Pillars of Eternity: Hero Edition

I came to this after playing Tyranny and enjoying it. Pillars of Eternity gave me over 90 hours of gameplay with a level of immersion I haven't felt since I played Neverwinter Nights years ago. It's a true gem that grabs your attention with a twinkle of nostalgia and feeds it with the warmth of good storytelling that you only feel as a child when everything is new and unexplored. I also feel that I should mention having played the entire game on Linux and not regretting it. :)

I came away very impressed with Pillars of Eternity and it is a superb revival of that old CRPG top down style. I think the game's greatest accomplishment is in how it borrows the best of games like Baldur's Gate, Planescape, and Icewind Dale while still being its own worthwhile endeavor. Obsidian created an interesting world in this game that I was dying to learn more about and I read everything I got my hands on. The combat is dynamic, methodical, and challenging with loads of great dungeons to traverse.

Kreia in KOTOR II was the reason I fell in love with Obsidian. I felt closer to her than any other video game character I have encountered. She was more than a teacher. She was a mother. It sounds hammy, but some of you know what I mean. In PoE, there is a companion called Durance, by many accounts an obnoxious character. Even I admit he can be that. There is a quest called Cinders of Faith. One dialogue choice in this quest would let you either gain an "extraordinary" amount of reputation with Defiance Bay or lose a "moderate" amount. I picked the choice that felt right to me and lost reputation. I was feeling dejected until Durance said... For the readers who are like me, I'll let you discover that part yourself. After I read what Durance said, I felt vindicated and took the reputation loss as a point of pride. Then I found something interesting. Did you know PoE tracks reputation on two separate scales? When you "lose" reputation, it doesn't cancel out the reputation you gained. You can be simultaneous loved and hated by someone. This was the moment that I began to appreciate PoE. Even after playing several dozen hours, PoE did not pick up for me. I felt like the narrative was too meandering and the combat too quirky. It felt like tea that was neither too hot nor too cold yet also not just right. It felt... off in a way I could not define. Then it hit me. This is how I felt about all Obsidian games, including KOTOR II, until that one moment when the spirit of the game resonated with me. If you love Kreia like I do, you know that moment, at the end. It's the moment when you realize the greatest brilliance of Obsidian is how their games unapologetically reaches for the human condition, that indescribable mess that is at once beautiful and grotesque. There is no black and white or even nuance you can hang on to, only the moment when you say, "Exactly." If my review made sense to you, you will not be disappointed by Pillars of Eternity.

I really wanted this to be like a modern Baldur's Gate. However, I struggled to push myself to finish it. I did eventually get through it but I was massively underwhelmed. The items and loot were generic and uninteresting, the characters and lore weren't captivating, and the battle system felt overly confusing to understand, but simple in scope for tactics.

I like this game, it's in great part responsible for the revival of the genre. However, I found it tries to be like Baldur's Gate, while trying to make its own thing (own world, own combat rules, etc), but never quite accomplishes what BG did. I found the combat tedious and somehow less strategic than BG, I am really not fond of the combat mechanics and resting limitations. The story is fine, it's interesting, but I was never really gripped in the same way that, for example, Torment Tides of Numenera did when it was released. I just didn't find the world compelling, or half the characters (where's a Minsc when you need him?), or the story arc. It's definitely not a bad game, but in the end it just made me want to replay BG instead. I am more than happy that this game exists, but mostly because of its part in the RPG revival.