And then there was Deadfire

I only planned to replay Pillars of Eternity, but once it was done I couldn't help myself and reinstalled Deadfire (Pillars of Eternity 2).

Despite having played through it twice already this year, there are so many choices to make in this game that I stumbled upon new scenarios in this playthrough. It was the first time I watched Aeldys hanged by Furrante.

I considered going with the Prìncipi this time, but I can't overlook the importance of animancy what with the ending of Deadfire, and the only faction that places the same importance on it is the Vailians, so once again I aligned myself with them when it became time to choose. 

Aloth never left my party and for this playthrough I got even more Aloth romance mods. He still has the worst timing xD I've seen a lot of people complain that Aloth is difficult to gain approval with, but this playthrough he was the first one I maxed out with, even before Edér and Tekehu. Aloth initiated the more than friends dialogue before I had even entered every part of Neketaka for the first time. 

My playthrough this time of both PoE 1 and 2 was an Aedyran aristocrat pale elf wizard who ended up very animancy positive, loyal to Berath, and defender of the Wheel. 

One thing that I dislike is that even if Aloth's companion quest ends with him feeling absolved of responsibility for his actions where the Leaden Key is concerned, he still leaves to continue dismantling them. I get that it's personal for him and he wants to finish what he started, but still leaving even after being absolved doesn't come off as absolution to me. He even admits that he doesn't think he'll succeed because they're too ingrained in the world. What he should do is build a network of spies and infiltrators and go at it from multiple angles. It would allow him a less hands-on approach and maybe even allow him some peace and quiet. Aloth doesn't think it can be done in his lifetime and as an elf, that's a seriously long time. So why the hands-on soloing approach? 

More than ever I want a PoE 3.

Replaying Pillars of Eternity for the second time this year

Third playthrough, all three in the same year. Every time I play the Pillars games I can't decide which one I like the best. When I playe PoE1 I feel like that's the best one, then I play PoE2 and I feel like that's the best one. Both are just too good. 

This time I decided to check out mods, but most of the stuff on Nexus relates to character portraits which I don't really care about. I did get an achievement enabler though and set out to complete the game on Path of the Damned difficulty with console commands as backup in case things got too hairy. The dragons were mad annoying on PotD though... The Llengrath fight took AGES

Just like last time, Aloth didn't leave my party even once. This time, however, I tried really hard to get to know Hiravias better. I still think he's crude and uncouth, but okay, he may be growing on me. Curiously I struggled with Durance's quest this time. It just wouldn't progress no matter how many times I went through his dialogue tree and rested after I completed each of the subquests given by Council of Stars. Then suddenly it just did and I have no idea what made it click. I had a similar issue with Grieving Mother: the prompt where she falls into trance after a rest just wouldn't pop, until suddenly it did. Which was after Durance's thing had popped. idk... I didn't have either of these issues on my first two playthroughs this year. 

There's always such a homey feeling going through Act 1 and 2: the prologue, the wilderness, Raedric's Hold, Caed Nua, Dyrford and Defiance Bay, like all of these places just make me feel nostalgic and content and somehow homesick all at once. I think it's because there's less sense of urgency in Act 1 and 2. Yeah you have your objective and you'd prefer to do it before you go mad, but you have to find out where to look first. So you can set your own pace, because you can't rush finding things out. Then Act 3 comes along and even if you, from a gameplay perspective, are still in charge of the pace and can do whatever you like in whatever order you like, there's suddenly a sense of urgency. Now you know where you're going and who you're after. Once Act 3 starts I always start to feel a little stressed so I leave the Dyrwood and fuck off to The White March for a while, in an attempt to recapture the feeling of the early game (and completely failing, I'm still stressed).

Getting to Act 3 comes with a sense of woe as well, because I never want this game to end, and once Act 3 begins that end is just around the corner. 

I'm still discovering pieces of the lore as I go (mainly from dialogue and events because I suck at reading books in-game), but the more I find out the more fascinating it becomes. I'm still intrigued by the whole souls exist as quantifiable, measurable, and tangible things, and the entire world is influenced by this fact. It's fascinating and intriguing, and after PoE2 and Avowed I can't wait to see where they go with it, and I really, really, really want need a Pillars of Eternity 3. Pretty please? I don't need it to be my Watcher, just a PoE3.