The game is most excellent, infused a pure sense of adventure and camaraderie, it contains no distracting references to real world politics, no pseudo-philosophies subsumed by poor writing, just an open world, a rule set and good old table-top rpg feeling. The developers constantly updating the game, I am 20 hours in and yet to encounter a game breaking bug, for the scope and the budget this is just admirable. Artwork is great, interface is clear and clean, the game does a good job of explaining things if you are willing to read -- just right click the rolls to see the details for example. Speak with everyone, go everywhere and difficulty is thus quite manageable and fair, the game doesn’t hold your hand but provides everything you need to know. The developers did not compromise just for the mass appeal and I applaud them for that. While I liked PoE 2 this is much better on all accounts.
If you are missing the summer tradition of playing a long dungeon crawler a la Icewind Dale, this game is perfect for you. From combat to exploration, to the menus everything is fast as does not waste your time. I am enjoying the tactical combat a lot, almost more than Divinity OS 2. Do not expect much from the story but it is still serviceable. I am reducing a star because the sound direction is horrible, the combat sound is very basic without any weight, skills and weapons do not have an oomph to them, if you played Arcanum you know what I mean for it reminded me of that game immediately. But this my only problem with the game, for this price what you get is awesome.
Ignoring the critics who most probably do even own the game (you can see your game activity) I can safely say that PoE II is a clear improvement from its predecessor. The writing is not bloated, the world is more fleshed-out, characters are memorable, graphics are much better -I often just stared at the sheer beauty of the waves, shores and idle animations. Musics are not are at par with PoE I serviceable and pretty good. Sound design also did not improve much. One tiny criticism, which could be totally on me, is that I find the combat encounters rare and when they occur they happen so fast, just a cascade of flashes and skills and poof the enemy is gone. Hence the combat does not feel tactical but strategic, if you have the right skills you win. My party is around level 6-7 and I am 5.5 hours in so this might change, but the positive points I provided will not. The game goes above and beyond the imitation of old isometric crpgs, and excels in every aspect except world setting, sorry but Forgotten Realms has an incredible lore behind it, but PoE II despite the obvious disadvantage still kept me interested in its world. In sum, this is a solid game by it own, and you may enjoy it even if you have no memories of Infinity Engine games that you want re-live from two decades ago.
I still own my original copies from 1997, I open the box to smell once in a while just like any sane person would do. This game is the apex of cartoony Lucas Arts adventures, just like late 90s action movies, the genre matured technically and the graphically to culminate in this masterpiece. Highly recommended even if you do not have a 90s nostalgia.
Enough said, the long awaited day has come, without much fanfare. The best survivor-horror-fps-cyberpunk et al. game of all time. The only game I still regret giving it's cd to a not-so-tidy friend and never get back. Take me to 1999, to Good Old Days.
