Pillars of Eternity MEGATHREAD (caution: SPOILERS)
FinneousPJ
Member Posts: 6,455
Welcome to the Pillars of Eternity MEGATHREAD.
Please post here everything related to PoE, including (but not limited to) personal opinion, your characters and your experiences with the game. You can also post your own or official reviews, let's plays, videos, etc. Basically, anything PoE goes.
Please post here everything related to PoE, including (but not limited to) personal opinion, your characters and your experiences with the game. You can also post your own or official reviews, let's plays, videos, etc. Basically, anything PoE goes.
Post edited by JuliusBorisov on
3
Comments
I bought the game today, and rolled a (Fire) Godlike Barbarian. I was going to roll a Godlike Rogue or Wizard, but I figured a more straightforward class would be better to learn the game. I really liked the character creation. It's quite in-depth and reminds me of Dragon Age Origins in a good way.
I started the game on hard. I'm now in the first town (Gilded Vale), and it's been quite easy so far. I did have to skip one optional encounter which seemed impossible alone. I'm planning to go back once I find a companion or two.
Overall, I'm liking the game. The combat seems chaotic at times, but I guess I could play around with the auto-pause settings. I kind of wish making a hardcore RPG funded by Kickstarter they made it turn based like Divinity: OS, but it wasn't to be.
I like the different ways the game narrates events. I think this could surpass BG series, but we shall see.
More later
But I hope to be able to share my gaming experience soon!
I just got to the temple under the hanging tree, and I'm convinced without taking another step that I'll need a more fleshed out party before venturing past the first room. This seems to be part of the fun.
Another great feature is that, unlike the Infinity Engine games, the quality of the room you rent at the inn actually nets you tangible temporary stat benefits. It's like they took every function and item that was superfluous in the classics and made them actually mean something. This game is like dying and going to CRPG heaven, and I haven't even ventured past the Gilded Vale.
Heads up, if you're moving your heroes around in combat the same way you move them around in BG or IWD, you're probably getting HAMMERED by disengagement attacks, which is why their dropping so fast. A couple of front line dudes is an absolute must for any party, having one fighter isn't gonna cut it. Also invest in a priest. They're not clerics, but by Hoar's tainted teat, are they useful.
A couple of things I've noticed about PoE is that it's super micro management based. If you're just right clicking a mob and sending your guys in en masse into "attack that target" some of the fights later down the line are going to slaughter you. Even some of the classes (I'm looking at you, Chanter and Wizard and Monk) require constant supervision to ensure that they're being used correctly.
PoE is built on an engine that is the Infinity Engine reforged. In my humble opinion, it handles EVERY aspect of tactical combat better than it's predecessor.
If Divinity: Original Sin wasn't the second coming of Isometric tactical CRPG's, then PoE's certainly is, without a doubt.
What's been presented here is possibly the ultimate isometric CRPG. It's almost blasphemous to say so, but it becomes clearer with every step you take in the game that not only is it just as good as we hoped, it's actually significantly BETTER and may in fact be the best of the lot. It's impossible to deny that at the very least it is on equal footing with any of the titles mentioned above. I mean, Divinity: Original Sin was a really damn good game, a deserving RPG and Game of the Year winner, and Pillars of Eternity blows it out of the water. I already wish there was a Tales of the Sword Coast-like expansion and a sequel to pick up after I'm done, because I'm that into the world they've made.
Edit: I haven't even mentioned the fact, that, aside from the obvious replay options already innate in a game like this, that there is a frickin' DIRECTORS COMMENTARY option that kicks in as you go along if you so desire to go that route one day.
Now, we can only hope that some skilled modders out there will be up for the task of fleshing the playable deity choices out..
The chanter isn't very useful because he has to chant 3 verses before he can use any of his spells and the fight is usually over before he has access to his spells.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/27/pillars-of-eternity-review
9.0 - Amazing "Pillars of Eternity is one of the best RPGs since Baldur's Gate."
+ Excellent storytelling
+ Challenging combat
+ Detailed world
+ Diverse classes
- Dated art style
http://www.pcgamer.com/pillars-of-eternity-review/
92 - A deep, rich, and wonderfully written RPG that lives up to the towering legacy of the games that inspired it.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/editorials/reviews/13681-Pillars-of-Eternity-Review
5/5 - While Pillars of Eternity is certainly banking on a nostalgic fan base, it's still an excellent RPG in its own right. It's a game rich with player agency, giving you tons of control to craft your story or explore different solutions to the presented problems. You know, actual roleplaying not simply a game with a leveling and stat system stapled on.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-03-26-pillars-of-eternity-review
4/5 - "In keeping so close to the Baldur's Gate/Infinity Engine template, Pillars of Eternity can't help but inherit a few old flaws, and it would have been nice to see a bit more personality of its own shine through its carefully traditional design and shell. That said, what most stands out is just how well it manages to modernise the experience of playing those games and stand apart from them as an epic adventure in its own right. It's an RPG with design firmly rooted in nostalgia, but one that absolutely doesn't rely on it to be enjoyable today. Instead, it's both a great reminder of why those games worked so well, and a brand new adventure well worth the hours upon hours (upon hours upon hours) that it takes to pick away at its secrets and its world."
http://www.destructoid.com/review-pillars-of-eternity-289590.phtml
8.5/10 - Great: Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding it back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
http://www.pcgamesn.com/pillars-of-eternity/pillars-of-eternity-review
10/10 - "Obsidian had a daunting task before them: to make a spiritual successor to a series of games that are inextricably tangled up in nostalgia, over a decade after the height of those games’ popularity. This is not the Baldur’s Gate of 2015, it’s Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, the best parts of the lot of them wrapped up in something new and brilliant. And before you venture forth, don’t forget to gather your party."
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/03/26/pillars-of-eternity-review/2/
"It’s a triumph. A wonderful, enormous and spellbinding RPG, gloriously created in the image of BioWare’s Infinity classics, but distinctly its own. A classic in every sense."
Please feel free to add more reviews.
Obviously, if you're not a believer yet like @wubble, reading the reviews with lower scores will probably give you a better idea about the weak points of this game than the 10/10 ones. I can say with quite some certainty no matter what your doubt is, this game is worth your money.
Overall, I'm enjoying the game! It's very Baldur's Gate, but it feels a bit more gritty, and a bit more real (despite the magic obviously). Some of the people I've met feel a lot like I imagine medieval peasants and lords to be. I like the combat/damage system, as it allows you to absorb a few more hits than in D&D, but still makes you feel the affects of attrition (which is something I've really missed in modern RPGs where all health and mana regenerates).
- The merchant in the starter camp gives you really good prices for the stuff you sell. More than it's worth generally. So replace your gear if you dislike it. You can also sell any loot you come across for some good money. The store disappears once you pick up the water skin.
- Remember how it was a bad idea engaging bears on your own at level 1 in Baldur's Gate? It's still a bad idea.
- The first town you get to lets you create additional party members at the inn.
- There are two RPCs in this town, one of them is an elven wizard.
- Pillars of Eternity does not have any rogue RPCs. If you want a rogue in your party, you will have to create one yourself. That said, you do not actually need a rogue either as any class can take the Mechanics (lockpicking/traps) skill as well as Stealth.
-it is difficult in the beginning if you take a wrong turn (a lot of "farm above the Friendly Arm's Inn type areas)
-exploration! You can go places without direction!
-you don't automatically get put in a city with a thousand joinable NPCs, they kind of come one by one for you
-it is hard early, period, even if you avoid some tougher fights. It really feels like someone's "first adventure"
The only part I don't like is the portraits and the voice-acting is a bit meh... I miss having Gorion or Hrothgar or Irenicus to open a game with their epic voices, instead of "random grumpy caravan master who dies two seconds later" (Gorion does too, but at least he is important to your character! and has an awesome voice and a badass death)