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
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. charlfourie
    Mar 30, 2015
    10
    Not only is this a successor to other Infinity Engine games but it the most fun I've had playing one to date. Sitting at 15 hours to far and can't wait to play more.

    Graphics are rich and atmospheric, Sound is wonderful and voiced beautifully, the Combat is brutal and requires a fine hand and then there is the story, words can not describe how rich the world is.

    Buy it now!
  2. Vidicus
    Mar 28, 2015
    9
    A true throwback to the glory days of RPGs. If you were a fan of Baldur's Gate or Plantscape Torment, you owe it to yourself to try Pillars of Eternity. There really is no major flaws with the game, it has the bases covered from the ground up as a near perfect 3D isometric view turn based RPG. Do not miss out, this is worthy of opening your wallet for.
  3. cdcondrici
    Mar 28, 2015
    10
    This is my first review for Metacritic so i am extra happy to be able to review probably the biggest comeback in gaming history for my debut. And what a comeback it is! all the magic ingredients the ones that made games like Baldur's Gate and Planescape : Torment and KOTOR unforgettable experiences and instant classics are mixed together again this time in a shiny new cauldron andThis is my first review for Metacritic so i am extra happy to be able to review probably the biggest comeback in gaming history for my debut. And what a comeback it is! all the magic ingredients the ones that made games like Baldur's Gate and Planescape : Torment and KOTOR unforgettable experiences and instant classics are mixed together again this time in a shiny new cauldron and bottled in amazingly crafted bottles. Don't listen to the people who think this game is only for wRPGs aficionados and dice rollers experts. This is mainly a wonderful adventure game and a personal journey through an amazing world. I love the new mechanics the game feels like a perfect combo between old school D&D and the modern times Role Play sophistication. nothing feels so far much different than Baldur's Gate and this is a fantastic feature considering that the system developed by Obsidian is so fresh. the graphics are absolutely gorgeous and the story so far, as expected, is to say the least engrossing. Also it's amazing how smooth the game runs on any average specs. so to conclude the game is definitely a must buy and must have for everyone who even remotely (still) enjoys playing PC games. is a labor of love and restored my (lost) faith in the future of gaming in general and RPG in special. Fantastic work Obsidian. can't wait for the new Planescape!!… Expand
  4. tander
    Apr 8, 2015
    10
    This is the game RPG fans are waiting for years to come,and it delivered.Rich text grabs your attention every so often,the experience is so sucked in. anyway ,recommended for true RPG lover .
  5. Dattatreya
    Apr 10, 2015
    10
    I have seen numerous user reviews before me that reiterated how if you are a fan of BG2 or Planescape: Torment , you will be immediately hooked on to PoE. While I don't disagree with them, I should come out clean and say - the very first tactical RPG I played was Dragon Age: Origins. So, naturally that was the benchmark for me when it came to games like these (and I never played BG and itsI have seen numerous user reviews before me that reiterated how if you are a fan of BG2 or Planescape: Torment , you will be immediately hooked on to PoE. While I don't disagree with them, I should come out clean and say - the very first tactical RPG I played was Dragon Age: Origins. So, naturally that was the benchmark for me when it came to games like these (and I never played BG and its IE ilk). However, PoE for me trumps over DA: Origins in all almost every aspect - be it gameplay or the core lore itself (perhaps DA: Origins was only better in its sense of 'epic' scope).

    Simply put - Pillars of Eternity is a game that demands your attention in numerous ways, with a breakneck yet tactical combat system that is 'fair' as opposed to its watered-down brethren. This is complemented by one of the best writings I have ever come across in a game world, along with some (not all) nifty quests. In other words, PoE is a game that also deserves your attention.

    As an ending note, when I played DA: Origins, I thought it to be a great game that deserves a 9. To that end, PoE certainly deserves a 9.5 (a score which unfortunately cannot be given on Metacritic).    … Expand
  6. 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.
  7. Batbamb
    Aug 24, 2015
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Well, I did not expect Pillars of Eternity to be such a failure in terms of world-building and writing.

    First of all, let's recall that Obsidian's main selling point on Kickstarter was to draw inspiration from Baldur's Gate and the likes. So,to some extent, PoE had to use an imaginary world full of magic and wonders: you will find no small amount of mighty heroes, spells, adventures and exotic races in the world Obsidian designed.

    But these are just cosmetics. The true themes are dark and serious: soulless children, obscurantism, death of gods, and so on. It seems like Obsidian was more attracted to dark fantasy (a genre where the magic world falls into chaos/horror).

    As a consequence, humour and delight are close to nonexistent in the world of PoE. That alone doesn't necessarily makes it a bad game: grim worlds can be interesting too. The problem is that the dark fantasy themes are severely underdeveloped. Indeed, Obsidian could not stray too far from high fantasy: they had promised a game similar to Baldur’s Gate, after all. So, compromises had to be made...

    The main storyline is a good example of it. After the first hour or so, your avatar is supposed to be gradually losing his/her sanity.

    You never, ever feel it. Apart from some casual ghosts apparitions. Boo!

    In this instance, the gameplay does little to support the story (Mask of the Betrayer did that better). The consequence is that you are not invested at all in your character’s specific state. But this is only one of the main topics of the game, so what’s the point of developing it, hey?

    Another key feature of the story, the Hollowborn curse, did not convince me either: its concrete presence and influence on the population is hugely overlooked. I can only recall two characters who seemed psychologically affected by the situation: Raedric and the Grieving Mother. It’s as if the game was not at ease with its own main topic.

    So, PoE refuses to be only a high fantasy game, while not really daring to be a dark fantasy one. The result is that this game hugely lacks vision. Ironically, you could say its world has no soul.

    I also think the game suffers from its attempt to reproduce the style of Planescape: Torment, whereas the world of PoE is not quite as inspiring. Torment had an exotic, surprising and mysterious world, full of sense of wonder: an ever-burning corpse in the middle of a tavern, an alley giving birth… Such motifs supported the imaginative, philosophical writing very well. The writers of Torment could constantly show what they meant: the words and graphics merged to create intricate and delightful images.

    In PoE, the writers’ mantra turned into “telling rather than showing”: since the universe lacks vision, the narration mainly embroiders emptiness.

    And it does so in large quantity: the texts seem even longer than in Torment… but they are far less compelling. The descriptions are constantly bloated, trying to inject depth into a world that severely lacks it. For example, the dialogues give systematic descriptions of the characters’ physical attitude (“she frowns”, “he purses his lips”, etc.). Sometimes it can be amusing to read. But a lot of it doesn’t add anything, which dilutes the relevant descriptions into an indigestible mess. I concede that the vocabulary is rich (I certainly improved my English a lot while playing this game). And some passages are genuinely beautiful, as in the dialogues with the gods. But often, the writing is just uselessly verbose.

    A word about the fights: the combat system is nice… but the encounter design is atrocious. 90% of these encounters consist of trash mobs. Only a few fights will make you change your tactics. Too bad. The most challenging fights are entertaining, though.

    Apart from that, there are a few instances where PoE deserves praise.

    Firstly, I liked the roleplay options and the variety of dialogue choices in general. Consequences lack, but at least you can create a personality for your avatar.

    Then, the construction of the secondary quests was mostly excellent. You generally have several options to conclude them, all of which are morally defendable. And the few FedEx missions (the bounty quests) included most of the more interesting fights in the game, so that’s a good compromise.

    Moreover, the companions were well executed and varied. They have a history and a personality, which are not forced upon you: it’s up toyou if you want to know more about them. I found Durance to be particularly fascinating. The Grieving Mother’s tremolos and melodramatic tales, less so.

    And of course, the graphics are stunningly beautiful. The icy tones of Noonfrost are breathtaking.

    So, there are some good points in PoE. But the narrative aspects and the fight design ruined this game for me. At least, PoE provides a valuable warning for the future attempts at building imaginary worlds with depth and soul. Nowadays, a lot of RPG do not even show us mistakes worth reflecting upon.    … Expand
  8. Noesis
    Apr 4, 2015
    10
    This game quite simply sets new high standards in the world of computer RPGs.
    If you were into old school cRPGs, you must absolutely play it (old gamer from the times of Ultima VII, Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment here). But even if you never played one of those games, you should definitely play Pillars of Eternity as well. Because it does much more than just offering an old formula,    This game quite simply sets new high standards in the world of computer RPGs.
    If you were into old school cRPGs, you must absolutely play it (old gamer from the times of Ultima VII, Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment here). But even if you never played one of those games, you should definitely play Pillars of Eternity as well. Because it does much more than just offering an old formula, it innovates and rethinks an old formula to offer a new modern RPG experience.

    Games like this tell you what an incredible experience you can have by investing into amazing writing quality over voiced lines, incredible stories over mainstream movie-like tropes, hand-painted landscapes over flashy 3D and FX, world building and immersion over cheesy entertainment. It's the difference between being amused by something and being fascinated and involved by something. There's nothing wrong in being amused, but you got to try the difference once in a while...

    As a side note: those who reviewed and gave 0s to this masterpiece have just left a record of their absolute incompetence at evaluating games. Everyone has obviously a right to an opinion, but dumb and incompetent opinions speak much more of those who express them than about the subject of their evaluations...    … Expand
  9. Mamoulian
    Apr 6, 2015
    10
    This is it! The long wait is over and yet again thanks to the Kickstarter can we see what huge lie have we been fed by current games publishers. We were taught to give up all hope and think that the glory days of fantastic intelligent gaming are gone. We were taught that only mindless hack and slashers and MMOs are the way of the RPGs now. But we were being lied to over and over again.This is it! The long wait is over and yet again thanks to the Kickstarter can we see what huge lie have we been fed by current games publishers. We were taught to give up all hope and think that the glory days of fantastic intelligent gaming are gone. We were taught that only mindless hack and slashers and MMOs are the way of the RPGs now. But we were being lied to over and over again. 70.000 backers on Kickstarter showed the world of gaming yet again that we can battle commerce by sponsoring games we all really want to play and that we are many. Pillars of Eternity is the fruit of our unified effort, a treat all oldschool RPG lovers deserved. Its huge, bountiful in stories untold, beautiful to behold and perfect to play for many long hours. A perfect gem an RPG. Thank you Obsidian, thank you Kickstarter. This is a dream come true!… Expand
  10. boomba66
    Apr 3, 2015
    10
    A tactical, crpg that has you exploring every inch of every map. While it does not have the deep rich history of the forgotten realms to give you those moments of running into characters you have read about for years, it makes up for it in the world building it does on its own. It plays very much like the old infinity games with a few noticeable differences.

    Pro's 1. Great NPC's to tag    A tactical, crpg that has you exploring every inch of every map. While it does not have the deep rich history of the forgotten realms to give you those moments of running into characters you have read about for years, it makes up for it in the world building it does on its own. It plays very much like the old infinity games with a few noticeable differences.

    Pro's
    1. Great NPC's to tag along with you.
    2. Great Story and Character progression
    3. Interesting progression system for gear and skills with a bit of a learning curve.
    4. Really cool story.
    5. Take the NPC's or create your own party feature. This could make re-plays much more viable.
    6. Really great new classes, Cipher and chanter are really neat classes with brand new(overpowered) abilities.

    Cons
    1. Few annoying bugs still
    2. No multiplayer
    3. Stat system is a little weird(tank with a 6 strength)
    4. No Multi-Classing    … Expand
  11. monkeyking95
    Oct 11, 2016
    3
    I think there's a reason games like this aren't made anymore. It honestly didn't engage me, I never felt connected to the world or the characters. The gameplay felt stale and bland and I have no nostalgic bias towards isometric RPGs. I think those who have their nostalgic blinders on will enjoy this but if your taste in gameplay, game design and player engagement has evolved and 'moved on'I think there's a reason games like this aren't made anymore. It honestly didn't engage me, I never felt connected to the world or the characters. The gameplay felt stale and bland and I have no nostalgic bias towards isometric RPGs. I think those who have their nostalgic blinders on will enjoy this but if your taste in gameplay, game design and player engagement has evolved and 'moved on' then you won't find much here that will delight you. Pillars Of Eternity is a wilfully average game.… Expand
  12. BlackIsle
    Apr 7, 2015
    10
    My expectations were very high and Pillars of Eternity exceeded them. This is the best game I have played in the last 15 years. This score of a "10" was not given to offset the "zero" trolls, this is the actual score I would give this game. The future of PC gaming is bright indeed.
  13. divine1976
    Apr 3, 2015
    10
    Only Kick-starter I backed because I'm a fan of Obsidians games and was not disappointed!

    Can only echo previous reviews: Fantastic writing with choice, customisation and a great tactical old school feel.

    If you like old school RPG's like Baldur's Gate, Torment etc, you are probably already playing, but if not, GO AND BUY IT!
  14. MikeLane
    Apr 3, 2015
    10
    I don't give a lot of tens - this is a ten. Classic isomorphic RPG with excellent writing, suitably tough combat, detailed storyline and the joyous immersion of Planescape:Torment, Baldur's Gate and the very best of the golden age of RPGs. If you ever enjoyed an Infinity Engine game, you will love this.
  15. Amfibios
    Apr 2, 2015
    10
    guys this is the real deal! i haven't played a more perfect rpg in years! playing it feels like i'm a kid again where i'd start playing a game and then i'd be so excited and into it that i'd be looking forward to keep playing with every chance i get!
    you may have to neglect your responsibilities if u start playing this, u've been warned!
    i never thought someone would step up nowadays    guys this is the real deal! i haven't played a more perfect rpg in years! playing it feels like i'm a kid again where i'd start playing a game and then i'd be so excited and into it that i'd be looking forward to keep playing with every chance i get!
    you may have to neglect your responsibilities if u start playing this, u've been warned!

    i never thought someone would step up nowadays and make a real old school rpg masterpiece like this, i thought i was doomed to be playing only dragon age-y rpgs from now on.    … Expand
  16. softpsyche
    Apr 22, 2015
    10
    Great game, ignore bad reviews - unless you are an impatient millenial brat who cannot bother to read a game wiki or are too lazy/dumb to understand game mechanics without them being spoon fed to you. At first the game is frustrating because the combat system is not standard rpg and their is a learning curve. However, once you start to piece it together the game gets better and better. IfGreat game, ignore bad reviews - unless you are an impatient millenial brat who cannot bother to read a game wiki or are too lazy/dumb to understand game mechanics without them being spoon fed to you. At first the game is frustrating because the combat system is not standard rpg and their is a learning curve. However, once you start to piece it together the game gets better and better. If you invest in this game and give it some love it will give you love back. In this regard - it is EXACTLY what you would want to recapture the old school magic. I did not give it a clean 10 because I do believe it could have received a bit more polish and mainly because the old school 'pause to play' combat system just seems dated nowadays. They could have added some character AIs like baldurs eventually did but I think something even better should have been created. The chanter is a really great character and I think they need to develop more solutions like that so combat can roll fluidly if they are going to leave it 'real time'. Or they could have simply switched it to a turn based system (like divinity orginal sin) but this would definitely have violated the whole 'Baldurs' gate successor mantra.

    UPDATE: I had reviewed this at a 9 but made it a 10 after i saw how much content is in the game. there is a HUGE amount of content and as such it deserves a solid10.    … Expand
  17. Damascus
    Mar 27, 2015
    10
    This 10/10 is for the best writing and rpg-presentation of any game in history. Game-mechanics are better than dnd, but still need both refining and further development.
  18. Zarunil
    Apr 2, 2015
    10
    The best thing to happen to the cRPG genre since Baldur's Gate 2. Beautifully hand-drawn backgrounds, interesting characters with great voice acting, a nice new twist on the classic D&D ruleset, an interesting storyline and much more.
  19. faceless-1
    Apr 5, 2015
    10
    Obsidian made again superior RPG. They promised Baldurs gate like experience and that is exactly what this game is. This game is not 100% bug free, but i encountered nothing major. Must own to old school RPG fans.
  20. Jsan
    Apr 7, 2015
    10
    Uno de los mejores juegos que puedo recordar de lejos. Jamas crei que me aportaria casi 80 horas de inteso juego y aun asi me dejo atras detalles. Me ha encantado todo, desde la prespectiva hasta la historia pasando por la calidad narrativa. Compratelo!!
  21. ArminW
    Mar 31, 2015
    10
    I backed this on Kickstarter for much more than I ever paid for a game before. I desperately wanted this game to happen and thus had absurdly high expectations. Now, after more than 60 hours into the game (within 5 days ant NOT quitting my day job yet...) I can sincerely say: PoE managed to surpass them all.
    So, I'm, giving a 10 for the first time, not because I want this game to be rated    I backed this on Kickstarter for much more than I ever paid for a game before. I desperately wanted this game to happen and thus had absurdly high expectations. Now, after more than 60 hours into the game (within 5 days ant NOT quitting my day job yet...) I can sincerely say: PoE managed to surpass them all.
    So, I'm, giving a 10 for the first time, not because I want this game to be rated highly, but because I truly think that this game, and Obsidian for making it this way, deserve it. I can find nothing among it's short list of minor issues that would warrant to take down my score by even 1 point.
    The Art is gorgeous, and proof that well-painted. lovingly detailed backgrounds beat High-Res textures and technical gimmicks every time. It's simply fun to explore every single area, just to revel in all the detail.
    The writing is a class of it's own, with a major wall of text hitting me like in Planescape:Torment days, a ton of well-rounded and interesting characters far off the beaten cliches, a fantastic world and a story that made me cut hazardously short the third night of sleep in a row...
    Nothing is simple, nothing is black-and white, and no one is simply a fantasy troupe repeated the umptieth time. The choice feel like they really have weight, and my character, with abilities, background and reputation, has never mattered so much (except, perhaps, the aforementioned PS:T)
    And the RPG system that obsidian came up with is to date, hands down, the best compromise between pen&paper complexity and cRPG ease-of-use mechanics I've encountered. It offers endless choices, tactics and possibilities and makes for interesting, tough but fair battles. With *meaningful* difficulty settings (not just numbers raised on enemies) to boot.
    Really, for me, this game is close to perfection and I openly admit - this 46 year old fart has turned into an enthusiastic fanboy. 10. Thank you Obsidian.    … Expand
  22. Gette
    Jun 2, 2019
    3
    Another game I backed for $100 and got massively disappointed.

    The game is supposed to be a spiritual successor of BG, Icewind dale, Planescape yet the game felt more like morrowind in ie. The characters have no emotions, but only serve as info dump. You got this A god and B god over that C and bicker for D but none of them matter in the game, you won't see them. The whole game feels    Another game I backed for $100 and got massively disappointed.

    The game is supposed to be a spiritual successor of BG, Icewind dale, Planescape yet the game felt more like morrowind in ie.

    The characters have no emotions, but only serve as info dump. You got this A god and B god over that C and bicker for D but none of them matter in the game, you won't see them. The whole game feels like you're reading a 40k supplement fluff books on computer screen.

    In torment you only got Morte first and later most companions are linked to the nameless one.
    In IW everyone is generated so you learn the world by interacting itself.
    In BG characters are kept simple and you experience the world most by the player, with a few extra info from your comrades.
    In POE the super convoluted lore comes from companion dialogues that don't really matter in the story, gameplay, nor the world.

    Combat is also boring with trash mobs blocking way all the time it eventually wears off any patience left.

    While some argue New Vegas is the same, I'd say it's totally different. In NV you start with being shot and woke up exploring the world.

    In the start of POE you already got thrown away characters that I cannot remember of, and ingame myth and lore and gods and occupations and curses and names I just don't care about.

    Not recommended. Reading newspaper is more fun than this game.    … Expand
  23. MothExploit
    Apr 5, 2015
    10
    I backed this game on KS, got my hopes up for awhile, during its first few months of development, then played the backer beta and resigned myself to the likelihood of the final product being buggy and excruciatingly difficult. I figured I'd still like it, and it'd be a fun throwback to the glory days of CRPGs, but I never thought it would turn out as amazing as it has.

    I'm so glad they    I backed this game on KS, got my hopes up for awhile, during its first few months of development, then played the backer beta and resigned myself to the likelihood of the final product being buggy and excruciatingly difficult. I figured I'd still like it, and it'd be a fun throwback to the glory days of CRPGs, but I never thought it would turn out as amazing as it has.

    I'm so glad they surprised me.

    The extra time they put into polish really, really shows. This game feels like a classic in its own right, not just a nostalgic love-letter to something long-gone.

    I love the fiction -- not just the overall lore, but the way it's presented in the writing. Your free to ask the dumb questions and have everything spoon fed to you, but you can also play the game as though you are a character who's familiar with the setting, and it's still perfectly easy to pick things up. There's very little of the awkward and obvious data-dumping which plagues much of the writing in these sorts of games. You can tell the writers loved the world they created, but they've also exercised impressive restraint in delivering that world to you, which makes the story feel more elegant than the norm.

    The mechanics draw from the classics for all the positive elements, but I honestly think they've improved significantly on the old Infinity Engine gameplay by distancing themselves from D&D and focusing on rules which lend themselves to the computer. I found the backer beta overwhelming, but in the game proper as you're acquiring skills more gradually, the learning curve is very comfortable. The game's encyclopedia also provides good explanations of the mechanics, if you choose to seek them out.

    My one minor gripe is that I wish they'd provided more portraits for the character creation. The only male Nature Godlike option does not jive with my character at all -- but, I'm sure the community will churn out a good selection of alternatives in the near future.    … Expand
  24. sirrat
    Apr 5, 2015
    10
    Great if somewhat flawed game. If you don't want to micro-manage combat obviously this game isn't for you. The pace felt very slow to me at first but I gave it a chance and it paid off--learning the systems matters and making decisions about your gear and build (and party makeup itself) matters. Some nasty bugs (unfortunately sort of par for the Obsidian course) but so far they've fixedGreat if somewhat flawed game. If you don't want to micro-manage combat obviously this game isn't for you. The pace felt very slow to me at first but I gave it a chance and it paid off--learning the systems matters and making decisions about your gear and build (and party makeup itself) matters. Some nasty bugs (unfortunately sort of par for the Obsidian course) but so far they've fixed the major game-breakers I ran into. I don't care about voice acting really but imo it does the job well enough. I am giving it a 10 instead of the 8 or 9 it really deserves because of the "gamergate" reviews ranting about "SJW". Nothing sets off my retard detector more vigorously than someone using the phrase "SJW".… Expand
  25. Smilingcookie
    Apr 29, 2015
    8
    It's ok, but not great. For me it's a lot less inspiring than Wasteland 2. Certainly not on par with Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. Still an enjoyable crpg. Some of the new classes like the chanter are actually fun to play with and give a fresh taste to the game. Story and setting didn't grasp me so much. It seemed like an uninspired crossover between Planescape torment and dark souls. 7,5/10.
  26. adff500
    Jun 18, 2015
    7
    + + + Pros + + +
    1. Very long campaign with plenty of maps and side quests.
    2. Nice graphics,great level design and amazing soundtrack. 3. Smooth gameplay,interesting characters,writing and dialogues with lots of choices. - - - Cons - - - 1. Plenty of unnecessary loading times (even when you are on the same map). 2. No voiced dialogues (text only). 3. The combat rules,casting and    + + + Pros + + +
    1. Very long campaign with plenty of maps and side quests.
    2. Nice graphics,great level design and amazing soundtrack.
    3. Smooth gameplay,interesting characters,writing and dialogues with lots of choices.

    - - - Cons - - -
    1. Plenty of unnecessary loading times (even when you are on the same map).
    2. No voiced dialogues (text only).
    3. The combat rules,casting and survival handicaps the player greatly (and the A.I. is one of the worst I´ve seen in a while).

    Classic RPG with modern graphics and some annoying old-school and technical flaws. Overall an enjoyable experience.    … Expand
  27. invizo
    Apr 7, 2015
    10
    Already 100 hours in, simply a masterpiece. The only RPG in a long time whose limiting factor is the player's intelligence and ability to micro-manage. POTD difficulty is a god-send and makes the re-playability amazing.
  28. Soupgoblin
    Dec 6, 2016
    2
    Not sure if anyone that has reviewed here actually played Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter, Icewind Dale and the other CRPGs...

    At best this game is lackluster, sure it has good graphics, and the dialog between the companions is great but IMHO as an old time P&P D&D player, Obsidian has failed by not using any recognizable CRPG game mechanics, and instead dumbing the game down for the    Not sure if anyone that has reviewed here actually played Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter, Icewind Dale and the other CRPGs...

    At best this game is lackluster, sure it has good graphics, and the dialog between the companions is great but IMHO as an old time P&P D&D player, Obsidian has failed by not using any recognizable CRPG game mechanics, and instead dumbing the game down for the LCD's... Using endurance and heal mechanics, but failing to include a way to actually heal... The lack of really interesting armor stats or gear stats (all armor is pretty much the same. dr and recovery). The abilities and talents choices are horrid, basicly just forcing you to chose the ones that suck the least... They know the genre, yet they decided to make the game player feel as though they have been given a blue ribbon for participation. I'm just glad that a friend loaned me his copy so I didn't have to pay for the game to find out that Obsidian, a company I trusted, would vomit this perversion of a crpg out...

    I say this after re-playing Baldur's Gate 2 last month, this game is a mere shadow of what they did with the D&D mechanics, Obsidian can do better, they have done better, and anyone who gave this game a better score than 5 should feel ashamed that they went fanboi instead of actually telling the truth.    … Expand
  29. Veska
    Mar 27, 2015
    9
    Welcome home, my child.

    Baldurs Gate

    If you sometimes play games as Baldurs Gate, you would love it. This game is game for fans! Hard and long play time.
  30. nilleratus
    Oct 1, 2015
    4
    I'm very much a fan of this type of games, I've played them all.

    This games starts of extremely well, me and a close mate didn't talk about anything for the first few days. Act 1 is awesome. In act 2, you start getting a little bit bored because the fights are so easy, that could be countered by raising the difficulty though. In act 3 you steamroll everything and you reach max level    I'm very much a fan of this type of games, I've played them all.

    This games starts of extremely well, me and a close mate didn't talk about anything for the first few days. Act 1 is awesome. In act 2, you start getting a little bit bored because the fights are so easy, that could be countered by raising the difficulty though.

    In act 3 you steamroll everything and you reach max level late act 2 or early act 3 depending on how you play. That means the only exploration left is story and loot. This isn't diablo, so loot is only mildly interesting. So rule that out.

    The story then, it's ok, it's not bad and it's not great. I wasn't entirely captured by it but I wanted to get through it, and I did, barely because the gameplay is so **** boring the last act.

    I followed this game from the start and I'm super disappointed unfortunately :(    … Expand
  31. BlueBangkok
    Apr 14, 2015
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. PoE is a difficult title to review.
    It claims to be a spiritual successor to old infinity engine games but that couldn't be further from the truth. The truth is that it doesn't compare to Baldur's Gate series on any possible level. As a standalone, isometric RPG, it is okay (some signs of brilliance here and there) but the developers are claiming it is a BG successor, so I will review it as BG successor.

    Story: bland, run-of-the-mill story with interesting moments connected through hours of boredom. Nothing special. Just run to a guy who can help you - oh, he's dead - run to the next guy - oh, he's dead too - run to the next guy - oh, he dies too - find final boss - kill final boss. Save a few exceptions basically no character development at all.

    Graphics: good, albeit generic. Some spell effects are quite pretty.

    Music: oh please don't get me started on this one... Obsidian didn't realize that 50% of BG epicness was music. One boring combat track for the entire game really just doesn't cut it, guys.

    Combat system: clunky and tiresome. Absolutely no automatic AI at all (even BG 1 had AI scripts for those who didn't want to micro manage every single member of the party) - they don't even auto attack by themselves. Waves and waves of the same, generic combat sequences. And the best part - when you complete Bestiary entry for an enemy, you STOP earning XP for that enemy kills. Oh, yes, Obsidian, we completionists really want to get punished for playing our way. Literally go re-play Fallout 1&2 right now to see how non-combat choices should be implemented without gimping combat-oriented approaches.

    RPG system: basically an altered version of DnD 4e. Setting aside the fact that 3e would be far superior, absence of any immunity stats is just hilarious. Dragons killed by fireballs, frightened spectres, oozes slipping to the ground from local version of Grease spell, and so on and on and on. Innovative? Maybe. Immersive and intuitive? Nope. Changes for the sake of changes, not for the sake of system improvement or logic.

    Companions: few glimpses of good writing here and there (Durance and Sagani), otherwise little more than generic drones standing in combat drooling, waiting for you to right click on the enemy.

    All in all, very poor example of classic CRPG games' successor. This game wants to look "old school" so badly but fails to deliver. It is nothing like the old IE games. It wasn't developed by people who loved the old DnD games.    … Expand
  32. Korax
    Apr 4, 2015
    7
    As everybody who marks this lower than an 8, I feel I must justify my taste - I grew up on Infinity Engine cRPGs. All of them, from the first Baldur's Gate to Icewind Dale 2. Hell, just last year I re-played a heavily modded Baldur's Gate 1 TuTu and BG2 and I loved every second of it. I'm also a huge fan of Obsidian. So, when I got this game and "New Game", I was a giddy as a kid in aAs everybody who marks this lower than an 8, I feel I must justify my taste - I grew up on Infinity Engine cRPGs. All of them, from the first Baldur's Gate to Icewind Dale 2. Hell, just last year I re-played a heavily modded Baldur's Gate 1 TuTu and BG2 and I loved every second of it. I'm also a huge fan of Obsidian. So, when I got this game and "New Game", I was a giddy as a kid in a candy store. After years of waiting, I'll finally see two of my favorite things in gaming make a tag-team comeback.

    As it turns out, my enthusiasm didn't last long. The very first dialogue in the game is almost a case study in how not to begin your 60-hour epic that requires nerve and commitment from a very specific player-base. You are immediately bombarded with custom-made fantasy geographical, historical and societal terms that make almost every wall of text a humorless front-loaded slog to read through. A big part of why a classic fantasy setting is so ubiquitous is that familiarity which allows us to immerse ourselves into a new setting with ease. Unfortunately, Obsidian has mashed together a relatively straight-up port of D&D, full of dwarves, elves, sword and sorcery, with a high-fantasy Tolkien-esque attempt to reinvent the wheel in every regard - a new continent! New languages! New histories! New races (if you can count Avatar's Na'vi as new)! New terms for everything - Legacy! Skean! Hollowborn! Woedica! Watcher! Engwithans! Galawain! None of it is too hard to digest, mind you, but when taken in its totality, the game's constant attempts to flesh out its daunting backstory and terminology, rather than its characters and plot kills any immediacy in the game. At about the 30-hour mark, I stopped, read the journal, reviewed everything I learned and realized that I had only the faintest idea why I was on the quest, what my character's motivation was or why I had just tracked half-way across the continent. And that feeling kept coming back, catapulting me out of the experience and making every other new wall of text feel like a history class I walked in on by accident. The story itself, which I won't spoil, is serviceable, but one that I won't remember in T-minus one week. The villain, in particular, is not memorable, only made slightly more interesting through his connection with the player. Planescape, Mask of the Betrayer or Baldur's Gate, this ain't.

    What about the gameplay? It's quite good - the combat is fluid and tactical, with huge replay value. Every class has its own dynamic and the fact that at any point in the game you can create your own party in an inn leads to the fact that no two play-throughs will be the same. I personally rolled with two custom made characters and had a blast. I have two gripes with the combat though - there are no experience points per kill (only per bestiary entry), making it hard to motivate yourself to kill your 300th troll that day. The level of micromanagement is high, and the number of encounters is enormous. If Baldur's Gate 2 had this many fights per square meter, you'd barely be able to leave the first dungeon! It doesn't help that very few encounters can be done on auto-pilot, meaning that you'll have to think about every fight, with no experience rewards and mostly junk loot.

    The art direction in the game is stunning. Incredible detail has been paid to every cobble-stone and bush. You can look for hours and hardly ever notice "assets" being used - only details on beautiful, painstakingly drawn objects and backgrounds. The music is...fine. Nothing to write home about. Same goes for the voice-acting, as rare as it crops up.

    In the end, it was the combat, variety and presentation that made me last through till the end, weirdly enough. The two elements that I routinely praise in Obsidian games - character and story, turned quickly into obstacles to my enjoyment, rather than center-pieces. I finished the game's campaign more out of a sense of obligation and an appreciation for a well-crafted game than a feeling of intrigue or immersion. I can recommend it and Obsidian deserves your support, but I cannot shake the feeling that I lost more time with Pillars, than I got back in true enjoyment.    … Expand
  33. Joote
    Mar 28, 2015
    10
    Yes, this game is worth a 10. No protest vote, no bull. It is simply worth a 10, and that's before patch's or expansions/dlc.
    POE, take's me back to the golden days, when games were golden. Truly fantastic game on all accounts.
  34. Ignatius_Reilly
    Feb 23, 2016
    8
    This is a sort of re-review, somewhat after the fact. I originally gave the game a 10, which was probably premature, like most reviews on this site. While I like all the modern updates, and find the game overall very satisfying in terms of combat, exploration, and characters, the game is bogged down by a serious lack of editing.

    It's not that I don't like reading or reams of text (I    This is a sort of re-review, somewhat after the fact. I originally gave the game a 10, which was probably premature, like most reviews on this site. While I like all the modern updates, and find the game overall very satisfying in terms of combat, exploration, and characters, the game is bogged down by a serious lack of editing.

    It's not that I don't like reading or reams of text (I just recently finished a 500 page novel in a few days) but I feel that a lot of dialogue is repetitious, often consisting of a character telling you the same thing in many different ways. For example, when you meet a character named Maerwald, he goes through so many throwaway lines that don't tell you anything concrete other than to reiterate he is crazy, which after a point you're like, "I GET IT!" Too many characters do this!

    The writing isn't bad, it's just a lot of it could be cut without taking anything away from the game. This is my biggest hurdle with fully immersing myself, knowing that in playing I'll have a long-drawn out dialogue to get through. A lot of it is all info-dumpy, and so not as compelling as it could be. The worst offender being the two women at Twin Elms, Oh God, which is presented as an egregious information dump.

    I had hoped for writing more like New Vegas, which, while wordy, has a lot of instances for player agency, so you're able to stay involved even through long conversations.
    Of course, I could skip all the dialogue, but I feel that removes from the enjoyment, I want to know the story, and get into the characters, but the writers use so many words to say so little! Argh!    … Expand
  35. elenaPamelar
    Oct 31, 2015
    0
    Clearly lots of paid reviews on this one. Great graphics? At least they are easy to spot but this is still dishonest. I put nothing past Obsidian, they have a long history of iffy stuff.

    Anyway, the game is pretty bad. I tried to play it on release but couldnt get into it. Decided to give it another chance (while waiting for FO4) and loaded it up. Steam did its update, and off I went to    Clearly lots of paid reviews on this one. Great graphics? At least they are easy to spot but this is still dishonest. I put nothing past Obsidian, they have a long history of iffy stuff.

    Anyway, the game is pretty bad. I tried to play it on release but couldnt get into it. Decided to give it another chance (while waiting for FO4) and loaded it up. Steam did its update, and off I went to forums to see what had changed. Seems they did a lot of "re-balancing".... why do you re-balance a 1 player game? Seriously... the problem I had with it the 1st time was that it was just so boring to play. Too much clicking and the story was basically like a filler episode of an anime. If anything, the game needed to be unbalanced to give it some fun but nope... you know what they did? They made it even more boring by making sure whatever was "overpowered" before, was no useless and that all classes are now just boring and linear.

    Ok so I loaded it up, and started making my character. I had played on several difficulties prior and decided to go ahead and play at PotD (highest difficulty) because I remembered how completely imbalanced the game was and it needed some help. Made a Rogue, discovered the game was stupid. Everything died in a few hits once I had my tanks and I got as far as the bounties when I stopped and re-rolled something else because the game was just retarded with the rogue (too much dps).

    I tried a wizard. Then I remembered just why I didnt like the 1st time... with something slower than a rogue, the game is sooooooooo boring. Things died very slowly the 1st 6 or so levels because he didnt have tons of spells yet. Sure trash stuff was easy, but anything with medium difficult took forever to kill and resisted the wizard waaaay too often even though I had min/maxed him for casting and only chose spells to counter weaker resists. It was stupid. not fun at all. Basically my wizard spent 99% of fights flinging his ranged spam attack... this is not fun. I had surrounded him with support so none of them were major damage dealers except the ranger who was doing ok but all he does is just auto attack because that is all he can do.... boring, boring, boring, boring. Got as far as the 2nd bounty and stopped.

    Re-rolled one last time hoping to find some class that was fun to play so I tried a Cipher. She gets unlimited spell casts but limited number of spells like a warlock in dnd. She was better, but again, very limited. Eventually she became a two trick pony spamming that binding spell, and auto attacking....

    So here is the problem. They went out of their way to make classes as balanced as possible but never once stood there and asked, but are they fun to play? MMO's are usually not very fun because of this type of thing. They only exist for the social aspects of gaming, otherwise, they suck the big one. Why make a single player game like an MMO? Very bad design. Please stop paying people to post reviews. There is no way this game should rank higher than a 6.    … Expand
  36. elterifico
    Apr 7, 2015
    9
    The first RPG I ever played was Kotor. For me, isometric RPG is something new. I was a backer for the game and I am having fun so far. But even if I understant people who are really into this kind of thing, I really think that the combat system is way to much complicated and since I found out that I suck at micro managing all my party members, well I have a hard time playing the game.The first RPG I ever played was Kotor. For me, isometric RPG is something new. I was a backer for the game and I am having fun so far. But even if I understant people who are really into this kind of thing, I really think that the combat system is way to much complicated and since I found out that I suck at micro managing all my party members, well I have a hard time playing the game. I would give this game a 8 or a 9, but I can't, not because I suck, but because I think it should have been fully voiced... the story is rich and inviting, but having to read it all just spoil a part of the fun for me... But even with that bummer, I just can't stop playing the game... It is a masterpiece of epic proportion... For those like me who suck even on easy, you just have to activate the console and use some cheats. With those I made it so I could rest as I want whitout using campfire supply and with that cheat on, I could survive my own mediocrity...… Expand
  37. janki
    Apr 1, 2015
    10
    They did go above and beyond with this game, there is still room for improvement, but it has already blown away all my expectations. The game is amazing.The thing I like the most are dialogue options, they can vary on your stats, culture, background, skills, reputation! It's amazing!

    This is THE CRPG we have been waiting for!
  38. Cherryleaf
    Apr 6, 2015
    10
    Pillars of Eternity is like meeting up with a long lost friend, and it all feels so familiar, that you pick up where you left, yet the story is long and engaging, which makes it easy to listen to. The isometric graphic couldn't feel more right - a nostalgic trip from the past - as it is the skin that suits the story being delivered.

    This CRPG is for all of you who wish to dive into a    Pillars of Eternity is like meeting up with a long lost friend, and it all feels so familiar, that you pick up where you left, yet the story is long and engaging, which makes it easy to listen to. The isometric graphic couldn't feel more right - a nostalgic trip from the past - as it is the skin that suits the story being delivered.

    This CRPG is for all of you who wish to dive into a world that reminds you of BG, NWN and Ice Wind Dale, but with slightly new differences. The setting is great, and the story is engaging. This game managed to walk from Kickstarter, and even exceeded my already high expectations. I'm glad that I jumped on this train from start.    … Expand
  39. KuriousJorj
    Sep 3, 2016
    4
    Yet another overrated game by people apparently desperate for ANYTHING in the RPG genre.

    Boring world, boring plot, boring combat, boring game. Long-winded walls of text. Pathetic combat (enemies that move away from your attacks, but if you do the same, you get a "Disengage" penalty. AND NO, just because it's a pause RPG does NOT mean it's supposed to be that way. Does NOT mean it    Yet another overrated game by people apparently desperate for ANYTHING in the RPG genre.

    Boring world, boring plot, boring combat, boring game. Long-winded walls of text. Pathetic combat (enemies that move away from your attacks, but if you do the same, you get a "Disengage" penalty.

    AND NO, just because it's a pause RPG does NOT mean it's supposed to be that way. Does NOT mean it gets a pass on being boring.    … Expand
  40. Schuback
    Feb 26, 2016
    5
    We all know this is a low budget game. But it's not a bad game at all. Just can get pretty repetitive and boring because there's no voice acting. So you'll be reading the whole game through which gets tiring after 10 hours in. No cutscenes and not much character animations. And the combat isn't that good too. Lack of immersion and story can get boring cause of more reading. Yeah..... WithWe all know this is a low budget game. But it's not a bad game at all. Just can get pretty repetitive and boring because there's no voice acting. So you'll be reading the whole game through which gets tiring after 10 hours in. No cutscenes and not much character animations. And the combat isn't that good too. Lack of immersion and story can get boring cause of more reading. Yeah..... With so many RPGs out there with voice acting, good story, better combat gameplay, I don't think Pillars of Etternity is that good. I enjoyed Dungeon Siege, Neverwinter, and some other top down text-filled rpgs. But it isn't the 90s it's 2016, act like you care. Put some effort to evolve or innovate the top down rpg genre. Not stay entirely and not improve at all. Oh but you have a low budget? Doesn't mean a thing. If the game isn't good, it isn;t good.

    Play it if you're into old-scool rpg. Many who are stuck in past (oh it reminds me of the 90s wow...) Otherwise, play something else. It's no 10/10 like many people are saying that it is. Alright at the start but after about 8 hours it collapses.    … Expand
  41. Storyteller
    Aug 14, 2016
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Let me begin this by saying I really wanted to like this game. I desperately wanted to. I tried in as many different ways as I could to convince myself that I just wasn't seeing Pillars from the right angle, that if I tried one more time I could get into it, but in the end I had to admit the truth to myself. Pillars of Eternity is garbage. This game falls flat on its face when it comes to important elements that make a great role-playing game.

    The first is the terrible cast of characters. In a game that revolves around a party of companions, they design an extremely limited (what, six, maybe seven total?) and bland cast of joinable NPCs that would never, ever travel together if you were looking at this from a story perspective. That might be forgivable if they were interesting with their own romances and side quests and intricate backstories, but they're not. The game designers seem to attempt an apology for this by shoehorning in some mechanic to design your own party of characters from the tavern, but for me that's just as half-ass as apologizing for the terrible magic weapons they designed by letting you enchant your own gear.

    The second is clearly the combat. From the basic system to the character classes to the way enemies behaved and battles generally went, it's a big gigantic mess that is not intuitive or fun to play. The basic concept of Pillars combat mechanics are confusing and annoying. Items you find are woefully inferior to the bland generic items you can enchant, and the way stats interact with your class is unbalanced and at times extremely confusing (physical strength dictates the damage wizards do with their spells -- WHAT?). Many enemies are given stunlock abilities or endlessly heal each other (such as the Paladins in Raedrics Keep), and all are automatically designed to rush your weakest characters. There's no real way to stop this, short of sending your fragile characters away from the fight at maximum range, but as soon as they move in to do anything to help, they will get rushed and die. The worst part is that after you finish that tough-as-nails epic fight, you realize you're not a damn step closer to the next level for it because of a pretentious XP system that only rewards quest completion and not body count of defeated foes.

    Third is the lack of immersion or replayability. The game makes a big deal about character race, background, culture and all that, but ultimately those choices have no impact on the actual events of the story. The 'reputation' system they tried to implement is confusing and poorly designed, so that by the time you finish the game, you will have a car crash of many different reputation types. This is made even worse when certain classes (Priest and Paladin) have class abilities whose strength depend on this broken reputation system. Quest lines allow the illusion of choice at some points, but the result is the same regardless of what you do.

    Fourth, and finally, is the story. It's not interesting. The main character can talk to dead people, and some Big Bad Evil Guy in a mask is stealing souls for some unknown, shallow and ultimately pointless purpose. The hook for even placing you where the events of the game take place is immediately revoked a couple hours in after Raedric decides to yank his offer, leaving you as some wandering nobody with no purpose other than to chase down why you have funny voices in your head. Being a Watcher is supposed to be this super-rare unique Kewl D00d power, but the most reaction I ever got out of anyone amounted to: 'You're a Watcher? Huh. That's funny.' As plot devices go it's really weak and I found myself struggling to give a single damn about magic rocks coming out of the ground, hooded people performing nefarious rituals, or my character's involvement in the whole mess at all.

    The fact that this game has gorgeous aesthetic and production value makes all of this worse. With such crucial design flaws, this is literally the RPG equivalent of a hot girl that won't put out. She'll tease you, but in the end you'll walk away with nothing but blue balls, resorting to your only option of finding some relief by drunk dialing your ex.

    That's it. Pillars of Eternity is a hot girl that doesn't put out. End of review.    … Expand
  42. bobbymcd
    Mar 24, 2018
    3
    I don't get it. I've played tons of RPGs over the years and I don't understand why people like this one.

    - Very fiddly. Neither the flow of an action RPG, nor the strategy of a turn based RPG. It falls in the worst kind of middle. - I played about 10 hours and the weapons and equipment seem almost meaningless. I don't see very many interesting choices in this regard. - It seems    I don't get it. I've played tons of RPGs over the years and I don't understand why people like this one.

    - Very fiddly. Neither the flow of an action RPG, nor the strategy of a turn based RPG. It falls in the worst kind of middle.

    - I played about 10 hours and the weapons and equipment seem almost meaningless. I don't see very many interesting choices in this regard.

    - It seems like they allowed the writers to go write to their heart's content. Wayyyy more lore and story than is interesting or appealing.

    - Really odd and esoteric formulas for basic things like hitting an enemy. I had to spend 30 minutes online looking through combat system explanations just to understand how to play it at a very basic level. I don't mind complex systems in an RPG, but this one seems needlessly weird and overly complicated.

    The difference between this and Divinity Original Sin are like night and day. One is fun, relatively easy to pick up, but has incredible strategic depth and POE seemed like a drudge to even get through 10 hours. I didn't play Baldur's Gate, judging from the other reviews I wonder if that's a prereq for enjoying this game.    … Expand
  43. T4l0n
    Sep 13, 2016
    5
    I really wanted to like this game, sadly it has too many issues.
    The game presents itself with a really good dark theme and with the complicity of the visuals and musics it really delivers a great atmosphere. Sadly the first think you discover has many problems is the combat: it has the typical crpg style of combat but there's no mana only a limited amount of usages for any spell, the    I really wanted to like this game, sadly it has too many issues.
    The game presents itself with a really good dark theme and with the complicity of the visuals and musics it really delivers a great atmosphere. Sadly the first think you discover has many problems is the combat: it has the typical crpg style of combat but there's no mana only a limited amount of usages for any spell, the interface doesn't let you properly understand enemies hp/weakness or your chars positions and there's a really weird gear system: the better the armor the slower you attack (yes, for real), so the optimal way to play at higher difficulties is to have a big tank in the front and all the other characters naked in the back casting spells or throwing arrows ...
    The leveling system disencourages combats and exploration, everything is quest related, after you killed a certain type of enemies a couple of times you won't get any more exp from killing them, it's a really weird system that seems stupid and dumb to implement in a high-fantasy "classic" crpg, maybe it will work better on their next game "Tyranny" but in this game is a disaster. You will end up getting 99% of your experience just by completing quests and the loot you find in dungeons is mostly trash, now join this to the combat system and it ends up it's not only worthless but a bad idea to explore dungeons after you complete the quest.
    Also this game railroads you into making certain choices just because you're not powerful enough to do what you want, it's not that it's hard, it's plain out impossible, for example you have a choice "with me" or "against me" if you choose to go against the enemy he double shots your team, can i go back later ? yes, but why all the dungeon is easy and only the final boss is impossible ? This doesn't make any sense ...
    There's a lot of bad optimization, even on high end pcs everytime you open the map or inventory the framerate drops and the game itself is filled of long loading screens everywhere (and i have a ssd, i can only image how long they are on magnetic disks).
    The world is filled with stupid backers nps : there are tons of npcs that will "tell" you a vision about themselves, all these visions are stories made by the backers and they are so long and extremely boring, completely trowing you out from the immersion of the game.
    I literally had to stop playing because of a bugged quest, i killed a character i had to talk to because it bumped into me earlier and triggered a fight, when i talk to her "side" i can only fight both the sides together all against me, i have no chance of surviving this, and yes, it's a main quest ...    … Expand
  44. Magnethead
    Aug 22, 2016
    8
    Pillars of Eternity helps bring back the group-based, tactical RPG as we knew it in the glory days of Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and similar games. It does so unapologetically and accurately while also bringing enough new ideas to the table to make the game more than pure nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. The underlying story and fantasy world are meticulously crafted, innovative andPillars of Eternity helps bring back the group-based, tactical RPG as we knew it in the glory days of Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and similar games. It does so unapologetically and accurately while also bringing enough new ideas to the table to make the game more than pure nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. The underlying story and fantasy world are meticulously crafted, innovative and well written. Overall, the game is hugely successful though there still are minor issues that could be improved.

    PoE doesn't rely on the old D&D rules, they have their own, new RPG rule set that does use classes, spells, resting and the typical party roles we're used to (tank, healer, crowd control, damage) but otherwise has its own ideas of stat-interaction and a few new class ideas. The overall concepts will be recognizable to seasoned RPG veterans while still presenting new challenges to adapt to.

    The story is a major selling point of PoE. The writing is solid, the story deep and the character (especially the eight NPCs) are very well crafted. There's a great deal of freedom in regards to how you approach different quests and even characters in the game, you have almost unconstrained freedom to murder and pillage almost any character in the game, if you so choose, for example. A criticism here could be that perhaps the story doesn't escalate tension particularly well so that when the game ends, it doesn't feel so much like a strong climax as simply a steady unraveling of an intricate plot. The game behaves mostly like the final fight is a formality and the actually interesting question isn't if you win, but what you do after you win. This can make the game seem slightly less memorable than perhaps it should be.

    Arguably, there are some issues with balance that should be addressed too. Between DPS and non-DPS classes, the game becomes very fixed in its roles. Tanks find it hard dealing meaningful damage but retain the ability to tie down enemies through the game's 'engagement' system. This system simply means that if you run away from a character engaging you, that character damages you for free - however since tanks don't do meaningful damage, the AI could actually just run right past them with great advantage. It doesn't do that, luckily, but this lopsidedness arguably makes the game system feel a bit artificial at times. The spell system could also use a bit of rebalancing, certain spells serve no clear purpose in the game as you don't really have the time or the situations where they need to be cast. In most situations, dealing damage outweighs more complicated options. This said, the system actually works really well, it has genuinely intuitive ideas and I hope they continue to work on it.

    All in all, PoE is a successful RPG game and follows Divinity Original Sin in reviving this wonderful genre. The crowd-funding concept definitely worked in this instance. I hope Obsidian stick to this project and release a sequel soon, they needs only address a few issues that exist still in PoE and build on the promising world behind the game.    … Expand
  45. Xenofex
    Jan 30, 2016
    8
    This game does feel like the return of Baldur's Gate. The story is great so far and the game system is worth your time to study. The graphics is also great, which is a huge improvement over Baldur's Gate series.

    However considering it was released 201x decade, I do expect and prefer something even better, like what I found in The Witcher 3: great story with astonishing graphics and    This game does feel like the return of Baldur's Gate. The story is great so far and the game system is worth your time to study. The graphics is also great, which is a huge improvement over Baldur's Gate series.

    However considering it was released 201x decade, I do expect and prefer something even better, like what I found in The Witcher 3: great story with astonishing graphics and action, where not only you can read but also you can witness that fantastic world.

    And for the system, I feel it could be better: maybe just a better guidance for the new players. In Baldur's Gate, people love the complexity of the system because it's an experience that can be carried over with you here and there. The system of Pillars of Eternity feels a lot like D&D. Probably it's on purpose to create the old feeling with out patent issues.

    On the other hand, Dragon Age took another path. In DA:O the system was not simple, but not working very well, at least in my opinion. Not too many builds for a class, and the tank-nuker-healer triangle just feels tedious and unrealistic. In DA2 the system was simplified and in DA:I it was polished over DA2. I kind of like what they did in DA:I for the balance between simplicity and flexibility. Complex combat system is for a lot of builds. And if the developer is not able to make a lot of sensible builds, why not leaving the system simple? There a tons of elements to improve to improve the overall experience for a cRPG.    … Expand
  46. frankielee
    Mar 5, 2018
    9
    Thank god obsidian and inexile are still actively making games that rests on frp tradition.
  47. zmmby
    Aug 3, 2017
    9
    Lovely game.

    The game can feel abit clunky sometimes, and some of the spells arent really creative. You have three familiar spells with different colours and names. I'd love to see some new creativity on that. Story is good. Nothing special but it's good. Gameplay works fine with pause and tactics. Music can be repetetive sometimes. Especially if you play the game for 8 straight    Lovely game.

    The game can feel abit clunky sometimes, and some of the spells arent really creative. You have three familiar spells with different colours and names. I'd love to see some new creativity on that.

    Story is good. Nothing special but it's good. Gameplay works fine with pause and tactics. Music can be repetetive sometimes. Especially if you play the game for 8 straight hours and get the same fighting music all over again.
    But these are minor picks. It's a great game if you like to read and play CRPG.

    Im already pitching in the Kickstarter for Pillars 2 at 2018.    … Expand
  48. Barnews
    Jun 18, 2017
    8
    It was fun. I really enjoyed Pillars of Eternity but i am also upset a little, because it miss many things that made legendary Baldurs Gate 2 so good. Dont get me wrong. PoE is good game but it is still steps behind BG2. Not in every aspect of game. Some things are better in PoE, but overally there are still a lot of things to be improved.

    PROS - Almost all things in game are good or    It was fun. I really enjoyed Pillars of Eternity but i am also upset a little, because it miss many things that made legendary Baldurs Gate 2 so good. Dont get me wrong. PoE is good game but it is still steps behind BG2. Not in every aspect of game. Some things are better in PoE, but overally there are still a lot of things to be improved.

    PROS
    - Almost all things in game are good or at least mediocre.
    - Graphics are OK. Developers did good job to bring you same old BG2 feel in modern coat.
    - Sounds are mediocre not bad but nothing that will excite you enough.
    - User interface, journal, inventory, world map, character sheet, etc... everything is good with place for improvements. Game tries to provide you with plenty of informations about almost everything, but there are still a lot of basic game machanics that you need to find on internet.
    - Quests have more results, You make a lot of decisions during you gameplay and it does matter. Overally I had very good feelings about this part of game. There are a lot of ways how to solve conversations and various events. Your reputation is based on your conversation and quest decisions.
    - Items, Armors, Weapons, etc..., are good. Weapons have different damage types and armors have different damage reductions.
    - Very nice ending where the game tell you what happend with towns, villages, party members, factions after your victory.

    CONS
    - Stealth system is not as good as i would like it to be. You can sneak around to know where your enemies are and what are they numbers but that all. No sneak attacks no quiet situation solve.
    - Combat system is flat and very straightforward here. In BG2 you had a lot of different ways how to solve different situations. Here it is too, but poorly executed. Is there a room full of fireball traps but no one to detect it and disable it? No problem just cast cast protecting spells on our warrior and let him to trigger it all without harm. In BG2 yes. But not in PoE you cannot cast defensive spells when out of combat :-D.
    - There are a lot of spells for same thing. Its sad because in BG2 were a lot of spells too, but for different situations with various combat changing effects. You will find it here too but very rarely. Here you are just casting some spells on some enemies and in most situations it doesnt matter what spells on what enemies :-D.
    - Although items, armors and weapons are good, their special magical properties are not as interesting and cool as they could be. You can even enchant your items with another stuff you found on your adventures which is nice addition but its same like with spells. A lot of varios magical properties with same effect. It almost doesnt matter what magical properties your items have.
    - No multiplayer. I was shocked when me and my friend bought game expecting to play together (in BG1 and BG2 more than 15 years old game it was possible) So we were forced to play it solo.
    - End game comes quickly. One time you think you are in half of game and several hours later you stand before main boss. And when you defeat him, the game ends (Very nice ending). But you cannot continue in your gameplay. Every unfinished business is lost without warning. And thats very sad because i think it could be done better.
    - Combat pace is very quick by default and it was necessary for me to play in slow combat all the time. The combat and spell effects are also very chaotic and it took some time until i got used to it.

    8 / 10 is maximum i give to PoE. Developers tried hard and did very good job. In some aspects they overcame BG2 but in others they failed.    … Expand
  49. gloriouspotato
    Feb 13, 2017
    8
    PROS:
    + Good storytelling and writing, with well developed companions and quests.
    + Nice exploration of certain themes such as the role of gods in society, the burden of memory, and of conflicts (both real and personal) arising from faith. + Some nice orchestral soundtracks. + Attributes and skill choices play a significant role, not only in combat, but also in what choices are    PROS:
    + Good storytelling and writing, with well developed companions and quests.
    + Nice exploration of certain themes such as the role of gods in society, the burden of memory, and of conflicts (both real and personal) arising from faith.
    + Some nice orchestral soundtracks.
    + Attributes and skill choices play a significant role, not only in combat, but also in what choices are available to you within dialogues, giving a plethora of role-playing options.
    + Overall, the combat offers a fun and challenging tactical experience that requires synergy between abilities and appropriate positioning in battle.

    CONS:
    - Some combat encounters have lots of visual clutter and obstruction, making it hard to see what's happening on screen.
    - Mediocre framerates in certain areas, even on specs well exceeding the recommended spec.
    - Frequent and relatively long loading screens.
    - XP distribution is a bit skewed, making it very easy to reach the level cap.    … Expand
  50. minusfive
    Aug 3, 2017
    10
    As a huge fan of the Infinity Engine games, I must say that Pillars of Eternity is simply amazing in every way. It's a true spiritual successor - not only a faithful tribute to the grand legacy of BIS and BioWare but also a new chapter in the isometric CRPGs evolution, an important milestone for the whole genre.

    Particularly, the character classes are very impressive. To all who    As a huge fan of the Infinity Engine games, I must say that Pillars of Eternity is simply amazing in every way. It's a true spiritual successor - not only a faithful tribute to the grand legacy of BIS and BioWare but also a new chapter in the isometric CRPGs evolution, an important milestone for the whole genre.

    Particularly, the character classes are very impressive. To all who critcize PoE (for whatever reason) I can say this: name any other RTwP CRPG from the past decade featuring eleven distinct classes ("distinct" meaning that each class has its own mechanics and is vastly different from all other classes) or shut up. I'm dead tired of subpar RPGs and their warrior-rogue-mage repertoire.

    The game was already great on release but now with the the White March expansion and improvements brought by patches it's nearly perfect.

    Absolutely 10/10, can't wait for PoE 2.    … Expand
  51. Alexyaaay
    Oct 23, 2018
    10
    Great game. So much to depth to this game to explore whether it be the combat, character builds, lore or even just play the story which is FANTASTIC! This is really a game i can draw the curtains for and just sink into its world for a couple of hours. Can't wait to get home and play through again!!!!
  52. Baltifru
    Apr 19, 2020
    6
    I think many people love Pillars of Eternity and rightfully so.

    I didn't like the game though, for one main reason: it is uselessly complex, and both words in "uselessly complex" matter. First of all, the combat system is quite atypical. While it can be played easily for someone who plays the game in easy mode and doesn't care about tactics, it can rapidly give headaches given the    I think many people love Pillars of Eternity and rightfully so.

    I didn't like the game though, for one main reason: it is uselessly complex, and both words in "uselessly complex" matter.

    First of all, the combat system is quite atypical. While it can be played easily for someone who plays the game in easy mode and doesn't care about tactics, it can rapidly give headaches given the number of possibility offered: there are (too ?) many classes within the group each having its own gameplay. For each them, too many choices are offered. For instance, the mage has like 30 spells, that can even be customised (maybe there are hundreds of possible spells in the whole game ?). Status are also too numerous. Can't count now but it looks like there are at least 20 of them, which end up being very difficult to sort out for people like me who don't have the patience to learn them all.

    The statistics are yet another example of this useless complexity: the game relies on a system of a double set of statistics. One set can be directly customised at each level up and determines the possible interactions of your character during dialogues and off-combat sequences. The other one determines the strengths of your character in combat, but you cannot tune it manually: each stat is computed based on the first set of statistics in a non-changeable fashion. This makes the RPG aspect of the game "uselessly complex" is the sense that this additional layer of complexity doesn't, in my opinion, serve any purpose. Complexity in a game can be welcome if, through it, you can extend the possibilities offered by the gameplay. That is not the case here.

    I am sorry to drop this game midway, because for the rest the lore is very interesting, the world and atmosphere imagined by the devs are great and the decision mechanics make this experience very customisable. But the truth is I was forcing myself to play this game up to now. Giving up.    … Expand
  53. mothballs
    Apr 24, 2015
    2
    My experience of the game is so at odds with popular opinion that I am writing a review on this site for the first time ever.

    Somewhere out there on the internet are a set of composite images featuring the blended, averaged faces of thousands of different humans, male and female. Unsurprisingly, the composite faces are extremely plain and forgettable - placid eyes, neutral semi-smile,    My experience of the game is so at odds with popular opinion that I am writing a review on this site for the first time ever.

    Somewhere out there on the internet are a set of composite images featuring the blended, averaged faces of thousands of different humans, male and female. Unsurprisingly, the composite faces are extremely plain and forgettable - placid eyes, neutral semi-smile, medium-brown unblemished skin.

    The writers appropriated and reused many stock fantasy tropes in creating the world for this game, but they didn't do it in piecemeal fashion - a daub of Tolkien here, a splash of Forgotten Realms there. Instead, it feels like they grabbed every fantasy setting they could get their mitts on, crammed them into a Blendomatic, and hit Frappe. The result is sort of like those composite photos. Everything's been so averaged and smoothed over that you can't even recognize the specific source material any more. All you can tell is that you're in a fantasy setting. That's it. You can tell because there are tall people and short people, and a lot of them have names you've never heard before, and some of the people have swords and shields and others of them cast sparks out of their fingers sometimes.

    There are a lot of words in this game. A lot of lore, a lot of history, a lot of dialogue. Reading is great! I love reading, generally. But reading in this game is like reading the ingredients list on a packet of saltines, or like reading a patent for a new kind of chewing gum wrapper, because the source material is just as bland. I've played for over 20 hours (trying to squeeze my money's worth of fun out of this particular stone) and not once did an element of the world strike me as interesting; not once did I want to explore any more of the dialogue or of the in-game texts than I had to. Compare this to a game like PS:T where I was hooked from the moment I woke up on a cold slab in a transdimensional mortuary and a floating, foulmouthed skull started gabbing at me and I stayed hooked until the credits rolled (and I've played that game again, quite recently, and it's still as compelling as the first time I played it).

    It was said in another review that the game feels like it was made by people who hate the genre and hate its fans. I have to concur. They say never to attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence, but I feel the blandness of this game goes far beyond anything anybody could come up with on accident - it genuinely feels orchestrated, premeditated. A bunch of **** in a board room somewhere drummed their fingers together like Mr. Burns, cackled a dry, rasping, collective cackle and set themselves to the business of creating the biggest **** you" of a fantasy setting that the genre has ever seen.

    There are negative things to be said about the combat, the music, some other miscellaneous gameplay and HUD elements... but why bother? The soul of the game is missing: who cares if the body is flawed as well?

    The only positive thing to say about it is that the prerendered backgrounds are very pretty. I think that's about it, and it's actually amusing that most of the positive reviews start out by warning people who want sexy graphics to seek out a different game. In reality, the graphics are the only thing PoE has going for it.    … Expand
  54. marc5477
    May 31, 2015
    7
    If I had 2 words to describe this game it would be "Repetitive micro-management..." or is that three word? How about 2 words and a hyphen...

    EDIT 5/30/15: This game has gotten extremely monotonous and boring. I jumped straight into the hardest difficulty and once I understood the system it became extremely boring. Every battle is exactly the same and there are so many useless trash mobs    If I had 2 words to describe this game it would be "Repetitive micro-management..." or is that three word? How about 2 words and a hyphen...

    EDIT 5/30/15: This game has gotten extremely monotonous and boring. I jumped straight into the hardest difficulty and once I understood the system it became extremely boring. Every battle is exactly the same and there are so many useless trash mobs to kill that it really does get old very fast. by the time I hit level 8, all battles became trivial because all you need to do to win is have 2 tanks and they can hold anything back forever. Then its a matter of whittling the enemy down. I restarted and tried playing as a rogue and tried to play with no tanks but it turns out that without tanks the game is basically impossible. So you are stuck with either boredom or impossible (requiring cheese strategies to win). I deducted 1 point and I stopped playing the game. I did not finish it but I might come back to it some other day.

    I have to admit that this is a good (above average) game; and this is coming from someone who absolutely hates Obsidian (their lazy backsides mucked up some of my favorites like KotOR II and especially NWN2). The story is fine, and characters are ok and gameplay is above average however it really gets dragged down by lack of companion AI. I really got tired of casting the same thing over and over and over in every single encounter and the short timers on skills and spells make it that much worse. They really needed to implement some better automation to take care of repetitive tasks.

    I did not like the itemization in this game... gear in this game is unbelievably boring. I can tell that they wanted to maintain a tight grip on game difficulty but seriously... its a single player game... what is the point? They keep wasting time re-balancing classes and spells in patches as if there were some sort of competition to be had when there is not... They should spend that time to add more items, spells, skills and feats to the game to give it more flavor and add fun to the game.

    The game is satisfactory in difficulty. I played it out of the gate on "Path of the Damned" and was happy to see that the game actually managed to kill me a few times while I learned the ropes. The bad news is that it seems that on that difficulty, you pretty much have to resort to cheap tricks to get through the 1st 4-5 levels depending on what class you pick at the start. This does not bother me very much because I enjoy the progression from being weak to becoming something that no longer needs to resort to cheap tactics but clearly the beginning of the game needed better balancing. I assume on "normal," this game is a cake walk.

    The game tries a few odd gameplay methods such as doing away with healing hit points and making it so that you can only heal endurance (fatigue) during combat. Endurance essentially becomes a second form of "hit points" and you can use spells to replenish it during fights but you dont die entirely unless your hit points go to 0. When endurance hits 0 you simply get knocked out but if your party wins, you will get back up, recover your endurance, and carry on with however many hit points you had left. You can only recover hit points by resting outside of combat. It sounds more complicated than it really is and frankly, it is just a convolution of the original system we are all used to and I dont think it adds much to the game (it also cheapens the value of hit points significantly).

    The one thing I dont like is how easy it is to reduce endurance even on tank built characters since many spells and abilities target it directly though other resistance (like reflex and such). I've frequently see my warriors knocked out while still having more than 90% of their hit points in tact... its a bit silly when you see that happen and it completely negates the value of hit points.

    There are other nagging issues like the need to walk around a lot due to lack of camping supplies (you have to return to town to rest instead) and other minor things but overall id say this is a good game. Characters are well written although not much humor in this game. Story progression is good. I wish they spent more time on the keep but it was not bad either. A solid above average 7 (recall average is 5 on these online sites due to how the statics play out with more people voting).    … Expand
  55. coconner
    Apr 5, 2015
    6
    Decent, but inferior to its predecessors.

    This game is being horribly overrated because the genre is so rare these days that people want to support it. Thats fine, but understand that this game is a very average western RPG, and inferior to its predecessors such as Planescape Torment or Baldurs Gate. If you like this kind of game, i have no doubt that you will enjoy Pillars, as i am,    Decent, but inferior to its predecessors.

    This game is being horribly overrated because the genre is so rare these days that people want to support it. Thats fine, but understand that this game is a very average western RPG, and inferior to its predecessors such as Planescape Torment or Baldurs Gate.

    If you like this kind of game, i have no doubt that you will enjoy Pillars, as i am, but im not going to delude myself.

    The art direction, music, story and character development are all very weak sauce compared to the likes of PST. Nothing is memorable. I am about 25 hours in yet lack a firm grasp on what the story is even meant to be.

    The combat annoys me, you can't loot until about 4 seconds after the last enemy has died, often the character models and unit collision is so bad, you cannot possibly identify your party members in battle. There is far too much irrelevant writing, such as dozens of NPCs in every map who you can "read the soul" of, to learn their story, but you can't talk to them, there is no interaction, their story is irrelevant, and because there are so many, you just end up not bothering for any of them which, rather than engrossing you in the game, achieves the exact opposite.

    The overwhelming sense i get from this game is that the creators are like old men, trying to recreate the former glories of their prime, but they've been out of the circuit so long they are clumsy and cack-handed, needing far more practice to get back to speed. I hope they get that practice, and we see more ISO RPG's, perhaps eventually reproducing something as awesome as PST was, but this is far away from that.    … Expand
  56. 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
  57. whatever523
    Mar 29, 2015
    8
    This game is great in so many ways, but the lacking party AI kills it.

    I don't want to manually have to cast every spell over and over again. There should be some kind of automation like there was in BG2.

    Until this is implemented, PoE doesn't come close to the old BG games.
  58. ScienceAdvisor
    Apr 20, 2015
    5
    Quick review for those not interested in the deeper details: This is Baldur's Gate II with better graphics, except that you have a level 12 cap, the writing is far worse, and the gameplay tries to achieve a more tactical aspect, but ultimately fails to do so due to poor design. For those that played them, this is Icewind Dale not BG2.

    Full Review This is an utterly derivative re-hash    Quick review for those not interested in the deeper details: This is Baldur's Gate II with better graphics, except that you have a level 12 cap, the writing is far worse, and the gameplay tries to achieve a more tactical aspect, but ultimately fails to do so due to poor design. For those that played them, this is Icewind Dale not BG2.

    Full Review
    This is an utterly derivative re-hash of better games (BG2 for the most part, with a little Torment thrown in), with a meaningless, and meandering story. The mostly static enemies, with only two or three pre-fab groups per map, are quite predictable and easy to defeat when not cheating (towards the latter game).

    A particularly critical failure are the story & gameplay elements that are made out to be so important, yet are not developed over the course of the game. The "inspect soul" that can be performed only many NPCs, turns out to be one of these. There is no reason aside from OCD to do this on anyone that is not associated with your missions. Upgrading you weapons also falls into this category. They are so limited, and better weapons found so regularly, there was little benefit to crafting anything in the game.
    Then there is the stronghold, which you would expect to see developed into more than just a random encounter genenerator as the game progresses, especially due to story driven elements, yet it does not. It is not even as engaging as the original version in BG 2, where you had to dispense high justice. Like most of Pillars of Eternity, is it a pale reminder of better games.

    You will also notice a distinct reduction in quality and map size as the game progresses as they were forced to rush to get the game finished. If you have even a mediocre memory, you will be quite shocked at the level of discrepency between the initial maps (used to sell the game), and the latter ones. While not new for Obsidian (Alpha Protocol, FNV, heck every one of their games dating back to KOTORII), it does not bode well for them. They could not find outside funding for their projects, and nearly went bankrupt for this very reason.

    Claims that this is a "RPG based on their own intellectual property" is laughable, given how much of it comes directly from D&D games. Obsidian would not be able to prosecute a copyright infringement case, as they could not show the elements someone else was using did not come from the earlier D&D games. So 'reviewers' repeating Obsidian's PR line should be summarily ingored in your pre-evaluation of this game. If they cannot be bothered to know the history of these games, they will not be able to review them reliably.

    There also seem to be a lot of fanatic fans/haters, which seem to plague metacritic these days. I suggest filtering out anyone claiming PoE is a 9-10 or 0-3.    … Expand
  59. Sjalka
    Mar 28, 2015
    8
    Pillars of Eternity is a good looking game for the classic party based RPG player. It is a little more casual than the recent comparable title (Divinity - Original Sin) - but shares the 3d iso top down look along with a nice character development system.

    Recent games that might compare to it is Divinity - Original Sin as well as Blackguards 2 ( i am not aware of other western party    Pillars of Eternity is a good looking game for the classic party based RPG player. It is a little more casual than the recent comparable title (Divinity - Original Sin) - but shares the 3d iso top down look along with a nice character development system.

    Recent games that might compare to it is Divinity - Original Sin as well as Blackguards 2 ( i am not aware of other western party based RPGs of recent times )

    While Blackguards 2 rather tells a more or less interactive story by stringing tactical combats together, Divinity Original Sin is much more similar.

    In terms of scale Divinity offers a much smaller world with slightly less diversity, only a mini-party system but a much richer combat and enviromental system. Pillars of Eternity is closer to Baldurs gate - which offers a larger world (although not every area is really large ) - but much more casual combat with a large party system.

    The characters are nicely done (art-style and lore about them) and you do care for them. The choices of difficulties is very nice - from casual players that can get far in the game without having had too much experience with such games up to hardcore RPGers that seek a challenge (although the challenge is only based on monster numbers and their stats )

    The story is - nothing new; but then - not even Baldurs Gate 2 had a really new story. It is almost always a variation of "the chosen one" of sorts, - sometimes the tragic one, sometimes the heroic one. Where Baldurs Gate 2 scores much higher is in immersing the player in the world.

    Despite the ( from todays standards - and it wasn t exactly looking amazing when it was released ) low technical capability of BG2 - it managed to draw the player into a vivid world up to the point where you spent hours doing side-quests ... genuinly forgetting your main-quest because some sidequests were so rich and complex - not to mention epic.
    Pillars of Eternity does not quite manage that much - but tries hard at least.

    From a technical point of view - the game runs surprisingly bad. While it looks good enough - the world is not rendered in such a rich detail that it justifies the specs it needs.

    Since - like many those party based-RPGs are centered around combat ... i wish to mention that since BG1 days (cannot speak for the days before, because i never played an older RPG than BG1) - the AI has not really evolved much - if at all.
    The NPCs are stupid (which does not mean they are push-overs) and behave about as clever as NPCs of similar games from 20 years ago. They show no regard for their life, do not exploit the enviroment or make smart use of their skills ( like trying to time their aoe attacks to gain a maximum benefit from their skills ) - but since i have not seen any game achiving a satisfying result in terms of AI, i can only guess that the AI has not made any significant advances at all the past decades.

    to conclude

    This is a very nice game, it is a game i would describe as "solid" - and a safe buy for RPG players. It will challenge and entertain for a good time - but it does not reach the top of the genre.    … Expand
  60. FirestormZero
    Apr 10, 2015
    7
    As a longtime fan of CRPGs, JRPGs, and with hundreds of hours of Fallout 1, 2, Baldur's Gate, etc, I came to this game with very high expectations and perhaps they were a bit too high. While this is definitely a good game, there are aspects which hold it back from being great.

    First, the art assets and graphics. They are very inconsistent in quality and I feel like the early design    As a longtime fan of CRPGs, JRPGs, and with hundreds of hours of Fallout 1, 2, Baldur's Gate, etc, I came to this game with very high expectations and perhaps they were a bit too high. While this is definitely a good game, there are aspects which hold it back from being great.

    First, the art assets and graphics. They are very inconsistent in quality and I feel like the early design choice to go with a Semi-Realism art style really hurt the game. I think it would have been a better use of their resources to stylize it, as style can make low graphics much more appealing. Most of the characters look similar to Taric from League of Legends. While he's fabulous, he's also a bit blocky. Since the first thing we are thrown into is the character creator, it also puts a bit too much emphasis on one of the poorer parts of the game. That said, the team is very imaginative with area designs. If you want some very cool places to explore, they are here, there are many of them.

    The lore and history are a strong point. Many people have low standards when it comes to these things and confuse shallow/broad/vague lore with deep lore. A lot of love was given to story telling and history and it pays off in a big way. A minor gripe is that you can take certain actions in the game and their consequences are ignored. For example, within the first 15 minutes of the game, you get the option to throw your weapon in a text choice. However, even if you make that choice, you will still have your weapon.

    The actual game-play feels fairly unimpressive, clunky, and not intuitive. Most of the time I was playing I thought-- there has to be a way to make this more satisfying. The class designs are also a bit stacked-- some classes are absolute monsters, others feel entirely unimpressive even in the area they are supposed to be good at. The stat system is extremely weird, with a stat like Might that improves spellpower and physical weapon power.

    Strategy feels a bit limited since the ideal setup seems to be 2 strong front line people who tank, then 4 damage dealers. I don't think anything else would really work that well. The blunderbuss is also perhaps a bit too powerful.

    There's loads of bugs but I don't really mind that, since I've played CRPGs that are basically made of bugs. It comes with the territory.

    Overall, the gameplay is the weakest element when it should be the strongest. The art could be better-- it feels like so little progress was made since Arcanum. However, if you want a long and enjoyable game and are willing to learn the systems in place, and you can look past the graphics, it's a great experience.    … Expand
  61. owen445x
    Apr 6, 2015
    7
    I'm digging it so far, I just have 7 hours under my belt, but I am liking the graphics ad the story so far.

    Combat is fluid and fun, a little clunky with path finding or guys not attacking when something is smashing their faces in. Level design so far is really good and I am a big fan of the infinity engine from baldurs gate and icewind dale series. Having a hard time with certain    I'm digging it so far, I just have 7 hours under my belt, but I am liking the graphics ad the story so far.

    Combat is fluid and fun, a little clunky with path finding or guys not attacking when something is smashing their faces in.

    Level design so far is really good and I am a big fan of the infinity engine from baldurs gate and icewind dale series.

    Having a hard time with certain classes though, like having a cleric with me in the middle of my group. I send in my warriors first to get initial agro, then they just switch to my cleric and literally rape him... over.. and over again.. I just got to the point of replacing him with another warrior.    … Expand
  62. beldurax
    May 4, 2015
    6
    Obsidian's homage to Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and all of the other Infinity Engine titles comes across as a bland romp across a bland world. The lore is overdone and soulless in and of itself. The fact that Obsidian chose to litter immersion-breaking NPC's and tombstones throughout the game, knocks at least two points off the rating of this game to begin with. Not the big dealObsidian's homage to Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and all of the other Infinity Engine titles comes across as a bland romp across a bland world. The lore is overdone and soulless in and of itself. The fact that Obsidian chose to litter immersion-breaking NPC's and tombstones throughout the game, knocks at least two points off the rating of this game to begin with. Not the big deal everybody is making it out to be.… Expand
  63. Bongo_clive
    Oct 13, 2015
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Having just completed Wasteland 2 and Divinity: Original Sin, I was very excited about trying another high quality RPG, but I cannot bring myself to finish this drudgery.

    The other 2 games had wit, humour and fun, with crisp, snappy dialogue, truly interesting characters and a quest you could relate to, Pillars had none of these things.

    It is clearly well made, it look pretty good, but it is just so boring.

    And don't even get me started on the number of bloody loading screens.

    I loved Baldur's Gate, but that was 15 years ago. Design has moved on. Wasteland 2 showed how it should be done. This is just a terribly boring game.    … Expand
  64. mijxero
    Jun 21, 2015
    5
    This game tried really hard to bring new life to this genre. I have to give them props for trying new things. Unfortunately for me a lot of these changes don't work for me.

    XP: You only get this from quests and some other things like finishing a bestiary log (10 skeletons). I see how this could be good, the rogue who used stealth instead of farming all the enemies. For me I find    This game tried really hard to bring new life to this genre. I have to give them props for trying new things. Unfortunately for me a lot of these changes don't work for me.

    XP: You only get this from quests and some other things like finishing a bestiary log (10 skeletons). I see how this could be good, the rogue who used stealth instead of farming all the enemies. For me I find doing a lengthy dungeon run and walking away with no progression makes me mad.

    Items: They tried to have interesting items and you can even enchant them with extra abilities, but I never found that "Whoa!" item. I was constantly calculating stats that have been renamed. Do I need +2 Reflexes or +1 Perception?

    Combat: All characters get more abilities that they can use more frequently, great! Unfortunately with a party of six I am constantly clicking 6 sets of abilities to fight wolves, because automated AI is for softcore players I guess.

    Story and Writing: Its sooo much. They have good writing but it quickly overloads you and I began to just skip through it because I was getting frustrated at the incredibly slow pacing.

    Quests: A lot of the sidequests are very basic and unimportant. Combine this with no compass or marker (Which older games did too) and I found myself wandering around a lot. Also a lot of these are really a let down. *Minor Spoiler* I fought my way through the castle of a corrupt king and killed him. I saved the land and took over a castle ... except some guy came up and said "Thanks, we'll take it from here." Take it for what you will, this game is trying and I hope it brings back the genre, but I just can't call it BG3.    … Expand
  65. Athenryn
    Feb 11, 2016
    4
    Appalling dull, generic story and some of the worst RPG combat/level design ever devised! Just replay Baldurs Gate instead, since the only charm this game has is the BG nostalgia trip.

    I am totally done with Obsidian, no-one is better at draining the fun from an RPG, while leaving a miserable story, miserable characters and bizarre difficulty (the early levels are literally almost all    Appalling dull, generic story and some of the worst RPG combat/level design ever devised! Just replay Baldurs Gate instead, since the only charm this game has is the BG nostalgia trip.

    I am totally done with Obsidian, no-one is better at draining the fun from an RPG, while leaving a miserable story, miserable characters and bizarre difficulty (the early levels are literally almost all fights you need to come back and finish in 5 levels, it's So. Weird. To build a game like that).

    Also, YES, kickstarter is a menace with the jacked up player reviews, this is just not a fun product.    … Expand
  66. Doc_Hopwood
    Apr 6, 2015
    8
    Did you like Baldurs Gate? Go ahead and get Pillars of Eternity. That simple. It's fun, it's easy to get into, it's sufficiently deep to avoid that console RPG feel... it's PC gaming.

    Graphics are adequate. Pretty large skill trees. Combat stays fresh. I had a couple sound and graphic glitches but I'm not going to be the guy that gives the game a hit for what is likely my tech specs    Did you like Baldurs Gate? Go ahead and get Pillars of Eternity. That simple. It's fun, it's easy to get into, it's sufficiently deep to avoid that console RPG feel... it's PC gaming.

    Graphics are adequate. Pretty large skill trees. Combat stays fresh.
    I had a couple sound and graphic glitches but I'm not going to be the guy that gives the game a hit for what is likely my tech specs fault.

    If I was going to knock it on anything it'd be the typical RPG lore that feels like a social statement similar to a George Romero movie or D&D game sometimes but that's a personal gripe that likely will have little to no impact on most people's experience with the game.

    RPG fans shouldn't hesitate.    … Expand
  67. 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
  68. Skipper
    Feb 5, 2016
    5
    I don't exactly know how to describe how I feel about this game. I like the idea of it more than I actually like it. Maybe it's the comparison to Baldur's Gate. The game itself feels hollowborn. It has all the moving pieces, but the soul seems to be missing.
  69. BSim500
    May 20, 2016
    5
    If the intention is an "old school nostalgia" BG clone, then it sort of succeeds. But it's not without annoyances:-

    Engine - The game engine is horrible. They used Unity and it's clearly more suited to FPS / horror games than isometric RPG's. Large chunks of the game has severe slowdowns (down to 18fps) in major city areas caused by the way Unity Engine layers assets when rendering    If the intention is an "old school nostalgia" BG clone, then it sort of succeeds. But it's not without annoyances:-

    Engine - The game engine is horrible. They used Unity and it's clearly more suited to FPS / horror games than isometric RPG's. Large chunks of the game has severe slowdowns (down to 18fps) in major city areas caused by the way Unity Engine layers assets when rendering groups of people. This isn't due to lack of horsepower as both CPU & GPU usage are only 30% loaded (and VRAM a mere 600MB) when the slowdowns occur. I've seen this before on other Unity games where fps drops into single digits despite the CPU & GPU being not even half loaded. In contrast, post-IE RPG's like NWN, Dragon Age Origins, or Divinity Original Sin, with RPG-specific engines are all proper 3D and run a solid 60fps on hardware half as powerful. On top of that, 15s load times (even on SSD's) on every minor area transition get very old, very quickly. At least 4-5hrs will be spent staring at loading screens. These problems can't be fixed as they're internal to the Unity Engine and walking through areas like Copperlane or backtracking through several zones is not enjoyable.

    Combat - It's just "OK". In theory it's tactical. In practise, you'll be repeating the same "put 2x tanks in a choke-point then get the other 4x party members to spam blunderbuss ranged attacks" MMO style weak-tank / healer / DPS setup over & over. Most trash-mobs are the same. Spells are too weak. Fighters have weak attacks since heavy armor virtually halves attack speed. Sneaking & backstabbing in combat were clumsy. Traps are weak. No pickpocketing. Can't buff outside of combat (there goes half the tactics in countering certain types of mobs). It didn't actually feel that D&D-ish to be honest. I also found the game doesn't convey what's going on in combat visually too well when too many very tiny people all look the same even wearing different armors.

    Bugs - Broken journal entries, damage penalty bugs, quest bugs. I got stuck in combat mode more than once (which prevents you from travelling or saving). Sound randomly cuts out when speeding up game in a crowded place (needed a lot due to not being able to run - you will walk everywhere at a snails pace). Bug in White March where chars slide forwards slowly instead of walking. Dexterity checks not properly applied in scripted events, etc. Lots of minor things.

    Poor design decisions - The devs seem to blindly copy everything with BG without thinking why some stuff has evolved since. One major gripe I have (with both BG & PoE) is the abnormally small "fog of war" where your 6 world saviours cannot see a large 50ft high windmill from across the street. The only reason this was in BG was because those games were written in the late 90's when everyone had 4:3 1024x768 / 1280x1024 monitors and the short view distance sort of naturally fit the low res screens of the day. On modern 1080p and higher resolutions, the 1/4 screen vision bubble looks ridiculous. Even by 2002 (NWN1), D&D style RPG's had the "fog" made far larger, more realistic and widescreen friendly and eliminated the "blind as a bat" claustrophobia and "narrow strip lawnmower pattern" 'exploration' irritations, (as has virtually every other high rated popular modern "old school" RPG, eg, Dragon Age Origins, Divinity Original Sin, etc). Baldur's Gate 1-2 were great games, but their UI wasn't infallibly perfect and is one of the first things someone playing it for the first time today with no "nostalgia anchor" picks up on.

    The writing is OK but only 2 chars out of the game ever seemed to be personally affected by "Hollowborn" reducing the sense of urgency. Very little humor. "Banter" felt weak & forced. Pacing of lore feels off (too much too early, then goes flat mid-game). The game caps your level halfway through rending the DLC and late sidequests reward-less. The stronghold and its constant attention seeking timed quests that pop up when you've just started something elsewhere was more annoying that immersive. I wouldn't have missed it if they had scrapped it completely. Crafting was mostly pointless (I didn't use it once) as were 90% of Stronghold upgrades. And whilst I understand the need to reward Kickstarters, many in-game comments / tombstone memorials were flat out distracting / childish. Instead of putting in a loading screen warning of how "4th wall breaking" immersion-shattering they are, the Devs could have "curated" a lot or gave better submission guidelines that required they actually fit the game rather than end up resembling your average Youtube comments section. All Kickstarters are mentioned in the credits anyway.

    In short, the game isn't bad but they picked the wrong engine to use, and I think there was too much obsession with "over-trying" to be Baldur's Gate 3 that caused some questionable design decisions. I really wanted to like this, but I simply didn't enjoy this anywhere near as much as I originally expected.    … Expand
  70. Balabhadradas
    May 27, 2015
    5
    Too many bugs.

    Check the forum for the latest on bugs:

    forums.obsidian.net/topic/79258-common-recurring-bug-list-patch-105/ (No HTML so I broke the link.)

    And for anyone who hates buggy releases please vote YES on this poll:

    forums.obsidian.net/topic/79882-should-poes-final-release-have-been-called-ealry-access/page-2

    Would have been great, but the bugs killed it for me.
  71. pythag0ras
    Feb 18, 2016
    5
    pros: sort of Balrur's Gate style content
    cons:
    -You can only use items that are equipped in battle and you cant move items from your bag to active use during combat, so this means you have to already know what kind of damage your enemy is weak toward before you go into the battle, or keep reloading until you guess correctly. -no pick pocketing npcs -fatigue /athletics system isn't    pros: sort of Balrur's Gate style content
    cons:
    -You can only use items that are equipped in battle and you cant move items from your bag to active use during combat, so this means you have to already know what kind of damage your enemy is weak toward before you go into the battle, or keep reloading until you guess correctly.
    -no pick pocketing npcs
    -fatigue /athletics system isn't needed and just slows you down and adds annoyance . if you wanted reality you wouldn't be playing a video game. hunger fatigue systems like this are just a developers cheap way to keep people from completing content faster then they want, instead of making enough content that it wont matter. This system reminded me of getting hungry in minecraft..
    -Tons of TL;DR .. I am not trying to read a book here
    -combat is pretty boring . basically just click on the enemy and wait for your char to kill them,
    -fast mode needs to be toggled constantly instead of just being an option in the gameplay options
    -no markers to show quest objectives , forcing you to read adding to more of TL;DR in the game
    ultimately I'd say a pretty weak version of Baldur's Gate.    … Expand
  72. ZippyZippy
    Aug 5, 2017
    3
    Honestly, this is a inconceivably overrated and generic game. The ancient mechanics receive no modernisation. The game is a sort of methodical map-clearing game, the like of which I thought I'd never have to trudge through again.

    But for me the worst thing is the writing. In a game where little else seems to spark interest, the writing is just so awfully flowery and poorly edited. As    Honestly, this is a inconceivably overrated and generic game. The ancient mechanics receive no modernisation. The game is a sort of methodical map-clearing game, the like of which I thought I'd never have to trudge through again.

    But for me the worst thing is the writing. In a game where little else seems to spark interest, the writing is just so awfully flowery and poorly edited. As someone else comments, every NPC seems to be a historian, which would be fine if the world had a credible past.

    Just awful.    … Expand
  73. Arroyo_man
    Sep 7, 2016
    8
    i've change my mind after some time, thinking this game is better, gave a credit for another go and enjoyed more this time, 8/10 far superior rpg than witcher 3 for example.
  74. Gamer_Joe
    Apr 7, 2015
    5
    PoE is a game for old IE fans. While they do deliver on the story telling, quests and zones, the developers could not stay away from trying to reinvent pretty much every aspect of combat. The resting system is an arbitrary challenge design with no actual affect other than being annoying. Engagement mechanic caters to a static fighting system. The loot and stat / character progression inPoE is a game for old IE fans. While they do deliver on the story telling, quests and zones, the developers could not stay away from trying to reinvent pretty much every aspect of combat. The resting system is an arbitrary challenge design with no actual affect other than being annoying. Engagement mechanic caters to a static fighting system. The loot and stat / character progression in PoE is very bland. Instead of getting gamechanging abilities and stats changing characters, we see 1-3% more damage etc. per stat and same for loot. It's not very interesting. It's sad really, because the story writers, zone creaters, quest creaters did a very fine job. There is also no real reason to choose a companion over a custom made one, as their stats are all messy. I don't expect perfect stats, but at least somewhat ok stats. Unlike Baldur's Gate 1 + 2, which I've replayed many times, I will never replay this game.… Expand
  75. JonnyBigBoss
    Mar 27, 2015
    7
    As someone with little to no cRPG experience I felt I should make the jump with this game. Lesson learned. I got very little from my experience. Though, if you know you're a fan of cRPGs, especially Baldur's Gate, I suspect that you'll love it.
  76. Skulb
    Mar 31, 2015
    7
    This game is good but it is not perfect by any stretch. All the tens are vaguely ridiculous. Since everyone else is comparing Pillars of Eternity to Baldur`s Gate I will as well. There are a couple of glaring weaknesses which should become apparent when one does this to prevent giving a 10. A 10 means a perfect game. PoE is not perfect.

    The single biggest problem with PoE is this: In    This game is good but it is not perfect by any stretch. All the tens are vaguely ridiculous. Since everyone else is comparing Pillars of Eternity to Baldur`s Gate I will as well. There are a couple of glaring weaknesses which should become apparent when one does this to prevent giving a 10. A 10 means a perfect game. PoE is not perfect.

    The single biggest problem with PoE is this: In Baldur`s Gate you had a whopping 25 NPCs scattered around the game you could include in your party. PoE has 8. Not only does it only have 8 of them but there is no rogue and no barbarian. This almost forces you to play as a rogue if you want to avoid eating traps and not being able to unlock things. And you can forget about ever playing a barbarian. I didn`t start as a rogue, not being aware of this lack of companions, and now have an ill-suited priest disarming traps and unlocking chests. To me this is more than enough to drag the score of this game down to an 8 or a 9 all by itself. It is just not good enough and in comparison to Baldur`s Gate, the "spiritual predecessor" to PoE, it is embarrassing. Yes you can make your own party but it will not be interactive or have any stories or side quests. And you could do that in Baldur`s Gate too. Just a loud "where the hell are the NPCS?" from me on this issue. The other big problem with this glaring lack of NPC companions is that it severely reduces the replayability of the game - a huge strength of Baldur`s Gate precisely because it had so many of them. You could start over and over again and never have the same party. You could try gimmick runs and only recruit the mages available or any other sort of wild scheme you could cook up. In PoE you will necessarily always have nearly the same party if you start over because you only have three more than you need to fill the group. I see at most one possible replay of this game for this reason. And it is not good enough. Not good enough at all.
    There are a few other minor annoyances as well, although nothing major. The loading screens are all over the place and last for far too long, whatever the reason is. Exploring towns becomes a huge pain the the butt as a result. "Omigosh I hope there isn`t a second floor! That will mean four loading screens of 30 seconds each and what if there`s not even anything interesting up there?" Five districts in Defiance Bay of this will have anyone staring in dread at any building they see.
    I do miss some of the AD&D stuff, and multiclass/dual class in particular. The combat and class system they have replaced this with is alright though. Some things I like and some I don`t. But that`s probably too subjective and not really something that will be likely reduce most people`s enjoyment of the game, unless they are AD&D fanatics. There is a lack of scripting options for the characters you control though and an abundance of required micromanagement as a result. Some associated annoyances ensue from this because you don`t get any indication of spell range and a few other things. Make a mistake and your caster will barge into melee range and get splattered when he tries to move back out again. And you will make mistakes because you will have to tell your characters what to do in every single fight because of the lack of scripting options.
    The final issue I have with PoE is simply that it is not better than Baldur`s Gate, which was released in 1998. It should be better but it is not. Perhaps it`s just a tall order. BG is a classic that has stood the test of time remarkably well. But it still feels disappointing that PoE falls short of its inspiration, which I think it clearly does. And the conclusion to draw from that is that PoE works fine as a nostalgia trip but not quite as well as a game in its own right. It is still good, don`t get me wrong. But it just shouldn`t be worse than a 17 year old game in the same genre. And it is. And this alone MUST lower the score by at least one point. Baldur`s Gate is a 10. Therefore PoE can not be a 10 because it isn`t as good.

    Other than these points, PoE is a well made and highly enjoyable CRPG with a lot of positive aspects. There are colorful characters (The few you`ll find that is), the graphics are mostly good, although somewhat bland at times. The music, VA and sound effects are for the most part also nice, if not exactly groundbreaking. And of course there is tons of dialogue, a nice story and a compelling game world to explore. There are also some new developments, most notably the stronghold feature, which is interesting without being great.
    In most respects PoE is an enjoyable throwback to the days of the IE engine. But a 10 it is not. If it had a few more NPCs it would probably qualify as an 8. But it doesn`t.
    If you want the cutting edge of this genre go play Divinity: Original Sin. If you fancy a retro romp through the beginnings of it then PoE is for you. But you`re better off playing the original IE games if you haven`t already.    … Expand
  77. fazi
    Mar 30, 2015
    5
    Finished game in 30h done almost all quests, my thoughts
    First 2h I where just WOW ater next 4h its great! and after 12h till the end I was mehhh.
    What I don't like - no romances :( - plot holes - level 12 cap (wtf got this level after 16h and still lot of ex got waste) - not many places to go or revisit - very long load times (small houses load like 1-2m... ) - items are not sum    Finished game in 30h done almost all quests, my thoughts
    First 2h I where just WOW ater next 4h its great! and after 12h till the end I was mehhh.
    What I don't like
    - no romances :(
    - plot holes
    - level 12 cap (wtf got this level after 16h and still lot of ex got waste)
    - not many places to go or revisit
    - very long load times (small houses load like 1-2m... )
    - items are not sum up to stats but only talking higher value
    - no EPIC items
    - fortress management sucks and is boring after 2-3h times, what you build don't do much diffrence, no epic fights/defences etc
    - bugggggggsssss (meh)
    - average story (little like planescape torment or bg1 but not so epic)
    - boring fight music (its like 3 or 4 music loops )
    - transaction not finished
    - stealth and search mode connected (search mode should be based on perception in "normal mode")
    - hardcore, almost impossible "Adra Dragon" ;)

    I played bg trilogy where you have multiple fortress depending on your class, v.long story, plot twists, romances, GREAT party members, epic items, epic ending I can go on and on.... and I will always compare games to BG and Planescape . PoE feels like Bg1 its ok but, what people done in year 2000 you what similar or more.    … Expand
  78. blade01
    May 21, 2015
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. If you think Baldurs Gate is today a 10/10 stop reading because Pillars of Eternity is a 10/10 for you too.If you think Baldrus Gate is still a great Game but you think in 2015 that formula needs improvements read my review.I compare Pillars to Baldurs Gate 1 and2 , its really close and that game is the spritual predecessor.Before i go into detail i think i should mention that i think a game in 2015 need more then just what Pillars delivers.

    Visuals:Its ok.Visuals are not that important to me.The backrounds are hand-drawn as far as i know, you can see that.Some backrounds are really nice, others not so much.Its a mixed bag.What i miss is more variety.Most maps are pretty generic i think.I miss lightning effects that impresses me, but thats because of the engine they use.Its an enhanced version of the old engine that runs Baldurs Gate.And its ok, the game is not bad looking.The artdesign is something that i dont like.The armors for example, even the "special" ones dont look that impressive.There is nothing special.

    Sound:I miss great music.There is SOME music but its not really special.Thats a little moodkiller for me.The voiceacting is for the most part ok.Not everything is great, some characters are not that good.
    What i really dislike is that sometimes one part of a discussion is voiced, others not.That happens often in the conversations with your partymembers.That is distracting and disrupts the flow of the conversation.
    What i miss too are sounds when you fight.Music is playing, fine, but what about some weapon-sounds?
    Like in KOTOR?In KOTOR you have sounds when weapons are used, you even see little flashes.Here?Nothing!

    Gameplay:I think the gamplay is a mixed bag too.There are some great ideas.For example that the game explanis in a text what happens and you can choose with a click what you want to do.That is really fun and you need to pay attention and sometimes you need to know the abilitys of your partymemebers.Unfortunately this feature is rarely used and sometimes the best choice is so bluntly presented that its is boring.A giant letdown is the combatengine.In combat the pathfining AI is terrbile.In houses and dungeons you will get stuck.Even when there is enough space to go your companions will just stand there and watch.This can kill off your entire party.That is something the game inherritted from BG and that in 2015!!!For that, ill substract 1 point from the endscore.What is a letdown too is the character development.Its to simple.You can choose some paths but i tried different stuff with the adventureers you can hire.Most skills are too weak.I chose my rogue so that she crits nearly with EVERY strike, 2 weaponstyle with sabers.At the end of the game, she was maxed out and 85% of her hits were crits while she killed more enemys then the entire party without her together.I think i broke the combatsystem with my build because even on higher dificulty the game was far too easy.When i read some reviews and hear about "challenging combats" i can just laugh, im sorry.Its unbalanced as hell and if you understand how the engine works that can be work in your favour.A problem i see is the selection of possible companions.The cast is uninteresting at best, there is no real dynamic in the group.They wont leave you, they wont turn against you.No love interest, i miss that when i think back to BG2!There are other not so great points, ill not go into detail, most of them are just minor points.

    Summary:I played BG1 weeks prior to the release, so i can compare pretty good.Pillars is on par with BG1.Weak points and strong points are nearly the same.In the end, BG1 is a better game for me.The cast of possible companions is more interesting, the mainstory is more interesting and there is even some dynamic when you are good and some members of your group are evil for example.Where is all that in Pillars??Baldurs Gate 2 is a 10/10 for me, even today.BG1 is a 8/10 for me, cause that game is missing some of the great parts from BG2.Pillars is weaker when it comes to story, even the sound is weaker, so its a 7/10 for me.That makes it a good to great game.Something for comparison:The highest score i ever gave was a 8/10 for last years surprise "This war of mine".Maybe Pillars 2 will be better.....    … Expand
  79. 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
  80. ArchonSaar
    Apr 9, 2015
    7
    After just finishing this game I am giving it a solid 7/10 - which means it's a good title, there's just some areas where it falls a bit flat.

    Strong points: - Great atmosphere, immersive world. - Overall good quests - Most companions have an interesting background and personality Weak points: - UI is not on par with 2015. While this is a revive of the genre, it doesn't have    After just finishing this game I am giving it a solid 7/10 - which means it's a good title, there's just some areas where it falls a bit flat.

    Strong points:

    - Great atmosphere, immersive world.
    - Overall good quests
    - Most companions have an interesting background and personality

    Weak points:

    - UI is not on par with 2015. While this is a revive of the genre, it doesn't have to bring back the frustration of the 1990-s UI! Also it loves to bug a lot (for example you equip an item that grants you a spell, but you don't see it in your bar until you reload)
    - Stealth options are minimal and bland. Yes, you find the odd hidden object or door, but too rare. Most of the time you use stealth mode only to detect traps, which in itself doesn't make much sense - traps should be detected by a high PER char regardless.
    - Due to the isometric view, the combat can get difficult when you can't see your guys because of a tree/rock/ruin in front of them.
    - While the story is interesting in act 1 and 2, it really falls flat in act 3 - I personally was disappointed and kindof rushed the end just to get over with it.
    - The stronghold ends up being just a Copper Sink, with no other real influence over the world or quests or anything meaningful.
    - Lackluster Skill System - out of the already few options (5!), only 3 make any real difference.
    - Cosmetic dialogue choices - even though there are many skill checks, few of them alter the outcome in any way. What's even more disturbing is that only your main character's stats matter towards these skill checks, which doesn't make much sense in a party based game...    … Expand
  81. 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
  82. 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
  83. curzon_dax
    Apr 5, 2015
    7
    The game started on Kickstarter which explains why it's overrated. I find the interface cumbersome. And generally the whole interface lacking.........
  84. 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
  85. 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
  86. steddye
    Apr 10, 2018
    2
    Lost opportunity, that's what comes in my mind playing pillars of eternity. The combat system is terrible. U never know if the action you have set for a character will be performed. When you use a spell you don't know if you're close enough to cast. Companions ai is inexistent.........chaotic unsympathetic and irritating. PLS gimme back dex wisdom strenght intelligence charisma and constitution !!
  87. ShinsFortress
    Oct 12, 2016
    2
    The game itself was fine, and is the second best of it's ilk to come along since all those old Infinity Engine games. Visually I liked it, sound was fine and the party system was fine. Quests and story? Fine. What's wrong with it?

    Minus a few points for very poor encounter design & planning in certain locations. Minus a few points for overdoing it with the backer placement stuff.    The game itself was fine, and is the second best of it's ilk to come along since all those old Infinity Engine games. Visually I liked it, sound was fine and the party system was fine. Quests and story? Fine. What's wrong with it?

    Minus a few points for very poor encounter design & planning in certain locations.
    Minus a few points for overdoing it with the backer placement stuff.
    Minus a zillion points for there *still* being serious bugs (e.g. entire character inventory disappears).    … Expand
  88. losik
    Feb 13, 2016
    4
    There is one big issue with this game - the combat is a chore. I don't want to explore another location if I will have to defeat another group of lackluster enemies in this turnbased clickfest. I also think that developer tried to fill as much references/throwbacks to Baldurs Gate as possible to blind people with blind people with nostalgia and it looks like it worked.
    One more thing -    There is one big issue with this game - the combat is a chore. I don't want to explore another location if I will have to defeat another group of lackluster enemies in this turnbased clickfest. I also think that developer tried to fill as much references/throwbacks to Baldurs Gate as possible to blind people with blind people with nostalgia and it looks like it worked.
    One more thing - can we finally start CRPGs in cities? It is not fun to explore different possible approaches to game when I have to go through the same introductory area over and over. It is even worse here than in Wastelands 2, as most locations are out of reach until you complete quests.    … Expand
  89. DarkEagle969
    Jun 23, 2015
    5
    Could have been excellent, but it just stays a bit too old-school.
    It could have done with things like fully spoken dialogues, the engagement system is mediocre. Every fight is the same. The story is also not up to par with for example Planescape Torment or more modern games.
  90. ErhanCeylan123
    Jul 17, 2020
    7
    This game have a general and unsolveable performance issues.This game universe is not interesting for me.
  91. Apostrophe
    Apr 15, 2015
    1
    Had to restart my game 3 times, and it still bugged on me again. Refunded GoG edition and bought Steam one, again a game bricking bug. Played on two different computers, laptop and high end desktop. And i started playing only a couple of days ago, with 1.3 patch and hot-fixes. Cant imagine how bad it was at launch day.

    Just for reference, list of game breaking bugs i experienced>    Had to restart my game 3 times, and it still bugged on me again. Refunded GoG edition and bought Steam one, again a game bricking bug. Played on two different computers, laptop and high end desktop. And i started playing only a couple of days ago, with 1.3 patch and hot-fixes. Cant imagine how bad it was at launch day.

    Just for reference, list of game breaking bugs i experienced>
    Desktop (GoG)
    1) 10 hours in the game after turning in a quest it started constantly giving me exp reward, like 20 per second. It was ironman save, reinstalling did not help. All my characters got instant level 12 and log was completely useless.

    1) 10 hours in game started crashing when i change maps, i was effectively trapped in an inn. Reloading older save (couple of hours earlier, different map) and reinstalling game did not help.

    Laptop and Desktop (GoG)
    3) 20 hours in on laptop (and only a couple of hours on desktop) accuracy on all characters just got reduced to base level 1 accuracy. Reinstalling did not help, did not have older save.

    Laptop (Steam)
    4) 5 hours in the map change bug happened again, did not even try to reinstall. **** this game.    … Expand
  92. ErobererZim
    Apr 1, 2015
    4
    Unfortunataly just an average game, a Baldurs Gate "light".

    I played Baldurs Gate back then, I loved the Forgotten Realm-Setting and the aD&D-Ruleset. PoE won't give you that. Obsidian created a new fanatsy-universe with its own rules and gamemechanics. PoE is Baldurs Gate's son, who did everything to fallow his fathers footsteps to make him proud, but simply hadn't the talent to begin    Unfortunataly just an average game, a Baldurs Gate "light".

    I played Baldurs Gate back then, I loved the Forgotten Realm-Setting and the aD&D-Ruleset. PoE won't give you that. Obsidian created a new fanatsy-universe with its own rules and gamemechanics. PoE is Baldurs Gate's son, who did everything to fallow his fathers footsteps to make him proud, but simply hadn't the talent to begin with to become what he was.

    Pros:
    -Overall good art design
    -Kinda good music
    -The story seems to be okey so far
    -Very aesthetic UI
    -You can only rest a couple of times in the wilds

    Con:
    -Tons of gamebraking bugs
    -German localization is a MESS. You have grammatical mistakes and misspellings in almost every single dialogue. Feels like they partly used a auto translater for this game, I'm serious right now. Or someone translated it who's motherlanguage isn't german
    -Therefore you are kinda forced to play in english
    -New Fantasy Universe with a lot of creepy races you don't give a **** about (no orcs, gnomes halfelves and so on, but some fishman and ... ratpeople? Or what are these little freeks supposed to look like? Also you can play as a alien in the game, called godlikes)
    -Only 8 (boring) follower to can recruit. All I encountered so far seem to be dull and boring, I don't really care about them. You can ask them tons of questions about their past, but other then that they don't seem to have much dialogues.
    -NO ROMANCES. You lazy asses. Sorry
    -Dialogues are strange, you can search in someones soul for information about is life he had before, which is A LOT of text, that doesn't have to to anything with the plot in the slightest. It's so interesting like reading a book in Baldurs Gate.

    -You have also a bazillion gestures and discriptions about what's your counterpart look like in the dialogues, or what he's doing at the moment, like:

    John walkes down the street, he scratches his kin. Then he notices you: "Oh hello there", he says.

    And **** like that, which is really annoying and uninteresting to read.

    Well, thats good enough for so far I suppose. It's a kinda good game, especially for 26€ you can't do anything wrong. But don't expect a second Baldurs Gate experiance. This game won't give you that.    … Expand
  93. Irxy
    Apr 6, 2015
    2
    Graphics are nice, just as expected.
    Music is dull and unmemorable.
    Writing is average, quests are nothing special, few characters with any depth to them. Decent amount of different diolog checks is nice, though they mostly just a flavour and don't effect anything. Combat is fun but seriously lacks polish and balance. Stronghold is useless and boring, as is crafting. Overall an ok    Graphics are nice, just as expected.
    Music is dull and unmemorable.
    Writing is average, quests are nothing special, few characters with any depth to them. Decent amount of different diolog checks is nice, though they mostly just a flavour and don't effect anything.
    Combat is fun but seriously lacks polish and balance.
    Stronghold is useless and boring, as is crafting.

    Overall an ok IWD-style dungeon crawler, but not quite on the BG level.

    p.s. too sjw.    … Expand
  94. 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
  95. kofelovr
    Apr 1, 2015
    1
    It's an okay game, but not a spiritual successor to the IE games. Really disappointed, but life moves on. Getting ready to start another replay of Baldur's Gate to satisfy the itch.
  96. exotikras
    Mar 28, 2015
    8
    When I saw first trailer I thought WOW, like everyone else I think, but now when I can see real graphic on my own PC, it's really disappointing. Textures are very poor, especially if you zoom in a little bit. Characters levitating on the ground and so on.... But that would not be a big problem if not dialogues. Yes I now it's old school RPG and that's the way it should be, but honestly,When I saw first trailer I thought WOW, like everyone else I think, but now when I can see real graphic on my own PC, it's really disappointing. Textures are very poor, especially if you zoom in a little bit. Characters levitating on the ground and so on.... But that would not be a big problem if not dialogues. Yes I now it's old school RPG and that's the way it should be, but honestly, sometimes it looks like there is too much of useless text, I started to skipping half of it. So I'm not saying that PoE is bad game, it's good, but just I'm disappointed with it a bit...… Expand
  97. Buzzerker
    May 30, 2015
    3
    Pillars of Boredom , that is what they should have called this merry go round , old retro game. Because that is what this overpriced copy of Baldur's Gate 2 updated game is. It's a pitiful game. Really I felt so stupid paying all that money for it. Since I got the Witcher 3 the Wild Hunt , I deleted Pillars of Eternity and I probably won't ever play it again for Eternity.
  98. Derpmeowslurp
    Apr 26, 2015
    8
    It's a mediocre game, that could have been great but failed to tickle my pickle in all the right ways.

    If i could turn back tiiime. If i could fiiind a waay e.

    cant touch this, na nana nananannaanan cant touch this.
  99. Voyou
    Nov 24, 2015
    4
    It seems that many bad reviews focus on bugs. Not mine. I play(ed) a bug free game. Well, with the exception of the memory management, which is so bad that the game can't work on a 32 bits system, making those programmers the laughing stock of the industry. Anyway...

    I give a less than average note because the inanity of the gameplay easily ruins any good aspect of PoE. Whatever our    It seems that many bad reviews focus on bugs. Not mine. I play(ed) a bug free game. Well, with the exception of the memory management, which is so bad that the game can't work on a 32 bits system, making those programmers the laughing stock of the industry. Anyway...

    I give a less than average note because the inanity of the gameplay easily ruins any good aspect of PoE. Whatever our favourite game is between BG2, Planescape Torment or other, most of us here enjoy the Infinity Engine. To me, the combat was their weakest point, but it was never an hindrance, and at times it was even very enjoyable. Every single fight in PoE is a pain and a bore; and there is a huge amount of bloodshed.

    Here are some of the worst and most ridiculous flaws of the game:
    - Stats and skills (the full 5 of them) are awful. The system was clearly designed by an all-too-geeky amateur.
    - Playing equals crunching numbers, complete with percentages and fractions. Not to mention that this numbers are ugly to read. This hobby feels like working.
    - Itemisation is everywhere. The looting system is as boring as in many games. What's more unusual, the spells are equally annoying to read and boring to use (e.g., AoE hobbled for 1.7 sec vs Will + dazed 2.016 sec vs For... or whatever.)
    - Fighting is nothing more than grinding, due to an accumulation of inane mechanics. You won't find here the large variety of play styles and tactics you had in an IE game.
    - To detect, you must sneak. You will then explore all maps at a turtle's pace. A terribly cheap and mean way to make a game last longer.
    - Thieves are sad. I'm the guy who plays BG2 with at least 4 thieves at once. I can safely say it's my favourite class in video games. Of course, I expected PoE to improve them (and everything else.) But you can't pickpocket, you can't backstab (well, technically you can, but you'll be dead in the next 2 seconds,) sneaking is clumsy, traps are a joke, and you can do nothing new compared to an IE game.

    This is not the place to mention and detail all the design flaws of the game, but the list goes on and on. The good sides, on the other hand, are quick to note: The game is gorgeous, and some of the companions are terrific. The only reason I'll keep playing, if sporadically, is to interact with a priest named Durance. The best NPC ever, so props to whoever wrote this geezer with such a level of maturity and intensity.    … Expand
  100. Kelu
    May 20, 2015
    7
    A very good quality product of crowdfunding isn't something you see every day, but this it. Delivered what it promised, perhaps even surpassed the expectations. In the first act of the game, that is, after that the game goes downhill and ends prematurely in an anticlimactic 'poof' of a rushed, pathetic boss fight.
    Would be 10/10 if the game managed to keep up the quality it shows in the    A very good quality product of crowdfunding isn't something you see every day, but this it. Delivered what it promised, perhaps even surpassed the expectations. In the first act of the game, that is, after that the game goes downhill and ends prematurely in an anticlimactic 'poof' of a rushed, pathetic boss fight.
    Would be 10/10 if the game managed to keep up the quality it shows in the beginning throughout the experience.    … Expand
Page:

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

All reviews »
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.
    Read full review
  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]
See all critic reviews »