Since Obsidian published Pillars of Eternity in the year 2015, it has always been on and off the lists of āspiritual successorsā to Biowareās Baldurās Gate 2, along with names like Pathfinder Kingmaker, Divinity Original Sin II and, to a lesser extent, Black Geyser and Solasta Crown of the Magister.
This time we are taking on its not-so-successful sequel: Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. How does it compare to its predecessor? and to timeless classics like Baldurās Gate 2 and Icewind Dale? Letās find out!Keep in mind that I do not claim to be an expert in Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, nor any other rule set. This video only seeks to present my experience with the game and my personal takeaways.
0:00 Introduction
2:27 Character Creation and Character Progression
13:36 Gameplay
30:03 Story & Lore
41:00 Companions Lorewise
46:29 Companions Gameplay
48:08 Secondary Mechanics & User Experience
54:46 Sound Effects & Mix
56:01 Music
59:38 Voice Acting
1:03:12 Graphics
1:04:21 Performance & Stability
1:04:49 Other Considerations and Final Thoughts
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I always thought PoE1 had a great story, it was unexpectedly dark and creepy in its subject matter, maybe it wasn't paced quite so well, but for a CRPG to tackle the idea of a widespread epidemic of child disability: how anybody couldn't side with Hylea in the endgame, to return souls to those they were stolen from, is to me a thought experiment in how people view life. It really was a no brainer.
PoE2 makes that decision pointless though, Eothas probably absorbed countless other thousands or tens of thousands of souls just to make some theological point that the PC can ultimately influence at the very end. He's not too pleased with the Rymrgand response though, is it really any different? Eothas is an arsehole, but do the means justify the ends?
The setting of PoE2 is possibly the best of any CRPG bar none, it really deserves credit for just how awesome the storytelling in sidequests is, and how tightly the factional storytelling is dealt with regards to NPC companions. Companions aren't just there to say "oh, how horrible killing people is!" and then join in a massacre of 20 or so people and congratulate the PC for how noble they are. There really is depth and a great conviction to making consequences matter, at Ukaizo anyway, to decisions that have been made throughout the game. Anyway, it's a fantasy world, and you can side with the Slavers, if that's what the PC wants, your companions might hate you for it, or be outright hostile, but those choices are there!
Great review & keep it going.
Can you please tell me the name of the game @23:23 š
it just have better lore and a consistent looks throughout than DnD…DnD lore and looks are crap…whiles vampire the masquerade have awesome lore and looks but only bad games nowadays, but yes this IP could be made better.
you missed the red hair asian guy companion btw
sigh… I had forgotten I had this on my steam library, I dont remember the story actually… that means one thing, oh its already launching, see ya.
Well I got semi quoted and I'm cool with that.
POE2 is an improvement in almost every way over the original except where it counts (story/characters). The Characters/companions in the first pillars harken back to Baldurs Gate, Planescape or Metal Gear Solid. The second installment just didn't capture that.
just did not enjoy this one. Prolly the worst modern day crpg IMO. Loved the first one. Writing/story in the 2nd one just left alot to be desired to me
I loved PoE too, and I think this review nails everything. I couldn't see much of the story potholes or questions you mentioned, but I may have just been too immersed in how much more polished of a game it was to PoE1. Thanks for another on point (and much anticipated for me) video YOE.
Any other games like Divinity 2 with all the voice acting?
Great review, I'll get the game when it's on sale.
-at first I was very surprised why you would say some of the voice acting wasn't good… but you talked about accents and I understood : as a french, it's extremely rare that there is any accent at all in our dubbings (any media) so an accent would have to be comically exaggerated to be a bad thing for me. OTOH the orlesians in Dragon age all sound silly in english ^^
-a thing you didn't mention as a negative : if you're thorough in exploring the map, you get really overleveled and the last fight SPOILERS/ against the rival faction on the island is a complete joke (I didn't have to fight the gardian because the dragon did it for me, which is awesome but sadly happened offscreen)/END SPOILERS
it's the complete opposite problem of DOS2 where if you don't do ALL the sidequests you get stomped by any random enemy in the last act
-story-wise it's debatable which is best since the main plot is very short and can feel a bit pointless in the sequel, but it dragged on and was badly paced in the first, but the world, side quests and exploration are way better IMO in the sequel, especially the different factions, I think the Eothas chase is the side quest in terms of being interesting, like in a Bethesda game – at least visually the gigantic avatar is something I've never seen in a isometric game and it reminds me of Myrkul's corpse
-for the characters, yes Durance and Grieving mother have no equal in the 2nd, but the non-recurring characters weren't that interesting in the 1st either, and Eder is still the dependable human male that is somehow not boring, Pallegina and Aloth are still meh to me (the latter is boring-er I guess without the "used to work for the bad guys" reveal ?) It's more personnal preference I think : I'd take Serafen and Teheku over any from the 1st game other than the first 2 I spoke of (and Eder)
-and finally the setting is way more interesting than "the sword coast but everything is miserable" – and I really liked the 1st game, but I didn't LOVE it, in part because of the unrelentingly depressive atmosphere and in part because without the animancy and the gods stuff that you only learn in the last hour of the game, it's really generic medieval european fantasy, whereas the pirate/colonization angle is pretty rare
… and basically everything else is better in Deadfire, except the sales which tanked Obsidian because we can't have nice things š
I'm afraid now they're gonna make only 1st person "not elder scrolls" and "not fallout" games since The outer worlds was way more succesful
Interesting. I thought PoE2 was a step back on almost all accounts except for the audiovisuals. Its open world design was weak/boring, the writing was all over the place, the finale especially stagnant and the game was riddled with bugs and performance issues. And that was from playing the game a year ago. This title felt extremely rushed by the devs, like they were in a hurry to make something else. Unfocused. As a fan of party based isometric RPGs I really wanted to like this one, but I ended up disappointed. /shrugs I'm actually a bit surprised that people like PoE2 as much as they do, but to each his own I guess.
Awesome work once again! Loving this series!
Liked PoE2. I wish the devs would further improve on that formula and gave us another great CRPG in this style.
As for any game I like, I love this one with his flaws too. I watched some videos about Obsidian and Larianās dev process and boy, developing games is a freaking nightmare and a work of art.
I don't know which game is better since i adore them both but i will never forget my first PoE1 playthrough. Two of the best rpgs i have ever played , the fact that they didn't sell well enough breaks my heart.
Pillars 2 is insanely divisive (from my experience) but it is absolutely overall better than the first.
Picking which companion you want to romance in Deadfire is like picking what level of cock and ball torture you are okay with.
One little note about pets is there is a beraths blessing that let's Eder have a pet so you can have 2 of them
Figured it was worth mentioning
Hey you. You're finally awake. You were trying to post a video, right?
I'm 1 minute in so far, and there's 2 things that caught my eye already.
There's not a "yes", after exactly 1:00
Wth, over one hour! Nice!
Ok. Incredibly good video. I can see the literal mountain of work that you put in those every single time. That's why even if you ever start making videos that I completely disagree with, I'll still watch them fully. Sometimes twice. Sometimes thrice actually. As always, incredible work and that's why I'm still angry, that I can't support you directly. Set up the effing patreon. Or else.
But seriously. Whew. That score. How is it lower than for PoE1, if you… Err. Liked it… More? I guess? I don't get it. Care to elaborate a bit? I know. Eder's portrait looks a million times better in PoE1, but is it worth taking away a whole point for?
Yes is the only answer to your title question.
Deadfire is my favorite game because of its depth and tactical combat. Everything else is icing on the cake.
I had 2 problems with this game. Story: āEothas is heading to point X, we have to get there now!!ā¦oh but first letās help find some actors for this playā¦and letās find a cure for these sick Huanaā¦ā The story ruins the immersion.
My second problem is the character progression. I like turned base DOS style combatā¦but you learn skills so slowly and there is no nuance or depth to the classes. Itās all about min/maxing. I donāt min/max so my characters arenāt the bestā¦but also you donāt get a lot of skills so you basically approach mostly all battles the same. It gets boring quick. I take breaks often to go play divinity š
Hey, would you consider releasing a document that has all the games you reviewed and their scores in all the categories? It would make it quite a bit easier to compare your relative opinions on these games, without having to switch between different videos and go to the correct timestamps.
I love PoE2 so much. It has some rough edges but man I feel like with its theme and the story structure it was specifically made for someone like me. It's definitely my favorite CRPG of the CRPG Renaissance. Fantastic video and thank you for making me rediscover my love for that game.