![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sidewaysSome four years after the first adventure, I've finally dived into Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, meaning a welcome return to the world of Eora, the existential tangle of the Wheel and the Watchers, and of course the travails of my chipper priest of a very naughty god, Neus.
Featuring 'classic priest' and 'I'm a healer, but...'
It is always nice to slip into Neus' shoes - she's probably the most steadfastly paragon PC I have in my retinue outside of my extremely blue Commander Shepard, even if the setting doesn't always reward her for it. She's friendly and she's sweet, so there is never any need to concoct elaborate reasons why she is participating in sidequests, and no fear she'll alienate too many companions.
Of course some years have passed, and the harrowing events of the first game left their mark. I would never call Neus jaded, but only because it is a state of mind she actively refuses. She has grown only more so a creature of On Purpose: I love you on purpose, I choose kindness on purpose, I make my promises and my sacrifices with my nonexistent eyes entirely open. It's just an attitude fuelled a little less by stubborn idealism these days, and a little more by 'so suck my big toe'. That's not altogether a bad thing - she is less shaken by misfortune and failure than she used to be, and less morally indignant about the existence of hard, imperfect decisions. She is also willing to be a touch more circumspect with the truth, though she still won't tell a lie, which has improved her ability to be diplomatic.
But she's quieter, too, and less trusting. Less determinedly optimistic. There's a layer of duty to her priesthood that wasn't there before the events of PoE. Her strongest stat is Resolve. And her faith... is a complicated thing.
I've had fun trying to capture some of these changes in the gameplay. Deadfire introduces multiclassing for the first time, and it made sense to me for several reasons that Neus would no longer be a pure 'priest'. After a lot of hemming and hawing I eventually settled on cipher as her second class, which I'm handwaving as an extension of her Watcher abilities that I guess she's been honing over the last few years. It's a decent complement! Meanwhile the flail remains a favourite weapon because a lifetime of training is a lifetime of training, but I'm open to branching outside of it.
All in all, looking forward to seeing where this new story takes her! Further ramblings below:
• Deadfire wouldn't recognise my old game saves but at least they have the extremely thorough 'design your own history' option. It was still a pain in the ass because I'd forgotten most of the names and had to sit there for half an hour googling sidequests to remember how I completed them.
• So between being 1) a Priest of Eothas, 2) a death godlike who made her bargain with Berath in the last game, 3) the child of Vailian merchant sailors, and 4) a Watcher with all that entails? Pretty sure Neus takes one look around Deadfire and then stares down at herself in resigned horror because there is no way she is not the main character of this story, again. I can only laugh. I did not actually intend to make her so deeply linked to everything in the plot.
• I don't know if the game will allow me to capture exactly how Neus feels about Eothas - a mix of "I still believe in these values and will hold to them fiercely, and the Eothasian faith is as useful an umbrella for expressing that as any" and "that's My God and after what I learned that makes him My Responsibility in a very literal way and so help me I will drag him down here for a scolding by his giant adra ear". The rituals and traditions are still comforting in their own way, and she still... respects the purposes and abilities of the gods, I guess, but damn if these kids don't need a bit of check-and-balance.
• She's also still not at all keen on animancy after PoE 1, lmao. That may end up offending someone.
• Eder! ;A; Aloth!! The Steward!!! It's been such a long time and my feelings are warm. Where was my 'leap into their arms for a hug' action option, huh? It exists in my heart. I did appreciate that early conversations amounted to, "So you're still neck-deep in world-shaking weird things and inclined to collapse at the drop of a hat, eh?" "[from the floor] Oh, you noticed."
• ADORED getting to once again bully Aloth almost immediately. I believe he's romanceable in this game, and part of me is curious because I enjoy romances with history and I'm sure it would be sweet, but at the same time it's hard to get around how familial Neus' feelings are towards him and Eder. They're her brothers! On the flipside, I believe Pallegina will not be romanceable, which is just rude. Still couldn't say Neus would for sure gravitate that way, but it's at least more likely.
• Not entirely sure how I feel about Xoti just yet. She's endearing in some respects, but she also feels very in the vein of FNV's Veronica and Outer World's Parvati, and there does come a point where you want to knock on Obsidian's window like, hey... do something different. It's far too early in the game to cast much judgement, though, so we'll see.
• Was not actually expecting the game to remember Neus stole a sidequest baby near the very end of PoE1 - LOOK she was VERY TIRED and more than a little delirious by that point - so I did a proper spit-take to find said baby, now a child, as an NPC crew member. Dear gods. We actually kept her.
• Everything is so pretty. Oh my goodness. I'm really liking the upgrades they've made to the UI so far, though I'm still a bit rough around the edges with my combat strategies. Mostly I let the AIs do their thing and concentrate on being killer support.
• Where are the pets? I have yet to acquire a single one and this is an OUTRAGE.
• I'm going to assume Snowy the spider died of old age before the start of Deadfire ;__; Farewell, little friend.
Featuring 'classic priest' and 'I'm a healer, but...'
It is always nice to slip into Neus' shoes - she's probably the most steadfastly paragon PC I have in my retinue outside of my extremely blue Commander Shepard, even if the setting doesn't always reward her for it. She's friendly and she's sweet, so there is never any need to concoct elaborate reasons why she is participating in sidequests, and no fear she'll alienate too many companions.
Of course some years have passed, and the harrowing events of the first game left their mark. I would never call Neus jaded, but only because it is a state of mind she actively refuses. She has grown only more so a creature of On Purpose: I love you on purpose, I choose kindness on purpose, I make my promises and my sacrifices with my nonexistent eyes entirely open. It's just an attitude fuelled a little less by stubborn idealism these days, and a little more by 'so suck my big toe'. That's not altogether a bad thing - she is less shaken by misfortune and failure than she used to be, and less morally indignant about the existence of hard, imperfect decisions. She is also willing to be a touch more circumspect with the truth, though she still won't tell a lie, which has improved her ability to be diplomatic.
But she's quieter, too, and less trusting. Less determinedly optimistic. There's a layer of duty to her priesthood that wasn't there before the events of PoE. Her strongest stat is Resolve. And her faith... is a complicated thing.
I've had fun trying to capture some of these changes in the gameplay. Deadfire introduces multiclassing for the first time, and it made sense to me for several reasons that Neus would no longer be a pure 'priest'. After a lot of hemming and hawing I eventually settled on cipher as her second class, which I'm handwaving as an extension of her Watcher abilities that I guess she's been honing over the last few years. It's a decent complement! Meanwhile the flail remains a favourite weapon because a lifetime of training is a lifetime of training, but I'm open to branching outside of it.
All in all, looking forward to seeing where this new story takes her! Further ramblings below:
• Deadfire wouldn't recognise my old game saves but at least they have the extremely thorough 'design your own history' option. It was still a pain in the ass because I'd forgotten most of the names and had to sit there for half an hour googling sidequests to remember how I completed them.
• So between being 1) a Priest of Eothas, 2) a death godlike who made her bargain with Berath in the last game, 3) the child of Vailian merchant sailors, and 4) a Watcher with all that entails? Pretty sure Neus takes one look around Deadfire and then stares down at herself in resigned horror because there is no way she is not the main character of this story, again. I can only laugh. I did not actually intend to make her so deeply linked to everything in the plot.
• I don't know if the game will allow me to capture exactly how Neus feels about Eothas - a mix of "I still believe in these values and will hold to them fiercely, and the Eothasian faith is as useful an umbrella for expressing that as any" and "that's My God and after what I learned that makes him My Responsibility in a very literal way and so help me I will drag him down here for a scolding by his giant adra ear". The rituals and traditions are still comforting in their own way, and she still... respects the purposes and abilities of the gods, I guess, but damn if these kids don't need a bit of check-and-balance.
• She's also still not at all keen on animancy after PoE 1, lmao. That may end up offending someone.
• Eder! ;A; Aloth!! The Steward!!! It's been such a long time and my feelings are warm. Where was my 'leap into their arms for a hug' action option, huh? It exists in my heart. I did appreciate that early conversations amounted to, "So you're still neck-deep in world-shaking weird things and inclined to collapse at the drop of a hat, eh?" "[from the floor] Oh, you noticed."
• ADORED getting to once again bully Aloth almost immediately. I believe he's romanceable in this game, and part of me is curious because I enjoy romances with history and I'm sure it would be sweet, but at the same time it's hard to get around how familial Neus' feelings are towards him and Eder. They're her brothers! On the flipside, I believe Pallegina will not be romanceable, which is just rude. Still couldn't say Neus would for sure gravitate that way, but it's at least more likely.
• Not entirely sure how I feel about Xoti just yet. She's endearing in some respects, but she also feels very in the vein of FNV's Veronica and Outer World's Parvati, and there does come a point where you want to knock on Obsidian's window like, hey... do something different. It's far too early in the game to cast much judgement, though, so we'll see.
• Was not actually expecting the game to remember Neus stole a sidequest baby near the very end of PoE1 - LOOK she was VERY TIRED and more than a little delirious by that point - so I did a proper spit-take to find said baby, now a child, as an NPC crew member. Dear gods. We actually kept her.
• Everything is so pretty. Oh my goodness. I'm really liking the upgrades they've made to the UI so far, though I'm still a bit rough around the edges with my combat strategies. Mostly I let the AIs do their thing and concentrate on being killer support.
• Where are the pets? I have yet to acquire a single one and this is an OUTRAGE.
• I'm going to assume Snowy the spider died of old age before the start of Deadfire ;__; Farewell, little friend.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-03 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-03 06:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-04 02:43 am (UTC)i love Loving Therapist Priest as a concept (clearly - [points at anathema]) and i think it's so FUN how all of what neus is has intersected with the larger deadfire plot! and god - "eothas, i believe in what you champion but PUT THAT THING [pointing at adra statue] BACK WHERE IT CAME FROM OR SO HELP ME" remains a very funny image
you're so right about xoti :/ i love veronica and i feel very warmly towards parvati but xoti just feels like a less-grounded iteration that has too unpredictable of a coded path... and the companion system of poe2 / how it handles pc-companion and companion-companion relationships doesn't help. this isn't xoti's fault, of course, but i'm not in the mood to re-do obsidian's job for them.
keep us appraised of neus' misadentures :^)!
no subject
Date: 2021-09-04 05:07 am (UTC)Neus did just have a conversation with Woedica that FINALLY touched on the constructs thing, and also suggested some of the gods are hoping the kith outgrow the need for them? Which possibly is a workable route forward for Neus so, hm.
Veronica is best babe and Parvati was fresh enough at the time to be wholly endearing - plus both of them were well-rounded characters whose idealism was tempered by the understanding they still had much to learn, I think? Like both of them jump on board with the PC because they want to see more of the world and grow from those experiences, and then use them to figure out how to shape their ideals. Xoti feels more... childish in comparison. And yes unfortunately the reputation system is kind of clumsy, as we've discussed, and it doesn't help having her be Readily Offended by really basic things you are going to encounter in your adventures lmfao.