Do you want more info on Deadfire? Check out this brilliant guide written by Thelee: gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599
a bladurs gate game should be a real time battle, not x com BS, to break a powerful mage in real time is so satisfying... the most natural evolution for real time strategy game is real time with slo mo, like in aliens dark descent
@@quincymims2580 you won’t find disagreement here. Main story and companion quests were absolute ass, I always just skip everything and play for the combat.
I always say this! Deadfire is also one of my all time favorites, and has one of the best class/multiclass systems ever. Incredible writing. Great art, stunning detail. So underrated.
I second, please produce content! Im currently playing through on my Xbox Series S (about 40hrs in), and am getting ready to start a second playthru on my Macbook (so I can play while my gf wants to watch her reality shows lol).
The Venn Diagram overlap between "Aestus RPG subscriber" and "wants something to play after BG3" is probably so large that the diagram looks like one big circle instead of two 😅
Yes! Ended up bouncing off BG3 at release and sinking a ton of time into Deadfire instead. Finally got back into BG3 this last month and found your build and tier videos a world apart from the other stuff that gets put out. So pleased to see you give Deadfire its due praise. If you didn’t already know, Josh Sawyer has a bunch of talks going into the design of the game and systems that are really enlightening.
Obsidian set a new standard in world building with Pillars of Eternity. It's incredibly deep and well crafted. Hell, it's so good, it makes reading the books you find compelling. I can't overstate how much I love exploring this game's world and learning its history.
Looking forward to seeing more broad CRPG content on this channel in the future, Aestus! The tactical depth from your BG3 videos has really peaked my interest in the genre.
This game is GREAT - I played it several times and I'd say this and Wasteland 3 are probably the most modern 10/10 cRPGs other than BG3. Yeah, none of them have the same production value, but they have good enough production values, great writting, player agency, etc.
@@Aestus_RPG Oh yeah, my point was from the perspective of a newcomer who just played BG3, so expecting the same production values could lead to frustration :)
@@Martin-nc7jg Sell poorly? Are you a troll or just not the sharpest tool in the box? Those are not AAA games. They sold really well and over a long period of time to the niche they were made for. AA, story focused, great writing cRPGs with as much production values as th reasonable investments allow. BG3 is an anomaly. cRPG was not a mainstream genre until really recently.
After hearing you gush about your favorite games in your QnA video I have definitely had an interest in trying this one out! it's also on sale right now so I'll 100% be grabbing it :]
@@BoinkadelicJones The characters do not resemble real people . Their positions are not believable. Every choice of personal characteristics is filtered through an antihuman ideological framework without any consideration for the coherency of the world. I liked the first game bit, but this one jumps the shark.
@@dirtydard4870 could you elaborate a bit with an example or two? The gods are selfish and belittle kithfolk, but that is also similar to Greek mythos.
Loving your pillars content mate. It's my favourite series of all time. Just doing my second playthrough now on deadfire with a Pure priest(Berath) RPGDivision build. This will be my first playthrough since 2018 mate. Love this game. Thanks for the content bro!
Why not make some more guides for Pillars 2? Like best classes and skills for companions, best items etc? Would be usefull I'm sure. I need to replay Pillars 2 myself, as it has been a while and I don't remember all that much at this point.
I played the first Pillars of Eternity and loved it. Fantastic world building and the overall story/themes were fantastic. But for some reason, i never got around to playing Deadfire . . . I need to remedy that!
Pillars of Eternity is in my top 10. It’s my most played game on switch. I just started dead fire because I didn’t have a PC until recently and I’m so exited to get into it!
And I just started a few days ago. Perfect timing. Monks ftw! And oh playing this game in auto perfecting my script system and seeing it as it works out is so satisfying.
Aestus, no joke just finished checking out Amon Amarth's 'somewhat' recent song "Saxons and Vikings" and I thought about your channel, several months after I asked if you would be doing Deadfire content and 19 hours after it drops here I see it after specifically searching for your channel. Almost ghostly in a way, lets get after it guys! Lavaru bion sik!!!!
POE brought us the classic crpg format back, i will always be thankful for that alone. Furthermore, POE1 and the dlc despite treading too closely to the bg1&2 formula, have really heartbreaking stories and amazing characters to discover. While a lot of time i was cringing in bg3, too effing woke, i never once did with poe, still have my save, maybe i should import it.
I prefer the first game than the second just because the world of the first game is so mysterious and dark. Pillars of Eternity 1 and PlaneScape Torment are my favorites.
I downloaded the games again and will do a new run for POE 1 and 2. It was ages since I played. However I have been thinking in the past few days since first watching this video, of why I like BG3 so much. While I agree with you about story and setting, for me I think it is the incredible systems in BG3, both in and out of combat. One example of this is the throwing mechanic. In many games you can use throwing weapons in combat, but in BG3 they built a whole system where you can throw lots of other things using the same mechanic, like potions. Potions also create a cloud when broken. You can then use this system in so many ways in combat, creating tactical depth. This is especially true when playing solo, where you really need to use all these tactics to make it. Anyway I look forward to some POE1 and 2 runs. I just need to remember how it worked :)
Tried POE once and didnt love it but since I saw this video I am now about 10hrs into POE and am gonna play deadfire right after. So far am loving the original this time around and am excited to play 2 afterwards.
If you hate grinding for money, being a weakling, you could edit your stats & money. Not talking about the console commands, that for noobs. I'm talking about manually editing the memory addresses for anything in the game, stats, money, items. Can't find the stats in 2, just the money, but in 1, my wiz was 1 shooting everything at level 1 bc he had 99 stats in everything.
I decided to give this game a second chance after watching this! Played it one time but got overwhelmed by RTwP, so I ended up dropping it as I looked for CRPG games.
Regarding difficulty, the main thing to mention is that the difficulty scales poorly ie. the game is much easier as you level. POTD makes Gorecci Street and the digsite in particular very hard, as is the boarding combat with Beggar Winfrith. Once you have arrived in Neketaka, however, I would consider it to be the best difficulty setting.
100% Goreccu Street was immensely difficult and it almost had me dialing difficulty back, but as you said, once you hit Neketaka it feels more realized.
I had no idea Avowed was linked to PoE, I tried playing PoE back in the day but I couldn’t get into the real time with pause, I love proper turn based games
I would play it if it had full voice acting. I find it hard to understand just by reading, cause it's just the way I learn. I also get a bit of a headache reading for long periods of time. Hearing/reading at same time is a massive boost. This is why I enjoy Larian games.
I tried to get into this game once, but when I got on the ship and the open world it was just way too much and it overwhelmed me. I went straight to a big capital city (where you can recruit a paladin) and there were SO many screens of the city and dozens of people to talk to on each screen, with quests, and all kinds of stuff. Just too much for me.
So back to Pac Man, Space Invaders, Q-bert then????? Just 1 screen. Or is that still too much, so maybe a text based game, like BBS (Bulletin Board System) that we had in the 90's.
I'm considering giving it a go. Should I start with 1 or should I skip it? I played countless runs of Dragon Age Origins and BG3 but no other game like them.
@@Ebenezer563 I actually think there are objective measures on which games can be better than other games, just as there are objective measures on which movies can be better than other movies, etc -- and it is possible to enjoy the objectively worse things more than you enjoy the objectively better ones. Games (and movies) are not "better" simply by virtue of the amount of enjoyment they bestow upon their audiences.
@@danieljohnson270 Really! That is interesting! I've never been able to convince myself that art is wholly subjective, but I've never thought about it enough to explain where the objectivity is. Feel free to send me an essay explaining your view, I will read it.
@@danieljohnson270 yes there are objective measures, e.g. performance. A game running at 60fps performs objectively better than one running at 20fps. From that, you can say the performance is objectively better. You can't say the game is objectively better because there are loads of other factors, many of which will not be objective. How can BG3 be objectively better when the gameplay - the most important factor for many people - is fundamentally different? You can't argue that either gameplay system is objectively better since it will come down to individual preferences. You could argue that one system is objectively more tactical, but whether or not that's a good thing is an opinion. Some people prefer less tactical gameplay. The fact that you hold the opinion that game B is better proves that game A is not objectively better.
I liked Deadfire to a degree (and without a doubt a lot more than the first POE, which was straightup disappointing for me), but i can't really agree with the sentiment of it having the best combat in the genre. Regardless of taking as reference its original RTWP version or its turn-based variation added later, they have a list of shortcomings too extensive to claim that tile. I DO think they used to have the prettiest production value in the genre before BG3 came a thing, though. Some of the scenarios were stunning. Oh, and their multiclass system is among the best I've ever seen on a computer game of this genre. Definitely better than Pathfinder and D&D with their "piecemeal" mess. I'm also not exceedingly in love with the setting, if I have to be completely honest. They tried so hard to "move away from some fantasy stereotypes" only to replace them with not-particularly-better ones. P.S. I'll gladly watch more Deadfire/POE content if you decide to make it, anyway. I'm not complaining and I'm not saying I'm not interested.
For some reason, I was never able to get into this game. I finished the first game a bit bored of it, and I tried to start the second 2 times, but I didn't get into the game. There is something about the combat that does not click with me, part of it I think that comes from not being too intuitive
Which I love in BG3 is its combat turnbased & which stop me to try BG1, BG2 after finish BG3 is its tatic realtime, specially pausing which the same with POE. My big problem is not real-time tatic system but the pause because I love Blades of the Shogun, Desperados III a lot so I guess pausing in the middle of battle make me feel something broken & so rush that make u have to pause to deal things. In my opinion, instead of pausing why not make it turnbased because it's no different to me. Gladly POE has turnbased mod & I may try it in future with that
For plot its better to play PoE 1 first. There are some spoilers if you play them in reverse. For me personally, I don't care about spoilers, so it wouldn't matter to me. Pillars 2 has the stronger tactical system, so that is the game I want to talk about.
I really wanted to love these, but I hated the realtime combat. It feels way less impactful imo. Everything happens so quick and the pause/play thing isn't fun for me
This game have the option to play for turns, i dont use It because after play P1 its feel more slow for me and the mage Is less powerfull dealingn with big groups of enemys.
@@tamarindo709 ah I see. I only tried the first one and figured the second would be the same. Do you know of any good videos that teach a good way to work the combat?
There's also a slider, half arc, under the pause & fast mode buttons. Far left for very slow, far right for very fast. Default setting is in the middle, which is still too fast. You need to move the slider far left, which you're NOT doing.
Pillars of Eternity was overly ambitious and tried too hard and forgot that at the end of the day, it's just explore some areas, find a challenge, solve a puzzle, and kill some stuff. Too much baggage surrounding a world that I have yet to care about was really off-putting and challenging to get into, that coupled with so much exposition and telling me about the world rather than showing me the world made it tedious and ultimately boring. BG3 does a great job of easing new players into being simply concerned with what's currently happening and then slowly showing the player the world they've crafted (even for those who are intimately familiar with Faerun) that it was superbly enjoyable. And Pillars of Eternity hasn't lifted itself off from what BG2 was doing almost two decades ago where as BG3 redefines the genre. So yah, great world, lots of world building... nobody is going to care if the barrier to entry is reading walls of text with inaccessible gameplay and crap systems that are two decades old.
Dude, great vid, even though ive had this game since release i haven't given it a fair shake. I tried to engage EVERY encounter like the looters for intance and kept lowering the difficulty which frustrated me. Now i see better how to approach engagements. Also i didn't know about the A.I. tab. It reminds me of the gambit system in FFXII and thats a great thing. Reinstalling as I type. Thanks. Also subbed.
I personally liked PoE MUCH more than PoE2, but bg3 was awful.. It looks pretty, but its boring, and shallow. Pilars of Eternity > PoE2 > BG3 PoE2 had a pretty bad stoey, it was short, and they simplified a bit too much.. and like BG3, reduced the party size! The one improvement, was dual classing.. But they mixed all the casters spells, and it was pointless anyway
How can you recommend Dead fire to someone who hasn't played the first game? It's not like it's a bad game, deadfire is just better and I'd actually argue the atmosphere/world is better in the first game. If you enjoyed bg3 play poe1 and 2 but don't listen to this guy and play 2 then 1 because I promise you will want more and you will end up playing the first game anyway.
"You want to avoid this fight, as it's really difficult at your current level." It sounds like you just aren't as good as me (I'm playing on the second easiest difficulty)
Never played BG3 because it's not on game pass .. but this POE game is and after watching 40mins of this video I noticed it took that long to get to the game. I don't know if I want to try it now lol... Way too much to set up and understand. But it's free so I'll try it when I have a whole day.😂
I have played this game a lot and I always struggled during the early game fights, especially the first raiders fight, the one with the dragon and the fight with the imps and the explosive barrels. Somehow i never thought about sneaking past fights.
I hear we have different things we feel is important for a cRPG. For me the combat system is not that important and I often play in narrative mode on cRPGs. What I am far more interested in is story and companions.
I tried this in turn-based mode and was very disappointed. It literally was an after-thought and it shows. Maybe I'll give it a try in rtwp, even though I never could get into that style of play.
Rtwp is actually really well done in this game. I was the same, but once it clicked with me, I started to prefer it over turn based. It’s also a lot more difficult than turn based, so I can see that being a bit of a turn off.
I have not been convinced from this video. My main reasoning why I found a little bit of interest in the game, is because you said the combat was crazy good. But all you did in this guide was complete some quests that take either 3 seconds total or maximum 5 like the guy in the prison, while also avoiding every single combat scenario with a press of a button. And you still managed to level up to level 5 iirc... I get that this is just the starting zone in a 200+ hours game, but other than the fact there are firearms and good promises, nothing about this game piqued my interest. Can anyone point me to a more in depth show or guide to the mechanics of the game? Spoiler free would be best, but if as long as it's not like a whole playthrough worth of spoilers I'm fine with anything I'll be reading the link given in the pinned comments, but a visual example of stuff would be great
Ok nvm. Kept watching some more content of this game, and I've realized that what I wanted was a game review, not a guide. What got me confused is that you mixed teaching the mechanics/math/gameplay etc. with talking about the game itself
Your arguments are kinda cheesed bs. Drow alone have a ton of culture and maybe you just dont know enough, cause your points are asinine to somone who knows alot about the forgotten realms setting. Calling bg3 a marvel movie you can play is the goofiest thing Ive heard about it. Its wierd I love crpgs but you make me not wanna even try this game, due to your funky commentary.
I think i got 2/3 into the game and sadly got bored of trivial combat encounters. Maybe I was supposed to just beeline to the end of the game instead of exploring everything, but it just feels wrong. Also, the ship combat and management was so bad 😢
I started playing this for free on psn after i got done with bg3. I was at the point where it started opening up and the randomly took it off of psn for free. I was so mad lol
BG3 is a political agenda made as a game. It's unbelievable how blind people have become to the kind of things the game promotes and tries to normalize.
That's not a flaw. I hate it when I reach max level just before the final fight; give me an opprotunity to actually use my max level builds! Besides, level progression isn't the only kind of progression. Even after max level, there is lots of interesting loot you can acquire to further build your character. Loot is very impactful in Deadfire.
man... I played this game everyday for hundreds of hours back then. My top 10 game of all time for sure. Hopefully Josh Sawyer gets his 100 mil for Pillars 3
Actually PoE1&2 have much more in common with BG1&2 than BG3. I finished PoE1 three times and PoE2 once, maybe this is the time to install it again? I think they have AMAZING world building, very rich. Even while playing PoE1 it feels like established franchise with many previous installments. Also in PoE1 there is my favourite companion of all rpgs - Durance, kinda sad he is not present in PoE2. While PoE2 is overall better game than the first one there is something special in PoE1 and I like it more.
The thing that's held me back from trying Pillars of Eternity is RTwP. Combat is the worst aspect of every game I've played that has it. And so many great games have it: KOTR, Dragon Age Origins, BG 1 & 2, Pathfinder Kingmaker. All of them are great games, but I feel like I only put up with the combat because the rest of the rpg elements are so strong. I've realized that maybe I don't love CRPGs because they're CRPGs, but rather in spite of the genre. It really felt like a Eureka moment when I was playing Divinity: Original Sin 2 and realized I had found a game that kept a lot of the charm and depth of TTRPGs while still being a fun video game (mechanically). I've been sitting on Wrath of the Righteous for a year now and haven't played it yet because, while I remember how much I enjoyed the role-playing aspects of Kingmaker, I also remember how much of a pain in the ass it was to learn Pathfinder and manage builds for 6 party members all in service of an unsatisfying combat system. Forgotten Realms isn't my favorite setting, and 5e isn't the best system, but it's so familiar to me that BG3 avoided most of the aforementioned hurdles. Throw in well-designed turn-based combat instead of RTwP and BG3 ended up being one of my favorite RPGs of any sub-genre. I just don't know that I can enjoy any CRPG that isn't turn-based to the same extent, and that's unfortunately most of them.
I like POE for the combat, it's pretty good as long as difficulty is high enough. The problem RTwP is that it's super boring for easy combat cause you don't have anything to do. But when battles are challenging it does have a strategic depth
You do know you could opt for turn base combat, so if you don't like RTwP, go with turn base. On top of RTwP, there's a speed slider as well. I abhor turn base, it takes forever for 1 fight. All my fights with trash mobs are done in under 30 seconds.
This is also one of my favorites my only complaint of it was that it was too short. I wanted more. If you just go through the main story its so short ; ;. The graphics and gameplay are so much fun. Wish they made a 3rd one instead of this new game coming out.
I don't know why I never get caught in these games, but I think it is because I think the weakest aspect is the companions. I lost interest about halfway or so. i did only play the first one though, and I do like exploration/world building. Maybe I will put this one in the backlog. :D RTWP is definitely a + for them, I personally find that meta knwoledge thing you mentioned with difficulty to really interfere there. Turnbased is so heavily affected by meta knowledge, that it becomes a gimmick when I play games with it.
Ha, I watched this last night and this morning I remembered it was the steam sale. Got the whole 1 and 2 with all DLC for about $25. Now I just have to finish my leisurely walk through Baldurs Gate 3. I'm over 300 hours of play time, and I've just completed the Iron Throne. I've had it since early access, so I've played at least 150 hours up to level 5 in maaany runs. I've set it back to a save 25 hours earlier because of a plot mistake that screwed a bunch of quests. But otherwise, beyond Gortash encounter (and killing the dragon so I could get the loot), I'm about 5000 experience from level 12, and I've completed no other quests from the lower city. Sometimes it is fun to just get so OP and stumble around the map hoping that someone picks a fight with you. As a paladin, we do at least try to keep up appearances.
Do you want more info on Deadfire? Check out this brilliant guide written by Thelee: gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/227477-pillars-of-eternity-ii-deadfire/faqs/76599
a bladurs gate game should be a real time battle, not x com BS, to break a powerful mage in real time is so satisfying... the most natural evolution for real time strategy game is real time with slo mo, like in aliens dark descent
Deadfire perfected RTwP. Loved everything about combat in this game.
But the story sucked - great gameplay with a lame main story. IMO
@@quincymims2580 you won’t find disagreement here. Main story and companion quests were absolute ass, I always just skip everything and play for the combat.
@@AB-xe9nkProfessor Avellone was on professional leave that semester.
The Pillars of Eternity series are my favorite CRPGs. Good show
Yeah being a Watcher Wizard is always one of my most classic immersions.
I always say this! Deadfire is also one of my all time favorites, and has one of the best class/multiclass systems ever. Incredible writing. Great art, stunning detail. So underrated.
I'd love it if you made content for the game. The current stuff on YT is very old or poorly researched
I second, please produce content! Im currently playing through on my Xbox Series S (about 40hrs in), and am getting ready to start a second playthru on my Macbook (so I can play while my gf wants to watch her reality shows lol).
The Venn Diagram overlap between "Aestus RPG subscriber" and "wants something to play after BG3" is probably so large that the diagram looks like one big circle instead of two 😅
Yes! Ended up bouncing off BG3 at release and sinking a ton of time into Deadfire instead. Finally got back into BG3 this last month and found your build and tier videos a world apart from the other stuff that gets put out. So pleased to see you give Deadfire its due praise.
If you didn’t already know, Josh Sawyer has a bunch of talks going into the design of the game and systems that are really enlightening.
Obsidian set a new standard in world building with Pillars of Eternity. It's incredibly deep and well crafted. Hell, it's so good, it makes reading the books you find compelling. I can't overstate how much I love exploring this game's world and learning its history.
Looking forward to seeing more broad CRPG content on this channel in the future, Aestus! The tactical depth from your BG3 videos has really peaked my interest in the genre.
piqued
This game is GREAT - I played it several times and I'd say this and Wasteland 3 are probably the most modern 10/10 cRPGs other than BG3. Yeah, none of them have the same production value, but they have good enough production values, great writting, player agency, etc.
Great works of art transcend their production value. The PoE series is a modern classic.
@@Aestus_RPG Oh yeah, my point was from the perspective of a newcomer who just played BG3, so expecting the same production values could lead to frustration :)
Definately! I wasn't trying to disagree with you, just add to what you were saying.
No they are not good enough. And this is reason why they sell so poorlly
@@Martin-nc7jg Sell poorly? Are you a troll or just not the sharpest tool in the box?
Those are not AAA games. They sold really well and over a long period of time to the niche they were made for. AA, story focused, great writing cRPGs with as much production values as th reasonable investments allow.
BG3 is an anomaly. cRPG was not a mainstream genre until really recently.
After hearing you gush about your favorite games in your QnA video I have definitely had an interest in trying this one out! it's also on sale right now so I'll 100% be grabbing it :]
this is one of the few fantasy games that actually has !CULTURE!
World building feels like a dying art for so many contemporary writers.
The fanstasy of this game is not appealing. This world is unbearable, well developed or not
@@dirtydard4870 Unbearable? How so?
@@BoinkadelicJones The characters do not resemble real people . Their positions are not believable. Every choice of personal characteristics is filtered through an antihuman ideological framework without any consideration for the coherency of the world.
I liked the first game bit, but this one jumps the shark.
@@dirtydard4870 could you elaborate a bit with an example or two? The gods are selfish and belittle kithfolk, but that is also similar to Greek mythos.
Loving your pillars content mate. It's my favourite series of all time. Just doing my second playthrough now on deadfire with a Pure priest(Berath) RPGDivision build. This will be my first playthrough since 2018 mate. Love this game. Thanks for the content bro!
No way! Deadfire is my favourite CRPG too :D glad you give the series some time in the spotlight.
Why not make some more guides for Pillars 2? Like best classes and skills for companions, best items etc? Would be usefull I'm sure. I need to replay Pillars 2 myself, as it has been a while and I don't remember all that much at this point.
Yes!
I played the first Pillars of Eternity and loved it.
Fantastic world building and the overall story/themes were fantastic.
But for some reason, i never got around to playing Deadfire . . . I need to remedy that!
I also love Deadfire. Thank you for making this guide!
Always been a fan of Pillars! I backed the first one on kickstarter back in the day
Pillars of Eternity is in my top 10. It’s my most played game on switch. I just started dead fire because I didn’t have a PC until recently and I’m so exited to get into it!
And I just started a few days ago. Perfect timing. Monks ftw! And oh playing this game in auto perfecting my script system and seeing it as it works out is so satisfying.
Well done. This game is a masterpiece. I pray for POE3.
This is an underrated classic here’s to hoping avowed is everything we want it to be
Aestus, no joke just finished checking out Amon Amarth's 'somewhat' recent song "Saxons and Vikings" and I thought about your channel, several months after I asked if you would be doing Deadfire content and 19 hours after it drops here I see it after specifically searching for your channel. Almost ghostly in a way, lets get after it guys! Lavaru bion sik!!!!
Pillars feels like a work of literature with gameplay.... and with good gameplay! the writing on this game is insane
"streets ahead" I see you are a comunity fan as well hahah
Great video btw
POE brought us the classic crpg format back, i will always be thankful for that alone. Furthermore, POE1 and the dlc despite treading too closely to the bg1&2 formula, have really heartbreaking stories and amazing characters to discover. While a lot of time i was cringing in bg3, too effing woke, i never once did with poe, still have my save, maybe i should import it.
I prefer the first game than the second just because the world of the first game is so mysterious and dark.
Pillars of Eternity 1 and PlaneScape Torment are my favorites.
Perfect timing video for me!
I downloaded the games again and will do a new run for POE 1 and 2. It was ages since I played.
However I have been thinking in the past few days since first watching this video, of why I like BG3 so much. While I agree with you about story and setting, for me I think it is the incredible systems in BG3, both in and out of combat. One example of this is the throwing mechanic. In many games you can use throwing weapons in combat, but in BG3 they built a whole system where you can throw lots of other things using the same mechanic, like potions. Potions also create a cloud when broken. You can then use this system in so many ways in combat, creating tactical depth. This is especially true when playing solo, where you really need to use all these tactics to make it. Anyway I look forward to some POE1 and 2 runs. I just need to remember how it worked :)
Try divinity 2 as well. The combat there is more fun than bg3 for me. The interaction between spells, environment and some elements is soooo good.
Tried POE once and didnt love it but since I saw this video I am now about 10hrs into POE and am gonna play deadfire right after. So far am loving the original this time around and am excited to play 2 afterwards.
If you hate grinding for money, being a weakling, you could edit your stats & money. Not talking about the console commands, that for noobs. I'm talking about manually editing the memory addresses for anything in the game, stats, money, items. Can't find the stats in 2, just the money, but in 1, my wiz was 1 shooting everything at level 1 bc he had 99 stats in everything.
I decided to give this game a second chance after watching this! Played it one time but got overwhelmed by RTwP, so I ended up dropping it as I looked for CRPG games.
Decided to replay this game with all the DLC's after dropping it on release years ago. Would 100% recommend to RPG fan
Regarding difficulty, the main thing to mention is that the difficulty scales poorly ie. the game is much easier as you level. POTD makes Gorecci Street and the digsite in particular very hard, as is the boarding combat with Beggar Winfrith. Once you have arrived in Neketaka, however, I would consider it to be the best difficulty setting.
Yes, thank you. This is correct.
100% Goreccu Street was immensely difficult and it almost had me dialing difficulty back, but as you said, once you hit Neketaka it feels more realized.
I would love to see owlcat, obsidian and larians crpg take on world of darkness or cyberpunk one day.
I had no idea Avowed was linked to PoE, I tried playing PoE back in the day but I couldn’t get into the real time with pause, I love proper turn based games
Pillars 2 is my personal favorite CRPG of recent memory, followed by Pathfinder WOR.
I would play it if it had full voice acting. I find it hard to understand just by reading, cause it's just the way I learn. I also get a bit of a headache reading for long periods of time. Hearing/reading at same time is a massive boost. This is why I enjoy Larian games.
Its fully voice acted except for 1 convo added post release.
@@Aestus_RPG oh the 2nd one is fully voiced? I played first only and it wasn't fully voiced.
@@Masked_Official Yes, Deadfire is pretty much fully voiced. Cast from Critical Roll do many of the voices.
I tried to get into this game once, but when I got on the ship and the open world it was just way too much and it overwhelmed me. I went straight to a big capital city (where you can recruit a paladin) and there were SO many screens of the city and dozens of people to talk to on each screen, with quests, and all kinds of stuff. Just too much for me.
So back to Pac Man, Space Invaders, Q-bert then????? Just 1 screen. Or is that still too much, so maybe a text based game, like BBS (Bulletin Board System) that we had in the 90's.
Pillars 2 (and 1) are vastly more BG than BG3.
I'm considering giving it a go. Should I start with 1 or should I skip it?
I played countless runs of Dragon Age Origins and BG3 but no other game like them.
Starting with PoE1 is better, especially if you care about spoilers. But Deadfire is a better game imo. It's up to you.
Play the first one as well.
I heard Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous was the premier RPG to play after BG3? 🤔 That game was said to be better than BG3 not Pillars of Eternity.
@chika4275 Wrath of the Righteous is a great game, but a step below the Pillars games imo.
I think BG3 is objectively a better game -- but Deadfire is still my favorite. :)
That's not what objectively means
@@Ebenezer563 I actually think there are objective measures on which games can be better than other games, just as there are objective measures on which movies can be better than other movies, etc -- and it is possible to enjoy the objectively worse things more than you enjoy the objectively better ones. Games (and movies) are not "better" simply by virtue of the amount of enjoyment they bestow upon their audiences.
@@danieljohnson270 Really! That is interesting! I've never been able to convince myself that art is wholly subjective, but I've never thought about it enough to explain where the objectivity is. Feel free to send me an essay explaining your view, I will read it.
@@Ebenezer563 He knows what objectivity means.
@@danieljohnson270 yes there are objective measures, e.g. performance. A game running at 60fps performs objectively better than one running at 20fps. From that, you can say the performance is objectively better. You can't say the game is objectively better because there are loads of other factors, many of which will not be objective.
How can BG3 be objectively better when the gameplay - the most important factor for many people - is fundamentally different? You can't argue that either gameplay system is objectively better since it will come down to individual preferences. You could argue that one system is objectively more tactical, but whether or not that's a good thing is an opinion. Some people prefer less tactical gameplay.
The fact that you hold the opinion that game B is better proves that game A is not objectively better.
I liked Deadfire to a degree (and without a doubt a lot more than the first POE, which was straightup disappointing for me), but i can't really agree with the sentiment of it having the best combat in the genre.
Regardless of taking as reference its original RTWP version or its turn-based variation added later, they have a list of shortcomings too extensive to claim that tile.
I DO think they used to have the prettiest production value in the genre before BG3 came a thing, though. Some of the scenarios were stunning. Oh, and their multiclass system is among the best I've ever seen on a computer game of this genre. Definitely better than Pathfinder and D&D with their "piecemeal" mess.
I'm also not exceedingly in love with the setting, if I have to be completely honest. They tried so hard to "move away from some fantasy stereotypes" only to replace them with not-particularly-better ones.
P.S. I'll gladly watch more Deadfire/POE content if you decide to make it, anyway. I'm not complaining and I'm not saying I'm not interested.
Do you want to discuss it? What shortcomings do you have in mind?
I got bored with BG3 at level 6. I like combat not cut scenes. There is no shortage of cut scenes in BG3. Drags the game out.
For some reason, I was never able to get into this game.
I finished the first game a bit bored of it, and I tried to start the second 2 times, but I didn't get into the game.
There is something about the combat that does not click with me, part of it I think that comes from not being too intuitive
Which I love in BG3 is its combat turnbased & which stop me to try BG1, BG2 after finish BG3 is its tatic realtime, specially pausing which the same with POE. My big problem is not real-time tatic system but the pause because I love Blades of the Shogun, Desperados III a lot so I guess pausing in the middle of battle make me feel something broken & so rush that make u have to pause to deal things. In my opinion, instead of pausing why not make it turnbased because it's no different to me. Gladly POE has turnbased mod & I may try it in future with that
sounds really interesting! do you feel strongly on playing the first pillars of eternity before this one, or no?
For plot its better to play PoE 1 first. There are some spoilers if you play them in reverse. For me personally, I don't care about spoilers, so it wouldn't matter to me. Pillars 2 has the stronger tactical system, so that is the game I want to talk about.
Decided to give this a shot after burning out on BG3. Pretty fun and steeply discounted right now on steam.
Thanks for making this. I was looking for something to play after Elden Ring and ended up picking this game. First ever CRPG
I've beaten this game multiple times and I had no idea there was a combat speed slider at the bottom...
I really wanted to love these, but I hated the realtime combat. It feels way less impactful imo. Everything happens so quick and the pause/play thing isn't fun for me
This game have the option to play for turns, i dont use It because after play P1 its feel more slow for me and the mage Is less powerfull dealingn with big groups of enemys.
@@tamarindo709 ah I see. I only tried the first one and figured the second would be the same.
Do you know of any good videos that teach a good way to work the combat?
There's also a slider, half arc, under the pause & fast mode buttons. Far left for very slow, far right for very fast. Default setting is in the middle, which is still too fast. You need to move the slider far left, which you're NOT doing.
thanks, gonna buy the game
All those games with the real time pause system I just couldn’t appreciate. If they’d been tactical turn based I would have loved them
Pillars of Eternity was overly ambitious and tried too hard and forgot that at the end of the day, it's just explore some areas, find a challenge, solve a puzzle, and kill some stuff. Too much baggage surrounding a world that I have yet to care about was really off-putting and challenging to get into, that coupled with so much exposition and telling me about the world rather than showing me the world made it tedious and ultimately boring. BG3 does a great job of easing new players into being simply concerned with what's currently happening and then slowly showing the player the world they've crafted (even for those who are intimately familiar with Faerun) that it was superbly enjoyable. And Pillars of Eternity hasn't lifted itself off from what BG2 was doing almost two decades ago where as BG3 redefines the genre. So yah, great world, lots of world building... nobody is going to care if the barrier to entry is reading walls of text with inaccessible gameplay and crap systems that are two decades old.
Dude, great vid, even though ive had this game since release i haven't given it a fair shake. I tried to engage EVERY encounter like the looters for intance and kept lowering the difficulty which frustrated me. Now i see better how to approach engagements. Also i didn't know about the A.I. tab. It reminds me of the gambit system in FFXII and thats a great thing. Reinstalling as I type. Thanks. Also subbed.
I personally liked PoE MUCH more than PoE2, but bg3 was awful.. It looks pretty, but its boring, and shallow.
Pilars of Eternity > PoE2 > BG3
PoE2 had a pretty bad stoey, it was short, and they simplified a bit too much.. and like BG3, reduced the party size! The one improvement, was dual classing.. But they mixed all the casters spells, and it was pointless anyway
How can you recommend Dead fire to someone who hasn't played the first game? It's not like it's a bad game, deadfire is just better and I'd actually argue the atmosphere/world is better in the first game.
If you enjoyed bg3 play poe1 and 2 but don't listen to this guy and play 2 then 1 because I promise you will want more and you will end up playing the first game anyway.
"You want to avoid this fight, as it's really difficult at your current level." It sounds like you just aren't as good as me (I'm playing on the second easiest difficulty)
Never played BG3 because it's not on game pass .. but this POE game is and after watching 40mins of this video I noticed it took that long to get to the game. I don't know if I want to try it now lol... Way too much to set up and understand. But it's free so I'll try it when I have a whole day.😂
Ooo Pillars of Eternity 2 is a good game!
I have played this game a lot and I always struggled during the early game fights, especially the first raiders fight, the one with the dragon and the fight with the imps and the explosive barrels. Somehow i never thought about sneaking past fights.
As someone that thinks BG2 is one of the greatest game of all time-BG3 is fairly overrated. The pacing & lack of exploration, really hold it back.
How did I miss this?!
I'd love to see some build guides for this one! (Or even a playthrough)
I hear we have different things we feel is important for a cRPG. For me the combat system is not that important and I often play in narrative mode on cRPGs. What I am far more interested in is story and companions.
It is amazing game but too complicated for me, playing requires to have a uni degree
I tried this in turn-based mode and was very disappointed. It literally was an after-thought and it shows. Maybe I'll give it a try in rtwp, even though I never could get into that style of play.
Rtwp is actually really well done in this game. I was the same, but once it clicked with me, I started to prefer it over turn based. It’s also a lot more difficult than turn based, so I can see that being a bit of a turn off.
Reminds me of the original baldurs gate....love it
Just Loved both Pillars of Eternity. However Avowed is not appelling to me at all...not the same style.
I'm hyped for it! I'm excited to see more from the IP, and the trailers have been juicy!
Agree - weightless combat has it looking like a Skyrim mod.
Hope it isn't just a waste of the IP.
I still consider the Beast of Winter to be the best DLC ever made. I just wish we had Durance along for the ride.
Would you consider a full let's play or maybe a Seer full build guide? Thanks!
Great guide! Do you have the rest of your seer build written out somewhere?
Wow I thought the Armor versus damage type was in addition to armor rating, not weak to. Doh.
POE is better than BG3 tbh. I know it’s a tough sell to people, but there is much more variance with build than BG3.
I actually liked the first one more than Deadfire. Still a good game though.
Thank God POE is still getting love.
Deadfire is the GOAT
I tried it but got tired of using my mouse, I really cant go back and not use a controller
I have not been convinced from this video.
My main reasoning why I found a little bit of interest in the game, is because you said the combat was crazy good. But all you did in this guide was complete some quests that take either 3 seconds total or maximum 5 like the guy in the prison, while also avoiding every single combat scenario with a press of a button. And you still managed to level up to level 5 iirc...
I get that this is just the starting zone in a 200+ hours game, but other than the fact there are firearms and good promises, nothing about this game piqued my interest.
Can anyone point me to a more in depth show or guide to the mechanics of the game? Spoiler free would be best, but if as long as it's not like a whole playthrough worth of spoilers I'm fine with anything
I'll be reading the link given in the pinned comments, but a visual example of stuff would be great
Ok nvm. Kept watching some more content of this game, and I've realized that what I wanted was a game review, not a guide.
What got me confused is that you mixed teaching the mechanics/math/gameplay etc. with talking about the game itself
thx for the guide . just one thing can u give us the main character build guide
So much better than bg3. Same for Pathfinder and bg2. ;)
Your arguments are kinda cheesed bs. Drow alone have a ton of culture and maybe you just dont know enough, cause your points are asinine to somone who knows alot about the forgotten realms setting. Calling bg3 a marvel movie you can play is the goofiest thing Ive heard about it. Its wierd I love crpgs but you make me not wanna even try this game, due to your funky commentary.
Take it easy friend! Its just video games :D
I think i got 2/3 into the game and sadly got bored of trivial combat encounters. Maybe I was supposed to just beeline to the end of the game instead of exploring everything, but it just feels wrong. Also, the ship combat and management was so bad 😢
I started playing this for free on psn after i got done with bg3. I was at the point where it started opening up and the randomly took it off of psn for free. I was so mad lol
I played Deadfire and loved it, but i'm wondering if I should go back and play the first one for context before I play Deadfire again?
i like Deadfire a lot more but the first one is great as well and a better main story but so much reading.
BG3 is a political agenda made as a game. It's unbelievable how blind people have become to the kind of things the game promotes and tries to normalize.
Personally, I'd like to see more political and philosophical themes in my games. Smarter games are better games.
good game but the loadings screens kill the game to me, is ununceptable nowadays
I say only 2 Word: Ultimate Challenge 😅
I've played this one alot, very very good game!
I dont like Larian's quippy reddit tier writing
Downloaded it last night. Really excited to dive in
Love Pillars 2 but the leveling curve is really unbalanced. With the DLCs, you will reach full level with half the game to go.
That's not a flaw. I hate it when I reach max level just before the final fight; give me an opprotunity to actually use my max level builds! Besides, level progression isn't the only kind of progression. Even after max level, there is lots of interesting loot you can acquire to further build your character. Loot is very impactful in Deadfire.
I hear your point, it is a good one, but I lose some of the drive to play without level advancement
“It was on the cold and stormy night..”
man...
I played this game everyday for hundreds of hours back then. My top 10 game of all time for sure. Hopefully Josh Sawyer gets his 100 mil for Pillars 3
Actually PoE1&2 have much more in common with BG1&2 than BG3. I finished PoE1 three times and PoE2 once, maybe this is the time to install it again? I think they have AMAZING world building, very rich. Even while playing PoE1 it feels like established franchise with many previous installments. Also in PoE1 there is my favourite companion of all rpgs - Durance, kinda sad he is not present in PoE2. While PoE2 is overall better game than the first one there is something special in PoE1 and I like it more.
The thing that's held me back from trying Pillars of Eternity is RTwP. Combat is the worst aspect of every game I've played that has it. And so many great games have it: KOTR, Dragon Age Origins, BG 1 & 2, Pathfinder Kingmaker. All of them are great games, but I feel like I only put up with the combat because the rest of the rpg elements are so strong.
I've realized that maybe I don't love CRPGs because they're CRPGs, but rather in spite of the genre. It really felt like a Eureka moment when I was playing Divinity: Original Sin 2 and realized I had found a game that kept a lot of the charm and depth of TTRPGs while still being a fun video game (mechanically). I've been sitting on Wrath of the Righteous for a year now and haven't played it yet because, while I remember how much I enjoyed the role-playing aspects of Kingmaker, I also remember how much of a pain in the ass it was to learn Pathfinder and manage builds for 6 party members all in service of an unsatisfying combat system.
Forgotten Realms isn't my favorite setting, and 5e isn't the best system, but it's so familiar to me that BG3 avoided most of the aforementioned hurdles. Throw in well-designed turn-based combat instead of RTwP and BG3 ended up being one of my favorite RPGs of any sub-genre. I just don't know that I can enjoy any CRPG that isn't turn-based to the same extent, and that's unfortunately most of them.
I like POE for the combat, it's pretty good as long as difficulty is high enough. The problem RTwP is that it's super boring for easy combat cause you don't have anything to do. But when battles are challenging it does have a strategic depth
You do know you could opt for turn base combat, so if you don't like RTwP, go with turn base. On top of RTwP, there's a speed slider as well. I abhor turn base, it takes forever for 1 fight. All my fights with trash mobs are done in under 30 seconds.
This is also one of my favorites my only complaint of it was that it was too short. I wanted more. If you just go through the main story its so short ; ;. The graphics and gameplay are so much fun. Wish they made a 3rd one instead of this new game coming out.
Try Pillars of eternity 1 as well.
I don't know why I never get caught in these games, but I think it is because I think the weakest aspect is the companions. I lost interest about halfway or so. i did only play the first one though, and I do like exploration/world building. Maybe I will put this one in the backlog. :D
RTWP is definitely a + for them, I personally find that meta knwoledge thing you mentioned with difficulty to really interfere there. Turnbased is so heavily affected by meta knowledge, that it becomes a gimmick when I play games with it.
Ha, I watched this last night and this morning I remembered it was the steam sale. Got the whole 1 and 2 with all DLC for about $25. Now I just have to finish my leisurely walk through Baldurs Gate 3. I'm over 300 hours of play time, and I've just completed the Iron Throne. I've had it since early access, so I've played at least 150 hours up to level 5 in maaany runs. I've set it back to a save 25 hours earlier because of a plot mistake that screwed a bunch of quests. But otherwise, beyond Gortash encounter (and killing the dragon so I could get the loot), I'm about 5000 experience from level 12, and I've completed no other quests from the lower city. Sometimes it is fun to just get so OP and stumble around the map hoping that someone picks a fight with you. As a paladin, we do at least try to keep up appearances.
do you like pathfinder and be covering that?
@@Fadelz I love Pathfinder! But I don't know if I'll cover it or not.