Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Obsidian Edition

This is one of the best flawed gems i have ever played. It has been many years since i've had this, "adventure" feeling. I havent felt like this since Baldursgate 1&2. I dont mind the voice acting, sure it could be better, but i understand the time/money/work being put into this. And as i get older it's nice to relax the eyes to hear the voice acting. The first POE, made tied knots on my brain and made my eyes dry sockets, heh. Las but not least. Thank you so much for making this game! Ps. watch out, not to save your game in one slot during stealth missions. A reload can [rarely] reset the AI's waypoints, so they end up at their start positions. ;)

Deadfire never ceases to amaze, a magnificent city to get lost into, an archipelago to discover, precious treasure to seek. It could be enjoyed for its fabulous lore and locales alone and yet has a deep combat system that can be tailored to any liking, thanks to the ability to fine tune the difficulty. The first one is remarkable but has to face a fierce competition among the ctrpg classics. This one is on a league of its own, it's the only game in recent years to recapture a long lost magic, that naive sense of wonder of the masterpieces (BG and PT:T above all). It can be considered the polar opposite of Tyranny, which is short and focused, in a nice way as it's an up and close affair where's no need for plot recaps. Deadfire, on the contrary, is a massive experience (even more so adding the dlcs) that, like your journal, as you travel the archipelago abounds with pieces of stories to put together.

Don't miss out on this one! One of the greatest CRPGs of modern times, but sadly quite overlooked. In many aspects up there with Baldur's Gate 3, and as a political parable (about colonialism) it's even greater than BG3 (though a much lesser game when it comes to the combat). One of Obsidian's best games, some really inspired writing and worldbuilding. Love that they took the somewhat conservative fantasy setting of (the very good) Pillars of Eternity and made it into a tropical pirate RPG. Discovering the depths and layers (topographical, historical and socioeconomical) of Neketaka (the capital city) was one of the most memorable experiences I've had with a game. Big up!

....you made a terrific game that bombs because you happen to release it at just the wrong time. And the end result? People forget about it and then ten years later it appears on various hidden-gem or favorite lists. The mechanics are deep, meaningful and a lot of fun to digest, similar to the first installement but now with a lot less clutter. For instance, spells are usually per encounter now such that you don't have to rest every two steps. You can also multiclass now with a simple but suprisingly sturdy system that allows for a lot possibilities while each combination stays potentially viable. I had a lot of fun coming up with different builds and hiring adventurers to test them out. The world building is excellent and solving its mysteries provides a motivating backdrop to most of your sidequests. There are also different factions with meaningful motivations and a closed questline which forces you to decide the fate of the archipelago. Or you can just go your own way and explore lots and lots of islands to find a staggering amount of well-done sidequests, challenging encounters and only the shiniest of loot. The game also gives you a lot of dialogue choices for roleplaying (much more than in, say, Divinity 2) which practically begs you for a replay. Plus, there's the DLCs which are all excellent in their own way and add another shovelfull of content. But.... not all is well. The main-story bleeds mystery but ends up being the very definition of anticlimatic. Some new mechanical systems are a bit shallow (ship combat), work rather poorly (afflictions) or lie somewhat at odds with the story (exploration). There's also the companions. In contrast to the first PoE they are clearly a step back - their main-quests are boring, the characters can be borderline soap-opera and I always had the feeling that a lot of them required a better resolution than what we are given. Still, this is one of the best crpgs out there. Go play it.

- Top tier (c)RPG but there is still plenty of room for improvement - Looks beautiful - Highest difficulty level offers a real challenge - Has many QoL improvements - You get to manage a ship, which is pretty cool - Almost no combat verticality - No hold position command during battle, resulting often in chaos - Still a bit buggy - Puzzles are, like in all RPGs, meh *Editors' Pick* https://pixelloot.com