Super excited for PoE 2, but the writing seems to be getting.... awfully cliche

PoE's original writing/voice acting was some of the best I'd seen in any game/movie/story ever back when it was just 3 acts and Dominus was the final boss. Everything the Gemling Queen said was pure gold, Nessa was great, "God saw fit to drown my father. I was taught God loved me... well he's got a funny way of showing it, doesn't he?" and much much more. Act 4 was pretty good too with Malachi's dialogue, and the forsaken masters had a lot of amazing stuff to say.

At the time, the main competitor was Diablo 3, where the writing felt like a cliche scooby-doo cartoon. I figured the difference stemmed from Diablo being a corporate product riding the coattails of its predecessors, while PoE was made by three passionate individuals in a garage.


Unfortunately, in the lastest PoE 2 trailers, while the gameplay (which, of course, is 99% of what matters) is looking absolutely amazing, the writing feels like it was created by a hired team just trying to get the job done.

"Are you ready to fulfill your destiny?"

"I will end it, and no exile will stop me!"

And the voice acting amplifies the issue with its over dramatization.

Oh well, just as long as they don't have someone say "And now you will taste my TRUE POWER!"

Am I alone in thinking this?
Last edited by KZA on Aug 20, 2024, 7:15:28 PM
Last bumped on Aug 23, 2024, 1:21:58 AM
Could be more in ya face approach story wise in PoE 2 with less souls like lore fragments despite it mechanically being more similar to that genre.

But it could also be like PoE 1 again and the trailer is just meant to set the general setting what the exiles are fighting.

From the looks necromancy/undead ,some eldritch and Vaal again. Maybe Zana's nightmare came true and some entities escaped. Could also be remnants of the Immortal Syndicate or a mix of both.
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Last edited by gandhar0 on Aug 20, 2024, 7:56:12 PM
Blame the players for that. 8 out of 10 people playing POE will outright tell you "story? Who cares, let me blast...."
Unfortunately, people are devolving. They need spoon fed stories, anything easy to catch and digest, otherwise they're not interested.
From what I've seen of POE 2 so far, GGG is determined to bring the game to the "masses", and as a side effect the story and lore will take a massive hit. The "masses" need Diablo IV (mediocre and cliche as all hell) type of story to care.
"
lupasvasile wrote:
Blame the players for that. 8 out of 10 people playing POE will outright tell you "story? Who cares, let me blast...."
Unfortunately, people are devolving. They need spoon fed stories, anything easy to catch and digest, otherwise they're not interested.
From what I've seen of POE 2 so far, GGG is determined to bring the game to the "masses", and as a side effect the story and lore will take a massive hit. The "masses" need Diablo IV (mediocre and cliche as all hell) type of story to care.


someone's paid absolutely no attention to storytelling in gaming the last 10 years

Path of Exile's problem is it somehow provided even less story than the souls games despite having 10x more dialogue. Most of PoE 1's dialogue is fluff. You piece together more from Dark Souls 1 item descriptions than you do in Path of Exile which sorta tried the same thing but was even, somehow, more vague.

telling an actual story is not spoon feeding an audience. it's meeting expectations. we'll see if PoE2 has one or not but PoE1 is not a great example of good storytelling (in my mind)
"
Imaginaerum wrote:
"
lupasvasile wrote:
Blame the players for that. 8 out of 10 people playing POE will outright tell you "story? Who cares, let me blast...."
Unfortunately, people are devolving. They need spoon fed stories, anything easy to catch and digest, otherwise they're not interested.
From what I've seen of POE 2 so far, GGG is determined to bring the game to the "masses", and as a side effect the story and lore will take a massive hit. The "masses" need Diablo IV (mediocre and cliche as all hell) type of story to care.


someone's paid absolutely no attention to storytelling in gaming the last 10 years

Path of Exile's problem is it somehow provided even less story than the souls games despite having 10x more dialogue. Most of PoE 1's dialogue is fluff. You piece together more from Dark Souls 1 item descriptions than you do in Path of Exile which sorta tried the same thing but was even, somehow, more vague.

telling an actual story is not spoon feeding an audience. it's meeting expectations. we'll see if PoE2 has one or not but PoE1 is not a great example of good storytelling (in my mind)


I call it skill issue. I have never had any problems figuring out the story in POE. It's obvious if you just read what is provided, and it also leaves a bit to the imagination; mystery is quite nice in stories.
The problem is not the story/lore of POE 1, it's people refusing to read the story. Just reading/listening to the NPCs you get about 60% of it, you just fill in the rest from the environment and you have an idea of what's going on.
I don't know when it started, but stories have gone downhill in all forms of media. Everyone wants the same exact formula, with clear explanations, and obvious conclusions. We have a mind, let's use it.

All this is a personal opinion, so feel free to not agree. I've always been a fan of outside the box type of stories and experiences.
to be honest, i wouldnt mind a fully cliche/corny dialogue for games that i like.

popcorn as corny as it is, can be an enjoyable snack
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"
exsea wrote:


popcorn as corny as it is, can be an enjoyable snack


Now THAT'S good writing.
"
KZA wrote:
PoE's original writing/voice acting was some of the best I'd seen in any game/movie/story ever back when it was just 3 acts and Dominus was the final boss. Everything the Gemling Queen said was pure gold, Nessa was great, "God saw fit to drown my father. I was taught God loved me... well he's got a funny way of showing it, doesn't he?" and much much more. Act 4 was pretty good too with Malachi's dialogue, and the forsaken masters had a lot of amazing stuff to say.

At the time, the main competitor was Diablo 3, where the writing felt like a cliche scooby-doo cartoon. I figured the difference stemmed from Diablo being a corporate product riding the coattails of its predecessors, while PoE was made by three passionate individuals in a garage.


Unfortunately, in the lastest PoE 2 trailers, while the gameplay (which, of course, is 99% of what matters) is looking absolutely amazing, the writing feels like it was created by a hired team just trying to get the job done.

"Are you ready to fulfill your destiny?"

"I will end it, and no exile will stop me!"

And the voice acting amplifies the issue with its over dramatization.

Oh well, just as long as they don't have someone say "And now you will taste my TRUE POWER!"

Am I alone in thinking this?


I've been playing for years and I still only have a loose understanding of what's going on.

Ain't no one got time for dat
"
lupasvasile wrote:

Unfortunately, people are devolving. They need spoon fed stories, anything easy to catch and digest, otherwise they're not interested


This isn't true, especially when it comes to story. If its done well, with good VA, and either canon or tight lore people respect and enjoy it.

Expectations set the stage. PoE's lore and sound are... decent, but the story, characters, and VA are quite subpar. People don't care because it often seems as though the devs don't much care either.

I'm not even being critical really, because it's in line with what the players expect, which isn't much for PoE.

If you step back and look what has been, and is, going on with the PoE "story" it's not only crazy but a bit laughable. That's certainly not on the players, but in fairness we don't demand better.
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
- Abraham Lincoln
Last edited by DarthSki44 on Aug 20, 2024, 10:14:46 PM
My main issue is that the voice actors speak too slowly. It draws out the dialogue and is testing my patience every time. Prime example: the Envoy. Talk faster man!

I don't mind story and voice acting, but the whole 'speak. slowly. otherwise. some. people. might. not. be. able. to. follow.' is very annyoing - especially since there is also scrolling text.

And ofcourse I do hope they avoid story cliches and such. They are cliche for a reason, so don't do them.

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