Though, it also does seem that the game is easier overall. UI is mostly improved, the built-in glossary is nice, ability to show/hide unavailable skill check options is welcome and the AI of the party this time around is mostly well done to the point where even on Classic difficulty I didn’t have to micromanage often. Of course, a lot of things were learned from the first game and several other titles made by or with the help of Obsidian in recent years, and the game does try a few new ideas as well. That, together with occasional crashes and constant loading screens made the entire experience even less enjoyable than it already was. And it seems that a lot of them were not present at launch. While I have experienced some issues with the first title at the moment of playing it, this time around I’ve experienced all kinds of issues. It’s also curious that the updates to the game seem to have made it more unstable and prone to rather weird glitches. All of which could’ve been nice, if done right, but often feels comical. Oh and also everyone swears a lot, seems constantly horny and there’s a surprising amount of people speaking with a Southern American accent. And when I had 2 of my companions leave near the end of the game due to the story choice I’ve made, all I could muster was an indifferent shrug. Even the returning characters from the first game, apart from their occasionally entertaining banter, are easy to forget about. Even without comparison to the first PoE, the characters in this game don’t seem to form any kind of meaningful relationship with you. Which, sadly, even affects the companions, none of whom are interesting this time around. It’s hard to treat them as a story, rather than just a mindless errand. Most of the stories in the game aren’t just predictable and run of the mill for an RPG, but more importantly they’re told in a very boring way. Going back to the Hobbit comparison, unlike the JRRT tale, a lot of the writing in Deadfire is incredibly weak by Obsidian standards. It’s a plot with grand implications for the world and it will take you many many hours to complete (took me under 60 hours with DLCs), but it’s so bare bones and so shockingly brief, it’s hard not to get annoyed at the second big issue of the game. And one of the biggest issues of the game can already be addressed here – this setup explained in the opening hour of the game is about half of its entire main storyline. Your main goal here is to track down a gigantic statue of adra, currently inhibited by a god, who’s slowly but surely marching somewhere, crushing everything in his path. There’s a rather big (and barren) map of the Deadfire archipelago you will spend your game time in, slowly sailing from one remote land to another. This sequel, though, is a rather simplistic and primitive pirate adventure game, still set in the same world, still seemingly full of rich history and difficult to unravel mysteries of old and present and a rather unfortunate political and social situation. It’s sometimes hard to remember all the choices I’ve made, but going through the opening is a great reminder of what an amazing adventure the original game was. The game even starts with a reminder of what happened in the first game as part of the save import (though you can skip most of it with an old save file) – a lot of things happened, a lot of complex interesting things. How hard it would be for you to push past the fact that the tale is so much simpler and so much more primitive now, to finally accept that it’s a really fine book? That’s the difficulty of playing Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Imagine if The Hobbit followed The Lord of the Rings, or better yet, Silmarillion (in whatever finished form it might’ve been originally intended) as an official sequel, a new tale in the world you fell in love with. So of course I backed the Pillars of Eternity II campaign as soon as it started. Obsidian Entertainment have rarely disappointed… It was a game full of memorable ideas, characters and lots of choices that made me think hard, carefully weighting the options and bringing myself and my own morality into the game world. In fact, I’d say that it remains one of my absolute favorite story driven RPGs, just based on the fact how it managed to perfectly merge the simple sword and sorcery of the classic Baldur’s Gate (and older fantasy RPG titles), with a genuinely interesting and nuanced world. Obsidian Entertainment have rarely disappointed before and they most certainly didn’t with PoE, when I eventually got around to play it. A surprise that quickly turned to throwing money into the monitor. I remember being surprised at the announcement of Project Eternity Kickstarter campaign, the working title for the original Pillars of Eternity.
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