Pillars of or relating to Eternity, with unmarked PoE1 spoilers abounding
Poorochondriac
Ah, manAh, jeezRegistered User regular
Ah, manAh, jeezRegistered User regular
Seems like we've a fair amount of people dipping their toes into the waters of the former Black Isle, so it's time for a Pillars of Eternity thread.
A traveler stops you on the road. He asks you what Pillars of Eternity is.
A vision overtakes you - no, a vision becomes you. You have the memory that Pillars of Eternity is an isometric RPG from a lot of the same folks that made such classic RPG series/games as Baldur's Gate, Fallout, and Planescape: TORMENT.
You are overcome with the knowledge that these motherfuckers might know their shit.
A voice floats in from the corners of your mind. Or from within you? There is a voice, and it echoes in your head; that's what matters.
"What's it play like?"
With a mouth that isn't your own, but somehow feels like it is, you (or an other-you?) says, "It's an old-school, party-style RPG. It defaults to real-time, but you can (AND NEED TO) pause at any time. Tactics are deep, and they are flexible. Creativity is rewarded, and impertinence is punished."
Another voice bubbles up from the earth, or your ribcage, and you aren't sure which. It asks, "What's the story like?"
You, or the memory of you, responds, "Good. I don't... I can't fuckin' tell you too much about it. But it's good, alright? Just trust me on this. There were gods, and some of them got blown up, and souls are a finite resource, and... Look. I told you I can't tell you too much about it. But it's super cool."
You feel a tremor in the air, the presage to a thunderstorm. And a new voice, a voice in a harsh, thick tongue, rings out. "Let's talk about Pillars of Eternity, y'all! Mind your fuckin' spoilers!"
WARNINGS FOR NEW PLAYERS:
Never ever ever double-click an item to equip it. For some dumb fuckin' reason, this will break your game. Badly. Click and drag and nothing but.
Never read the backer-written tombstone epigraphs. They range from "immersion breaking" to "actively toxic," and it is in no way worth sifting through the chaff to find the handful of wheat.
A traveler stops you on the road. He asks you what Pillars of Eternity is.
A vision overtakes you - no, a vision becomes you. You have the memory that Pillars of Eternity is an isometric RPG from a lot of the same folks that made such classic RPG series/games as Baldur's Gate, Fallout, and Planescape: TORMENT.
You are overcome with the knowledge that these motherfuckers might know their shit.
A voice floats in from the corners of your mind. Or from within you? There is a voice, and it echoes in your head; that's what matters.
"What's it play like?"
With a mouth that isn't your own, but somehow feels like it is, you (or an other-you?) says, "It's an old-school, party-style RPG. It defaults to real-time, but you can (AND NEED TO) pause at any time. Tactics are deep, and they are flexible. Creativity is rewarded, and impertinence is punished."
Another voice bubbles up from the earth, or your ribcage, and you aren't sure which. It asks, "What's the story like?"
You, or the memory of you, responds, "Good. I don't... I can't fuckin' tell you too much about it. But it's good, alright? Just trust me on this. There were gods, and some of them got blown up, and souls are a finite resource, and... Look. I told you I can't tell you too much about it. But it's super cool."
You feel a tremor in the air, the presage to a thunderstorm. And a new voice, a voice in a harsh, thick tongue, rings out. "Let's talk about Pillars of Eternity, y'all! Mind your fuckin' spoilers!"
WARNINGS FOR NEW PLAYERS:
Never ever ever double-click an item to equip it. For some dumb fuckin' reason, this will break your game. Badly. Click and drag and nothing but.
Never read the backer-written tombstone epigraphs. They range from "immersion breaking" to "actively toxic," and it is in no way worth sifting through the chaff to find the handful of wheat.
Poorochondriac on
+19
Posts
it's good
edit, oh why
uh... because obsidian made it and it's basically bg3, without needing to hinge on nostalgia
It's basically a Baldur's Gate/Icewind dale , just for the new generation of systems/interfaces.
Has yet to not get more intriguing the deeper I get into the story as well, and is doing such a slow build it's not overwhelming either. ( I think I found a side quest a touch too early, 5 floor dungeon , increasing in difficulty, got the first 4 just barely, but final floor
Oh, and you also get great writing
In your "Journal" tab, there's a section for your character's biography. It fills in text about the background you chose, about the major plots that happened to you. Pretty standard stuff.
BUT
You'll get into conversations with people. Sometimes with strangers, sometimes with party members. And they'll ask you about your past. You have a myriad of options, and whatever you choose, it's woven into your personal biography. You are defining your character, permanently, in the things you tell people about yourself.
I chose to be a former merchant, for instance. And somebody asked, casually, why my merchantry was "former." My response was woven into my biography; something that should be a part of me was treated with the permanence it deserved.
Dope. As. Hell.
Talk to me about the interface because I mostly hated Baldur's Gate because I was like 10 years too late to the party and trying to do things in it was agonizing.
That sounds awwwwwfully cool.
That these choices are permanently recorded is very cool
If you feel you actively hated BG, then you might not like this game either, although I have to say it is probably (most certainly) one of the best RPGs to come out in the last years
But please feel free to keep dropping reasons why it is so great.
My biggest beef with BG's interface kinda tied into its AI. Your companions were IDIOTS, and you had to micromanage them to death. Set them to a spot, get them in position, and then combat starts and they rush into the path of your wizard's fireball. Maddening.
In this one, companions don't do SHIT until they're being actively hurt. At which point, they start attacking their aggresor. Super cut and dry.
You can select your whole party with the stroke of the backspace key.
You can-- get this-- speed up the animations of everything on screen with the press of one key. If you've already explored an area, fuckin' fly through it by hitting "D." So slick, so easy, so perfect.
It's an interface reminiscent of the old shit, but slick and functional and aware of what you probably want to do.
Because the combat and narrative design are hardcore as fuck
Well mr wizard npc I guess you're learning to steal things
You can also slow down with s, there's also Ctrl + # for quick select's of just a few party members, and your usual mouse click and drags also work, the interface is great, and I still haven't even really played with half of it
Ya my Cipher started with a fairly high lore, then I get that wizard and he's all one point higher so my cipher is all "Fine screw you and your book learning, I'mma learn to open stuff then jerk!"
I watched a little of the PAX demo and it seems like it may take some practice to get really proficient at playing it, but that's not a big deal.
Probably gonna get this one of these days here. Thanks guys.
Reputation
My default playstyle in RPGs is, "Take every quest, help every person, turn down every reward, steal everything that isn't nailed down, sleep with literally everybody I can." In almost every game I've played, this slots me as "Chaotic Good" and calls it a day.
Here, you build reputations for aspects of your personality. I've got a few notches in Benevolent, a couple in Diplomatic. That they differentiate between benevolence and diplomacy is a lovely friggin' surprise.
I'm currently hoping I get to score a few points in Promiscuity, but we'll see just how flexible the morality system is
I'm one of the Paladins that has passionate and clever as their focus so that has been fun so far.
Because everything I've heard so far sounds pretty darn great, but I'm afraid in practice I might get bored pretty quickly like I did with Divinity.
Steam ID - VeldrinD | SS Post | Wishlist
Takes down tough enemies and their buddies like a champ.
The writing is much more engaging than in Divinity
One thing I like about pally is that I get bonuses to all defenses from faith and conviction. So if I act outside my faiths accepted behaviors, I lose those bonuses. I still have all my abilities, but I'm not protected by faith. If I adhere to them, the bonus gets better.
Sidenote super spoiler for the intro.
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
I kept playing divinity for as long as I did because I enjoyed the combat, but as it went on that got old and I couldn't give a shit about the story and writing. So far the world and story of Pillars has me hooked. The combat is good too, but even if it weren't I think I'll be seeing it through until the end.
And if you've already explored an area, chances are you haven't fully explored the area. Probably half of the magic items I found in my first six hours of the game were in hidden containers that you can only see as interactable while sneaking. Being able to hit D to toggle on double-time makes searching already-expored areas in sneak mode actually worthwhile rather than tedious. (It also helps if you reassign tab from "hold down to show interactables" to "press to toggle showing interactables on/off".)
I'm not that deep in yet, but it looks like it can get to FF tactics levels of available party, but it also looks like there'll be uses for extraneous party members, via quests/tasks/errands and such.
its downloading now
isometric view
But its very, very clearly based on the black isle dnd games
Yep, this is why I never finished Divinity.
Really hopeful this one will hook me more solidly