Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition

 Xbox One
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 47 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 47
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 47
  3. Negative: 10 out of 47
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  1. Daelus
    Sep 11, 2017
    5
    I was excited for this game to come to console. I am a huge old-school D&D/ RPG fan and with the comparisons of this game to D:OS, which launched at the same time on PC, I couldn't wait for this to port. D:OS was in my top 4 favorite games of 2015 with Fallout, Witcher and Tomb Raider.....have more than 500 hours in it. Based on my score you can tell I was sadly disappointed.....D:OS is aI was excited for this game to come to console. I am a huge old-school D&D/ RPG fan and with the comparisons of this game to D:OS, which launched at the same time on PC, I couldn't wait for this to port. D:OS was in my top 4 favorite games of 2015 with Fallout, Witcher and Tomb Raider.....have more than 500 hours in it. Based on my score you can tell I was sadly disappointed.....D:OS is a vastly better game.

    In its defense I note that it does offer a reasonably large world with many NPCs, stories, quests, etc. That said, the only true positive to me was this is an actual RPG...you have significant/ meaningful ability to customize your character.....

    ....it all goes down hill from there....firstly, as with all games that are made for PC, it is done on a shoestring budget....there is no such thing as even a AA pc game....there is no polish here.....but games like D:OS that have depth and charm easily make up for it.

    While you can pick sex, race, class, background, ect, all of it has very little meaning as....
    ....almost all weapons/ armor are virtually identical bland copies....you may literally be playing with the same weapon/ armor in hour 50 you were using in hour 5....massive fail
    ...worse, the other gear (ring, helmet, neck, gloves, etc.) all come with buffs, but none stack, so you wind up buffing stats you never use.....and there is a plethora of some items, and a dearth f others, so you pray to the rng gods that you get a different buff in a different piece or its meaningless...
    ....being a wizard/ monk/ cypher, etc would be great..except all the spells are terribly bland....you can pick 2 spells each level and I truly struggled to pick one each time...
    ....combat is beyond boring...because the weapons and spells hardly improve throughout the game, combat takes forever...pew pew.....you can either try to micromanage 6 characters in real time or just sit back and wait 10 minutes for the fight t resolve and then do it all over again...
    ...while there are tons of questlines, I found none interesting....no joke, I fell asleep playing this game more times than almost all other games in the last few years combined....have energy drinks ready!

    Sigh, horribly sad; going to play D:OS again just to wash the taste of this game from my mind...and wait for D:OS2 to some out :(    … Expand
  2. Ashtrayfire
    Nov 22, 2019
    5
    Real simple name of game should be pillars of eternal loading screen. Very basic game nothing fancy about it, hood story line but with todays technology there is no reason to need a loading screen every 5 mins or less that takes anywhere from 1-2 mins. But gets better that many loading screens and ever quest has you running all over the place just to talk to this guy or grab this item. NoReal simple name of game should be pillars of eternal loading screen. Very basic game nothing fancy about it, hood story line but with todays technology there is no reason to need a loading screen every 5 mins or less that takes anywhere from 1-2 mins. But gets better that many loading screens and ever quest has you running all over the place just to talk to this guy or grab this item. No kidding i did one quest like 1 combat sceen that took 30 secs but spent over 15 mins of loading from one area to the next.… Expand
  3. Awanka
    Jul 11, 2021
    7
    Pillars of Eternity is a huge achievement in world building. It has a game ruleset that closely mirrors dungeons and dragons, but is different. Most spells and enemies in PoE have close classic dnd analogs alongside others that are quite original. The excellent combat system uses a formula of deflection and resistance thresh-holds along with penetration rules that takes something fromPillars of Eternity is a huge achievement in world building. It has a game ruleset that closely mirrors dungeons and dragons, but is different. Most spells and enemies in PoE have close classic dnd analogs alongside others that are quite original. The excellent combat system uses a formula of deflection and resistance thresh-holds along with penetration rules that takes something from the original Fallout, and in my estimation the combat is more robust and better balanced than dnd 3.5 or 4th edition.

    Playing the game on the highest difficulty is very tactical, and requires many considerations in spacing, damage, and enemy types. Enemies aren't based on level scaling like some lazy rpg games. There are different variants of enemies that come at higher levels. The combat is almost as good as Divinity Original Sin 2, which is the gold standard. Pathing is problematic, as a lot of times characters get stuck running if someone else is in the way, or take a much different path than you were expecting, which can be a problem since a lot of the fights are delicate.

    The writing ranges from serviceable to pretty good, and there is a lot of it. It feels a bit like lore-dumping at the start of the game as all sorts of gods, places, and events get thrown at you.

    Ending was a little too drawn out. Wordy lore dumps. The game tries to be Planescape at the end with the emotional weight, but fails. There are several times where they do the Planescape thing of going through each of your party members and reaffirming their motivations. There are too many last minute soliloquys from distraught party members in the last dungeon. After a while I just wanted them to STFU already with their existential angst. We're here at the end already, and it's time to kick some ass.

    Last scene with the main baddie is a poor imitation of the last confrontation in Planescape: Torment, right down to each party member being questioned and adding in their devotional support. These party members just won't shut their yaps already. They're as needlessly chatty as a JRPG.

    Console version is pretty buggy. It feels unoptimized as loading times are very slow, and sometimes the game experiences memory leaks that crash or greatly slow down the game. Achievements on the xbox are completely bugged as well, and any achievement that is based on counters won't unlock unless you complete them without closing the game, which is difficult because the game will crash after a while. This is an 8/10 game that is brought down to 7/10 due to bugs.    … Expand
  4. RatchetClank111
    May 18, 2022
    7
    the game isn't terrible but it has a few flaws that prevent it from being a great game.the game isn't terrible but it has a few flaws that prevent it from being a great game. I'm going to post this for both consoles, as the next gen consoles like ps5 and xbox series x resolve the loading times issues that a lot mention as a negative, that doesn't factor for me as a negative. My complaintsthe game isn't terrible but it has a few flaws that prevent it from being a great game.the game isn't terrible but it has a few flaws that prevent it from being a great game. I'm going to post this for both consoles, as the next gen consoles like ps5 and xbox series x resolve the loading times issues that a lot mention as a negative, that doesn't factor for me as a negative. My complaints with the game are in regards to the story and design

    First, the game makes a lot of references to the lore that almost makes you feel like you should already know all of this stuff. It may be in best interest to watch a story recap that avoids possible spoilers to explain the lore/background. Also, the game doesn't do a very good job of doing dynamic storytelling, instead it's just conversations of text with no voice acting for the most part or reading the books/scrolls that you find. There's very few cutscenes that present the story. Also, the story is very vague for the most part where there's no sense of urgency to go through the story, and some of the side quests/tasks are easily skippable/boring. I think the biggest issue is that you don't really connect with the characters or factions in Act 2, and when you finish Act 2, the pacing of this game is just bizarre as Act3/4 are just like a few hours and then you finish the game. Basically, it's just hard to even care about the story/lore. It's even more impacted when the main villain and major plot twist doesn't even really shock me as again there's no set up for this until last the last hour of gameplay    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

10
#10 Best Xbox One Game of 2017
66
#66 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2017
37
#37 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. XGN
    Sep 29, 2017
    85
    Pillars of Eternity Complete Edition is a big surprise on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Somehow the developer succeeds in the way the game is played on a controller. And that is a huge compliment.
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  2. Meristation
    Sep 26, 2017
    90
    Pillars of Eternity responds so good on PS4 and Xbox One. It's a great port with a good controller adaption and a fine optimization. So you need a new life if you buy the game: you get started hours and hours without sleep.
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  3. Generación Xbox
    Sep 20, 2017
    87
    Obsidian takes the legacy of Baldur's Gate with a role playing game that will keep us a entertained for hours. After the release in PC, this console edition comes with a lot of content and a gorgeous graphic design.
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