Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Obsidian Edition

Isometric RPGs are my favorite genre of games. Pillars of Eternity 2 lives up to the classics like Baldur's Gate and Fallout. The 2D backgrounds are so detailed and lovely. I always regretted the move to 3D because this is what we lost. I wasn't expecting much from the naval combat and I was pleasantly surprised. Its fun. The biggest improvement over PoE is the enemy AI. Battles are more tactical because the enemies are smarter, use their abilities and spells, and aren't instantly defeated by doorways. I strongly recommend playing this The Way its Meant to be Played®, as a party-based game. The Obsidian forums are full of newcomers trying to solo the game on the hardest difficulty. They have no chance unless they use tons of exploits and OP cookie-cutter builds. I suspect people are trying to solo it because controlling 5 characters is daunting, but when your party starts to function like a well-oiled machine, its worth it.

This game is the best RPG I have played, I love everything about the game and the fact you can play it in turn based mode is all the better. The story, it's characters and how it is presented is wonderful, deep emersion and great presentation with random events added it. The graphics are beautiful and the combat animations are very good. I never played POE1 and not interested as its a real time combat game, I was hoping for more of the same when I finish this game but sadly I am reading there are no plans for a third game as sales of this game did not meet expectations. I think this game is an underated gem that deserves fastly more credit. I finally found a quality turned based story driven RPG that in my opinion is almost perfect in every way that matters to me.

Bought Pillars of Eternity 1 during the steam summer sale out of pure boredom, and boy, what a jackpot. Found myself engrossed in the lore of Eora and several of the characters that tagged along for the ride. After finishing the first I instantly went and bought the second in which they proved the success of the first wasn't a stroke of luck. The game feels like a built upon version of PoE1 which they've taken the good parts and changed / removed alot of the bad parts. Quests feels more fleshed out and thoughtful compared to some of the " Go to x, kill x and return " - quests that could be found in PoE1. I for one loved the boat compared to the castle. It felt more like choices actually matter and finding new teammates meant more micromanaging compared to the castle which I basically only revisited when I wanted to continue the exploration of the endless maze otherwise is was mostly treated as a big ass piggy bank supplying me with money from time to time. The addition of turn-based mode was also a pleasant addition as I've been a huge fan of DOS:2 but as some people have pointed out, the turn based mode feels a bit clunky together with spellcasters since you can't retarget after the spell has been which often leaves you post poning the turn after the enemy have made their moves. Even though the story was there it felt a bit short. I kinda liked the dialogues with the gods throughout the game realizing they weren't flawless and everything isn't black or white which made the choice towards the end harder than I thought. Probably the biggest disappointment was some of the newly introduced companions ( looking at you konstanteen and Ydwin ) which felt kinda lackluster and even though I really tried playing with em I always ended up removing them again. Apparently sales had been a lackluster which is a shame since I hope they don't let such a well crafted universe go to waste.

I thoroughly enjoyed PoE 1 but was hesitant to buy the sequel because I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy the ocean exploring part. It seemed strange to me. But I bought it anyway and have been enjoying playing it since. The naval/sailing part is well designed and the naval battles are fun and cool. I've been playing for a month and can hardly stop. Obsidian didn't disappoint me. I'll continue supporting them. Needless to say, a solid 10 out of 10 from me.

TLDR: Every CRPG fan MUST play this woderful game! Stunning graphics, woderful light effects, nice characters like Eder and Xoti and many comfort functions like an endless inventory make this game an eternal champion for me (and i play many other CRPG from now and then). Even in comparison with the best CRPG of all time, Baldurs Gate 2. Just saying. I didn't take much attention on PoE 2 a long time because of the scenario but now, after 90 hours in the game, i am thankful to myself that i finally bought and played this gem. I liked Pillars 1 very much, but was not sure about the tropical scenario from part 2. And yes, like many others i think they should have followed the "standard fantasy path" like in part 1. It is not much fantasy feeling in the overworld of PoE 2, more like a visit on Tahiti or, maybe, Cuba in ancient times. But the world fits in itself and the dungeons are very, very atmospheric. The graphic is fantastic. Many details, sharp textures, really cool light effects (Xotis lantern <3) and the water... all that makes the game to one of the best looking RPGs in my eyes. The speakers are good, music is good, too. The handling of the game is really comfortable. The story is not very interesting, i clicked many of the dialogues away. But that doesn't matter very much, because the rest of the game is so good. A more interesting story would have make it perfect, that's a fact. All in all: If you like CRPGs, play Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. The scenario with it's pirate and tropical feeling is not the best decision, but okayish. Don't let this lead your decision, you may miss a VERY good game.