Pillars of Eternity

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2683 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,104 out of 2683
  2. Mixed: 308 out of 2683
  3. Negative: 271 out of 2683
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  1. ErhanCeylan123
    Jul 17, 2020
    7
    This game have a general and unsolveable performance issues.This game universe is not interesting for me.
  2. ErayTellezi
    Apr 5, 2023
    7
    40 saatin sonunda bitti. Divinity Original Sin serisini büyük keyifle oynamış birisi olarak bunu pek beğenmedim. Tam anlamıyla sıra tabanlı olmaması, kendimizin durdurmak, turları ve süreleri takip etmek zorunda olmamız, ekranda oluşan kaos nedeniyle combat'ı takip etmeyi zorlaştırıyor. 6 tane parti üyesini, üzerinde durum etkileri, canları vesaire takip etmek çok zor.

    Oyundaki    40 saatin sonunda bitti. Divinity Original Sin serisini büyük keyifle oynamış birisi olarak bunu pek beğenmedim. Tam anlamıyla sıra tabanlı olmaması, kendimizin durdurmak, turları ve süreleri takip etmek zorunda olmamız, ekranda oluşan kaos nedeniyle combat'ı takip etmeyi zorlaştırıyor. 6 tane parti üyesini, üzerinde durum etkileri, canları vesaire takip etmek çok zor.

    Oyundaki yetenekleriniz tekrar yapabilme açısından ikiye ayrılıyor, çatışmadan sonra yenilenenler, dinlenmeden (kampta veya handa uyuma) sonra yenilenenler. Yeteneklerin büyük çoğunluğu dinlenmeden sonra tekrar kullanılabilir hale geliyor. Hal böyle olunca bu yetenekleri kullanırken iki kez düşünüyorsunuz. Bu da savaşlarda tüm gücünüzü kullanmamanıza ve bu nedenle kısır ve keyifsiz bir oyun tecrübesine neden oluyor. Bir de ben oyunlarda ekstra cimri birisiyimdir. Aman belki sonra ihtiyacım olur diye güçlü şeylerimi kolay kolay kullanmam. Bu oyun bu yüzden mahvetti beni. Lan yeni büyü edinmişim, dağı taşı oynatacağım, sonra kullanayım diyorum. Şu mekanik olmasa oyundan aldığım keyif iki katına çıkardı.

    Dinlenme mekaniği bence çok saçma olmuş. Adamlarınız zamanla yaralanıyor, canları azalıyor vesaire. Bunları gidermek için ya ebesinin nikahına gidip bir handa uyuyacaksınız ya da yanınızdaki kamp ateşiyle hemen oracıkta dinlenebileceksiniz. Daha da saçma yanı kamp ateşinden maksimum 4 tane taşıyabiliyorsunuz yanınızda. Bu da uzun zindanlarda daha stratejik oynamanız demek oluyor. Kısacası oyun sizi bir türlü salmıyor. Kendi ayağına sıkarak, kendine bu kadar zarar veren bir oyun daha oynamadım.

    Oyunda ilk sıkılmaya başladığım yer şehre geldiğimiz kısımdı. Saatlerce full diyalogla, neredeyse hiç savaşmadan oynuyorsunuz. Oraya git ona bir şey de, şuraya git ondan bir şey al. İki dakika salın da beni bir yerler keşfedeyim, yok maalesef. Oyunun hikayesinden falan orada koptum zaten.

    Çoğu yan görevi yaptım. Ama sonlara doğru sıkıldığım için bir kaç tanesini salıp direkt ana göreve daldım.

    Neticede comat'ı karmaşık ve kısıtlayıcı olduğu için sevemediğim bir oyun oldu. Dos serisi gibi adam akıllı sıra tabanlı olsa daha çok keyif alırdım. Bu konuda çok eleştiri gelmiş olacak ki ikinci oyunu isterseniz bu modla oynayabiliyorsunuz. Belki bir ara bakarım.    … Expand
  3. Woolee
    Jul 11, 2023
    7
    ivinity looks better but lacks the writing, both are my most recent favorite RPGs in recent memory. This will go down as the game that broug
  4. JackPlack
    Feb 2, 2022
    7
    Good/not great. Still i like more BG1 and BG2. Good idea with improving castle. Main disadvantage - u can easily make bad team and skill set. Its difficult to finish the game with that case. Another thing - so many magic/healer spells - without good auto AI or programming its very too much reading, browsing,... I dont at all idea remembering spells - dumb. Maybe good for board game. ItsGood/not great. Still i like more BG1 and BG2. Good idea with improving castle. Main disadvantage - u can easily make bad team and skill set. Its difficult to finish the game with that case. Another thing - so many magic/healer spells - without good auto AI or programming its very too much reading, browsing,... I dont at all idea remembering spells - dumb. Maybe good for board game. Its little like unused potion skills section in Witcher 3 (by almost everyone)… Expand
  5. codsworth
    Dec 3, 2022
    7
    Not as good as its predecessor Baldur's Gate, but a strong contender when it comes to updated visuals and gameplay. The narrative is weak and plodding at times, which is problematic in such as story-driven RPG, but there's definitely enough to keep your interest here, especially with the White March expansions.
  6. sclark13
    Mar 30, 2015
    6
    So I enjoyed the game, but I found it just as tedious to play through as the old infinity engine games. I did not enjoy micromanaging 6 party members through each and every battle. I've been spoiled by the functional AI of games like Dragon's Dogma, where I don't have to babysit each and every action, and I could just tell the AI what personality it should follow.

    Now I really enjoy    So I enjoyed the game, but I found it just as tedious to play through as the old infinity engine games. I did not enjoy micromanaging 6 party members through each and every battle. I've been spoiled by the functional AI of games like Dragon's Dogma, where I don't have to babysit each and every action, and I could just tell the AI what personality it should follow.

    Now I really enjoy D&D; I play it every week, but I also don't use more than 1 or two characters in a session for the same reasons. If PoE had integrated co-op to help with the micro-management, I think I might have managed to enjoy the game. It is just too much effort to juggle 6 character actions and still be an effective adventuring party.    … Expand
  7. iamthespark
    Apr 3, 2015
    6
    19 Hours in.

    The good: Character Creator: The level of detail when it comes to choosing race, class, background and social status is outstanding. I enjoyed the creation of my unique character (and others) very much. Animations: There is a lot of detail when watching the characters fight, I really enjoy that. Story: Even after 19 hours in, the story has not yet fully unfolded,    19 Hours in.

    The good:

    Character Creator: The level of detail when it comes to choosing race, class, background and social status is outstanding. I enjoyed the creation of my unique character (and others) very much.

    Animations: There is a lot of detail when watching the characters fight, I really enjoy that.

    Story: Even after 19 hours in, the story has not yet fully unfolded, so I can't comment on it, other than its slow and steady.

    Inventory: The party chest is very helpful and the loot variety is good. Crafting is fun too -- I'm a sucker for finding all the ingredients and seeing what they can make.

    Voice Acting: I am very glad it exists at least; reading walls of text was something I was afraid of doing in this game, and thankfully the gist of the dialogue is voiced.

    Difficulty: The game really wants the player to be careful with each battle; resting is very important, so you'll find yourself camping and buying camping supplies quite often. On Normal, I found this game difficult, only because I'm used to blasting through levels and dungeons with other games.

    Levelling: So much fun! The abilities add strategic value!

    The bad:

    Lack of engaging companions: Hard to say because I only picked up my second companion and I am at the start of the game. The NPC companions don't have much to say yet.

    Lack of Romance: This is a big one for me; travelling around the big world with no romantic interaction is boring. For me the concept of romance has become a core desire in epic RPGs. Playing for 100 hours without it has become tedious.

    Battle after Battle: Expect tons of battles, all the time. Apparently no one just lets you go by and all the animals are out to get you. This also becomes tedious after awhile.    … Expand
  8. Ayreos
    Mar 29, 2015
    6
    The game is a faithful follow-up to the spirit of the classic Infinity Engine games. It improves a few things and makes a few things worse(which is debatable), but it *is* a faithful throwback to an older model of cRPGs without unbearable defects. For some people that is enough. For me, though, the actual lack of improvement, progress or especially, the failure to become the pinnacle ofThe game is a faithful follow-up to the spirit of the classic Infinity Engine games. It improves a few things and makes a few things worse(which is debatable), but it *is* a faithful throwback to an older model of cRPGs without unbearable defects. For some people that is enough. For me, though, the actual lack of improvement, progress or especially, the failure to become the pinnacle of the genre is pretty damning for this game. What happened to game journalism? A mediocre Infinity Engine game is now rated on par with classics on Metacritic. It does not even approach Planescape Torment, and it only teases the heights of Baldur's Gate 2. Walls of pretty decent writing at every turn do not make up for the non-existent party AI, or the lack of direction. The plot can be literally summed with "I see dead people...", which goes far beyond cliche in 2015.
    When the first Baldur's Gate was released, it was a pleasant trip. The second was more of a roller coaster. Pillars of Eternity is something like the former. It can serve as a somewhat bland introduction to the genre, but it should not become its apex. I cannot rate it higher because BG1 does that already, and it does it perhaps slightly better. The modern engine and revamped graphics alone are not worth the price, or the hype.    … Expand
  9. Asmodias
    Mar 26, 2015
    6
    Feels like a horrible cash in on early 2000/late 1990 nostalgia. Fundamentally the game is an isometric party based system with a strong plot, but certain flaws drag it down, and the inclusion of a kickstarter only achievement (this coming from a guy who kickstarted) is a bunch of bull.
  10. Mike_M
    Feb 15, 2017
    6
    This game is now much--improved by patching. Normally I'd give this a 9, but I have to downgrade it to a 6 because of the condition in which it was released: completely unfinished.
  11. Sidian
    Apr 8, 2015
    6
    Pros:

    + Good writing. Nothing amazing and it hasn't impressed me as much as Planescape: Torment regularly did, but it's certainly a cut above the vast majority of games. The equivalent of PST's memory unlocks are generally well written, but the story and setting itself holds them back, making them a chore to read instead of being an exciting discovery like memories were. +Decent    Pros:

    + Good writing. Nothing amazing and it hasn't impressed me as much as Planescape: Torment regularly did, but it's certainly a cut above the vast majority of games. The equivalent of PST's memory unlocks are generally well written, but the story and setting itself holds them back, making them a chore to read instead of being an exciting discovery like memories were.

    +Decent reactivity. There are many skill checks in dialogue throughout the game which I like a lot. The problem, however, is that they almost never make any difference, the person will give a quick purely cosmetic response and then return to what they were saying anyway. As an Aumau you might expect to have good conversations with Aumau you come across, but no; if the Aumau even notices you are also an Aumau which is unlikely, they'll just say 'Oh you are also of my race, hi. Anyway, as I was saying, I want you to do this dull quest for me that involves collecting things a few meters in front of me for some reason."

    + Pretty. The backgrounds are often beautiful and scenic.

    Cons:

    - Poor combat. Dull, finicky combat that is far too chaotic and leaves little room for much strategy beyond trying to block enemies in a doorway so you can take them out one or two at a time. The fact it's real time makes it significantly worse. Also, like all games like this, there is far too much combat. There's no respite; just killed a giant spider and 10 of its spiderlings? Cool, here's a million more enemies right around the corner. And the next. And the next. It's tiresome, and considering how difficult the game is, many of these fights will require constant reloading. It's exhausting. Even worse is the inconsistency. "Hmm, these last 3 fights have been very easy, maybe I should turn up the difficulty? Hey what's over here a few feet away? Ah, an impossible fight with 10+ enemies (the hallmark of well balanced fun combat design is always to just dump a screen full of enemies in an area) where my main character with a bunch of good gear and high constitution and resolve dies literally as soon as the fight begins. Hmm, well, good positioning might help - oh, it's a cramped room and the enemies can teleport and they always choose the most inconvenient target to destroy first. Maybe their level is too high for me, let me see... oh that's right, you can't see the level of the enemies in the game. Bravo, Obsidian.

    - Boring, generic fantasy setting and story. Oh nice, dwarves and elves! Oh well, the story will be good I'm sure. Let's see; yada yada, chosen one with special powers. Yada yada, find the mysterious evil villain that you come across at the start. Yawn. It unravels absurdly slowly as well; I've played for 30-40 hours at this point and the story STILL hasn't gone anywhere.

    - Terrible skill system. You have an unbelievably small amount of them (5) and you simply give all characters points in athletics and then have one specialise in mechanics for lock-picking and give spell casters points in Lore. There's the occasional check in dialogue based on them, but that's really all there is to it.    … Expand
  12. CoolDadTx
    Oct 19, 2017
    6
    Had potential to be a good RPG but just left me depressed and unimpressed. Overall the leveling system is weak. Skills supposedly interplay with conversations but pretty much every conversation ends with a fight no matter what you choose. This is especially frustrating with the main and side quests. Almost every one acts like you have a choice but ultimately the choice is always eitherHad potential to be a good RPG but just left me depressed and unimpressed. Overall the leveling system is weak. Skills supposedly interplay with conversations but pretty much every conversation ends with a fight no matter what you choose. This is especially frustrating with the main and side quests. Almost every one acts like you have a choice but ultimately the choice is always either kill someone or leave them in a bad situation. There is never a case where you can actually do what you want to do (short of ignoring the quest). In one case you have 3 different options to prevent an innocent person from attacking you. But all 3 options eventually lead to that very conclusion irrelevant of any skills or abilities you have. This isn't roleplaying at all. This is a numbers game which ultimately make the entire RPG aspect pointless.

    The stronghold, which is hyped up early in the adventure is a complete waste of time. No matter how much you upgrade and how many mercenaries of any quality you hire, ever time you earn money bandits take at least half. There is absolutely no way to prevent it. None. Who thought this was a good idea. Ultimately the stronghold adds no value to the game or your character. The minimal amount of XP and money you could earn is irrelevant by end of game.

    Combat itself is a little flaky. There are some balancing issues. Late in the game you can pretty much roll over everybody but there is an encounter or two that, for no other reason than the devs decided to, you basically cannot win without luck even at max level. And some of these are tied to either irrelevant side quests or just random encounters. It makes saving often necessary, just in case.

    Overall this is a disappointing game. The quests are just one depressing encounter after another, the leveling is lackluster at best and the combat really boils down to a numbers game.    … Expand
  13. daftshadow
    Mar 26, 2015
    6
    Simply put, if you're one of those old school type of RPGer (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale), you'll love this game like those giving it a 9 or 10. If you're like me and prefer more modernized RPGs like Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic to Dragon Age Inquisition, this game probably isn't for you. As for me, I can endure it somewhat to the point of continuing to play it to the end as I'veSimply put, if you're one of those old school type of RPGer (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale), you'll love this game like those giving it a 9 or 10. If you're like me and prefer more modernized RPGs like Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic to Dragon Age Inquisition, this game probably isn't for you. As for me, I can endure it somewhat to the point of continuing to play it to the end as I've grown past of these type of old school 1990's graphic RPGs.

    What more did you expect from a Kickstarter backed game? For what it's worth as a Kickstarter game, it is pretty impressive but at the end of the day it's just not my type of game. This feels more niche than anything.    … Expand
  14. Klarum
    Apr 8, 2015
    6
    Need to curb the enthusiasm of the kids here. Yes it is a good game but not deserving of such high scores as it basicly is a modern graphic update of all the ideas used by previous titles, plus some shortcomings.

    Storywise BG2 still is more complex, enganging and interesting. This one is full of overused cliches and tropes and has waaaaay to much text. Voice acting is bland. The D20    Need to curb the enthusiasm of the kids here. Yes it is a good game but not deserving of such high scores as it basicly is a modern graphic update of all the ideas used by previous titles, plus some shortcomings.

    Storywise BG2 still is more complex, enganging and interesting. This one is full of overused cliches and tropes and has waaaaay to much text. Voice acting is bland.

    The D20 rule set adaption they did is weak. Basicly they just changed some names and removed some things to pretend it is a unique system but it is not. It is D&D just poorer and with less class specialization. Your warrior can have more lore than your mage and the cleric can be the trap master.

    Party management is bad. You have to micromanage every action except for auto-attack. BG2 had character AI that cast spells/abilities.
    All the "unique" ideas are copies, like the stronghold being a copy of NWN2.

    Again it is a good game and welcomed because the Infinty engine rocks but lets keep the score at a realistic level please.    … Expand
  15. FlamesoFF
    Dec 6, 2022
    6
    Let’s describe it briefly.

    Advantages: Interesting lore, profound character scripts and story. Disadvantages: pretty much everything else. Graphics: was outdated even at its release. Looks like Sacred 1 game with better resolution. Sound: it exists. Nothing special. Music: couple of ambient tracks and very annoying only one single battle music track. Absolutely generic. Controls:    Let’s describe it briefly.

    Advantages: Interesting lore, profound character scripts and story.
    Disadvantages: pretty much everything else.

    Graphics: was outdated even at its release. Looks like Sacred 1 game with better resolution.

    Sound: it exists. Nothing special.

    Music: couple of ambient tracks and very annoying only one single battle music track. Absolutely generic.

    Controls: gamepad controls are terrible. Every time when it’s need to switch from one character to another camera moves to this character. Why it’s so? Super inconvenient. Environment is also difficult to explore due to disappearing pointer. Unable to map commands queues. Basically everything is super primitive.

    UI and interface: poor usability, lack of information, requires lots of repetitive actions to do a simple thing, and some parts are simply ambiguous.

    Gameplay: Fight is nothing special, primitive point and click. Loot system is disgusting: exploration is not motivated, because usually all cheats contain random trash, and enemies most of the times don’t drop anything useful. Almost no random quests. Basically your “journey” will look like: read some dialogs - fight, fight, fight tons of similar enemies - repeat.

    In conclusion: Pretty solid CRPG, with lots of unfortunate flaws. Could be way better. But feels like only script writers were motivated, but not the developers of core mechanics.    … Expand
  16. Fimbul
    Sep 11, 2015
    6
    Well there is nearly everything said about this game but what bugs me the most is that such a combat heavy game doesn't give you Exp for defeating foes. That's fine if you can avoid most of it and you have other options to fulfill your quests, but you are constantly forced into. NO EXP FOR COMBAT!!!!

    and it's long and everything needs so much time. that's just painful if your time is    Well there is nearly everything said about this game but what bugs me the most is that such a combat heavy game doesn't give you Exp for defeating foes. That's fine if you can avoid most of it and you have other options to fulfill your quests, but you are constantly forced into. NO EXP FOR COMBAT!!!!

    and it's long and everything needs so much time. that's just painful if your time is limited.

    So for me is it just mediocre.    … Expand
  17. Voukras
    Jun 5, 2017
    6
    Pillars of Eternity is a pale shadow of what Baldur's Gate 2 once was. The story-writing is vastly inferior and I'm baffled by how most people don't really notice it at all. As long as it moves and quacks like a Baldur's Gate, it's a Baldur's Gate, right? Wrong.

    The villain is poorly characterized and their motivation is weak. The climax of the plot is weak and unsatisfying, I could    Pillars of Eternity is a pale shadow of what Baldur's Gate 2 once was. The story-writing is vastly inferior and I'm baffled by how most people don't really notice it at all. As long as it moves and quacks like a Baldur's Gate, it's a Baldur's Gate, right? Wrong.

    The villain is poorly characterized and their motivation is weak. The climax of the plot is weak and unsatisfying, I could barely will myself to care about anything in this universe at all.

    The actual gameplay is decent. I found the combat system dreadfully boring and repetitive, but hey, that's how I feel about almost every RPG from this genre. It's not bad if you're into experimenting and finding op builds.

    The exploration and ways of solving quests were acceptable. Almost, but not quite good, with quality varying from area to area. Essentially once you get passed what feels like it should be the half of the game, you're actually 20% away from finishing the game. Not that the game is short. The length isn't the problem. The problem is that the pacing goes completely out of whack and gives you a feeling of unsatisfaction through the remainder of the progression.

    The universe is as cookie cutter as it gets with nothing special in its presentation and not much to make you feel attached to any particular area. I'm torn between feeling like "I'm being unfair, the Devs really tried and it just wasn't up to my unique and weird tastes" and "The Devs knowingly recycled the Baldur's Gate formula with a mediocre plot and universe." I still feel the latter characterization is highly uncharitable but after finishing the game I can't shake off that feeling.

    If you really want another RPG from the Old Bioware/Black Isle style, you should certainly check it out, but otherwise I would suggest playing any of the other RPGs from this genre: BG2, Planescape Torment, Numenera, Tyranny.    … Expand
  18. dimitrii_ss2
    Apr 4, 2015
    6
    they decided to cop-out, when crazy person went on tweeter and decided to spew non-sense . Thanks Obsidian as a backer on Kickstarter that made this game happen, now i need to go and pirate the game to get the full original/ non-edited experience. What i meant to say is **** you, you shouldn't change the game with the majority of 77,000 backers agreeing.
  19. orctown-troll
    Apr 24, 2016
    6
    The game itself is good enough. It does however have one BIG problem. It will waste the MAJORITY of your play time with loading screens. I guess you should definitely have an SSD hard drive. Will that actually fix this? It is 2016. 'Old school' games should load before we fall asleep waiting.
  20. Indissentient
    Mar 28, 2015
    6
    + Story seemed to be good
    + Characters are fairly interesting
    - Combat is extremely poor - Visuals are terrible - Interface is inconvenient and ugly Overall, it feels like the game wants to feel old for no reason whatsoever, and that developers didn't learn anything in last 20 years. Yes, the game lacks a lot of annoying cliches of newer RPGs, but it also lacks their improvements    + Story seemed to be good
    + Characters are fairly interesting

    - Combat is extremely poor
    - Visuals are terrible
    - Interface is inconvenient and ugly

    Overall, it feels like the game wants to feel old for no reason whatsoever, and that developers didn't learn anything in last 20 years. Yes, the game lacks a lot of annoying cliches of newer RPGs, but it also lacks their improvements over old ones.    … Expand
  21. Eibon
    May 13, 2015
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is good, yet the scenery is only a bit of meh. Such powerful concept could be used to:

    1. Use watcher's souls-manipulation skills to gain unique skills from consuming souls of villains.
    2. Create some kind of additional reality where souls dwell and where watcher can peek through walls and other obstacles and force other people do something you need. Imagine some prison escape using this tech.
    3. Ability to awaken souls of companions/npcs to grant them some unique abilities(even non-combat). Would be nice to awaken a legendary smith's soul to forge you some OMG weapon, no?
    4. Infuse your equipment with souls to avoid casual and boring "+1/+2" 100500 armors and weapons.
    5. Transfer souls of your powerful allies from the old times into some hollowed bodies to get some unique help and dialogs in final battle.
    6. Absorb the souls from soul-harvesting towers for yourself to confront gods and other higher beings.
    etc... etc...

    But all we got is a - "Chase some evil guy who is just a servant for some evil god while doing some casual quests like - kill that guy, bring that scroll, save those guys, etc...". Obsidian, really? That's all?    … Expand
  22. SanctumRevel
    Mar 27, 2015
    6
    to set some things straigt sure for players who know their way around this games is ok for newcomers the lack of quest track enemies level hint or something expierence lack of defeating enemies it s like the game is pushing you to do other things no matter if u want to do it or not the easy dificulty can be frustrating for new commers to this game it s clear that this game was intended forto set some things straigt sure for players who know their way around this games is ok for newcomers the lack of quest track enemies level hint or something expierence lack of defeating enemies it s like the game is pushing you to do other things no matter if u want to do it or not the easy dificulty can be frustrating for new commers to this game it s clear that this game was intended for veterans of D&D and baldurs gate and thats is sad for me… Expand
  23. UnorusJanco
    Apr 3, 2015
    6
    This is not a bad CRPG, and is certainly better than Dragon Age. It has very good graphics, good sound and music, good controls and feels very polished... But it lacks originality, immersion, interactivity, or even fun. There is little player agency and few tactical options, and its boring plot and characters don't help either.
    It just fails at what I like about role-playing games, even    This is not a bad CRPG, and is certainly better than Dragon Age. It has very good graphics, good sound and music, good controls and feels very polished... But it lacks originality, immersion, interactivity, or even fun. There is little player agency and few tactical options, and its boring plot and characters don't help either.
    It just fails at what I like about role-playing games, even if as a game it's rather good..    … Expand
  24. SherlockHolmess
    May 24, 2015
    6
    Starts of great but gets lost pretty quick. Battelsystem is this realtime with pause key, which i find pretty ugly.
    Even worse, most of the harder battles are very undeterministic and forces to lots of quicksave/load with totally different results.
    Well anyways the story is not that bad at all, you can see into other peoples souls which is funny at first but then you realize that it has    Starts of great but gets lost pretty quick. Battelsystem is this realtime with pause key, which i find pretty ugly.
    Even worse, most of the harder battles are very undeterministic and forces to lots of quicksave/load with totally different results.
    Well anyways the story is not that bad at all, you can see into other peoples souls which is funny at first but then you realize that it has no impact on whatsoever... so it becomes unnecessary pretty quick. The end is good again but during the game the storyline just idles...
    The Characters you meet and can group up with are most of the time very good designed but are too few to really select between.
    So all in all the game is a newer version of Baldurs Gate which is not bad at all but far form being a great RPG.    … Expand
  25. PrincessRose
    Feb 19, 2021
    6
    I like exploring and seeing where the story takes me.
    I dislike the combat of CRPG's and since Iam in it just for the story and exploring there is an option to make combat very easy for those that want to get through the combat as fast as possible and just focus on the story and exploring. But even on very easy I was not able to beat the Adra Dragon as I found it extremely difficult. Iam    I like exploring and seeing where the story takes me.
    I dislike the combat of CRPG's and since Iam in it just for the story and exploring there is an option to make combat very easy for those that want to get through the combat as fast as possible and just focus on the story and exploring. But even on very easy I was not able to beat the Adra Dragon as I found it extremely difficult. Iam sick of how ridculously hard it is and hate not being able to defeat it
    I find talking to NPCs with the reach into the soul thing pointless as it doesn't lead anywhere, it's annoying and I just choose the leave option as soon as it happens.

    At times I felt bored and just wanted to rush it though. Doesn't feel like it has enough depth.
    I can't recommend as I hate frustrating fights and just want to be able to get through it.    … Expand
  26. kharnikhal
    Mar 27, 2015
    6
    Its basically a 15 year old game published in 2015. If thats your thing, then by all means bump my score up by 2.

    I played on Normal difficulty, no expert-mode and no trial of iron (permadeath). First things first: The graphics are horrible. Zoom in and it actually looks like a game from 2000. There is no anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering, graphic options are severly lacking and    Its basically a 15 year old game published in 2015. If thats your thing, then by all means bump my score up by 2.

    I played on Normal difficulty, no expert-mode and no trial of iron (permadeath).

    First things first: The graphics are horrible. Zoom in and it actually looks like a game from 2000. There is no anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering, graphic options are severly lacking and the overall look of the game is blurry and muddy. Not much color to it, its made from shades of brown and grey.

    The battles are alright at first, but when you play further in to the game you will soon realize that you have to be constantly pausing, micromanaging abilities and movement to stay alive, and its pretty tedious. This is especially true with caster classes (wizards, ciphers etc). One little mistake (like your own guy running into your aoe-spell) and you can expect a party wipe. Its essentially a trial and error way of playing. Venture somewhere where the game doesnt want you to go (yet), get killed, load and go do something else. Your own skill has nothing to do with, but some people enjoy this type of stuff. I don't.

    The exploration and enemy level mechanics are archaic, meaning that it constantly puts impossible enemies and quests near your area. This means only one thing: Backtracking. Lots of it. You will have to ignore like half of the quests in the area, move to the next area and take the easier quests there (and you wont have any idea which are easier), level up, buy gear. and backtrack to finish those quests (if you wish). And the problem then is that the rewards for finishing those quests aren't gonna do any good to you since you're already overleveled for that area. Its stupid and I hope it gets patched.

    The story, as far as I could play this game before I got bored (about 5-6 hours), is filled with your standard fantasy-tropes. Evil wizards, ancient evils and all that jazz. The voice acting is quite dull and predictable, nothing good but not unbearable either. Also expect to reads walls and walls (and I mean WALLS) of text. All the time. Every time. You will probably spend more time reading than doing any other activity. At that point I'd rather pick up a decent book than play this game.

    I didn't run into any noticeable bugs or glitches, and the AI pathfinding worked fine for me.
    The best time I had with this game was when I fired it up the first time, and spent maybe an hour figuring out what kind of character I want to create.

    Its not a bad game, it just feels old. Outdated. If this was released 10 years ago, it would've been amazing.    … Expand
  27. Thombie
    Mar 28, 2015
    6
    I've not completed the game but I've played enough to give it a fair non-spoiler review. The story is above average, the graphics is easily below average but all in all good enough to tell a compelling story. People who generally like these kinds of games will most likely love this one, as it's a very good RPG.

    Now, over to more concerning stuff. The combat system, class system and    I've not completed the game but I've played enough to give it a fair non-spoiler review. The story is above average, the graphics is easily below average but all in all good enough to tell a compelling story. People who generally like these kinds of games will most likely love this one, as it's a very good RPG.

    Now, over to more concerning stuff. The combat system, class system and attribute balance is among the weakest I've ever come across in a RPG ever. The classes themselves are interesting enough but it seems kind of moot to specialize your character in any way since the difference is so small that it doesn't matter in the end. I actually wonder why they bothered having the attribute system at all. Skills and abilities on the other hand does make a difference but it's kind of stupid and very rigid.

    Overall the game is above average and gets a well deserved 6 from me.    … Expand
  28. sotnhs
    Nov 18, 2018
    6
    Years later, I'm giving this a try. To be brief, this isn't in the same class as the old Bioware games. Pros, the battle system I like. Maybe more so then the strict D&D2.5/3 rules of old. Cons, if certain missions are done in a certain order, the story kind of breaks. e.i., you trigger an event, go back talk to an NPC with a specific party member which triggers a different event thatYears later, I'm giving this a try. To be brief, this isn't in the same class as the old Bioware games. Pros, the battle system I like. Maybe more so then the strict D&D2.5/3 rules of old. Cons, if certain missions are done in a certain order, the story kind of breaks. e.i., you trigger an event, go back talk to an NPC with a specific party member which triggers a different event that doesn't really make sense to be happening after the previous event. It's a poor man's Baulder's gate as far as story is concerned. I felt like the stakes weren't high enough for the main character. It's like why the hell should the main give a **** about going through all this? To get some information? You're killing people and going on this wild goose chase for some information. You need something more concrete than that. Amateur hour devs who aren't smart enough to learn from the past, other games and other industries (movies) and apply it to the game. e.i., inciting incident, high stakes, etc.… Expand
  29. TheJudgernaught
    Apr 12, 2015
    6
    I have mixed feelings about this game. I'm not going to list the pros since the game seems to be well received, so I'll give my opinion on the other side of things:

    - Voice acting is souless and immersion-breaking. The actors didn't quite 'catch' the feeling of their characters or didn't act them out well. Also, when you interact with characters, you must also read the text for the    I have mixed feelings about this game. I'm not going to list the pros since the game seems to be well received, so I'll give my opinion on the other side of things:

    - Voice acting is souless and immersion-breaking. The actors didn't quite 'catch' the feeling of their characters or didn't act them out well. Also, when you interact with characters, you must also read the text for the narrative details, but the voice acting runs faster than the humane ability to read text. so I played the game with the voices muted.

    - Ambient sound/game music is boring and uninspired. You' re better off listening to your own music while playing this game.

    - There isn't a proper action bar, but a quick-bar of sorts. where you can assign the desired button to the ability. Even though this sounds as a great idea, it ends up causing more headache than it should, since when you hover your cursor above the spell level (spellcasters are the problem) it pops up all the spells of that level, so you have to close it again before choosing a different level of spells. Also, if you press a key by mistake on an ability it will change the activating key for that ability.

    - Combat is boring and repetitive. (Endless Paths experience): Send tank in the front in a choke point/Pull creeps with the tank back to a choke point -> Buff group -> Kill priests/spellcasters with ranged group members/ Use crowd control with other group members/Heal in the meantime -> Kill the rest, starting with the weaker creeps. Rinse and repeat. That's all there is to it. There isn't a fight where you have to do something radically different.

    - Group setup is inflexible. In Endless Paths difficulty, a tank (fighter, maybepaladin), a healer (priest), a dps (rogue/ranger), and a crowd controller (wizard) are almost madatory (I say almost, because I haven't experimented with other setups, but it seemed impossible to do so).

    - Class specializations/braching/path is minimal e.g. you can't be a melee oriented wizard/cleric/druid. Wizards don't have schools. Multiclassing does not exist.

    - There isn't a way to determine the difficulty level of your enemies, except than trying and dying too many times and finally realizing that you are maybe too low level for that area.

    - The resting-supply system is a headache. You have to rest to refresh your spells and some abilities, but you also need to have supplies to do that. In Endless Paths you can carry only two supply packs with you and you WILL have to travel all the way from that multifloored dungeon to a city, so you can buy supplies and resume which will progressively become tedious to do.

    - Scouting is nearly useless. You can't buff before a fight, so there's no point to see watch ahead of you (you can pause). Also, at best you'll be able to see two or three enemies before you are seen. It isn't telling of the other 10 waiting behind them.

    - You have to use scouting to see hidden objects/traps. Traps also give XP when disabled. Oh, you didn't know that? Have fun running back to all those areas you left behind searching for hidden stuff and thinking about all the traps you triggered and the XP you missed.

    - Characters and uninteresting and generic, except maybe Durance.

    - The world has too many tedious details

    - Now about the plot... The story has so, oh SO much potential. It is compelling and interesting and I might say very relatable to a person of our days and age... However, the plot isn't well written, well developed, or enough complicated. The turning point of the whole game was delivered in such a straightforward way that it leaves you perplexed by it's obviousness, instead of shoking and shaking you!

    My thoughts:

    An over-hyped game, as it seems to be the trend nowadays. It certainly gives the feeling of those older RPG's, but it fails to deliver in so many ways that it's good qualities bearly redeem it. It gave me the same impression that Divinity: Original Sin gave me: a game that could be so much more, but was left underdeveloped/unpolished for monetary reasons.

    Should you play it, then? Well, I guess for anone night stand, it's ok. It doesn't have re-play value though.    … Expand
  30. Topfpflanze
    Jan 4, 2022
    6
    I am facing a problem. Pillars of Eternity is certainly one of the best RPG games I know. But: it is indispensable to read and understand the lengthy texts that are displayed to you, because they contain important hints. Depending on the hardware (resolution and display), this is an imposition. And that's why I think this is one of the best games that are unplayable.
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Awards & Rankings

6
#6 Best PC Game of 2015
7
#7 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
25
#25 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 71 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 70 out of 71
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 71
  3. Negative: 0 out of 71
  1. RPGamer
    Jul 7, 2015
    70
    Pillars is a title that should make old-schoolers happy while still offering a solid core game, story, and a rich setting for new-schoolers.
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  2. LevelUp
    May 25, 2015
    93
    Pillars of Eternity stands on its own merits without resorting to nostalgia too much. Truly a CRPG masterpiece, the game offers old school, real-time strategic combat, and a vivid world to explore. Not only do you get an overall well-made experience, but also a challenge you haven't seen since the 90's.
    Read full review
  3. Games Master UK
    May 24, 2015
    82
    A sprawling game in a familiar setting, and a clever tune-up for the cRPG. Just what the backers hoped for. [June 2015, p.74]
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