I was a big fan of the original, with a few issues. Unfortunately the game designers decided to double down on the issues. I'll start with the strengths of the game. First, character and storytelling. If you want good, deep, rich storytelling (and if you're a fan of RPGs, you probably do), this is a great series for it. This game delivers, without question. The story is deep, rich, and complex. The writers don't tell you how to feel about anything, but they do offer you plenty of choices, which is a nice departure from some games that force you to take a specific role. There are a lot of different characters with their own unique stories to explore as well. Speaking of unique characters, you can create and play your own character how you want, as well as reshaping your companions so you aren't stuck with a playstyle you don't like. So that's pretty nice. And that's about it, as well as where the game starts to fall apart. That deep story? It's DARK. It's lie the writers saw Warhammer 40K and said "that's a bit too optimistic, isn't it?" Grimdark doesn't cover it. What's more, where other games reward you for making good choices, this game punishes you for making bad choices, defined as "you didn't anticipate exactly what the game designers wanted you to do". Lest you think I am whining over Hard mode being too hard, I'm talking about Story Mode. Add on to that the AI is so painfully stupid you almost are required to use turn based combat, only by definition the turn based combat in this series is slow, painfully bad, and designed to be frustrating (it was my major complaint with the original). Dealing with traps and locked chests has, if anything, gotten WORSE. As I said, the game designers managed to double down on everything bad (including the grimmest parts of the storytelling) in the original without offering any substantial improvements. I simply can't recommend this game when there are other, better games out there, including the original Pathfinder.
