Sunday, April 19, 2015

Why Pillars of Eternity is awesome

Heritage Hill

For a while now I've been disappointed with the gaming scene. Gamers don't all enjoy the same genre of game but it really felt like the games industry is only ever releasing first person shooters.

Oh I know there's games other than first person shooters being released but from the games reviews you'd think those were the only games out there.

So, Pillars of Eternity is awesome simply for being a isometric view RPG similar to Icewind Dale or Baldur's Gate. It's really been a while since one of those came out.

Just to make it more interesting, the game gives you choice in how you complete quests. Of course, it's not total freedom. That's the inherent limitation of RPGs. There's simply far too many possibilities to deal with. But Pillars of Eternity does offer quite a wide choice to pick from.

The game rewards exploration. Open up new maps, discover secret areas, or take extra efforts in solving quests to get more XP than simply following the story campaign. Even combat is given the same treatment with monster stats slowly revealing themselves as you battle more of the same type of monster. This is a neat way to giving ever lesser XP to players for defeating the same ol' monsters. In the classics like Icewind Dale or Baldur's Gate, this would be equivalent to getting less XP as your party levels up.

Soon after release, there's already news of players beating the game solo. And this is a party-based game too. Beat the game with just your single character, or beat it by recruiting companions into your party. The choice is yours.

I haven't completed the game yet. I've opted for party play, and enjoying the nice narrative and voice overs. But there's nothing wrong with that is there? That's the choice you're given in this game. Play it like a click fest if you want, or take your own sweet time to enjoy the sights and sounds in the game.

But I must say reading about others' solo exploits really tempts me to try it out, too. Maybe once I'm done with this character...

Pillars of Eternity shows what's possible with crowd funded games. Sure there's been failed crowd funded projects but that doesn't take away the awesomeness of the game.

And once I'm done, Torment Tides of Numenera beckons...

No comments:

Post a Comment