Preview Pillars of Eternity Post-E3 Preview Blitz + New Screenshots

[Infinitron]

Tags: J.E. Sawyer; Obsidian Entertainment; Pillars of Eternity

The embargo on posting about Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity presentation at E3 expired today, and with its passing came an explosion of preview articles, posted on gaming news sites across the web. Codexer Sensuki, our most dedicated Pillars-watcher, was on the scene to make a list of all of them:

English

Polygon: http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/19/5823118/pillars-of-eternity-preview-e3-2014
Joystiq: http://www.joystiq.com/2014/06/19/obsidians-pillars-of-eternity-looks-old-and-thats-good-news
Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/pillars-of-eternity-looks-like-the-next-great-computer-1592836049
PC Gamer: http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/pillars-of-eternity-e3-preview-infinity-reborn
The Escapist: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...Preview-Hallelujah-for-Classic-Isometric-RPGs
GameRanx: http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/22677/article/pillars-of-eternity-e3-2014-preview-a-fine-line
GameCrate: http://www.gamecrate.com/pillars-of-eternity-e3-2014-preview
PCWorld: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2365...-to-rpg-classics-turns-promise-into-game.html
MMORPG.com: http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/8618/
TheSixthAxis: http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2014/06/19/pillars-of-eternity-brings-back-classic-dungeon-crawling
Gaming Illustrated: http://gamingillustrated.com/pillars-of-eternity-e3-preview
SevenCut: http://www.sevencut.com/2014-e3-coverage/2014/6/19/pillars-of-eternity
CalmDownTom: http://calmdowntom.com/2014/06/should-i-be-excited-about-pillars-of-eternity
Hardcore Gamer: http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2014/0...st-versatile-rpg-in-pillars-of-eternity/90345
ActionTrip: http://www.actiontrip.com/features/e32014pillarsofeternity.phtml

German

GamersGlobal: http://www.gamersglobal.de/preview/pillars-of-eternity

Italian

IGN Italia: http://it.ign.com/project-eternity-pc/75687/preview/e3-2014-primo-impatto-con-pillars-of-eternity
Multiplayer.it: http://multiplayer.it/articoli/133643-pillars-of-eternity-i-pilastri-del-gioco-di-ruolo.html
Everyeye.it: http://www.everyeye.it/pc/articoli/pillars-of-eternity_anteprima_22815​

The area that was shown in the preview was the game's opening. The player character is travelling with a caravan that gets hit by something bad(tm). He escapes into a nearby ruin with two companions. Along the way, there's some combat and C&C, and your companions might live, die or end up leaving you. If you'd like to know more details about the story, I recommend the GameRanx article. If you just want a succinct breakdown of the game's notable features, check out Kotaku (yes, Kotaku).

Oh, and there are also some new screenshots, which seem to depict the aforementioned ruins and a nearby player encampment:

​

So yeah, check out those previews. Other than the story information, they're mostly familiar material, although there are a few tidbits about the game systems that we didn't know about. For example, the fact that the game has an optional "ATB meter" feature that shows you when each character is ready to perform his next action. If skimming through all of these is too tl;dr for you though, you can check out GameBanshee's compilation post for a selection of excerpts.

Update: Here's an interview with Josh Sawyer by a representative from RPGamer that was recorded at E3:

​

 

[Dr Schultz]

I like what I see...

 

[Decado]

If you just want a succinct breakdown of the game's notable features, check out Kotaku (yes, Kotaku).

I lol'd.

Anyways, good work guys. RPG Codex is the best Codex.

 

[imweasel]

Sounds great. I see they also got rid of the unlimited resting at designated spots BS.

 

[Dorateen]

The requirement to consume food/camp supplies in order to rest is always a good thing. It's one of the design decisions I was proud to hear about in previous updates.

I want to break the opening tutorial section with a custom party.

 

[Sensuki]

http://gamingillustrated.com/pillars-of-eternity-e3-preview/

 

[Athelas]

 

[Frusciante]

Another preview with some interview questions: http://www.sevencut.com/2014-e3-coverage/2014/6/19/pillars-of-eternity

 

[Jaesun]

Are there any videos showing these early areas?

 

[Infinitron]

Updated OP.

Are there any videos showing these early areas?

No, and there won't be.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Josh seems like he is just a lil bit in love with himself. Otherwise, beautiful scenes.

 

[VioletShadow]

Everything sounds and looks great. Also, illustrated text adventures

 

[Volourn]

Those sound stupid and just seem unneeded. They won't add anything to the game and will just take the player out of the game flow, imo. That said, otherwise, game looks solid.

 

[jdinatale]

That interviewer sounds like a dunce.

 

[Shevek]

Bigger than BG1 and IWD but not quite as big as BG2... sounds good. With the xpacks (xpacks?), the length of the game should be perfect. Honestly, I haven't been as excited for a game in a long while.

 

[lurker3000]

a representative from RPGamer

I didn't even know that site was still operating until this post...

 

[Dr Schultz]

Those sound stupid and just seem unneeded. They won't add anything to the game and will just take the player out of the game flow, imo. That said, otherwise, game looks solid.

Have you ever heard about a little and obscure game called Darklands :asd ?

 

[markec]

At one point, for example, you're approached by a sickly enemy, and you can decide between killing him, trying to talk him out of fighting, feeding him, and other options.

This is cool but Im afraid this will be Bioware type of choices, basically something that gives you instant amount of xp, money or reputation and then its quickly forgotten. Best possible scenario would be when you had such seemingly small choice actually have large consequence, like showing mercy to a bandit and later find out he went on a killing spree. That would make even a good aligned party far more cautious of sparing an enemy in the future.

Overall I just finally want to see a game where often good deeds are punished and NPCs actually lie and try to manipulate player without looking like pale skin hunchbacks with scars on their face and add maniacal laughter after every sentence.

 

[Infinitron]

More previews at GameBanshee: http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/113894-pillars-of-eternity-e3-previews-and-video-interview.html

Calm Down Tom:

One departure from the norm for this type of game is that PoE adopts an anything-goes approach to weapons, armour and items. Any class can wear anything, so the tradition of Wizards only wearing cloth armour is gone and if you want to set your Paladin up with a bow, go right ahead. Obsidian are likely thinking that this will give players more agency to play the game their way, and increase replayability and it’s likely to be a welcome removal of what were holdover restrictions from classic Dungeons and Dragons.

Pillars of Eternity is certainly shaping up to be something special. The game is pegged by Obsidian as being a similar scale as Baldur’s Gate, which means there’s a huge game being made here, and from a technical point of view, it looks stunning – especially when you add that it’s being made in Unity, with very reasonable system requirements and will ship on Windows, Mac and Linux. I’ve worked with Unity as a developer and played a lot of games made with it and frankly I’ve never seen anything look this good from that engine – throw your preconceived notions out of the window about what a Unity game is.

Hardcore Gamer:

Narration and dialogue choices are key factors to Pillars of Eternity as depending on how a situation is approached, the outcome will be different. This all ties into their Disposition Reputation System which tracks just what kind of a person you are. This is represented through minor and major choices when selecting dialogue (Hardcore players can turn off the visual indicators), crafting the protagonist’s demeanor. Choosing to be diplomatic, honest, aggressive, or something else will shape what kind of person the protagonist ends up being, even unlocking different pieces of dialogue for given situations.

Combat is a major factor in any RPG, and Pillars of Eternity doesn’t skimp. You’ll quickly find yourself in a party of up to six, and each class has his or her own distinct abilities. The warrior has defense and knockback strengths, while someone like the rogue is more of a quick and nimble individual. Pillars of Eternity runs on an active system that can be paused at any time to better survey the situation. Through the isometric camera angle, players will be able to give commands to their party members and better plan out a fight.

ActionTrip:

The other element the studio wanted to emphasize was the game’s story and narrative system. It has a traditional narrative, with a narrator and plenty of dialogue to get the story moving along. However, it also has what Obsidian calls a “scripted interaction system,” where literally a script appears before the player, and he or she must choose what their character will do next, almost akin to a choose your own adventure book. However, it’s not entirely that simple. What you can do, both with the scripted interaction system and with the dialogue in-game, depends on the class of your character and what skills they have learned. The game’s disposition/reputation system will also affect the choices available in dialogue and in the script interaction.

It truly sounds like you could play several different stories with this game just by changing up your class, your race, and your reputation. I think I squealed with glee out loud during the presentation.

 

[Roguey]

"Those sound stupid and just seem unneeded. They won't add anything to the game and will just take the player out of the game flow, imo."

It's better than just having these actions in a dialogue menu, like Torment or AoD.

This is cool but Im afraid this will be Bioware type of choices, basically something that gives you instant amount of xp, money or reputation and then its quickly forgotten. Best possible scenario would be when you had such seemingly small choice actually have large consequence, like showing mercy to a bandit and later find out he went on a killing spree. That would make even a good aligned party far more cautious of sparing an enemy in the future.

Overall I just finally want to see a game where often good deeds are punished and NPCs actually lie and try to manipulate player without looking like pale skin hunchbacks with scars on their face and add maniacal laughter after every sentence.

Josh Sawyer isn't interested in player punches.

 

[Sensuki]

More previews at GameBanshee

I've already read those three, found them yesterday. They didn't add anything we didn't already know so I didn't list them. Action Trip and Hardcore Gamer's writeups were VERY basic.

 

[Kem0sabe]

So the dialogue choices will have morality icons like Mass Effect? That sounds suspiciously like

 

[Athelas]

They're reputation/disposition modifiers and you can turn them off.

 

[Kem0sabe]

They're reputation/disposition modifiers and you can turn them off.

Fact that you can turn them off doesnt make it any less derpy. I bet they start on by default.

 

[Infinitron]

They're reputation/disposition modifiers and you can turn them off.

Fact that you can turn them off doesnt make it any less derpy. I bet they start on by default.

Is that [Bluff] tag on the first option in this Storm of Zehir dialogue screen derpy?