RPGWatch - Pillars of Eternity Opinion Article

[Couchpotato]

Fluent & Aubrielle collaborated on a new article for Pillars of Eternity. Now it must be said this is not a review as Corwin is working on that, and it will be posted in two parts.

As an avid RPG gamer and Wannabe-RPG Developer Extraordinaire, lately when I've been playing RPGs and picturing the game I would like to develop in my mind, I often ask myself an important question of the game I'm playing. It's simply this:

"What is the genius of this game?"

That simple question will cut right down to the heart of any game you can think of. Try it now - ask yourself "What is the genius of Skyrim, Arcanum, Neverwinter Nights, or any game you can think of." You will soon start thinking about those extremely important core elements that stuck with you the most; the things that defined the game in your mind. The genius aspects, if you will.

So, by taking this question and applying it to a game like Pillars of Eternity, I have come up with this answer:

"The genius of Pillars of Eternity, is that it's basically Baldur's Gate 2015."

It's that simple. Pillars of Eternity is one of the purest RPGs since Baldur's Gate. That's more than 15 years for those of you who aren't up on your RPG history. Pillars is a game that doesn't try to redefine the genre. It doesn't try to rewrite the classic RPGs it was inspired by. It doesn't try to do too much that it can't pull off. The sheer genius lies in this simple fact. It is basically Baldur's Gate 2015.

More information.

 

[Couchpotato]

Thanks for writing another good article Fluent & Aubrielle.

We also have more incoming interviews, articles, and a contest/raffle this month. So look forward to a special announcement from me in a few weeks from now.

 

[Ripper]

I can only hope I enjoy it as much. Aubrielle's talk about the mood and atmosphere probably pleases me most of all.

 

[Deleted User]

You're welcome, Couch. It was my pleasure. In the future, Aubrielle and I are going to work on more joint articles like this one, so stay tuned everyone!

 

[Aubrielle]

Thank you so much, Ripper! I hope you enjoy it too!

 

[Luckra]

Great piece (game mechanics for Fluent and atmosphere for Aubrielle). I really like the fact that both of you try to put the game in perspective to other games (BG, Disciples, etc.).

 

[DarNoor]

Very nice read. Thanks for putting that together.

 

[CelticFrost]

Good read thank you for your thoughts on the game.

One question have either of finished the game yet? I only ask as I feel the Pillars started off great but by the end it was very lacking. To the point I didn't even really realized I was finishing the game.

 

[HiddenX]

Good read, but let me put the main statement

PoE is Baldur's Gate 2015

into perspective. PoE is the closest thing you can get in 2015 on a Kickstarter budget that is similar to Baldur's Gate 1. The look and feel is very similar, but the core mechanics are very different!

• PoE avoids hard counters,
• classes are much more interchangeable in PoE than in BG,
• there's no day night cycle that is relevant to gameplay,
• NPCs have no schedule,
• you get no XP for winning fights, nevertheless you reach the level cap before the game ends,
• dual health system that doesn't create excitement, because you can backtrack most of the time and sleep at home
• no surprise-attacks while travelling
• path finding in combat is so bad that you can lose a fight because of it
• tombstones and 'Kickstarter gold persons' feel out of place,
• only a few fights need tactical thinking, even on the hard setting
• there's only one(!) event that changes the gameworld for a short time
• the keep is fun, but somehow disconnected from the main story

PoE is not a bad game, but Baldur's Gate 1 and especially Baldur's Gate 2 & throne of Baal still reign.
PoE could be a better game than Baldur's Gate if they would have created a game that they really wanted to make:

• turn based tactical combat (like D:OS)
• no classes at all (like Spiderweb games)
• creating stress and excitement with the health/rations system by using some respawning and surprise attacks while traveling
• more world changing events and interactivity
• more immersion with NPC-schedules and a day/night cycle that changes gameplay (stealth etc.)

PS: I'm 92 hours into the game in act 3 playing on the hard difficulty setting

 

[ikbenrichard]

Good read, but let me put the main statement

PoE is Baldur's Gate 2015

into perspective. PoE is the closest thing you can get in 2015 on a Kickstarter budget that is similar to Baldur's Gate 1. The look and feel is very similar, but the core mechanics are very different!

PS: I'm 92 hours into the game in act 3 playing on the hard difficulty setting

Normally i start a game on normal diff, but your arguments make me gonna play it on hard.

 

[DArtagnan]

Aub and Fluent?

I'll save it for when I need to get hyped up for a replay!

 

[DArtagnan]

Good read, but let me put the main statement

PoE is Baldur's Gate 2015

into perspective. PoE is the closest thing you can get in 2015 on a Kickstarter budget that is similar to Baldur's Gate 1. The look and feel is very similar, but the core mechanics are very different!

• PoE avoids hard counters,
• classes are much more interchangeable in PoE than in BG,
• there's no day night cycle that is relevant to gameplay,
• NPCs have no schedule,
• you get no XP for winning fights, nevertheless you reach the level cap before the game ends,
• dual health system that doesn't create excitement, because you can backtrack most of the time and sleep at home
• no surprise-attacks while travelling
• path finding in combat is so bad that you can lose a fight because of it
• tombstones and 'Kickstarter gold persons' feel out of place,
• only a few fights need tactical thinking, even on the hard setting
• there's only one(!) event that changes the gameworld for a short time
• the keep is fun, but somehow disconnected from the main story

PoE is not a bad game, but Baldur's Gate 1 and especially Baldur's Gate 2 & throne of Baal still reign.
PoE could be a better game than Baldur's Gate if they would have created a game that they really wanted to make:

• turn based tactical combat (like D:OS)
• no classes at all (like Spiderweb games)
• creating stress and excitement with the health/rations system by using some respawning and surprise attacks while traveling
• more world changing events and interactivity
• more immersion with NPC-schedules and a day/night cycle that changes gameplay (stealth etc.)

PS: I'm 92 hours into the game in act 3 playing on the hard difficulty setting

I have more issues with the game than you do, but I think that's a nice demonstration of how it's only really BG 2015 if you already decided it was going to be.

That said, it does play as close to BG as the fans could have hoped for, pretty much. If not, we have the EE out there too.

Should be enough for fans for a while.

Maybe we can get back to evolution, now. They've conquered the initial obstacles - and are free to innovate a little.

 

[Darkheart]

This really is as close to BG 2015 as you can get. Now that the most severe kinks have been ironed out you can jump in.

 

[DArtagnan]

This really is as close to BG 2015 as you can get. Now that the most severe kinks have been ironed out you can jump in.

If you ignore a lot of things that BG had, that's true.

 

[lostforever]

If you ignore a lot of things that BG had, that's true.

I never played BG1 or BG2 however I am liking PoE alot despite some annoyances with it.

Now the question for you is this, How will you rate BG1, BG2 and POE as if they were released *today*? Are BG1 and BG2 still better than POE even if they are released today.

The reason why I ask is I am really tempted to play BG1 and BG2 before I continue with POE.

 

[lostforever]

I enjoyed reading the article even though both of you are bit too much excited about than game than me!

Like you guys says the game has an excellent atmosphere and its up there with Gothic games. I was surprised by how quickly they established that atmosphere mostly with words and the 2d backgrounds. You can feel the doom and gloom in PoE in your bones right from the start. There is always ominous presence around you. In comparison, take a game like DAI, even with how much money they had for visuals, voice acting etc I never felt atmosphere at all. The world is in danger but you never feel it. The big villain is after you but you never feel his presence or menace. I wonder why that is.

 

[DArtagnan]

I never played BG1 or BG2 however I am liking PoE alot despite some annoyances with it.

Now the question for you is this, How will you rate BG1, BG2 and POE as if they were released *today*? Are BG1 and BG2 still better than POE even if they are released today.

The reason why I ask is I am really tempted to play BG1 and BG2 before I continue with POE.

I can't rate BG2, because I never got far enough into it.

BG, playing exactly like BG 1998 and looking like PoE - would probably get around 6.5 from me, because I think the writing is bad - and I think 2nd Edition AD&D is a pretty boring system. The UI is annoying as hell in terms of inventory, stealth and stuff like that. There's too much filler combat - and it doesn't have the enhanced scripts of BG2 like the EE version does - and it has super crappy pathfinding in dungeons. However, I think BG has better freeform gameplay, it has cooperative multiplayer, and it gives you rewards for defeating enemies that match the challenge of those enemies. It has basic custom scripts, that make a lot of fights flow better than PoE, and it doesn't ask you to babysit your characters.

PoE is, overall, the slightly better game - and though I'm not done with it, I suspect I'll end up rating it around 7/10 - give or take half a point.

BG EE and PoE are probably on par - just about. But it's important to remember that PoE gets points for convenience and modern UI features, like the stash and superior stealth system. I'm not sure if I prefer the PoE mechanics over BG mechanics - but I know that I think NWN/NWN2 mechanics are much better when it comes to character building and progression.

 

[henriquejr]

A great joint article by Fluent & Aubrielle ! A nice, fluid writing !

Congratulations to both of you ! Keep'em coming !

 

[Darius Rivenguard]

Great article! Hoping the game is as good as people say

 

[Deleted User]

Now the question for you is this, How will you rate BG1, BG2 and POE as if they were released *today*? Are BG1 and BG2 still better than POE even if they are released today.

BG1 and BG2 are the pinnacles of RPG gaming for me. BG1 is one of my all-time favorites, and BG2 is up there, although I haven't finished it yet (oops!). All these years later and they are still 2 amazing games to play.

However, I'm not really into saying "this game is better than this one", if I love both games. So, I'll just say that I love BG and PoE, and will leave it at that.

The rest of you can argue about which is better. :lol: