The only issue is, these sections are relayed entirely through often fairly literary prose, with the screen simply remaining an odd shade of purple at the time. As you're a Watcher, a lot of your time will be spent having visions of people's pasts, as you tune into their soul. There's also the fact that, like Torment: Tides of Numenera, Pillars of Eternity seems to prefer to tell rather than show. If you spot an opening, or want your characters to use specific moves, you can always pause the game to issue whatever command you want, with the game automatically pausing when your health gets low.ĭid we mention you can have pets? This little pup had been left all alone in the pub, so we offered to take him with us. From 'Damage' for mages, which sees them take a very spell happy approach, to 'Hold Ground' for fighters, which gets them to use a defensive boost as soon as combat begins, there's not too much flexibility here, but it does let your team mates work independently fairly effectively. Once the battle's begun, your team mates will automatically engage, depending on which of a number of pre-set rules you've chosen for them, with the options you have being determined by their class. As soon as you get too near to an enemy, the game will pause as combat is triggered, and you can tell your party how you want them to attack. Sometimes, your character's stats can mean the difference between someone else's life or deathĬombat in Pillars of Eternity is technically turn based, but plays out in real time. Depending on your character's stats, you may find you can use your might to intimidate angsty characters into backing down, or rely on your superior intelligence stat to outsmart them and send them packing, meaning that the skills of your character, or the make up of your party can often lead you down some very different paths. Depending on the dialogue options you choose, you can sometimes manage to avoid combat altogether, or even choose to start it, with characters reacting as you'd expect to anything provocative or rash you might say. Whether you're helping a desperate mother track down a midwife who she hopes can help make sure her baby doesn't end up being hollowborn avenging the soul of a man who was literally stabbed in the back by someone he considered to be his best friend or venturing into a destroyed church to hunt for the remains of some monks, the quests are as varied and interesting as they are plentiful, and you'll always want to be sure you make the right choices.Īs with many role playing games, Pillars of Eternity is a game where your decisions (and particularly what you say) matters. Like all the best role playing games, Pillars of Eternity contains hundreds of side quests for you to complete, with many a moral quandry or difficult situation you'll end up being called on to resolve. Of course, that's not all you'll be doing, either. Guess I should be careful of heading east. Giving you a bit of extra insight over the average Joe, it's up to you to set out on adventure across the green and not-so pleasant land, as you attempt to figure out what's causing the hollowborn, and how you can stop it. Assembled via a lengthy character creator, you are what's known as a 'Watcher' - a guy or girl with the ability to see people's souls, whether they're of the recently deceased waiting to pass onto the next life, or the living, giving you a snippet of either their recent past, or their past lives. Often abandoned - or outright murdered - by their parents, the lack of any information about what's causing the hollowborns, or how it can be stopped has been driving the citizens crazy, with villages choosing to either chase out, or string up anyone who's given birth to one before, in the hope of stemming the tide. Rather than giving birth to a little bundle of joy, many mothers have instead found themselves having what's known as 'hollowborns', or children without a soul, effectively leaving their child comatose, and all but incapable of living a life. Played from an isometric perspective, Pillars of Eternity tells the tale of a world wrought by a curse of sorts that's been affecting its newborns.

Pillars of eternity multiplayer