Pillars of Eternity

Development

After playing quite a few short games here recently, I sort of wanted to play a full-fledged 50+ hour game. That was when my cousin started playing Pillars of Eternity. I became curious of the game and did some digging. It was a game developed by Obsidian Entertainment. I read up on their history of making Fallout: New Vegas but I did not realize they made other RPG sequels like Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Dungeon Siege III. I played about an hour of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age before dropping them both for their pause mechanic. So I didn't have high hopes of this game either. In the long run, I actually had quite a bit of fun.

Inspired by Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment (two other games I haven't played), Project Eternity (originally Project X) was teased on Obsidian's website on September 10, 2012. It was later revealed on Kickstarter with quite a bit of "stretch goals" depending on how much it was funded. Many of the regions, classes, races were dependent on this. Although after playing the game much of the stretch goals, like player housing for example, could be described as "tacked-on" content that weren't fully incorporated to the core base of the game. They stated that a game like this could never have come about without crowd funding. Yet, an annoying aspect of using crowd funding is the amount of content included that are made by fans. Donating $500 allowed you to add a memorial stone, $1000 allowed you to name an NPC or item, or $5000 allowed you to personalize an inn or enemy. So as you played the game, you would see hundreds of out-of-place tombstones and a couple hundred named characters that did nothing but fill a spot in the world and add fluff narration (White March not included).

The game might have been released on Steam in March 26, 2015 but I found it to be a good idea to wait awhile to see how it fairs. Usually after a year or two all the bugs have been worked out and supplemental material has been released. So by November 15, 2017 Pillars of Eternity: Definitive Edition was released. Figuring out the cost of the game gets a little tricky since the retail price of the original game ($30) and both parts of the White March DLC ($30) is way too expensive. Thankfully Good Old Games (GOG) had the Definitive Edition which includes core game, both DLCs, and the free Deadfire Pack for 50% off the retail price of $40. There has also been plenty of promotional deals where you could essentially get the game for less than that, even free perhaps. Getting the game now also bodes well since you could potentially jump and import your saved game directly to Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire with their most stable 4.0 patch released December 11, 2018.

Story & Difficulty Curve

The story revolves around your character gaining some sort of ability that can access past memories of the people around you. My initial impressions were a little vague for it felt like I entered some form of alternative universe where tons of crazy stuff happened that I knew nothing about. Act I made it sound like a villain went back in time and changed current events and I was the only one who could change things back. I was wrong. Things were as bleak as they appeared and my delirium made things awkward with the locals. Things were getting really interesting as I traveled around, blindly recruiting companions. Act II introduced the political side of things when you venture into the city and learn more about what has been happening in the world. You would think being stuck in a city for 1/3 of the game would be boring but the game was so wonderfully done that I found conversations within the districts to be the most enjoyable part of the whole game. By the time I entered Act III I realized the developers were trying to fulfill their promise of including a 2nd city to the backers. The pacing was off and the fact that you only had to do one of four different requests to finish the game made it a little weird. Then again, there is a lot in the game you aren't required to do.

But where does the White March DLC come into play? Honestly, it is hard to tell. Technically, you can go directly to the area, as I did, and gather up three awesome new recruits right after finding the hidden lair in Act II's Defiance Bay main quest. Those guys will even have optional dialogue within the core aspects of the game. Yet the tone of the area is so different that you might want to wait until just before Act IV (point of no return). That way you can up the scale of enemies (option offered to Act III, Act IV, and both DLCs). Side note: They really should rephrase that notice. I once read by the developers that they never intended people to hit level 12 by the end of the game. I hit the previous level 12 cap by Act III and the DLC cap of level 16 right as I was entering White March, Part 2. Sure there were a few more bugs and the story might have not been the most revolutionary but I found Part 1 to be interesting at the very least.

Then again with all the areas open to me I constantly ran into difficulty issues. Act I was hard in some areas just because I didn't have a full party... as if the game wanted me to hire recruits right away before finding more companions. Endless Paths was difficult until around level 8 (except for the final encounter just below the rock pile). The Master Below, Crägholdt Bluffs, and the Battle of Yenwood were all delayed until I was around level 14. It is extremely nice how there are no timed quests. Weapons, class abilities, and talents never really mattered when it came to capability. Your success depended on your party's dynamic and standard equipment. This meant selling every non-unique weapon and armor and buying every non-weapon and armor a store had to offer. Retraining, resting, items, hiring, building your stronghold, and pretty much any other menial tasks were all relatively cheap compared to exchanging equipment. Deadfire's soulbound equipment came early in the game but at a heavy financial burden. I never really upgraded equipment but merely switched them out whenever I received a new companion. The only time I used food, potions, scrolls, and traps were during tough fights (5% of my playthrough). Summonings were used all the time.

Mechanics & Statistics

The one thing that made this game drastically different than anything else I played was the inclusion of numerous options made available. You don't see certain areas until you "travel" to them. Visiting any exit allows you to instantly travel an area of your choosing. Torches and certain weapons light up the path better at night. People actually converse! They speak their mind, their beliefs, chatter among each other, interject when someone mentions their background, and offer their advice. The circles underneath characters "blink" when talking. For example: Edér Teylecg loves animals so he will say something when you have a pet dog, Itumaak (Sagani's pet) is in the group, or when someone else has an animal companion. The background you choose matters! Your reputation and earlier responses will come up again. Scripted encounters have various options dependent on how you managed your main character. Like in Fallout: New Vegas, you can toggle whether you want all known options, only available options, and what repercussions of those options will be for your character. There are multiple ways to begin a quest and complete one.

Time management is huge. You can fast forward when revisiting areas or slow down during a battle. You can pause every time you find a hidden item, encounter an enemy, have a member of your party die, spot a trap and much much more. You can manage the party's AI, turning them on/off and adjusting what type of abilities they will use in combat. You can only have one type of behavior. You can't make the game do everything! There are interrupt timers, critical strikes, physical defense, mental willpower, and endurance checks. There was a time I lost 4 members within the first two minutes of battle but still won out when my two tanks held their ground for another two whole minutes.

Though it could be said that this is a double-edged sword. Sometimes there are just too many abilities. Priests alone have over 50 abilities (10 in the first tier alone). I hear Aloth can learn up to 100 abilities but he can only use 4 per tier, when found, that cost a small amount, which is lost if you try to retrain him. When you have a scripted encounter - does it check dexterity or athletics, constitution or fortitude, mechanics or perspective, survival or resolve? You have the option to steal but there aren't any negative consequences until you are spotted. The steal icon doesn't go away when you killed everyone or if there isn't anyone in the room. A few of the early quests don't make sense logically - I'm looking at you Ferry Flotsam. Your Stronghold seems completely random and irrelevant to the rest of the game other than the spontaneous adventures that always succeed no matter what party member you send on them. Oh, and they go by "turns" (that advance when you turn in a quest) and not "days". You can build sections off but it isn't like you can store books, leave pets, or hang up weapons; You buy "fixed" backdrops of certain areas with select bonuses and vendors. One additional gripe I had was the fact that you can't change the introductory White March screen back to the original. I had to look up online just to see what the original screen looked like!

Summary

Game time doesn't matter but I clocked at 5 months. Completing about 95% of the quests took me 80 hours. My character was primarily benevolent/passionate, secondary honest/diplomatic. I favored the paladin with barbarian, fighter, priest, and ranger secondary.

Pillars of Eternity excels at narrative, characters, statistics, and class development. At the same time this too is a burden when you get tired of reading events, learning the complexities of combat, and exploring inferior features. If you want a simplistic action adventure where everything is highlighted and explained, this is not for you. If your goal is to create an adventure of your choosing, then you might actually have some fun with this game.

 

12-21-2018