Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 740 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 540 out of 740
  2. Mixed: 102 out of 740
  3. Negative: 98 out of 740
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  1. zexxx
    Aug 28, 2023
    9
    PoE:II is an improvement in everyway over the original and it sets a very high bar for any RPG to try and follow.

    Masterclass in storytelling and character development with every D&D mechanic you can want in such a game. I enjoyed it immensely and it deserves to be in the hall of fame along Baldur's gate 1&2 and their like. Obsedian are masters of their craft. they present a very    PoE:II is an improvement in everyway over the original and it sets a very high bar for any RPG to try and follow.

    Masterclass in storytelling and character development with every D&D mechanic you can want in such a game. I enjoyed it immensely and it deserves to be in the hall of fame along Baldur's gate 1&2 and their like.

    Obsedian are masters of their craft. they present a very compelling world with complex narratives, gods, characters, myths, magic and mystery.

    While in the first game you had a friggin castle to manage, defend and develop here you've got a ship! with a colorful crew too!

    I love the style of writing in this game which makes every character and location feel like they are truly part of the world. it's a brilliant game and I will be singing it's praises for years to come.

    This is the perfect game for RPG lovers and D&D lovers (though that mechanically this isn't D&D but close).

    A Highly recommended game!    … Expand
  2. Keron_Heruman
    Aug 24, 2023
    9
    Very good cRPG, in the line with the previous game but objectively better game. Improves significantly some questions of the gameplay, but his history, although deep and well written, lacks the freshly of the original PoE. The timeline of the quests appears to be chaotic with strange interrelation between main&secondary quests
  3. Tiradentes
    Aug 13, 2023
    9
    200+ hours into the game I can say it's one of the best game I ever-played.
  4. bigbigtimeboy
    Jul 18, 2023
    10
    Continues the story (love the writing) and has same great customization, combat system and sense of humour as POE 1 - and the addition of the "moving base" / ship is fantastic! Haven't finished it yet - but totally loving it!
  5. HydrophobikFish
    Jun 9, 2023
    8
    Huge step up over its predecessor. Interesting concept of a pirate rpg, the story and setting are both very engaging. There are many interesting questions posed to the player, small and large. Combat is fun and did not wear out its welcome. Characters a bit hit or miss but some real stars in there. Soundtrack and presentation appropriately mythic.
  6. NotkerBiloba
    May 4, 2023
    10
    Very entertaining! Some challenging battles, endearing characters -- and some companions and NPCs that made me feel feelings, both good and bad. Not sure if I totally buy the premise, but it's fantasy, I guess. :) Can't wait for the next Kickstarter ...
  7. S3XU4LH34L1NG
    May 1, 2023
    7
    In its core a great game is hidden but I'll deduct a full 2 points for the shabby state this game is in 4 years after release.

    There a game breaking bugs with gear / spells / potions. Bugs that can ruin full playthroughs. There's memory leaking (I thinks this was an issue in P1 too). After 1-2 hrs this gets unbearable. Also you can clearly see some areas are extremly fleshed out and    In its core a great game is hidden but I'll deduct a full 2 points for the shabby state this game is in 4 years after release.

    There a game breaking bugs with gear / spells / potions. Bugs that can ruin full playthroughs.
    There's memory leaking (I thinks this was an issue in P1 too). After 1-2 hrs this gets unbearable.
    Also you can clearly see some areas are extremly fleshed out and others lacking heavily.

    The characters and the combat system is satisfying and I have no complaints there. The story is well thought out and deeply philosophical just like in the first game.

    Atm this is on gamepass. I recommend grabbing it there.    … Expand
  8. Hyperfailure
    Apr 29, 2023
    7
    In spite of improving on its predecessor in many aspect, the sequel simply does not reach the same heights as the first instalment. While mechanically much more sound, the story and characters do not feel as endearing as the first game.
  9. alex_opr
    Apr 14, 2023
    7
    I wanted to like this game more because I really liked the world and all the deep lore, but it had so many things going against it. The writing is pretty bad my biggest problem is the inconsistent tone, the gameplay is too safe, and too old school imo, and it felt that it provides 2 interesting dungeons in my 40-hour playthrough and the ending was just lackluster. I love RPGs but I thinkI wanted to like this game more because I really liked the world and all the deep lore, but it had so many things going against it. The writing is pretty bad my biggest problem is the inconsistent tone, the gameplay is too safe, and too old school imo, and it felt that it provides 2 interesting dungeons in my 40-hour playthrough and the ending was just lackluster. I love RPGs but I think there are better options out there to put the hours in.

    I will still give it a 7 because again I liked the world, the locations were beautiful, good music and good sound, there are some interesting quests and the combat is pretty enjoyable for a time. I also liked the reputation system and the responsiveness of the world to your actions.. well untill the end.    … Expand
  10. Alvt
    Mar 5, 2023
    10
    Besides problems witch long loading, pillars of eternity 2 is One the best experience playing classic RPG. The Turn mode works better in this game, the lore is so fantastic, it's One of the most underrated game that I had played.
  11. PenetratorGod
    Feb 10, 2023
    3
    It's a bad Divinity ripoff. The first game tried to copy Baldur's Gate. It's a series with no original ideas of its own. Even if we leave the story aside, the gameplay is terrible.
  12. cezar88augusto
    Dec 9, 2022
    8
    I decided to play it in turn mode. The story of the game initially is cool, but as the game goes on, it gets dense, with many unnecessary characters and dialogues. I managed to finish Pillar of Eternity in 65 hours of gameplay: I completed several side quests and obviously, the main quest.

    It's a good RPG game. The game is open world and there is a navigation system and naval battles    I decided to play it in turn mode. The story of the game initially is cool, but as the game goes on, it gets dense, with many unnecessary characters and dialogues. I managed to finish Pillar of Eternity in 65 hours of gameplay: I completed several side quests and obviously, the main quest.

    It's a good RPG game. The game is open world and there is a navigation system and naval battles different from conventional RPGs.

    I liked the game, but I confess that I expected more since I saw the many positive reviews before playing it. I recommend the game, but it's nothing fantastic.    … Expand
  13. Geralt123
    Sep 13, 2022
    7
    In one sentence: fun combat but mediocre story 7/10

    Pros ----- - Beautiful grahpics - Endless skills / weapons - Satisfying combat - Nice finisher animations - Ship management increases immersion - Entering other ships is fun - Quickload/Quicksave is really good Cons -------- - Load screens when you enter a house or even a new floor of a house, this is really too long -    In one sentence: fun combat but mediocre story 7/10

    Pros
    -----
    - Beautiful grahpics
    - Endless skills / weapons
    - Satisfying combat
    - Nice finisher animations
    - Ship management increases immersion
    - Entering other ships is fun
    - Quickload/Quicksave is really good

    Cons
    --------
    - Load screens when you enter a house or even a new floor of a house, this is really too long
    - Too much religious blah blah
    - Story and most dialogues rather boring
    - Pirate settings is so overused I can’t believe why they chose that
    - Not much to do on many islands
    - Disappointing ending    … Expand
  14. 2random
    Sep 4, 2022
    1
    The game feels extremely unsatisfying to play. A huge disappointment. Not even close to baldurs gate. It just tries to be what it isn't. There's no real depth to the world, most of the NPCs speak with one-liners, stand in 1 place all the time and are more like decorations than actual people. This isn't how you make this kind of games. The game is in poor technical condition- lags, bugs,The game feels extremely unsatisfying to play. A huge disappointment. Not even close to baldurs gate. It just tries to be what it isn't. There's no real depth to the world, most of the NPCs speak with one-liners, stand in 1 place all the time and are more like decorations than actual people. This isn't how you make this kind of games. The game is in poor technical condition- lags, bugs, takes ages to load. But the woke sure is there, the game's just infested with it.… Expand
  15. Tomplexthis
    Jul 7, 2022
    8
    This game builds alot upon the first pillars of eternity, but also has a Awful ending, the game in its entirety is pretty amazing, and worth playing, it adds on a lot of new features that are kind of awesome, like the dumb boat, with repetitive fights, or the many islands, with places to see and explore, loved its dlc, for what the game is, i liked it alot, but that ending, sours everyThis game builds alot upon the first pillars of eternity, but also has a Awful ending, the game in its entirety is pretty amazing, and worth playing, it adds on a lot of new features that are kind of awesome, like the dumb boat, with repetitive fights, or the many islands, with places to see and explore, loved its dlc, for what the game is, i liked it alot, but that ending, sours every aspect of playing this.… Expand
  16. Morigames
    May 30, 2022
    9
    Classic. Following the D&D line. A huge LORE with great character involvement. System in the line of old RPGs.
  17. SegeiNowichkov
    May 22, 2022
    9
    Awesome, but I would like to see more visual affects in the future games. For instance, ship's fights could be animated
  18. tontonac
    May 16, 2022
    10
    A masterpiece, made with a lot of love. It is not perfect but is probably the best you can do while staying true to the "classic" CRPG genre (including fixed, but absolutely beautiful backgrounds).
  19. jseph1234
    Apr 17, 2022
    7
    What a lovingly well-crafted game this is. From the beautiful animation and awesome story that carries over from Pillars of Eternity 1. Was a bit disappointed though how my original charater from #1 was Nerfed badly so I have changed my rating to 7 / 10
  20. RedDragonSchool
    Apr 10, 2022
    10
    Great game, just like its predecessor PoE1. A must have for RTwP fans. There is one caveat only: it's too easy except the hardest difficulty level, so this will be hopefully addressed in the future.
  21. Gamed2long
    Apr 6, 2022
    7
    Ultimately I developed a love/hate relationship with this game, that continued to its deeply unsatisfying conclusion. It is in many ways an improvement over POE 1. But would I recommend it to a D&D game fan? It depends. To anyone not already a fan of the genre? Definitely NOT!
    The good: Enemy and companion AI is a big step up from the first game. Characters have more voiced dialogue.    Ultimately I developed a love/hate relationship with this game, that continued to its deeply unsatisfying conclusion. It is in many ways an improvement over POE 1. But would I recommend it to a D&D game fan? It depends. To anyone not already a fan of the genre? Definitely NOT!
    The good: Enemy and companion AI is a big step up from the first game. Characters have more voiced dialogue. Characters are more grounded and there were better companion interactions to be had. Some settings are very creative and pretty. The class system is more polished and intuitive. Some more compelling side quests and 3 DLCs far better than the base game. The game even got a bit philosophical at times. In places it had that old school Baldur's Gate quirkiness that is missing in most modern games.
    The bad: Fight balance. How items were handled. I liked the idea of finding gold items and upgrading them until they had the best stats in the game and came with a special ability, however a lot of the time this meant I found a best in slot item for a character, and had no need to change it out for the rest of the game. I took half my crew through the whole game never changing off the equipment they started in. It already had the good perk attributes, so it was just a matter of upgrading with gold and generic crafting stuff. So that took some fun out of itemization. Potions/scrolls would have made a big difference early on, but it costs gold to brew/craft them. Was too poor to when they would have made a huge difference and by the time I was rich enough to, I'd amassed basically all I'd need. So that was largely a wasted opportunity. The 4 major factions in the game are all flawed. Perhaps too flawed to the point it was hard to see redeeming qualities in any of them. I appreciate they didn't want clear "good guy/bad guy" choices. But the factions could have shown more good to go with their bad.
    Then there was ship combat. Basically its own text adventure that ended in a typical fight anyway. I appreciate this game is small budget and chose not to go into battle animations or cutscenes. But the text crawl with unclear rules made it no fun if you know what you're doing and just bad if you don't.
    Finally the main plot started off strong, but ended with a whimper, not a bang. It started out better, but ended worse than most of the side quests and DLC.    … Expand
  22. F1_is_WWE
    Mar 20, 2022
    8
    This is the best CRPG game simply because it has by far the best combat of them all. No longer do you just spam heal and attack like in other games, here you have to actually use your skills and items with different tactics each battle. Muticlassing and leveling characters is fun. I can't go back to any of the older CRPGs after this one, it just blows them out of the water.

    The only    This is the best CRPG game simply because it has by far the best combat of them all. No longer do you just spam heal and attack like in other games, here you have to actually use your skills and items with different tactics each battle. Muticlassing and leveling characters is fun. I can't go back to any of the older CRPGs after this one, it just blows them out of the water.

    The only problems with the game are the boring story and naval battles, but they don't take up too much time.

    Would recommend playing with the Diffuclty Tweaks mod so you don't get overlevelled.    … Expand
  23. Nomac69
    Mar 19, 2022
    10
    Exceptional game and rich world full of nuanced side quests and fulfilling character development.
  24. Odal
    Nov 30, 2021
    6
    Too many things felt off with this game. From the weird aesthetics of African italians in European clothing with weird accents (woke?) to the whole theme of pirates and Islands. Characters were pretty weak as well. Apart from Eder, Aloth, Xoti and Serafin, there wasn't much there.
    And even then Aloth and Serafin are not the best characters ever created exactly. I did like Xoti and Eder    Too many things felt off with this game. From the weird aesthetics of African italians in European clothing with weird accents (woke?) to the whole theme of pirates and Islands. Characters were pretty weak as well. Apart from Eder, Aloth, Xoti and Serafin, there wasn't much there.
    And even then Aloth and Serafin are not the best characters ever created exactly. I did like Xoti and Eder is a likeable classic from PoE though.

    Some may like it better than PoE 1 and it did have some great moments, but overall a very "meh" experience. Especially comparing to Pillars of Eternity 1 in my opinion.

    The plus of the game is the movement with the text-RPG, those I really liked. But the story, atmosphere, characters and quests were all worse than PoE. The terrible combat from PoE was neither improved. The music is pretty good, but not again as good as Pillars Of Eternity 1.

    Still as a fan of RPG:s, I say, give it a try. However, I personally burned out pretty quickly on the game and had to force myself to finnish it.

    I hope if they make a PoE 3, which I hope they do, that they take it back to a classic adventure setting without pirates and that they improve on the things mentioned as negatives in this review: aeshetics, setting, combat, mainquest, characters.

    +
    Text RPG moments
    Beautifully made enviroments
    Music

    -
    Aesthetics
    Setting
    Character choice (too few good characters)
    Factions
    Combat    … Expand
  25. agekbaten
    Nov 27, 2021
    10
    A huge positive impression. Played 300 hours and did not meet the monotony of them. A very elaborate combat system, masterpiece quests, excellent tracks that are pleasant to listen to separately, well-developed lore, excellent graphics.
    It's surprising that such a small estimate. Of the shortcomings, after an abundance of battles in the game, FPS drops on my rysen 7 2700x and gtx 1070,    A huge positive impression. Played 300 hours and did not meet the monotony of them. A very elaborate combat system, masterpiece quests, excellent tracks that are pleasant to listen to separately, well-developed lore, excellent graphics.
    It's surprising that such a small estimate. Of the shortcomings, after an abundance of battles in the game, FPS drops on my rysen 7 2700x and gtx 1070, after loading from the main menu, everything is fine again.
    Less than 9 out of 10 (due to technical problems) this masterpiece does not deserve, it is a pleasure to pass on high difficulty, since the game has an excellent balance for those who want to understand.
    Sony games (with all due respect) move over and hold the obsidian beer.
    Fine!
    (I put 10 points to increase the overall rating of the game)    … Expand
  26. Akadrud
    Nov 1, 2021
    8
    I have mixed feelings about this game.. though I think it is worth playing, especially for it's beaufitul graphic. I really loved the atmosphere, the game system, the characters and the really impressive scenery, models, lightning and animation, but I feel it lacks in some parts: the story could be better and more involving for the main character but i won't spoil it: the naval system isI have mixed feelings about this game.. though I think it is worth playing, especially for it's beaufitul graphic. I really loved the atmosphere, the game system, the characters and the really impressive scenery, models, lightning and animation, but I feel it lacks in some parts: the story could be better and more involving for the main character but i won't spoil it: the naval system is pretty useless as it doesn't really has an impact on the game and you can basically ignore it. Some story lines also seems to die, and some others you can completely miss because of no hints whatsoever.… Expand
  27. Bioreactor1987
    Oct 19, 2021
    9
    Хороший представитель жанра. Залетела в список любимых игр рядом с ведьмаком и дивинити ос2.
    Возможно, если бы играл через активную паузу зашла бы гораздо хуже, но пошаговый режим кайфовый.
    Взбесил только dlc seeker slayer survivor.    Хороший представитель жанра. Залетела в список любимых игр рядом с ведьмаком и дивинити ос2.
    Возможно, если бы играл через активную паузу зашла бы гораздо хуже, но пошаговый режим кайфовый.
    Взбесил только dlc seeker slayer survivor.
  28. wanderu
    Oct 9, 2021
    9
    Великолепная ролевая игра, далеко шагнувшая вперед после 1 части. Рекомендую к покупке каждому поклоннику партийных РПГ.
  29. Woolee
    Sep 29, 2021
    7
    In my opinion, PoE2 is a huge step up from PoE1 (which was also a great game). It improved on many areas, and from what I've noticed hasn't worsened in any aspect that was in PoE 1.
  30. ministry86
    Sep 26, 2021
    6
    I don't like to **** on a game that's already sold poorly, but in this case, I have to. There's a lot of nonsense cultural jargon you're supposed to read and actually care about. I'm happy to learn a game world's history and lingo if the journey I'm going on is interesting, but it's not. Don't mistake a Fampyr for a Vampire or Hel for Hell. They're different, but not really. Even readingI don't like to **** on a game that's already sold poorly, but in this case, I have to. There's a lot of nonsense cultural jargon you're supposed to read and actually care about. I'm happy to learn a game world's history and lingo if the journey I'm going on is interesting, but it's not. Don't mistake a Fampyr for a Vampire or Hel for Hell. They're different, but not really. Even reading the quest log is annoying. Obsidian's idea of interesting writing is to throw as many adjectives, nonsensical character names and long winded descriptions into every line of dialogue and scene description. Yet, in the end, very little of it is engaging, exciting or worthy of the time I'm putting into it. As I hear some of the dialogue being spoken, I frequently laugh because of how damn silly it all sounds. It just comes off as pretentious to me. This is one of the most cynical games you'll ever play. Every faction is made up of monsters and bigots.

    There are a lot of time wasting issues within the game. For instance, the load times in between each floor of a building and entering and exiting a building. To fast travel around the city you have to run to an exit, you can't just open the map up and fast travel that way. Why? The "running" speed is also ridiculously slow. Nobody besides the obese run nearly that slow in real life.

    Why does it cost copper to craft items? For example, it costs 300 gold to create a single scroll of "Garden of Life" and 200 gold to craft a "Potion of Ironskin". That's a lazy way to "balance" crafting. If you add up the cost of the ingredients and the copper cost, it probably costs just about as much as buying one. That's stupid. What, are my characters tossing the gold pieces into the potion as it's being brewed? Why does it cost 30k gold to enchant an item from 'superb' to 'legendary' if I already have the skill and items to do so?. I've heard the counter arguments and they don't hold up. "Balance".

    So many potions and spells are so situational that they are useless because you can't use items from your personal inventory in battle. You can only use "quick items" in battle. That's 4 slots. I'm not going to load up my 4 slots with potions that I will likely never need.

    It's so easy to make your crew happy that low morale is never an issue. With all the money you rake in selling dead enemy loot, due to unlimited stash, that you can afford all the good food and drink and never have to worry about anything. You can also share the gold from every enemy ship defeated and that raises morale drastically. 10 morale up to plus 40 morale easily. There is no challenge in the ship combat because you can just board their ship and can avoid the text based naval battles every time. Obsidian is scared of commitments. They design a system but make sure to leave you an out and to allow you to skip it entirely, making that entire system they spent a long time developing pointless. According to the Fig campaign having a ship crew was an actual stretch goal, yet Ydwin, one of the more interesting sidekicks was locked behind the 5 million dollar goalpost. The ship crew was little more than flavor text. There are storms on the world map that you can see when sailing. They're just big circles on the world map to easily sail around. If you go through them there are some text based options that can kill or wound crew if you get unlucky, but mostly, you just gain a little experience. There is no risk whatsoever of running into a storm unless you want to. I sail into them for the nearly free experience points. The entire ship portion of the game is of no consequence. If I had donated money to that Fig campaign, I would be pissed off about the half-assed implementation of the systems on their stretch goals. I didn't and I'm annoyed.

    There is a formula for nearly every place you find exploring the world. You land on an island of interest, there is a site you want to visit. You're greeted by someone with vague speech who makes an offer. You say yes or no. Fight if you said no. You go to the site in question. The little text book pops up as you enter. Inconsequential words. You enter. It's essentially the same map as every other island's mini "dungeon". It takes 5-15 minutes and you're done. I have a feeling the writers were too busy arguing over which companions were going to screw each other than writing quests with substance. As a straight male playing a male character, having two male party members trying to **** me is a bit much.

    Obsidian, hire somebody to write for you besides 20-35 year old Californian hipster liberals. Get a little diversity in there. You actually do need it. And make sure to keep Justin Bell as your composer no matter what happens. He's really great. The music is fantastic.    … Expand
  31. BlackWidow
    Jun 28, 2021
    9
    One of the best RPG experiences (at least for me) since titles such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. The original game was trash IMHO, and this was largely due to limited healing options during combat and the poor AI/skill check system. However, the sequel is a super improvement. Obsidian listened to the fans and really outdid themselves. Here's my take on the game...

    THE GOOD    One of the best RPG experiences (at least for me) since titles such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. The original game was trash IMHO, and this was largely due to limited healing options during combat and the poor AI/skill check system. However, the sequel is a super improvement. Obsidian listened to the fans and really outdid themselves. Here's my take on the game...

    THE GOOD

    Great Story
    Nice Graphics
    Superb Voice Acting
    Reputation System
    Joinable Factions
    Real Time or Turn-Based Combat
    Awesome Leveling System
    Tons of Replay Value
    Full Day/Night Cycles
    Great Character Creation/Customization
    Dynamic Weather System
    Memorable Characters
    Great Companions
    Nice Loot/Drop System
    Excellent Combat System
    Pirate Themes With Sea Battles
    Fantastic Exploration

    THE BAD

    DLC Is Mediocre
    Long Load Times

    That's about it. The free DLC (5) are worth it and a must imho, but the paid DLC (4) are not that great, as they only add extra quests to the game, and do not impact the Main Story at all. Surely get them though when on sale, but I wouldn't pay full price. The Pirate themes are awesome. You can get ships, assign crew members, ship upgrades, and can sail anywhere, fighting off pirates and other stuff. So yeah. Super great game that no RPG fan should miss. 9/10. Thanks Obsidian.    … Expand
  32. Eltop
    Jun 6, 2021
    9
    Tolles oldschool rpg. Das Karibik Setting ist erfrischend. Hat mir besser gefallen als der erste Teil. Die Story ist nicht so sperrig und man hat nochmal mehr Möglichkeiten was die Kämpfe angeht. Die Schiffskämpfe haben mir auch gefallen, auch wenn diese textbasiert sind.
  33. Demiurge11
    Feb 25, 2021
    8
    The Good:
    - The game is quite fun.
    - The tactical combat can be quite challenging, and interesting. - There are lots of places to see, characters to talk to, and moral dilemmas to consider. - The epilogue felt like a satisfying accumulation of my decisions along the way. - The story definitely fits well with the Pillars mythology and is a good sequel to the original game. - I got 80    The Good:
    - The game is quite fun.
    - The tactical combat can be quite challenging, and interesting.
    - There are lots of places to see, characters to talk to, and moral dilemmas to consider.
    - The epilogue felt like a satisfying accumulation of my decisions along the way.
    - The story definitely fits well with the Pillars mythology and is a good sequel to the original game.
    - I got 80 hours of fun game play out of the game, and hadn't quite tapped all the game's potential.
    - Worth the money. I'd buy a sequel.

    The Bad:
    - Director Josh Sawyer said that sales of this game were low and he didn't know why. I can explain what the missing "je ne sais quoi" is from my perspective. While the game is fun (as stated above), the story is very fragmented. There are tons of side quests and factions to support, but the main storyline is pretty short and not well-developed at all. The game starts off well, with lots of richness in the story and characters, but that fragments into a ton of little side quests and things to keep you occupied. Don't get me wrong, those things are fun, but they don't add up to a story that feels really satisfying. There are plenty of hack & slash and MMO games that offer tons of diverting side quests. I think people play an Obsidian game for the story. Pillars of Eternity II did not deliver here. The ending is interesting, but getting there felt... meh.

    The Ugly:
    - two of the playable characters are cardboard cutouts--this is apparently due to the game having gotten insufficient funding from backers. Some of the characters are full of personality and have things to say at various points in the game, and have their own personal quest and epilogue, whereas there are a few that say virtually nothing and seem like ghosts. I would have preferred that the cardboard cutouts be removed entirely rather than haunting the game.
    - I didn't really like *any* of the factions presented. They were all unlikable in my opinion. At least, on the bright side, the game-makers gave me the option to go independently.    … Expand
  34. OfCourse
    Feb 15, 2021
    6
    This game has great tactical combat and and many interesting classes and multiclasses to build. RPG system was pretty meh in PoE1(percentages everywhere, graze/hit, overly convoluted and shallow at the same time) and it was somewhat improved here, but nearly all character builds focus around the same stat spread, which again shows that its not a great system. Overall gameplay is veryThis game has great tactical combat and and many interesting classes and multiclasses to build. RPG system was pretty meh in PoE1(percentages everywhere, graze/hit, overly convoluted and shallow at the same time) and it was somewhat improved here, but nearly all character builds focus around the same stat spread, which again shows that its not a great system. Overall gameplay is very enjoyable. Graphics are good, they even fixed ugly character models and bad animations, which plagued all kickstarter RPGs of that era. A lot of quality of life changes(like city navigation) are also appreciated.
    Why the score is so low you ask?
    Well because everything else is from mediocre to terrible.
    Soundtrack still puts you to sleep.
    Setting of Deadfire is a step up from the generic medieval fantasy, but its still not that interesting(because the real world cultures it was copied from are not that interesting either).
    Overreliance on textual adventures for everything gets stale very quickly. SHOW, DON'T TELL.
    Unity is still sluggish, stuttering mess, as usual(yeah its not the engine, its the programming, except when 99% of the games have exactly the same problems and its all somehow the fault of programmers).
    Writing went from boring in PoE1(except Durance, who was written by one who shall not be named) to outright amateur purple prose. Story is unengaging, short and pointless, characters are one dimensional and unmemorable. But this is expected to happen when you hire a bunch of amateurs and drive out the real talent. They had a fairly interesting setting, but then they force feed you its lore by the cartload, until you want to puke every time "soul" is mentioned. Soul this, god that, soul, god, soul, god, soul, god. No character development, no strong motivation, no revenge story, no political nuance, no twist, no emotions, no finale, nothing but countless babble about souls. Not every writer can manage to make you hate the lore that you initially though was cool.

    My advice to new players is ignore the story and just play this game for the combat. Its polished and you see people who were involved into its development knew what they were doing.
    Don't bother reading every sentence, its no planescape torment, not even kingmaker. Unless you can tolerate fanfiction tier writing, you won't get any satisfaction from reading Deadfire.

    My advice to Obsidian is to sack all its "writers" and get some people who can actually write themselves out of a paper bag.    … Expand
  35. Augment
    Jan 4, 2021
    10
    Shocked at how good this game was, I thought I didn't like CRPG's... I was clearly just choosing the wrong ones. The breadth of class customization can seem a bit daunting, but If you can get over that hump it is a fantastic experience. The world building is exceptionally well done - economics, government, religion, race, npc's just living their lives... it makes DOS2 seem extremelyShocked at how good this game was, I thought I didn't like CRPG's... I was clearly just choosing the wrong ones. The breadth of class customization can seem a bit daunting, but If you can get over that hump it is a fantastic experience. The world building is exceptionally well done - economics, government, religion, race, npc's just living their lives... it makes DOS2 seem extremely amateurish in that regard. Gameplay is fluid, and action is frequent.

    Unfortunate there are so many low votes due to bad optimisation... it quick saves and quick loads better than any game I've played, but going into fresh areas can take quite a while.    … Expand
  36. Oshiri_Maeda
    Oct 31, 2020
    8
    Great game! Too bad I'm not a fan of real-time pause fights. It is playable in turn-based mode, however it is not as polished and doesn't feel as good as something like Divinity Original Sin. You can feel that the game was not planned as turn-based, still alright though. Art and classic setting are superb, dialogs and text quests are pretty well done too. Love the text quests, too badGreat game! Too bad I'm not a fan of real-time pause fights. It is playable in turn-based mode, however it is not as polished and doesn't feel as good as something like Divinity Original Sin. You can feel that the game was not planned as turn-based, still alright though. Art and classic setting are superb, dialogs and text quests are pretty well done too. Love the text quests, too bad there were not very variative and pretty short. My biggest issue, besides the non-native turn-based mode that just lacks some zest, is the myriad little items and abilities, each with miniscule bonuses that just hard to manage and remember. I'd rather have twice or three times less abilities and item effects, but making them more impactful. Just tired of managing all those buttons and tired of keeping so many numbers in my head. and soooo many stats...
    Still, wonderful game, I'm just nitpicking.    … Expand
  37. GVB
    Oct 30, 2020
    4
    Rpg are my favourite genre. But this game its simply... meh. A lot of content, yes, and the writing is good, but the plot is uninteresting, the quest are a bit repetitive, and the companions are underdeveloped in every aspect and not have much weight in the story of your hero. So, if you want to play a great isometric rpg... play Disco Elysium. Or Baldur's Gate 2. Or Neverwinter Night...Rpg are my favourite genre. But this game its simply... meh. A lot of content, yes, and the writing is good, but the plot is uninteresting, the quest are a bit repetitive, and the companions are underdeveloped in every aspect and not have much weight in the story of your hero. So, if you want to play a great isometric rpg... play Disco Elysium. Or Baldur's Gate 2. Or Neverwinter Night... or Baldur's Gate 2 again, and again, and again... :-D… Expand
  38. Traxillion
    Sep 29, 2020
    5
    Feels a lot shallower to the first game in almost every aspect despite having a lot more mechanics.
    Also gets very boring after a while.
  39. cruccolo
    Aug 29, 2020
    10
    I believe Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire was not a commercial success because of very poor marketing. I played and loved the first episode in 2016, and I realized a sequel existed only in August 2020, and only because it was mentioned as a positive comparison in another game's review.
    I will give it a 10, despite the very long and unjustified loading times between even small areas. The    I believe Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire was not a commercial success because of very poor marketing. I played and loved the first episode in 2016, and I realized a sequel existed only in August 2020, and only because it was mentioned as a positive comparison in another game's review.
    I will give it a 10, despite the very long and unjustified loading times between even small areas. The gameplay (both real time and turn based) is great, as well as the story, the graphics, the music, the character progression system and the companions (Eder is still the best). I also enjoyed the new naval combat and ship management system, a refreshing evolution of the "player's stronghold" concept. Belfetto! (Almost).    … Expand
  40. bskierys
    Sep 6, 2020
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Obsidian has created yet another great RPG. Like it's predecessor, it stands out as an artistic achievement - graphics, music and storytelling were truly amazing. I felt that the studio has listened to their fans and improved many things that were lacking in the first part. I really enjoyed the climate of the Deadfire archipelago, with it's unique factions, tribes, politics and secrets. The story was much more light-hearted and adventurous than the first one, which often felt too mystical and gloomy. New characters, like Xoti, Maya and Serafen, were really likeable - a big improvement since Durance and Grieving Mother... I also liked how the old ones developed. There were many well-written and interesting side quests - something unusual these days, and I loved the plot of the Winter Beast DLC.

    However, from a perspective of a person that enjoys a good adventure & story rather than combat & character management, I found the latter part to be kind of boring and annoying duty. There were way too many people in my group to care about the skill set & equipment of each and every one of them - it would be much better if I could only focus on the Watcher. As a result, I would often find myself skipping the encounters on auto run - luckily, AI in this game is really well-developed. By the end of the game, I was so tired of fighting, that I basically ran through combat focused DLCs, like FS and SSS, on the easiest difficulty level. It was one of the reasons why getting all achievements in this game felt like a hard slog. Another thing that didn't work for me was fleet management - while restoration of Caed Nua was a cool little side task in the first game, I quickly grew tired of commanding my ship and crew. It felt useless since every sea encounter could be resolved very quickly, by fighting on board, Otherwise, I'd be stuck in naval battles that were neither rewarding, nor interesting, just a never-ending turn-based bore that didn't get any better as I improved my ship. Talking about boring things, the game finale wasn't too exciting - I'm aware that it might be because of decisions made, but it was just an hour-long wall of text. Feels like in-game choices and paths didn't get an equal treatment from the creators. Finally, there was something clearly wrong about how the game was optimized. My game was slower and slower with every quest and decision made, which was really weird. When I loaded my saves from the early stage, they were super-smooth, but near the end it would take forever to load a new location (on SSD) and the game looked like a slide-show at times. There were also occasional crashes. I'm not sure why it was like that, but fortunately it didn't stop me from finishing the game.    … Expand
  41. Prometheus1241
    Aug 22, 2020
    5
    I must start from the thing, that i liked the first Pillars

    But the second part is just a step back I do not realize why the hell obsidian decided to create and open world. It just longs the gameplay and forces it to continue for 2-3 hours longer( and if you want to complete all the side quests for 10(!!!) hours or more). and yet, you do not have an ability for quick travel.    I must start from the thing, that i liked the first Pillars

    But the second part is just a step back

    I do not realize why the hell obsidian decided to create and open world. It just longs the gameplay and forces it to continue for 2-3 hours longer( and if you want to complete all the side quests for 10(!!!) hours or more). and yet, you do not have an ability for quick travel. Secondly, after 5-10 hours of gameplay it becomes sooooo boring even for the fan of CRPGs like me. All the dungeons are almost the same, and i have found only 3(!!!) interesting for me side quests. the main story is just **** If the game had autoleveling, it could be completed for 3 hours...

    But lets talk about pros of the game:
    1) the graphics is one of the best among CRPGs
    2) battle system has become better( which is the only thing that saves you from their monotony)
    3) "The Forgotten Sanctum" DLC is quite good( it is best content of the game, as for me)

    So, that is it. I can't recommend it even to the fans of the first Pillars, so 5/10    … Expand
  42. GabFire
    Aug 10, 2020
    7
    Joguei esse jogo há pouco tempo, e realmente não vi nada legal, fico em dúvidas sobre a qualidade do novo jogo ''Avowed'', porque se for no mesmo universo dessa franquia, melhor abandonar e fazer outra coisa.
  43. BakriSaragih
    Jul 29, 2020
    0
    "Do not make further Pillars of Eternity game anymore, you'll only screw things further"

    The statement above is the bottom line I would like to give to this game. Don't get me wrong, I WAS a big fan. I love the writing, 10/10, the story and dialogues, 10/10, I have no problem with bird view 3D character, but the game design, about how you managed it, really put everything into the    "Do not make further Pillars of Eternity game anymore, you'll only screw things further"

    The statement above is the bottom line I would like to give to this game. Don't get me wrong, I WAS a big fan. I love the writing, 10/10, the story and dialogues, 10/10, I have no problem with bird view 3D character, but the game design, about how you managed it, really put everything into the trash can.

    First of all, I am a "hardcore" gamer, which means, I always do the craziest difficulty any game ever has, which includes PotD. I love it, I love the concept, what really infuriated me though was, "What did you smoke when you put that save mechanism". Honestly, if you want to remove auto-save for the sake of "you get what you play", not gonna lie, I will agree with you. But how can you expect us to forgive you, for punishing us because of one of your GAMEBREAKING BUG? Not to mention how annoying it is to manual save because of your bizarre manual save system. And now you wonder why nobody cares to buy your game.

    This isn't just some "bug issue", this is some "mind concept" issue. You want to punish the player as hard as possible but you don't want to compensate or anything of your own failure. That is a selfish paradigm.

    As a verdict, put your thought about making PoE III to the grave. The franchise is done. You are done. Don't screw things any further than it has.

    For new-players: forget PoTD. Not because it was too hard, but because this game got too many game-breaking bugs that would make you wasted a couple of hours.    … Expand
  44. almax
    Jul 19, 2020
    8
    Very good sequel which, unlike other wonderful rpg (e.g.dragon age or fallout 3 ), do not upset the original title transforming it into garbage.
    Only the story is, from my point of view, a little less addictive than the first one but you should not miss it if you liked pillars of eternity
  45. Zerathiel
    Jul 13, 2020
    10
    Apparently a lot of people are giving the games 0 because of Deadfires 'Leftist Agenda'.

    Get laid.

    This is an incredibly rich game with a compelling storyline, interesting characters and relationships and an expansive world with plentiful lore. Voice acting is incredible. Lots of options to play classes and characters as you wish. A true soul successor to the old 90's isometric RPG's.
  46. 2Puyo
    Jul 6, 2020
    9
    Deadfiire archipelago is such a new mood compared to POE1 and old Baldur's Gate games. It is a fun game that got me hooked to finish it 4 times(Noob numbers) with different endings. My only problem with he story is it was too big. I prefer a small but important story that will echo as time goes by throughout Eora. Ekera?
  47. EvgeniLinuxUser
    Jun 21, 2020
    10
    The best isometric RPG ever! I see some places where the gameplay could be improved (for example make sea exploration like in Sunless Sea or tactical pause like in Tower of Time or bigger size of location like in Divinity: Original sin) but all together looks flawless.
  48. Deaden
    Jun 16, 2020
    3
    ...Bok gibi oyun. Never Winter Nights ı yapan firma olduğuna inanmak zor...
  49. theirrelephants
    Jun 9, 2020
    7
    Good game but I didn't enjoy it as much as PoE1. 90% of the quests happen around one hub city, and 90% of the other "dungeons" consist of (admittedly pretty) one to two rooms on a single floor. The story didn't flow very well either, and while the faction system was entertaining, none of them were remotely likeable.

    The new party members were okay, but Eder and Aloth were the most    Good game but I didn't enjoy it as much as PoE1. 90% of the quests happen around one hub city, and 90% of the other "dungeons" consist of (admittedly pretty) one to two rooms on a single floor. The story didn't flow very well either, and while the faction system was entertaining, none of them were remotely likeable.

    The new party members were okay, but Eder and Aloth were the most enjoyable companions. The new ones didn't really compare to old favorites like Durance or Sagani. Xoti and Maia were.. okay. The rest of them were either bland or bad. The only one that might have been more interesting was confined to a companion role with no real story (some elf undead woman).

    The main quest also feels incredibly rushed. It's basically four missions and the final "boss fight" is a quick check list of questions and then the credits are rolled.

    It's a good RPG, but it's not a great one. Thaos was a much better villain than Eothas was. The latter comes off like a spoiled child who's smashing things because no one else will let him have his way, and yet his fellow gods wont intervene for reasons that are never really clear despite hitting him with a magic nuke the last time he tried to pull this. Despite attempts to handwave their inaction away, Woedica repeatedly makes it clear that they could stop him, they just wont because...reasons?

    I liked PoE2, but I didn't love it.

    By the way Sawyer, if you're reading this and still confused why it didn't sell as well as the first one - it's because of bad marketing. I didn't even know a second one had ever released until years later when it popped up as being on sale on steam.    … Expand
  50. MR67
    May 30, 2020
    7
    I finally managed to finish this one in around 60 hours without playing any of the DLC, as I probably plan to do another playthrough at some point.

    It's an improvement graphically from the first POE, but suffers from the same poor optimization issues as the first one; frequent lag and stutter while exploring or in combat, frequent and overly long loading screens, CPU getting a tad warm,    I finally managed to finish this one in around 60 hours without playing any of the DLC, as I probably plan to do another playthrough at some point.

    It's an improvement graphically from the first POE, but suffers from the same poor optimization issues as the first one; frequent lag and stutter while exploring or in combat, frequent and overly long loading screens, CPU getting a tad warm, and a ridiculous amount of hard drive space consumed. POE1 (and all DLC) uses up just over 40gb on my drive, while POE2 (and all DLC) uses around 51gb - that's more than the Witcher 3 (and all DLC)! The game is also somewhat easier than the first one (I played on Classic difficulty in turn based mode) - you would probably want to be playing this on Veteran or higher if you've played the first one extensively like myself.

    Zipping around the Deadfire Archipelago in my ship made me feel like I was playing Sid Meier's Pirates game all over again, though unlike that one, ship to ship combat is done via selecting text options instead. I never really bothered with this as it seemed very clunky, so I just opted to select the 'board' option instead, which takes you straight to a big melee involving the crews of both ships. Consequently, I never bothered upgrading my starting sloop, as my crew was sufficient to manage all boarding battles. You can find yourself swimming in loot if you end up attacking other ships on a regular basis, though it's a bit harder to find really good stuff that your party can use.

    The main story of the game is quite short compared to POE1, but the open world nature of the game encourages you to go off the beaten path somewhat and explore the world at your leisure. The new companions introduced in the game are mostly on the bland side, and you have nobody nearly as interesting as Durance from POE1. Thankfully the return of some of the old companions from POE1 helps to soothe things somewhat. More characters are voiced than in POE1, but whoever decided it was a great idea for a number of the characters to have southern American accents deserves to be keelhauled.

    *** The TLDR section ***
    Pros:
    - Graphically superior to POE1
    - Fun open world gameplay
    - Option of turn based or real time combat

    Cons:
    - Poor system optimization
    - Short main quest
    - Some iffy voice acting

    It's a good game and certainly worth 8/10, but I'm subtracting 1 point because of the optimization issues.    … Expand
  51. TyrantGodBane
    May 11, 2020
    1
    I do not understand how there are 420 positive reviews on a game that has base features still bugged. Bough his May 2020 and I just deleted it for good. The main island before you get your ship based on your main character is6-10hrs long, 2hrs of them are Loading Screens. When you save it kicks you to the main screen. Continue or load up and that save file vanishes. Auto saves are justI do not understand how there are 420 positive reviews on a game that has base features still bugged. Bough his May 2020 and I just deleted it for good. The main island before you get your ship based on your main character is6-10hrs long, 2hrs of them are Loading Screens. When you save it kicks you to the main screen. Continue or load up and that save file vanishes. Auto saves are just one time and you can't locate them(via PS4) so if you die there goes all that hard hard. Au

    10 playthroughs and I'm done with the game. The amount of glowing lying reviews is staggering. “its a great game" lies just to make you buy it.    … Expand
  52. LordoftheDance
    Apr 26, 2020
    10
    Great RPG. My only "problem" with the game is that there's so much great stuff in the game I sometimes feel like I'm not up to the task. My advice is play through it and enjoy it, don't save scum, and try not to look up stuff online.
  53. awolcz
    Mar 28, 2020
    9
    I liked POE1, but combat was too confusing for me. Thanks to addition of turn based combat, POE2 is 9/10 for me. It hase same excelent story and RPG elements as the first game but adds more improvements and is much more enjoyable to play for me.
  54. SeaWolf
    Feb 13, 2020
    10
    Fantastic in depth story telling and stunning art make this tactical rpg worth playing over and over
  55. laertan
    Feb 5, 2020
    7
    My impression of this game is mixed.

    Good things: 1. Sailors songs! 2. Stats of your party affects the outcome of checking. 3. During checkings you can use party members to do smth that they are more skillful. 4. Quests are slightly diffrent depending on what party members are with you. 5. Good sense of humor. 6. You can feed your crew with meat of fallen foes. Fine, I didn't do    My impression of this game is mixed.

    Good things:
    1. Sailors songs!
    2. Stats of your party affects the outcome of checking.
    3. During checkings you can use party members to do smth that they are more skillful.
    4. Quests are slightly diffrent depending on what party members are with you.
    5. Good sense of humor.
    6. You can feed your crew with meat of fallen foes. Fine, I didn't do it, but the fact that this is at all possible somehow make game better!
    7. Battles are much easier then in first PoE1.
    8. Management of the ship is brilliantly designed.
    9. If you killed the enemy, and only after that get quest for his headm you still can say "Yeah, I have his head right here, in my bag!" Glorious.
    10. No limits on how much loot your carry.
    11. Fast mode. Nuff said.

    Bad things:
    1. Main plot is too flat.
    2. Game felt a little bit empty, with not enought content on most of the isles.
    3. Next to none interaction with party members. There are romantic options, with 3-4 dialogues at all. And no romantic scene/art. Call me picky, but that's not enough.
    4. Many quests have almost none actual content, just go and kill someone. Maybe a little bit of background story would be nice.
    5. Strange loot system, by the end I have gathered enough swords and cuirasses to provide equippment for an army, and only some grimoires/boots.
    6. DLC that added to game unkillable foes aren't nice. I mean, I understand that some players like hardcore, but I personally don't, and that's why I use easy game difficulty. And when you add smth to game, perhaps it's reasonable to give all players ability to interact with it.

    I did enjoy it by the end, but still it's not as good as PoE1.    … Expand
  56. DaggettDBeaver
    Dec 27, 2019
    9
    A great classical role playing game - of course, only if you like dialogue-heavy CRPGs.

    If you are more the action-loving guy who isn't willing to read tons of text to understand a very different fantasy world - well, then PoE II might not be your game at all. Most negative reviews of this game make clear that it is about taste in genres, after all. You can't review a CRPG negatively    A great classical role playing game - of course, only if you like dialogue-heavy CRPGs.

    If you are more the action-loving guy who isn't willing to read tons of text to understand a very different fantasy world - well, then PoE II might not be your game at all.

    Most negative reviews of this game make clear that it is about taste in genres, after all. You can't review a CRPG negatively because it has "to much text", that's like rating an shooter badly because it has to many firefights...

    After finishing the game i give it 9 / 10 points, simply because it wasn't perfect. There are some minor performance issues, there are some minor bugs and there are some minor design flaws. But all in all, it is a very good game.

    If you like games like Pathfinder: Kingmaker or Divinity: Original Sin II, you will most likely like this game as well, unless you make the mistake to dislike it for not being exactly the same as the aforementioned games ;-) Seriously, try to embrace minor differences instead of disliking them!    … Expand
  57. YPreda
    Dec 6, 2019
    9
    Jogo completo, todas as histórias são interessantes, há uma infinidade de builds e as tramas envolvendo os companheiros também são bem elaboradas, apesar de algumas ter um fim muito repentino é entendível pelo orçamento limitado com o qual o jogo foi feito. Em fim, estou com 90 horas de jogo e ainda falta muito pra terminar.
  58. nomemory
    Dec 6, 2019
    7
    There a few wrong things with the game to distance it from a great experience: loading screens, weak main story and easy combat even on higher level of difficulty.
  59. FrostormNidhegg
    Oct 27, 2019
    9
    Отличная игра, с одной стороны - классическая изометрическая РПГ с большим количеством текста, диалогов, с другой - игра от Обсидиан, то есть нет явно хороших и плохих сторон и вариантов развития событий, выбирай сам, думай. Помимо обычной РПГ части есть механика с кораблями, отдельная игра по сути встроенная. И личной мой способ заработка огромного количества золота - ссоришься с однойОтличная игра, с одной стороны - классическая изометрическая РПГ с большим количеством текста, диалогов, с другой - игра от Обсидиан, то есть нет явно хороших и плохих сторон и вариантов развития событий, выбирай сам, думай. Помимо обычной РПГ части есть механика с кораблями, отдельная игра по сути встроенная. И личной мой способ заработка огромного количества золота - ссоришься с одной фракцией и начинаешь устраивать абордаж на ее корабли. Я так примерно 200 000 меди заработал, пока не надоело. История хороша, реально хороша, связана с событиями первой части, и позволяет определить судьбу мира. Из минусов - пожалуй то, что нет явных веток квестов - как в Морровинде например - вот ты пришел в гильдию магов и шарашишь на нее, пока Требиониуса не убьешь. А здесь - вот тебе пара квестов от одной из фракций, а потом пока основной сюжет не продвинится - думай чем бы еще заняться. Но количество побочных квестов огромное, скучно точно не будет, я лишь к тому, что нет квестодателей, который бы тебе большие ветви квестов выдавали. Отдельная тема - плавание по островам и самостоятельное изучение того, что там находится - это интересно и вызывает в тебе дух первопроходца путешественника. В общем, советую всем, кто любит классические рпг.… Expand
  60. bwh31
    Oct 24, 2019
    10
    This is probably a 9 out of 10. Maybe a 9.5....but I'll give it a 10 to balance out the 0's. This game is an absolute masterpiece and a treat to play. The trick is....to play it like a role-playing game. Invest in your character and his/her stories. Invest in your companions. Invest in the world. Role play it.
    If you like pen and paper RPGS, and enjoy a great story, great dialog, and    This is probably a 9 out of 10. Maybe a 9.5....but I'll give it a 10 to balance out the 0's. This game is an absolute masterpiece and a treat to play. The trick is....to play it like a role-playing game. Invest in your character and his/her stories. Invest in your companions. Invest in the world. Role play it.
    If you like pen and paper RPGS, and enjoy a great story, great dialog, and great characters, then you will most definitely enjoy this game.    … Expand
  61. beta_Critic
    Oct 9, 2019
    10
    I have never played the first Pillars of Eternity; I have to say Deadfire is so well made that it stands alone without any help, superior to any rpg I have played as of yet.

    It is, without spoiling, an amazing game with a depth that is easily missed first play. And also a game which you have a lot of different path for the world and story to take, if you only have the will to find the    I have never played the first Pillars of Eternity; I have to say Deadfire is so well made that it stands alone without any help, superior to any rpg I have played as of yet.

    It is, without spoiling, an amazing game with a depth that is easily missed first play. And also a game which you have a lot of different path for the world and story to take, if you only have the will to find the secrets of the deadfire    … Expand
  62. Prenner
    Sep 18, 2019
    10
    Easily one of the greatest RPGs of all time. Its on par or better than any RPG you've ever played. Its not even up for debate. Amazing.
  63. passionne
    Sep 7, 2019
    5
    Compared to the first episode, this one is bad :

    - bugs (disappearing ennemies, crash) in August - September 2019, more than 1 year after the release date ! Of course, the latest patch was applied. - a few spells require some time before launching (fireballs) whereas enemies move : fireballs often explode when enemies are no longer in the area. In the first Pillars of Eternity, these    Compared to the first episode, this one is bad :

    - bugs (disappearing ennemies, crash) in August - September 2019, more than 1 year after the release date ! Of course, the latest patch was applied.

    - a few spells require some time before launching (fireballs) whereas enemies move : fireballs often explode when enemies are no longer in the area. In the first Pillars of Eternity, these spells were launched immediately.

    - enchanting is far too expensive.

    - areas are still too small.

    - impossible to turn around the combat scene which makes impossible to have a clear view.

    - naval combat is really bad and does not work : I had destroyed the enemy ship sail so it shouldn' move. I chose to move forward with my ship many times and the distance between the 2 ships does not change ! The developer never played Assassin's Creed naval combats which is miles better than this ****

    - Technically, a disaster : with a high-end PC (9900K, RTX 2080 TI, 32 GB RAM, Intel Optane 900p), there are stutters, the loading times are too long and occur too often, as soon as I move in a building or change area ! Really, the developers should learn from CD Projekt, the Witcher 3 developer.

    I liked the first Episode, despite a few mistakes. I hoped that the developer learnt from them but is it not the case. It is my last Pillars of Eternity.    … Expand
  64. Joewashere
    Aug 27, 2019
    9
    Deadfire represents Obsidian laying down the burden of the Infinity Engine, and as a (perhaps ironic) result the sequel is the superior game in the series. Freed from nostalgic expectations, Obsidian manages to make various improvements to the game systems: The multiclassing system is a fine fit for Josh Sawyer's signature balance philosophy, allowing for an unmatched variety of partyDeadfire represents Obsidian laying down the burden of the Infinity Engine, and as a (perhaps ironic) result the sequel is the superior game in the series. Freed from nostalgic expectations, Obsidian manages to make various improvements to the game systems: The multiclassing system is a fine fit for Josh Sawyer's signature balance philosophy, allowing for an unmatched variety of party compositions; unique items, each with their own mods and upgrade paths, address the blandness found in the first game; the greatly reduced number of filler combat encounters and the swashbuckling open-world put the emphasis on exploration.

    An underappreciated strength is the sheer customization possibilities of the experience: Five difficulty levels, any combination of eleven challenge modes and new game bonuses, extensive AI scripting capabilities and even a turn-based mode ensure any RPG player will find something here to enjoy. And if you still need more, the DLCs are uniformly excellent. Just ignore the plot.    … Expand
  65. AcerolaOrion
    Jun 26, 2019
    0
    Let me just explain one (of the many) objective problem this game has in detail.
    Deadfire is extremely poorly optimized to the point where it affects gameplay and overheating might damage your hardware.
    Google it if you dont believe me "ultimate gaming rig deadfire" "overheating deadfire". What happens? The game drops A LOT! of frames all the time even on high end machines to the    Let me just explain one (of the many) objective problem this game has in detail.
    Deadfire is extremely poorly optimized to the point where it affects gameplay and overheating might damage your hardware.

    Google it if you dont believe me "ultimate gaming rig deadfire" "overheating deadfire".

    What happens? The game drops A LOT! of frames all the time even on high end machines to the point where it affects the gameplay. I can not count the number of times when i engaged combat and the game just skipped entire seconds of time to the point where it made me reload because of how bad the engage ended up (without having any control).

    There are fights on ships. The ship areas are un -fffffing- playable. I have frame drops to below 10 on a good desktop PC ON LOW SETTINGS! I can play recently released AAA games on high and its nowhere near that (Sekiro, Tomb Raider, Monster Hunter DMC5 or Pathfinder Kingmaker (by a team who made their first major title!!!) to name a few) and Deadfire is a bloody year old?! How is this not patched?
    I have never seen anything like this in my life. It is unbelievable.
    Its not just in combat. The game gradually runs worse and worse the longer you play. (Visibly consistently worse framerate on steam over time in the same areas)
    Some areas get my CPU to 80+ degree Celsius AND THERES NOTHING IN THEM (Beraths temple, the area under the watershaper guild to name 2 of them)??? Its completely random. WHY? WHAT? HOW?
    The game doesnt even look particularly good. Maybe its the effects? I wouldnt know since i can never see them because the game just frameskips over them most of the time LMAO!
    Ohh and of course... Loading screens. Loading screens everywhere all the time.    … Expand
  66. Jemvie
    Jun 8, 2019
    9
    Unmistakably a must play if you're into CRPGs.
    Obsidian did it again. Kudos.
  67. Matt_H
    Apr 27, 2019
    0
    If you like bugs and glitches that will never get repaired, you'll LOVE Obsidian.
  68. Mandulum
    Apr 24, 2019
    8
    Favorite Thing: I enjoyed the continuation of the Watcher's story. There was also a nice setup for (hopefully) a third installment.
    Least Favorite Thing: Neketaka. Damn I found that place boring. And you spend so very much time running through it.
    Date Completed: 2019-04-22 Playtime: ~ 39h Enjoyment: 8/10 Recommendation: It's probably not your first time playing a game like this.    Favorite Thing: I enjoyed the continuation of the Watcher's story. There was also a nice setup for (hopefully) a third installment.
    Least Favorite Thing: Neketaka. Damn I found that place boring. And you spend so very much time running through it.

    Date Completed: 2019-04-22
    Playtime: ~ 39h
    Enjoyment: 8/10
    Recommendation: It's probably not your first time playing a game like this. You know what to expect.    … Expand
  69. Nimbus1701
    Mar 22, 2019
    5
    Deadfire features a number of 'qualify of life' improvements over the previous game. The problem with Deadfire, however, is that the writers seem to have gotten lost in their own mythology. The lore is quite hard to follow, despite a familiarity to pacific cultures in real world. Even the logic behind the main storyline feels forced - and segmented. The player spends most of their timeDeadfire features a number of 'qualify of life' improvements over the previous game. The problem with Deadfire, however, is that the writers seem to have gotten lost in their own mythology. The lore is quite hard to follow, despite a familiarity to pacific cultures in real world. Even the logic behind the main storyline feels forced - and segmented. The player spends most of their time moving between large swathes of ocean, stumbling onto islands, where you 'play' multiple choice text-games - that is to say, it is mostly padding.

    Had the developers simply extended the storyline, and maintained every other aspect of the original PoE - you'd still have a superior game.

    It's worth buying on discount, to support the developer. But I can't recommend it at full price.    … Expand
  70. betapoet
    Mar 7, 2019
    10
    Excellent story, excellent combat system with turn base option, plenty of character customization option, and a world that feels alive and notices the character. Reminds me of the good ole days of dungeons and Dragons, please keep making more of these isometric gems. Baldurs gate and Ice-wind dale designers would be proud. The Voice overs brought this game from a 9 to a 10 to me , IExcellent story, excellent combat system with turn base option, plenty of character customization option, and a world that feels alive and notices the character. Reminds me of the good ole days of dungeons and Dragons, please keep making more of these isometric gems. Baldurs gate and Ice-wind dale designers would be proud. The Voice overs brought this game from a 9 to a 10 to me , I really appreciate the excellent audio in this game.… Expand
  71. RMDsilva
    Jan 13, 2019
    6
    It's a good game, but definitely not as good as the original.
    The storyline gets considerably simpler, there's a "pick your own ending" and nonsensical alliances/diplomacy.
    Combat is also still not super satisfying. Running over everything with the same tactic unless you're on POTD is a bit meh.
  72. CoolDadTx
    Dec 23, 2018
    2
    Updated score after starting the DLCs. They are worse than the base game. Every enemy is way above your level even when you are maxed. So there is absolutely nothing you can do to even the odds. You are pretty much given to luck to win the boss battles. The bosses are so horribly overpowered that even micro-managing is of limited effect. This is some of the worst DLC I've seen. it's so badUpdated score after starting the DLCs. They are worse than the base game. Every enemy is way above your level even when you are maxed. So there is absolutely nothing you can do to even the odds. You are pretty much given to luck to win the boss battles. The bosses are so horribly overpowered that even micro-managing is of limited effect. This is some of the worst DLC I've seen. it's so bad I'm skipping the rest of them. Obsidian really screwed up on this mess of a game. I wonder if they even bothered to playtest anything or just kept "upping the numbers" to make it "more challenging". I thought we left that broken game design system to the novices.

    Mediocre RPG that doesn't do have a good job as the first one. All the time the devs spent on building up the lore and world just falls on deaf ears. Who really cares about the lore when everything you read is a bunch of hyperlinks to some additional data that is just long and boring. The time could have been better spent on the mechanics.

    The ship-based system is just awful. It is so bad that if it wasn't needed for getting around I would never use it. I completely avoided any combat if at all possible because it was just a badly implemented mess. Firstly it is completely random and it didn't appear that, irrelevant of rank or equipment, anything actually impacted it. I had the same chance to hit early on (very low) as I did late in the game even with expert crew. Every ship I met hit me every time they fired their cannons yet I hit probably 50% or less. The movement in combat (and turning and pretty much everything else) had no impact. Basically you jibe and then you fire. Rinse and repeat in what turns out to be very long battles. Nothing else really changed anything. Firing at sails didn't do anything to the opposing ship even when at 0. Taking out the crew didn't help because they replaced them just as fast. Running away always said you lost morale for fleeing an inferior opponent even though most opponents out gunned us in every way. The ranking system and the fact that you couldn't move crew and do anything else at once was just a round-based system applied to ships. It just doesn't work. This is by far the worse system in the game and really dragged it down because it was constantly in your face.

    The rest of the game was not much different than the original. Way too many skills that seemed limited to useless. The attempt at showing quest levels is just broken. There were many questions that it said I was ready for but then you encountered groups of enemies with 2 or 3 skulls above their names. How in the world can a quest have these enemies and still be at my level.

    You are also constantly outnumbered and have to micro-manage every battle if you want to win. Irrelevant of any AI settings you make the mages always feel the need to run right up to the melee folks. The ranged fighters do the same thing. Yet the opposing AI never had these issues.

    The constant DLCs add nothing to the broken mechanics. Since Obsidian is moving on to their next game I don't expect anything on this game to be fixed. If you're a fan of the original you'll like it but otherwise this is nowhere near the best we've seen from this company in the past.    … Expand
  73. frogeater
    Dec 18, 2018
    6
    This is a rather good traditional D&D inspired RPG a la Baldur's Gate, with a decent story so far, nice character interaction and affinity system, nice NPC side stories, lots of spoken dialogues, kind of pretty map design in cities in particular (the small outdoor maps for certain encounters are absolutely boring).
    Combat system is nothing new, exactly similar to BG with pseudo real-time    This is a rather good traditional D&D inspired RPG a la Baldur's Gate, with a decent story so far, nice character interaction and affinity system, nice NPC side stories, lots of spoken dialogues, kind of pretty map design in cities in particular (the small outdoor maps for certain encounters are absolutely boring).
    Combat system is nothing new, exactly similar to BG with pseudo real-time and pausing system... ship approaches and combats are fun in a way, even if a bit of a repetitive dice-throwing exercise.

    But... BUT... It's major drawback, the reason that makes me hesitate to return to it, is the absolutely crazy loading times. You spend 20% of your play time waiting for a map to load. It is just unbareable in 2018. You enter a buidling, 20 seconds. change floors, 20 seconds. Go to the balcony (ie load the main city map you were on before) 30 seconds... repeat ad vitam eternam. We are talking smallish, barely animated 2D isometric maps with few characters on them! Even loading the map for boat trips takes unreasonable amounts of time. Compared to the seamless wanderings of your party on massive outdoor maps in Dos2, which is to me way more detailed and animated, it makes PoE2 an insult to modern graphics engines.
    My time is precious, and I have a decent computer config to avoid such issues. I am writing this very review during the loading time breaks. Luckily enough, Alt-Tab works ok...    … Expand
  74. Bruny
    Dec 1, 2018
    10
    One of the best crpg out there: the open world exploration, the improved graphics and combat, the unique atmosphere of seas adventures that take a leap from the classic fantasy cliché. Hours of fun with a huge replay value make this game a gem that will stay a LOT on my hard disk, recommended beyond measure.
  75. Shinno
    Dec 1, 2018
    4
    A circus parody to the first Pillars of Eternity. Even Aloth is cracking jokes now, the whole game is one big laughing stock.
  76. Sandman83
    Nov 27, 2018
    0
    Tried and tried to get into this game but yeah this game just didn't do it for me, don't really get why it's so highly scored?
    Is it because it's and indie or something?
  77. Diethart
    Nov 22, 2018
    10
    Many people told me that this game is solid but that's it. And progress in compare to PoE1 is unimpressive. Because of this I made myself to play this game only now. And you know what? **** them.
    This game is absolute marvellous. While main plot is not that good, fractions quests and side quests are gorgeous. Many ways to complete them, interesting and touching situations(hello, Gullet!),    Many people told me that this game is solid but that's it. And progress in compare to PoE1 is unimpressive. Because of this I made myself to play this game only now. And you know what? **** them.
    This game is absolute marvellous. While main plot is not that good, fractions quests and side quests are gorgeous. Many ways to complete them, interesting and touching situations(hello, Gullet!), deep characters, good writing.
    Companions is nice. Relationship between them are fascinating. Your previous decisions with characters from PoE1 will affect their relationship and their character now!
    Gameplay changes is ****ing blast. Recharging spells from battle to battle makes fights more dynamic and interesting. Multiclasses create Ship is WAY better than stronghold. Actually that ship reminds me of good old game Space Rangers 1-2. And that is a compliment to PoE2.

    To summ this all up - this game is best roleplaying game in this year in my opinion. It'll give you amazing experience. Even if you don't like this whole pirate stuff.    … Expand
  78. Willar
    Nov 21, 2018
    8
    I am a big fan of this kind of RPG but I have never been a massive fan of the Pillars world. There have been better crpgs but this is still a very worthy and enjoyable title.
  79. KomradJurij
    Nov 17, 2018
    2
    If only Larian made this...
    This game had potential, but the combat is garbage plus the graphics are hit or miss.
  80. AskaFreedom
    Nov 16, 2018
    10
    If we forget a few small problems (the not very exciting boat fights, the long loading times) we find ourselves with an RPG close to perfection.
    My favorite game "Fallout 2", has just been destroyed, after 20 years of reign by this Titan.
    The player creates his own story as he moves forward. Very beautiful graphics, a rich, complex and non-Manichean history, colourful characters, a    If we forget a few small problems (the not very exciting boat fights, the long loading times) we find ourselves with an RPG close to perfection.
    My favorite game "Fallout 2", has just been destroyed, after 20 years of reign by this Titan.
    The player creates his own story as he moves forward. Very beautiful graphics, a rich, complex and non-Manichean history, colourful characters, a hundred hours of play, varied and numerous classes... I could talk about it for hours, but I prefer to summarize it for you: It is the best CRPG in the last 20 years.    … Expand
  81. jcolin
    Oct 24, 2018
    0
    They finally added romances to one of their games but screwed it up completely. If they ever patch in a romance for Eder then I'll give it a shot. At least with pillars 1 we knew there weren't any from the start, but with 2 it was a stretch goal and they just hodge podged some stuff together.
  82. Ivan9173
    Oct 23, 2018
    10
    Ещё один шедевр от Обсидиан, ребят, вы лучшие! Obsidian, you're best!
  83. kiki78
    Oct 21, 2018
    10
    Same as its prequel. This game would be masterpiece. if devs used some normal engine, not this unity half ass crap. Terribad fps on high end machine, characters getting constantly stuck in combat (meele standing in row, one behind another, stuck, not engaging enemy, etc).
    Rest is pretty much beautiful (character animations could use some work as well). Lovely RP possibilities, deep    Same as its prequel. This game would be masterpiece. if devs used some normal engine, not this unity half ass crap. Terribad fps on high end machine, characters getting constantly stuck in combat (meele standing in row, one behind another, stuck, not engaging enemy, etc).
    Rest is pretty much beautiful (character animations could use some work as well). Lovely RP possibilities, deep story, etc. I am giving 9/10, more than it deserves in general, because of these.
    EDIT i decided to play with 3.0.1 after some pause, and fps is average 3x higher. Changing score to 10, and thank you for fix Obsidian, this is finally something.    … Expand
  84. MortalManny
    Sep 28, 2018
    9
    Anyone reading this. Path of the Damned difficulty is the best way to play it. I'm giving this a 9 solely based on the game play and not on the crappy story. I've played the first on for hundreds of hours and this one is just as good. Forget the story, play the game. It would've been a 10 if not for the bad story.
  85. Archimdus
    Sep 23, 2018
    10
    Haven't played a game this fun since Dragon Age: Origins. Have done about 4 or 5 complete playthroughs and plan on doing many more. Satisfies my need for pirates, exploration, companions, fun combat and lots of choices.
  86. smittydagoat
    Sep 22, 2018
    9
    I was late to the party and played PoE2 right after I had played through PoE1 for the first time and what a great rpg experience both games were. Improvements from game 1 in almost every area. I know some found the ending lacking but i enjoyed the philosophical finale. Minus 1 point because of some technical issues on high end pc
  87. keemt
    Sep 9, 2018
    10
    One of the best RPGs ever. Real rating is 9 but I gave 10 to compensate for the 0 ratings. Combat is complex and balanced, items are great, and the main story is great although too short. Plenty of interesting choices to make and side quests+factions to play. Lots of exploration to do. PoE1 had more plot for the central story, and much less side-quests, which I prefer. One thing IOne of the best RPGs ever. Real rating is 9 but I gave 10 to compensate for the 0 ratings. Combat is complex and balanced, items are great, and the main story is great although too short. Plenty of interesting choices to make and side quests+factions to play. Lots of exploration to do. PoE1 had more plot for the central story, and much less side-quests, which I prefer. One thing I don't like is that there is nothing extreme in the combat, so advantages are gained from many small adjustments that add up over time. This is what easily allows for so many different ways to do combat, however in a perfect world they could balance more extreme gameplay.… Expand
  88. maxikyd
    Aug 31, 2018
    1
    Managed to play for 6 hours since June with intermittent crashes. Now the game either gives a black screen at startup, or the crashes are roughly every 5 minutes with no sign of patching in sight. Devs seems to be leaving the repairs up to users. Cannot recommend until the crash problems have been fixed by the devs. Currently unplayable.
  89. Metashred
    Aug 31, 2018
    9
    I am surprised! I absolutely hated the first PoE; everything about it sucked: the dialogue, the story, the game play! PoE2 improves on everything. The graphics and gameplay in particular deserve praise. Very few games get the real-time-with-pause tactical gameplay right ( like the DA series ) and while I would've preferred turned based gameplay, what PoE has to offer is not bad at all!
  90. KalrocVN
    Aug 16, 2018
    0
    Cringe inducing dialogue. Weak character development. Horrific ship-to-ship combat-in text-that last forever. Do not waste your time or dollars.
  91. Rinfor
    Aug 13, 2018
    10
    Best game i played ever. I loved PoE 1, but i did not like tyranny. I began to play thinking that it would be more like tyrany, but i have never been so wrong. Poe 2 is a more balanced game, have a cool exploration system and a great story.
  92. Rilke21
    Jul 17, 2018
    7
    Well, I'm torn.

    I loved the original Pillars. The story, writing and mechanics were excellent. I was drawn into the world and spent many hours there. Deadfire improves on some of the weaker aspects of Pillars. Graphics are sharper and the AI is smarter (with the exception of wizard Ai...ye gads, those fireballs.) Combat is more fluid, but a little dumbed-down, and significantly    Well, I'm torn.

    I loved the original Pillars. The story, writing and mechanics were excellent. I was drawn into the world and spent many hours there.

    Deadfire improves on some of the weaker aspects of Pillars. Graphics are sharper and the AI is smarter (with the exception of wizard Ai...ye gads, those fireballs.) Combat is more fluid, but a little dumbed-down, and significantly easier . However, the narrative is decidedly weaker. Pacing is a serious issue, especially at the beginning. The main quest is short--it is interesting, but a little flaccid, and not entirely sensical. Maybe the biggest problem with the game is that, apart from the main quest, there seems to be little reason to engage with the world. There is nothing comparable to exploring Caed Nua or hunting nigh invincible dragons. The bounty quests are much less engaging. The "factions" seem under-developed.

    It's not all bad. Some aspects of the game are down right exceptional--like the sea shanties! They have been stuck in my head for weeks.

    My first run of the game was 40 hours (down nearly 30 from first run of Pillars.) I am usually a completionist, but felt no need to stick around here...

    I'll update this review after a second play. Maybe a solo nightmare run will spice things up...there's hope here.

    *And here's an update after 2 runs and 98 hours of play. I'm left with an inescapable impression of "meh." The game is sometimes inspired, beautiful and rich in many ways...and yet somehow feels empty. The weakness of the main quest is difficult to overcome. I was leaning toward upping this rating to an 8 for most of my second play, but just felt so let down by the anti-climactic finish that I'm stuck with a solid 7. This is a good game that flirts with greatness, but falls short. We'll see what the DLC brings.    … Expand
  93. arcchancellor
    Jul 14, 2018
    10
    This game is the absolute best isometric rpg to this date, nothing can compete with it. 340 hrs and im still enjoying it.
  94. philb74
    Jul 13, 2018
    6
    Rewrite of earlier review. The gameplay is excellent and lots of classes give you many options. The fighting is lots of fun except for the ship battles where I used to just ram the other vessels (for getting the battle over faster) most of the time even though your crew pick up injuries this way. The loot and stuff you can buy is good but I thought the first game had better items.

    The    Rewrite of earlier review. The gameplay is excellent and lots of classes give you many options. The fighting is lots of fun except for the ship battles where I used to just ram the other vessels (for getting the battle over faster) most of the time even though your crew pick up injuries this way. The loot and stuff you can buy is good but I thought the first game had better items.

    The story is simple and doesn't really surprise you at all. Compared with other classic RPG's where you could get captivated and immersed in the story this is very poor. The same can be said for companions/NPC's. There is no meaningful dialogue apart from some banter and the odd comment.

    All in all, if you like party based RPG's and only want good gameplay then this is recommended, but if you want a decent story also then you might be disappointed as I was.    … Expand
  95. Trix122
    Jun 29, 2018
    6
    Although im a huge fan of old school rpg POF 2 is weak in a lot of points, controls are overcomplicated if played manually and boring if automated (micromanage is garbage) and the game is eaaaasy as soon as you get good skills, UI is horrible with a lot of unnecesary things that can't be removed or changed, can't set simple shortcuts such as 12345, you need to set them skill by skillAlthough im a huge fan of old school rpg POF 2 is weak in a lot of points, controls are overcomplicated if played manually and boring if automated (micromanage is garbage) and the game is eaaaasy as soon as you get good skills, UI is horrible with a lot of unnecesary things that can't be removed or changed, can't set simple shortcuts such as 12345, you need to set them skill by skill manually in every different character.

    On the positive side the game has decent story and excellent writing, but some characters and dialogues... are completely out of the fantasy context, for example they emphasize in a lot of current moral conducts like women being equally strong or superior to man and equall rights, instead of focusing in the game itself, wich totally breaks the 3rd wall and pulls you out of the fantasy immersion... like they want to educate their players with some extreme moral mindset and I just want to play the game to be honest...    … Expand
  96. mondovious
    Jun 25, 2018
    8
    Solid game. I'd rate the first game at 7/10, and this one is a solid improvement in just about every way.
    - combat is better and easier to see what's going on
    - better itemization - ship exploration is cool some nitpicks: - the story is slow at times. To me this has the effect of making the experience feel less epic than it should. - too many spells/abilities are carbon copied    Solid game. I'd rate the first game at 7/10, and this one is a solid improvement in just about every way.
    - combat is better and easier to see what's going on
    - better itemization
    - ship exploration is cool

    some nitpicks:
    - the story is slow at times. To me this has the effect of making the experience feel less epic than it should.
    - too many spells/abilities are carbon copied from the first game    … Expand
  97. Gilgamesh37
    Jun 24, 2018
    6
    Combat is boring, cumbersome and just plain uninteresting. Instead of being excited and wanting to manage any of the characters in my party, it was a chore to get through. I elected to let my party do whatever they want and just point them to which the mob they should fight, and keep an eye on their health. Naval combat is even worse.
    Story is passable, but not exciting. The game is quite    Combat is boring, cumbersome and just plain uninteresting. Instead of being excited and wanting to manage any of the characters in my party, it was a chore to get through. I elected to let my party do whatever they want and just point them to which the mob they should fight, and keep an eye on their health. Naval combat is even worse.
    Story is passable, but not exciting. The game is quite badly optimized and seems to become more sluggish after a few hours, even quitting to desktop takes almost a minute. And so many loading screens! Every level of every building requires a long loading screen. This makes it feel like a game made 20 years ago.
    Itemization is not that good either, some classes get magical/enchantable items way ahead of others, getting hold of basic things like belts, boots, and rings is a problem.

    I rate it at 6 just because it works, and is passable if you have nothing better. If I had to recommend a similar game, I would say that Divinity Original sin 1 and 2 were MUCH more fun to play and enjoyable overall.    … Expand
  98. DarkyBlack
    Jun 23, 2018
    5
    If you liked the first game this will disappoint you a little. The drop to 5 party members is unnecessary, the ship combat feels unfinished, the side quests are boring, there are not many interesting locations, factions or characters, and the caster system is way worse than in the first game.
  99. juanval
    Jun 21, 2018
    10
    This game is a masterpiece. I'm playing it for 40 hours and I love the areas, music, the factions, the setting, the freedom to explore, the plot, dialogues, etc.

    I played Infinity Engine games and I must say that with Pillars of Eternity 2 I'm enjoying the game as I did almost 20 years ago with Baldur's Gate.
  100. sk77
    Jun 19, 2018
    6
    So I just finished the game after about 80h of game play and the felling I got after finishing the game is somewhat ambivalent. Let me explain. POE2 is a good old BG2 style RPG with nice graphics, voice overs, combat system and generally seems like a type of game I would enjoy. However there are few problems for me that prevent me from giving it a higher score.

    The first problem in my    So I just finished the game after about 80h of game play and the felling I got after finishing the game is somewhat ambivalent. Let me explain. POE2 is a good old BG2 style RPG with nice graphics, voice overs, combat system and generally seems like a type of game I would enjoy. However there are few problems for me that prevent me from giving it a higher score.

    The first problem in my opinion is the main story itself which is not very interesting because you don't really know what's going on until the very end where they dump all the exposition on you within an hour of the ending. Another problem with the main story is that it clashes with the "free open world RPG" nature of the gameplay instead of supporting it. The story introduces you to a great threat that needs to be dealt with immediately. Furthermore you learn very quickly exactly where you need to go to confront the threat. The problem is that you can't just go there - you need to level up first of course as in any other RPG. This process however takes about a year of in-game time but there is really no good in-game explanation of why you delay and do bounties and side quests first other than the knowledge of the game mechanic that you know as a player. Also the delay does not make sense within the logic of the story (without getting into spoilers). This is the reason why the story does not work very well in this game in my opinion. It could work with few tweaks, few more "in-between" things you'd need to do before you can go after the main threat and some exposition you'd learn along the way would make the story more interesting. Unfortunately they didn't do that. Ultimately the main story ends up not being very satisfying anyway and the game ends with a whimper rather than a bang.

    But "forget the main story, the meat of the game is the exploring and side questing anyway" I hear you say. Well, the problem with that is that the side quests are not terribly interesting neither. There are not many interesting locations, factions or characters. During the 2nd half of the game the exploring felt more like a chore I had to do to level up before I can get this over with. There are only few somewhat interesting places you can find but mostly it felt like a dime a dozen, especially if you've played other RPGs before. Also most of the side locations are quite small and there's usually not much to do other than a side quest or two. The bounty islands are usually completely generic. There were few nice quests/story book interactions, etc but they were too few and too far between. Also unfortunately the devs did not learn from POE1 and doubled down on unpronounceable names of everything so after I just literally finished the game I cannot remember a single NPC/island/creature name, excluding few main names like Nekataka where you spend half of the game, but what was the queen's name for example I have no idea and she's one of the main NPC characters in the game. Okinawa or something, wait that's not right. Anyway the NPC characters generally, including the main ones, have just few "tell me about yourself/this place" interactions and once you've read them that's it, there's nothing else to them. It does not help that the NPC characters are not very interesting or memorable but the weird names of everything on top of that makes it impossible to get invested in anything.

    It seems like I'm giving the game a hard time but it's not all terrible. The game play itself is enjoyable enough so that I finished the game but I have no interest in 2nd play through. As it is the game is average in my opinion. It's not terrible, you'll get your money's worth but in the end it does not really excel at anything in my opinion which makes it average. This game could have been great with better writing in my opinion, the basic game play is there and it is mostly solid, unfortunately the writing does not elevate it but rather brings it down which is unfortunate as a good story, quests and characters is what makes a good RPG in my opinion. POE2 lacks in all of these departments. Ultimately at the end the game feels unsatisfying and lacking the details that would make it really great. I applaud the devs, clearly fans of the genre, in their efforts to revive the good old BG2 style game where story and gameplay is more important than newest graphics, etc. Unfortunately they did not quite hit the mark for me.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

8
#8 Best PC Game of 2018
22
#22 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018
10
#10 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 68 out of 71
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 71
  3. Negative: 0 out of 71
  1. RPGamer
    May 7, 2019
    70
    Those with an appreciation for the tabletop games and classic PC games this pays homage to will likely have an enjoyable experience. The learning curve is a bit steep, the seas may get choppy, and the deck can get rather slippery, but with some patience and perseverance, even the greenest sailor can go from lowly deckhand to decorated captain.
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  2. Game Debate
    Oct 22, 2018
    95
    With DLC called 'The Deck of Many Things' and rules system that very closely mirrors the fundamentals of D&D right down to individual spells, it's sort of a crying shame that the powers that control licensing on both sides were unable to consummate this obvious marriage. Pillars of Eternity, for me, is the best D&D series there never was.
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  3. Gamers Heroes
    Sep 4, 2018
    80
    Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is not for everyone. The web of intertwining features and mechanics are as deep as they are complicated, but for those looking for more from their RPGs – more character, more wonder, more life – Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is a fantastic homage to the true roots of the RPG genre.
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