Yeah, I don't really buy any of that, and it's not been a major theme in criticisms of the game. Also, the gunpowder and conquistadors are literally in POE1, and they're no more minor/major here than they were there. Claiming they appeared in POE2 is bizarre in the extreme.
I've seen loads of criticisms of POE2, from the reasonable to the nonsensical, but the vast majority center on the plot being insufficiently compelling, or not liking the gameplay (even whilst acknowledging that it is better than POE1).
That's really weird historical revisionism. It's straightforwardly anti-factual. Pillars of Eternity kickstarted in 2012, DOS1 didn't until 2013. End of story. I assume you thought that because DOS came out sooner than Pillars, it started development first? it didn't.
Furthermore, DOS isn't a "successor" to those games. It doesn't play like them on any level. Literally nothing is the same - it's weird to even make the connection. DOS is somewhat similar to Ultima 6/7 and arguably to Fallout 1/2. You could argue it was a successor to those games. But to BG/IWD? No. DOS' big selling points were that it was turn-based, that it was ultra-interactive (i.e. objects can be moved, damaged, set on fire, etc.), and that it was designed from the ground up as a two-player experience. That was pretty exciting. But that wasn't all "It's the new Baldur's Gate!".
I'm honestly wondering if you actually played either POE game, or the BG or IWD games. Given you used the word "yeet" non-ironically, you're presumably under 30 or so? Have you actually played any of these games for more than like, an hour?
There's opinions, and then there's just being ridiculous. Literally one of the criticisms you made of POE2 there is valid - the length of the story. Everything else is just laughable, given you're praising PF:KM. Gameplay particularly. PF:KM's gameplay is, on almost every level, absolutely terrible.
The sad thing is there are plenty of reasons to criticise POE2, and plenty of things to praise in PF:KM. You just only found one of them for POE2 (your "shifting rulesset" claim is particularly nonsensical), and none of them for PF:KM.
Hey if you don't want to see my point, you don't have to. If PoE1 is anywhere close to Pirates of the Carribean and Conquistador themed to you in comparison to PoE2, well okay, perception varies.
Read again, you seem to have missed he point.
"RTWP was more or less dead in fantasy RPGs till DOS. The old hallmarks of BG, Icewind Dale, NWN had all been RTWP so a successor was assumed to continue that tradition till one game could prove otherwise."
Doesn't have anything to do with what started development firust. I'm saying until PoE1 or even PoE2 was released and got critical acclaim as well as good sales numbers, anyone trying to make a CRPGs and playing it save would have made it RTWP.
If you want to make the claim that Multiplayer is the big driving force behind DOS and at the same time refuse to entertain the possibility that a pirate theme had negative impact on PoE2, I don't know what to tell you.
Use of 'yeet' is indeed ironic and stand in for a nono word I'm apparently not supposed to use on this joint. So my 30 year old bottom is merely trying to follow the rules with a bit of creative freedom, since sentence enhancement words of the F kind aren't possible.
The ad hominem poke is a bit bat taste, but okay I'll entertain you. Never played BG1 or DOS1, got like 100 hours in BG2, PoE1, PoE2, DOS2, 300ish in PF:KM (not because it's better, just because it drags, still haven't gotten beyond Act 4 or so in a playthrough). Also have like 500 hours in Battle Brothers and something approaching 3000 hours spend on XCOM1 Long War. My yes I do enjoy a good turn based combat simulator and acknowledge I might be pretty partial on the matter.
So while I'm definitely on the same side about PoE>PF:KM in mechanical terms, hard disagree on PoE being the better game(s). That's about statistically impossible. Looking at the terrible mess of a launch PF:KM had as well as the backing of their respective studios, PF:KM can't be a worse game in the public's eyes. Something like 20 points less metascore and a much smaller studio/publisher behind it, yet similar sales.
The Metascore is probably undeserved by now - Owlcat have fixed about all the bugs and performance issues they could find after launch. The whole team appears pretty dedicated, so I'd expect some fun to be had in their 2nd game when they're not busy with learning on the job.
While I personally reaaally don't like the combat mechanics of 3.5 with even less restrictions, I do think PoE generally has the better combat system, better graphics and better UI. Yet somehow PF:KM is able to keep up with less polish, smaller marketing budget and possibly smaller brand promoting it (Owlcat/Pathfinder vs Obsidian and established PoE Universe).
Looks to me that overall people think PF:KM is the better RPG and I'm inclined to agree it felt more immersive. You get to make a lot of choices in PF:KM, while they almost exclusively don't have much of a long term impact, they usually hit towards the end of each act and do a good job about making them a tough call in the moment. Painting the trolls in act 2 as sentient creatures in Act 2 comes up as an example where the RPG aspect shines. You can still go full murderhobo and exterminate them all or put in the extra work to spare as many as you can.
The alignment system and conversation options tied to it are straight up garbage and massively limit your choices though.
Anyway BG3 trailer looks neat. More demo gameplay in a bit and possibly Beta in August? Heck yeah.
Watching the announcement on Saturday made me fire up DOS2 again. Definitve Edition really is a noticeable upgrade over the basegame overall. Turns out it's pretty easy to manage things on Tactician the 2nd time around, took me forever to beat that Act 1 Dragon on the first run. Still not a fan of the armor system or how Teleportation breaks half the "puzzles", still more enjoyable than the first time around.
