Spent 293 hours in the game according to GOG time. 98% achievement completion (can't get the last achievement unless I start a new game). I haven't experienced any game breaking bugs. There are some bugs but nothing too bad. Very annoying bugs like dying from a climbing on rocks, unable to get quickhacks from access points because of a bug, and a quest bug that won't complete because NPC won't talk to me (Cuckoo's Nest quest; Jasmine will not talk to me). There were quite a few graphical glitches too. The stealth mechanic is terrible. I love stealthy gameplay and the first 100 hours or so I was stealthing my way through missions. Enemies will sometimes notice you through walls. Consumable items in the games are useless. Every single consumable item has the same exact effect. Too much junk in the world. The ratio for junk and valuable items in the world is too high. Need to reward players for exploration. I like to explore high places, explore hard to reach places, and places that are just out of the way, and the reward I get are almost always literal junk. The world just feels baron. There are too many locked doors. There are only a handful of buildings you can explore. And it's not much of an exploration since most of the doors in those buildings are locked as well. The cyberware implants are limited. For the entire 293 hours, I still have two options for eye implants. There should be a mechanic to respec attributes not just skill points. Let the people have the freedom to try different builds. The main storyline is really short. People argue that the side quest are where the meat of the game is, but the sidequest are not that great. Driving around is not as fun as it should be. The minimap is too zoomed in so you'll likely miss a turn if you go fast. Put directions overlay on the road. This is actually in the game as part of a questline. The quest where you have to race has arrows overlay on the road. Why can't they just put that in the main game.
I really wanted to like this game. I loved the first Pillars of Eternity (aside from the atrocious load times). Played on veteran difficulty with upscaled turned on. The game seems to be unnecessarily long. Some may argue it isn't since the main questline is rather short, but the game timer from GOG said I've logged more than 220+ hours in this game. An unfulfilling 220+ hours. I'd rather have a fulfilling 50+ hour game than a 200+ hours game. Things I didn't like: -I didn't like the open world travel -I hated ship to ship combat. Boarding ships for battle is okay. -There were alot of game crashes. Very buggy game. -Game doesn't seem to be very optimized. I still get lag and stutter. -I hate games that have limited use items and resources. I just never end up using them. As for crafting resources, I didn't know adra ban were limited. I actually wasted a bunch and now I can't upgrade some of the weapons to legendary. -Because of the semi-open world aspect, I accidentally went into an area that was meant for later and sort of messed up some quest lines. I feel like the developer should have blocked off the areas that should not be accessible yet -The endgame was very anti-climatic. The whole game appears to be a huge build up to the endgame area but once you reach it, that was it. It felt like the whole game was rushed or there wasn't much thought put in the progression of the story. -I hated the mega bosses. I didn't end up fighting them. I felt like they made the bosses stupidly long and difficult just for the sake of making it stupidly long and hard. -Some battles were just pure frustration Things I liked: -Load times have dramatically reduced. POE1 had terrible load times. -Looks better than POE1. -multiclassing is pretty good. -i like the weapon/armor upgrade system alot better than the first game. This is only marred by the stupid decision to make adra ban a set limit in the game. I didn't upgrade anything in the first game; I didn't find any motivation to.
Completed the game on hard difficulty with enemy up-scaled turned on when presented at various points in the game to keep the challenge on pace with my character levels. So where to begin. I'll start off by saying I'm not a CRPG veteran. In fact, I'm the opposite. Before Pillars of Eternity, I played Divinity Original Sin 2 (not complete yet but logged 150+ hours game time) and Pathfinder: Kingmaker (not complete yet but logged approximately 80 hours game time). In PoE, I've logged 173H 46 Min. and I've enjoyed every bit of it. I fought and defeated all dragons and all bounties. They were among the most challenging aspect of the game. My advice to all is to not give up. Try different strategies. It will all pay off because it is the greatest feeling of accomplishment when you do defeat them. It's great for CRPG beginners because it doesn't overwhelm you with too much customization or choices but also have enough of it to have depth. It's pretty straightforward. I read that some beginners have a tough time with early battles. My tip for early battles is to use all your skills at your disposal and read what they do. Don't expect to just win a fight by going kamikaze. When you're at a higher level you can easily win fights without using any skills. Overall Pillars of Eternity is a great game and will be one that I cherish since it's the first CRPG i've ever finished. Looking forward to playing PoE2:Deadfire.
