Why the hype?

[lightblade75]

The first 12 hours I played PoE so far have been fantastic. It has at least the same level of BG2! I see a lot potential for a lot of replays.

[Bhazor]

Of the Infinity games Icewind Dale 2 probably had the best combat. This is purely because of how encounters worked in that if you triggered one enemy the whole group attacked. So you couldn't just pull agro one at a time like you could in BG 1 & 2.

 

Sadly though you can do this in PoE where its actually much more unbalanced because of all the per encounter abilities. This is honestly my biggest complaint with the game. It essentially lets you divide one room into three seperate encounters.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Bhazor

[Osvir]

 

Otherwise it is 50-60 seconds of loading time for just a 5-10 seconds "Resting" loading screen. This can easily be fixed though.

 

Holy smokes!  I believe you but..... on my 6 year old computer (Core7 920 2.6 GHz), from a hard disk (not an SSD), my area loading times are usually around 3 seconds.

 

That's on Ubuntu Linux 14.10, 8 GB RAM, with the GOG version of PoE.

 

I wonder if everybody having really slow load times is running off Steam maybe?  Or could be a Windows thing too, Windows is rubbish at disk IO compared to Linux from what I've seen in other games.

Let me clarify with some new-found insights, because I removed all of my save files and put them in a backup folder (I made a new save file every single time I wanted to save). I had about 40-50 save files in my directory.

 

After I put them all in the backup folder and turned off Steam Cloud, the game loading screens sped up and most of the game ran much MUCH faster than it did before. Pillars of Eternity has had problems with save files since the Backer Beta, and I am guessing that it is the villain of the story in most cases regarding loading times.

 

My dxdiag might make sense to you. My computer is worse than yours (I think?). The game runs fine still, and I managed to complete it after all

Edited April 1, 2015 by Osvir

[TheUsernamelessOne]

 

 

 

Why does everyone compare Pillars of Eternity to Baldur's Gate when it's much more similar to Icewind Dale, the IE game that was made by the same crew as Pillars?

 

I've got my problems with Pillars but it shouldn't really be compared to Baldur's Gate or Planescape: Torment or whatever. Compare it to its actual pedigree and it's a big step up in most regards.

 

You do realise the game sold itself, and still does, as a game combining "exploration of BG, combat of IWD and narration of PST" right ? I'm not saying it succeeds in all of that, but that'd be foolish to consider illegitimate the comparision with all IE games.

 

 

Who's interested in what they said it would be?

 

 

Pretty much all the (sane) backers.

 

 

My point was that the game is out now, so you don't have to look at the things they said during the kickstarter or whatever, you can just look at the game itself.

[TCJ]

I haven't played the game yet (or even installed it) for various reasons, but based on what I'm reading, it sounds like there's plenty of replayability.  For instance, take the eight companions.   If you have a party of six then you can always have five of them.    That's fifty-six different combinations.    True, many of them will be very similar, but you should still be able to do five playthroughs with quite a bit of variation in your party, not to mention the ability to try the game with smaller parties.   Why not try going through with a party of four?  

 

I played through BG2 about 7 times and started it countless other times and I'm sure I've not done all the character combinations.   Despite that, I still missed some of the banters between characters.   I only found out about them when  I modded the game and read through the banters in an outside program and then went back in the game to see if they really were in there or were cut content (some of both).  

 

Further, I imagine this game will inspire a lot of people to do modding.   If you enjoy playing mods that probably means an easy doubling of content over the years (of varying quality, admittedly).   It's even better if you enjoy modding because that takes much longer to do.

[CaptainMace]

... man... people backed the game over what they said... now that the game is released is precisely the moment to care about what they said.

Again, claiming it's not legitimate to compare it with baldur's gate is just foolish.

This being said, IWD indeed wasn't as linear as people make it be. It sure wasn't much about drifting off the road, but there was still a nice share of side content.

[k1rage]

I haven't played the game yet (or even installed it) for various reasons, but based on what I'm reading, it sounds like there's plenty of replayability.  For instance, take the eight companions.   If you have a party of six then you can always have five of them.    That's fifty-six different combinations.    True, many of them will be very similar, but you should still be able to do five playthroughs with quite a bit of variation in your party, not to mention the ability to try the game with smaller parties.   Why not try going through with a party of four?  

 

I played through BG2 about 7 times and started it countless other times and I'm sure I've not done all the character combinations.   Despite that, I still missed some of the banters between characters.   I only found out about them when  I modded the game and read through the banters in an outside program and then went back in the game to see if they really were in there or were cut content (some of both).  

 

Further, I imagine this game will inspire a lot of people to do modding.   If you enjoy playing mods that probably means an easy doubling of content over the years (of varying quality, admittedly).   It's even better if you enjoy modding because that takes much longer to do.

The modding possibilities of this game do have me very excited

[GreyFox]

I will say that the exploration is much better than BG2...when OE makes these games now and in the future they need to keep that open world feeling.

 

I think most people agree that they like an inter-working and connected world much better than the teleport train game. So yea keep the wilderness and explorable maps just make some of the areas like the stronghold have more people and make all of the areas feel alive and everything will be solid.

[Sonntam]

Of the Infinity games Icewind Dale 2 probably had the best combat. This is purely because of how encounters worked in that if you triggered one enemy the whole group attacked. So you couldn't just pull agro one at a time like you could in BG 1 & 2.

 

Sadly though you can do this in PoE where its actually much more unbalanced because of all the per encounter abilities. This is honestly my biggest complaint with the game. It essentially lets you divide one room into three seperate encounters.

 

Most difficult fights can't be done this way (Lighthouse, various drakes and dragons, Bounties). When those fights trigger, you get the whole deal. 

 

Plus, the way I saw it the smaller packs were meant to be pulled separately, because if you tried them all you would get floored.

[sorophx]

I'm busy now, but I'll be back to destroy your arguments later. leaving a message here to be able to find the thread quickly, because it will be buried under many more similar threads

Edited April 1, 2015 by sorophx

[Raeya]

Well because it's a good enough game that deserves some hype and many people have been waiting for an RPG like this for years.

 

As a customer, do your research and learn what the game is about. Watch some trailers or if you want to take the risk of spoilers watch some lets play on youtube or twitch streamers. There are so many ways to see what a game is like before purchasing it. It's the customer's own fault if they buy a game purely based on hype and then are disappointed with it.

[Katarack21]

Why does everyone compare Pillars of Eternity to Baldur's Gate when it's much more similar to Icewind Dale, the IE game that was made by the same crew as Pillars?

 

I've got my problems with Pillars but it shouldn't really be compared to Baldur's Gate or Planescape: Torment or whatever. Compare it to its actual pedigree and it's a big step up in most regards.

What? That doesn't make any sense at all. IWD was a hack-and-slash dungeon crawl with a thin veneer of a plot and no story companions.

 

This is....not.

[Awathorn]

This game is seriously over-hyped. 

 

OK, we've waited ages for this release, and yes, we haven't seen this type of game for a long time, and we all love the reading, atmosphere and nostalgia, but really...

 

Don't get me wrong, it is a (very) good game all around (not even that buggy), but it's does things same or worse than BG1/2. Giving it 10/10 is pure comedy and fanboy-ism. 

 

Excluding complexity of the combat, Witcher or even DAO were better (OK DA series went downhill really fast after that...). Then again, games much worse than POE got a ton of praise and positive reviews, so a little hype is not so bad for the businesses.  

 

Now, IF this goes well commercially, IF Obsidian consider doing partial overhaul of various mechanics and IF they get a more original idea for the next storyline, then I'm really looking forward for the sequel.   

 

Oh, I hate the loading screens too (especially when you need to rest in your stronghold). Two reasons: 1) waiting, waiting, waiting; 2) BG1-style drawings would be so much nicer than this IWD-style pictures. 

[GreyFox]

This game is seriously over-hyped. 

 

OK, we've waited ages for this release, and yes, we haven't seen this type of game for a long time, and we all love the reading, atmosphere and nostalgia, but really...

 

Don't get me wrong, it is a (very) good game all around (not even that buggy), but it's does things same or worse than BG1/2. Giving it 10/10 is pure comedy and fanboy-ism. 

 

Excluding complexity of the combat, Witcher or even DAO were better (OK DA series went downhill really fast after that...). Then again, games much worse than POE got a ton of praise and positive reviews, so a little hype is not so bad for the businesses.  

 

Now, IF this goes well commercially, IF Obsidian consider doing partial overhaul of various mechanics and IF they get a more original idea for the next storyline, then I'm really looking forward for the sequel.   

 

Oh, I hate the loading screens too (especially when you need to rest in your stronghold). Two reasons: 1) waiting, waiting, waiting; 2) BG1-style drawings would be so much nicer than this IWD-style pictures. 

 

Yea I agree I am overall a bit disappointed but it had pretty high expectations to meet and it delivered somewhat but still leaves a lot to be desired.

 

If the sequel has the same combat I probably won't get it unless it goes on steam sale for like 5 bucks.

If they fix the combat they could rival BG but...the father of this game is known for anti fun and overbalance so...don't hold your breath.

 

If people think the loading is too much they should try bloodborne lol...so bad.

Edited April 1, 2015 by GreyFox

[AlperTheCaglar]

In my IE-game-loving opinion, Pillars has surpassed all but one game. That is Baldur's Gate 2.

 

BG1, IEs, Torment (even with the Planescape setting advantage) have either been equaled or surpassed with this gem.

 

But BG2 is another beast entirely, and to be fair it IS a sequel to BG1, so let's compare it to Pillars 2 when it arrives.

 

But it's a very close rivalry. BG2 edges out barely due to:

 

a) Existence of Alignments (not just faction reputation) which serves replayability more than just arbitrary choices in dialogue.

b) Companion depth, conflict and involvement (not always to the benefit of the PC)

c) Quality of great voice acting (not just good voice acting which does exist in Pillars)

c) Sheer length and breadth of the game (around 150 - 200% long as Pillars) 

[Awathorn]

In my IE-game-loving opinion, Pillars has surpassed all but one game. That is Baldur's Gate 2.

 

BG1, IEs, Torment (even with the Planescape setting advantage) have either been equaled or surpassed with this gem.

 

But BG2 is another beast entirely, and to be fair it IS a sequel to BG1, so let's compare it to Pillars 2 when it arrives.

 

But it's a very close rivalry. BG2 edges out barely due to:

 

a) Existence of Alignments (not just faction reputation) which serves replayability more than just arbitrary choices in dialogue.

b) Companion depth, conflict and involvement (not always to the benefit of the PC)

c) Quality of great voice acting (not just good voice acting which does exist in Pillars)

c) Sheer length and breadth of the game (around 150 - 200% long as Pillars) 

 

BG1 had far superior story, writing and art. World is more open, but you're never in danger of pointless wandering around (ahem, Skyrim...). Gameplay is a bit clunky, but then again, BG1 didn't have million PC RPGs to look upon and borrow stuff. Later on, I would change PoE combat and magic for BG combat and magic any day. 

 

Just compare:

 

BG1: You ran from your home in the middle of the night, your "father" is murdered, you're left helpless in the wilderness with no idea who is behind it, what is the plot, who is your enemy. It's all mystery. Just get to the FAI. 

PoE: You are random traveler in caravan. Some tribesmen kill people you barely know. Wind you've never heard of happens. Get into the cave, get out of the cave. People you've known for five minutes die. You see people doing same ritual, you feel strange, you need to find THAT guy.

 

BG1: First companions are (heya it's me) Imoen, crazy Xzar and Monty. Dude tries to kill you. First time you play the game, you die (BG1 did this assassin/bounty hunter things very well) . Later, you stumble upon Khalid, Jaheira and... Minsc. 

PoE: First companions Eder and Aloth. One is the most boring dude ever, other is even worse. Can you even quote any of PoE companions? 

 

BG1: Clearing the Neshkell mines.

PoE: Clearing the Temple of Eothas.   

 

BG1: Boo

PoE: Piglet

 

BG1: Getting the Longsword +2 (!!!)

PoE: Getting your first x1.15 damage, +3% whatever, when you fall under 50% endurance you get +20 to X, Y, Z defense, weapon

 

BG1: Acquiring first ordinary Plate mail, selling it for vast amount of gold or using that rare (in the early game) stuff

PoE: Selling 30 suits of armor for some random coin

Edited April 1, 2015 by Awathorn

[Yonjuro]

I'm pretty sure the loading time thing is a bug, as I'm not experiencing it.

 

 It is. They have already said it will be fixed in the patch. (It turns out that some of the chanters' chants are implemented as traps and aren't getting garbage collected after combat causing very slow saves and loads).

[SKull]

 

3: It is not better than Baldur`s Gate. And it should be considering that Baldur`s Gate is 17 years old.

 

 

Well, look, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and you're definitely entitled to yours OP. 

 

But I think it's strange to expect PoE to be better than Baldur's Gate. The comparison itself is fair - this is a game that explicitly sets out to recapture some of the spirit and style of the Infinity classics. But how could exceeding and improving upon those games possibly be a meaningful measure of PoE's success?

 

I mean, the Baldur's Gate games are two of my favourite videogames ever. There is nothing that has drawn me back in so frequently and so satisfyingly as the BGs.

 

For me, deciding that PoE isn't worthy of hype because it isn't "better" than two of the best games ever made is like saying that Interstellar isn't worthy of acclaim because it isn't "better" than 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

 

 

I`m not saying that I think the game is bad, let me repeat that because it doesn`t seem to have registered with everyone. Only a 10 to me means a perfect game, which sort of implies to best in the genre or if not the best at least something innovative and fresh. I realize that we have different ways of looking at things like this but I have about....ten - fifteen games at 10 in the entire history of PC gaming. So that`s why I thought it was so strange to go on MC and find almost all tens for PoE.

Of course it is just my opinion but I think both BG games and Torment are better games in the same genre as PoE full stop. Not in every single respect obviously. Some things in PoE are very nice indeed. But overall I stand by this opinion. And to me that takes it down to a 9 all by itself. Not because PoE is bad but because it could have been better. And we know it could have been better because we have examples of games in the genre that are better. I would also say that Divinity: OS is a bit better because it manages to be very original in many ways, which is not easy these days.

The other issues I listed drag PoE down one point each in my mind. One for not being open enough and too linear - the exact same complaint I made about both IW Dale games in comparison to the BG duo - as well as not having as many NPCs as I would have liked, and another one for the loading times. And that`s a 7 to me. These are not small issues to me at all but crucial to the gameplay and the longevity of my enjoyment of the game. And I know that there are many side quests and stuff to do. That is not what I mean by linear. What I mean is that you only ever have one or two areas to go to outside Defiance Bay. There`s not really much choice involved. Not everyone minds this at all of course. But I do so to me this is a limitation I am not happy with. Exploration and a sense of freedom of choice is a key element of traditional RPGs, long before Baldur`s Gate was even on the planning stage. Yet it has been almost totally lost in CRPGs and this annoyed me when I played IW Dale and it annoys me now. Like we say in Norway though: opinions are like the bum: split down the middle.

 

I am happy that people are enjoying the game. It is a good game. But my rather peculiar experience on MC led me to come here and write something as well. Not because I hate the game. But because I have some issues with it I wish I didn`t. I still wish Obsidian luck with any new KS projects or any sequels to PoE. And if it is as good as PoE I will certainly support it like I just did PoE, as long as it isn`t a sports simulator, an anime dating game or an FPS action game. I have to have some principles! But there must be room to express oneself about reservations to a game. Even PoE.

Edited April 2, 2015 by SKull

[Sylvanpyxie]

 

 

BG1: your "father" is murdered

PoE: People you've known for five minutes die.

My "father" figure in Baldur's Gate spoke a whole 5 minutes of dialogue at me and displayed very little personality before he died. I had no time to build a bond with him, his death meant nothing because he meant nothing. Labeling him as my "father" was nothing but a cheap attempt to build a bond that could not possibly exist. At least Pillars of Eternity is honest with the fact that the random people dying don't matter.

 

Of course, this is just my opinion. Maybe there are people out there that genuinely felt connected to Gorion because he kicked the bucket, I dunno.

[SKull]

 

But for the life of me I can`t understand the hype over the game which seems almost hysterical to me. After having finished the game 

I stopped reading here.

 

 

Good, you don`t sound very interesting. Now all that remains is to stop commenting on threads when you have nothing intelligent to contribute and we`ll be getting somewhere.

[Namutree]

 

BG1 had far superior story, writing and art.

The story that's central premise is a super cliche story about an evil brother with similar powers as the protagonist? Gosh, what an exciting tale to experience for the 1,415,089th time! Maybe next time our hero will need to save a damsel in distress! Oh wait...

 

 

 

BG1: You ran from your home in the middle of the night,

More likely during the day, but that's up to the player. Way to try and make the mundane tale of leaving Candlekeep with your foster dad seem dramatic.

 

 

 

PoE: You are random traveler in caravan.

So much more mundane than person in a town.

 

 

 

BG1: First companions are (heya it's me) Imoen, crazy Xzar and Monty. Dude tries to kill you. First time you play the game, you die (BG1 did this assassin/bounty hunter things very well) . Later, you stumble upon Khalid, Jaheira and... Minsc. 

PoE: First companions Eder and Aloth. One is the most boring dude ever, other is even worse.

 

Imoen has literally nothing to say once she joins you besides the same few quotes over and over and over, and you think Eder is boring? Eder is at least twice as interesting as any BG1 companion. Aloth is worse? Why? Aloth is awesome.

 

 

Can you even quote any of PoE companions? 

 

Aloth: You're itching for the kindling touch of your sister, ye coxfither!

 

 

 

BG1: Clearing the Neshkell mines.

 

A 100% challenge free, but also 100% tedious mandatory chore. Great example!

 

 

 

BG1: Boo

PoE: Piglet

 

Useless item slot waster vs cute pet you see in-game (Though I prefer the cat). What an obvious win for PoE.

 

 

 

BG1: Getting the Longsword +2 (!!!)

PoE: Getting your first x1.15 damage, +3% whatever, when you fall under 50% endurance you get +20 to X, Y, Z defense, weapon

 

Alright, you win that round.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Namutree

[SKull]

Stopped reading when he started complaining because the game isn't modeled specifically for him and his play style. Lame post.

 

And another one. Who in the world could possibly care when you stop reading something? Just leave the page and don`t leave mindless comments when you don`t have anything intelligent to say. Just the utter stupidity of complaining about people`s opinions when that`s all the people on this forum are doing all day long boggles the mind. Yes it`s an opinion. That`s why I posted it here, in order that I might express my opinion. But of course, my opinion are a waste of time, even though you decided to leave a mindless comment underneath it anyway, while your mindless comment is worthy of everyone`s serious contemplation! All hail the Mindless One! Meanwhile back in the real world, opinions are what forum posts usually are unless they are trolls or questions. Just go read a book or something. Or take up gradening. Internet forums clearly aren`t for you.

[Althernai]

I am happy that people are enjoying the game. It is a good game. But my rather peculiar experience on MC led me to come here and write something as well. Not because I hate the game. But because I have some issues with it I wish I didn`t. I still wish Obsidian luck with any new KS projects or any sequels to PoE. And if it is as good as PoE I will certainly support it like I just did PoE, as long as it isn`t a sports simulator, an anime dating game or a FPS action game. But there must be room to express oneself about reservations to a game. Even PoE.

Look, nobody is stopping you from expressing reservations -- there are plenty of complaints about the game on this forum. I happen to think that the ones you've pointed out are either not too big a deal (the one about having "only" 8 companions), a bug that will be patched (the loading times) or simply not applicable (based on what I've seen so far, there are probably more wilderness areas than there were in all of BG2 and PS:T combined and those were much larger games).

 

Your problem with Metacritic is mostly the result of not speaking the right language. Metacritic is kind of dodgy to begin with because it's completely impossible to summarize a game in a single number -- some of the better review sites have actually stopped giving numerical scores because people don't agree on what they mean. You think that 10 should be reserved for perfection, but since there is no perfection in this world, you take this to mean the best in the genre (which is not an obvious conclusion: I've encountered people who think 10 should be an unattainable ideal). By the time you are done listing the perceived flaws, your rating is a 7... but after looking at the kind of games that get that rating on Metacritic, it actually means something along the lines of "mediocre at best, quite likely trash".

 

TLDR: If you want to argue, go ahead -- but make it about actual arguments rather completely uninterpretable numbers.

[Rostere]

Whoever thinks that BG1 had better main story is just wrong. There was a ton of great flavour in BG1, but the main premise and story arc was just plain boring and painfully cliché.

 

So you are the son of the God of Murder and then there are other siblings, and one of them in particular (who looks like Badguy McEvil) goes about killing everyone because that's apparently how he plans to become the new God of Murder. Plus, other evil stuff. You fix all the bad stuff and then find out that Badguy McEvil is behind it all.

 

Games such as PoE and Torment have far better plot than BG1. I do agree that PoE could have had more colourful NPCs, though.

[Namutree]

 Plus, other evil stuff. 

Greatest line ever.