PoE: The White March - Reviews

Rock, Paper, Shotgun share what they think about The Pillars of Eternity expansion The White March, Part 1.

If you found the combat in the main game to be a touch unnecessarily difficult (no, stop you – you, the person who says it was too easy on the hardest setting – first, no one believes you, second, shush), then I’m afraid you won’t be less frustrated here. I couldn’t help think that the original Pillars would have been a twenty hour RPG if it didn’t make every encounter with a group of indentikit bads into a painstaking battle. This is the case here too, and while for the most part the uninterested can switch the difficulty down to Easy to let such fights become matter-of-fact, there are some encounters that are way out of proportion.

PCWorld likes it.

The fact is, The White March Part One is good fodder for those coming in fresh and a fine addition for those looking to replay, but isn’t compelling enough on its own for you to come back to Pillars of Eternity if you’ve already finished the game.

Again, that might change with the release of Part Two. The ending of Part One hints at greater repercussions for your actions in Durgan’s Battery, and I’m curious to see whether the second half leans a bit harder towards tying the expansion to the main story—or at least ups the stakes. But for that, we’ll have to wait to find out.

Gaming Nexus give it a score of 8.8

For those Pillars of Eternity fans in desperate need of new game content, The White March - Part 1 is a great first expansion that comes with a wealth of varied content. The part 1 aspect of the title shouldn't put off fans either as the expansion doesn't end with any sort of disappointing cliffhanger or such, it truly feels like a complete package. The majority of content is entertaining to play, especially the focus on the discovering the secrets that lie within Durgan's Battery. Players that can overcome the expansion's high difficulty level will find an entertaining time, while those that enter with low level characters are sure to encounter some frustration.

MMORPG feel it is worth a9

Overall, The White March adds a lot of new awesome to an already excellent CRPG experience. Original Kickstarter backers get The White March part one (and eventually part two) for free, while it’s only $15 on Steam for non-backers. For the 20 or so hours you’ll get at that price, if you liked Pillars to begin with, this purchase is a no-brainer. Even if just for the excellent story of Durgan’s Battery alone, it’s worth every penny. Just be ready to fight, because this content isn’t a stroll in the park and I don’t think Obsidian would want it any other way.

More information.

Original Kickstarter backers get The White March part one (and eventually part two) for free…

I thought you had to contribute extra to the original KS in order to get the expansions?

Yes. I kickstarted at the minimum amount for the game only. Later, when I as sure the game would ship, did I add the 10 or 15 bucks to get the "expansion" directly on the sponsor portal.

Edit: Amazing how bad the grammar in a really short post can be. Fixed.

Nice to hear that it seems to be pretty challenging content. That is a good sign.

I blame spelling checkers and thumb keypads.

i think ill wait on a sale for these DLCs. i ll probably play wasteland 2 first once the new ver comes out. maybe DOS, but i doubt they fixed immersion )

Originally Posted by rjshae
I thought you had to contribute extra to the original KS in order to get the expansions?

You had to (or use the backer portal for the add-on) unless your tier is over $165.

Yikes. I skimmed the first review and it's pretty harsh. I'm going to play this once everything is released and patched. Really liked the few hours I spent with it.

Yes, some of the additions sound pretty nice, particularly the soulbound weapons and individualized stealth. Presumably the last is now available to everybody?

I wonder if the second expansion will also add companions?

So far the user reviews have been fairly positive. No comments on the price point; I paid the $20 during kickstarter but will wait for part 2 to play. I want to replay the entire game and there is so much available (or soon to be available) that somewhat time limited
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The games on my current list include
witcher 3 - started but then stopped while they patched
ds-ee - played prior to the the two new companions. Was a blast but then decided to wait for more patches and then the EE version
wasteland2 - played once early in the patch cycle - completed but tons of bugs in the second 1/2 - will play a second time when the director cut comes out in october
shadow of morrodor - bundle had a special for $15 for the entire game plus all dlc
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lots of other stuff. Fallout 4 looks really interesting but I think i will play all of the above first and pick it up next year Arrggg and I forgot about xcom - too many games. Then there is rebel without a galaxy and about 50 gazillion other games. I think there are too many games way too many. Btw I was mixed on POE when I played - i mean i finished the entire game but some-how it felt a bit lacking. Maybe the 2.0 patch improved things a lot ?

Does this added content scale in some way? I'm considering playing the base game again, but I don't want to do the expansion content until part 2 is out. So, unless it's doable after you complete the main game, I'll likely wait.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Does this added content scale in some way? I'm considering playing the base game again, but I don't want to do the expansion content until part 2 is out. So, unless it's doable after you complete the main game, I'll likely wait.

If you are over the base level for it (level 7) you get a pop-up that ask you if you want to scale the expac content to your level.

Originally Posted by azarhal
If you are over the base level for it (level 7) you get a pop-up that ask you if you want to scale the expac content to your level.

Ah, that sounds pretty good.

Do you know how the multiclass talents work?

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Do you know how the multiclass talents work?

They are smaller version of class abilities, some apparently scale with levels going by this thread.

Originally Posted by azarhal
They are smaller version of class abilities, some apparently scale with levels going by this thread.

Hmm, seems like a very bad implementation of multiclassing.

I guess I just need to live with the underwhelming character system.

According to this, the following will be in the base PoE game with the update:

• You can now set your companions to use AI so you don't have to spend as much time managing their actions. Each class has special AI packages that are unique to those classes and we will be added in additional AI packages in the future. The AI for enemies has also been improved.
• Party members can now go into individual stealth. This allows some part members to be stealthed while other members are not. This is particularly useful in positioning party members for upcoming battles or sneaking by small groups of enemies.
• You may now retrain your party members to modify their attributes, skills, and abilities. Now you can try out new builds quickly and easily.

…which is good. Not the official word, of course, but it makes sense.