It’s worth at least giving it a try. My opinion is far from consensus. P2 is for the most part just a retelling of the Haruspex route with (VERY welcome) improvements, so you really won’t be missing out on anything plot-wise.
I’ve heard people say it’s better to start off with Bachelor because it’s more grounded but I really don’t think it’s necessary. You’re just gonna learn about some of the more exotic aspects of the universe before the more mundane ones.
To chime in on the user creation thing:
I think it’s a natural part of decentralization that it’s harder for a single instance to get big enough to be the “go-to” for general users.
Having said that, I also think this will naturally happen over time. As long as the mechanical aspects of sign up are simple, it’s just a matter of users of a given instance to promote their instance.
World events also always play a role in encouraging a move to freer waters. Look at what happened with Mastodon and Bluesky (though Bluesky imo is just a big snooze button on a blaring alarm)
As far as writing is concerned, they’re both amazing. I do think P1’s mechanics are a little too janky, though some argue that just adds to the uneasiness and oddity of it. Personally I think it makes it a little inaccessible for most.
Wish it ran decently on my machine.
P2 was a life changing experience.
For me, it has been a process of accepting that we can’t handwave actual opposing worldviews by talking about intelligence.
I know people who aren’t “smart” by most definitions, but who still have a lot of empathy and kindness. On the other hand, I have peers who I consider geniuses in their interests and fields, but with whom I struggled to find common ground politically.
It’s more useful to look at values. I can agree with most people in my life on the broad strokes. It’s when we get bogged down with micropolitics that fights happen.
I still think the public reaction to Luigi Mangione was a prime example of how people actually agree about a lot in this country, but frame it differently.
Hopefully this actually leads to something lasting, but I don’t have high hopes considering how Europe is getting dragged atm
Paper notebooks.
I fully believe we’ve come full circle in that technology was intended to sort out the mess of physical documents, bookkeeping etc, but now is inherently messier by itself and you should go back to pen and paper.
It really depends on the age of the sender.
30s and younger: Fairly dismissive response. Not outright insulting but pretty rude.
40s and older: genuinely meant as an earnest acknowledgement of your message.
Definitely give it a shot! If you’ve been gaming for a long time, you might not mind it.