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Pillars of Eternity

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This article is about the video game. For the 1982 science fiction novel, see The Pillars of Eternity.
Pillars of Eternity
Developer(s)Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher(s)Paradox Interactive
Director(s)Josh Sawyer
Producer(s)Adam Brennecke
Brandon Adler
Rose Gomez
Designer(s)Josh Sawyer
Tim Cain
Bobby Null
Jorge Salgado
Programmer(s)Adam Brennecke
Steve Weatherly
Tim Cain
Roby Atadero
Brian Macintosh
Artist(s)Robert Nesler
Polina Hristova
Kazunori Aruga
Hector Espinoza
Sean Dunny
Dimitri Berman
James Chea
Writer(s)Eric Fenstermaker
Chris Avellone
Carrie Patel
Matt McLean
Josh Sawyer
George Ziets
Composer(s)Justin Bell
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
ReleaseMarch 26, 2015
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Pillars of Eternity is a computer role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Paradox Interactive. It was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux in March 2015. The game is a spiritual successor of the critically acclaimed game series Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, along with the 1999 game Planescape: Torment, which were based on the Infinity Engine developed by BioWare. It is notable for its crowd funding campaign, which raised $4,163,208, at the time the highest funded crowd sourced video game on Kickstarter. The game uses Unity Technologies's Unity game engine.

The game takes place in the fantasy world of Eora, mainly inside the nation of Dyrwood. During the beginning of the game, the player character experiences an awakening of power due to a disastrous supernatural event, discovering they are a "Watcher": a person who can see souls and past lives. The player then goes on a quest to find out what caused their awakening.

Pillars of Eternity received critical acclaim upon its release; many critics praised the game for its world and immersive writing, along with the strategic combat, and also said that it is a worthy successor to the games it was inspired by. The Escapist wrote that it is the best isometric role-playing game to come out "in years".

Gameplay

Pillars of Eternity features a party-based real-time-with-pause tactical gameplay, fixed isometric user interface for the game-world with two-dimensional pre-rendered backdrops,[1][2] in a similar vein as its spiritual predecessors Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale series and Planescape: Torment (all based on BioWare's Infinity Engine).[3] As the player's characters explore an area map, it is revealed. There is a fog of war effect on areas the player has already explored and has moved away from.[4] The character classes and game mechanics are somewhat similar to Dungeons & Dragons,[5] but are a proprietary system created for the game.[6] The game does not reward experience points for killing enemies, but only for completing quests and discovering new areas.[7]

The game starts with a character creation screen where the player can choose items for their playable character, such as their physical appearance, race and creed.[8] The player can choose to play as one of the eleven available classes: fighter, paladin, ranger, wizard, druid, monk, priest, rogue, chanter and cipher.[9] Each of them make the gameplay different; for example, the cipher must use the soul of an enemy in order to attack them,[9] and druids can shapeshift into a beast and cast spells.[10] The protagonist's class can also influence the number of available dialogue options.[11] The player may adventure with up to five other characters out of a total of eight that they can pick up on their travels.[12][13] These are fleshed out characters with a unique personality and appearance.[13] Additionally, the player can hire party members which he or she creates in local taverns, but at a monetary cost.[14]

The game has optional side quests that do not advance the main plot, which feature fleshed out supporting characters and multiple outcomes.[8] According to a writer for Digital Spy, most of these are not "fetch quests".[8] During the game, the protagonist can build up a reputation depending on their actions.[15] Non-playable characters will react differently to him or her depending on this, and it can also impact the outcome of certain events in the game.[16] The game features a scouting mode in which the party can sneak, which allows the player to avoid being seen by enemies. During scouting, the party can spot hidden items and traps, which the player can disarm and use against enemies.[17]

Damage from enemies to the player's characters have an impact on an endurance and health pool. While endurance regenerates after combat, health can only be restored by resting. The party can either set up camp, or rest in an inn.[18] Also, certain abilities and spells can only be used a certain amount of times per resting.[19] If a character in the party have their endurance drained, they are knocked out until the end of combat. If a companion has their health reduced to zero then they become permanently dead.[18]

When leveling up, the player can choose from five different skills to increase the selected character's strength in; these include Stealth, Athletics, Lore, Mechanics and Survival.[19] As the player fights more creatures, then more information is added to their bestiary. This helps the player to find out information about how to attack them effectively.[18] Early in the game, the protagonist will take over a stronghold, that acts as the party's fortress which can be upgraded.[20]

Story

Setting

The story takes place in the world of Eora, in a region placed in the southern hemisphere called the Eastern Reach,[21] an area roughly the size of Spain.[22] The Eastern Reach contains several nations, including the Free Palatinate of Dyrwood[23] - a former colony of the mighty Aedyr Empire that won its independence through a revolutionary war[24] - the Vailian Republics – a confederation of sovereign city-states[25] - and the Penitential Regency of Readceras – a quasi-theocratic state ruled by priests of the god Eothas.[25]

Technologically and socially, most of the civilizations in Eora are in what roughly corresponds to the early stages of the Renaissance.[15] Firearms are still a relatively new invention and are quite cumbersome to use, and as a result their use is not very widespread. They have, however, proven quite effective against magic users.[15]

A factor of great conflict all over Eora is the recent scientific discovery that souls are not mere metaphysical abstractions, but quantifiable, measurable objects. Souls are the basic of magic, as accessing their power is what allow certain people to use it. Souls leave the body upon death, and goes through a largely unknown process before reincarnating into a newborn body.[25] Every soul does, however, have embedded memories from their previous lives, and through certain processes a person's soul can be "Awakened", meaning they gain awareness of these past lives.[25] Though the study of souls, called Animancy,[15] is still a young field of science, the implications for society at large has been vast, and lead to rapid advances in technology and caused several rifts and clashes in the different religious communities, which has marked the era as a time of great turmoil.[15]

Plot

The player is cast in the role of a foreigner, who has recently arrived in Dyrwood, lured by the promise of cheap land and a place to settle in the small village of Gilded Vale.[26] Due to unforeseen circumstances, the caravan the newcomer travels with is forced to stop near the ruins of Cilanth Lis, which are guarded by hostile natives.[25] The caravan is soon attacked and destroyed, but the newcomer manages to escape by seeking refuge inside the ruins.[25] There, however, the newcomer bears witness to a devastating supernatural event known as a "bîaŵac", which thrusts them to the forefront of the main conflict, awakening their powers as a "Watcher", a person who can see past lives, perceive souls and manipulate them as they see fit.[7] After the newcomer meets an old Watcher who has been driven insane by his powers, they go on a quest to discover what or who caused the awakening, in an attempt to repair the damage.[7]

Development

Pillars of Eternity concept art published during Kickstarter campaign

Pillars of Eternity was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Paradox Interactive, and was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux in March 2015.[27] The game uses a modified version of the Unity game engine made specifically for Pillars of Eternity.[28][29] The game was directed by Josh Sawyer;[30] also involved in production are Chris Avellone, Tim Cain and Adam Brennecke.[31]

On September 10, 2012, Obsidian's webpage began teasing about a brand new game (entitled "Project X"), it initially was a number 4 encircled by an Ouroboros.[32] The next day it was revealed to be a countdown.[33] On September 14, the Kickstarter campaign went live revealing further details of the project.[34] It completed its 1.1 million dollars objective in just over 24 hours, and the first set of "stretch goals" were announced.[35] Pillars of Eternity surpassed the $1.6 million mark five days after the fund-raising began, and it was announced an OS X version of the game would be provided together with a DRM-free option through GOG.com.[36] A Linux version was announced on September 21, 2012.[37] It passed the $2 million mark on September 26.[38] On October 2, text translation for French, German and Spanish were announced. One day later, translations for Russian and Polish were added.[39] On October 8, it was announced that Wasteland 2 would be offered to backers who pledged US$165 (and above).[40] In the last day of the campaign, Pillars of Eternity surpassed Double Fine Adventure as Kickstarter's most-funded videogame at the time.[41]

Feargus Urquhart, Obsidian's CEO, explained why they chose to use a crowd funding model for Pillars of Eternity instead of the traditional developer/publisher arrangement: "What Kickstarter does is let us make a game that is absolutely reminiscent of those great [Infinity Engine] games, since trying to get that funded through a traditional publisher would be next to impossible."[31] In an interview, Josh Sawyer said that being free of the limitations of a publisher would enable them to "delve into more mature subject matter[...] slavery, hostile prejudice (racial, cultural, spiritual, sexual), drug use and trade, and so on will all help flesh out the story".[42] Obsidian was said to be inspired by InXile Entertainment's success of using Kickstarter to fund Wasteland 2.[43] Chris Avellone said during the project's announcement that if the campaign were to succeed, Pillars of Eternity would become a franchise. He also ruled out a possible console port of the game, saying, "Those [console] limitations affect RPG mechanics and content more than players may realize (especially for players who've never played a PC RPG and realize what's been lost over the years), and often doesn't add to the RPG experience."[44] Additionally, he has pledged to write a novella set in the game world.[45]

On October 16, 2012, Pillars of Eternity's Kickstarter funding campaign concluded with a total of $3,986,929, becoming the most highly funded video game on the Kickstarter platform at the time. Together with further funds collected via PayPal, its budget rose to $4,163,208.[46] In December 2013, Obsidian announced that the official title for the game would be Pillars of Eternity, dropping the working title Project Eternity.[47][48] They also launched a poll asking backers whether or not they would support further fundraising.[48] According to Sawyer, the money would chiefly be used to add additional wilderness environments for exploration and to pay for the creation and design of additional companions in order to have one of each character class.[49] The idea was later scrapped.

In March 2014, it was announced that Paradox Interactive will publish the game. It was stated that Paradox's role will be taking care of marketing and distribution of the game, while Obsidian still retains the rights to the intellectual property.[50] On March 11, 2015, a preview video of the documentary series, titled Road to Eternity, was released. It has been revealed that the money Obsidian Entertainment raised for the game through its Kickstarter campaign saved it from closure, as it had been suffering from financial problems following its cancellation of a game for the "next-generational consoles" in 2012.[51][52]

Release

On March 17, 2015, Obsidian confirmed that Pillars of Eternity went gold, indicating it was being prepared for production and release.[53] The game was released on March 26, 2015.[54] Several editions of the game were released, including a Champion Edition which has a campaign almanac, a map of the game, the soundtrack of the game, wallpapers, and ringtones, and a Royal Edition which includes the Champion Edition items along with a strategy guide, concept art, and a novella which was written by Chris Avellone.[55][56] Along with being available to download, a boxed DVD version of Pillars of Eternity was also released in Germany.[57]

Expansion pack

According to lead programmer Adam Brennecke, Obsidian is working on an expansion to Pillars of Eternity which will be with an area size similar to the Baldur's Gate expansion pack, Tales of the Sword Coast (1999). However, Brennecke said he won't reveal many details about it due to it being early in development.[58][59]

Reception

Pillars of Eternity received critical acclaim. It received an aggregated score of 89.91% on GameRankings based on 29 reviews[60] and 90/100 on Metacritic based on 50 reviews.[61]

In their review, The Escapist gave the game five stars out of five, and noted that it is the "best new, isometric RPG to come out in years." They also said that while it caters to a nostalgic fan base, it is an "excellent" role-playing game in its "own right". They praised the game for being giving the player "tons" of control over the story's progression and the ability to solve issues with multiple solutions.[5] PC Gamer's Andy Kelly gave the game a score of 92 out of 100, saying that it is "wonderfully" written and that it's a worthy successor to the games it was inspired by. He also praised Obsidian for making their best game "to date".[7]

Writing for Game Informer, Matt Miller stated that Pillars of Eternity is a "return to the glory days" and that it's a "deep, true role-playing epic". He also praised the side quests in the game, saying that they are full of content and depth. Also, he stated that not all players will like the "plentiful reading" involved with the game.[62] A writer for Game Revolution praised the combat and the variety of quests in the game, but criticized the AI control and the "over-abundance" of the inventory items. He also noted that the combat may seem "difficult" and "overwhelming".[14]

Conrad Zimmerman of Destructoid praised Pillars of Eternity, giving it an 8.5 score out of 10, stating that it "proudly carries on the legacy of the classic computer RPG", but said it won't impress everyone.[21] Leif Johnson of IGN praised the game for its world, combat and storytelling, saying it is one of the best role-playing games since Baldur's Gate; however, he criticized the game for its "dated" art style.[63]

Richard Cobbett of Eurogamer said that while he wished that the game had more personality rather than its traditional structure, it modernises the experience of playing computer role-playing games and stands apart from them.[64] Roger Hargreaves of the UK newspaper Metro gave the game a score of 8 out of 10, and said that Pillars of Eternity will please fans of the Baldur's Gate era, but criticized it for having little innovation and unmemorable plot and characters.[2]

References

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  2. ^ a b Hargreaves, Roger (March 31, 2015). "Pillars Of Eternity review – Baldur's Gate 3 by any other name". Metro. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  3. ^ Peckham, Matt (September 18, 2012). "Kickstarted: Old School 'Project Eternity' RPG Gets Funded – Could It Raise $10 Million?". Time. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
  4. ^ Pereira, Chris (April 3, 2015). "New Pillars of Eternity Patch Resolves Serious Bug and More". GameSpot. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
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