Pillars of Eternity

This is a good RPG, and they sale the type of DLC that I consider really worth buying. A high res map, wallpapers, a freaking novella, that's just cool.

More devs should strive to make games like this.

If they patched health/endurance and resting to work like it does in Deadfire this game would have been a masterpiece, as it is right now I can't recommend the game.

That said, I love this game.

Played on easy mode, story was lame. I died a lot to lame interactions, waste of my time.

For someone who's not a huge fan of CRPGs, it's challenging but pretty good.

Personally, I don't mind the text walls which I know many complain about. I could not read all the dialogues in BG1 and BG2, but this one is fine in this aspect. The combat is on the harder side but also pretty ok, considering I've played through a lot of classic CRPGs and beaten honour mode in BG3.

What's difficult for me is, broadly speaking, that things are a bit difficult to navigate. My biggest obstacle so far has been getting stuck in a big dungeon because I explored most of it but couldn't find my way to complete the quest.

Can't really speak on the lore and world building since I've not gone that far yet, but I've played Avowed and really enjoyed the lore there. I can only say you'd like it if fantasy worlds and pantheons are your thing.

Honestly, it might fall into my backlog if it was a standalone game, but Deadfire seems so good and I thoroughly enjoyed Avowed, which presents the RPG elements in a format much more friendly to me and I believe most people, so I will power through this game before Avowed gets any expansions.

Enemy AI in this game is really good. Get the game people. Play it and import your character into poe2 and enjoy.

Excellent CRPG with a well fleshed out original setting with unique, yet familiar trappings of the genre.

A fantastic game with an original world, deep lore, and meaningful choices. It gives many tips of the hat to Baldur's Gate 1&2 with certain encounters and map design. The Icewind Dale vibes of the white march DLC's are unmistakable. The metaphysical deepness that the story provides definitely feels inspired by Planescape Torment. Overall, it's a true love letter to the Infinity Engine CRPG's of old.

There are some issues with the party A.I. settings, the HUD is pretty bad, and there are some pretty redundant level ups once you start to figure out the systems. None of it is bad enough to avoid the game though. Pillars of Eternity 2 actually fixes almost every issue I have with this game.

Overall I highly recommend a playthrough, mainly to transfer your character to PoE2. A great game created by great people. Play this!!

This is a game I have been coming back to for the past 6 - 7 years. I have mainly played it on my PS5 due to being more of a PS5 user. It's just absolutely amazing how the characterisations of the characters, great voice acting & music throughout the game can have such a positive effect on a person! Well done to every single person included in this project! :))))

Pillars of Eternity....

So, I'll just say that Real Time With Pause roleplaying games are my favorite genre of game, ever. Can't really explain why, it's just my favorite type of game. The hybrid of action and turn based just scratches the itch for me in a way other RPGs don't... And I think this game is maybe the best of the best within this genre, though it has some stiff competition to be fair, lot of great real time with pause RPGs out there. Even Final Fantasy 12 with it's custom AI "gambit" systems represents a pretty strong competition here.... But I would describe this game as something like this... It's Icewind Dale on steroids, combined with some similar themes and writing style as Planescape Torment. Everything that made the original Icewind Dale great is here I think and just amplified overall. The art, atmosphere, and design is top tier Imo. I wouldn't say the story is as good as Planescape or even most of Obsidian's other works prior to this, mainly because the cast of characters are a little weak compared to Obsidian's past titles, but I still find the philosophy of the game to be really compelling. Much like it's predecessors in KOTOR 2, Mask of the Betrayer and New Vegas.

Looking back I think this game was tackling a lot of subjects that were extremely relevant in 2015 and remain relevant 10 years later. The role religions play in people's lives in the game world, the different things they worship and playing god through moving souls into objects and other people... I interpret some of these themes as being sort of about the "God shaped hole" hypothesis in Christianity and it's about this form of transhumanism that exists within the game world here, and maybe even themes of post modernism in some ways. I don't know if the writers intended it, but the echoes of these themes speak strongly to me, and I think it's really interesting. I'm a religious person myself, and the ending of this game comes at you really hard with really brutal anti religious arguments. When I first played the game I felt a little preached to and wasn't kind to it at the time, thought it was maybe pretentious, but on replays I really think it makes the game more compelling. It's trying to challenge your perceptions of things and really ask hard questions. It's ballsy and I think it's actually really cool.

Combine that with how reminiscent the game world is to Forgotten Realms... That Defiance Bay resembles Neverwinter in many ways and the White March expansion area is very reminiscent of Icewind Dale, this game really feels like an Icewind Dale 3 and a Neverwinter Nights 3 combined. Also the reincarnation of souls and the way "Adra" works in the setting reminds me a lot of the lifestream from Final Fantasy 7 or the fayth from Final Fantasy 10. I just love all of these influences this game took, it's like a perfect homage to RPGs in general. I think the game is brilliant and the only other RPG within this genre that I like more is Dragon Age Origins, in all of it's Arthurian influenced glory, and epic LOTR level stakes in the plot about the darkspawn invasion, and of course the lovable fellowship of characters that became Bioware's signature at the time... I've come to realize I do love both of these games almost equally though... But it's kind of insane to me how Obsidian's little kickstarted project here ended up in my top 10 games of all time. I didn't even like this game much when I first played it, thought it was slow and boring like many others did, but once it clicked for me, it REALLY clicked. And I can't emphasize this enough, the white march expansion elevates this game to a whole new level, so I think it's pretty much mandatory if you play this game.. I was so glad I tried it again when I finally did, this is a game I'll most likely be replaying for decades, just like I do for New Vegas, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, ect, ect.

So, yeah, Pillars of Eternity 1 is a modern classic for me.

I really love crpgs and Pillars of Eternity is becoming one of my favorites. I also have it on Switch because I couldn't help myself. It's a great game with a great storyline that I can easily see myself replaying over and over.

The combat is very fun, loving it, kind of addicting

Pillars of Eternity had been on my radar, but i didn't manage buying it until the world of Avowed pulled me in. The harsh colonial world (adding a few animancers and old gods in between) really made me enjoy PoE, and i can't wait to carry my save over to Deadfire.

my favorite feature has to be the "dispositions", which are essentially speech-based skills that level with use. this allows you to build many speech traits naturally and have them develop in usefulness over time. dispositions seriously change the way roleplaying is performed and i really hope to see them in future releases, much more satisfying than base skill checks. quests can range from simple to complex but always leave some level of player agency.

combat was difficult as this is a more realtime gameplay style, but this makes getting into combat much less of an ordeal typical in RPGs. i never found myself going "ugghh another fight", just because combat feels really well baked into this experience. tactics can bounce from simple to complex, rewarding inquisitive players for learning while also keeping new players in their safezone if they so choose. i recommend utilizing some of the companion automation systems to keep combat going while you're busy directing the other fronts of combat. speaking of companions, i feel invested in their individual quests and i get exactly what i put into them. many large and minor storybeats are voice acted and the rest is usually interesting enough to inspire the reading power out of you! i would not let your interest in reading impede your purchase of PoE, it really is a nonissue.

Pillars of Eternity is a story you deserve to have told to you.

if you like baldur's gate 3 (even a newcomer to crpgs), i think you will have an easier time getting invested with PoE than many other games on the market! there are plenty of diffiulcty modifiers, plus the realtime combat and ability to have companions "autoattack" can really ease up the mental load that comes from many combat systems. this game requires use of keyboard and mouse (no controllers, really), but most of the game can be played with simple clicks on the screen. if you're new to keyboard and mouse, i promise your effort will be rewarded here. i hope you enjoy this game as much as i do!

Should I recommend Pillars of Eternity?
Well, no.
This game is both brilliant and deeply...frustrating.

I had to play the game in "story mode" until the last boss to finish. And I was playing on "normal mode."

When I finished the game, I unlocked the achievement and realized that 15% of players had unlocked it.
My question is: How many people finished the game with the "Ultimate" achievement?
0.1%?

It is a solid game. And I enjoy it, because I am really into RPG.

But i cannot really recommend it to the general public. Especially the balance is complete out of whack. As an example:
A shadow is considered a level 1 enemy (the lowest enemy class possible). And it stuns on every hit for 5 seconds and deals about 40 damage.

There are just a lot of balance issues, that make this game not feasable for newcomers at all.

So if you are into RPGs a lot, then give it a try. But otherwise, I recommend you try a other games first.

The game starts by slowly setting up it's lore and terminology with heavy amounts of text, but if you prioritize story, lore and worldbuilding it's worth reading. When you do the homework, the set up pays off and leads to an interesting story that explores metaphysical conversations that challenge you on an intellectual and moral level. This game has clear strengths, but it's not for everybody especially the gameplay. Otherwise POE has what you'd want from RPGs: player agency, choices that matter, believable world, solid companions, memorable music and immersion. The White March DLC is just as good and the bundle has good discounts sometimes.

I was sceptic at first, i'm really not into retrogaming. But after playing Avowed and learning about the universe, I remembered how much I had fun with baldur's gate and Ice Wind dale in the past.

Really beautiful isometric RPG with great story & writing. Mechanics similar enough to D&D to be familiar to players who remember the original Baldur's Gate (and BG2), or Icewind Dale, but a lot of well designed mechanics to make it feel and run in a unique way.

A grand adventure and love letter to late-90s/early-2000s cRPGs.

This is RTwP, not turn-based. For newcomers, you can't really tank and smash you're way through, especially early game. Always consumables prior to combat. While in combat buff/debuff first.

When leveling, a good rule of thumb when selecting skills and attributes Passives > AoE > Individual Target.
Always look for synergies, both local to a character and between characters.

Respec is super cheap if you screw up any character or want to try something else. Make a named save file prior to respec and test your heart out.

Runs great on Steam Deck, but you will need to spend some time mapping controls. Pillars will give the track pads something to do.

As a very casual player of CRPGs who mostly plays for the writing and story, I would say this game is okay or a weak recommendation. The underlying premise is interesting which revolves around souls, how souls pass through the cycle of life and death, and what happens when souls are absent from a living being. But the execution was flat in some parts of the story and could've been done better.
There's a lot of worldbuilding in this game with plenty of lore but these info dumps don't really matter outside of some background on soul studying (animancy). The soul reading mechanic is a very unique mechanic but outside of some scenes in the main story and some companion side quests it's very underutilized. Even though a lot of NPCs have this soul reading dialogue it's just a paragraph of irrelevant text.
I also felt that the ending could've been written better. It tries to give you a shocking realization about the true nature of the world, but I felt that the reasoning didn't fit into the high fantasy world this game is placed in.

Extreme punishment for wandering off the beaten path. This game feels like playing on a ladder with a bunch of e-sport min/maxers where every new area is a new chance to wipe your team if heaven forbid you didn't pick the optimum class and select at every level the optimum spells, and pause combat at the optimum times to deliver the perfectly matched spells or feats. Where's the story? Can't tell through all the blood spatters that used to be my party.

Pillars of Eternity is a game that I've stopped and started over the years, though never gotten far. As it's been a long since (years) since my last attempt, I figured I'd give it another shot. And this time it clicked.

I will not say that Pillars of Eternity does everything right, but it does most of it right. It's good, and if you like CRPGs, you're probably going to like it. The RTWP is going to have some varying milage, but I got used to it, and if you need to lower the difficulty, do it. It was actually pretty difficult at points on Normal, though the hardest fights are thankfully optional. But the gameplay isn't really why I like the game.

It's the setting itself that is the best part about the game. It's a realized setting with cultures, religions, history, and metaphysics that are realized to a degree that you really don't see these days. You feel like you're in the latest chapter of a world that is centuries old, with many empires, cultures, and kingdoms that have long passed. This weight is difficult to describe, but there is effort put into this that makes it stand out in substantial ways from other fantasy settings.

The main narrative itself is interesting in the sense that it's used as a pretext to explore the setting and it's facets. It's an adventure, but one whose stakes you don't really understand until much later. I thought it interesting, but it is rather subdued, personal, and slow, especially in the beginning. However, the ending in particular is one of the best parts, not just because of what happens, but because it avoids a trope that most RPGs have, which is clear good/bad endings. You have multiple endings in Pillars of Eternity, and each of them have an argument, and a clear drawback or risk. Even the nominally 'good' choice is one that if you've been playing the game, raises questions on how 'good' it is - or if it could even happen at all.

I like when legitimate choices are presented, and choices is something that Pillars of Eternity does for the Watcher to a degree I was surprised by.

You have a lot of control over who your Watcher is and how they express themselves. The disposition and reputation system is much more extensive than I thought it would be. Characters would regularly make reference to if my character was honest or kind, or my race, my culture, and so on. These were largely for flavor, and a changed paragraph at most - but honestly that's all you need to make it matter. It's really good.

I was also under the impression (somehow) that this was a relatively short game, around 30 hours or so. It is not. Even with the DLC, I'd say this is easily a 50+ hour game if you do most everything. It is well worth the money, and if it's been a few years since you've tried to play it, I would recommend another try. Maybe this time it'll click for you too.

a solid CRPG so far, enjoying the story and the gameplay, fighting takes a bit to get a hang of but seems to reward you well when you take the time to plan attacks better. the world is fleshed out and full of world building and detail!

The writing is excellent. The world is rich with detail. The characters are colorfully interesting. The gameplay is challenging, especially for those newer to this older form of computer RPG.

If you're looking for the beginning of a great story and strategic combat, you've come to the right place.

I haven't played a game for about 10 years. With a bit of reading guides and such, I have found this to be enjoyable as a story line and visually exceptional. Of course I'll roll and re roll characters multiple times, spec differently, adventure the main story line and all side lines - and, so far am really enjoying the challenges.

Great roleplaying game with a fascinating story, unique fantasy world (it's so charming and interesting that they could just have left elves and dwarves out, but I guess they did not want to alienate people who just expect those races). I'll never forget this game.

Wonderful world building. The lore, characters, and story is very rewarding and leaves you thinking about a lot of deep questions.

It can be a bit of a slow burn to get into and there is a ton of reading, but that's what you kind of expect with these types of CRPGs.

Its a Classic must play for fans of fantasy CRPGs

Simply a brilliant, epic CRPG with a refreshing and deep new world and great mechanics.

I want to make it clear, I have not actually beat this game... but I've tried many times. I'm very interested in the story, I find it fascinating and well delivered. The companions are easily the best part for me, they have very different backgrounds and direction, and you'll love some and hate others (in the best of ways). I hate the combat, it just feels like a bad auto battler with poor AI and pathing. If I need to pause every second to issue a command, I rather just have turn based.

Summary: Story that I've seen 8/10
Companions: 10/10
Combat: 4/10

Good RPG story. Not a big fan of the old school combat style, but it's worth playing in Story Mode if you're looking to experience the story before moving on to Deadfire, which has turn based combat.

Very good game. Highly recommend playing before Deadfire. Gets much better the more you play.

The story lacks some sort of engagement, does not introduce very well, and gives you no reason to really care about it. I do like the combat mechanics, better than POE 2.

If Avoved is half as good as this then it is a hit. Great RPG with great companions. Would be 5/5 if only there was a Romance. Almost anything you can think about wanting to do, yo can do it. What is really over the top is making a wizard a Super Melee character.

Played this for a second time to get ready for Avowed - the first time I played it was when it first released and then the DLC as it released. I had basically completely forgotten everything. I'm writing this post playing Pillars 2 as well.

Playing it a second time around I actually really enjoyed it - although it's a bit rough around the edges.

First time I played I didn't pay attention to leveling or gear too much - this made some of the fights really challenging and really annoying, I was too lazy to learn a new system and was coming off D&D games. This time, I thought I want to use guns, came across that guns on monks in pillars 2 is very powerful, so decided to go monk in this to get ready for that. Monk was very fun, I loved stunning and pushing enemies around. I really enjoy how every stat does something interesting (no useless attributes like D&D) so you can get some really cool and unexpected combos. Actually focusing on my build and trying to find gear that aids it - then seeing it work in combat - felt really good. I still had trouble leveling all my companions properly - but leveling the wizard class for Aloth was really fun, I especially love the grimoire sytem of having an item that contains your spells.

Speaking of companions, I found Aloth and Eder to be quite annoying, I was playing an evil character and they just seemed to get in the way. The stand outs for me with interesting stories were Durance, grieving mother and Devil of Caroc.

I remember the game being a bit too wordy, and while it is, I do find it pretty interesting (Screw the backer NPCs though). The mythic lore is really cool and makes for great world building. The world story is really good but I find it just feels too rushed after the city, and if you don't pad it with side quests actually feels pretty short. Thaos is a cool villain (good voice actor too!).

You get your own keep but I didn't find it very interesting to be honest. The dungeon in it is kind of cool though. I'd rather just focus on whats at hand though, and I've never been a fan of systems like this that don't integrate well with the main game and just seem like a side task.

I'm glad this game got a DLC that was basically like an expansion pack with a full other story, I'm not really a fan of bite size story DLCs in some games. It was pretty interested, added a cool crafting system to the game, had cool companions and a cool boss. Didn't overstay it's welcome but not too short.

I returned for a second playthrough after 8 years, and it's not as good as I remember it, but in fact better. It easily surpasses the vast majority of RPGs in terms of roleplay, the writing and the contemplation you are left with.

What can you call Pillars of Eternity but one of the finest original CRPGs ever made? Maybe even THE best.

PoE (not that one) is another fantastic showing by Obsidian, pound for pound one of the best RPG devs out there today. Beautifully rendered with well made 3D models on gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds, Pillars isn't going to break any new ground based on looks alone...but it doesn't have to. It's a classic CRPG, and it looks like one. Personally I think it's quite pretty, especially for a game released a goddamn full decade ago. Ten years on and it's one of the best worlds I've ever had the pleasure of delving into.

The world of Eora is rich and varied, with surprising depth for a completely original world, though perhaps not too surprising for veteran devs and writers. I cannot put into words properly how enjoyable it is just to live in the world of Eora, how GOOD everything is. The nations, the gods, the characters, the races...it all adds up into a phenomenal showing of writing excellence. The writing in general is just fantastic, top notch stuff from a team you'd expect no less from.

Unfortunately I'm the wrong person to ask about mechanical depth and balance, but I can tell you with full certainty you will enjoy the story and world of PoE more than most CRPGs you'll play, making it worthy of the title of one of the best games I've ever had the pleasure of playing.

Timeless and one of the best games on steam

-Long campaign in a well build world, Intelligent races, Wars, Castles, Dungeons Snowy Mountains, Sewers, Ruins, Magic, Religions and Philosophy
-a ton of customisation in classes, magic, equipment, and the character themselves
-Great party characters with lots to say, choices, and deep dive quests about them.
-OR run a campaign of only custom characters; want a full team of archers with bear pets?why not
-Hard achievement runs for when your hooked.
-The DLCs good too, damn

The world and lore of this game was good enough to spawn 2 more games

Forever a fan Obsidian

The modern CRPG landscape can really trace it's origins back to PoE 1 and it's triumph. In a gaming era where action was more important than tactical combat and "press button, do awesome" made far more money, PoE put isometric rpgs back on the map. A spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate franchise, set in an original world unfettered by DnD or Pathfinder ttrpg mechanics. Anyone who loves RPGs like BG3 really do owe it to themselves to try this out.

Very good CRPG, kinda got impatient for it to end around 3/4 of the way through but highly enjoyable customization

The story, setting, and high quality writing really carry this experience for me. The world-building is quite good and engaging. The companion characters, and many other NPC's in general, are well written and memorable. Pretty much every other aspect of the game is very solid.

The one thing holding this game back in my opinion is the combat, which is obviously a large part of the experience. It's a very micromanage-heavy RTWP system. It feels like a chore to constantly monitor what all your characters are doing such that I decided to just switch to the lower difficulty settings so I could enjoy the rest of the game and experience the story. The combat just doesn't have the same fun factor as the infinity engine games that it's meant to emulate. I think it's partly due to this having a very status effect heavy combat system. You are constantly monitoring for status effects and having to counteract these, while applying debuffs to enemies and switching your party's damage types to align with enemy vulnerabilities. Much more hands on than the infinity engine system where you would really only actively manage your spellcasters while everyone else more or less auto-battled.

All that being said, I would still recommend this to fans of the genre. If you like RTWP cRPGs, in particular the infinity engine games, this will certainly scratch that itch. I had a lot of fun with it despite the combat being annoying at times, I'm even going back and replaying it at the time of this review. If I find the combat more palatable this time around I'll update this review.

Awesome CRPG. In fact, it's the one that got me into the genre. Well balanced, allowing most builds to be viable while still providing a challenge, especially on harder difficulties. A lot of variety in classes, and the unique classes and races are very interesting and fun.

the voice acting is really good and well you all know this game is great

It's a slow start. But once you get a few hours in, it becomes fun. The late game spells are really cool. I like some of the combat mechanics.
Act 1 and 2 is the best. Act 3 is boring.
The white march DLC is really good. I highly recommend playing that. Part 2 of the white march is better than the first part.

There are NPC's that you can read their souls (Their life story). It's very boring, you can skip over them. I heard they were created by fan backers anyway.

There is also a guy in the first town that you can recruit into your party. Don't do what I did and accidentally skipped past him for most of Act 1 lol.

Although this game feels antiquated even for 2015, I would still recommend it as the game excels in all the qualities that are important for a good RPG. Specifically, the game is rightfully praised for its immersive storytelling, character development, and lore. The old school isometric graphics will not likely impress anyone but that is not a feature intended to draw the targeted demographic. This game is all about experiencing a quality RPG adventure. Some of the highlights of PoE include the soundtrack, voice acting, and combat. The soundtrack is amazing, starting with the opening theme which is hauntingly beautiful. The voice acting is also outstanding which helps to create engaging characters. It is unfortunate though that only about half the dialogue has voice acting which made the game feel incomplete whenever it was absent. And then there is the combat which is fast paced, exciting, dynamic, and captures the essence of what one would imagine D&D combat to look like in real time.

For the reasons listed above and more, I would recommend this game for anyone looking for a fun RPG experience. However, I have to admit that going from BG3 to PoE was a challenge as games like BG3 have raised the bar so high for RPG. While I enjoyed the combat of PoE, it requires intense micromanagement that has one pausing the game every couple seconds. Even with the game in slow mode, it was difficult to tell what was happening. And while the game excels at storytelling and lore, it requires a great deal of reading which I personally enjoy but may not appeal to all players. Thus, to summarize, this game targets a very niche demographic of player that is willing to embrace a retro style game for an immersive RPG heavy in lore and story.

This game is *excellent.* I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't such a well-crafted story with interesting characters and fun combat. It took me a minute to get used to the forced perspective and no camera movement, and some keybind adjusting, but it really came together for me. The game shows some age, yeah, but it also shows how much it influenced future games in this genre.

9/10. I truly struggle to find fault in it.

The first time I played this game I got so enraptured I played it in one sitting start to finish. My eyes got so dry I could hardly see, but I did not care. I wish I was exaggerating. I was on spring break during grad school and I desperately needed something fun to do. Loved it then. Still do. Only thing that annoys me now (probably because I'm old and impatient) is that there is no indication which NPCs are just there to look at their souls and aren't story relevant and I would rather be able to not waste my time clicking those when I don't want to :p Also, I highly doubt my hour count is accurate. Right now it says 44 and there is no way that is right

Had a blast with this game. Definitely felt like what Baldur's Gate 3 would've been if it was made back when it was originally planned! My big issue with the game was the castle system being annoying/not super useful as well as much many items being necessary to purchase throughout the world. Felt like I had lots of money and nothing useful to spend it on. Overall, the game gets a thumbs up from me and any fan of Real time with pause RPG's should give it a try

If you getting lagging issues try to start it as administrator, other than that, it's an impressively expansive, rich and full of adventure game, i knew by looking at its graphics while having a 40GB size that it would be a hell of a journey.

As a general game I wouldn't recommend it but if you love old school RPGs or tabletop rules(DnD like), then this gets a thumbs up.

Masterpiece unfortunately hidden behind a slow and uninteresting start. Top notch world, characters, and story, with a mostly good real time with pause combat system behind it. This feels like the real spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate games, unlike the actual BG3 which is more akin to a Dragon Age Origins. I played this directly after BG1 and was actually shocked at how faithful Pillars feels to those games. I'm gonna give this five big booms on the boom meter. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

This game is so well written. Sometimes I skim through the extra dialogue, but I never regret reading when I do. The gameplay is excellent and challenging.