Pros
• Incredibly well written with lots of nuance
  
• Companion dialogues and stat system is intriguing
  
• Character builds are highly customisable
  
  
  Cons
• Weak narrative that de-emphasises the players role
  
• Naval combat is underdeveloped
  
• Exploration feels too limited, and ends up just being hunts for encounters

The first Pillars of Eternity was an immense disappointment when I played it. The world building and overall story were interesting, yet the companions felt stilted and the narrative was continuously interrupted by kickstarter self inserts.

Deadfire was thus an incredibly welcome surprise. The graphics are slightly overhauled with additional lighting & spell effects. This is noticeable in the very first area where a rainbow dances over a waterfall concealing a cavern. And was further validated by the delicate animations that bring each character to vivid life, whether it be flexing their water shaping skills, or scratching an itch in an... unmentionable area. The landscapes themselves evoke the Carribean, but with just enough innovation to still feel exotic, with Adra taking the place of coral to form reefs and shoals. Whilst exotic fruits & berries form the basis of various local cuisines. These little hints of the fantastical were present in the first game as well, but with the unusual setting they are even more apparent, & create an environment of discovery.

As tropical as the environments are, the game doesn't shy away from more graphical effects in combat as well. Spells are the most gorgeous to see, with bright neon colours dancing about the screen, whilst insidious cloud effects partially obscure the combatants. Even the fighters are well realised as they steady themselves before a dash attack, & launch themselves on their enemies. Critical hits have a kill cam feature where the game momentarily slows down time, before zooming in on the action further. The slow down however was rather frustrating as the combat wouldn't flow as smoothly after, and the loss of framerates at such times was immensely frustrating.

At times when the action on screen was particularly frenetic, the UI certainly came to the fore. Most information is readily available and many of the pop up menus are contextual which is helpful. The game does highlight figures if you linger over them with the mouse and an information screen will also pop up giving general details such as resistances, current effects and a generalised statement of health.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1963618136
Narratively the game attempts to wear many hats, it wants to be a postcolonial deconstruction of colonial economics, a rollicking marine adventure ala Robert Louis Stevenson, by way of Pirates of Penzance and a high fantasy RPG that delves into existentialism, the nature of the divine & at times even ecological terrorism. This kaleidoscope of influences collide into a mess of genres and tropes. A cohesive theme is lost in favour of attempting to straddle various genres and their requisite themes. Whilst this slew of influences lends the game it's diversity it also lessons the impact of any particular message the game might have.

The faction quests form the backbone to the God's secular question, of whether humanity itself is able to overcome its differences and act in unison to confront a global crisis. Eothas, in the aspect of Gaun, is simply the progenitor of this crisis and Woedica who is the most antagonistic and cynical about the nature of the kith, seems to be the most vindicated by the results of your actions at the end of the game. This is largely due to the fact that the game offers no true resolution to the factions. There is no armistice, in fact it fails rather dismally, sometimes as a direct result of the players intervention.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1558504805
Gods, even the artificial gods of Eora, are clearly considered too much for the protagonist to handle. The game steers directly away from the power inherit within a protagonist to indicate, despite being a Watcher, that your abilities are mundane. This is done repeatedly; from tête-à-têtes with the 'Prevailing Powers That Be' to encounters with archmagi that reveal their superiority over the player character. Even the trials against gods take place as gauntlets to be overcome rather than climactic confrontations, which is all the more obvious in the DLC content. It's a realism that is surprising in such a game, and has been the source of many complaints, not least amongst them the inability to duel Eothas at the finale, which many felt robbed players of a final boss fight.

The combat in Deadfire is immense fun. Breaking away from min-maxing elements, leaves room for experimentation with builds. Many things are still the same, a dexterous wizard is viable but might (physical strength) is a positive boon as well, because it directly translates to the damage output of spells. Likewise unconventional melee builds are possible as well, with fighters being able to include intelligence as a stat for Defensive fighters due to its bonuses to AoE. As much as the game does allow for such unconventionality though on harder difficulties it still favours more traditional builds.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1962718990
With its nautical theme, it's unsurprising that the player is given a ship to steer about the sea. This is where factional alliances come into play. Depending on the colours you fly various ships will either ignore or attack you. Managing and outfitting your ship takes the place of usual keep management. In addition Deadfire also has you manage the crew for your ship. The larger the ships and the more crew you have, the more food and water they will require. The game also introduces morale, & preventing them from mutinying will require either victories at sea or more expensive rations, usually of an alcoholic nature. Yet it never really feels like it amounts to that much. The travel distances of the Deadfire Archipelago are so small as to make most of the rationing and strategical planning to be redundant, & by the late stages of the game, the ships are easy money sinks, since the loot has improved immeasurably making it easy to simply purchase up the rations required.

The other important aspects to ships is of course exploration. The ships crew gains experience in an additional levelling system, as they encounter new regions, sights & survive encounters. The islands themselves are marked on the map for you and a subquest encourages you to "colonise" the lands. However main quest locations are marked & can be sailed to directly without exploration. Since the islands are discrete landmasses, they don't offer a feeling of scale when adventuring. They inevitably end up feeling more like once off encounters rather than integrated parts of a world. As such the wonder of discovery is inevitably lost to a list of check marks, something that the game tries to prevent with its detailed and inventive locales but never quite achieves.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is overall an exceptional game, with sound combat, an incredible interfactional storyline, but is let down by some very serious issues, such as the lack of intriguing exploration, poorly developed ship combat & a story that places you in a passive role. It is however still one of the finest RPGs ever made, despite the passive role and weaknesses in the narrative but is held aloft by its own inventiveness & creativity

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