As I watched Obsidian play Pillars of Eternity, it was hard not to shake the concern that stayed with me throughout the demo: that this was not a game standing on the shoulders of giants, but one relying on slavish devotion. It didn't help that I had just played the excellent
Divinity: Original Sin earlier that day, an RPG that uses its inspirations as a springboard rather than as a mold, and in the process establishes an identity that makes it an important step in RPG evolution. Divinity uses old mechanics to say something new. Does Pillars of Eternity use old mechanics to say something old? And if so, is that necessarily a bad thing?
Those goings-on will often involve battles, of course, which play out in typical Baldur's Gate fashion. Combat progresses in real time, but you can pause the action whenever you like to reposition characters and queue up different skills. The action wasn't all that exciting to watch during the demo, given the lifeless animations and small-scale visual effects, though I don't doubt that these old-school visuals will appeal to the game's Kickstarter backers, who will presumably embrace any element that reminds them of the good ol' days--or in layman's parlance, 1998.
