Thoughts/discussion/first impressions of Pillars of Eternity!

Venetica is also a lighter game and I agree dark and gritty has been overdone now. As far as battles go, I haven't run into anything on normal that requires too much tactics, but I'm just level 4. The stone beetles have been my toughest fight except for a party wipe once when a mage beneath a keep and his cronies all got off their spells when my fighters all missed with their first swings. That didn't go well. Eder was the only one left standing and he's not good at offense, the way I built him.

I like how the game is opening up. I can choose to tackle the dungeons under the keep, go tackle an evil lord or go visit the big city. I chose the lord first and even there I have 3 decisions on entry, choosing the lowest of those options. Even with that there are two ways to go about entering depending on party makeup. Lots of little choices

Yeah, the game is as non-linear as it could be.

Regarding dark and gritty: I am actually a big fan of that.
Drakensang was a little too faerytale-like for my taste, especially considering it's in the Black Eye Universe. Not that it's a bad game. I highly recommend River of Time!

Looking forward to the release of Darkest Dungeon, probably the most Dark and Gritty it can get.

It might be weird, but one thing I actually love most in games is implicated stories. Like in Fallout when you explore and find a room a guy used as last bestion before he went mad and hung himself. Or one of the big satellite-dishes where some guys had an apocalypse party, or getting to the bedroom of a family where they came together a last time, to take the drugs and avoid experiencing the end of the world.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Have you tried the Drakensang games yet? If not, you should check those out. They're party-based with RTwP combat, and they definitely have the qualities you mention.

Thanks. I have not but they are on my list!

I know the subject has changed somewhat and it took me a while to get around posting my thoughts… but well the fact is that I couldn't stop playing .

Not much to say besides the fact that the game has kept me hooked during most of my free time since it came out. Played it twice on Iron man&hard mode and met an untimely death each time so Im trying a regular playthrough now . I'll keep Ironman for a replay.

Sooo if it keeps me hooked it means they must have done something right .

I love the dark and gritty realistic approach in PoE. And I don't know what you people are talking about when you say all games do it. No they don't. I don't remember another RPG in last 10 years that had rape during war, priests that turned to alcoholism and wife beating husbands that are not what it seems. And some other things I don't want to spoil. And I am only at start of Act 2. Most people I talked to don't deal in absolutes and I love it.

Originally Posted by Archangel
I love the dark and gritty realistic approach in PoE. And I don't know what you people are talking about when you say all games do it. No they don't. I don't remember another RPG in last 10 years that had rape during war, priests that turned to alcoholism and wife beating husbands that are not what it seems. And some other things I don't want to spoil. And I am only at start of Act 2. Most people I talked to don't deal in absolutes and I love it.

They hit all the right notes with the writing. It's not in-your-face grimdark, but it has a mature tone to it. Despite claims to the contrary, even the backer NPC fluff texts fit in well. There are none that break the atmosphere, but rather, overall, they contribute to it much more than generic villager #104 can.

One thing that bugs me about PoE is that characters and enemies group so close together during combat. There's always a tight cluster during battles that it's tough to figure out what's going on sometimes, especially combined with the engagement arrows.

That's a cool post, Porco! Thanks for sharing Bioware's kudos to Obsidian. Loving the game and trying to fight my start-over-itis habit.

Porco, Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.

Originally Posted by porcozaur

Wow, this is the coolest thing I seen since PoE released

after they saw how the game is, they probably tought at least for a few seconds "what have we became under EA "

rip bioware

After 5 more hours of playing I am enjoying the game more and more. I love how most quests are not what they seem and have a cool twist, even when they seem a simple ones like fetch something from thieves

Ok, I broke down and bought it. Shocked at HOW MUCH its a BG/IEer.

Wish I could have a free camera and even a MP option. But this is because I want NWN instead of BG .

Did she just swear? Darn, I wish they wouldn't bother.

Oh, and combat is crazy. Pause and Play or SloMo doesn't do it for me. SloMo is a problem because I have to turn it back up. P&P just doesn't work for me yet because I'm still getting used to the interface.

Part of it is because the HUD's too small and I can't believe there's no option to adjust the graphics beyond gamma.

Is this game 3D or 2D with 3D images overlayed? Again, be nice if it had a free camera.

I hope I don't come across to negative because I love this game. I'm shocked at the circumstance I'm thrown into as a character and I am intrigued at how it will start to turn out.

Again, I'm also shocked at teh praise its getting on a $4m budget in this day and age.

Isn't this the company notorious for flawed gems?

Finished it for the first time last night, and had a great time with it. I really like how there are almost always multiple ways to approach quests. The writing is pretty good, and the big reveal at the end piecing all of your visions together is a pretty deep subject.

Hoping the patch hits this week and fixes the nagging save/load issue I've had (tired of leaving it running). The final boss fight is a bit buggy (thankfully for me as it saved me from a huge wipe).

Now that I've seen the ending slides I'm going to do a few things differently the next time through to get some outcomes I'd rather have. Easily worth every cent I gave them, and I can't wait for the expansion, mods, and a PoE 2 down the line.

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
Oh, and combat is crazy. Pause and Play or SloMo doesn't do it for me. SloMo is a problem because I have to turn it back up. P&P just doesn't work for me yet because I'm still getting used to the interface.

While I would prefer Turn Based Combat, the System in PoE works relatively well. But it is important that you use all the Settings in the Pause settings to adjust the gameplay to your needs.
Personally for example, I use the Pause on Sight and Movement stop on sight (no movement stop on start), automatic slowmo, and autopause each time a spell is finished.

Part of it is because the HUD's too small and I can't believe there's no option to adjust the graphics beyond gamma.

What you can do is to increase the font size though. For me the standard interface hast he perfect size.

Is this game 3D or 2D with 3D images overlayed? Again, be nice if it had a free camera.

You are right. It is a Map which uses a 2D Background which consists of pre rendered 3D images. On this 2D background you then have 3D elements like the characters, objects and various shaders, light effects and so on.
That way it runs faster than Wasteland 2 while at the same time it looks better.
But a free camera is a technical impossibility.

Isn't this the company notorious for flawed gems?

For extremely bugged releases. And well…while the game is playable it has various serious bugs at the moment which hopefully are going to get fixed with the patch this week.

They need to make the number of camping times possible to 4 on hard. Having only 2 on it is tedious and not fun.

Originally Posted by Damian
They need to make the number of camping times possible to 4 on hard. Having only 2 on it is tedious and not fun.

That is why it is called Hard lol. Play on Normal if it bothers you. Camping supplies limit how often you can rest and forces you to continue to next fight without full HP and resources and that is part of the reason it is called HARD.

And that system gave me yesterday the most interesting fight on Hard. It was a fight vs random map enemies but since I was not resting until I really need to Eder was low on Health before the fight. The fight got long and Eder got his Endurance healed and at one point his Health and Endurance were equal and he was close to dying. Since I play with Get Maimed option OFF, if he lost all Health he would have died permanently. The last 30s of that fight were most nail biting affair

I strongly disagree that it's tedious with 2 camping supplies (playing on Path of the damned)
While I am not too far in the game (character level ~5) I mostly finish the zones with 2 supplies. Several times I actually found supplies and did not take them as I already had 2 and left them behind.
So if you play more or less effective, there shouldn't be any issues with supplies.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
I strongly disagree that it's tedious with 2 camping supplies (playing on Path of the damned)
While I am not too far in the game (character level ~5) I mostly finish the zones with 2 supplies. Several times I actually found supplies and did not take them as I already had 2 and left them behind.
So if you play more or less effective, there shouldn't be any issues with supplies.

I also often run into more supplies while already having two (on Hard difficulty). I then unload with my best spells in next fight (and have more fun while doing it ) and rest and go back to pick up extra supply