Is this game better than PoE1 - Story/Writing/Character wise?

[Slayer Seraph]

Hey
So me and my brother are deeo into PoE1. Having basically finished with the main game ( expect the final act of no return). And just finished White March pt1.
I've heard many opinions saying WM Expansion is better written with a better story and pacing than POE1 main base game. But I didn't have that experience and impression.

We are fairly bit disappointed from the game story, writing and characters overall.
WM1 was basically going through dungeon crawling sections, and "they are coming!", "We have to hold them off!" visions of dead dwarves over and over. It started repeating itself fast and frequently.
And it was basically the ENTIRE story behind The Battery.
That and "who or what attacked then and why" mystery.

It's been done to death, not only in other stories and media but also HERE in POE1 main game several times! Such as Endless Paths and some of the Engwithian Ruins (can't spell it). And the whole souls to inhabit constructs / empower others - was also done to death several times over in POE1 main game !
It almost felt like one big deja vu of the entire game combined with cliche fantasy stuff.

Ao in other words the Expansion didn't feel much better like others say- than the main game. Even game play wise it was very lacking and much easier, with no satisfying item rewards too.
So we are nor overly excited with the not so memorable story, and rather poor pacing (sometimes rushed and forced, sometimes too slow and dragging).
I'm really hoping the Expansion gets better on Part 2 because otherwise the game will leave us with a sour taste.

Next up is the writing.
Which we find really inconsistent and underwhelming.
Even dialogue choices often feel like all of them are distasteful and not something I would ever say to a person, nor any role I'd like to inhabit. Many of the dialogue lines/options are edgy, too jerk-like or just dumb.
The writing often fails to impress when everything is on the line, and when it should matter it doesn't click.

Characters are just... Shallow or annoying as hell. More than 80% of the party characters are annoying. 99% of them are just extremely cynical.
Even when meeting the freaking gods they were all full of edge, cynicism and moving attitude. Which was almost universal and uniform and was totally out of place. Broke the immersion like crazy.

The only ones we like are Eder, Aloth, Kana, maybe Zahua (although he's too dopey) And they are still rather dull and shallow and boring most of the time.

No line, scene, dialogue or interaction is as memorable as Baldur's Gate 2 for instance.

Also the random Fbombs are just totally jarring, cringe worthy and awkward. Silly.

It feels like the game was written by numerous writers, few are talented, and no coordination between each other. Leading to inconsistent levels of enjoyment.


So I'm asking this, if we didn't overly like and enjoy the story, characters and writing of the 1st game - is the 2nd game better in those aspects?

And what's different about PoE2 - other aspects: gameplay, quests - etc?
Are these better or worse?

[Slayer Seraph]

Just wanted to add that I have tons of hours into PoE1 and I personally do like the game. But overall fairly disappointed by it in pretty much all aspects.
This is coming from a Baldur's Gate fan from the 90s and 2000s that played the games when they released, and has strong fond memories of them.
I've come with great expectations to PoE seeing it as a heavily inspired, spiritual successor kind of game.

[thornelemental]

People will say story is sheet in general but imo its average. Story in poe1 is better and longer but some quest are full of fluff which made it annoying for party characters like you said.
Story in poe2 is more immersive and shorter but better in quality. Main story is direct, short and nothing impressive but it will make you think of what is right or wrong. If you play the main story only you'll miss like 70% of the content including dlc.

What's better is the sidequests, the characters, companions, they can show more of their personality by having more voice acted lines. Side quests in poe1 where its all text heavy including companion quests but in poe2 its more condensed and all voiced acted(well 80-90%). Some sidequests also have that no wrong or correct choice but both have consequences that can influence the ending slides and what will happen to these islands in general.


Combat mechanics are better in poe2 than poe1. I'd say sound and graphics are better in 2 too. What's disappointing is that instead of the castle management we get the ship management and text based ship combat and story is too short. Its an improvement from poe1 but its not groundbreaking.

[phantommail]

Satisfying item rewards ? In POE ? I was using the same gear ( with occasional enchants ) for the half of the game. I had like 250k+ worthless gold and giant pile of worthless equipment in the end. Thats why i have finished it only now ( except of mage tower dlc because i dont need even more junk ) And that's why Kingmaker is much better. I mean your kindgom is almost worhtless too but at least it there.

And nothing is so "memorable" in BG2 anyway. I mean i do remember Minsk and boo and that dark elf hottie but this is it. Last time i played it more than 10 years ago )

[Slayer Seraph]

Originally posted by thornelemental:

People will say story is sheet in general but imo its average. Story in poe1 is better and longer but some quest are full of fluff which made it annoying for party characters like you said.
Story in poe2 is more immersive and shorter but better in quality. Main story is direct, short and nothing impressive but it will make you think of what is right or wrong. If you play the main story only you'll miss like 70% of the content including dlc.

What's better is the sidequests, the characters, companions, they can show more of their personality by having more voice acted lines. Side quests in poe1 where its all text heavy including companion quests but in poe2 its more condensed and all voiced acted(well 80-90%). Some sidequests also have that no wrong or correct choice but both have consequences that can influence the ending slides and what will happen to these islands in general.


Combat mechanics are better in poe2 than poe1. I'd say sound and graphics are better in 2 too. What's disappointing is that instead of the castle management we get the ship management and text based ship combat and story is too short. Its an improvement from poe1 but its not groundbreaking.

Thanks for that.

I know this may be unpopular here, but we consider playing Divinity Original Sin 2 EE next instead of PoE2.
It sounds like it may have better story, writing, characters, dialogues, quests, gameplay and world too.
We couldn't get into DOS 1 though.

[thornelemental]

Originally posted by Ransom Seraph:

Thanks for that.

I know this may be unpopular here, but we consider playing Divinity Original Sin 2 EE next instead of PoE2.
It sounds like it may have better story, writing, characters, dialogues, quests, gameplay and world too.
We couldn't get into DOS 1 though.

I've always wanted to try out DOS series just cant get into it because of the non humanoid races and the cartoony graphics. I've heard good things about it but also that its not balanced. I like the combat mechanics in poe series because of how many builds you can make and looks a lot more balanced thats comparing only from how little ive seen in dos.

And kingsmaker is the most extremely unbalanced crpg game recently lol

[phantommail]

Combat in DOS 10 times better and enjoyable for me Beating the game with 4 mages ( no summoners ) on hardest difficulty when almost everyone was crying about weakness of mages was very satisfying
As for balance - there is some issues with it in any game.

[init4thelulz]

This game is a master piece.

[psychotron666]

Originally posted by Ransom Seraph:

Originally posted by thornelemental:

People will say story is sheet in general but imo its average. Story in poe1 is better and longer but some quest are full of fluff which made it annoying for party characters like you said.
Story in poe2 is more immersive and shorter but better in quality. Main story is direct, short and nothing impressive but it will make you think of what is right or wrong. If you play the main story only you'll miss like 70% of the content including dlc.

What's better is the sidequests, the characters, companions, they can show more of their personality by having more voice acted lines. Side quests in poe1 where its all text heavy including companion quests but in poe2 its more condensed and all voiced acted(well 80-90%). Some sidequests also have that no wrong or correct choice but both have consequences that can influence the ending slides and what will happen to these islands in general.


Combat mechanics are better in poe2 than poe1. I'd say sound and graphics are better in 2 too. What's disappointing is that instead of the castle management we get the ship management and text based ship combat and story is too short. Its an improvement from poe1 but its not groundbreaking.

Thanks for that.

I know this may be unpopular here, but we consider playing Divinity Original Sin 2 EE next instead of PoE2.
It sounds like it may have better story, writing, characters, dialogues, quests, gameplay and world too.
We couldn't get into DOS 1 though.

The only thing dos does better than poe is combat. Story and everything else in dos ranges from mediocre to bad.

Poe 2 has a far superior world, companions, characters, dude quests, dialogue and overall writing. The story isn't as engaging as the first one, but the game is constructed around the world and side quests than it is the main story.

Poe 2 is my favourite Rpg of all time now, with turn based combat added, up there with fallout new Vegas, baldurs gate 2, arcanum, fallout 2.
Dos 1 and 2 are fun, especially combat, but they are nowhere near on that list as the games I mentioned.

BTW, I'm also someone who didn't enjoy the white March dlcs. The overall lore they add is alright, but it was just combat dlcs of killing mobs of enemies with an already exhausting combat, and really made no sense story wise to be going off doing.

The dlc in poe 2 are leagues better imo, and not just relying on hours more of trash mob combat like white March to extend gameplay (except one dlc is literally just arena boss fights, but easily skippable, and not just trash mobs over and over again). One dlc even has potential to change the ending of the main game.

[Slayer Seraph]

Originally posted by psychotron666:

Originally posted by Ransom Seraph:

Thanks for that.

I know this may be unpopular here, but we consider playing Divinity Original Sin 2 EE next instead of PoE2.
It sounds like it may have better story, writing, characters, dialogues, quests, gameplay and world too.
We couldn't get into DOS 1 though.

The only thing dos does better than poe is combat. Story and everything else in dos ranges from mediocre to bad.

Poe 2 has a far superior world, companions, characters, dude quests, dialogue and overall writing. The story isn't as engaging as the first one, but the game is constructed around the world and side quests than it is the main story.

Poe 2 is my favourite Rpg of all time now, with turn based combat added, up there with fallout new Vegas, baldurs gate 2, arcanum, fallout 2.
Dos 1 and 2 are fun, especially combat, but they are nowhere near on that list as the games I mentioned.

BTW, I'm also someone who didn't enjoy the white March dlcs. The overall lore they add is alright, but it was just combat dlcs of killing mobs of enemies with an already exhausting combat, and really made no sense story wise to be going off doing.

The dlc in poe 2 are leagues better imo, and not just relying on hours more of trash mob combat like white March to extend gameplay (except one dlc is literally just arena boss fights, but easily skippable, and not just trash mobs over and over again). One dlc even has potential to change the ending of the main game.

Our concerns is that we, for the most part, didn't find the story of PoE 1 engaging, motivating or captivating at all. Most of it is not memorable and disconnecting.
We also didn't find any of the characters like-able, pretty much. As in not relating, connecting or loving any of the characters presented, nor impressed by the villains or npcs.
We also didn't find the world very inspiring or interesting, for the most part.
And overall I agree with really mobs fights. Really disappointing too.
The people of the DLC village and 99% of the characters in the main campaign story are also uninteresting.
The writing, quest resolutions, and dialogue Options (sometimes), are not very pleasing either and lack weight and impact in important points.

The overall plot world, characters and delivery ISN'T gratifying, thrilling, entertaining and something to talk about fondly for years...

But you say the story in 2 is even worse...

So unless these all changed radically for the better in POE2 - then I'm looking for another major disappointment.
If it is vastly different - then I'd be more interested.

I hope you get my point here.

Edit:
I know this is off topic kinda, but I already mentioned DSO2 as a possible candidate to fof the next game instead of POE2. (Still debating it). But what about Dragon Age Inquisition? Never got to play more than a few minutes. Especially story, world and characters wise.

[psychotron666]

If those are your problems with poe, than dos is gonna be even worse disappointment. The game is basically lacking any character depth or story depth at all. It's just a fun Rpg combat game, but shallow in basically everything you listed off, and far worse than poe in all those regards.

And all I mean about poe 1 story being better is the main story has more mystery surrounding it. Poe 2 story isn't the main meat of the game.

Everything else, character depth, side quests and dialogue are much better in the second game. Like I said, poe 2 is my top Rpg ever, poe 1 doesn't even make the top 10 list for me. That's how much better the second one is imo.

[Ixoliptis]

Characters are definitely less interesting than the previous installment, for me Xoti is the only interesting character from the "new cast".

Story-wise it's pretty good, the theme is completely different than in the prequel (less about mysticism and more about colonial politics) but it's enjoyable.

When it comes to writing, it's same quality as in the prequel, with the added bonus of fully voiced dialogue if reading isn't your cup of the tea (having said that, I always believed that fully voicing the dialogues drained resources away during the development of the game, which could be used in other aspects of the game to make it even better).

PS: the DLCs add some quality content to the game (like in the prequel), both story and gameplay wise (and many challenging encounters), you shouldn't pass them.

[thornelemental]

Originally posted by Ransom Seraph:

Our concerns is that we, for the most part, didn't find the story of PoE 1 engaging, motivating or captivating at all. Most of it is not memorable and disconnecting.
We also didn't find any of the characters like-able, pretty much. As in not relating, connecting or loving any of the characters presented, nor impressed by the villains or npcs.
We also didn't find the world very inspiring or interesting, for the most part.
And overall I agree with really mobs fights. Really disappointing too.
The people of the DLC village and 99% of the characters in the main campaign story are also uninteresting.
The writing, quest resolutions, and dialogue Options (sometimes), are not very pleasing either and lack weight and impact in important points.

The overall plot world, characters and delivery ISN'T gratifying, thrilling, entertaining and something to talk about fondly for years...

But you say the story in 2 is even worse...

So unless these all changed radically for the better in POE2 - then I'm looking for another major disappointment.
If it is vastly different - then I'd be more interested.

I hope you get my point here.

Edit:
I know this is off topic kinda, but I already mentioned DSO2 as a possible candidate to fof the next game instead of POE2. (Still debating it). But what about Dragon Age Inquisition? Never got to play more than a few minutes. Especially story, world and characters wise.

I do agree that characters in poe1 are bland and boring to the point i just skip the lines or not even do their quests

ALL characters and important npcs in poe2 have their own accents, personality, quirks, which makes them all stand out on their own. Problem is their companion quests is not as extensive as id like it to be and not all have companion quests. Characters in poe1 only gets voice lines in their intro lines or the first few ones so that part is a massive improvement to actual good execution of lines(not just generic voices)

So characters are more memorable but the story itself isnt memorable; side quests are more engaging in terms of choosing an evil or lesser evil choice or choose nothing and just attack them by yourself. Everything is better except the story but the game does not focus on the story which makes it condensed and direct which is better than trying to increase the word count just to make it longer which imo poe1 did if that makes sense to you.

[THE_RaBiD_CanuK]

I liked the story in the original PoE, and PoE2 has a similar, but more expanded, vibe. So if you didn't like the original, then you will probably feel similar about this one. Although, if you liked Baldur's Gate 2, then this game feels much larger than the first PoE, kind of how BG2 felt huge.

Divinity has much more mediocre characters and story than PoE. Divinity has fun combat, but the actually roleplaying isn't as expansive as PoE in terms of choices and character development. I found the characters and story mostly unmemorable. It wasn't bad, just not as good as PoE.

[phantommail]

Yea , POE story is not "gratifying, thrilling, entertaining and something to talk about fondly for years..."

Its not like BG and BG2 stories were as dull as you can get and only one crpg that actually have non-generic story and high quality writing is Planescape : Torment.

First impression is always the strongest one )

[Slayer Seraph]

I grew up on and loved Baldur's Gate series - when the games were brand new and exciting
Especially the 2nd game and it's expansion.
It was extremely memorable and influential for me, developed my love for DND and role-playing, and I have to thank those hardcore text games for speed teaching me English, back when I was on elementary school before anyone knew English in my school, and when me and my brother had to decipher the the extremely high level language with thick hardcover dictionaries.

I find BG extremely memorable.
And I only played it perhaps 1.5-2 times. Once in my childhood, and later when I was in the army/late teen iirc:
Gorion's teaching and death.
Seravok tossing that it's Baal Spawn from the Balcony - which is a hint for the 3rd game story (aka the Expansion of BG2)
Which imo is FREAKING BRILLIANT - to tie uo to something 2 game later basically. (That there are not 2 but many Baal Spawns, and they fight for survival in last child standing).
The beauty of the Promenade.
The dark gritty dungeons you start in 2.
The amazing voice of Irenicus.
The majestic Eleven city on the tree tops.
The Red Dragon fight in the cave.
The deal with the Silver Dragon in the
The Shadow Dragon in the ruined tempel.
The voices and stories of Aerie, Imoen, Minsc, Jaheira.
The taking sword.
The delicious shady slippery Saemon Havarian.
The Shadow Thieves
The lich behind the painting in the tavern.
Thr Demi Lich in the sewers.
The huge beautiful buildings in the City of bg2.
The Ending.

I can go on forever. Are you sure it's not memorable and just dull?
I remember it vividly, clearly and fondly.

However, I barely remember many stuff I did in my PoE prolonged playthrough.

Edit: well, obviously a lot is forgotten or jumbled/confused to memory. That's just how the mind works, and it's been a very long time since I played them. So I don't remember ever detail so sharplyz but remarkably recall lots of specific details, events, sounds, music, etc.