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. Shadowl0rd
    May 21, 2018
    10
    Impresionante, épico... no tengo palabras para elogiar a un juegazo de un calibre espectacular.
    Los cambios con respecto al Pillar 1 son sencillamente perfectos. Un guión que te enganchará desde el primer momento, combates y mágias de todos los colores con un sistema perfectamente equilibrado que te hará disfrutar de cada minuto. Soy seguidor de este tipo de juegos desde hace muchos,    Impresionante, épico... no tengo palabras para elogiar a un juegazo de un calibre espectacular.
    Los cambios con respecto al Pillar 1 son sencillamente perfectos. Un guión que te enganchará desde el primer momento, combates y mágias de todos los colores con un sistema perfectamente equilibrado que te hará disfrutar de cada minuto. Soy seguidor de este tipo de juegos desde hace muchos, muchos años. Baldurs Gates, Icewind, Bards Tales, neverwinter y como no el Pillars 1. Y el único que le aguanta el pulso a este es el Divinity Original Sin 2. Pero aún asi en mi opinion este lo supera de largo. JUEGO OBLIGADO DE TENER. OBRA MAESTRA.    … Expand
  2. 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.
  3. MarkandJez
    May 20, 2018
    5
    I was hit by a game breaking bug in the core storyline when playing pillars of eternity two only a few quests in.
    I think there is a console work around that I found but that will take time for me to figure out.
    Abit of a shame tbh also a lot of loading screens will break the altogether emersion since every transition seems to load a different map.
  4. dantevil
    May 11, 2018
    10
    Finished pillars of eternity 1 as a priest of berath, pledging my soul to the god of cycles, life and death. Promising to release the thousands of captured souls back to the wheel of reincarnation at the end of the game.

    Started pillars of eternity 2, only to find out I was murdered after the events of the first game by a god who was believed to have been slain during the saints war.    Finished pillars of eternity 1 as a priest of berath, pledging my soul to the god of cycles, life and death. Promising to release the thousands of captured souls back to the wheel of reincarnation at the end of the game.

    Started pillars of eternity 2, only to find out I was murdered after the events of the first game by a god who was believed to have been slain during the saints war.

    My soul then comes face to face with the god I have devoted my life to, the god of life, death, and reincarnation.

    After a brief discussion about how I kept my promise at the end of the first game, my favoured god revealed to me he wants me to come back to life and serve him once again, and slay the being that killed me.

    I refused. It is only right that my soul is allowed to be reborn and return to the cycle, as I have worshipped this diety my whole life.

    My god agreed. I was reborn as a wolf and the credits of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire started to roll.

    Pretty short game but 10/10    … Expand
  5. HpfllyIRmbrThis
    May 17, 2018
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really liked the first one and I'm kind of Obisidian fanboy, but there is just something weird with this game. I kind of like it and the potential is huge in paper, but when you actually play, it seems so...well not shallow but shallow (I have 18 hours clocked atm).

    What I mean is that yes, the overall lore and companions are as deep as they can get, but the main story is just bland. There are so many side quests given to you, filling your log very quickly, BUT these side quests are mainly serving the purpose of leveling up so you can progress the main story. The quest log actually shows a level cap that is "required" for the quest, meaning that there is definitely going to be fighting and you kinda must meet the level requirement to survive.

    Pros:
    + exploring the world can feel rewarding
    + solid cRPG
    + ship customization
    + choices have weight

    Cons:
    - plays it too safe
    - the story is too "epic" with gods and end of the world
    - auto regenerate HP...why?
    - auto regenerate spells...why?
    - these accents...lol. For example I met a skeleton guardian with a basic Scottish accent. Voice pitch was normal and there were 0 effects on his voice. It felt as out of place as Xotis southern accent
    - combat is just meh and there is (again) a lot of it
    - too easy even with higher difficulty
    - too much combat
    - combat gets repetitive as there is no weight on it (just rest and eat those fruits)
    - bugs
    - FPS drops
    - pirate battles get repetitive

    I don't know, I really want to like this game.    … Expand
  6. dolol88888
    Jun 5, 2018
    10
    good game a liitle bit short and no main boos to kill i think the dlc can make this game epic lets hope so
  7. Ololof
    May 23, 2018
    0
    One of the worst CRPG ever made
    Writing is cringe, gameplay is boring and "safe" garbage
    Honestly I can't understand how can someone defend this game, it just doesn't have redeeming qualities. Obsidian blaming backers for the final state of game, just like they blamed publishers everytime before was just too much for me
  8. djball
    May 20, 2018
    1
    Garbage extreme verbose over the top writing that drags on for eternity. Story that is absolutely non existent, hunt down big blue dude with big feet WTF! Fetch stuff, kill stuff, and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk... Meanwhile load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen, loadGarbage extreme verbose over the top writing that drags on for eternity. Story that is absolutely non existent, hunt down big blue dude with big feet WTF! Fetch stuff, kill stuff, and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk... Meanwhile load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen, load screen. You get the picture.… Expand
  9. Mike_M
    Jun 16, 2018
    5
    Review on hold, pending fix of quest bugs and a few companion or ability bugs.
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. redknight1981
    May 13, 2018
    8
    First impressions! I will write a full review upon finishing the game!

    Now there is a walk option which does so much for those of us who care about immersion and it is a HUGE improvement for roleplaying purposes. The game looks and sounds gorgeous! The addition of voice overs did not affect the amount of text, which is good. There are many options in dialogues, however the dialogues    First impressions! I will write a full review upon finishing the game!

    Now there is a walk option which does so much for those of us who care about immersion and it is a HUGE improvement for roleplaying purposes.

    The game looks and sounds gorgeous! The addition of voice overs did not affect the amount of text, which is good. There are many options in dialogues, however the dialogues dont seem to work the same way. Namely, sometimes when you are given multiple options and you choose one of them, the dialogue just continues and takes away your ability to say other things that you might have wanted to say.

    Writing seems just as competent as in the original game, however the most interesting companions (Durance and Grieving mother) do not return, while the ones you get to play with are kinda Biowarish - which is not a compliment. Companions do seem far more reactive which is a huge improvement over the original, so it's not all doom and gloom - but I just dont understand why do we always have to make 2 steps forward and 1 step back.

    World exploration seems to be far more engaging and almost sand-boxy. Everything seems bigger and better from my short test of the game.

    Importing my save from PoE1 worked as far as I can tell, but it seems that you can change your choices from previous game by choosing other options. I am not sure if this is working as intended, since it is far too easy to override your initial choice with a new one.

    The new combat mechanics are good, but I really prefer the old ones. There is something awkward with the way characters move and position themselves in combat that just doesn't feel right and the automatic health regen after battle makes the whole combat feel a bit dumbed down. The characters feel floaty and I never seem to be able to position them exactly where I want to - unlike in PoE1. In regards to lowering playable chracters from 6 to 5 - HORRIBLE decision! I understand this was done for balancing purposes, but why not give those of us who really do not care about your "balance" a little option at the start of the game to allow us to have a party of 6?

    For some reason, Obsidian decided to change all the voices for your custom characters that existed in the original game. I am flabbergasted by this decision as it is completely unnecesary and it feels strange playing my old character with a completely different voice. Why not keep the old voices and just add the new?

    And lastly, you start from Level 1 again, which is again breaking the consistency of the world. The game does explain it in the very beggining with Eothas taking a portion of your soul, but what about Edér? Why is he Level 1 again? Adding 1 line of how the life of comfort has made them rusty or something similar would fix this little annoyance.

    The game certainly needs a patch or two. Upon starting the game for the first time, my screen was tripple size, so I couldn't even see the options in the main screen. Luckily I could see the edges of the option boxes, so I thumbled my way through various settings until I found resolution options - where for some strange reason my default resolution was set at 4K. I fixed the problem by choosing the right resolution for my screen. Perhaps this was caused due to me modifying my graphics card settings for other games so that I can play them in higher resolution than what my monitor allows (don't ask me why I did this, but I have good reasons). Anyway, whatever is causing this bug, it's not a very good first impression.

    Some items also have wrong descriptions. For example a chainmail might say in its description that it is good against slashing, but then in the bonuses you get a defense against crush damage.

    CONCLUSION: Despite slight annoyances here and there, this is a must-support game for any true roleplayer. My first impression is that we might have a game here that will finally manage to surpass Baldur's Gate legacy. The potential for a true classic has never been greater and I truly hope Obsidian listens to this type of constructive criticism. This is a good game! Really good! But it's still not all the way where it should be due to above mentioned problems.    … Expand
  13. Wols
    May 9, 2018
    8
    i have never played the first Pillars of Eternity, however i love the Baldur Gate series, Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale etc.

    For me, this RPG game is fantastic. The depth of character customisation, character influence, reputation, party configuration etc etc is immense. A lot of time can be spend looking at gaining those additional one percenters. Obsidian have taken a very solid    i have never played the first Pillars of Eternity, however i love the Baldur Gate series, Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale etc.

    For me, this RPG game is fantastic. The depth of character customisation, character influence, reputation, party configuration etc etc is immense. A lot of time can be spend looking at gaining those additional one percenters. Obsidian have taken a very solid platform, given it a face lift and then injected a wonderful creation of fluid dynamics.

    Having only played for 4 hours, i know i have but scratched the surface of a massive world of intrigue.

    The only con i can give it is having not played the first PoE, there are significant references stretching back. However Obsidian does a great job at attempting to fill the void in those knowledge gaps.

    Pros:
    - Great character modification/class role creation (both single & multiclass)
    - In depth RPG elements non-character (boats, crafting, weapons, armour etc.)
    - Fantastic graphics
    - Party influence, both global & intra-party with affections/hate
    - Conversation responses: generic, locked (requirements not met) and unlocked (requirement met) leading to a vast array of outcomes

    Cons:
    - Very steep learning curve if you've never played this style of game before
    - Requirement (although minor) to have an understanding of PoE 1. Again obsidian does it's best to mitigate this issue.

    Overall i am thoroughly enjoying this game. Would highly recommend!    … Expand
  14. RaurosAmmonoide
    May 26, 2018
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Obsidian is each day concerning, likely approaching downfall. In Deadfire, though assignee of a handful of neat design choices (sea exploration; not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it; fluid combat, optional level-scaling, etc.), falls short on what once was the trademark of this company: the narrative. It seems the lads at Obsidian —those who remain anyways from recent purgues— took to heart the dumbfounding complaint of ''Too many words'' and ''Too much text''; hence in POEII everything pertaining to its story (quests, companions and lore, sweet lore) is minimized, not synthesized but downgraded and sadly uninspired.
    The gist of Pillars of Eternity is philosophical, perhaps more actual than ever —kith are a metaphor for humanity in all its diversity and collective delirium —facing the struggle of faith crisis, godlessness and subsequently loneliness in our contemporary age; an issue glimpsed by Nietzsche and practically all thinkers that ensued. Its treatment is poliphonic, diverging: different characters share their feelings of the matter: either desperate nostalgia for their inextricable gods, spite for their misdeeds and abandonment or utter rejection of their inmanence. The Wheel concept, however, is picked up from easternly breezes, namely Hinduism and Buddhism; it presupposes a mechanism of soul-binding in recurring stages of life and death (together with an interstitial state, the In-Between) with goddess Berath as their caretaker. On this intrincate canopy of recycled myths and all-too-human disquietudes Eothas (the one astray, making a mess!) rises as a prophet, a philantropist; or at least so he claims... He represents Nietzschean will to power, his sacrifice wistful and an opportunity for kith to disentangle themselves from gods and their machinery, attain liberty... But what is to be done with such liberty? Other deities, pressuming that mortal lives can only be ripe for confusion and suffering, vouch for complete annihilation. In any event risk is at the heart of Eothas' manoeuvre.
    No, PoE's not your typical inane fantasy setting; even to cynics or atheists, it resonates with how we feel, a pivotal ambiguity —now asymbolic hopelessness, now a manic struggle towards ghostly knowledge. Not even the Eoran Pantheon itself is beneath these woes. Hence my pain at watching it butchered, mishandled, vandalized and discombobulated by (no doubt) incompetent writers. Cringe-inducing bits of dialogue, atrocious romancing, characters striped hollow... fetch-quests, uneventful journeys, undeveloped ship combat... Must be played in Hard Mode so as not be a walk-in-the-park.
    Not **** but not too good either.    … Expand
  15. Syrona
    May 8, 2018
    8
    As someone who isn't a super fan of CRPGs, considered Torment: Tides of Numenera to be complete garbage and got a refund, and was super bored after 3 hrs of Pillars of Eternity 1, I have to say I'm very much impressed by PoE 2. I mean it's clearly a super upgrade compared it to PoE 1 in pretty much everything.

    Something that bugged me in PoE 1 was the fact that your followers were    As someone who isn't a super fan of CRPGs, considered Torment: Tides of Numenera to be complete garbage and got a refund, and was super bored after 3 hrs of Pillars of Eternity 1, I have to say I'm very much impressed by PoE 2. I mean it's clearly a super upgrade compared it to PoE 1 in pretty much everything.

    Something that bugged me in PoE 1 was the fact that your followers were utterly brain dead and you had to manually command them to breathe every damn encounter. This is no longer the case in 2, as the game now has an extensive AI behaviour setup, so your followers can now be taught how to breathe on their own.

    Also the fact almost everything is voiceacted, is a super plus, as I hate reading novels and novels of text every time I converse with an NPC.    … Expand
  16. hunnybear
    May 10, 2018
    9
    Truly Obsidian loves what they are doing and it shows. I bet the game will be even better with future patches. My only problem is that the game too easy even on hard mode and the combat is too fast, it is in my opinion easily fixable. Thank you Obsidian papa bless.
  17. Nostalgo
    May 22, 2018
    0
    Bugsidian is back in full force like never before.

    Radio silence from the developer on the exact release date of patches. Game is unplayable couse of terrible optimization, crashes, fps issues due to memory leaks even on top pc, difficulty is laughable that the party autopilots itself, ship combat is boring and simple,companion side quests are nonexistent, I could go on for another    Bugsidian is back in full force like never before.

    Radio silence from the developer on the exact release date of patches.
    Game is unplayable couse of terrible optimization, crashes, fps issues due to memory leaks even on top pc, difficulty is laughable that the party autopilots itself, ship combat is boring and simple,companion side quests are nonexistent, I could go on for another 1000 words.

    This game is a disaster that will require months to fix.    … Expand
  18. Gamebeating
    May 21, 2018
    7
    A tiny bit above average. Everything the game improves over the first title (combat, visuals, sounddesign) it destroys with bad writing and funky voice acting.

    While the combat gets better and better with every game Obsidian makes, the writing takes a nose-dive over their last titles.
    I hope they can break this trend with their next project, while keeping the combat as good as it is now.
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. Matt_H
    Apr 27, 2019
    0
    If you like bugs and glitches that will never get repaired, you'll LOVE Obsidian.
  23. rustyfeeder
    May 8, 2018
    8
    Pretty good game but not a masterpiece or a classic. It has good graphics, good presentation and that overall feel of streamlining and being new player friendly. Looks like Obsidian really wants to get into that circle of AAA developers with big money and wide audience involved.

    The story is linear just like in the first part. It's on the rails with side quests allowing to make some    Pretty good game but not a masterpiece or a classic. It has good graphics, good presentation and that overall feel of streamlining and being new player friendly. Looks like Obsidian really wants to get into that circle of AAA developers with big money and wide audience involved.

    The story is linear just like in the first part. It's on the rails with side quests allowing to make some choices which won't affect the main story. It feels really familiar, repetitive even. For example after you get your ship you have an option to go and do a quest involving a big castle. This was in BG2, POE1 and it is in POE2.

    Same classes, same character abilities, several same companions. These things add to what apparently is a very samey experience compared to the first part. It's good but I'd want more new things. There's not enough novelty here.

    Graphics look good but holy hell the performance is crap just like in the first game. I'm not a technical expert but 2D maps with a few 3D models and effects and fps is tanking? Why? It's not Starcraft 2 with dozens of fully 3D models on screen. Starcraft 2 runs perfectl fine and this game is a performance slog.

    It also has technical issues at launch including crashes and mouse issues. Like left clicking with your mouse does not work for some reason.

    Overall feeling is it's a pretty polished RPG striving to get attention of a wider audience. Focus on visuals and presentation with linear story and insufficient world interactivity, freedom of choice and innovation.    … Expand
  24. user9991213131
    May 19, 2018
    2
    Played game for a several hours before giving up. As a fan of the genre, I was disappointed. I did not play the first game. Cons: Poor character creation (low selection of faces, portraits, and more), poor mix of 3D and isometric, lacking polish (generally clunky interface), poor dual class system, filler in gameplay (I suspended judgement on walking around map etc. but am now certain thatPlayed game for a several hours before giving up. As a fan of the genre, I was disappointed. I did not play the first game. Cons: Poor character creation (low selection of faces, portraits, and more), poor mix of 3D and isometric, lacking polish (generally clunky interface), poor dual class system, filler in gameplay (I suspended judgement on walking around map etc. but am now certain that this is simply filler in lieu of content). I honestly cannot think of any pros to compare to either the classics (IWD, BG), or similar modern games like divinity, which I highly recommend. If you are new to the series as I was, purchase with caution.… Expand
  25. nanddo
    May 17, 2018
    0
    It's a nice game, but is full of bugs, when you select a quest and open the journal, the quest is not even preselected WTF, there are missions you cannot finish because of bugs, crew members that don't heal due to bugs. Is not enjoyable like this, wait till they patch it properly. Pillars of ethernity I did not have this kind of bugs.
  26. 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.
  27. 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.
  28. metalreflectsli
    May 18, 2018
    0
    The Mac OS X port does not work. The developers are unresponsive on both the Steam forums and the GOG forums.
  29. 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.
  30. 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?
  31. 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
  32. 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
  33. 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
  34. Jemvie
    Jun 8, 2019
    9
    Unmistakably a must play if you're into CRPGs.
    Obsidian did it again. Kudos.
  35. 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
  36. 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.
  37. 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
  38. 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.
  39. Deaden
    Jun 16, 2020
    3
    ...Bok gibi oyun. Never Winter Nights ı yapan firma olduğuna inanmak zor...
  40. 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.
  41. 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
  42. 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
  43. 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
  44. 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
  45. 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
  46. 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.
  47. 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
  48. 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
  49. 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).
  50. 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.
  51. 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
  52. 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
  53. Nomac69
    Mar 19, 2022
    10
    Exceptional game and rich world full of nuanced side quests and fulfilling character development.
  54. 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.
  55. Tiradentes
    Aug 13, 2023
    9
    200+ hours into the game I can say it's one of the best game I ever-played.
  56. 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 ...
  57. 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
  58. 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
  59. 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
  60. 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
  61. 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
  62. 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
  63. 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
  64. 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
  65. 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
  66. 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.
  67. 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
  68. 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
  69. 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.
  70. 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!
  71. 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
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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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