A Look at Pillars of Eternity: Part 1

At one point in my time writing this online journal, I mentioned that my favourite Kickstarter game from last year was Pillars of Eternity, a throwback to old Computer Role-Playing Games (CRPGs) akin to Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights (both games) and Arcanum Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Rather than type about it in a ‘proper’ review-like opinion, I will instead write about my latest playthrough and mention aspects of the game I like (along with other aspects I do not like).

I will be playing on normal to not die as fast. Unlike my default lawful good male warriors for my first playthroughs in an RPG, I am going to try a class I rarely use in RPGs; a priest. Fireballs are fun and all but I rarely play a class that focusses on keeping everyone alive (that’s what the priest companion is for). This time I will be a female priest to juxtapose my male fighter. 

I will be playing a female Orlan priest this time. Orlans are like the halflings (or Hobbits) of this game with a dash of gnomes.

This is one feature I like about the character creation. The extensive customization in shaping the character. From this part, I can decide which particular sub-race my Orlan comes from. Humans, Aumaua, Dwarves, Elves and Godlikes also possess a plethora of sub-races to choose from. This affects the appearance of the player character.

I have decided to become a priest of Eothas since this particular god has a unique link to the game's backstory.

Here is the basic attribute screen of a role-playing game (RPG) where the player character's stats are assigned. On harder difficulties, the recommended attribute indicators are not present.

This is another interesting part of the character creation: being able to shape the background of the player character. From here I can choose the culture of the character and the background of the character prior to the game that establishes the player character's past. The latter I forgot to show here.

Crariewan stands for Crazy pRiest WomAn. The crazy comes from the fact that she is a priest of Eothas, who previously was a philosopher who does not believe in the gods and is mostly nihilistic. She got bored of her nihilistic atheism and decided to move somewhere else. How she got through her background check when she first joined the priesthood will remain an amusing mystery for my playthrough.

Our story begins with a caravan of settlers moving into the Dyrwood region. Due to your sudden illness, the caravan master, Odema, stops the caravan, narrowly avoiding a fallen tree in the path. The ancient Engwithan ruins near the caravan's pit stop might not be a good place to stop by though.

This is how the dialogue mostly looks like with detailed descriptions of the characters in the conversation and the actual spoken words highlighted with a bold font. Already, the game beats Fallout 4 in terms of conversation options.

A character with a portrait illustration. I'm sure she's not important...

Meet your first companion, Calisca. Shown on this picture is the inventory, equipped items and statistics of the party members

Holding the "Tab" key is often necessary to highlight interact-able characters and items in-game. From here, we can see that there is someone other than the caravan master with a name. I'm sure he's not important...

Meet Heodan. From this screenshot, it can be seen that the tone of the dialogue option can also be chosen from a variety of options. This not only helps with role-playing, it builds up a reputation for the player character that opens up new conversation options, quest solutions and references to said personality which I enjoyed. If the player wishes to remove the indicators, there is an option to do so.

Here is the map. The areas obscured by the fog of war will clear up once your party explores the areas near the edges of said fog. It's basic stuff.

The two pictures are stuck together as they indicate an additional feature that does not exist in older CRPGs. The game allows the player to activate Slow Mode and Fast Mode which does exactly what they say. The latter makes the game faster while the former makes the game slower. I find the latter more useful since I have a lot of time constraints due to ongoing studies while the former did not do much for me throughout my first playthrough. It could be useful to avoid blundering into enemies but for me, I could manage that with the auto-pause function. More on that latter

Throughout the land, the party can find plants that are highlighted by the "Tab" key which indicates their interact-ability. In this case, I could add this herb to my stash for crafting purposes.

The party members do speak in-game (and outside conversation menus) sometimes. It may be an observation, a remark or even banter with other members.

Here is an instance of combat. I'm not that good at explaining the combat gameplay thoroughly so I will state some basic facts about it. The main aspect of gameplay is that it runs in real-time with the ability to pause, like the older CRPGs mentioned above. Instead of a single health bar, the characters have two separate bars. The first bar is Endurance which can be depleted in battle leading to characters being knocked out if it is fully depleted but regenerates once battle ends. The other bar is the actual Health bar which drops should the party members take too much damage in battle. The second bar affects the first as low Health will decrease the amount of Endurance a party member has in battle. This fight is not much of an issue though since there is only one wolf.

See? Dead wolf.

Now here is a part I applaud Pillars for: the freedom to craft the player character through conversation. At multiple points of the game, the game provides options to the player to shape the player character's personality and backstory. I will elaborate further on this once I get to that point but at this point, I am able to shape my reasons for leaving the Ixamitl Plains and moving to the Dyrwood. As part of my backstory, I choose the option that made me a priest that does not believe in anything who constantly challenges the beliefs of others. Once again, I question the priesthood for letting someone like Crariewan join them.

Crariewan's reason for leaving home: I got bored of my non-believing.

This option does not really matter in the long run but it helps with the role-playing.

Same as the above.

Sparfel is late with the water I need for my medicine. He better have a good reason for being late.

On the bright side, he did have a good reason for being late. An arrow in the back would definitely be a good reason to be late for anything (perhaps that could work if I'm ever late for an interview)

It turns out that the Glanfathans (tribal nomads who tend to guard ancient Engwithan  ruins like the one near the caravan) that the caravan master mentioned did show up, angry at our 'desecration' of the ancient Engwithan ruins. We immediately enter into battle and another across the bridge.

Dilemma here. The leader of the Glanfathans is holding Heodan hostage. If I say the wrong words, he may get an axe to his face. Once again, I can decide the type of personality I would be using to approach the situation.

In my opinion, a good RPG should be able to open options based on the character's abilities and attributes. In this sequence, I have several options to take that are available based on my character's attributes. Seeing as these are god-fearing individuals who venerate the old ways, I picked the option requiring a point in Lore.

My chosen line has begun to make him uncertain and causes him to focus on me instead of his hostage.

Now I am discussing different ways to interpret the will of Galawain, Lord of the Hunt. As you can tell, my player character is questioning the will that the leader supposedly follows.

Now I'm just making jabs at his violent personality and flaws that he justifies as being sanctioned by his god.

It works. A fight does break out but he was so angry at Crariewan that Heodan avoids being injured since the leader was too distracted by his anger towards my player character.

The battle is won. Good, right? Wrong, a biawac shows up. These are magical storms that can literally rip souls out of living bodies to return them to the Wheel. (Their world operates on a proven cycle of reincarnation involving souls being returned to the mortal plane over time)

Now this is another part of Pillars I like. These segments are similar to gamebooks in that the player has to make a decision to determine the outcome. These segments are dependent on available attributes, skills, class abilities, racial bonuses and companion abilities. At this point, Heodan is being pinned down by a survivor of the battle and my options are to allow him to beat his attacker on his own or throw my weapon at the attacker. The Dexterity option is not open to my character here.

I throw my weapon and it hits the survivor. Heodan escapes together with the party into the ruins.

The cost of ensuring Heodan's survival is the loss of my original weapon. I did try letting Heodan fight off the survivor on his own and the result is an additional casualty to the biawac. The fact that my decision had an actual and immediate impact on the game gave a strong impression of the game for me.

Using Heodan and Scouting mode (Detect Traps mode), I was able to disarm the trapped tiles here. It nets the party some experience points too.

Some exploring into the side rooms.

Here is an alternate solution to getting past the trapped tiles. Deactivating some by lighting these pillars using a torch or the Fire Godlike's natural fire.

Slime makes their complementary appearances in the form of ooze.

In these sorts of games, reading journals are quite important to gain clues for solutions, treasures and occasional easter eggs.

Exploring around, I find this interact-able wall in another path away from the trapped tiles. It seems weak. I did find a chisel and a hammer. 

I use Calisca to push down the wall. Due to her attributes though, she has no difficulty in pushing down the wall. Being able to use the appropriate party members for different situations is rewarding when you get it right the first time.

Another interact-able item. I wonder what it does...

It would seem that the oozes in this room had their way with the stone face.

I had that water-skin from earlier though so I gave the face a much needed cleansing.

Near that journal I found was a large gemstone. The stone face was missing a gemstone so I did the math and fixed his depth perception.

My reward was a minor cloak of protection. 

I finally escape the ruins and below me... is that a ritual down there?

An NPC with a portrait in the conversation window. I'm sure he is not important...

Take note of the Queen That Was in his speech. This Queen will pop up again.

The ritual begins in earnest and another biawac occurs.

This is important to the main story.

This too.

And this as well.

Good news, the player character survived the biawac. The bad news, the other party members are dead and there seems to be something wrong with the player character.

To confirm their deaths, the bodies of Calisca and Heodan can be looted.

The journal records the player's progress and changes depending on how the player resolves quests along with conversation options. Notice the Visions option in the Journal. That one is quite important to the personal story of the player character.

I'm pretty sure I did not take any magic mushrooms on the trip.

And that's all for this part of my look into Pillars of Eternity. I will proceed with this when I have actual spare time at hand. Believe it or not, it is possible to kill the entire caravan on your own and get a unique cutscene with no Glanfathans attacking the caravan.