Also, currently Shattered Pillar Monk (or just any Monk) is currently the best martial class to combo with non-martial due to Swift Flurry and Inner Death skills. Monk/Wizard using Swift Flurry + Rod Blasting can decimate an entire group of mobs like fucking mini-gun.

Second place for broken is Barbarian due to their Bloodthirst which reduces Recovery to 0% while active. ^_^

Expect Monks and Barbs to get nerfed come patch time.

 

[FreeKaner]

Everyone who said narrator is bad has garbage tastes. Her voice is fitting and pleasant.

 

[Sentinel]

How far away from the end is that? I'm also at the Magran's Teeth quest. The dialogue gives the impression that it's the final confrontation almost.

It's not the ending, the game gives you a warning that you are crossing the point of no return prior to the endgame.

did you level scale? I was wondering if the final boss is a high level encounter (17+) or if it's middle of the road shit.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Kind of boring but the best combos with Rogue are also the most obvious ones: Fighter and Paladin.

Fighter for cleaving stance and Paladin for FoD-augmented alpha-strike backstabbing.

Also, currently Shattered Pillar Monk (or just any Monk) is currently the best martial class to combo with non-martial due to Swift Flurry and Inner Death skills. Monk/Wizard using Swift Flurry + Rod Blasting can decimate an entire group of mobs like fucking mini-gun.

Second place for broken is Barbarian due to their Bloodthirst which reduces Recovery to 0% while active. ^_^

Expect Monks and Barbs to get nerfed come patch time.

I was thinking Fighter with Streetfighter would be a pretty decent tank of sorts, but as you said it's a boring combination. I want to go for something a little more wild or out of the box. I'm playing on POTD mind you.

 

[aweigh]

I went with ultra-boring Assassin/Devoted combo, and it's still fun. Rogue class is just fun because of it's mobility, no matter with what you pair it with. I'm on PotD as well. I think Rogue/Pally is probably most boring because you'll be using the same strategy throughout the entire game: alpha-striking with FoD-augmented backstab.

Then again what some consider boring others find fun, so what do I know. I suppose we could use the word "predictable" instead. Barbarian or Monk with a non-Martial class is something that seems very fun to me, what with complementing spell-casting or chanting with those two classes many ways to "power up" mid-battle. Cipher is also looking very good to pair with almost anything, especially the Ascendant sub-class variant.

Can't wait till people start modding the classes and abilities.

 

[you know what time it is]

How far away from the end is that? I'm also at the Magran's Teeth quest. The dialogue gives the impression that it's the final confrontation almost.

It's not the ending, the game gives you a warning that you are crossing the point of no return prior to the endgame.

did you level scale? I was wondering if the final boss is a high level encounter (17+) or if it's middle of the road shit.

I played with upscaling from the get go, can't say what level the last boss was, but it was a fairly tough fight even as decked out 15~. I'd imagine the encounter is up there somewhere, since even in sidequests you fight some high level folks every now and then.