PoE Thoughts/discussion/first impressions of Pillars of Eternity!

Pillars of Eternity
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Hello all! :)

With the embargo FINALLY being over, I'm very excited to start this thread and share my thoughts and opinions on this game with you all! Hopefully this helps some of you who were wondering about the game. I apologize in advance that this is not better written by me, but I just wrote off the top of my head and didn't really edit or make this an article (it's more of a 'first impressions' sort of thing).

Feel free to post first impressions, thoughts and comments about Pillars of Eternity in this thread!


According to Steam I've played 50 hours, but a lot of that time has been idle time because I basically left the game running while I'd go and eat and have bathroom breaks and all that. Let's just say, the game ran ALL DAY for several days, because I have no life (ha!) but also because the game captivated me that much!

So, the question I'm sure you all have is "Is the game good?". Oh my god man. Yes, yes it is! It's not only good, it's legendary! Yes, I think it's that good.

Now, it's not a perfect game. No game is. But I will focus on what the vast majority of the game has to offer, and that far outweighed the small negatives for me.

Now, I'm sure you're all saying that this is just Fluent being Fluent and everything is awesome to him. You may be right, but this game is really awesome! :lol:

The game is basically Baldur's Gate 2015. That's the biggest compliment and most simple thing I can say about the game. This easily could have been Baldur's Gate 3 or a Baldur's Gate total overhaul mod (made by incredibly professional and thorough modders, mind you!). If you play it in long enough stretches, there are chances that you will actually think you are playing a Baldur's Gate game or an overhaul mod! It's that convincing.

That doesn't mean it's an exact clone, though. It has many nice ideas and quirks that make it fresh and brand new, yet still familiar to Infinity Engine and Baldur's Gate fans.

So, are you excited yet? :) Here are some more specific thoughts I had about the game, after playing a few dozen hours.

First of all, it looks beautiful. Sure, it becomes a bit muddled at nighttime, especially if you play on a screen that has a cool color temp (my suggestion is changing the temp to a warmer preset, or approximately 4000k if you have the option to manually set your color temperature.). I'm not a big graphics person so this is all I have to say about this aspect, really. It all looks beautiful and the art team did a nice job.

The writing is excellent. There is a ton of text dialogue to play with, many choices and consequences, skill checks and that sort of thing. One of the best parts of the game is how well-written the dialogue is. It really gives the game a fantastic atmosphere (along with the excellent music!). One really cool thing is that there are many, MANY optional encounters with special NPCs that will give you a few paragraphs of backstory about that character, or something that they have experienced in their lives. You'll see what I mean when you play. Most of these scenes are utterly brilliant writing at work. All of the dialogue in the game is great!

Next, there is so much content here, it's crazy. I've spent 50 hours so far and I haven't even explored the first major city fully yet! There are tons of quests and tasks to keep busy with, and all of them are inventive and creative. Much like Baldur's Gate, there will always be something to keep you questing. The quests are very well developed and interesting to play through, with good to great rewards at times. There are plenty of those "Wow! I didn't see that coming.." moments, and in general you can expect much of the same that you'd find in Baldur's Gate (did I mention the games are extremely similar?).

The games are similar, but Eternity adds some great features as well. There are stats and attributes out the wazoo here, with plenty of stuff to ponder and build on. Wait until you guys see and experience the character development and stat-looking-at in this game! (Hehe :D) The game keeps track of many things and lets you see and experiment with stats that help define your character builds. Excellent stuff here all around for us D&D-style RPG nerds! :) I'm starting to really love the system they have created here. There are many different damage types, 4 different and defined defense types, a bunch of other sub-stats to consider, afflictions, traits, skills, spells, etc. Everything you would expect from a massive game like Baldur's Gate is here!

Oh, and one of the greatest additions is the Bestiary! Pictures + stats + a paragraph or 2 of lore about every monster type you've encountered in the game! This blew my mind when I first discovered it. You can simply lose some time just reading the various descriptions of Forest Lurkers or Sporelings and looking at the pretty drawings! The art team did an excellent job overall in this game.

Simply put, the attention to detail is extremely high in pretty much every aspect of the game. I am incredibly impressed with Josh Sawyer's design ideas as well as Obsidian's raw execution in crafting this game. I was at my stronghold and saw the torches flickering in the moonlight, and even the various torch fires had a unique look and wasn't simply copy and pasted like you would expect. You can expect that level of attention to detail in pretty much every. Single. Thing. In the game. :) I can't believe the game only had a $4 million Kickstarter budget to work with. They crammed so much good stuff into this game, it's really mindblowing.

What else? Combat. It's fun, and challenging on Normal + Expert mode. I've had my entire party wiped out more times than I can count thus far, and just like the Infinity Engine games, a re-load with new tactics and strategies will pay off BIG TIME. You will get through tough encounters by the skin of your teeth, and when you see that last enemy drop you will be breathing huge sighs of relief that you managed to beat that challenge! It's very rewarding and fun.

The weapon types and various unique weapon attributes are stellar as well. The game has several types of guns, bows, crossbows, axes, maces; everything. They all have a reason for using them and a various strategy you can employ with your character build. Have your Fighter specialize in fighting with a Stiletto, give him a huge, enchanted shield and let him go to work with a fast weapon yet still have some defense with the shield. There are so many possibilities that your imagination is the only thing limiting how you put together your party of adventurers.

Simply put, I could go on and on, but you all just need to play this game right now. This game is a 10/10 for me. If you love Baldur's Gate, you will adore this game. There is so much love and attention to detail in this game that it absolutely boggles my mind that they managed to cram this much detail into this game. I was not expecting this at all.

If you have any questions feel free to post them! If not, go get the game and start playing! :party: :celebrate:
 
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I've only met 6 so far, and one of them is at my stronghold and I won't be able to check his race or background until later (I'm going to be busy today until 3 PM Eastern time).

The other 5 I have in my party currently are:

A Meadow Folk Priest of Magran from the Dyrwood
A Boreal Dwarf Ranger from Naasitaq
An Island Aumaua Chanter from Rauatai
A Wood Elf Wizard from Aedyr
An Avian Godlike Paladin from The Vailian Republics

Edit - i think the other is a Meadow Folk Fighter from Dyrwood. :)
 
Every time I read a Fluent's post I get this into my head. It's not a bad thing, because it cheer me up.

I can't believe the game only had a $4 million Kickstarter budget to work with. They crammed so much good stuff into this game, it's really mindblowing.

They technically didn't have that much after KS/Amazon's cut and backer's rewards and they spent more than they had left because of the delay. Still, this is a game made by like 20 people in 2 years with 4 environmental artists and a single one that was permanent.

PoE2 will have more artists.
 
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It's fine to have overly positive people - as we have a lot of overly negative people too :)
 
I do notice, though, that the overly-positive people get more crap than the overly negative ones. Being overly negative seems to be taken as just the way it goes, and when someone's ("overly") positive, their opinion doesn't seem to be as valid somehow. ;)
 
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In all seriousness, if the game has deep RPG elements that I can sink my teeth into, most likely I will love it. I love RPGs, what can I say? They are a big part of my life and have been for over 20 years. It's a serious passion of mine, and thus I'm quite passionate about them. :)

Still, I don't absolutely love every RPG I play, but more times than not I do love them. As long as they have their core attributes fully in-tact, I'm a happy man. :)

PoE is amazing, though, no matter how you slice it. Of course, it's all subjective, but if you adore Baldur's Gate and that style of isometric RPG, I really can't see any way you could dislike PoE...
 
I do notice, though, that the overly-positive people get more crap than the overly negative ones. Being overly negative seems to be taken as just the way it goes, and when someone's ("overly") positive, their opinion doesn't seem to be as valid somehow. ;)

Sounds like your imagination running wild again :)

Not everyone is against you or "positive people".

In fact, I think Fluent is getting a lot of positive feedback for his otherworldly attitude towards games in general.

I get a ton of crap, but I don't mind - and I don't see a conspiracy. Joxer gets a ton of crap - as do others that are largely considered overly critical.

Probably more balanced than you claim.

In this case, though, I just hope Fluent and the reviews are right. I do smell a lot of nostalgia-power, but since I already like PoE - it seems likely that it's very good indeed overall.
 
In this case, though, I just hope Fluent and the reviews are right. I do smell a lot of nostalgia-power, but since I already like PoE - it seems likely that it's very good indeed overall.

I keep seeing reviewer's comments which suggest that something have been missing for 10+ years. So I don't think it's just nostalgia, people were starving for something and PoE is delivering the required meal.

It will be very interesting to see what people who haven't played BG/BG2/etc think of the game though.
 
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Ohhh, I'm just teasing him a bit for being super positive for most games. I certainly do not mean any harm at all. Now the overly negative people I have on ignore (but they mostly post political stuff just to get a rise out of people and I'm here for gaming thoughts not political thoughts) so I never see them anymore.
 
Since you obviously didn't finish the game, would a ME3 type ending ruin your day?
 
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Hmm, so could it be that someone who didn't like BG 1 and BG 2 could like this? I sure hope so, because theoretically I should like that kind of games!
 
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Hmm, so could it be that someone who didn't like BG 1 and BG 2 could like this? I sure hope so, because theoretically I should like that kind of games!

It probably depends on for what reasons you didn't like BG1 and BG2
 
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No Combat-XP and "gamey" Stats are big downsides for me; I wait and see - and wait for a review from the codex to get an opinion closer to my own preferences :)
 
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Hey, Kingdoms of Amalur has an 81 on Metacritic, including a perfect '100' score from Guardian and a 90 from IGN. So, others think that was an excellent game as well. :)

As for the idea that nostalgia is influencing this, I played Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 less than a year ago for the first time ever, and I don't feel any sort of nostalgia over this game. I simply think the game is a breath of fresh air. Incredibly deep, beautifully presented, otherworldly attention to detail. It's just a beautiful experience. :)

No Combat XP is actually a great thing as well. I was skeptical at this as well, but it turns out to work very, very well.
 
Hey, Kingdoms of Amalur has an 81 on Metacritic, including a perfect '100' score from Guardian and a 90 from IGN. So, others think that was an excellent game as well. :)

Which is precisely why I'd advise caution and scepticism in this case :)

Everything is awesum!!! Everything is awesum!!! Everything is awesum!!! Everything is awesum!!! Everything is awesum!!! Everything is awesum!!! Everything is awesum!!! Everything is awesum!!! Everything is awesum!!!

Ok, sounds great! :)
 
Come on now - let's not turn a friendly joke into a bashing.
 
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