Pillars of Eternity: Hero Edition

40 hours of gameplay 1st side: I was in a want of playing Dungeon Siege 2 (which I did 20 years ago) for a long time. Had LAN gameplay of Divinity 2 Original Sin with friends. I was RPG hyped lately, friend came and told me about Pillars. I got excited and I still am. I think the game is addictive, very nice to play, fun. I llike to read the stories the characters tell, I love the fighting system. I think the game is awesome. 2nd side: for someone who likes turn-based RPGs, Diablo, Sacred or Titan Quest / Grim Dawn, this game might feel a bit odd. It is odd, cause it is unique in few major things. It's not classic RPG where you put all skillpoints to Strength and you are unbreakable dual wielding gladiator. You should not look at the game like this = I want magician, I put points to Intellect. The game has it's own system. You have to read all the in-game descriptions before you start playing and finalising your character. BUT reading all the things IS worth it - This applies to everything in the game. Sure, 2 lvls later you won't need to read what "Mechanics skill" is, but the things the NPCs say - and sometimes they have something longer to say - are worth reading. You live the story you play in. Not just eliminating hordes of enemies. Buy DooM instead. This is one of finest RPGs.

A little slow to learn, although I'm horrible at games like this... But it's so fun anyway and the game design is so nuanced, and the story... My god the story is the best!

This game is targeting elderly players, who had great fun playing Baldur's Gate and similar games in their own time. A smart move. We are now older and probably can afford the game and buy a mature rating game without draging our moms to the store. And they did a helluva job. The game has that familiar feeling about it, the game mechanics seem logical, and there is enough stuff to do. Even the sidequests, which I personally hate doing, are along your main path. There is no "bring grandma mushrooms from furthest point of map quests", which makes me happier. Character builds are well thought off, and any kind of playing style you prefer is easily done after some reading. I give it only four stars because of two things: First, the game is to short, and as such is missing the epicness of Baldurs Gate. But they intend to make expansions, and muster more money out, so it's only half a star less. After two or three expansions, the game will be awesome I hope, but that will bring another problem, at least to me. I would like to have scripts, like BG had, or even Dragon Age 1, with which I could order ALL of my party, including myself, what skills and spells to use when combat starts. Even now the combat is annoying me, I hate to think what it will be like after a few expansions. So, another half star less, making it a total of four stars, since everything else is just the way I like it.

This review is for all of you who are wondering about the difficulty level. I have tried 3 characters up to the first town and I can say without a doubt that there are mobs in this short distance (about an hour or so) that will kick you in the danglies and take your lunch money. You WILL bypass some fights, find some more party members, level up, and then when well prepared ..come back and get some well deserved vengeance ...maybe...unless you used the wrong spells, talents or skills...then you will get smacked up side the head for your insolence. Then you will dust off your cloak put on your big boy pants and try something different. And therein lies the brilliance. So many ways to approach each encounter that you will want to try them all...simply brilliant.

Pillars of Eternity has been touted as a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate. I think it's more fair to say it's a successor to Icewind Dale or perhaps Neverwinter Nights, which fans of the old school Infinity Engine games will know is not the same thing. I'll glean over the pitfalls of the game's fervent desire to be original in terms of gameplay mechanics as it's a well-covered topic on many forums. The short of it is the combat system is too elaborate for casual gamers while at the same time is not very intuitive even for veterans. Getting familiar with the new combat system and all its moving parts is a laborious undertaking. It's great for tacticians who love those old dungeon crawls and min-maxing gear/stats, but not so fun if you're in the game for the story. That brings me to what I found most disappointing about Pillars: the game's writing is not great. Your motivation here is you're dying and in a race against time to cure yourself. Not exactly original, and yet the writers are doing way too much world building about places and themes not even relevant to this game's content. All that extraneous info-dumping can't conceal how bland the central quest is and how poorly the narrative is constructed. Even the big end-game reveal about the divine pantheon is anticlimactic when you consider the gods go virtually unmentioned prior to that point save for one scene. I'm not saying Pillars of Eternity is bad. It's okay. You've got some great companions like Eder, Sagani, and Kana who you can get really attached to (and then there are others like Grieving Mother who talking to is an actual, literal chore). But beyond a few glowing moments of great character writing I found little to bring me back to this game after I'd finished it the first time. That's not to imply fans of Baldur's Gate won't like this title, but if you liked Baldur's Gate for the storytelling you may find Pillars to be overhyped and underwhelming.