IGN coverage
When Obsidian developers Josh Sawyer and Brandon Adler ask to drop by the IGN office, you make time to see what they’re up to. The creators of such classics RPGs as Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale (and more recently, South Park: The Stick of Truth) have a resumé littered with memorable role-playing games that all feature impressive depth, breadth, and overall variety. Their latest is Pillars of Eternity, and if it fulfills its promises, it’s sure to keep me in the world of Eora for a long time to come.
Creation and Customization
I immediately get a feel for how immersive Pillars is when Sawyer (the game’s project director) introduces me to the Character Creation system. This part of an RPG has always been a bit of an obsession of mine; I’ve been known to spend an hour or more fussing with the way my avatar looks and sounds, so I’m excited to see the myriad options available to players at the very start of their adventure. And there are a lot of choices: players can pick between six core races, seven cultures, 11 classes, various ethnicities (the number varies amongst races), ten social backgrounds, and can distribute six attribute points as they see fit. For my demo, we decide on a highly intelligent human Barbarian slave from the meadows of Aedyr.
Once we’ve created our character, we see our Barbarian slave riding in a caravan. Sawyer explains that the caravan has just arrived in the Eastern Reach, a land full of mysterious ancient ruins. The caravan leader decides to call a halt near one of the ruins. It’s a good thing we’ve stopped for the night, because as it turns out our protagonist has come down with Rumbling Rot. He’ll need to forage for special berries that will cure him, but since the locals are hostile to colonists, the caravan leader suggests taking Calisca with us, a no-nonsense fighter who can help if we get into trouble. At this point I ask Josh about romance options, and he explains that romance just wasn’t something Obsidian could fit into the game, as there were so many other variables to juggle. I’m a bit disappointed by this (romance always adds an interesting dynamic to the story in my opinion), but Josh assures me I’ll have plenty of opportunities to shape my relationships with NPCs, even if these relationships are just platonic.
A Whole New World
As we transverse the surrounding countryside searching for fruit, I’m awed by the lush foliage and sparkling, crystal clear waters of the Eastern Reach. The world of Eora is incredibly beautiful and dynamic, with a day-to-night cycle, weather effects like fog and lightning, and rivers and lakes that rise and fall. The beauty of our surroundings belies its dangers, however, and soon we run into a pack of wolves looking for a human-size snack.
Here we engage in pausable real-time combat, an enjoyable (if oxymoronic-sounding) mix of old school turn-based role-playing and action-orientated battle. For this particular encounter we have Calisca draw the wolves forward for close quarters engagement, while our Barbarian uses Frenzy (a berserk attack that does heavy damage for a short time). Enemies have their own set of tactics, however, and one of the wolves manages to knock Calisca down and take a bite out of her. Luckily she’s a Fighter and can heal over time, and soon our heroes are able to take down the vicious beasts.
Our victory is short-lived however, as now the local Glanfathan appear, and they’re not happy with our being so close to the their sacred ruins. For this battle, Sawyer suggests using Wild Sprint to have our Barbarian knock down a Glanfathan archer before he can loose an arrow at us. This ability is almost impossible to stop once it starts, and I’m impressed when the Barbarian bulrushes the archer with his pike and skewers him through. Meanwhile, our Fighter uses her own set of skills to take out the other Glanfathan, and we’re finally able to gather berries in peace.
Watch Your Tongue
As cool as battles are in Pillars of Eternity, the most impressive gameplay feature lies in the dizzying amount of choices players can make throughout their campaign. Every action causes a reaction in Pillars of Eternity, and every choice results in consequences that could affect party members long into the game.
For example, no sooner does our party return to the caravan then we find ourselves in a hostage situation. Now we must decide what to do via a number of dialogue options, each of which is influenced by a specific personality type. Answers can range anywhere from honest to passionate to diplomatic, and how our Barbarian answers will determine the fate of the poor hostage.
Given our choice of class, our hero has a high “mighty” option, though Sawyer warns me that the answer with the highest number of points doesn’t mean it’s the ideal choice. We choose it anyway, and sure enough, by trying to strong-arm our way out of the hostage negotiation we end up picking a fight. (Interestingly enough, one dialogue option is locked out, as our Barbarian doesn’t have the right attributes to unlock it. Sawyer explains that if we were to create a new character with the right attributes, the option would unlock and we could see events play out differently.)
Battle ensues, and yet another decision needs to be made: do we throw a weapon to help the hostage escape an enemy, or do we leave him to his own devices? Both decisions will have an impact going forward, but in the end we decide to throw our Barbarian’s pike to free the victim. The result is that we’ve gained a new party member, but have lost one of our Barbarian’s two weapons. This is a great example of choices having long-term consequences, because until we find another weapon to replace the pike, our Barbarian is at a disadvantage.
Mind Over Matter
We finally manage to defeat the enemy and save the hostage, but now a bulwic (a strange phenomenon that can tear souls from living bodies) swoops down on our party, forcing us to take shelter in the nearby ruins. It’s a dangerous predicament, and Josh and I will have to use our brains if we want our heroes to make it out alive.
After cautiously navigating a series of dark corridors within the ruins, we come across a room with the Pillars’ first puzzle in it: a floor with glyphs etched into the stone. Stepping on the glyphs will spring a fire trap, so our party will need to find a way to neutralize the glyphs before crossing the floor, otherwise we’ll be roasted alive.
The floor trap definitely seems tricky, but luckily our new party member Heodan is a Rogue who can use his skills to disarm part of it. Further investigation of the ruins not only reveals a way to make the rest of the glyphs disappear, but uncovers hidden loot as well. Strategy and exploration have always been key components in classic table-top gaming, and I’m glad to see that these features are a big part of Pillars of Eternity.
Once we’ve neutralized all the glyphs, we safely walk across the floor and reach glorious daylight. Even then, though, our group can’t catch a break. Once outside we run staight into a group of mysterious beings summoning some sort of massive (and ominous) spell. Things look bad, and Sawyer slyly informs me that I’ll have to play the rest of the game to find out what happens. My demo is over.
Old Meets New
After spending some time with Pillars of Eternity, I love how it manages to tap into the nostalgia of old-school CRPGs with its numerous options and deep customization, while also bringing the genre into the 21st century with more dynamic environments, beautiful graphics, and faster combat. Pillars of Eternity promises to have something for everyone, and so far I’m confident Obsidian can deliver on that promise.
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