Pillars Of Eternity 2: Deadfire - The Re-Review

[00:06] What's going on everybody? Mortem here.

[00:08] This time bringing you my re-review of

[00:10] Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, which

[00:13] is a video I've been wanting to get

[00:14] around to for a while because of two

[00:17] reasons really. One, the quality of my

[00:20] original video, which was done before

[00:21] this was my full-time job all the way

[00:23] back in early 2021, as this is one of

[00:27] those games I've been playing basically

[00:28] since it launched. and got 100% of the

[00:31] achievements long before I started doing

[00:32] this full-time. And I'd like to think

[00:34] that somewhere in the meantime, I've

[00:36] gotten slightly less terrible at making

[00:38] videos. However, that's not the only

[00:40] reason I wanted to take another look at

[00:41] this via a video. The other reason, of

[00:43] course, being, as I'm sure many people

[00:45] at this point are aware, at least my

[00:46] regular viewers anyway, last year in

[00:48] 2025, I completed the ultimate, which is

[00:51] an extraordinarily difficult challenge

[00:54] associated with Deadfire that I was the

[00:56] 15th person to officially complete. That

[00:59] is because again it is extraordinarily

[01:01] difficult and at the time of my original

[01:02] review I had not done that though I did

[01:04] talk a little bit about it there and

[01:06] both of those reasons combined were a

[01:08] pretty good reason to make a thinly

[01:10] veiled excuse to play through the game

[01:11] again and talk a little bit about it and

[01:13] so let's do exactly that. Now Pillars of

[01:16] Eternity 2: Deadfire is an interesting

[01:18] game in the sense that I've never really

[01:20] considered it like my be all end all

[01:22] favorite of CRPGs. However, it's always

[01:25] kind of bounced around my top five to

[01:27] top 10 depending on my mood. The reason

[01:29] for that is while I enjoy the game for

[01:31] what it is, I do think there are CRPGs

[01:34] that do more mechanically, that do more

[01:36] story-wise and even gameplaywise. Even

[01:39] though I do think there is more depth to

[01:41] Pillars as a series than people give it

[01:43] credit for, the main draw for me has

[01:45] always been the lore and the world,

[01:46] which is why I made a bunch of videos

[01:48] about that in particular over the years,

[01:50] as it's by far the thing I was the most

[01:52] invested in. And yet at the same time,

[01:54] coming from the original game, I think

[01:56] Pillars 2 does a lot of leg work in

[01:59] terms of making the system uh just flow

[02:02] a lot better, a lot of more refined

[02:04] elements to it, like just something as

[02:05] simple as being able to retarget a spell

[02:07] you've already started casting, even

[02:09] more control over your companion AI, and

[02:11] just a million little details that can

[02:13] go unnoticed if you don't play the game

[02:15] a ton. But as the fact that this video

[02:17] is coming out so much later, even just

[02:19] that original video might tell you,

[02:21] Pillars of Eternity 2 is a game that's a

[02:23] bit of a slow burn. It comes at you over

[02:26] time the more you uh take time to think

[02:28] about it and absorb the story, even come

[02:31] back to it, play it again, come at

[02:33] things at a different angle and that

[02:34] kind of thing. It's just a game that has

[02:36] grown on me over the years even though

[02:38] I've always liked it. And a lot of that

[02:39] is again just down to those details that

[02:41] you might not necessarily appreciate on

[02:43] a first playthrough, but that really

[02:44] start to shine on replays especially.

[02:47] And so let's get on with the rest of the

[02:49] review and talk about all of it.

[02:51] Starting with first, of course, the

[02:52] technical state. How's this game

[02:54] running? I can report that this game is

[02:56] basically in the exact state that it was

[02:58] in when I left it last, which is that

[03:00] the main issue you're likely to run into

[03:02] is some stuttering, especially the

[03:04] longer your save file runs on. I've

[03:07] heard it is much worse over on consoles.

[03:09] I've never played it on console, PC

[03:11] channel after all. And I have on

[03:13] occasion seen people mentioning other

[03:16] problems like the occasional

[03:17] game-breaking bug or something, but

[03:19] again, the only issue I've experienced

[03:21] personally and by far the largest

[03:23] reported one is the stutters that pop

[03:25] up, especially in again the later parts

[03:27] of the game. And so, let's move on to

[03:30] difficulty. If you've watched a lot of

[03:32] my videos over the years, you may well

[03:34] have heard me refer to Pillars of

[03:36] Eternity to Dead Fire as both the

[03:38] easiest and hardest CRPG depending on

[03:41] your mood. But when the game first

[03:42] released, it was just easy. Some of that

[03:45] is because with uh relatively minimal

[03:48] knowledge, you can set up a decent AI in

[03:50] order to control your companions in the

[03:52] game's real time with pause combat. And

[03:54] then even on the higher difficulties,

[03:56] you can actually let it autoplay for the

[03:58] most part. and then there wasn't a ton

[03:59] of challenge to be had. And so taking in

[04:02] some of that feedback over the time this

[04:04] game was receiving active patches, they

[04:06] added quite a bit of difficulty both in

[04:08] the form of things like mega bosses and

[04:10] optional challenges known as Magrron's

[04:12] fires, which is where the ultimate

[04:14] challenge actually springs from. that

[04:16] was added post-release of course because

[04:18] while you do have your standard

[04:20] difficulty options basically story

[04:22] through the super hard mode which is

[04:24] supposed to be path of the damned but

[04:26] doesn't wind up being that difficult

[04:27] like I mentioned you also have a bunch

[04:29] of extra options like of course an iron

[04:31] man save file or expert mode which turns

[04:34] off some of the helper features etc you

[04:36] also have the optional Mrron's fires

[04:38] that were added fires are special

[04:40] challenges that alter the way some of

[04:42] the game mechanics work in order to make

[04:44] for a more challenging experience

[04:46] overall. Now, I'm not going to go

[04:47] through every one of these. I have

[04:49] videos where I have done that. Uh

[04:51] specifically talking about the ultimate

[04:52] challenge because the ultimate challenge

[04:54] is in fact to play with all of these on

[04:57] at the same time, which makes the game

[04:59] not literally impossible obviously, but

[05:01] extremely difficult. Just to throw a few

[05:03] out there so you kind of get a gist of

[05:05] what I'm talking about. Some of the more

[05:06] impactful ones are the Athyst Challenge,

[05:08] which gives you a strict deadline to

[05:10] beat the game by as time is passing

[05:12] while you're playing. Barath challenge,

[05:14] the god of death's trial for you, if you

[05:17] will, is to make sure that combat does

[05:19] not end when it is started and you have

[05:21] to finish it, which combined with the

[05:23] Iron Man mode is obviously not great.

[05:26] However, that actually opens up some

[05:28] interesting combos that make that mode

[05:30] possible. And so, while that might seem

[05:32] like a detriment at first, it actually

[05:33] is the ultimate thing that makes certain

[05:36] runs possible because most of the time

[05:38] in combat, a lot of your buffs and stuff

[05:40] are per encounter. So when combat ends,

[05:42] that stuff just falls off, which means

[05:44] you can't carry it from fight to fight.

[05:46] And then you can use that new mechanic

[05:48] of combat not dropping via this

[05:50] challenge to actually do some stuff you

[05:52] cannot do otherwise. And then of course

[05:54] the most difficult one by far is Hilish

[05:56] challenge, which gives you uh the orphan

[05:59] from the first game that you could

[06:00] potentially take into the second game,

[06:02] Vela. And she follows you around and if

[06:04] she dies, you lose and she dies to

[06:06] basically everything. So again, there's

[06:08] just all those optional challenges to

[06:09] make it more difficult. However, there

[06:11] are some options to make replays more

[06:14] interesting even beyond that in the form

[06:15] of Barath's blessings. Basically, every

[06:18] achievement for Deadfire is associated

[06:20] with a currency that you can then spend

[06:22] on bonuses to your next playthrough.

[06:25] This can be things like starting with

[06:26] the entire map revealed, extra starting

[06:28] cash, extra starting stats, and just all

[06:31] sorts of stuff to make replays a little

[06:33] bit of a smoother experience. I think

[06:35] that is fun overall, and it basically

[06:37] functions as the game's new game plus,

[06:38] if you want to think of it that way.

[06:40] Now, while not strictly speaking a

[06:42] difficulty option, another thing you

[06:43] have to pick right at the beginning of

[06:44] the game is actually turnbased or real

[06:47] time with pause. Now, I'm going to be

[06:49] real with you. Turn-based in Deadfire is

[06:52] not great. In fact, I would go so in

[06:54] fact, I would go so far as to say for me

[06:56] it's kind of unplayable. I really don't

[06:58] like it. Now, they did uh do an

[07:00] interesting thing, which is that they

[07:02] added turnbased mode to Pillars of

[07:05] Eternity 1 not all that long ago,

[07:06] earlier this year from the time of this

[07:08] recording, actually, where they

[07:09] addressed a lot of the criticism that

[07:11] turn-based mode received in Deadfire in

[07:13] that earlier game. So, in a weird twist

[07:15] of fate, the original game actually has

[07:17] a better turn-based mode now than the

[07:19] second one does. However, another change

[07:21] there is while in the first game now you

[07:23] can toggle it in a playthrough, you

[07:25] can't do that here without using uh

[07:28] console commands in order to do it. And

[07:30] you don't want to do that cuz it comes

[07:31] with the potential of corrupting your

[07:33] save file. This is because of the ways

[07:35] that uh turnbased mode can change how

[07:38] certain things are calculated and some

[07:39] of that stuff works. And so you pick it

[07:41] at the start of a playthrough and that's

[07:43] just what you're going to have to do for

[07:44] the rest of that playthrough unless you

[07:46] want to risk that save file corruption.

[07:48] Moving on a little bit though. Next up,

[07:49] let's talk about the world state. So,

[07:51] Pillars of Eternity 2: Dead Fire is a

[07:54] direct sequel from the original game. As

[07:56] far as the story is concerned, you play

[07:58] the same character from that original

[08:00] game, the Watcher of Cad Noa. And so,

[08:02] the game handles this in a couple of

[08:04] interesting ways. You can pick a preset

[08:07] history, which is basically a rough

[08:10] approximation of six different ways you

[08:12] could have played through the original

[08:13] game. that being making every mistake

[08:15] possible, doing everything pretty well,

[08:18] kind of being more judicious about it,

[08:20] etc. Now, the other option is, of

[08:22] course, to import your save file from

[08:25] the original game. If you've played

[08:26] through it and have an in-game save

[08:28] file, you can just use that as your

[08:29] history. However, there is a third

[08:31] option that is a little more obscure.

[08:34] I've noticed that a lot of people tend

[08:36] to miss it, which is just that you can

[08:38] make your own history. And what this

[08:40] means is that you can actually go to the

[08:42] main menu of Deadfire and go into the

[08:45] options there and there will be an

[08:46] option to effectively create a pillars

[08:49] one save file that gets added to the

[08:50] menu there as a history meaning that you

[08:53] can just select it. So this means if you

[08:55] have specific choices and you know what

[08:57] they affect and you want to carry them

[08:58] forward into Deadfire, you can

[09:01] absolutely do so without playing through

[09:03] the first game. So, in that way, you can

[09:05] just jump straight into the second one

[09:07] and the stuff you want to see if that's

[09:08] something you're trying to do. Though, I

[09:10] certainly would recommend playing the

[09:12] first game at least once. Now, in case

[09:14] you're wondering about what gets carried

[09:15] forward, there's a lot of different

[09:17] stuff. So, I would say that some of the

[09:19] more impactful things are basically

[09:20] which god you decided to side with and

[09:23] if you actually followed through on that

[09:25] deal. So, in the original game, in order

[09:27] to get to the end game, you need to make

[09:28] a deal with one of the gods. You have a

[09:30] few different options there and you can

[09:32] also break that deal once you get to the

[09:34] actual endgame. Who you sided with and

[09:36] if you kept your end of the bargain is

[09:38] one of the more impactful choices you

[09:40] can make as it carries forward into the

[09:42] next game. But there's also all sorts of

[09:44] stuff that gets referenced mostly in

[09:46] passing and dialogue here and there. And

[09:48] of course whether or not you kept the

[09:49] companions alive. They can absolutely

[09:52] die in the original game and they could

[09:53] not be carried forward into the second

[09:55] one. And so if one of the companions

[09:56] that would normally be in the second

[09:58] game didn't survive your first game save

[10:00] file, then they are just gone. So keep

[10:02] that in mind as you approach this game,

[10:04] I suppose. But then one of my favorite

[10:06] parts of all of Pillars of Eternity 2 is

[10:09] its character creation. So let's talk a

[10:12] little bit about it. This is probably

[10:14] when you'll notice that they made some

[10:15] big changes from the system in the

[10:17] original game to the second one. And

[10:18] that is most immediately felt by the

[10:21] fact that you can multiclass in this

[10:23] one. This is also a decision you have to

[10:25] make as soon as you start with that

[10:27] character because it affects progression

[10:29] in a really integral way. For instance,

[10:31] if you multiclass, you will never get

[10:33] the last two tiers of abilities from

[10:35] either of the individual classes that

[10:37] your multiclass is made of. However,

[10:40] each individual class has also been

[10:42] given subclasses. And one of my favorite

[10:44] little well-known details is that the

[10:46] game will actually give you a unique

[10:48] class name based on every possible

[10:50] combination of multiclassing you could

[10:52] do, which is just a really fun little

[10:54] thing. Even beyond that stuff that's

[10:56] more immediately obvious, they also made

[10:58] a lot of changes to how leveling up

[10:59] works in general. For starters, you can

[11:02] preview the ability trees now, which is

[11:04] nice. But essentially, every level

[11:06] you're going to get either one or two

[11:07] abilities to put into those ability

[11:09] trees. And while some things like

[11:11] passives overlap and multiclassing often

[11:14] forces you to choose between one tree or

[11:16] another per level as you uh sometimes

[11:18] only get one point and then other levels

[11:20] you'll get two or have to pick between

[11:22] or be able to put one into both etc.

[11:24] That's just a little bit different from

[11:26] how pillars one handled things. But

[11:28] realistically the fun here is of course

[11:31] in the builds you can make. And while

[11:33] yes, some of these classes are

[11:34] technically speaking a little better

[11:36] than others based on potential build

[11:38] combos, balancing, all that usual stuff,

[11:41] I'll say this. If you're not playing on

[11:43] the highest difficulty with some of

[11:45] Mrron's fires enabled, it's really not

[11:47] that big of a deal. And I would

[11:49] recommend you play the thing that sounds

[11:50] the most fun to you. With Cipher and

[11:53] Chanter really being the kind of things

[11:54] that are unique to the Pillars games in

[11:57] particular, the rest being more or less

[11:58] what you would expect them to be in

[12:00] other fantasy titles. Chanters work by

[12:03] building up their chants every so often

[12:05] in real time with pause or per turn and

[12:07] turnbased. And once they've chanted

[12:09] enough phrases, which have their own

[12:10] individual effects, they can then spend

[12:12] those chanted phrases on abilities that

[12:14] they can cast in a sort of variation of

[12:16] a bard, but they're much more fun than

[12:18] that if you get into them. Cipher is all

[12:21] about mental and soul energy, which

[12:23] matches the watcher nature of your

[12:25] character very well, and we'll get to

[12:26] that in a moment. and they have a bunch

[12:28] of very unique abilities that play off

[12:30] of like positioning and targeting in

[12:33] ways that can be uh fun to mess around

[12:35] with. Now, from here, rather than get

[12:37] too in-depth for a video like this, I

[12:39] instead want to give you a few of my

[12:41] favorites. Now, some of the stuff I love

[12:43] the most isn't even like mechanically

[12:46] superior to a lot of other things.

[12:48] They're just really fun. Like, one of my

[12:49] favorite multiclasses is druid and

[12:52] ranger, which is called a beastmaster.

[12:54] And then with Druid, you can lean into

[12:56] their shape-shifting and then of course

[12:58] have your uh ranger pet from being a

[13:00] ranger. And that's like a really fun

[13:02] combo that has a sort of natural synergy

[13:04] to it, especially for the ranger

[13:06] abilities that require your pet to be in

[13:08] a certain proximity, which the

[13:10] shape-shifting leans into. And then even

[13:12] then, you can still fall back on the

[13:14] druids like AoE's and control spells.

[13:16] For the ultimate, a really popular uh

[13:18] way to do that is blood mage and priest

[13:21] of SCE. Now, I want to mention this in

[13:24] particular because this combo works

[13:26] specifically because of some of the

[13:28] challenges that are enabled, which is

[13:29] the other side of things. The minmaxing

[13:31] is there if you want it to be, and it is

[13:34] possible to build a character around

[13:35] certain mechanics you want to take

[13:37] advantage of. Blood mage is able to uh

[13:39] basically spend their health in order to

[13:41] recoup class resources, which in

[13:43] combination with a buff called

[13:46] brilliant, which helps you do the same

[13:47] thing. And the priest of Skain's uh

[13:49] uncanny ability to get the spells you

[13:51] need at the exact levels you need them

[13:53] by default makes for an incredibly

[13:55] potent combo where combat doesn't end

[13:58] until you win. And with Vodica's

[14:00] challenge, recouping your class

[14:02] resources is much more difficult as it

[14:04] becomes per rest as opposed to most of

[14:06] it being per encounter. But then to give

[14:08] you yet another option, uh one of the

[14:10] ways I the way I approached this most

[14:12] recent playthrough, I played a death

[14:14] godlike. Godlikes are basically people

[14:16] who have been blessed with the

[14:17] appearance of the gods, which manifests

[14:19] as what is often referred to as a chime

[14:22] inside of them, but also gives them the

[14:23] outward appearance of the god they are

[14:26] blessed by, let's call it. So, this

[14:28] death godlike has a connection to Barth,

[14:31] the god of death, cycles, doorways, etc.

[14:34] And so, through the first game, you're

[14:36] going to inevitably meet that god as

[14:38] part of the main story. And while I

[14:40] wanted to play through as a cipher, I

[14:42] figured I would rope that into the

[14:44] details of the second game where I

[14:45] decided that after meeting Barth

[14:48] accepting her deal to get to the endgame

[14:49] of the original game, she also decided

[14:52] to grant you the power of a priest of

[14:54] Barth as the priest in this game of

[14:55] course worship their associated gods

[14:57] with this one having a slightly more

[14:59] complicated relationship with Barth. And

[15:01] so that was a fun sort of role-play

[15:03] centered multiclass that is also pretty

[15:05] fun to play because priest is a great

[15:07] class to multiclass other stuff with

[15:09] because it has a ton of support and

[15:11] utility abilities that pair well with

[15:13] just about anything. But there's ways to

[15:15] add flavor and roleplay to all of that

[15:17] stuff. And hopefully those examples kind

[15:19] of gave you an idea of what's possible

[15:21] because from there I do want to go ahead

[15:23] and move on and talk a little bit about

[15:24] the story. The story is one of the

[15:26] things in Deadfire that gets the most

[15:28] flak, and that is mainly because it is

[15:30] very, very short. In fact, in total,

[15:32] it's technically only like four quests.

[15:34] And while you're unlikely to do it on a

[15:35] first playthrough, you can easily burn

[15:36] through it in a few hours. But let's

[15:38] talk a little bit about it. So, in this

[15:40] game, you play as the Watcher of Cadua,

[15:42] no matter what character you choose to

[15:44] create. The watcher of Cadua is called

[15:46] such because they are a watcher, which

[15:48] is someone who can see into the beyond

[15:50] and talk to and interact with the souls

[15:52] of the dead, opening up possibilities to

[15:54] them that are simply not something every

[15:57] random person can do. Watchers are

[15:59] relatively rare, and they tend to go

[16:01] crazy from what they've seen, which is a

[16:03] big subject of the original game. Now,

[16:05] the Catnua part is because Cat Noa is

[16:07] your stronghold in the original game,

[16:09] which gets unceremoniously destroyed by

[16:11] a giant Audra statue. Audra being the

[16:14] conduit through which souls pass into

[16:16] the beyond from the mortal realm. Now,

[16:18] this statue, as it turns out, happens to

[16:21] be inhabited by the god Athys, long

[16:23] thought dead, after having been

[16:25] destroyed once he manifested in a

[16:27] physical form via St. Widwin in events

[16:29] that preceded even the first game. So,

[16:31] him not only suddenly coming back, but

[16:34] then animating this Audra statue and

[16:36] marching off to the distance while also

[16:38] killing you by destroying your

[16:40] stronghold in the process gives you a

[16:41] pretty strong reason to want to track

[16:43] the guy down, which is exactly what the

[16:45] goddess Barth orders you to do, which is

[16:48] how you become the herald of Barth as

[16:49] far as this game is concerned. And

[16:51] that's basically the main plot. You

[16:53] chase Athys around the Deadfire

[16:55] Archipelago that he is marching through.

[16:57] At first, after you are attacked, right

[16:59] as the game starts, and you come back to

[17:01] life after being sent back by Barth, you

[17:04] track him down at the Anguan dig site

[17:06] nearby and get your ship up and running

[17:07] again before you can start sailing the

[17:09] dead fire. From there, you go meet the

[17:11] major players in the main city,

[17:12] Nekotaka. You then go to Hango and do

[17:15] the same thing, talk to Athyst. Then you

[17:17] go to a place called Ashen M, and talk

[17:19] to Athyst again. And then you find a way

[17:21] through a big storm to the endgame of

[17:23] Ukiso. And that is the entirety of the

[17:26] main story. And while in theory uh the

[17:29] last leg of it getting past Andre's

[17:31] mortar is supposed to see you

[17:32] interacting with one of the factions

[17:34] which is technically side content to get

[17:36] away past that giant storm that's

[17:38] actually really easy to do in a couple

[17:40] of different ways and doesn't take long

[17:42] at all. And so what you have is a story

[17:44] that is very short with yet gigantic

[17:47] implications for the lore of the world

[17:49] which I'm going to get into. So, like I

[17:51] said, I love the lore of this world. And

[17:53] one of the things that really wrote me

[17:54] in about it was the way uh reincarnation

[17:57] and cycles work here. While I have not

[18:00] been light with spoilers thus far, I'm

[18:02] about to get into super heavy spoilers

[18:04] here. You see, the big reveal of the

[18:06] original game was basically that the

[18:08] gods were manufactured. They are real in

[18:11] the sense that they are present. You can

[18:13] talk to them. They are very powerful and

[18:15] they are unquestionably gods. However,

[18:17] they are not natural. They were made by

[18:20] a civilization known as the ingithans.

[18:22] They did this as a result of uh getting

[18:25] into anamancy which is the study of

[18:27] souls in this world. And they studied it

[18:29] to a point where they eventually started

[18:30] seeking out their own creators. That

[18:32] age-old question of how did we get here?

[18:35] And unfortunately for theans, what they

[18:37] found was nothing. If there was a

[18:39] creator or a deity, it seemingly had

[18:41] long since left. And they were left

[18:43] alone in the universe and decided then

[18:45] that they would become the gods. and

[18:47] threw a whole lot of nonsense at Ukiso,

[18:50] the ancient ancestral homeland of the

[18:53] Hana civilization, which are the main

[18:55] controllers of the Deadfire Archipelago,

[18:57] even to the day of this game, is where

[19:00] they did that. The machinery that turned

[19:03] the Ingens into these deities is housed

[19:06] at Ukiso. It's also where the machinery

[19:09] that took control of a natural process

[19:12] known as the wheel or reincarnation

[19:14] occurred. So, a few big lore topics

[19:16] there right away. The wheel was a

[19:18] natural process by which souls were

[19:20] recycled more or less through the

[19:22] reincarnation process. This wasn't

[19:24] perfect and was prone to errors and

[19:26] could cause things like holloworn, which

[19:28] are people born without souls, and a

[19:30] number of other soul maladies that are

[19:32] expressed throughout the games where

[19:33] that process could go wrong. And while

[19:36] they still happen even in the time of

[19:37] the gods, it was apparently much worse

[19:39] before they took power. Combine that

[19:42] with a bunch of civilizations all trying

[19:44] to worship deities they had made up and

[19:46] doing terrible atrocious things in their

[19:48] name. The Inguithans basically wanted to

[19:50] use their ascension to godhood as a way

[19:53] to force all of the civilizations in the

[19:56] world of Aora to march forward, become

[19:59] stronger and better themselves, and of

[20:01] course do so under their own banners.

[20:03] However, this leads to a few other

[20:05] things. Uh, one, the gods themselves

[20:07] aren't individual people. Each

[20:09] individual deity is actually made up of

[20:12] who knows how many thousands of

[20:13] ingithans who were each selected for

[20:16] kind of their rough personality traits

[20:18] because the deities that they wound up

[20:20] making took the place of legends and

[20:22] myths of deities that kind of were

[20:24] already around in their time. So they

[20:26] basically just took on the mantle of

[20:28] some things people around had already

[20:29] believed in and chose to make it real

[20:32] while squashing the rumors of things

[20:33] that did not fit into their pantheon.

[20:36] Now they accomplish that by again taking

[20:38] control of the wheel. This natural

[20:40] process of reincarnation and forcing it

[20:43] into an unnatural but more efficient

[20:45] process which cut down on the number of

[20:47] soul maladies and gave it direction

[20:50] which is what allowed them to ascend to

[20:51] godhood like this. But this came with a

[20:54] bit of a catch. You see all these uh

[20:56] untold thousands of years later, that

[20:58] machinery has controlled that process

[21:00] for so long that that process can no

[21:03] longer function without that machinery.

[21:06] Meaning that if someone were to say

[21:08] destroy it, the process would be broken,

[21:10] which is a problem because the gods feed

[21:12] off of the energy from the reincarnation

[21:15] cycle. As souls enter the beyond and get

[21:18] reincarnated, it produces the energy

[21:20] that the gods need to survive and of

[21:22] course then provides souls for future

[21:25] generations of the mortals that inhabit

[21:27] the world of Aora in a sort of mutually

[21:30] beneficial situation. The thing is

[21:32] Athyus as the god of rebirth, light,

[21:34] dawn, etc. kind of hates this and he

[21:37] wants to do something about it, which is

[21:39] what he was trying to do when he was

[21:40] killed in the version of him that was

[21:43] St. Widwin. and again those events that

[21:45] preceded the first game. And the second

[21:47] time around, he decides to take a more

[21:49] direct approach of taking this giant

[21:50] Audra statue to march to Ukiso where

[21:53] this machinery is and destroy it to stop

[21:55] the process of reincarnation. And that

[21:58] happens no matter what you do. You

[22:00] cannot stop it, but you can have some

[22:02] effects on the outcomes, which then

[22:04] leads to the game's various endings

[22:06] based on both how you got there and how

[22:07] you influenced Athys along the way. But

[22:11] the reincarnation cycle getting broken

[22:13] is the ending that happens no matter

[22:15] what. And you're left with this big

[22:16] cliffhanger then that while a lot of

[22:19] souls are already in the process of

[22:20] being reincarnated and that will

[22:22] continue. There's basically a generation

[22:23] or two before that process stops

[22:26] completely at which point the deities

[22:28] will die because they won't have any

[22:30] sustenance via the energy coming through

[22:31] the wheel and every single person born

[22:34] after that will be born without a soul

[22:35] which basically means holloworn. And so

[22:37] a solution will have to be found. And

[22:39] you may be asking, why would the god of

[22:42] light and rebirth choose to do that? And

[22:44] the simple answer is that he was tired

[22:46] of living that lie. He wants mortals and

[22:49] the gods themselves to either find a way

[22:51] forward together or to die together as

[22:53] opposed to being trapped in this endless

[22:56] cycle of them trying to manufacture some

[22:59] idealized society that the deities

[23:01] themselves can't even readily agree

[23:03] upon. Now, as fun as that is, that's

[23:05] really only scratching the surface of

[23:07] the lore. There's a lot of really cool

[23:09] stuff there. Uh, there is the added lore

[23:11] of Avou, which came out that has huge

[23:13] implications because even more spoilers

[23:15] for Avowed here. A crux of a vowed is

[23:18] that a naturalb born god is discovered,

[23:20] Sapidol. It turns out that while there

[23:23] were apparently no deities around when

[23:24] the Angans sought them out, it turns out

[23:27] that it wasn't impossible or anything

[23:28] because in Avou we find one that was

[23:30] born that way only for the pantheon to

[23:32] immediately attack it which then leads

[23:34] to the events of a vowed itself. And

[23:37] that is to say nothing of Yzua. So Yzua

[23:40] is a thing that is kind of briefly

[23:42] mentioned in a couple of the games, but

[23:45] a lot of it comes from Deadfire in

[23:47] particular because a sidekick you can

[23:48] get Re is from there. It's a continent

[23:51] on the other side of the world, blocked

[23:53] by Andra's mortar. Andra's mortar is the

[23:55] giant storm that protects Kaiso from

[23:58] discovery prior to this game. It also

[24:00] made travel to the other side of the

[24:02] world seemingly impossible, which is

[24:04] where Yzua was. And Yzua is a world

[24:07] where they worshiped a single deity that

[24:09] seems to be probably another naturalb

[24:11] born god situation. But that's just

[24:13] speculation and we don't really know

[24:14] because again, it's just kind of a thing

[24:16] that pops up. So, in theory, if they

[24:18] were to ever make A Pillars 3, which

[24:20] seems exceedingly unlikely all things

[24:22] considered at this point, they have a

[24:24] lot of stuff to work with, and I would

[24:26] love to see a conclusion to it. Because,

[24:27] if you couldn't tell by this very long

[24:29] rambling, I'm pretty invested in the

[24:31] story, and I would love to see what

[24:33] comes of that conflict and how a problem

[24:35] like that gets solved and again, how all

[24:37] that stuff gets approached. And it's

[24:38] incredibly interesting to me at the very

[24:40] least, which is one of the reasons I've

[24:42] loved this game so much and made all

[24:44] those lore videos about it. But let's go

[24:46] ahead and move on a little bit to

[24:47] progression. So, progression is

[24:49] interesting because again, like I

[24:51] mentioned, they did change a little bit

[24:52] of it from one to two, introducing

[24:54] things like power levels, uh, making

[24:56] gear and itemization much more

[24:58] interesting. There's your ship that

[25:00] you'll be using to sail around. The way

[25:01] crafting and resting bonuses work, and

[25:03] just all these other modifiers and

[25:05] things that you could potentially turn

[25:06] on via Magnires, which can affect

[25:08] progression. So, all of that is probably

[25:10] worth a quick mention. The simplest

[25:12] being levels, of course, though. As you

[25:14] kill things, complete quests, etc., you

[25:17] will be leveling up. As you level up,

[25:19] you will get access to higher tiers of

[25:21] abilities up until the max level of

[25:23] level 20. Now, the thing is, every tier

[25:25] of ability that you go up, which is

[25:27] roughly every couple of levels, you also

[25:30] increase your power level. As your power

[25:32] level goes up, all of your abilities

[25:34] increase in strength. This is how they

[25:37] keep lower tier abilities relevant

[25:39] throughout the entire game. And that

[25:41] applies to every single class. You can

[25:43] also in combat even uh affect this a

[25:46] little bit farther by using the new

[25:47] empower ability. Empowering basically

[25:49] allows you to cast a spell or ability at

[25:52] a higher power level than it would

[25:54] normally have. And there's a couple

[25:55] other ways to affect that as well, but

[25:57] it's definitely something to keep in

[25:59] mind. Now, where I think uh progression

[26:01] in Deadfire really, really shines is

[26:04] actually itemization, the gear that

[26:06] you'll be picking up and using. And this

[26:08] is because by default, any character can

[26:11] basically use any type of equipment.

[26:13] Now, when it comes to weapons, you can

[26:15] uh become proficient in them. You gain

[26:17] proficiencies every I think it's like

[26:19] four or so levels as your character

[26:20] levels up, but all that really does is

[26:22] allow you to use the special ability

[26:24] associated with that weapon, which isn't

[26:26] always useful and not even really

[26:28] necessary all the time. Now, the catch

[26:30] there is uh the heavier stuff you wear,

[26:32] in particular, your armor increases your

[26:33] recovery time, which means you act

[26:35] slower in uh real time with pause. And

[26:37] then the rest of it is just items that

[26:39] have various effects that you can make

[26:41] use of. And so I figured I would give

[26:42] you a couple of examples of my

[26:44] favorites. My favorite item in the

[26:47] entirety of Dead Fire isn't even that

[26:49] good, but it's a archabus called the Red

[26:52] Hand. You get this in the capital of

[26:54] Nekotaka, specifically in the black

[26:56] market known as Delver's Row. This is

[26:58] basically just a two-handed gun that is

[27:01] really cool to me because of an

[27:03] enchantment. You can enchant unique uh

[27:06] weapons and armor with extra abilities

[27:08] and increase their overall usefulness.

[27:11] This enchanting mechanic can be used to

[27:13] give the red hand an ability called

[27:15] double tap. Double tap is an enchantment

[27:18] that means if you hit any vessel type

[27:21] enemy twice in a row with the red hand,

[27:24] it immediately dies. And that can be

[27:26] used on bosses and basically just

[27:28] anything you can get two consecutive

[27:29] hits on. As the name would imply, it

[27:31] also lets you shoot twice per attack.

[27:34] Combine that with a ranger who actually

[27:36] gets an ability to also shoot twice as

[27:38] well, and you're off to the races. But

[27:41] there are straight up bosses you can

[27:42] instantly uh not literally one shot, but

[27:44] I suppose two shot with this rifle. And

[27:47] it's just one example of the way

[27:48] itemization is approached here where you

[27:50] can use it to do some really fun stuff

[27:52] in specific situations because that

[27:54] specific item can trivialize a couple of

[27:57] really difficult fights against that one

[28:00] specific enemy type. But that's just the

[28:02] tip of the iceberg. In order to complete

[28:04] the ultimate, as at least the way I did

[28:06] it, you make use of a buff called

[28:09] brilliant. Brilliant is a rare in the

[28:12] sense that there's not a lot of things

[28:13] that give it to you. Buff that basically

[28:15] allows you to restore class resources.

[28:18] There is a cloak that allows you to put

[28:20] brilliant on yourself that you can find

[28:22] in Bikarnner's Observatory by basically

[28:24] hitting yourself and as long as you give

[28:26] yourself a way to survive that like say

[28:28] the priest spell barring death door

[28:30] which makes you unkillable for a set

[28:32] time and then combining that with

[28:34] another priest spell called salvation of

[28:36] time which increases the length of the

[28:38] buffs that are on you right now. like

[28:40] say barring death's door and the

[28:42] brilliant inspiration or buff that

[28:44] allows you to again restore class

[28:46] resources meaning you can continually

[28:48] cast the spells allowing you to make

[28:50] that cycle you can set up a situation

[28:52] where your character in combat is

[28:54] literally unkillable thanks to these

[28:55] spells and unless the enemy has a way of

[28:58] removing them you cannot die which is

[29:00] one of the ways thanks to Barth's

[29:02] challenge as part of the ultimate not

[29:04] dropping combat you can get through some

[29:06] of the encounters that would otherwise

[29:08] not be possible but to not spend too

[29:10] long on it. Basically, when it comes to

[29:12] itemization and how you can approach

[29:13] combat, there's actually so much depth

[29:16] there if you go and look for it and you

[29:18] can just find all these little ways to

[29:19] interact with those systems in really

[29:21] unique ways that are just so much fun.

[29:24] And again, that is one of the parts of

[29:26] this game that I've just come to

[29:27] appreciate more and more over the years.

[29:29] And that's not even all of it. Uh,

[29:30] another bit of progression is pets. Uh,

[29:32] only you can equip a pet by default, but

[29:35] one of the Barrett's blessings actually

[29:37] lets you give it to a deer as well. And

[29:39] pets will give you a partywide effect.

[29:41] And you can find tons of pets throughout

[29:43] the game. And there was an update that

[29:44] added this thing called the creature uh

[29:46] the critter cleaver, I think it is, that

[29:48] lets you make custom pets by sacrificing

[29:50] the pets you have found to it to get the

[29:52] exact combination of a pet you want

[29:54] following you around and the effect you

[29:55] actually want it to give you. And then

[29:57] there is your ship, of course. We are

[29:58] sailing around the Dead Fire after all,

[30:00] and you do actually have to do that via

[30:02] a ship. Now, I will say you do

[30:04] technically need to keep your ship

[30:06] stocked with food and water, but that is

[30:08] uh trivially easy if you are not using

[30:11] the Magrins fire that makes your food

[30:14] and stuff rot. That is actually, I

[30:16] think, one of the small balancing things

[30:17] that the base game could have changed.

[30:19] It's actually so easy to do that in the

[30:21] base game that I think it kind of

[30:22] removes the point of it being there at

[30:24] all because there's just no friction at

[30:26] all. you'll find more than enough food

[30:28] more than likely to keep everyone fed

[30:30] and made sure they're drinking as well

[30:32] as you move your ship along. But in

[30:34] Nekataka, you will find a shipyard, the

[30:36] docks there, where you can buy new ships

[30:38] to upgrade to. And then you can actually

[30:41] upgrade those ships via parts and

[30:43] things, as well as hire sailors and

[30:44] stuff to man it, which is important for

[30:46] ship combat, but we'll talk about that

[30:48] here in the next section. Upgrading and

[30:50] maintaining a ship is a big part of it.

[30:52] And if you want to get through Andra's

[30:53] mortar on your own, one of the two ways

[30:56] you can do that is by upgrading your

[30:57] ship to the the best hull and sails.

[31:00] There are a couple of unique ships as

[31:02] well that you'll only get through

[31:03] certain quests as part of the story sort

[31:06] of. Then there is crafting and resting.

[31:08] You can put to use all of the junk you

[31:10] are picking up, which you can pick up

[31:12] everything. There's no weight limit or

[31:13] anything to some use by crafting

[31:15] scrolls, potions, food, meals, etc. And

[31:18] when you rest, you can use those meals

[31:20] to give you buffs. And do not

[31:21] underestimate how useful that is. Some

[31:23] of those buffs are crazy. But that's the

[31:26] bulk of what you're looking at

[31:27] progression-wise, which brings me then

[31:28] to the gameplay and world section. So,

[31:32] Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire uses a

[31:34] world map system where when you are not

[31:36] in a given location, you'll be traveling

[31:39] around the world via uh land or sea. At

[31:42] sea, you'll of course be using your

[31:44] given ship in order to sail around. You

[31:46] can have random encounters and stuff

[31:48] that deal with that as well that take

[31:49] the place of text events. While you are

[31:51] typically traveling on land, though a

[31:53] couple places at sea as well, you will

[31:55] find locations and these are typically

[31:57] speaking either a text event or a

[32:00] physical place you can actually explore,

[32:02] which is most of like the cities and hub

[32:03] areas. Of course, the text events are

[32:06] relatively basic. Sometimes they'll lead

[32:07] to fights or you can use your non-combat

[32:10] skills as a way around the given

[32:11] situation and pick up loot and stuff

[32:13] from those also. Now, the first part of

[32:16] the game structurally sees you trapped

[32:18] on an island trying to get your ship

[32:19] back up and running after you get

[32:21] attacked by pirates at the beginning of

[32:23] the story. This area called Port Maj is

[32:26] really the only part of the story that

[32:28] you are hemmed in. Uh because once you

[32:30] get that done and you get your ship, you

[32:31] can basically go wherever you want as

[32:34] long as you have the level to do so.

[32:36] Now, there is scaling if you want there

[32:38] to be in the game's options. You can uh

[32:40] scale just the main story up. You can

[32:42] scale or scale down everything to your

[32:45] character's level to try to make it more

[32:46] challenging. But basically, once you

[32:48] leave Port Mage, technically speaking,

[32:50] you can go wherever you want. And that

[32:51] actually does make things a little more

[32:53] interesting than people give it credit

[32:54] for because as you may remember, I said

[32:56] the main story was short, and it is.

[32:59] However, the game of Deadfire is like

[33:01] 90% side content. You can technically

[33:04] beat the game while seeing very little

[33:05] of what the game actually has to offer,

[33:07] and exploration plays a really big role

[33:09] in that. One of my favorite mechanics

[33:11] there is that some of the islands that

[33:13] you will find are technically unexplored

[33:15] and you can go there and see what's

[33:17] what. There's usually like a dungeon or

[33:18] place to explore a sort of like main

[33:20] event if you will and once you get that

[33:22] done and exit, you'll actually be able

[33:24] to name that island. And there's a bunch

[33:26] of those. There's quests surrounding it

[33:27] to sort of send you to them. And I

[33:29] really really love that. And then

[33:31] there's of course Nekotaka, the main

[33:33] city, which is made up of several

[33:34] different hub areas you can travel

[33:36] between. Each individual port has port

[33:38] services you can make use of. Basically

[33:40] a supply store if you just want to stop

[33:42] in and buy supplies before you move on

[33:44] to where you're actually going, that

[33:46] kind of thing. And there's a lot of just

[33:47] like wonderful little details there. In

[33:49] fact, to give you one, your crew, if

[33:52] their morale is high, if you're not

[33:53] feeding and watering them basically,

[33:56] they will uh eventually drop morale and

[33:58] potentially mutiny. But if their morale

[34:00] is high, they will potentially sing sea

[34:03] shanties. And the sea shanties actually

[34:05] have varying uh voices and stuff that

[34:07] will sing them based on the makeup of

[34:09] your crew. And again, just wonderful

[34:11] little bits of detail. However, I want

[34:14] to talk about naval battles and then I

[34:15] want to talk about some of the bigger

[34:17] stuff uh politicalwise as far as the

[34:19] game is concerned. Anyway, now on the

[34:21] naval battles, they changed this after

[34:24] the game released. When the game

[34:25] initially released, when you came across

[34:27] another ship or you got attacked by

[34:28] another ship, you could enter into a

[34:30] naval battle or a ship combat.

[34:32] Basically, this was initially done

[34:35] purely through a text event. The text

[34:37] event wasn't a lot of fun, and in my

[34:39] opinion, it still isn't. And so, what

[34:42] people would do, and myself included,

[34:43] was basically get the fastest ship you

[34:46] could, which is the Voyager. fully

[34:47] upgrade it. And then when you enter the

[34:49] naval combat text battle, you just full

[34:52] speed ahead as fast as you can to the

[34:54] other ship, which would be before they

[34:55] got a chance to attack and you would

[34:57] board because boarding them brings you

[34:59] to an actual combat situation that is

[35:01] much easier to win and frankly a whole

[35:03] lot faster to win. Post launch when

[35:06] everyone was doing this because it was

[35:08] just the easier thing to do. They did

[35:10] change this to where now when you

[35:12] encounter another ship this way you get

[35:14] the popup that you're seeing on screen

[35:16] where you have the choice to either

[35:17] engage in that text event immediately

[35:19] board them or try to surrender or flee.

[35:23] Surrendering sees you taking a morale

[35:25] hit and losing supplies but you know not

[35:27] necessarily uh dying to a battle you

[35:30] cannot win. And then fleeing gives you a

[35:32] chance of avoiding the encounter

[35:33] entirely. And so that in particular is a

[35:36] little easier these days. But from here,

[35:38] I want to talk about the factions. One

[35:41] of the things I find really, really

[35:42] interesting about Deadfire is the way

[35:45] the colonialism and the political

[35:47] situation around the archipelago is set

[35:50] up. Because while there are independent

[35:52] routes through the game, it's actually

[35:53] kind of split up between four different

[35:55] factions otherwise. The natives, the

[35:57] Hana, the two uh factions trying to set

[36:00] up outposts here, Rouatai, as well as

[36:03] the Veian Trading Company. And then of

[36:05] course your pirate faction, the

[36:07] Principy. Now, this is set up in such a

[36:09] way that a lot of these characters are

[36:12] at odds with each other, of course, and

[36:14] they're all trying to politically

[36:16] maneuver and gain leverage over the

[36:18] others. And when you dig into that and

[36:20] do all of the quests, it's really,

[36:21] really interesting. And you can work for

[36:24] all of them up until their very last bit

[36:26] of questing right before the end of the

[36:28] game where you do have to commit to one

[36:30] of them fully. But you may or may not

[36:32] lose companions based on what you choose

[36:34] to do there. You know, who's following

[36:36] you. You get companions from the

[36:37] factions. They'll leave you if you do

[36:39] this, that, or the other. So, you may

[36:40] want to go the independent route just

[36:41] because of that. But more on that in a

[36:43] moment. Let's start with the Hana. The

[36:45] Hana are the natives, a tribal society

[36:48] still using a cast system that thanks to

[36:50] their expansion into a city like

[36:52] Nekotaka, is fraying at the seams and no

[36:54] longer working because their lowest

[36:56] cast, the Roaru, feed off the scraps of

[36:59] others, which has turned into kind of a

[37:01] literal rotting pile of food in the

[37:03] slums known as the Gullet. So, the Hana

[37:05] are struggling with the growth they've

[37:07] seen, and they're also struggling

[37:09] against these factions that have come in

[37:11] to basically stake their claim to the

[37:13] Dead Fire for one reason or another. But

[37:15] while the Hana have seemingly grown a

[37:17] little more tolerant of people coming to

[37:19] the Dead Fire, they have a bit of an ace

[37:22] up their sleeve in terms of defense, and

[37:24] that is actually the water shapers.

[37:26] Because while Rowatai has their big

[37:28] cannons and well-made ships and honestly

[37:31] a bit higher tech than everyone else,

[37:33] it's very difficult to fight an enemy

[37:35] that can literally take the water out

[37:37] from under your ship and just sink it

[37:39] entirely, causing waves, etc. Because

[37:41] water shapers are basically Avatar the

[37:43] Last Air Bender in the sense that they

[37:45] can control and move water or shape it

[37:47] if you will as they please. This is

[37:50] shown via the water shapers guild.

[37:52] However, if you dig a little deeper, you

[37:54] learn why the Hana have started to allow

[37:57] outsiders in. It's because their power

[37:59] is waning. You see, the Hana were

[38:01] charged uh anciently with a covenant to

[38:04] the goddess of the oceans, Ingati as she

[38:07] is called here, or Andra as she is known

[38:09] elsewhere. But as the Hana started to

[38:12] seed ground to outsiders for one reason

[38:14] or another, that covenant weakens,

[38:16] making their water shaping weaker. But

[38:19] it was of course a slow battle. There

[38:21] was however a water shaper named Periqi

[38:24] who got some help from a dragon that she

[38:26] later betrayed and then trapped that

[38:28] dragon, binding the water shaping to

[38:31] draw on the dragon's power as their

[38:33] power from Andra waned. And this has

[38:36] caused the slow decline of the water

[38:38] shapers along with uh the outsiders

[38:40] coming further into the deadfire to just

[38:42] weaken over time. And so the water

[38:44] shapers are really kind of a pale

[38:47] imitation of what they used to be. And

[38:49] so the Hana are trapped in this vicious

[38:51] cycle of needing the water shapers to

[38:53] defend themselves, but also knowing that

[38:55] the water shapers are losing their power

[38:57] and that's not a fight they can win

[38:58] forever. And so they're basically trying

[39:00] to play diplomat and set themselves up

[39:02] for success that way in an effort to

[39:04] continue to control their own territory,

[39:07] losing the battle by attrition

[39:09] basically. Then you have the Rouatai.

[39:11] The Rowatai's interest in the dead fire

[39:13] is actually to do with Andra's mortar.

[39:15] Raouatai is an area that is racked by

[39:18] constant storms, much like the exact

[39:20] storms of Andra's mortar, in fact. And

[39:23] so Rouatai wants to come here, study

[39:24] that, and see if there's a way to stop

[39:26] it, basically, so they can actually

[39:28] prosper. They're also, uh, thanks to the

[39:30] harsh way they have been living, all

[39:32] about their military might, cooperation,

[39:34] and triumph in the face of adversity.

[39:37] This doesn't make them particularly nice

[39:39] people. However, one of their

[39:40] representatives at Sura will literally

[39:42] take into account your character's

[39:44] disposition. So, as you talk to people,

[39:46] you gain a reputation more or less or a

[39:48] disposition based on your responses.

[39:50] This can be things like shady or stoic,

[39:53] cruel, that kind of thing. And Atsura

[39:55] will frame his responses and how he

[39:57] tries to get you to do things based on

[39:59] your character's disposition. So, he has

[40:00] a bunch of varying dialogue based on how

[40:03] he thinks he needs to talk to you in

[40:05] order to get you to do the thing you

[40:06] want to do, which I thought was an

[40:08] interesting approach to a character like

[40:10] that because he's very clearly not

[40:11] somebody who's got uh the best of

[40:14] intentions, especially when the

[40:15] assassinations come to light. But they

[40:17] are, whether you like it or not, a lot

[40:19] more stable than the others for sure.

[40:21] They're trying to build and focusing on

[40:23] tech and doing a lot more technological

[40:26] advancements than a lot of the others

[40:28] are. And that's why they rely on the

[40:29] strength of their cannons after all.

[40:31] Then you've got the Veian Trading

[40:33] Company. Basically, the people using

[40:34] anamancy to try to further their own

[40:37] ends. Anamanscy being the science that

[40:39] was much discussed in the original game

[40:41] that has only advanced since then. The

[40:42] study of souls basically. And they use

[40:44] this to invent tech to solve their

[40:46] problems. And in order to do that, they

[40:48] need luminous Audra. Luminous Audra is

[40:50] unique to the dead fire, a very powerful

[40:53] form of again the conduits through which

[40:55] souls pass to the beyond. And so their

[40:57] interest in the dead fire is trying to

[40:59] harvest as much of that Audra to advance

[41:01] their anammancy as possible. And this

[41:03] leads to exciting new discoveries. And

[41:05] then last but not least, there are

[41:06] pirates. And I feel like I probably

[41:08] shouldn't need to explain their

[41:09] motivation, but in case it wasn't

[41:11] obvious, they're obviously after that

[41:13] booty and some treasure from what I

[41:15] understand. Now, the princip are

[41:17] actually a little more interesting than

[41:18] uh just being pirates as well because

[41:21] they are often times people's last

[41:23] resort. They can certainly get up to

[41:25] shady things. They are also not at one

[41:27] with themselves. They are divided

[41:28] between the new bloods and the old

[41:30] bloods who have very different ways of

[41:32] looking at things. But in some ways, you

[41:34] could kind of consider them a necessary

[41:36] evil because they are one of the only

[41:38] people willing to do something about the

[41:40] starving Roaru from the Hana's lowest

[41:42] cast. That is to say, you know, help

[41:44] them. But obviously, they're not exactly

[41:46] doing it out of the kindness of their

[41:47] hearts either. But depending on which

[41:49] faction you're dealing with, they are

[41:50] more than happy to undercut all sorts of

[41:52] different laws as you would expect from

[41:54] pirates. Some of them are slavers, some

[41:56] of them are anti-slavery. They're kind

[41:58] of all over the place, but trusting any

[42:00] of them completely would be a

[42:02] questionable decision. And for me at

[42:04] least, I really love how each of those

[42:06] factions is represented in a way that

[42:08] feels uh plausible, let's say. Like each

[42:11] of these factions and their motivation

[42:13] seems realistic. They all have uh

[42:15] different qualities to them. Some of

[42:17] them are doing some good things. Usually

[42:19] that's coupled with them also doing some

[42:21] terrible thing. And so if you're looking

[42:22] for like a moral high ground here, there

[42:24] really isn't one. It's just kind of

[42:26] shades of gray and which questionable

[42:28] thing you're okay with them doing or

[42:30] none of them because you can go the

[42:31] independent route if you want. But that

[42:33] back and forth is really compelling and

[42:35] each of them has their own quest line

[42:36] and many of them are associated with

[42:38] companions. So before we start talking

[42:40] combat, let's talk a little bit about

[42:42] companions. Companions are for the most

[42:44] part representatives of a faction. A

[42:47] couple of them are returning from the

[42:49] original game. Adir and Aloth as well as

[42:52] Palagena. And then we also get some new

[42:54] ones as well via Teahu. Now, truth be

[42:57] told, uh, companions are a little hit or

[42:59] miss for me. I think actually this might

[43:01] be the last game Obsidian did with

[43:03] romance. So, there is romance in here if

[43:05] you want it that you can't romance

[43:07] everybody. But, the I guess you could

[43:09] call it a problem is that a lot of these

[43:11] companions outside of what are clearly

[43:13] meant to be the main ones don't get a

[43:14] lot of interaction. uh so much so that

[43:17] they uh post launch actually had to add

[43:19] a recommended companion by quest you

[43:21] could undertake. So you could try to get

[43:23] the most out of them. But if you fail to

[43:25] do that, there are some of these

[43:26] companions who might barely say anything

[43:28] along your journey. And that's

[43:29] complicated a little farther by the fact

[43:31] that there's your actual companions and

[43:33] then there are sidekicks. Sidekicks are

[43:36] characters that are kind of in between a

[43:38] hired mercenary and a full-blown

[43:40] companion and they really only have

[43:41] interactions in a couple of quests. The

[43:43] thing is, companions don't feel that

[43:45] much better than side quests in that

[43:47] regard, depending on, you know, what

[43:49] quest you're doing with them in your

[43:50] party. But for the most part, try to do

[43:53] the faction quest with that faction

[43:56] companion, and you'll be mostly better

[43:58] off. Now, Aloth and Adar return from the

[44:00] first game. They're mostly the same.

[44:02] Aloth is dealing with the fallout of the

[44:04] Leen Key from the first game. Adear is

[44:06] trying to reconcile his sort of belief

[44:08] in Athys with what is happening here.

[44:11] And that's actually kind of more

[44:12] interesting that might initially sound.

[44:13] He has a more grounded feel to him.

[44:16] You've got Maya, the sister of Korua

[44:19] from the first game. She is a

[44:21] representative of Rouatai and gets up to

[44:23] some shady stuff in the name of progress

[44:25] for Rouatai. And she has to struggle

[44:28] with the realities of doing what is

[44:30] needed to impose order here, at least as

[44:33] far as Rowati sees it, which is

[44:35] difficult for her. Uh, Palagena makes

[44:37] her return. Palagena is in fact a member

[44:39] of the Veian trading company. Palagena

[44:42] is most interesting for reasons that

[44:43] have nothing to do with the BTC as it

[44:46] were because she is also a godlike or

[44:49] something of a former godlike in some

[44:51] ways because at an early age she had her

[44:53] chime sort of severed. The thing that

[44:55] makes a person a godlike and so as a

[44:57] result she is not a full godlike the way

[45:01] you would think of the rest of them

[45:02] which is why she looks the way she does.

[45:04] and she has a side quest that kind of

[45:06] like leans into the nature of godlikes

[45:09] and stuff that is super interesting. So,

[45:11] there's that. And then there is Sarapin.

[45:13] Saraphin represents the principy. He is

[45:15] an Orland cipher usually. And he's all

[45:19] right. To be honest with you, he's a

[45:20] little run-of-the-mill for me. Um, his

[45:22] character is very, I would say, on the

[45:24] nose in terms of where they go with his

[45:26] story and stuff. It's actually really

[45:27] easy to miss his companion quest because

[45:30] even in the Prince of Eye quest lines, I

[45:31] feel like he doesn't have that much to

[45:33] say. So, he's always felt a little

[45:34] underwhelming to me. Uh, one of the

[45:36] better ones, however, is Teahu, the Hana

[45:39] representative. He is a water shaper,

[45:41] and more importantly, he is a marine

[45:43] godlike. That is important lore-wise

[45:45] because it confirms that gods can in

[45:48] fact make multiple types of godlike, and

[45:50] teu is special in that regard. There's

[45:52] only one of him. There are a lot of moon

[45:54] godlike, and they are also associated

[45:56] with the goddess Andra, but Andra made

[45:59] teu very, very specifically. She

[46:01] considers him like her son, and it's a

[46:03] very different situation, and that's

[46:04] important for another lore reason, which

[46:06] I may or may not bother to explain. I'll

[46:08] see how I feel. But he's lived a cushy

[46:10] life. The Hana see him as this

[46:12] incredibly good omen, and they've done

[46:14] basically everything they can to make

[46:15] his life very easy. And as such, he's a

[46:18] bit of an artist and sees water shaping

[46:20] as art, which is very different from how

[46:22] other water shapers see it. And where

[46:23] they struggle, he's a natural. He's a

[46:26] fun one to have around. His main story

[46:28] is about him trying to reconcile who he

[46:30] is with who the Hana are and how to move

[46:32] forward and of course Andra's role in

[46:34] all that and how she sees him and wants

[46:36] him to grow. Interesting guy overall.

[46:39] But then last but not least for the

[46:41] actual companions, we have Jod. Jod is a

[46:44] priestess of Gone, which is one of the

[46:46] aspects of Aithusy. She sees gathering

[46:49] up lost souls and guiding them uh to

[46:52] their rebirth, if you will, as her role

[46:54] in her priesthood. how she does that,

[46:57] how she feels about it, how she goes

[46:58] about it, and whether or not it drives

[47:00] her absolutely bananas is the nature of

[47:03] her particular story, which is pretty

[47:05] interesting overall. As someone who's

[47:07] tied really closely to Aithis, she gets

[47:09] a ton of interactions, as you would

[47:10] expect, and as a priest, she's super

[47:12] useful because of her support abilities.

[47:14] So, I usually keep her around for that.

[47:16] Everyone else is a sidekick. Now, what's

[47:18] curious about sidekicks is pre-DLC, they

[47:21] did not have hardly any interactions.

[47:23] They had a couple of things here and

[47:25] there, but the DLC's actually added a

[47:28] bunch of interactions for these

[47:29] sidekicks which actually makes them feel

[47:31] a little more impactful. Like Vatir, for

[47:33] instance, is a sidekick that was added

[47:35] by Beast of Winter and he's like one of

[47:37] the main focuses of that DLC. So, he

[47:39] gets a ton of interactions there. And

[47:41] while that's a late game thing, and so

[47:43] he doesn't get a lot of play elsewhere,

[47:44] he's neat in that regard. And combined

[47:46] with him being a godlike of Rimmerrand,

[47:49] which he's the only one we've ever seen

[47:50] in the game, and that's pretty neat.

[47:51] There's also Rek, which I've already

[47:53] mentioned. He gives you all that lore on

[47:55] Yzua. Constantine, a dwarf you can pick

[47:57] up in Nekotaka, gets a bunch of

[47:59] interactions in the Seeker Slayer

[48:01] Survivor DLC. Facina and Aloth actually

[48:04] both get a bunch of interactions in the

[48:06] Forbidden Sanctum DLC. And Yiddwin, uh,

[48:09] the cipher you can also pick up in

[48:10] Nekotaga get some interactions and some

[48:12] unique ones even in Beast of Winter,

[48:14] which open up some, uh, let's say less

[48:16] than nice options for you. So, they have

[48:19] a lot of companions with varying levels

[48:22] of, I would say, interactivity with the

[48:24] player. Some of them feel a little

[48:26] underwhelming as a result of that, but

[48:28] there are some pretty good interactions

[48:30] there if you go out of your way to make

[48:32] sure you're cycling through companions

[48:33] and you have the right one at the right

[48:35] time, which can be a little much. From

[48:37] there, though, I finally want to move on

[48:38] a bit to combat. So, let's talk about

[48:41] combat. You've almost certainly seen

[48:43] some of it playing in the background

[48:44] here up to this point. As mentioned,

[48:46] combat is either a turn-based or real

[48:48] time with pause-based affair. I vastly

[48:50] prefer real time with pause. I don't

[48:52] feel like turnbased is implemented super

[48:53] well in Deadfire, but if you're playing

[48:55] on normal, you'll probably be fine, but

[48:57] real time with pause is my go-to here.

[49:00] One of the main things you need to know

[49:01] straight away are then the AI setups.

[49:04] So, something you can do that we've

[49:06] actually seen in previous games like

[49:07] Final Fantasy 12 or Dragon Age Origins

[49:10] is you have this system of conditionals

[49:12] that you can set up in order to

[49:14] customize a character's AI and that is

[49:16] how they will act when you are not

[49:18] controlling them, provided you have it

[49:19] turned on. You can get super super

[49:22] granular with this. So much so that you

[49:24] can basically set up characters to

[49:26] automate themselves entirely. I've been

[49:28] playing this game enough over the years

[49:30] that I actually have a custom AI setup

[49:32] for basically every character that you

[49:34] can play. And so, while occasionally I

[49:36] might give them directions, for the most

[49:38] part, they're free to kind of do their

[49:40] thing, which then lets me focus a little

[49:42] more on what my main character is doing,

[49:43] but you can also do the same thing for

[49:45] your main character if you want.

[49:46] However, you also don't have to do that.

[49:48] Like, you can get in there and control

[49:50] characters yourself if you want. Like

[49:52] for instance, when you're playing solo,

[49:53] like for my ultimate run, I only really

[49:55] automated like one thing, and that's

[49:57] because I was actively involved in

[49:58] controlling and making sure everything

[50:00] happened as I needed it to. And you're

[50:02] only controlling one character there, so

[50:03] it makes sense to do that. The only

[50:05] thing you really need to automate in

[50:06] that situation was the casts on

[50:09] Salvation of Time so you don't

[50:10] accidentally die. Now, I've already

[50:11] mentioned a couple of these things, but

[50:13] some improvements that they've made on

[50:14] the combat system from the original game

[50:17] are things like the ability to retarget

[50:19] a spell or the empower abilities. So, in

[50:21] the original, if you cast a spell and

[50:23] like people moved or whatever and you

[50:24] wanted to retarget it, you couldn't do

[50:26] that. But here, you can. You can just

[50:28] click on the retargeting button and move

[50:29] the spell where you actually want it to

[50:31] go based on where things have moved to

[50:33] or how things have played out, etc.,

[50:35] which is a nice little thing. Empower

[50:37] allows you to cast a spell or ability at

[50:39] a higher power level than you normally

[50:40] would be able to when you hopefully need

[50:42] that little bit of extra oomph, and you

[50:44] can do that so many times per rest. you

[50:46] don't even need to use empower that

[50:48] often, but there are situations where it

[50:49] is very useful and there are some items

[50:51] from the DLC in particular that lean

[50:53] into that. So, there's certainly that,

[50:55] but let's talk a little bit about the

[50:57] basics from there. So, real time with

[51:00] pause mode is in large part determined

[51:03] by things like your recovery time. Based

[51:05] on how heavy your character is and some

[51:07] of your stats and your attributes and

[51:09] how you've distributed them, you have a

[51:11] base recovery time. So recovery time is

[51:14] simply how long you have to wait in

[51:16] between actions to take another action.

[51:19] Ideally, the lower the better. But if

[51:21] you have something like a low dexterity

[51:23] or you have heavy armor on or you're

[51:25] using a slower weapon like a two-hander,

[51:27] it can take a little while in between

[51:29] attacks and whatnot and you obviously

[51:31] want to minimize that. There are class

[51:32] features that can help with this like

[51:34] fighters can mitigate some of the

[51:35] recovery time from heavier armor as an

[51:37] example. And it's just something you

[51:39] need to keep in mind because ideally you

[51:41] want to take as many actions as possible

[51:43] so the enemy can't do as much and you

[51:45] can interrupt what they are doing. Now,

[51:47] in order to hit the enemy, it's

[51:48] basically accuracy versus one of their

[51:50] four defenses. Most everything you do is

[51:53] going to target one of a character's

[51:55] four defenses. Things like fortitude or

[51:57] will. And almost everything you do has a

[52:00] baseline accuracy based on your stats as

[52:02] well. And obviously, you just want to be

[52:04] more accurate than their defense is.

[52:06] There are also other aspects to this

[52:08] like penetration and armor rating and

[52:10] some finer details that are mostly

[52:12] pretty self-explanatory like the higher

[52:14] your armor, the less damage you're going

[52:15] to take from physical attacks, stuff

[52:16] like that. The power level thing that I

[52:19] mentioned, but for the most part, it's a

[52:21] relatively straightforward system that I

[52:22] don't feel like is super difficult to

[52:24] get your head around. Really, most of

[52:26] the fun for combat for me comes with

[52:28] itemization and the things you can do.

[52:30] As I've also already mentioned, there's

[52:32] stuff like the red hand, which lets you

[52:34] just twoshot various enemies, even

[52:36] bosses included, which is really fun.

[52:38] There's the stuff you can do with

[52:40] Barring Death Door and Salvation of

[52:41] Time. There is a actually there's a bug

[52:44] with an item called I think it's strand

[52:46] of favor, which lets you like

[52:47] indefinitely stack like durations of

[52:50] effects and things, which is also kind

[52:52] of fun. And so while combat can be this

[52:54] really simple thing that you just get

[52:56] good equipment and automate it with,

[52:57] there's also this deeper layer if you

[52:59] choose to go looking for it, especially

[53:01] on higher difficulties where you find

[53:03] like all these like little interactions

[53:04] and things you might not necessarily

[53:06] think about and how they can benefit

[53:08] you. But then of course there's how that

[53:10] functions normally and then there's how

[53:12] that functions during like say Barath's

[53:14] combat challenge where combat doesn't

[53:15] end until those enemies die. Under

[53:17] normal circumstances, however, combat

[53:19] ends when you get far enough away from

[53:21] an enemy. And early game on higher

[53:23] difficulties, this is actually really

[53:25] useful because something you can do is

[53:26] just kite enemies away from where they

[53:28] start and some of them usually won't

[53:30] make it. And so you can kind of separate

[53:32] groups of enemies to make them a little

[53:33] more manageable just as a matter of like

[53:35] slightly more divide and conquer, if you

[53:38] will. If you don't like the companions

[53:39] or the classes or abilities they have on

[53:41] offer, you can go either respspec them

[53:44] or just hire mercenaries that you can

[53:46] make on your own and add them to your

[53:48] party even though they won't necessarily

[53:49] have any interactions. You can also use

[53:52] items from your pockets to do things

[53:53] like summon in creatures or set traps,

[53:57] which leans into stealth a little more.

[53:59] So outside of all of that, uh you also

[54:01] have active and passive skills where you

[54:04] can do all sorts of stuff with them

[54:06] really, but like something you can do,

[54:07] for example, is set traps for enemies to

[54:10] walk into and potentially damage them

[54:12] that way. Stealth is present. I don't

[54:14] like combat stealth personally, but

[54:16] non-combat stealth is super easy to take

[54:18] advantage of because of the way line of

[54:20] sight works. Stealing things via stealth

[54:22] is extraordinarily easy. Probably a

[54:24] little too easy to be honest. But if you

[54:26] want to like say pickpocket characters,

[54:27] you're going to want a high stealth and

[54:29] slide of hand. And you can do all of

[54:30] that. And those are things you can do to

[54:32] initiate combat from stealth. And you

[54:34] can even uh use stealth and item called

[54:37] spark crackers to redirect enemies and

[54:40] cause them to investigate things, which

[54:41] is another way you can approach things

[54:42] via like divide and conquer strategies,

[54:45] if you will. And so, uh, strangely

[54:47] enough, I guess the main point I want to

[54:48] get across in the combat section is

[54:51] really just that I think Deadfire is a

[54:54] rare game that actually embodies the

[54:56] saying of easy to learn, hard to master.

[54:59] There is nothing particularly

[55:00] complicated about Deadfire's combat, but

[55:03] there is so much depth there if you go

[55:05] looking for it. And as you probably

[55:07] know, if you watch a lot of my CRPG

[55:09] videos, I love some mechanical depth.

[55:11] And short of just like going class by

[55:13] class and talking about individual

[55:14] things or effects, I think that's

[55:16] probably the best broad overview I could

[55:18] give you without getting a little too

[55:20] bogged down in the details. So, next up,

[55:22] we're going to talk DLC. Dead Fire

[55:24] ultimately got three DLC. One I don't

[55:26] like very much and two that I think are

[55:28] very cool. So, the one I don't like is

[55:29] Seeker Slayer Survivor. This is a

[55:32] basically arena DLC where you can take

[55:34] on various combat challenges via an

[55:36] island called Kazuari and its arena, the

[55:39] Crucible. The story here is all right,

[55:42] but the main thing here is just combat

[55:44] challenges in the form of various arena

[55:46] fights. They're okay. Ironically, I

[55:49] think they're easier to do in the

[55:50] Ultimate than they are to fight

[55:52] normally, which is kind of funny, but I

[55:54] don't know. This one just never really

[55:55] spoke to me. I will say next, uh, Beast

[55:57] of Winter is my favorite. I love this. I

[56:00] think Rimmerand is just like a really

[56:01] cool god and character, and this DLC

[56:04] focuses on him a lot. You get an

[56:06] invitation to a place called

[56:07] Harbingers's Watch, which is an ice flow

[56:10] that has been expanding lately, and

[56:11] you'd like to find out why after getting

[56:13] a mysterious invitation from who turns

[56:16] out to be Vatir, a sidekick and

[56:18] recruitable character that you can take

[56:20] through this DLC. Because at the heart

[56:22] of this DLC is a dragon that is escaping

[56:25] through a portal to the beyond known as

[56:28] the white void, the realm of Rimmergand,

[56:31] the god of entropy and oblivion, which

[56:33] is why this ice flow is expanding. And

[56:36] it's just a really cool DLC that focuses

[56:38] in on some really great lore like around

[56:40] St. Widwin and the old Hana

[56:42] civilization. It's also got some really

[56:44] cool fights and there's some unique

[56:45] interactions. And while this is not like

[56:47] canon in any sense of the word, it also

[56:50] provides a potential solution for what

[56:52] to do about the watcher, especially in

[56:54] the face of like all the reincarnation

[56:56] stuff that happens. If there's ever a

[56:57] Pillars 3, I have no idea if we'll still

[56:59] be playing the Watcher of Cadua, but

[57:01] they have sort of built themselves in a

[57:03] little off-ramp here via Beast of Winter

[57:06] if they choose to take it, that is. But

[57:08] I love this DLC. It's again my favorite

[57:11] personally. I just thought it was very

[57:12] cool. And then there is Forbidden

[57:14] Sanctum. Forbidden Sanctum deals with

[57:16] Whale and the Titans. You see, when the

[57:18] gods manufactured themselves into gods,

[57:22] at one point they made the Titans,

[57:23] bodies they could walk around the world

[57:25] of Aora with, they eventually decided

[57:27] this was a bad idea and abandoned it.

[57:29] But the bodies can still be found. And

[57:31] that's kind of what's at the heart of

[57:33] the Forbidden Sanctum DLC. The body of

[57:35] Whale, the god of mystery. At the same

[57:38] time, you get to interact with the hand

[57:40] occult, which makes it its job to try to

[57:43] make things obscure and unknown. And so,

[57:45] you can get all this lore that's like

[57:47] slightly wrong and of questionable use.

[57:49] As Whale seeks to distribute

[57:51] disinformation about all sorts of stuff,

[57:53] you get to involve yourself in the

[57:55] Council of Arch Magi. And there's also

[57:57] some really cool fights and some really

[57:58] unique set pieces that are here as well.

[58:01] So, Forbidden Sanctum is cool and an

[58:03] enjoyable experience, worth experiencing

[58:06] if you like the rest of the game, of

[58:08] course. That however finally brings us

[58:10] to the Steam Deck section before we

[58:11] start wrapping this up. Uh, just in case

[58:13] you were curious, this game is

[58:14] considered playable on the Steam Deck,

[58:16] and that is due to the text size and the

[58:18] lack of controller support. I will say

[58:20] the lack of controller support is a

[58:22] little strange, as this game is

[58:24] available on consoles, but does not have

[58:26] controller support via Steam for some

[58:29] reason. As a result, you'll need to

[58:31] configure the controls on the Steam Deck

[58:33] if you want to do that. But if you're

[58:34] willing to jump through those hoops, it

[58:36] plays fine there, just so you are aware.

[58:39] But that brings me to the positives and

[58:41] negatives and then my conclusion. So, on

[58:43] the positive side of things, if you

[58:45] couldn't tell, I just love the world of

[58:47] Aora. The lore of this place and like

[58:50] the back and forth and the situation

[58:52] between the gods, the mortals, the messy

[58:55] nuance that goes into the themes of

[58:57] colonization that saturate every game in

[59:00] this series. And while I absolutely

[59:02] understand that some of the presentation

[59:04] is a little dry and not for everybody,

[59:06] for me, I love this stuff. It's

[59:08] actually, I would go so far as to say,

[59:10] one of those instances in which I love

[59:12] the lore even more than I love the game

[59:14] itself, even though the game is pretty

[59:15] fun. The other side of it, though, is

[59:17] really just like the depth beyond the

[59:19] surface level. Like, if you choose to

[59:20] dig in, there's just so much interesting

[59:22] stuff to discover, so many little

[59:24] details and little things that this game

[59:25] gets right. And that if you go searching

[59:28] for them, I think they stick with you.

[59:29] And it's just one of those games that

[59:30] over time has even grown on me more and

[59:33] more thanks to all these little things

[59:35] you can discover and ways to play and

[59:37] mastery over individual systems and

[59:39] going back and trying like a different

[59:41] playthrough with this individual

[59:43] combination of things, that kind of

[59:44] stuff. I think it also just makes a ton

[59:46] of improvements that make it a more

[59:48] playable game than the original. Even if

[59:50] I understand the people who prefer the

[59:52] tone and everything from the first game,

[59:54] there are nonetheless some negatives.

[59:56] Obviously, this isn't my favorite CRPG

[59:58] that I've talked about over the years,

[1:00:00] and that's for a variety of different

[1:00:01] reasons. Uh, one of which is the very,

[1:00:04] very short main story. A little too

[1:00:06] short, to be honest with you. 90% of the

[1:00:08] game, I would say, is really more side

[1:00:10] content than main story. But the flip

[1:00:12] side of that as well is that you get

[1:00:14] this cliffhanger ending that

[1:00:15] unfortunately I don't know that we're

[1:00:17] ever going to see a resolution to. It's

[1:00:19] been 8 years since this game launched,

[1:00:21] and uh, it's not looking good, all

[1:00:22] things considered. If you've been

[1:00:24] watching the news, as far as the

[1:00:25] industry is concerned, my hopes are not

[1:00:27] high for A Pillars 3. And you have like

[1:00:29] this incredibly interesting thing that

[1:00:31] would be the obvious focus of Pillars 3,

[1:00:33] and I just don't know if we're ever

[1:00:35] going to get it, and it drives me crazy,

[1:00:37] and I don't love that. Another uh

[1:00:39] honestly kind of nitpicky negative is

[1:00:40] the pathfinding can be rough. Uh on the

[1:00:43] world map, especially, sometimes you uh

[1:00:45] will be traveling and then your ship

[1:00:46] will just stop. Even if you set course

[1:00:48] for somewhere via the menu or even just

[1:00:50] clicking on it, the ship is just like,

[1:00:51] "Actually, no thanks." and it just

[1:00:53] completely stops and then you got to go

[1:00:54] in and make it move again. And that can

[1:00:56] happen on regular maps as well.

[1:00:58] Sometimes characters just become

[1:01:00] unresponsive and don't want to go

[1:01:01] anywhere. That can certainly be very

[1:01:03] frustrating. There's that stuff with the

[1:01:05] companions I mentioned where it really

[1:01:07] feels like they should have more

[1:01:08] involvement than they do and they again

[1:01:11] tried to help that out a little bit with

[1:01:13] the uh recommended companions for

[1:01:15] quests. you get the most interactions,

[1:01:16] but even then it kind of feels like

[1:01:18] they're not chiming in as much as they

[1:01:19] should. Especially when you're often

[1:01:21] bringing like the direct competition via

[1:01:24] faction representatives into enemy

[1:01:26] headquarters and sometimes they'll

[1:01:28] comment on that, but there are other

[1:01:29] times where you're like, I really feel

[1:01:30] like you should be saying something and

[1:01:32] they just don't. They will eventually

[1:01:34] leave if you commit to like other

[1:01:35] factions and stuff, but even then it

[1:01:37] just feels like a little off in places,

[1:01:39] which isn't helped along by the fact

[1:01:40] that uh your main companions really only

[1:01:42] have one quest and only a couple of

[1:01:44] those quests are even substantial. Like

[1:01:46] Sarapins, for instance, is super short.

[1:01:48] But ultimately, that brings me to my

[1:01:50] conclusion, which I realize might come

[1:01:52] as an astounding shock to some of you,

[1:01:54] but generally, yes, I obviously

[1:01:56] recommend this game. In fact, I think

[1:01:58] there are very few games I have beaten

[1:02:01] as thoroughly as Dead Fire. It's not a

[1:02:03] perfect game by any means, but it's got

[1:02:05] just a ton of fantastic details. I think

[1:02:07] it's a huge improvement over the

[1:02:09] original in all the ways that matter to

[1:02:11] me personally. And while it certainly

[1:02:13] has its shortcomings, I by and large

[1:02:15] think it's an incredible game set in an

[1:02:17] incredibly interesting world. And I

[1:02:19] think it would be a really big shame if

[1:02:21] we didn't see any more games set in the

[1:02:23] world of Aora. But even if we don't, I

[1:02:26] still hope people wind up playing uh

[1:02:28] Pillars One, Pillars 2, even Avowed and

[1:02:31] appreciating what this world was all

[1:02:32] about. Appreciating all the tiny little

[1:02:35] details that I think often go unnoticed,

[1:02:37] like the fact that all the enemies

[1:02:39] technically drop different types of

[1:02:40] currency that the game helpfully sorts

[1:02:42] out into the single currency that you

[1:02:44] actually use on the trading screens, for

[1:02:46] example, just as a way to help

[1:02:48] differentiate their various cultures

[1:02:50] that I talked about. But I suppose I

[1:02:52] will close with this. As I'm sure many

[1:02:54] people watching this are aware, Pillars

[1:02:56] of Eternity 1 and 2 have never been my

[1:02:58] favorite CRPG. I've been pretty upfront

[1:03:01] about that. Gameplaywise, I have

[1:03:03] certainly played better and more

[1:03:04] interesting games that I honestly think

[1:03:07] if we ever do see Aillars 3, it would

[1:03:09] need to do something to try to contend

[1:03:11] with in the hopes that it actually sold

[1:03:12] well. But one thing that has forever

[1:03:14] stuck with me after playing these games

[1:03:16] and why I made so many lore videos about

[1:03:18] it and why I'm making this video and why

[1:03:20] I talk about them every chance I get is

[1:03:22] that there is something truly special

[1:03:24] about the world of Aora that I think is

[1:03:26] worth continuing and worth building on.

[1:03:29] I don't know what the future of this

[1:03:30] franchise holds. Pillars 3 seems less

[1:03:33] likely by the day. A vowed 2 seems

[1:03:36] possible, but I got to be honest with

[1:03:37] you, I just don't know how well that

[1:03:39] would do financially. But what I do know

[1:03:41] is that the world of Aora is one of a

[1:03:45] handful of games where the setting and

[1:03:48] the world building has sort of

[1:03:49] transcended just what it is in video

[1:03:52] games to me. And so if you wind up

[1:03:54] playing this or any of the Pillars games

[1:03:55] or a vowed even and any of that speaks

[1:03:58] to you even half as much as I've enjoyed

[1:04:00] the world, then I would certainly love

[1:04:02] to hear about it. But I do think that's

[1:04:04] where we're going to wrap up this

[1:04:05] particular video. If you enjoyed all of

[1:04:07] that rambling, by all means like,

[1:04:09] comment, subscribe. all that YouTube

[1:04:11] jazz. On the off chance anything happens

[1:04:13] with The Pillars universe in the future,

[1:04:15] I will certainly be covering it.

[1:04:16] Otherwise though, I typically just

[1:04:17] review games. But regardless of any of

[1:04:20] that, truly just thank you so much for

[1:04:22] watching. I really do appreciate it. May

[1:04:24] you wander in wisdom and have an amazing

[1:04:27] day.