Slashman wrote on May 18, 2016, 09:13:

Cutter wrote on May 17, 2016, 22:25:

Task wrote on May 17, 2016, 11:10:
Haha, that's a given from you Cutter, but Hey that's alright.

I finished a bunch of other games, but I admit still not done with PoE. I'm in Act 3, but took a detour to White March 100 hours in with my main as a kickass Monk dude.

Anyways, I'm interested to know what improvements they have planned. The story is pretty cool, reminds of Wheel of Time sorta, love the music, lore of the world, voice actors, writing, and tense combat. I really hate the Adra Dragon below Caed Nua though, Holy Shit man - can't figure out how to defeat her by combat.

Why is it a given for me? I've loved everything Obsidian/Black Isle has ever done...except POE. They didn't just drop the ball on this, they fucking shattered it. Given that the reviews are so mixed on this I'm utterly amazed they're even attempting to do a follow-up game for this. Just fucking abandon it already and get back to making good games.

The reviews are mixed? 90% on Steam. 89 on Metacritic. That's mixed?

Opinions here are certainly mixed though and I would daresay we are most hardcore grumpy gamer crowd you could find

Suppa7 wrote on May 18, 2016, 08:22:
I understand what you are saying but Critical praise and reviews in the modern environment don't mean much. People who've been gaming since the NES and people who were born just before or after the year 2000 will have very different ideas of what makes a good game. Generations will differ. So many game reviews are not comparable. I hate world of warcraft for instance. Many people like it, but that doesn't mean many crap games find followings.

While what you say may be true for some of the newer genres, Pillars is a very specific throwback to the old Infinity Engine RPGS of the late 90s and early 2000s, and made by some of the same people. It is judged by the standards of that age, by people who have grown up in the 90s with these games. So in this particular case, the critical praise IS quite relevant.

Also, my comment was made specifically to refute Cutter, who said that the reviews were mixed for Pillars of Eternity.

Cutter wrote on May 17, 2016, 22:25:

Task wrote on May 17, 2016, 11:10:
Haha, that's a given from you Cutter, but Hey that's alright.

I finished a bunch of other games, but I admit still not done with PoE. I'm in Act 3, but took a detour to White March 100 hours in with my main as a kickass Monk dude.

Anyways, I'm interested to know what improvements they have planned. The story is pretty cool, reminds of Wheel of Time sorta, love the music, lore of the world, voice actors, writing, and tense combat. I really hate the Adra Dragon below Caed Nua though, Holy Shit man - can't figure out how to defeat her by combat.

Why is it a given for me? I've loved everything Obsidian/Black Isle has ever done...except POE. They didn't just drop the ball on this, they fucking shattered it. Given that the reviews are so mixed on this I'm utterly amazed they're even attempting to do a follow-up game for this. Just fucking abandon it already and get back to making good games.

The reviews are mixed? 90% on Steam. 89 on Metacritic. That's mixed?

I'll be getting this, I love RPGs and the first one was excellent. The only flaws were the long load times and the fact that the cleric PC was super annoying.

Other than that, the game mechanics played well, characters were well developed and I loved the story. So much gaming goodness.

Yifes wrote on May 18, 2016, 01:56:
The critical praise is pretty much unanimous, and user reviews are good with a very positive rating on Steam.

I understand what you are saying but Critical praise and reviews in the modern environment don't mean much. People who've been gaming since the NES and people who were born just before or after the year 2000 will have very different ideas of what makes a good game. Generations will differ. So many game reviews are not comparable. I hate world of warcraft for instance. Many people like it, but that doesn't mean many crap games find followings.

Yifes wrote on May 18, 2016, 01:56:

Cutter wrote on May 17, 2016, 22:25:
Why is it a given for me? I've loved everything Obsidian/Black Isle has ever done...except POE. They didn't just drop the ball on this, they fucking shattered it. Given that the reviews are so mixed on this I'm utterly amazed they're even attempting to do a follow-up game for this. Just fucking abandon it already and get back to making good games.

What do you mean mixed reviews? The critical praise is pretty much unanimous, and user reviews are good with a very positive rating on Steam.

It's not the best game they have ever made, but it's a shit ton better than vanilla NWN2, Alpha Protocol, and Dungeon Siege III.

In cutters world, the truth is kind of however he decides to spin it...

Cutter wrote on May 17, 2016, 22:25:
Why is it a given for me? I've loved everything Obsidian/Black Isle has ever done...except POE. They didn't just drop the ball on this, they fucking shattered it. Given that the reviews are so mixed on this I'm utterly amazed they're even attempting to do a follow-up game for this. Just fucking abandon it already and get back to making good games.

What do you mean mixed reviews? The critical praise is pretty much unanimous, and user reviews are good with a very positive rating on Steam.

It's not the best game they have ever made, but it's a shit ton better than vanilla NWN2, Alpha Protocol, and Dungeon Siege III.

I'd be buying it for sure. I'm only half way through PoE but enjoying it. These kind of games are my bread and butter. Real time with pause for life!

Cutter wrote on May 17, 2016, 22:25:

Why is it a given for me? I've loved everything Obsidian/Black Isle has ever done...except POE. They didn't just drop the ball on this, they fucking shattered it. Given that the reviews are so mixed on this I'm utterly amazed they're even attempting to do a follow-up game for this. Just fucking abandon it already and get back to making good games.

What I meant Cutter is that your comment is a given since you expressed not enjoying this game in particular in past comments. And ain't nothing wrong with expressing it. There are certain 'other' games I definitely feel strongly against.

As for the Adra Dragon strats, I'll keep those in mind. I'm not using any custom adventurers, only the recruitable NPC's (I believe they are all at Level 12 or 13 with the best stuff I could find). I did indeed try strats to spread out my people, but probably not enough. I also have Aloth cast Scrolls of Paralysis, which seems to be the only thing that actually freezes it in place for a short time. I also have the skill given by the Falanroed (Scale-Breaker), but it only lasts 15 seconds. My tanky folks are Eder and Pallegina.

Task wrote on May 17, 2016, 11:10:
Haha, that's a given from you Cutter, but Hey that's alright.

I finished a bunch of other games, but I admit still not done with PoE. I'm in Act 3, but took a detour to White March 100 hours in with my main as a kickass Monk dude.

Anyways, I'm interested to know what improvements they have planned. The story is pretty cool, reminds of Wheel of Time sorta, love the music, lore of the world, voice actors, writing, and tense combat. I really hate the Adra Dragon below Caed Nua though, Holy Shit man - can't figure out how to defeat her by combat.

Why is it a given for me? I've loved everything Obsidian/Black Isle has ever done...except POE. They didn't just drop the ball on this, they fucking shattered it. Given that the reviews are so mixed on this I'm utterly amazed they're even attempting to do a follow-up game for this. Just fucking abandon it already and get back to making good games.

yonder wrote on May 17, 2016, 18:57:

eRe4s3r wrote on May 17, 2016, 15:18:
To be honest I was kinda OK with the release version of this game, but the expansions were totally lamesauce for me, and the game had many many flaws. Only thing I really got from it was the urge to replay BG2

That's never a bad urge!

Obviously Still that is not the feeling I wanted out of that kickstarter... but at least the documentary was neat.

MattyB wrote on May 17, 2016, 13:48:
I gave up toward the end. There was something about the levelling and loot which meant that I never felt like I was actually getting any stronger, and all the weapons felt similar without lacking any real identity or rareness that made them interesting.

I didn't find the story particularly engaging either.

Totally agree. And the massive, over worded lore dump had me falling asleep. Load times were a joke. Homogenized classes. Ugh. Having classes that sucked at certain things or weren't able to do some tasks made for interesting strategy. Muscle wizard?! WTF Sawyer?!

I wanted to love this game more then any other in recent memory. BG2 had its flaws but I loved it and was really waiting for POE to kick butt. Maybe they'll save the day with 2 but I'm waiting on this one.

eRe4s3r wrote on May 17, 2016, 15:18:
To be honest I was kinda OK with the release version of this game, but the expansions were totally lamesauce for me, and the game had many many flaws. Only thing I really got from it was the urge to replay BG2

That's never a bad urge!

Thinking I'm going to need a signed box this time...

I liked the first one. One of my few gripes was the aggro/tanking system.

Looking forward to seeing the sequel. Started Pillars when it first came out, but didn't like it enough to get very far. Started another play after White March Pt. 2 came out, and surprisingly enjoyed it quite a bit, though was starting to get a bit burnt out by the repetition of combat before the end. Still, it's a much improved game compared to launch.

I'll never be a fan of real-time with pause, though. The harder fights/bosses were more of chore for me, than the treats they're probably intended to be. Much like Baldur's Gate before it, fights can be incredibly binary and so much of the challenge boils down to simply landing the right spells at the start of fights. For the Adra dragon in particular, the encounter can be incredibly easy if you manage to keep your party alive long enough to land a "lucky" paralyze, then just have your casters keep spamming paralyze scrolls along with debuffs until dead.

rudra wrote on May 17, 2016, 14:31:
remember Baldurs Gate vs Baldurs Gate 2??

lets hope lightning strikes twice

That's how I look at these and I did really like PoeT and all the patches made it better and better. Should be a pretty seasoned system for round 2.

MattyB wrote on May 17, 2016, 13:48:
I gave up toward the end. There was something about the levelling and loot which meant that I never felt like I was actually getting any stronger, and all the weapons felt similar without lacking any real identity or rareness that made them interesting.

I didn't find the story particularly engaging either.

I had the same feelings about the game. I probably completed 90% of the game but I got so bored I gave up.

To be honest I was kinda OK with the release version of this game, but the expansions were totally lamesauce for me, and the game had many many flaws. Only thing I really got from it was the urge to replay BG2

I'll get this, I was a backer of the original and I am pleased with it.