Pillars of Eternity

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Normal difficulty. It was near impossible to do the bounty. I'm surprised I managed. I basically threw everything I possibly could throw at the enemy and allies.

What level was your party? I blazed through three bounties in a row, plus an unfriendly encounter with a certain wayfarer, on normal with a level 7 party (with only one or even no rest in between, don't remember exactly) and gained a level on reporting back. I don't remember which level my party was when I accepted the bounties, I guess 5 or 6... this might explain the lack of a real challenge.
 
So my first playthrough took me about 80 hours on easy, am I too slow?

also

What's the big deal about the "there are no gods" thing because there are apparently beings with godlike powers which makes them...well...gods. The only thing in question is their origin which ultimatelly doesn't matter really, Am I missing something here?
 
What's the big deal about the "there are no gods" thing because there are apparently beings with godlike powers which makes them...well...gods. The only thing in question is their origin which ultimatelly doesn't matter really, Am I missing something here?
Guys, major spoilers here (i.e. in the post above and in my post). Don't open.
Their origin is a pretty big deal.

1. It means that ordinary people can also in time achieve the same, or even greater powers (maybe with the help of some tools), since some people did it in the past (the ones who created these gods).

2. It means that the gods are not some infallible divine all-powerful beings forever out of reach of understanding of kith-kind. They are just some rather powerful beings. This is it. It changes your perception quite a bit, if you think about it. As an example of a similar, but much more limited thing: a supercomputer can compute stuff well out of your reach, but you don't really worship it, do you? Or an industrial robot is much stronger than you, and so on.

3. It's important from the philosophical/meta point of view. It gives you an example of a world with magic but without real god/gods, where people went out of thir way to create ones, just like people in our real world do, but (lacking the magic) without the ability to create anything beyond an imaginable thing (with, however, real, sometimes dire repercussions on their/other people's lives). So this game might force some people who haven't given much thought to this to actually think about it, which is very good in my book.
 
Just started playing. They did take care of some small but important usability things very well. For example applications and virtual desktop switching works perfectly (unlike some games which annoyingly trap all that - hint hint The Mark of the Ninja), and music stops playing as soon as the game loses focus.
 
Ok, I have finished my first playthrough. While it's really nice game I find it slightly inferior to other Obsidian titles like MotB or Kotor 2 (ofcourse it's purely subjective). For me it lacked memorable characters - I didn't feel much attached to my companions, and main antagonist was also not that interesting... (I'd really like to see character comparable to Kreia :/ ) But otherwise, game was worth playing.
 
Ok, I have finished my first playthrough. While it's really nice game I find it slightly inferior to other Obsidian titles like MotB or Kotor 2 (ofcourse it's purely subjective). For me it lacked memorable characters - I didn't feel much attached to my companions, and main antagonist was also not that interesting... (I'd really like to see character comparable to Kreia :/ ) But otherwise, game was worth playing.
Well yes there will always be only one KOTOR 2 but I disagree about the lack of memorable companions. Fer example Durance is easily comparable to Kreia it is just hard to follow everything he says because it's so much text to read. He is still the best Avellone written character since Kreia imo.

Off topic: I never actually played MotB can I play it without completing the vanilla NWN2? That game was kind of underwhelming and I never finished it.
 
Well yes there will always be only one KOTOR 2 but I disagree about the lack of memorable companions. Fer example Durance is easily comparable to Kreia it is just hard to follow everything he says because it's so much text to read. He is still the best Avellone written character since Kreia imo.

Off topic: I never actually played MotB can I play it without completing the vanilla NWN2? That game was kind of underwhelming and I never finished it.
Yes, I agree that Durance was the most interesting of the companions (while Eder was most likable imo), and there are a lot of well written dialogs... As I said it's strictly subjective :)

As for MotB you can start it with completely new character.
 
I'm approaching 40 hours and still am in the second act and haven't even set foot in the second large town... ^^

It's funny how people say, "I played for 80 hours" and so on. Do they always time their playing?-) After playing it for a while, I'd simply have no clue how long it took ;D
 


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On the other hand it's also tools like this that give Steam another edge over GoG.
If you care for rummaging through statistics and charts once in a while that is.
 
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Soon you will also embrace Gaben as your Lord and Savior



Back to topic I am at the end of act 2 and still having a blast. Would have a better blast if Obsidian would have fixed the long loading times for saving and loading. I've read they would do it either in 1.04 or 1.05. On the good side I have 2-3 minutes to scan the forums while I wait to save the game. Like right now -__-
 
Hey guys, I'm back from a two weeks absence.

I have been... err... consumed, by Pillars of Eternity. Reminds me of my BG2 days.

I wanted to provide some comment on the game (being the vocal IE fan that I am) for reference. All in all, this is a truly excellent game. Well crafted adventures, exciting tactical combat, real dialog choices (based on attributes AND reputations), above average story line and excellent writing. Compared to BG2, it's hard to judge how truly innovative the game is, as many aspects are obviously taken from IE games. Mechanically, the RPG system under the hood is superior to AD&D, and I have to applaud the huge effort Obsidian made in providing actual literary background and "lore" to a brand new setting. Some stories are truly interesting, such as the one about the Saint's War, Waidwen and the Godhammer. Companions are weakly written in Pillars however; can't say I care about most of them. I do find Durance and Grieving Mother interesting, but Edér gets on my nerves sometimes. Definitely not as memorable as characters such as Minsc, Jan, Edwin, or even Anomen (remembered as one of the most entitled, annoying characters in existence). Companions resemble BG1 more than anything else, i.e. henchmen. I kind of wished they would participate in conversations more actively, for instance providing support when my main character has an insufficient attribute value. There are some occasions whey they participate, such as

Grieving mother wiping the pregnant girl's memories or helping Edér figure out the iron crest.

The scripted events are very well done and provide extra RP opportunities not seen in the IE series or, for that matter, most other cRPG's. Another minor complaint is the inability to make annotations or markers on the map, but at least there is a journal section for it.

I can't say Pillars is perfect, it certainly doesn't reach PS:T levels in narrative or companion quality, but does extend the BG2 concept towards are more modern cRPG with concrete RP opportunities. But just like BG2, it has a fuck load of combat. Thankfully, it's good combat.

I haven't finished yet. Accumulated around 35-40 hours of gameplay on Hard. And damn, hard is actually kinda tough at times. Some areas have seriously dangerous enemies that I have to avoid and hope to confront at a later time. Examples include the first time I ever encountered a pack of lions and elder lions, and drakes. And the prime example being

That dragon in the Magran quest.

With that said, I think Pillars is a fantastic game everyone who likes cRPG's should play. What's more important, it might open the door for more games in this vein, with improved plots and companions. Sort of what BG2 did for BG. You know a game is good when you're thinking of your next playthrough before completing the current one: I think I'll go with a more action-oriented class and "hire" some adventurers instead of using the relatively quiet and boring companions. Maybe try to come up with a really balanced party.
 
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