Pillars of Eternity:A flash of nostalgia

Rating: 9/10
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher: Obsidian Entertainment, Paradox Interactive
Designer: Josh Sawyer
Platforms: GNU/Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS


Storytelling
The story is delivered in the form of voice acting and text to read. The choices you have made alter the choices of dialogue, giving players the feel that their choices made during character creation were important. Personally, I felt like they could have done with lesser text to read but that did not once make me feel like dropping the game. On the other hand, the background information that was delivered by text could have been delivered in another manner such as by changes in the environment amongst other methods making the game more enjoyable. The writing of the story is great and it manages to keep you engaged.

Graphics
Pillars of Eternity is a wonderful walk back to the days of isometric non-3D cRPGs. Wonderfully hand drawn graphics, great music and a beautiful environment to explore is what you can expect from this game. Pillars of Eternity has a fixed isometric user interface with two-dimensional pre-rendered backdrops. The game is built on the Unity game engine.

Setting
Pillars of Eternity takes place in the world of Eora, at the time of great turmoil. The region of Eora in which the story unfolds is in the southern hemisphere in a place called the Eastern Reach. This region is divided into nations - Free Palatinate of Dyrwood, the Vailian Republics and the Penitential Regency of Readceras. The story is based in a time which would be the equivalent of the Renaissance in real world history and hence firearms aren't the most reliable or useful except against Magic.

Gameplay
The gameplay of Pillars of Eternity is full of intricacies and depth and the sheer number of choices you have. There are eleven classes to choose from – Barbarian, Chanter, Cipher, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Priest, Ranger, Rogue and Wizard. Each class has it's own endurance, health, accuracy and deflection. In addition to basic attacks, each class has it's own abilities of the kind you would expect from that class. There are also attribute points which are divided in terms of Might, Constitution, Dexterity, Perception, Intellect and Resolve. The attribute points aren't fixed and you can change the base values, which can lead to some interesting character builds. The culture you pick also adds one attribute point depending on the kind of culture you pick. There's also background where the kind of background your character comes from also adds two attribute points depending on which one you pick.
Even with all the depth you are provided with in terms of gameplay options, the game is welcoming enough for newcomers to jump straight in without any difficulty. The in-game tutorial system is pretty good and helps new players get a hang of things quickly. There is also an in-game journal which lists your quests and it also has a notes section where players can make notes they would want to refer to later, just like an adventurer in real life would.
The appearance customization is pretty basic as the visual style of the game doesn't demand a very in-depth system and hence you only have basic options such as skin and hair colour, facial hair, the type of head shape and hair style. Some people would find the customization options insufficient, but I think it serves it's purpose.
The game encourages exploration but at the same time makes it easy for you to explore by allowing you to select interactive objects in the environment by holding down a key. The game also has a reputation system which is integrated with the background you come from and the class you select. This reputation system decides how much characters in-game like or dislike you.

Combat
Pillars of Eternity uses a real-time combat system, but it allows you to pause so you can order each member of your party individually. You can also set-up automatic pausing at certain times, such as the start of combat. Your party members and opponents have four primary defences against attacks – deflection, fortitude, reflex and will. The numbers for these are calculated using your attribute points, level and the gear the character possesses. During combat, accuracy is compared to the defence and if the accuracy is below the targeted defence, the attack is weak and might miss and if the accuracy is higher than the defence then your attack is strong and might result in a critical strike.
Every attack that damages the opponent have to overcome the opponent's damage reduction as it reduces incoming damage by the listed amount down to a minimum percentage. Attacks have a damage type depending on the weapon or other variables. Most enemies are strong or weak against only one or two damage types so switching adds a layer of strategy to the game.

Achievements
To get all the Steam achievements available for Pillars of Eternity, you will most likely spend have to spend north of a hundred hours and you need to be a backer of the Kickstarter campaign, which is something I don't understand as it prevents achievement hunters from buying the game if they missed the crowdfunding campaign.

Verdict
I absolutely enjoyed my time playing the game and I will recommend it to any true RPG fan with 100 hours to spare.