Pursue a rogue god over land and sea in the sequel to the multi-award-winning RPG Pillars of Eternity. Captain your ship on a dangerous voyage of discovery across the vast unexplored archipelago region of the Deadfire. Bend the world to your will, as you explore the depths of infinite possibilitie...
Pursue a rogue god over land and sea in the sequel to the multi-award-winning RPG Pillars of Eternity. Captain your ship on a dangerous voyage of discovery across the vast unexplored archipelago region of the Deadfire. Bend the world to your will, as you explore the depths of infinite possibilities, including detailed character customization, total freedom of exploration, and more meaningful choices at every turn.
Immerse yourself in a deeper single player RPG game experience - enriched with cutting edge technology and features, Deadfire builds on the foundation of classic D&D gameplay with vastly improved graphics, deeper game mechanics and a whole new hand-crafted adventure where choices truly matter.
Discover the new region of the Deadfire – plot your own course by ship and explore the rich and exotic islands of the archipelago region, discovering new places interacting with their inhabitants and engaging in a variety of quests at every port.
Build your party and customize your companions – choose from 7 different companions to join you on your quest and assign multiple classes and deeper abilities for each. Witness their personal relationships and interactions unfold with the addition of the new companion system.
Captain your ship across the seas – as your stronghold on the seas, your ship is much more than simply a vessel for exploring. Upgrade your ship and crew and choose what skills you improve in order to survive dangerous encounters along the way.
Hands down, Deadfire is among the best CRPGs of all time in my opinion; it's not without flaws, but the upsides outweigh anything bad in my opinion.
My biggest grief is that the mainstory, while having a fantastic premisse, is lackluster explored. I could tell that the writers had some really interesting ideas going on and the quality of the writing is excellent, but the focus was clearly on the faction questlines.
Beyond that, I just enjoyed the whole atmosphere, the dialogues and also the gameplay evolved the classic CRPG formula with a lot of comfort features this genre really needed.
The writing is good, but underdone and forgoes asking some of the most obvious questions, hence depriving the player of really dealing with the main problem of the game in any satisfactory fashion. There are also many red herrings that you expect reveal a grand side-quest, which in fact turns out to be a mandatory main-line quest that you cannot really avoid. So much build-up wasted it hurts. This is probably not as much the writerss' fault as it is the designers and the producers.
There is also a severe imbalance between the urgency of the main quest and, literally, any side activities, for the main character, because it just wouldn't make sense for a person so singularly focussed on following the primary plot device to be distracted to the degree that the side quests demand. It all only falls into place when you recall the most fundamental law of jRPGs - events wait for you to move them however long you want, so you in fact have infinite time to finish the main storyline. Such as it is.
The side-quests, however, are quite well-written - good enough, at the very least.
The game itself follows far more the jRPG model of side-quests than anything else would. And then you get the ghost galleon, for free, come the finish, which you actually have tu use.
Oh, and there's gays, gays everywhere. While understandable with the current western trends, it is more than abhorrent, and I only thank the game for the gay dialogue options that are obvious and can be avoided. But the fact that they are still there and can be visible is disturbing.
I just finished my first playthrough of the game, and I can wholeheartedly say that it's worth purchasing. Like Baldur's Gate, this is a game I expect I'll pour my hours into, trying new paths and choices, new classes and backgrounds.
My experience had several ups and downs, I can count three major problems I had with the game, and only one minor grievance. However, there is a lot I enjoy about the game!
Pro
- The descriptions of the game are amazing. From describing the wrenching stench of viscera, to laying out the subtle nuances of a conversation, to establishing a defining moment, I can guarantee you'll find a moment where the well-worded descriptions of this game will snatch up your attention! This is ESPECIALLY true in the narrated scenes within the main quest, which drew me in wholly, even when not animated, by virtue of its great scene establishment!
- There are many reasons to come back to this game when you've finished it. There are quests you could have missed, classes you haven't tried, and even attitudes you've yet to choose. What's more, the game rewards your progress in making your achievements grant the option to go into new games with extra boons such as money, boosted stats, and items. Which is very inviting to a repeated playthrough!
- Exploration is rewarding in the adventures it brings you in addition to its treasures!
Criticism
- No game is perfect, but in my playthrough I experienced a frustrating bug preventing my character from reloading their guns. I could only resolve it by reloading, losing chunks of gameplay just to be able to play my build. That's not acceptable, however, it should be fixed in time.
- The combat itself is not bad, but it's not especially praiseworthy. It can be rewarding to overcome a challenge, however, and this game does allow that!
- Naval combat whilst at first interesting is repetitive and loses its lustor quickly.
- In the final hours of the game, I encountered very small typos, which I always feel are beneath any proper company, it's especially disappointing to me personally, but a small numbr of typos doesn't ruin the hours of fun that lead me to these moments.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the setting and writing of Deadfire. While there are rough patches, they are minor enough that the strengths of the game shine through. I love the characters, the overarching story, the design - you can play it as easily as you wish without penalty which is a boon for those without much time to play.
The two expansions so far have added a lot to the game and the constant refinement and attention to detail by the devs is appreciated. It picks up a lot by the time you reach Neketaka (which can take a while if you get distracted sailing about). It has one of my favourite soundtracks of recent years, including some great sea shanties. The setting on its own is a major strength of this game; there aren't many games that incorporate nautical fantasy elements like Deadfire does.
Lots of positives, very few negatives
- the only negative I can think of is that the experimental approach to sea battles don't quite hit the mark. It becomes a text adventure like some of the minor story instances that involve stat-checks. I still enjoyed the sea battles .
There are profound improvements compared to the first PoE. The graphics engine has been revised and now there are new animations, a new lighting system and more defined textures. Even the GDR mechanics are deeper and now you can create characters with dual class (for example magician and warrior together) but despite this, the system is easier and more satisfying to learn than the first, ( especially for the skill tree when you level up ) . The combat system remains similar to the first, but thanks to the new graphic effects it becomes more fun. Then there are also absolute novelties such as naval battles that give the game more variety. I also personally consider the most successful and original pirate setting. While PoE 1 had a fantasy setting too classic and trivial for me. Another thing I appreciate is the reputation you can have with your party companions. In fact, depending on the choice we will make in a certain dialogue, our party members will "interfere" in the discussion and will agree with us or not. Increasing or decreasing their loyalty to us. (We can also have romantic stories with some of them). Even narratively it seems slightly better than the first chapter. In fact I must admit that the incipit of the first PoE is slow and boring; you do not understand clearly the way they want to take the developers at the beginning. While in this chapter, our goal is clear to us right from the start. The only thing I do not like, are less detailed descriptions and dialogues compared to the first chapter ( because of Chris's departure? ). Moreover the comapnions are not memorable, but they are ok.
4/5
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