Is Pillars of Eternity worth playing?

[Lhynn]

Unnecessary complex combat and stat system was one of the points that killed the game the most for me.

Hu? It's a good deal more consistent and easier to understand than any edition of D&D.

Hes not saying its more complex than D&D, hes saying its unnecessarily complex, which is a fair assessment.

Huh, "it's too complex and hard to learn" isn't a criticism I'd have expected to see here.

Thats not the complain tho, the complain is that the shit isnt worth it, you very rarely get to witness the impact of any choice you make when char building, so its not worth the effort, especially considering about anything else will work as well.

The Web spell is broken. Apparently it's that way because they (stupidly) made it use the same code as a spider's web attack, and discovered that setting its accuracy to a reasonable level would make spiders murder melee-oriented parties dead too quickly. That's also why it's still broken -- they can't just rebalance it without breaking the spiders again, and apparently rewriting it is too much work.

No one cares

But yeah, figuring out how to stack and combine bonuses is the key to having fun with Pillars.

No it isnt, i figured it out in the first 15 minutes and i wasnt having fun.

If you just want to select-all and auto-attack, then no, it won't work very well.

Yes it will. Tho granted, in PoTD you may need to stack numbers on your very low numbers because everyone else in the world is magically 50% better at everything, so you need to match or surpass their numbers with your number stacking spells or abilities.

Lucky for you, 3.00 comes with Story Mode so you don't need to bother with any of that tedious shit.

Story mode just eliminates half of the tedious shit, uninstall mode is recommended for people that want to play not-shovelware.

 

[CptMace]

so you need to match or surpass their numbers with your number stacking spells or abilities.

You get the irony of this, right ?

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

Yes it is absolutely worth playing.
But if you didn't see that until now it probably won't improve much for you.

On another note: I don't really agree on the Codex consensus that Durance is great and all other characters are shit.
I think all charcters would maybe have deserved more and deeper quests, but many of them are likeable or interesting anyway. Actually my favourite is Aloth, even though I admit that his quest ended way too quick and unspectacular, and he may be a bit chliché overall. But whatever, he totally fits into the world imho and he (like some others) would have had potential for a way more fleshed out personal quest.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Idiots who whine about PoE being tedious probably didn't play an RPG since Baldur's Gate came out. PoE is probably the least tedious game existing in the genre, thanks to all the tiny little innovations and modernizations they've made. But you're welcome to replay some of the classics and discover just how "not-tedious" it is having haul loot for for hours, backtracking to temples to revive, managing 90s interfaces designed by Stevie Wonder, or travelling large areas on walking speed with party members who couldn't navigate the way to their own dick.

"Bu...but trashmobs"

Yeah, because it's the first game in the genre to have trashmobs. Indeed, I've been playing RPGs for 25 years and never encountered such a phenomenon until I've played PoE.

 

[Lhynn]

Idiots who whine about PoE being tedious probably didn't play an RPG since Baldur's Gate came out. PoE is probably the least tedious game existing in the genre, thanks to all the tiny little innovations and modernizations they've made. But you're welcome to replay some of the classics and discover just how "not-tedious" it is having haul loot for for hours, backtracking to temples to revive, managing 90s interfaces designed by Stevie Wonder, or travelling large areas on walking speed with party members who couldn't navigate the way to their own dick.

Thats not the tedius part, the tedious part is the combat and reading stuff thats written in the game. Like in fun RPGs the tedious parts arent the reason people play them, even if they didnt exist, who cares. People like RPGs because of the non boring shit. They just slog trought the tedius shit because its worth it. PoE is really convenient to the player, but it does nothing to entertain him either.

"Bu...but trashmobs"

Considering there are like 4 non trash mob encounters in a game with hundreds of encounters...

Yeah, because it's the first game in the genre to have trashmobs. Indeed, I've been playing RPGs for 25 years and never encountered such a phenomenon until I've played PoE.

No one said that, the game simply doesnt have content worth playing. Trashmobs every 30 seconds dont exactly sell the game tho.

 

[kwanzabot]

if you already have it just play it, if you like it keep playng

if you dont like it stop playing it


thats what i did, why do you need to make a thread about a game you already own to ask if you should play it? doesnt seem like you have much else to do lol

 

[Ignatius Reilly]

The worst were the people in the first town into whose soul you can gaze: you get a chunk of text with no further interaction or hooks to it that seems completely disconnected from the town’s situation.

I don't know if this has been addressed, but if you mean the NPCs with golden nameplates, those are backer stories, and they're all more or less terrible, or if not that then in the realm of, "I ain't got time for this shit." (How much did people pay for this privilege anyway? lol)

Though I still agree that the main story's writing could use a ruthless editor. But, yeah, ignore those NPC text-dumps, and you'll have a much better time. Though I do still check one of them from time to time, out of curiosity, and am always amazed by how few paragraph breaks there are.

I would keep playing. It gets better after the first town, which is a bit text heavy, even for me, because it's mainly badly done exposition. I feel like Obsidian fell prey to that whole, "Gotta tell the reader everything about my fantasy world within the first five pages," trap that most amateur writers fall into. I suppose future releases will be able to avoid this, having told us everything we possibly need to know.

 

[AwesomeButton]

The writing is Homer style, where he could go on for paragraphs describing just one object by just stacking adjectives and comparisons. Literature in its infancy.

 

[dopezilla]

Eh, I'd say it's all right. I was really stoked when I first started playing, but at some point I must have just drifted off, because I haven't played it for quite a while now. I haven't even made it into Twin Elms yet, so I can't judge the game in its entirety but it has its good points and its flaws obviously.

I didn't go into this looking for flaws since I am not a nitpicky kind of guy, but I did find some. The ones that stood out for me most were the boring ass combat, which is just plain repetitive and the silly castle you get to restore to its former glory by throwing lots of money at it. Also the goldplated NPC's that have been mentioned in this thread earlier are pretty stupid. I know they wanted to give something back to their backers, but really? When I first discovered the whole soul-gazing thing I thought yes, this is going to be pretty cool. I thought I was in for some Torment-like shenanigans, but so far this aspect of my character hasn't exactly added much to my experience. The few times I get to actually use my soul-gazing skills for quests and whatnot, it's mostly just a cheap way to give away obvious hints for free. The sanatorium being the exception. But like I said, I am nowhere near finishing the game (or am I? the pacing is kind of confusing so far), so I'll just give Obsidian the benefit of the doubt and assume they're keeping the most interesting soul-gazing scenarios for the later portions of the game.

Anyway, aside from that I have to say I did like most of the stuff I encountered so far. Opinions on the companions are pretty mixed here, but I have to say I kind of like most of them up until now. On my next playthrough I'll definitely add the Grieving Mother to my party instead of sending her straight to the castle and just not bother with Éder at all because you guys are correct, he is a cunt. Most side quests are pretty cool and well developed, but the main plot so far hasn't been as engaging as I'd hoped it would be. I have to say, I did play a large portion of the game high, so at some point I just sorta drifted off.

I'll definitely get back to this game and see how it plays out. I'm fairly positive it'll not be a waste of time, which is all I can ask for in a game anyway.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I have to say, I did play a large portion of the game high, so at some point I just sorta drifted off.

If you played high and complain of easy combat, maybe raise the difficulty.

:1up:

 

[dopezilla]

I have to say, I did play a large portion of the game high, so at some point I just sorta drifted off.

If you played high and complain of easy combat, maybe raise the difficulty.

:1up:

I suppose. Path of the Damned would probably up the ante a bit, but it wasn't necessarily the lack of difficulty that made the combat boring, it just felt very grindy and repetitive.

 

[Trashos]

But like I said, I am nowhere near finishing the game (or am I? the pacing is kind of confusing so far)

Yes and no. Once you hit Twin Elms, you can pretty much rush to finish the game. On the other hand, Twin Elms and the Bounties (most of them are also available at around that point) are the best designed features of the base game, so you 'll be missing a lot of the good stuff if you rush it.

 

[Ninjerk]

The writing is Homer style, where he could go on for paragraphs describing just one object by just stacking adjectives and comparisons. Literature in its infancy.

 

[Morality Games]

-snip-

Only game from 2015 I devoted the time and effort to beat.

I have mixed feelings. I think it's worth investing into, though. I anticipate future content will be better in terms of both story, characters, and game play. In time people will consider Pillars of Eternity to occupy the same role in the franchise as Baldur's Gate Original does in is: a middling quality game that did a lot of the leg work to set up the setting and plot for a more promising future.

 

[AwesomeButton]

The writing is Homer style, where he could go on for paragraphs describing just one object by just stacking adjectives and comparisons. Literature in its infancy.

Problem?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeric_simile

Homeric simile, also called an epic simile is a detailed comparison in the form of a simile that is many lines in length.

The object of the comparison is usually something strange or unfamiliar to something ordinary and familiar. The Iliad, for instance, contains many such similes comparing fighting warriors to lions attacking wild boars or other prey. These similes serve to take the reader away from the battlefield for a brief while, into the world of pre-war peace and plenty.

Scott argues that Homer primarily uses similes to introduce his characters, “sometimes to glorify them and sometimes merely to call attention to them.” He uses Agamemnon as an example, noting that each time he reenters the battle he is described with a simile.

 

[Ninjerk]

I'm really skeptical that it is, "written like Homer." Poorly written, sure.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I obviously didn't mean it as a compliment, rather said it in irony. I think in PoE it's an example of stylistical clumsiness. In both PoE and the Iliad, using long comparisons makes it difficult for a modern day reader to follow what's going on.

 

[Zetor]

Surely you meant Homer Simpson! (or Dan Brown...)

 

[Shevek]

The long comparisons in the Iliad are great. Fuck modern readers.

 

[AwesomeButton]

The long comparisons in the Iliad are great. Fuck modern readers.

And modern players.

 

[Lyre Mors]

The long comparisons in the Iliad are great. Fuck modern readers.

Agreed. Just because the standard in literature in modern times has become a precise and practical use of language that gets right to the point does not mean it is better. Language is fun to play with, and fun to read when it is being played with.

I would have a hard time truly comparing a videogame's writing to the Illiad or Odyssey, but I do think there is evidence of an appreciation for classic literature to be found in the writing of PoE. When you think about the time period that PoE tends to mirror, I don't think this is wholly inappropriate either.

 

[AwesomeButton]

OMG, I shouldn't have made that comparison

 

[Ninjerk]

LOL, it's funnier that you didn't intend it that way, because that's the kind of thing these PoE fanboys do.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

The long comparisons in the Iliad are great.

Yes they are, because they're written by Homer, not by failed wannabe novelists, who went into game industry because their creative output was too shity to stand on its own.

There's nothing wrong with literally style in and of itself. But there's a reason that style is very rare nowadays, and it has nothing to do with "modern readers". It's simply takes genius wordsmith to actually pull it off. When shit writers attempt it, it just looks embarrassing.

So if Obsidian gets Nabokov or Faulkner on the staff, fucking go ahead and write in literally style. Otherwise, they need to save themselves an embarrassment, stop pretending they have any talent, and simply write in plain language .

 

[AwesomeButton]

I'm just reading "Campaign Source Book & Catacomb Guide" from the AD&D 2nd edition. I came across something very related to the question of what's a good description and what's over the top. Keeping in mind that the guide is meant for PnP, and in the game you have good and detailed visuals, I think descriptions should be somewhere between what they give as a bad example and as a good example:

Spoiler

DMing in Full Color
[...]
Set the Scene

Establishing the setting for encounters, whether they take place in a wind-whipped mountain pass or a dimly-lit underground chamber, is an important part of the DM's responsibilities. When all a DM does is to draw room dimensions on a battle map and says "This is what you see," chances are, that is all the players (and their characters) will see: outlines on paper. The effective DM will take his descriptions of an area beyond mere room dimensions and make it live for the players. The following are examples of ineffective and effective descriptions of encounter areas:


Ineffective Setting

The room is 20 by 20 feet and has a couple cots and a table in it.


Effective Setting

The door sticks and opens only with effort, scraping the mold and moss that carpets the floor beyond. Even the beds and table are encrusted with the stuff. The walls remind you of leprous sores, with gangrenous wounds where scabs of plaster have fallen away. Even as you stand here, a mottled chunk falls silently to the padded HOOT.

Ineffective Setting

You come to a clearing in the woods with some ruins near the center. It's getting dark.


Effective Setting

The path through the forest abruptly opens onto a grassy clearing. Tumbledown remnants of an ancient building hulk in the center of the glade. Rows of fallen columns, like broken teeth, mark a path to the gaping entrance of the ruin. Even from here, you can see numerous statues filling wall niches and unpleasant sculptures looming gargoyle-like near the collapsed roof. Several leaning towers thrust up out of the ruins as if to catch the last light of the day. Even now, long shadows from the surrounding trees darken the glade, almost visibly creeping forward to make the darkness complete.

[...]

Make Encounters Dramatic

The statue you were fiddling around with animates and swings its fist at you.

Described like this, the eerie magics that breathe life into an eight-foot-tall being of cold stone seem somehow mundane, as if it happened every day. Think how much more exciting it would be for the players if they were told:

As you attempt to remove the gems from the statue, the blood red ruby sinks inward as if it were a button being pressed. With a sharp snapping sound the statue's eyelids slide up to reveal jewels that glow like lanterns through green glass. Its cold stone flesh suddenly becomes almost hot, like a sunbaked rock and a hiss of vapor escapes its mouth. Its limbs move with unnatural speed as it swings a mallet-like fist at your character.

Notice how the second description focuses on what the characters see and feel. If the DM emphasizes the sudden movement of the eyes and punctuates it with a sharp sound, he may catch the players off guard. Like their characters, they too have been caught off guard and now share the character's apprehensions.

The more elaborate descriptions would have been a bit too much for a game such as PoE at the level of visual detail they give. But instead of cutting down from there, the writers have gone even more detailed. Describing every fallen column separately won't immerse me more than just skipping that description.