One thing that annoys me about the vast majority of CRPGs is that they tend to pigeonhole your character's actions into Lawful Good or Chaotic Evil. From Baldur's Gate to Neverwinter Nights to Icewind Dale, either you're a mass-murdering saint (Lawful Good), or a mass-murdering demon (Chaotic Evil). This is problematic for players like me who prefer to take the middle path, the path of an average person.
I was wondering if Pillars of Eternity would allow me to play a character who is simply minding his business, and not out to delve into dark dungeons in search of buried treasure and long-forgotten magics, not unless he has to of course. I am wondering if I could play a character that spent most of his time tending to his stronghold and the area around it, content to rule his little domain within the larger domain of <insert country name here>. Is that a viable character concept, or am I obligated to journey halfway across the world and back again to be able to advance the plot?
I don't like traveling in real life. I spent the first twenty years of my life in a dense urban area, and rarely ventured further than 3 miles from home. When I moved to rural Missouri, I experienced a massive culture shock. The nearest supermarket was over 6 miles away, which was twice as far as my active radius in my hometown. For the first year or so, I was deathly afraid that the vehicle would break down or run out of fuel miles away from home, and I'd have to walk the mind-boggling distance to the nearest gas station for help. Fast forward to today, nine years later, and the fear and culture shock are distant memories, but I still dislike traveling farther than I can walk. This is one reason why I work mostly from home, with the occasional hour-long drive to the main office; while I dislike long travels, I can tolerate it every now and then.
Compare this to travel in Pillars of Eternity, which, to my understanding, is on the verge of a Renaissance, at least, on the most technologically advanced parts of the world. Travel was difficult at best in the old days, requiring ample supplies to last the journey, to say nothing of the necessary manpower to protect against wild animals and highwaymen plaguing the lawless lands away from civilization. People simply did not travel more than they had to back then.
Another thing I am hoping for is to not be overly "punished" for not taking the heroic path. While CRPGs generally allow for good and evil choices, good choices tend to be rewarded disproportionately better than the evil or even the neutral choices. Heroes should not get a free ride in the story, or at least, they shouldn't get a much easier ride than the other options. Just ask any cop or firefighter or soldier or anyone who puts his or her life in danger on a regular basis if taking the theoretical moral high ground always works. Or if zero-tolerance policies against crime actually work. Life doesn't run on a black and white morality, and neither sould PoE.
So, will I be able to play the game by focusing on my stronghold? Will taking the middle path or the self-serving but nonmalevolent path be viable in this game?
Wow, that was long. Thanks in advance for your replies.
P.S.
Oh, I almost forgot. Will I be able to finish the game without being a mass murderer? The sheer amount of killing in CRPGs is just crazy. What I'm asking is, will enemies sometimes NOT fight to the death?
The "Clever" disposition intrigues me. It gives off a "troll" vibe. Well, even if the stronghold won't be such a strong focus, I will still buy this game. One thing that this game could borrow from the New World of Darkness 2.0 (the God Machine Chronicle) is the Beaten Down condition. Basically, at the start of any fight in the GMC, the DM decides if the fight will be to the death. If it's not to the death, then after taking a certain amount of damage (IIRC, half their HP), the losing side gets the Beaten Down condition. They can no longer take any hostile actions. This allows for a combat-heavy game without the party turning into mass-murdering psychos, e.g. you can be an action hero vampire/werewolf/mage without blowing your Humanity/Harmony/Wisdom. Of course, if the fight is to the death, then neither side gets Beaten Down and the fight continues until one side remains (either the other side is all dead or the survivors ran away). Idea: Maybe there will be an Intimidate combat option that will allow you to instantly win a fight (the enemies run away and/or despawn) if their morale is low? Maybe tie the check to the Resolve stat, which sounds analogous to the Charisma stat in D&D. Or maybe whatever the primary stat of your main character is, e.g. if he's a wizard, then you can take the Intimidate combat action to make an attribute check using the wizard's primary stat, whatever it is, and if it's successful, the fight ends. What do you think?
