Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire + DLC Thread - now with turn-based combat!

[BING XI LAO]

1,2,3 - The factions don't have much to do with the drama about the Gods and the wheel. People, including myself, seem to be satisfied enough with the faction plotlines.

They still count as examples of player agency. To claim otherwise is disingenuous.

In a largely unrelated part of the plot that I'm not criticising. Sure, it has agency there, never meant to say otherwise.

You can argue the presentation was bad, but it's still player agency. There are 13 different endings based on what you tell Eothas to do in the final conversation.

The main plot is fundamentally garbage because it has an invincible protagonist, it's not merely bad presentation. If your defense of the player's role in the main quest is that you get to pick ending slides in the last of the derisory conversations, why are you defending it at all?

 

[Safav Hamon]

The main plot is fundamentally garbage because it has an invincible protagonist, it's not merely bad presentation.

Not sure what argument you're trying to make. Invincible protagonist? Judging by the fact that Eothas crushes you the moment you fight him, that's not true.

 

[aweigh]

but it's still player agency

...ok, but so what? you keep saying that as if it's supposed to be important.

 

[Safav Hamon]

In response to this claim

Only one character, and it's not even the PC, has agency, how can that possibly ever be a good story?

 

[Darth Roxor]

Sawyer's philosophy makes sense when you realize that the Watcher is his self-insert and the gods are Everyone Else.

and adra is crystal meth

 

[Haplo]

I'll repeat my suggestion: How about QUIT ADDING MID GAME EXPANSIONS YOU FUCKS

then you can design encounters knowing that players will be at max/post-OC levels

but no that would actually make sense

fk u obsidian

Well, yeah, but consider the completion rate statistics. Would you really want to narrow down the potential market for your DLC that much?

 

[mitochondritom]

1,2,3 - The factions don't have much to do with the drama about the Gods and the wheel. People, including myself, seem to be satisfied enough with the faction plotlines.
As for 4, ending slides are not a substitute for having something to do in the plot of the game itself. And the conversation with Eothas is pathetic, you don't seem to need any stats, items or knowledge to persuade him. You can try to persuade the literal God of Redemption to annihilate all life, and if you fail to persuade him by giving a lame non-reason, he still does it anyway. It's ironic, you are finally granted agency with Eothas but it's retarded: you can persuade him of anything for no reason. It's like turning up to the Master in Fallout, telling him he's wrong. But you don't say his mutants are sterile and you don't have the evidence of it anyway. So he ignores your non-existent argument. But then he ''feels doubt'' and self destructs anyway. That's literally how bad the last conversation of PoE2 is.

Compared to the ending of White March P2 where you confront the Endless and deal with Abydon, Deadfire was really weak in comparison. I understand that the Eothas encounter at the finale was deemed too long and was butchered, which in itself lead to a bunch of stuff not making sense regarding the Wheel and what came before. It is actually mind boggling that they decided to do that. It is still not clear to me after 60 hours of the game what the hell Eothas was doing when he possessed Waidwen. Why did he not just manifest as a gigantic statue for round one? Especially because Waidwen was nuked by a bomb and yet Green Dr Manhattan can withstand a volcano then a tsunami.

Something about this game has left me a little soured on the setting. And really, I was a bit of a Pillars of Eternity apologist anyway. I wanted to love this game, but the story was just so poorly constructed. I hate that they went hard on stupid romances, chasing Whedonite Dragon Age lovers and in doing so we got Xoti. Fucksake, it could have been good.

 

[Sizzle]

Honestly though the Obsidian's decision to do a direct sequel AND double down on gods retardation is momumental mistake.

It could have been done well, but they kept (and made even more prominent) the most boring parts of the gods (namely - their bickering and passivity).

What you end up with is a pantheon that's at once so dull, incompetent, and yet still arrogant - you want to bitch slap them all. And I doubt that was the experience they were aiming for.

I think "wanting to bitch slap the gods" was one of their goals

He deliberately took away player agency? Why - in order to make some flimsy point? Now, I - and I'm sure most players, too - wasn't expecting a traditional combat showdown with Eothas, but I was expecting some way to influence the goddamn plot in ways that didn't just amount to: "Eothas, sir, could you pretty please break the wheel in a way that benefits my allies?" Like BING XI LAO said, the Watcher's connection to the adra made me think we would have an option to somehow enter Eothas (probably with divine assistance), and do something. It also further demonstrates how the rest of the game doesn't have almost any connection to the Eothas part - you don't need to muck about with the factions, all you need is enough gold to purchase the best ship. Amateurish, and a wasted narrative & gameplay opportunity.

As to the gods being pricks - this is a game. It's fine when you have characters like these (a common staple of RPGs - characters which are more powerful than you at the beginning of the game and bully you into doing their tasks for them), but not having the option to somehow fuck them up or tell them to shove it isn't. There's no pay-off, just plenty of negative build-up.

Is it more realistic like this? Maybe, but I also play games in order to get a dose of power fulfillment. New Vegas was also pretty down to earth, but there you actually could accomplish great deeds and kill off all the NPCs that thought you were their subordinate, while here you play tag along to an impervious giant statue and a go-between a bunch of assholes that can't be bothered to communicate directly.

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Safav Hamon]

Far in the southernmost reaches of the Deadfire Archipelago, frost and death have encroached upon the land of the living. You, Watcher, have received a missive from the isle's residents: worshipers of Rymrgand, the god of entropy and disaster. They call you Duskspeaker, a harbinger of the end, and pray you fulfill your destiny.

In this new DLC for Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire:

• Embark upon an adventure that will take you to Hel itself.
  
• Join forces with Vatnir, an Endings Godlike and Priest of Rymrgand, to bring battle to the monstrosities that roam the Beyond.
  
• Confront an ancient dragon, whom even the gods fear, before she brings Eora to an icy end

 

[Safav Hamon]

 

[imweasel]

Certainly better than that stupid fucking "muh pirates" theme.

 

[mitochondritom]

So the top screen is Waidwen on top of the bridge, before the godhammer?

 

[Safav Hamon]

Yeah. I shared evidence of Waiden, the godhammer, and the dozen awhile back in the thread

 

[Shadenuat]

Confront an ancient dragon, whom even the gods fear, before she brings Eora to an icy end

okay they're really ripping off IWD here.

I also see some sort of time travelling lore visioning stuff happening for players to re-live the events that were more interesting than actual story as players were asking all the time I guess

 

[thesheeep]

There will be challenging content no matter what level you are.

 

[Safav Hamon]

These DLC look much better than I expected for $10

 

[Piotrovitz]

Is this reasonably patched yet, i.e there are no initially OPd as fuck classes, like cipher in PoE etc?

Not sure if I should hold on for few months more with first playthrough.

Also, are loading times at least slightly shorter than atrociously long ones in first one?

 

[Darth Roxor]

These DLC look much better than I expected for $10

nice try bubbles

 

[BING XI LAO]

Not sure what argument you're trying to make. Invincible protagonist? Judging by the fact that Eothas crushes you the moment you fight him, that's not true.

Eothas is the protagonist.

 

[BING XI LAO]

I understand that the Eothas encounter at the finale was deemed too long and was butchered

SERIOUSLY? How is Obshitian THIS BAD!!?!?

 

[mitochondritom]

I understand that the Eothas encounter at the finale was deemed too long and was butchered

SERIOUSLY? How is Obshitian THIS BAD!!?!?

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/174058952291/so-is-the-idea-that-before-the-wheel

It is quite frustrating that it was excised. In fact, I only really understand what is happening because I have read peoples summaries and also things that developers have written on Tumbler, Twitter and Reddit etc.

I am beginning to get the impression that nobody at Obsidian really agrees on the actual mechanics of the reality of Eora and all this soul guff. Hence someone writes Xoti sucking souls into her Lantern Ghostbusters style and then Eothas who has some souls inside him (including your part of your own). Or the Watcher who has half a soul, but can be a monk with twin souls ability (1/4th of a soul?). Oh and the Watcher also has a bell inside him and can erupt with other souls (but only once). It also seems in Deadfire that the Watcher peering into everyone's previous incarnations has disappeared (or is ignored).

Souls power everything and somehow the metaphysics of the world not only allow the purple soul ghosts to move through Adra, but if the Adra is special (luminous?!) you can teleport through it for realz. Actually writing it all out just reveals, frankly, how much of a mess it is.

Just think that the Engwithans could suicide into Gods using souls and Adra, but hadn't sussed out that you can teleport with it.

 

[fantadomat]

Souls power everything

That will be some great premise for a dark and depressing world like the one in Torment.

 

[BING XI LAO]

Sawyer went all in on the normie pandering. That last conversation could have been five times as long and that'd've been fine. Since the game didn't even release with a functional hard/PotD setting either, it's pandering to normies on both combat and story and is therefore shit. PoE1 had so much more potential than this.

 

[fantadomat]

Sawyer went all in on the normie pandering. That last conversation could have been five times as long and that'd've been fine. Since the game didn't even release with a functional hard/PotD setting either, it's pandering to normies on both combat and story and is therefore shit. PoE1 had so much more potential than this.

No matter to who they pander,the game will be shit. Obsidian simply lack talent at this point.