Instead, most branch in multiple ways, bringing out character and plot details and forcing choices. It reminds one of what the phrase role-playing once meant.Īnd the story and quests so far have been eminently enjoyable, with few simple fetch quests or tasks to kill a certain bad-guy.
RESOLVE PILLARS OF ETERNITY FULL
The limited voice work lends itself to one other advantage of RPGs of yore, which is the endlessly branching conversation trees, full of optional questions and answers, insults and rejoinders. It’s surprisingly effective in rendering character, providing in only a few words what would otherwise take a team of expert animators and modern technology to achieve. Because of this, the text fills you in on a character’s mannerisms as he or she speaks, or what you think might lie beneath their surface comments. You play this game from a largely zoomed-out perspective, and there are no facial expressions to see. Rare amongst even text-driven games is that the conversation text provides not only dialogue, but, in the manner of a novel, description and insight. While voice-acting work is present for more important scenes, and is generally quite well done, this is a game with substantial text. You explore these characters through expertly wrought writing which more often than not is un-voiced dialogue. It’s a story full of colourful characters, each with their own stories, their own motivations, and their own quests. Here, gods walk among mortals, people are born without souls, and souls linger or are reborn on the Wheel when their vessels die. While it never ventures far from its European fantasy roots, it remains a world that’s unique to its setting, built from the ground up to explore its themes. Your quest to find out what this means and why you have this power takes you across a prototypical medieval world, filled with castles and villages, bandits and trolls, diplomacy and subterfuge.
You are a Watcher, a person blessed or cursed with the power to see and hear the souls of both living and dead. The first thing to know about Pillars of Eternity is that it’s big on story. This, then, only encapsulates my first impressions.
In many ways, I feel as though I’ve barely scratched the surface of its heroic fantasy narrative, or truly explored the depth of its systems.Īs a game fundamentally about exploration – of the world, of the gameplay, and of the soul – it’s impossible to comment fully upon the game without more time to explore. But I’ve only played Pillars of Eternity for a total of about twelve hours so far, and it’s become abundantly clear that there is a great deal more to play. It might be enough, then, to simply say that Pillars of Eternity is a true successor to that legacy.Īnd so far as I can say at this point, it is. It proved that games were a narrative medium that could rise to the level of art. Instead, it could be reformulated in a narrative that immersed me in its world, reacted to my actions, and forced me to question my choices. Along with its Infinity Engine cousins, Fallout and Planescape: Torment, it proved that great fantasy and science fiction was not confined to the page. Playing Baldur’s Gate was one of the foundational experiences of my young gaming life.
0 kommentar(er)
