@dmmacniel@feddit.org
The point is, the system readily supports more casual -- more chill -- play, which is something that the subreddit in particular often openly argues against. And that chill play can highlight a lot of strengths of the system that the core player base seems to totally ignore. Indeed, it rectifies a lot of issues that people keep bringing up about "useless" feats, spells, and items.
To quote myself:
What I've really found, too, is that having a game that is less tuned allows the players to play their characters. To choose feats, spells, and actions that are harmonious with those characters, and with their canon experiences had at the table. And, importantly, it's made a lot of those "useless" feats, spells, and bits of gear useful. It provides them a real place in the game, because they're being used to express the character, not just optimize their combat loop.
Moreover, it allows the system to breathe. The game provides a lot of systems, guidance, suggestions, and ways to resolve situations or actions. If you're redlining the game all of the time, these things become the experience. The player becomes focused on figuring out what resolution mechanic they want to trigger, and the decision making process boils down to pushing the right buttons at the right time. There's no room to express things in anything but the clearest, most mechanical language.
But the game doesn't need to play that way. The Actions and resolution mechanics can be pushed entirely behind the screen, and treated as part of the game engine. Just as you don't need to know about how, say, Doom 2 renders a map, about sectors, sector boundaries, sector effects, the 2D nature of the game, etc. to sit down and play it, you don't need to be cognizant of Actions and Activities, the distinction between Stride and Step, etc. to play Pathfinder 2. But if you're speed running on Nightmare difficulty, the technical elements of the engine become important.
The unfortunate thing is, most online discussion about the game is focused on the equivalent of Nightmare speed runs.
This is unfortunate specifically because the discussions in the largest online communities focused on the game make the game seem very rigid, rather than very flexible. It makes it seem like the game doesn't support a beer-and-pretzels table, when, in fact, it supports that kind of play very well.
It just also supports other kinds of play very well, too.
