About once a year, I always find myself back in some oldschool CRPG. Sometimes it's any of the older D&D games that I grew up with like BG and NWN, sometimes it's stuff like Spiderweb Software's wonderful games. This time, it was Pillars of Eternity. I'll admit, it did start a little slow for me, but it didn't take me long to become absolutely hooked on the lore of the world. It's incredibly deep and detailed. The gameplay itself... to me, from Neverwinter Nights, you had two paths you could go - one is Dragon Age Origins. DAO took that similar feel and started to simplify it, making it faster paced and more accessible by removing some of the D&D complications. To me, PoE is the other path coming from NWN's gameplay. It's closer to the D&D style - tons of buffs/debuffs/status effects and the like, but this system is a lot more streamlined and faster paced. So, I thoroughly enjoy the gameplay. It's familiar, but it's still modernized, and it isn't dumbed down. I'm pretty far in, and I'm having a ton of fun with it. I've really been diving into the lore, and as I'm nearing the end of the game, even knowing there's a second game, I find myself delaying and stalling, trying to find more to do because I'm still loving this one so much. TLDR: If you liked the Bioware D&D games and Dragon Age Origins, give this one a go if you get that itch for something new. It's D&D's "path not taken", and I absolutely love it.
Flicker. -Anyway!- So, The Wheel of Time game is surprisingly good. If you're not familiar with the series, think of this game in the vein of some of the DOOM engine fantasy FPS games (Hexen for example). This uses Unreal Tournament's engine, so there's some community support for DX10/11 and the like as well. There's even a texture pack that exists. If this came out today, it'd have a more robust magic system that fits the series itself, but working within the limitations of UT, it's still a fun game. There's plenty of secrets hiding, plenty to do, but it is still a straightforward shooter.
Writing this review now that I've completed the game, and now that many of the bugs are squashed (or at least more manageable). Put simply, this game has been the single-most emotional game I've ever played through. It was very easy for me to get into my character's head, and it was an emotional rollercoaster. The environment was easy to get into, the story is incredible. Gameplay doesn't get in the way, and most of the combat is fun. I'll say this, if you can't get in the character's head, your mileage may vary, since so much of my enjoyment of the game came from attachment to my character and the people she interacted with, specifically Evelyn, Judy, and the Aldecaldos. No bugs I ran into were truly gamebreaking, though, I laughed at a few times my character's clothing disappeared after certain scenes. Vehicle controls weren't great but were certainly better than some games I've played. Music, both radio and score, is amazing. Graphics are solid. Sound effects are good. I think there could have been more world immersion - so many empty buildings, very little to do outside of the missions themselves. I think it's clear that there was more -intended- to be there (braindances and the like), but it just didn't make it in. I'd love to see that sort of stuff get revisited. And... a little bit of a trigger warning - this game is dark, lot of stuff that can be triggering content, presented in a serious manner, in a -wide- variety of topics. It took a hell of a toll on me emotionally, but it was worth the ride.
