Pillars of Eternity - Best RPG 2015 @ RPS

HiddenX

HiddenX

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For Rock, Paper, Shotgun Pillars of Eternity is the best RPG of 2015:

Adam: Last year, Divinity: Original Sin brought me back into the RPG fold. I play loads of games that are somewhere within the genre but it had been a long time since a studio released an RPG that seemed to be tailored to my personal tastes, and that was built on the kind of systemic design that I enjoy in every genre.

Pillars of Eternity was always going to have a harder time earning my love. While I’ve played and enjoyed the Infinity engine RPGs that are a rich part of its heritage – most notably the two Baldur’s Gate games – but they’re games that I’ve always appreciated rather than adored. Where Divinity was built on systems and mechanics that relied on computer simulation, keeping track of hundreds of variables within the world and creating unexpected interactions as elements and play-driven events overlapped, Pillars appeared to be much more focused on the creation of a pen and paper style roleplaying system, and a world to fit snugly around that system.

I thought I’d play for a few hours, nod appreciatively, then head for fresh pastures. Instead, Obsidian’s latest owned my evenings for weeks after release.

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All the people complaining about it not being the Witcher 3 in the comments. lol.
 
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azarhal said:
All the people complaining about it not being the Witcher 3 in the comments. lol.
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Haha some of them are pure gold too. "I'll be honest I haven't played witcher 3... but witcher 3 should be game of the year" haha.
 
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It's good to see Obs receive some credit here…played it up to half, but keeping it on hold before second exp comes out.
Weakest aspect of the game for me are combat encounters… feel more like pointless, unrewarding filler.
Fewer in number but something more similar to BG II slave lords or the Gibbering nine would be better here…unique loot and enemies, goofy dialogue…Sawyer could loosen up a little.
Somehow I can't stop laughing while watching this gif. :p

sawyer_nofun.gif
 
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Well personally its my rpg of the year too. And I'd be amazed and shocked if I actually liked Witcher 3 or Fallout 4 better, which I gather from having played their predecessors.
 
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Lots of tedious commenters on RPS. Why anyone thinks they would read their drivel is beyond me.

For me PoE was excellent fun. Witcher 3 was more emotionally satisfying for me. The gameplay in PoE was more engaging. Hard choice.
 
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For me only Underrail has a chance to beat PoE as best RPG of 2015.
I expected Hong Kong to be the one but HBS failed with that game and made it worse than Dragonfall instead of a pinnacle of their SRR development.
I didn't expect WL2DC to be the one although I hoped they did improve it enough so it does end up so but well it is not even close.

I don't like AoD. Fo4 is not a RPG in my book, TW3 I don't plan to play as I didn't enjoy TW2 much (quit half way through).
Serpent in the Staglands would have been the one if the spell system was as good as in BG1 (and some more polish and some more quests). Alas, it was not meant to be.

So PoE it is for now.
 
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As mentioned in the other thread I'd go for Fallout 4, which I didn't even play, but of which I think I would love it, Avernum: Crystal Souls and Invisible Inc.

Maybe underrail will take over one of the spots.
As Archangel mentioned I think that HBS failed with their latest Shadowrun installment. Not terrible, but Dragonfall had a much better Game/Text balance for me.

PoE is a decent decision for RPG of the year though.
 
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Thrasher said:
Lots of tedious commenters on RPS. Why anyone thinks they would read their drivel is beyond me.

For me PoE was excellent fun. Witcher 3 was more emotionally satisfying for me. The gameplay in PoE was more engaging. Hard choice.
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Oh Thrasher remember back to the release of PoE, the bugs, game stopping bugs. That alone would be enough for me to not vote for it as game of the year.

Then there is how great the story started out in the game and how much there was to do in the beginning. Though by the middle of game the story started to drop off and though the areas to explore where larger as the game went along they seemed empty.

Let us also not forget the load times as well, which took me back to the Ultima 4 days on my C-64 but not in a good way. 8 floppy dics waiting and waiting....
 
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You know, the one gamebreaking bug I had I could reload and avoid. But the loading screens were unavoidably horrific. It probably reduced my lifetime by a few years for all the smoking breaks it caused me. :)

Still the game had me a lot more engaged than Fallout 4 and ESO. And the mid to late game story slowdown didn't really affect my interest. By then the world was fully introduced, so of course, it felt normal to me.
 
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Thrasher said:
You know, the one gamebreaking bug I had I could reload and avoid. But the loading screens were unavoidably horrific. It probably reduced my lifetime by a few years for all the smoking breaks it caused me. :)

Still the game had me a lot more engaged than Fallout 4 and ESO. And the mid to late game story slowdown didn't really affect my interest. By then the world was fully introduced, so of course, it felt normal to me.
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The one I had was at the keep, so it was hard to progress until that patch came out.

I am not saying it wasn't a good game but for me with the issue's at release it wouldn't be game of the year.

I only played a few the games that were released this year, I have learned to wait for patches and EE. So I would voted for TW3 it was polished, a lot more game than PoE and felt the story got stronger as the went along. Never mind the choices in the game had real world out comes.
 
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Yeah but the Witcher 3 game play and exploration, pretty standard stuff, nothing really groundbreaking or engaging. From a gameist point of view, rather lackluster. Also, exploration, not very rewarding. PoE did that better.

From a storytelling and interactive fiction point of view, Witcher 3 wins hands down.

Now I like turned-based combat (or real-time with pause) because it is more gamey, and not simulationist. Different combat entirely from Witcher 3.

By the end, the combat of both got very repetitive and lost my interest. Hell, I even left some seemingly pointless quests and islands unexplored in Witcher 3, which is a BIG first (or not so good NO) for me. In PoE I explored every inch.

Both had very generic loot, except for the Witcher outfits. Here Fallout 4 has them both beat with some legendary drops.
 
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Thrasher said:
Yeah but the Witcher 3 game play and exploration, pretty standard stuff, nothing really groundbreaking or engaging. From a gameist point of view, rather lackluster. Also, exploration, not very rewarding. PoE did that better.

From a storytelling and interactive fiction point of view, Witcher 3 wins hands down.

Now I like turned-based combat (or real-time with pause) because it is more gamey, and not simulationist. Different combat entirely from Witcher 3.

By the end, the combat of both got very repetitive and lost my interest. Hell, I even left some seemingly pointless quests rand areas unexplored in Witcher 3, which is a BIG first (or not good NO) for me. In PoE I explored every inch.
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To be honest if Thea The awaking offered a little more in crafting and if you could own more than one town it would be my game of the year.
 
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Well deserved. I'm waiting impatiently on the final update so I can play the complete expanded version. Come on, come on...
 
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Archangel said:
Well we are talking about RPG of the year here.
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Yes well I really enjoyed it and thought it was very well done for a indie game. If I was to break down budgets for the top games, what the games cost me and enjoyment.
 
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For me this year it will be a battle between Witcher 3, Pillars of eternity and Age of Decedance. All games are strong candidates for GotY and each one of these game leaves a mark, but my heart tells me to vote PoE. Say what you will about real time combat with pause, but I love it! It felt like playing a new baldur's gate. :)

I doubt PoE will earn a similar cult status like bg2, because story's pacing was a bit off and some of the npcs weren't as memorable as their baldur's gates counterparts, but these kind of games are such a joy to play.
 
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