Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

The game itself is pretty good, but it is obnoxiously unstable. There's a bad memory leak that causes stutters every minute or so and somewhat consistent crashes after a few hours of play in a session. Combat is a little shallow, even at the higher difficulties, but serviceable. I'd generally recommend against the turn-based mode, as it makes even basic combat feel glacial in pace, and the number of trash fights really feels designed around quick real time with pause gameplay. Writing is solid, mildly thought provoking at times, and the broader politicking of the setting was pretty interesting, but the moment-to-moment dialogue and character writing generally felt a little flat. Overall, it would be a recommendation for people already invested in the genre if it were not for the technical issues, which are frankly inexcusable from an established company this far out from release. I'd looked around to see if there were any community fixes, and all of these technical issues have been around since release, so I would be shocked if they were ever fixed. If you go in knowing that, and you've got a higher tolerance for stuttering and crashing than I do, you'll probably enjoy it okay.

Arrogant gods order you around, jerk your chain, treat you like a peon. You chase a supposedly benevolent murder giant from island to island. Island exploration scatters the narrative to the winds. All your companions, except for Eder, act like annoying edgy starbucks Baristas. Oh, and they're all UGLY. Aloth is alright, too, I guess -- mostly because he doesn't say much. There's no plot urgency to this game. I don't mean that I want time constraints, no, what I mean is there's no pull. There's no motivation to know what's going on or what's going to happen. You're just getting jerked around by gods. The entire premise rests upon one god basically saying "I know why this is happening, but I'm not going to tell you, haha eat **** mortal. Chase me around while I murder everyone -- for the greater good, of course". Great, really fun experience. Quest NPCs are scattered all over the place (if you're trying to do bounties? be prepared to walk back and forth across cities for hours trying to remember what random corner or building they stand in, loading zone after loading zone after LOADING ZONE). It's dour, talky, and academic. I know CRPGs are supposed to be talky, but DAMN. …

meh

Great CRPG.

Underrated banger

good