Pillars of Eternity

2025-01-22
It's 2025 and Avowed is almost upon us. Yes, Obsidian who famously made a better Fallout 3 in New Vegas are now making a better Oblivion but I digress. (Sorry, I'm excited.) I am currently making my way through Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire and I'm casting my mind back to my playthrough of the original back in 2021. It's weird looking back at that infamous Kickstarter knowing it arguably revived the dormant CRPG genre, inspiring Larian to make Divinity Original Sin and eventually Darling Of The World 2023, Baldur's Gate 3. It's also weird because after backing Pillars of Eternity and jumping in the first time in 2015 I played through the first act and promptly bounced off.

Thankfully in 2021 I had wizened up (read: played Divinity Original Sin 2) and was ready for what turns out is an excellent game. After quibbling over whether I should make a Wizard or a Barbarian I settled on a Barbarian so I could turn my brain off and focus on other things. And turning off your brain from the, albeit engaging but maybe-overly-frequent, combat encounters is good because it frees up space for the star of the show: the world-building and writing.

Yeah, who would have guessed a game directed by Josh Sawyer has cool world building? This is an original IP and they did an absurdly good job writing a ton of depth into the world. There's a variety of gods, there's wars that occurred, histories of nations--and they all tie together. The whole concept of the "Godhammer", a bomb that literally killed a god is cool as hell. Every character you meet has threads woven into the plot of the game and events in the world. And not only are they likable characters on par with a Bioware game, each one is written to be a believable character. Yes, even Durance. Especially Durance. I remember multiple points where I had tough moral decisions in the game--already a hallmark of good writing--that I would legitimately use the feedback given by my party members to make the final decision. I actually valued their opinions. Awesome.

Lore is the hook that gets you in the world but it's all the sights and side quests along the way that keep you going. Things like tracking down a man's dead girlfriend only to find a lich who then wants you to work for them. There's telepathic spider people on an expedition you can help out. Fucked up giant dragon megabosses. And unique items as rewards around every corner you go to explore. Cool!

At the risk of rambling further I'll just say it's one of the better games I've played in my life and I am so excited that its world, it's best quality, was so strong as to lay the foundation for a sequel AND my favorite type of game ever: an open world RPG. Cheers Obsidian!

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So I actually played this game back in 2015 when it first came out. For whatever reason I played for like 15 hours, finished the first act and then bailed. I attribute some of that to just me not really feeling an isometric CRPG at that point. Up till this point I had tried and bounced off of Neverwinter Nights 2 and had two unsuccessful (though pretty far) playthroughs of Dragon Age: Origins.

This time however I was really engrossed. I initially had some difficulty, as you always do with these sorts of games, with deciding upon a character. I was waffling between either a Wizard or a Barbarian. I ended up going with a Barbarian because they came recommended and you couldn't have them in your party otherwise. And really--the big differentiator-- they're simple to play. I made the right choice.

The combat is pretty fun. I'd say there's maybe a bit too much of it and, added with the fact that there's no experience given for killing stuff, it's a bit drawn out by the end in terms of combat. But combat is good. There's an absurd number of spells. Lots of CC options for locking things down. My Wizard by the end felt very, very strong with a black hole type ability paired with big fireballs to spam. And my Barb was a real powerhouse. He hit harder than anyone else and was stupid tanky to boot. Great fun wading into combat with my final party.

Another thing on the gameplay front is they did a good job with having lots of unique items in the game to find. There was often a reward waiting when you went off searching in various places on the map which was a nice touch I appreciate in an RPG.

The story and world-building is the real star of the show in this game. This is an original IP and they did an absurdly good job writing a ton of depth into the world. There's a variety of gods, there's wars that occurred, histories of nations-- and they all tie together. The whole concept of the "Godhammer", a bomb that literally killed a god is cool as hell. Every character you meet has threads woven into the plot of the game and events in the world. And each one is written to be a believable character. I remember multiple points where I had tough moral decisions in the game-- already a hallmark of good writing-- that I would legitimately use the feedback given by my party members to make the final decision. I actually valued their opinions. Awesome.

I enjoyed the gods, I enjoyed the plot revealing that they're all fake but kind of real at the same time, I enjoyed Durance's insane rage, I enjoyed Eder's quips and internal conflict over his brothers decisions.

Even beyond all the areas and the main story, there's SO much to explore. Each area has tons of cool side quests. Things like tracking down a man's dead girlfriend only to find a lich. Who then tells you to perform a task for him. And each step along the way you learn something new about the lore of the world. The Endless Paths are a whole miniplot in themselves with some of the hardest dungeons and fights in the game. There's cool telepathic spider people, the Vithrack, who despite looking kind of horrifying are just on an expedition underground and you can help them. Cool! There's giant dragon bosses I couldn't beat that would require strategizing just to win against them. Very cool.

The DLC added even more. Learning about the death of a god who tried to protect his creations as well as his creations The Eyeless-- some of the coolest enemies in the game.

All in all probably one of the best games I've ever played. I'm on the fence as to whether it's a 10 but I think I'm dinging it for having maybe a bit too much combat and maybe not being as balanced as can be.