This has been without a doubt one of the best RPG's I've played, especially after they added the turned based mode. It's such a shame this game didn't sell well.

I actually gotta say, Turn Based Mode made the game for me. It encouraged me to use my powers, instead of simply smacking the enemy till they die in a morass of characters.

Honestly I loved this game...  some of the criticism is fair but not enough for me to stop enjoying it, I'm in my 3rd playthrough right now...

The changes to make most things "per encounter" instead of rest is one of the best changes compare to Pillars 1. Makes things a lot less tedious. Though I agree that the best choice would had been something more in the middle.

I’m hoping for Tyranny 2 at some point.

Honestly, I never played it until after the new scenes were added so for me they felt natural and fine.

Your channel is honestly the most underrated review channel on youtube. You really put a lot of work into these scripts, and your dialogue really draws me as the viewer in. Keep up the excellent work man, because the quality and the passion is clearly there.

Even if Obsidian makes mistakes, I will respect them since the guys behind it are actually trying to make it a great as possible, and not nickle and dime you for something they don't care about. If EA had published this, you can bet that you would have to buy turn based, and those extra story scenes, but Obsidian actually cares about quality, they listen to the fans, so they really try. I hope being bought by Microsoft doesn't ruin them.

In addition to the points raised here, I always felt that POE 2 was marred by the fact that its main story quest (stop Eothas before he wrecks everything) and the central game-play innovation from the first game (explore the open world as a pseudo-pirate) were so entirely at odds with one another. The result was that POE 2 was never a game you could take as seriously  as it wanted to be taken.

I love the health and spell regen after each fight in this game. Makes it so much more approachable, and quicker to play, than the original. Was one of my favorite additions.

I genuinely love this game, my only upset is how long the load screens are

Loved every bit of Pillars. One of my favorite games of all time.

As a fan of the first game. Im really glad and happy about the improvements but also quite sad because of the many downsides where the devs got themself in. They had way toooo many ideas to put in the game but didnt throughly polish any of them.
Im glad that you pointed so much out that many of us players agree with and thanks for the hard work!

I really hope that they get to do PoE3 and that they keep Real Time With Pause. Hopefully the planned release of a console version will improve sale numbers to make it feasible.

I have actually bought the game following this review. And I haven't regret it once! Brilliant game.

I wish somehow they merged PoE 1 and 2 in one unique game. Having the amazing PoE 1 story and companions with the graphics, voice acting, effects and gameplay improvements of PoE 2.

This is a great and well put together critique, but I'll have to disagree with you on the resource management being a downgrade. I for one liked that change the most from PoE1 to deadfire, as the traditional DND spells/rest system just doesn't translate well into video games in my opinion. The player never knows how or when combat is coming, or even how many combat encounters are ahead before the next opportunity to rest. This uncertainty is amazing with the open ended nature of pen and paper, but feels awkward in a video game, since there are quite often little to no ways of circumwenting encounters, or simply retreating. This can and quite often does lead to the player feeling like they are punished for using their resources by circumstances they cannot foresee. The usual player gut reaction to this is being paranoid and avoiding using their interesting abilities at all. It's difficulty in a way that makes the game less boring, not more engaging.


By refreshing resources after every combat, the players are instead given a very clear frame to use their resources in. This makes them want to engage and want to spend their resources as opposed to constantly conserving them or looking for ways to not have to use them. The problem with the way the game did it is giving the players too many resources for each encounter, and not rethinking buffs, among many other issues. This makes it feel like fights are the same and very micro management heavy, even in places they shouldn't be.


So, TLDR:
The problem with the new resource system isn't the idea but the execution

I'm curious - given your great videos (and taste similar to mine) what is your top 5 cRPG's?

Correction...
The wheel (even in the base game I think) have been explained, that it has basically changed how the world works
Basically, before the wheel was put in place reincarnation happened, but hollowborn also happened.
After the wheel, if it is rremoved, will reincarnation cease completely. Aka no new generations will be born as all the souls will be trapped in the in between.

I bought this on release and had issues with bugs. So I waited and am now just actually going to jump into it haha!

I love real time with pause. There isnt enough out there.