Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

Just started Part 2. Did not expect the game to become even better - so far :)

Overall I had a great experience in PoE2 but I have to say there were a few changes I never knew about that made me "nervous" at the beginning of the game and interestingly none of the reviews I've read have mentioned them so I'll try to mention most of these in my review because I think they are really important. Unlike many I've enjoyed the writing of the second game more. The so called purple prose is almost completely gone, the main story is way more focused and easy to understand and follow. There are a fewer companions and their stories are much weaker but there are many returning from PoE1 so you may feel like you already know them which helps. The most interesting part of game was the combat and the changes they've made to the classes. Multiclassing was introduced - you can combine any 2 classes and use the skills of both without having access to their most powerful levels. All classes also have subclasses which have their own special skills/spells. These are pretty cool and add so much possibilities. Even some companions have unique subclasses! Resting works a bit differently. In PoE2 you get healed to full HP after every battle. All the buffs related to resting now last until you rest again which makes them extremely powerful and there were some very strong buffs. This was such a strange change to me going from PoE1 where you want to rest so u can heal to PoE2 where these really strong buffs makes you want to avoid resting at all cost so you don't lose them... (no resting runs are a thing in PoE2) The changes that got me by surprise were related to the casters - druids, priests and wizards. I love playing casters in general, my party was one melee and 4 casters so these changes were very impactful and I really did not like them! Thankfully there were mods that made it possible to change things the way I want so I can enjoy the game. The changes - most spells are now per encounter(this one I loved). Druids and priests no longer learn all their spells when they level up. Instead they have to pick spells every time they level up via skill points which are very limited and also have to be shared betwen the spells and passive skills. Just for example you get max 28 points for a single class and druids have 60+ spells and 30+ skills to pick from...This system works for the melee classes becuse they have very limited skills to pick from but for casters it is not good at all. And not to mention the time it takes to decide on what spells to pick for every class when you level up - it was so exhausting! Wizards also have to pick their spells when they level up. They can no longer learn spells from grimoires. Intead they made it easier/low cd) to swap grimoires in battles which I felt was a terrible change. I am not going to search in the middle of every battle what grimoire had the spell I want so I can swap it... Another big change was that all casters now can cast max only TWO spells per level and only one at level 9. This change was most confusing one for me, that made me instatly hate it. Why on earth would they limit not only how many spells you can pick in general but also how many you can cast and you cannot even change them when you level up. This change leads to situation where when you have to pick a spell indead of thnking what you are going to enjoy casting and have fun with you think about what spell levels are already taken by a good spell (or 2) that you may cast twice in combat which means you no longer need another spell at that level.... Very limiting change that I did not like at all... (but as I said there were mods to change this)

I was skeptical at first, but the game is simply tuned to excellence and beautifully written and directed. Kudos. There's nothing more to say

it's alright thirty characters huh okay

good for any fan of BG or BG2