The Prepare a Plan requirement is not met even with the required skill learned and the required cutscene triggered unless the content is patched to the unrated version from the website. This needs to be fixed so it's playable even in the retail version.
Pillars of Eternity was advertised as a roleplaying game, but a lot of the choices you make are either non-choices or feed into the binary results of 'win' or 'lose', just using multiple different stats/skills. The worst case of this was a specific storyboard challenge that requires at least: - Ice spellcasting - 10 Might + Prybar - 10 Dexterity - 12 Constitution - 14 Perception - 14 Resolve - 4 Athletics - 5 Survival All on one character. With drugs and food buffs it's possible to get a companion to do it, but if someone tried a solo run they'd be forced to respec on the spot. A large part of the loot revolves around having at least 8 Mechanics and a specific set of gloves, which in turn only spawns in 5 possible locations in the whole game on one specific, different day of the month for each location, and if you don't obtain it in those chances, it is permanently unobtainable. Aside from the pressure as above to build specific combinations and even open chests on specific days in order to not reach the 'lose' results, there are additional problems of trap or nonfunctional mechanics due to aggro programming, so even party play feels forced. It is basically required you use choke points at higher difficulties, which means you repeatedly fight in the same places, in the exact same way, to be rewarded with a dialogue later where you don't actually have any choice. Coming from Tyranny to this was actually depressing, and there's very few RPGs of this length I played that is this maddeningly inflexible with the choices given in game. To make things worse, it's incredibly weird to try to roleplay in any consistent way with your character build, because the same stat that makes your character hit harder with a fireball also makes them hit harder with a sword. It combines the worst parts of deterministic checks and date-scrambled loot tables so you can permanently and irreversibly miss things unless you game the system. Buy Tyranny or Colony Ship instead.
90 hour review after clearing everything ingame at max difficulty (three adjustable sliders in the settings) : Writing: 10/10 (actually perfect) Combat: 9/10 (much more intricate than expected) Music: 9/10 (these instruments are recorded acoustics, not electronic!) Graphics: 8/10 (good for its style but not the best animated pixel art in existence) Gameplay features: 1. *Two* very good turn-based combat systems that shake up the usual formula. Play at maximum difficulty for the full experience (items and some skills are pointless at lower difficulties). It can be pretty fun to play battles meant for one system with the other... 2. Many decision points have consequences later. 3. Puzzles! 4. A lot of hidden items/chests. 5. Levels are determined by difficult encounters cleared so you cannot grind your way to trivialise things... and you're never required to do so either. Just play properly. 6. An achievement board system that rewards you for clearing it. QoL features: 1. Save anywhere. 2. Flee any non-boss battle 100% of the time. 3. Full HP/TP restoration every new combat. Overdrive bar is fully restored for boss battles. 4. Warnings before points of no return. 5. Fast walking speed. 6. You will almost always have access to an item merchant so you cannot get stuck. 7. Hidden chests have a counter feature later so you won't miss anything on any permanent map. 8. Both teleport *and* airship travel systems. 9. No random combats. Brief guide to difficult content: 1. Damage = Offense² ÷ Mitigation × Skill multiplier, where physical attacks use Attack and Defense for Offense and Mitigation respectively, and magical attacks use Magic and Mind respectively. Always modify offense first before modifying mitigation. 2. The Oil item is compulsory to clear the second boss for the second combat system at max difficulty. Use it. 3. HP Drain is the best crystal. 4. Stats you can see on the summary stack. Other passives don't. 5. Gunspears use Spear Mastery.
