Some praise from a pleased customer

[Gidpo]

I spent pretty much all weekend playing this game, what a blast. I wasn’t part of the beta, but I followed it closely. There were some points when I was worried this might be a disaster, but it turns out it was just hyperbole from forum posters.

 

The story so far is great, and is really engaging. The world is really interesting, creating a strong desire to dive right into the lore.

 

The gameplay is more forgiving than some would have you believe. I understand that one of the design principles was to make an IE for the way people play IE games, not the way the rules say is was meant to be played.  The design appears to have worked. And anytime a player wants to know how some rule works the information is readily accessible in the tool tips or the cyclopedia.

 

Yes some of these boards are filled with those saying, some class is completely useless or points in such and such a stat is wasted. But they are overblown. You can be a bow wielding Ranger, and it works. You also don’t have to min/max you stats with any class to be viable. Its true some builds shine brighter than others, and some classes are better at some roles than other.

 

On the whole it doesn’t matter all that much, it’s a single player game. It can really be played anyway the player wants. No one has to play with the optimized party.

 

I haven’t, and it has been challenging, rewarding, and completely playable. I have been running with the companions you get along the way mostly, only made one hireling monk to see how it worked. My playstyle changed when a new NPC joined, and that transition has been a fun experience all by itself.

 

The combat is fun, not tedious, and not a mystery. In the IE games I would hear “weapon has no effect!” Then I would have to guess, search online, for what the heck was going wrong. Thank god Pillars has a wealth of information at my fingertips. I am also so pleased that this game is real-time with a pause. Turn-based games always pull me out of the immersion.  

 

So I want to see more, lots more. Tweak the game mechanics maybe, but don’t reinvent the wheel for the expansion/sequels. I would love to adventure in this world with new characters with a new story, but this engine.

 

This post wasn’t really for anyone but Obsidian. Just wanted to say thanks for making a great game.

[DrBrian]

I'm with you, Pillars is my favorite RPG since Fallout 2. I'm confident it could take the throne after a few patches.

Many people seem absurdly focused on the idea everything should be nearly identical to the old (and dubious) DND ruleset, it leaves me quite puzzled.