Pillars of Eternity - What Makes This A Genius Game?

Pillars of Eternity - What Makes This A Genius Game?

As an avid RPG gamer and Wannabe-RPG Developer Extraordinaire, lately when I've been playing RPGs and picturing the game I would like to develop in my mind, I often ask myself an important question of the game I'm playing. It's simply this:

"What is the genius of this game?"

That simple question will cut right down to the heart of any game you can think of. Try it now - ask yourself "What is the genius of Skyrim, Arcanum, Neverwinter Nights, or any game you can think of." You will soon start thinking about those extremely important core elements that stuck with you the most; the things that defined the game in your mind. The genius aspects, if you will.

So, by taking this question and applying it to a game like Pillars of Eternity, I have come up with this answer:

"The genius of Pillars of Eternity, is that it's basically Baldur's Gate 2015."

It's that simple. Pillars of Eternity is one of the purest RPGs since Baldur's Gate. That's more than 15 years for those of you who aren't up on your RPG history. Pillars is a game that doesn't try to redefine the genre. It doesn't try to rewrite the classic RPGs it was inspired by. It doesn't try to do too much that it can't pull off. The sheer genius lies in this simple fact. It is basically Baldur's Gate 2015.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Pillars is going to greatly remind you of Baldur's Gate. Everything from the pause-and-play combat, to the talkative companions with unique personalities, right down to the core feel of exploring the various maps that the large, unique, Dungeons & Dragons-style world has to offer. It's all there for a fan of Baldur's Gate, and it feels fresh enough to be an exciting and challenging experience, yet familiar enough to resonate with any fan of the old-school RPG gaming giant.

I mention Dungeons & Dragons as being an influence to this game, and it's apparent in every aspect of the game. The core stat system, while completely unique to Pillars, reminds one of the depth and complexity that the D&D video games of yesteryear contained. Also, the lore of the world is very much something you could experience in a Forgotten Realms campaign, and that is also single-handedly the biggest compliment I can give to it. As you immerse yourself deeper in this incredible, lovingly-crafted world, you will start to feel a part of it, as if you are really there exploring and seeing the sights. The lore will feel familiar, yet still fresh and brand new, with plenty of unique elements to discover and exciting new takes on the traditional fantasy settings we've come to expect in our RPGs.

As with a Baldur's Gate game, you will also get all the unique weapons, armor and trinkets with special bonuses applied to them, tons of magic spells to sling and experiment with, lovingly designed classes with unique talents and much, much more. The magic system alone can lead to so many fun, fascinating, and, more importantly, viable gameplay choices. You can literally explore this vast playground of mayhem to find exactly the style of combat you would like to pursue, and they really do give you a ton of options to play with here, so you'll be able to express your utmost creativity.

For example, you can build any sort of hybrid character you would like, by outfitting them with unique gear, such as weapons that vary in speed, to shields that add protection at the cost of accuracy. There are so many unique options here that you can easily find an interesting, endlessly creative way to express your inner RPG nerd. The only downside to this playground bonanza of experimentation and endless fun is the fact that there are only 8 companions to find in the entire game. Considering you can only travel with 5 at a time, that doesn't leave a lot of room for really unique experimentation in your party building. Still, the 8 characters present in the game are well-developed and fun to travel with, and you will find yourself interested in at least one of their personal stories, if not all of them.

The exploration is everything you'd expect from an Infinity Engine-style game. You uncover large maps with lots of fog-of-war and unique encounters and things to see. Travel off the beaten path and you may encounter some interesting ruin, cave, or unique situation to deal with. Perhaps bandits are waiting for you around the corner, or a special puzzle is waiting for you deeper in the forest. There is always something to see and discover, and that sense of discovery is one of the pillars (hehe) of a great Baldur's Gate-like experience.

The amount of love and talent that went into this project is unbounded. You will discover many beautiful things in the game, from the graphical stylings, to the Bestiary with detailed drawings of the enemies you encounter in the game along with their stats and lore. Speaking of the Bestiary, you get XP for filling it in, and the more you fight that type of enemy, the more it fills in. This is also another genius aspect of the game, as combat itself does not give XP unless you are actively filling out the Bestiary. It will make you want to explore every nook and cranny to find that one more Lurker or Forest Troll to fill in the missing stats.

Here's what Aubrielle has to say about the game.

Mood. Ambiance.

Pillars of Eternity excels in so many areas, but mood and ambiance are undoubtedly the areas where it shines the brightest. Or maybe, more appropriately, lurks the gloomiest.

Every great work of art is made up of countless tiny details to create a larger, more accomplished picture. Most people don't catch these miniscule touches - the delicate decor around the frames of the mini-portraits, the shadowing around the edges. Accents like these tend to go unnoticed but never fail to create an artistic masterpiece. Only art students usually look at a Vermeer and notice the thousands of tiny pinpoints of paint, almost like pixels, that make up the necklace in Woman Holding a Balance. But it would take a truly heartless person not to be stricken with the painting's stunning beauty and depth.

No one person was responsible for Pillars or the artistic achievement it became. But Obsidian did seem to have a singular vision, and that vision seems to have been realized. A melancholy game, but not a bleak one. Pillars is rich in color, its tones soft and muted, conveying a world steeped in age and sadness. You don't get to enter this land and leave unchanged. It brings you in, speaks to you alone, tells you of its struggles, and enlists you in its battles. Immersive storytelling and a masterpiece of mood setting make you a resident. And if you leave, you're not the same person you were when you entered.

Of course, who could be surprised? Obsidian has had a history of this kind of immersive storytelling. I'll never forget the first time I saw night fall in Fallout: New Vegas or Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. I cared a lot about a lot of things. Where I'd sleep, how I'd make it through, where I'd go in the morning, whether I'd ever have a permanent place to crash. In F:NV in particular, I cared about the people, their problems. I found myself unsettled by some of its figures and its history and making decisions wasn't always easy. They've brought that to the table again here, this time in beautiful isometric fantasy.

The last game I remember that conjured this kind of dark vibe with these kinds of Baroque and Gothic tones was Disciples II. With its hushed sounds and shadowy artwork, it was hard to forget too.

But the world didn't draw you in and keep you like Pillars of Eternity does. And rarely has any game ever told a story like Obsidian is telling, now.

Writing, music, sounds, graphics, and artwork have come together to create a masterpiece of mood, unrivalled by any game in years.

And there we have it. Pillars is an excellent game for a myriad of reasons, and just like the unique characters we create and the exclusive ways we develop our characters, the game can also affect us individually in unique ways.

So next time you're playing an RPG, ask yourself what the genius of that game is. You may find that you come up with several answers, and that will let you know that you are playing a very special game.