...especially pronouns! Inspired by Blade Runner and Snatcher. Not as dark as either title but still fun. The art direction is awesome and very 90s. The music is also excellent. The layout for the menus and gameplay are solid and nothing to complain about. The game took me between 5 and 7 hours to complete (and I haven't played the "free" endless christmass dlc that just came out). The pacing and story are straightforward. I doubt you'll get stuck. I won't spoil the ending but for me...it was satisfying. I felt that the world could've been better realized. I really enjoyed watching Turing's awareness grow as *IT* began to question itself and its relationship to other humans and robots. One thing that was REALLY awkward and somewhat jarring was that nearly every male was referred to as she or they and nearly every female was gay and went by they. I liked how they tried to tackle the idea of inclusiveness (a word other reviews use so I'll borrow it) but I think the devs tried way too hard and it's somewhat of a misstep. I love when games explore all sides of controversial topics with equal enthusiasm, then leave you to consider answers for yourself. Instead of using this game a vehicle for exploration of social ideas, it tries to deliver an unbalanced consideration of ideas. Opposition is set up by annoying stereotypes (ironic!). The sense of reasonableness there felt half-assed. I have no issues with the message, just its delivery was subpar. I felt it was so subpar that when you see bad reviews about this game, this is what is spoken about. Some of these people I think totally miss the dev's intentions bc of the poor delivery here. Anyhow, I recommend this game to any fan of Blade Runner, Snatcher or the cyberpunk genre who won't be too critical of the misstep (imo) I mentioned above. It definitely didn't ruin the game for me. Only beat this once but it was a bug-free run. Not perfect but this game has a lot of style. 7.75/10
If you like jrpgs as of Nov. 14 2015 this is the best that is offered on GOG. It's either solid or exceptional with only minor flaws. Easily among the top classic jrpgs of all time (and there are many!). The characters and story are great. The combat is easily among the best in jrpgs TODAY...the dungeons aren't too long and as long as you don't avoid combat and search for out-of-the-way items you won't have to grind. The music (maybe it's nostalgia as the Dreamcast version came with a separate cd for the soundtrack)...well...the music is just fun. It goes back and forth from light orchestral melodies to j-rock with noodley guitar leads. The story actually tackles ideas of religion in a way that's not pretentious. Your party isn't large but you get to know them very well. When things happen in this game it's always to develop the characters or move the story forward. RARELY will you feel like you're wasting time wondering "when is the game going to get good again." The pacing takes care of that well. The combat is a mix of real time and turn based in a way that battles are very strategic, satisfying and are over relatively fast. Although upgrading abilities and spells isn't as cool as Grandia 1 (get good with axe by using axe...get good with fire spells by casting fire spells etc)...it's still solid and leaves room to focus on whatever you like best. You have abilities, mana eggs (spells), and books (attribute buffs) to upgrade. Sadly a lot of equipment is character specific...but there are still a lot of options so that by endgame...these characters feel like your characters. My main gripe is that as long as you're not avoiding enemies the game is very easy. There is a harder difficulty level with this anniversary edition. Also a lack of hidden items to discover outside of dungeons is kind of lame. Anyhow, as of patch 1.06/1.07 I only had three crashes in 40+ hours. Not bad! Some still have issues so look into that if you're worried. A fine example of a 9/10 jrpg.
Man oh man....where to begin....The atmosphere for starters was amazing. The architecture for the native dunmer (dark elves) was/is so unique. And many of the natives would talk to you like you were trash which was strangely awesome at the time. Also the music is top notch. The world is big and the expansions make it bigger. Tribunal is another big city with lots to explore underground with a decent story. Bloodmoon is another wintery island with plenty to do. Both have decent stories and TOUGH bosses that will take you a while even if you're character is overpowered in the main game. You will come out with awesome items. The main game has a really cool boss. But beating him you'll need certain items which are kind of annoying to find. His pseudo philosophical rants are very well written. The main story is this messiahnic-type of deal where you unite factions and tribes and become the savior of the land. It's very well done. You can keep going after you've beaten everything and everyone will appreciate that a hero like you has bothered to stop and say hi to them. Ha. A little buggy but the unofficial patch takes care of what the latest install version does not. Also look for a sweet texture pack! There are TONS of them as well as other various mods to make the game to your liking. For first timers try to avoid mods outside of simple texture packs. I've beaten the main quest 3 times and the expansions twice. In one play-through I put twice the time into morrowind as I do for one play through of oblivion or skyrim (both great games too). One thing to note this game has "dice rolls" even if you visually land a hit. So at first your character will miss a lot and it'll be frustrating. Stick with it though! The stories in this game are fun but the exploration and how stylized the dunmer buildings and ruins were just blew me away. This is my fave elder scrolls game and in my top ten for best games ever. Sorry if I'm geeking out! It's one of those games for me!
Like others have said the story ends right as it starts to go somewhere. First a few gripes then I'll get into some good things for me. I wish this one kicked off with more immediate and bigger problems for the protagonist to deal with which is what draws me in quickly. Instead, you're kind of running errands for much of the game. A few jrpgs suffer this problem. Sometimes it can work out. Usually not. This game is not long. My game time showed 18 hours but I noticed my saves would jump ahead 2 hours when I only played 30 minutes. The reality is the game was maybe 13 hours. There are options with abilities but only three weapons for each character (that you can upgrade). The dialogue isn't amazing but serviceable. NOW TO THE GOOD PARTS. Visually the game is good. The character designs/portraits/sprites are nice. I thought it was weird that everyone squinted the same way when showing happiness (^_^). For a streamlined combat system there is some strategy involved although the game isn't difficult. It does get a bit difficult at the end though. This game's aesthetic felt kind of leisurely and comfy. I really liked how several aspects of this game came together. The music is excellent. There is some percussive stuff that reminds me very much of suikoden 1 and 2. This is a game that is an opportunity for the devs. If parts 2 and 3 can carry the sense of urgency in the gameworld getting shaken up at the end of part 1...this could be a memorable experience. I'm going to keep my eyes on this series. There are better options in this genre especially the classics that obviously inspired this game...but if you're someone who has played most of them and are looking for something newer to scratch that itch...this one kind of does it. I don't regret my purchase. Not an amazing value but the price is fair. 3.75/5 stars or 7.5/10 Gameplay C Graphics B Music B+ Story C/C- (with potential in future installments) Kudos to a small dev team for a solid effort.
Thought I'd add a review since there isn't one. This is an okay dlc. about 2-4 hours or so depending if you exhaust all dialogue options etc. roughly the length of an episode in the standard seasons. you do get some of these characters in season two so it's kind of neat so get some backstory on them that you would otherwise miss. it's not essential to appreciate nor understand these characters in season two but it's neat. you get to play as several characters and not as just one. really...it's nonessential to appreciate season 2 but it's interesting and worth the price. if the price was much higher I'd be reluctant to recommend it. it's really a 3 star dlc in comparison to the 5 star regular seasons but the price is more than fair imo and I don't regret playing through it...so I guess I bumped it up a star for that. it's not a great value but a good value for sure. you get a few more emotional corners to back yourself into so if you're on the fence in between seasons 1 and 2 and really enjoyed season 1 try it out.
Season 1...Georgia...set at the start of the zombie apocalypse. This season is a tad stronger than season 2 since the transition starts here imo. Still loved season 2 as well though. Such a great series so far. Very easy. I'm a dunderhead when it comes to adventure games but I didn't need a faq whatsoever. The other reviewer is right about the "illusion" of choice. There are decisions to be made...but in the grand scheme of things, many events will happen a certain way. And going back through it I was surprised that although you feel like you're making a big decision in certain spots...that very little changes when you pick something else. But illusion of choice is not bad at all. There are some choices to be made. The game backs you into an emotional corner where you'll hate yourself no matter what choice you go with. Neither option is good but it's worse if you don't pick. You'll wonder if you did the right thing and you'll love it. You only get worked up this way because you really do get invested in the characters. The dialogue is solid and the characters feel like random people they picked off the street and threw them together to see what would happen. I've never watched the TV show but I tried this because of all the hype and it blew me away. There are some gory scenes so if you can stomach that then I totally recommend this. expect to get around 2-4 hours depending if you inspect everything and exhaust all dialogue options.
I'm just going to compare this to Baldur's Gate. I still think BG 1+2+ToB trilogy is the better "game." Of course it's a bit unfair as that's two games plus an expansion. I really HOPE Pillars of Eternity is a new SERIES with more games in the future. Pros: -Abilities, spells, etc look cool and are balanced and provide really fun combat for fans of Baldur's Gate. -Graphics are beautiful and stylized nicely. -Music is top notch -Character development has a lot of depth. Balance of classes is smartly done. Have whatever party you want...just strategize accordingly. -The game rules compete with AD&D 2ed. well. Actually in some areas I thought it was a major improvement. -I actually like the per encounter aspect to some abilities (and spells in later levels) and even the endurance/health difference although some may disagree. -Sidequests were cool and give options on how to resolve stuff. Cons: -Even though the writing itself is wonderfully descriptive...the story was underwhelming and even preachy at the end to me. -Although the characters were pretty cool, I enjoyed BG's quirky characters more. -BG had a cooler villain. -I agree with some of the popular reviews out there that the lore was a bit much. I appreciate how they tried to flesh out this world, but many times I was confused as to what people were talking about. Basically...in my opinion I thought pillars of eternity had better gameplay than Baldur's Gate. But I think BG has better story and cooler characters in general. Not to put PoE's characters down. They were cool too. Maybe it's nostalgia goggles. You can't go wrong with either. In my opinion this game was worth the 45 bucks I paid. I got 70 hours out of it and see myself doing another run down the road. 5 stars means definitely check it out for all fans of the genre.
Great game. I replayed it about 6 months ago or so. It's still a lot of fun today. The sense of scale for its time was amazing. Some of the levels are huge and I'll get to this later. The balance of combat, story, and exploration is very much like Jedi Knight 1. Sadly they use in-game models instead of live-action for the cut-scenes. But besides this gripe nearly everything else is a step up. When I say nearly...some of the levels are so large you can get lost. So you end up wandering around until you accidentally stumble upon your next checkpoint kind of thing. Also some of the switches you have to hit...or vents you have to find to crawl through are hidden almost too well. Wouldn't be so bad if these were secrets. But some of these out of the way switches are needed to advance the story. I didn't need any kind of strategy guide (and I'm not some ace gamer) but I do remember a few times I was wandering around only to find what I needed right before calling it quits. Not often. I can remember three spots specifically. Anyhow enemy AI was fair for its time and dated today. STILL....this game is lots of fun. I enjoyed exploring for the most part and looking around. Again the sense of scale in some of the levels were still awesome. And the light sabre battles and force powers were a blast to use in this game. If you like star wars and haven't played this before check it out! The fun factor is still high today. Between JK1, JK2, and Jedi Outcast this was my favorite.