Pillars of Eternity was one of those Kickstarter love stories.

In 2012 it was an early success story when it raised over four million, the game was successfully made and released, rewarding its funders by being an awesome game that exceeded everyone’s expectations. Not being a CRPG fan I approached it with caution on Steam, and found myself absolutely adoring this gem, so given the opportunity to check it out on Switch, I was extremely excited.

Pillars of Eternity optimizes the CRPG genre, with the classic isometric view as you move your characters around exploring and fighting. As you explore the maps you remove the fog of war uncovering enemies, treasures, and lore alike in the best possible ways. Combat is exactly what you’re picturing, as you move your party around with a selection of character classes you use their attacks from an attack wheel. One thing that isn’t new but I’m glad to see is the use of pauses during battle.

The battles can get out of hand quickly, but these pauses are what makes it your strategic choice that alerts you succeed or fail.

One thing I hated about the game was the camera and character movement being totally independent. On a PC this doesn’t feel so bad as you have mouse and keyboard at your disposal, but even then, I used some trickery to map the buttons for both to the same keys.

I couldn’t find any way to do this in the Switch port and found it drove me insane constantly moving the camera away from my characters. This is something that absolutely should have been optimized for console, and after many hours of annoyance I decided to stop playing on Switch as I would rather remember the game for the amazing time, I had on PC years ago.

What Pillars of Eternity does best is writing.

You create your own character for the protagonist and choose things like their race which has an impact on their perks, but also how NPCs react to you in the world. The story kicks off with your character travelling via caravan to the village in Dyrwood when the travelers caravan gets hit by a storm. Alone your character is witness to souls being stripped from bodies giving them the ability to read souls and see visions of past lives.

The plot goes bonkers as she discovers that a cult is stealing souls causing people to be born without them causing them to be in a vegetative state. Your protagonist investigates to find a whole mess with gods and the like. The story is decent but what is extraordinary is how much time and effort has been put into crafting the world. NPCs with short to little stories all feel like they are the kind that would warrant them being a major character. In most games, when you get a lot of story for a character the presumption is that they will be important to the plot, but some you find dead later, never to be mentioned again. Added to player choices having significant impacts on the story, I can’t even comprehend how much work the team put into writing the game let alone somehow turning that into a game afterwards.

Fortunately, one thing that more games are doing well, is the game itself runs well on the Switch’s hardware. Unfortunately, it isn’t as good looking as other versions of the game of course, and loading screens felt longer than I would have liked. However, considering the size of the game, I am blown away with how well it ran on the Switch’s hardware.

At the end of the day this is far from the best way to play Pillars of Eternity, but it is still such a damn amazing game.

If you don’t have access to a PC then it is well worth grabbing this package on Switch, but it is rare that I will say this, if you can play on PC then definitely choose that first if you can.

The post Pillars of Eternity (Switch) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Independent games publisher Versus Evil and developer Obsidian Entertainment today announced that Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire has been nominated for Best Adventure game and Best Writing categories in the 23rd Annual Webby Awards.

Hailed as the “Internet’s Highest Honor” by The New York Times, The Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), is the leading international awards organization honoring excellence on the Internet. IADAS, which nominates and selects The Webby Award Winners, is comprised of Internet industry experts including Internet inventor Vint Cerf, Instagram’s Head of Fashion Partnerships Eva Chen, Director of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society Susan P. Crawford, actor and activist Jesse Williams, GE CMO Linda Boff, Pod Save the People host and activist DeRay McKesson, Google’s Head of Conversation Design Cathy Pearl, Fortnite Designer Eric Williamson, HBO Digital Chief Diane Tryneski, Los Angeles Laker Isaiah Thomas, and DDB Worldwide CEO Wendy Clark.

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is the sequel to the critically acclaimed, award-winning RPG Pillars of Eternity and launched on PC, Mac and Linux in May 2018. The game will be launching on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch later this year.

“Nominees like Obsidian are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet,” said Claire Graves, Executive Director of The Webby Awards. “It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the 13,000 entries we received this year.”

“Having Deadfire nominated in both Best Game and Best Writing for the Webby Awards is a great honor. For over fifteen years we have committed ourselves to creating memorable role-playing experiences and the continued praise for Pillars II keeps us focused on this mission,” said Obsidian Entertainment Studio Head, Feargus Urquhart.

“Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire continues to be recognized for the passion and commitment that the Obsidian team has put into creating the ultimate RPG adventure and we couldn’t be more proud of their Webby Award nomination,” added Steve Escalante, General Manager for publisher Versus Evil.

As a nominee, Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is also eligible to win a Webby People’s Voice Award, which is voted online by fans across the globe. From now until April 18th, 2019, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire fans can cast their votes HERE .

Winners will be announced on Tuesday, April 23, 2019, and honored at a star-studded ceremony on Monday, May 13th, 2019, at Cipriani on Wall Street in New York City.

The post Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Nominated in Webby Awards appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is another kickstarter success that obviously sequels the first, which has been made by none other than Obsidian. This isometric top down RPG continues to reminisce the old classic style RPGs that the developer is known for with Pillars II: Deadfire.

I was given a preview section of content that showcased some interesting new aspects to the series.

The combat follows that of the first in that it’s a live action strategy style combat that allows for a pause option. This can take some adjusting to but if you are fresh from the first you will pick it up fine. After some adjustment, figuring out the given party members abilities and how best to utilise them it did take the combats to a more strategic level that I found quite enjoyable with the party on hand.

I did find the rogue a bit harder to compliment the part in battle but definitely had uses outside of combat.

The combat has also been modified from that of the first game. Now there is the option to retarget certain actions if an enemy has moved away from when you originally cast it, allowing for an optimal use of actions and lessening the chance of wasting a vital command that could tip battle, especially in a tight spot. Another improvement is the AI, the party does a much better job of continuing combat if you are lacking in commands or things are moving too fast.

The storytelling and plot interactions are affected by character attributes and knowledge which I found to be greatly enjoyable and personal to my chosen character. Dialogue options felt personalised and relevant to the skills my character had. I enjoyed being able to persuade and characterize certain things due to my knowledge of a certain topic though I was lacking in general persuasion skill.

A new aspect is the ship management.

You are given a ship that can be modified and requires a full bodied able crew to manage. There does seem to be some micromanagement here but nothing too tedious, though while finding supplies is simple enough, finding the cash to purchase the supplies is the harder task. While sailing around the map ocean you are even able to fight other ships for loot. The more you battle the better you get. I did initially find the combat slightly confusing but after one or two battles I figured out the best course of action. Ships can be improved, but even if a better ship is faced in combat, apparently, an optimal strategy can still win out the day.

I am interested to experience this in more depth.

Visually the game looks pretty and is well presented. There have been improvements made, with a seemingly large focus on character models including a larger variety of modification options.

Pillars II includes an interesting array of races and classes with most being of your generic assortment RPG’s are known for with a few extras. This sequel does not seem to really expand on these, not to say it was necessary.

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire while sticking to its core mechanics and game style does attempt to not just rehash the first but actually provide players with new and interesting experience. I feel this is achieved and made the game enjoyable all the more and provided a mix of things that helped break up similar experiences.

If you enjoyed the first or just isometric RPGs then by all means this sequel is looking to be a well-balanced and enjoyable game.

The post Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (PC) Preview appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Pillars of Eternity was originally funded on Kickstarter and has since gained a lot more support. I was one of those keen to see this game come into being and one of the many that backed it. Obsidian Entertainment has brought us a more traditional and Dungeons and Dragons inspired RPG combining both old and new mechanics for an interesting RPG experience on the PC.

“The caravan carries travelers bound for the frontier hamlet of Gilded Vale, you among them, where a local lord has offered land and wealth to settlers from a broad looking for a fresh start… You have taken suddenly ill, sweating and shivering, and one of the other travelers signals for the caravan master to stop on your behalf. He pulls up just in time to avoid ploughing into the trunk of a fallen tree that bars the way ahead. You will go no further tonight”.

It’s hard not to have your attention by now and this was just the intro to the game. Pillars of Eternity manages to maintain this level of storytelling and intrigue as the world at large is slowly revealed to show all grim manner of occurrences with you in the centre of it all.

As with any RPG, the all-important character creation is your next order of business.

The game offers six races, each with a few different backgrounds to choose from for a bit more diversity. The 11 classes are of the generic kind but do play vastly differently from each other. I found this welcoming as some games manage to offer different classes but actually fail in providing variety.

After deciding who you are and where you come from it’s time to get down and dirty with this beautiful game. The intro sequence will have you questing to find some berries to help aid in the healing of your own sickness.

As luck would have things go awry pretty quickly and you soon find yourself fending for your life and the sole survivor (pun intended) to a rare and usually fatal supernatural phenomenon. This sequence neatly provides brief intermittent tutorials as to how the game works with options to skip if you are already the expert.

You come to, haunted by visions and nightmares, with many questions and few answers. After some questing you discover, with help from a ghostly character, that the event you survived left you changed, tainted. Now you have the ability to see souls. A Watcher, as it was, but there is something else. You were also ‘awakened’ and are now attuned the memories of your soul’s past lives but with this insanity is sure to set in.

Unfortunately this is not the only issue at hand. The land of Dyrwood is beleaguered by the Hollowborn Plague. The plague is an infliction upon the land where babies are born without souls and continue existence in a catatonic state. It’s not long before you are off to solve both mysteries.

Pillars of Eternity is isometric and uses a fixed 2D backdrop that players can explore and uncover as they push back the dark fog the overlays undiscovered areas. From villages and woodland to cities and alcoves the landscape is unique and interesting.

Each area can lead to several others but will take you to an over map where you then decide where to proceed to next.

Each backdrop is beautifully designed and contains diverse detail and interactive objects that can be looted or collected. The use of a stealth mode allows you to uncover traps and other secret levers and boxes that may reveal unique or highly valuable treasure. If that wasn’t enough motivation to keep you exploring you also gain XP for new revealed areas and can unlock numerous mini-quests along the way.

Exploring and questing isn’t a lone ranger thing as you do gather party members on your ventures. You can have up to six active party members. Each member, due to the diverse nature of classes, really does bring a unique set of abilities to the group. This brings me to combat which is a whole different kettle of souls than I am used to.

Pillars of Eternity encompasses a real-time tactic type combat scenario with a pause function. Upon entering a combat situation the game does an automatic pause to give you time to set out your first round of orders. Un-pausing sets your orders into motion and you re-pause as needed to redirect and create new orders as to best destroy your enemies.

This sounds mostly organised but the moment you un-pause it does get quite chaotic. The larger the group of enemies and/or party the more chaotic it gets. Being a newcomer to this style of combat, though finding it enjoyable, I did have some difficulties adjusting to it. Maybe I was just a little overwhelmed by the blissful chaos but it made battle a little jagged.

At a certain point in the game you gain a stronghold of your very own. It is quite rundown but that is for you to change.

There are numerous things you can do with it. Upgrading your stronghold gives way to a variety of bonuses. Constructing a particular building might increase the defence of your stronghold and or might allow merchants to stay and have their wares available to you at your convenience. There are many other structures available all of which take time and money to build but offer all kinds of things to keep you investing in your stronghold.

Having a big old castle to call your own and rest at between ventures makes the questing all the more rewarding. You also increase your renown with every upgrade.

There are events that occur within it, from bandits attacking to adventurers requesting to join your hearty gang. You can send party members on mini quests to gain loot and rest up for the night to gain temporary bonuses that you may have acquired through your building spree. This added a fun depth to the game that had me wanting to adventure and collect gold just to build up my stronghold.

There is a lot on offer to help immerse yourself in the world of Eora and I was glad to see, or rather, hear spoken dialog.

Many RPG’s of this scale have only written text boxes that flash across screen. While not all dialogue boxes were spoken a good many were, which definitely added to my participation and attention to the story. Unfortunately having it read out isn’t a fix all solution and after a couple of hours of gameplay I found myself skipping even spoken dialogue as it is can get just too lengthy and seemingly unimportant at times.

Those of you who care to read or listen to each and everything will be pleased as it is well written and the voice acting, when there, is decent. The music surrounding the game is beautiful and elegant. It fits well with all environments and scenarios and integrates between sections seamlessly.

Collectively, I do like Pillars of Eternity. It has an interesting story, music to match and enjoyable environments. The combat can get chaotic but it does provide for a unique challenge. I enjoyed having my own keep that I could upgrade and build to give all sorts of bonuses.

Pillars of Eternity ticks too many of the right boxes to ignore. It is definitely worth a play especially if you enjoy your more traditional RPGs.

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