The writing in this game is average

[Brotherman Bill]

The game is pretty cool. Not as good as BG2 and PST, but better than BG1 and IWD. It's a good spiritual successor.

But the writing is.. Ok-ish. It's not good. It's not bad either though. The backstories you can sense behind random NPCs are the worst case of tl;dr I've ever seen in a game, they are just irrelevant and boring. The conversations are straight and to the point, and everyone talks like a modern person. I'm rarely intrigued by the people I meet.

Just thought I'd throw this out here. I always thought MCA was overrated and it appears I'm right. PoE's feature appears to be its content density more than anything.

 

[Jaesun]

MCA single handedly wrote everything for the entire game? Amazing!

 

[Roguey]

I doubt it's average by video game standards, which are abysmally low.

 

[veevoir]

The backstories you can sense behind random NPCs are the worst case of tl;dr I've ever seen in a game, they are just irrelevant and boring.

Just to point out - This is backer reward fanfic crap, not Obsidian writing.

 

[Infinitron]

MCA single handedly wrote everything for the entire game? Amazing!

He didn't even write lots of things.

Eric "Vault 11" Fenstermaker. Learn his name.

 

[Jaedar]

Doesn't matter who wrote it, it's still mostly mediocre.

 

[Diablo169]

If anything I'd say the game needed more MCA. And most definitely more Ziets. Still better then just about any other relatively new games fiction though.

 

[Metatron]

Just ignore the backer reward npcs, they're easy to spot and you won't miss a thing.
Other than that it's pretty good for a video game. On more or less the same level as SRR.

 

[WhiteGuts]

I'm still at the Gilded Vale and I can say that the writing is at least above average, with some peaks here and there. The only thing I hate are the backer NPCs.

 

[Jaesun]

MCA single handedly wrote everything for the entire game? Amazing!

He didn't even write lots of things.

Eric "Vault 11" Fenstermaker. Learn his name.

Oh *I* know that. I was just relating what the retarded OP dumfuck thinks.

 

[Konjad]

Writing is not jsut mediocre, it's quite meh. I begun to skip some parts of the dialogues because it's just boring. I only did it in a cRPG once before - in Divinity:OS. It had crappy writing too, but DOS had an amazing gameplay, so it was a minor annoyance, but PoE... not so much. Especially those fucking constant trash encounters, for fucks sake, when will they end.

better than BG1 and IWD.

Baldur's Gate is way better than PoE/IWD. Sure, it had its share of edgy/dumb writing and annoying trash encounters (especially in the main storyline), but it had many interesting quests, NPCs and locations as well too. The city of Baldur's Gate has like a hundred times more content than the large city in PoE (whatever it's name) even though they have about the same amount of locations. Durlag's Tower? Fuck that, so far I'm just mashing through some spiders and other shit in caves/catacombs/ruins.

PoE seems so lifeless and empty in comparison with Baldur's Gate.

It could be named Icewind Dale 3 though and live up to its name

 

[VladimirK]

The backstories you can sense behind random NPCs are the worst case of tl;dr I've ever seen in a game, they are just irrelevant and boring.

Just to point out - This is backer reward fanfic crap, not Obsidian writing.

Thank you, this explains why it's so goddamn awful. Reading that stuff was making me lose faith in Obsidian...

 

[Roguey]

If anything I'd say the game needed more MCA. And most definitely more Ziets. Still better then just about any other relatively new games fiction though.

Ziets hates writing dialogue so that wasn't ever going to happen.

 

[AN4RCHID]

It's a hell of a lot better writing than most games I've played since New Vegas, so I'd say it's well above average. The companions are all good, especially Kana, Durance and Eder. Sagani is the least interesting to me, and she's still more three dimensional than any character in Wasteland 2 or Original Sin. Every important companion dialogue has been very satisfying so far. There is a shortage of memorable characters outside of the main cast, but none of the NPCs feel phoned-in - at worst they're just a little bland and forgettable. I thought the villain was a little stereotypical at first, but he has a very cool backstory and I'm starting to warm up to him.

It's pretty heavy on lore dumps, which I like, but I can see how some people would get impatient with that. That's just a product of trying to build a new setting though.

The only really annoying part to me is those backer NPCs, which are not poorly written themselves so much as they are unnecessary in the context of the game. They're very easy to avoid though.

 

[Wilian]

The backstories you can sense behind random NPCs are the worst case of tl;dr I've ever seen in a game, they are just irrelevant and boring.

Just to point out - This is backer reward fanfic crap, not Obsidian writing.

And I've been reading them all in pain assuming there is purpose behind such. Oh God

 

[Durante]

I really wish writing of this quality was average in games - it's not even close.

There are a lot of factors putting PoE's writing far above that, but the most obvious are:

• The quality and thoroughness of the world-building. You are clearly in a place with a well-developed history that colors all layers of society, and how they interact with each other. Even the "foreign" cultures have unique identities.
  
• Quest dialogue and resolution. NPCs involved in quests are real characters: they operate from limited knowledge, many have an agenda, and the vast majority will only tell you the truth if pressured or if it is convenient for them. This single-handedly makes quests so much more interesting.
• Companion characters which don't make you feel like they are designed solely to make the player feel good about themselves and/or forward a particular branch of the story.

(And no, I'm not counting shitty backer reward writing here)

 

[prodigydancer]

The only really annoying part to me is those backer NPCs, which are not poorly written themselves so much as they are unnecessary in the context of the game. They're very easy to avoid though.

To my taste the "soul stories" are actually less plain than most of regular in-game dialogue I've seen so far. I think they are a nice touch. What is annoying though is the flashing purple-white "otherworldly" filter you see every time you do any kind of Watcher stuff. It stopped being fun after first five seconds and it's something I totally wouldn't miss (if someone modded it out).

 

[Shevek]

Average compared to what exactly? The writing in this game is great.

 

[Irenaeus]

Writing in this game is great, learn to read again. OP is retarded.

 

[flabbyjack]

The backstories you can sense behind random NPCs are the worst case of tl;dr I've ever seen in a game, they are just irrelevant and boring.

Just to point out - This is backer reward fanfic crap, not Obsidian writing.

*fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap*

 

[Ellef]

Judging the by the OP, he's been unfair on the writing due to the backer fanfic rubbish. Leave it a little while and some of the companions start talking some good shit, especially Durance.

Writing in games is one of the most depressingly banal shit most of the time, even in so called incline wordy games. I'd say this game gets above the average the industry sets.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

The writing is good. Like GRRM good, not Borges good...or even Gene Wolfe good. But still, GRRM is good for what it is. Just like this games' writing.

 

[Irenaeus]

The writing is good. Like GRRM good, not Borges good...or even Gene Wolfe good. But still, GRRM is good for what it is. Just like this games' writing.

No. Just no.

GRRM is horrible, PoE is awesome. Sorry, you did a bad job.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

GRRM is horrible.

But he's not, and that's an idiotic thing to say. He's not great, he's not bad, he's certainly not horrible...he's an interesting fluff writer. PoE is no better. Don't kid yourself, videogame guy.

 

[Irenaeus]

Your opinion sucks.

 

[AngryEddy]

The writing is good.

Are you people fucking nuts or something? Have you even played Final Fantasy Tactics or Kotor 2? POE is George RR Martin writing in the sense that there are thousands of pages of absolutely nothing [only talking about non-backer writing here] that could be cut out, but then your legion of retarded fans wouldn't have anything to blow your ego about, so better keep it in.

FFT and Kotor 2 is good writing, POE is politically correct dogshit and the people blowing the writing so hard, should be hung by the neck until dead, for being such lemmings.