Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

I loved the first but obviously there could be some improvements. Not only did I find that a majority of those improvements were made, but they added a lot of little things that make the game feel so much more alive. Its a must buy for the genre imo. Obsidian's attention to detail and focus on a lot of great content is very commendable as well. Pillars of eternity has turned me into a hard obsidian fan and I hope they don't ever give me a reason to change that 7.8/10 too much water - IGN /s 10/10 for me, one of my all time favorites

I have played nearly every CRPG from the Baldur's Gate series to the Icewind Dale series to Planescape:Torment. Deadfire has the most polished and exciting visual/UI so far. The character progression and combat is an absolute joy to experiment with, even though the game does force you to do a lot of saving/loading if you want to try out the different leveling/upgrading options. In terms of gameplay and visual Deadfire is a worthy succesor to Pillars of Eternity. So why the 4-star rating? The main quests are severely lacking. I overlooked the issue in the first game because there was enough intrigue in the world building to keep me engaged. While the political intrigues and dilemmas were very well set up in the background, I never felt I had enough time to explore what my main character should feel and do in those situations. There was never any real setback and challenge for the main hero to grow in. Nothing unexpected really happened in the main quest. Similar to the first game, the main quest line makes you feel like you skipped Act 3 and jumped straight into the finale. I didn't feel like I was on an epic journey, and I didn't feel like I knew who my main character really was at the end, like I did with great RPGs like Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape:Torment, Witcher 3. I felt like I hopped between a few islands, made some ethical choices based on my own real-world ideology, and the game ended. It's a real shame that this otherwise great game seems to be missing part of its soul. Finally, while bugs are expected for a game of this size and complexity, some of the bugs don't seem like the type that should have slipped through. For example, at the time of this review, if you respec your main character, you may lose the skill points you buy from trainers. It's not a gamebreaking bug, but it seems like very obvious thing to have been missed.

Fuck you

I enjoy these sorts of RPGs a lot. Deadfire has a lot of familiar feel to how it works, so easy to navigate the mechanics, yet is quite different from others I've played (mostly DnD-type). The storylines are engaging as are the characters. There are lot of optional things to do. Definitely recommend.

good game