Pillars of Eternity (PC)
Pillars of Eternity is a computer role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Paradox Interactive. The game was marketed as a spiritual successor to Infinity Engine games such as the critically acclaimed Baldur's Gate, and it is important to note that Obsidian was forced to resort to crowd funding in order to create the game - something that in itself says a lot about the current state of the gaming industry. Response from gamers was the highest crowd funded video game on Kickstarter, raising astounding $4,163,208! If publishers needed any convincing that there is a big and hungry market for these types of games, nothing speaks louder than people throwing millions at Obsidian. Skip a few years ahead and Pillars of Eternity is released.
Now, since this is a game that is aiming to be the next Baldur's Gate, I think comparing it to its predecessor is necessary to examine just how good or bad Pillars of Eternity really is. Therefore, I will be comparing all of the more important aspects of these two games and explain why I have reached the conclusion that Obsidian succeeded where others have failed. Here I am of course talking about the horrible failure of Dragon Age, which was Bioware's attempt to recapture the magic and glory of Baldur's Gate. Furthermore, it is important to note that I will be comparing Pillars of Eternity mostly to Baldur's Gate 2, because almost everyone agrees it is the best game in the Baldur's Gate series. This means that I am putting Pillars of Eternity against a very harsh scrutiny and I will not be pulling any punches. So lets get down to it!
Launch trailer for Pillars of Eternity hearkens to the golden era of video games. It almost brings tears to my eyes to see this happening!
Setting:
The setting resembles that of the early stages of European Renaissance era and it tries to simulate our first attempts at explaining the world with science. Animancy, still being a young field has great implications for society and is leading to rapid advances in technology which in turn is causing rifts and clashes in the different religious communities. Namely, religious people blame animancy for every bad thing that is happening in the world, and the game does an excellent job of making the player unsure whether or not there is any truth to these claims. The game also takes a lot of inspiration from Hindu and Buddhist religion by creating a universe which operates heavily on reincarnation cycles and karma. The whole science of animancy is actually a human attempt in trying to find ways to manipulate the essence of the human soul in order to understand the world and make it a better place for everyone. This comes with some amazing advances in technology, but also with great dangers and responsibilities from those that want to use these techniques.
What I just described is a small taste of an otherwise vast and interesting world Obsidian created, and it goes without saying that the setting is far superior from generic medieval fantasy of Baldur's Gate.
Conclusion: Pillars of Eternity > Baldur's Gate 2
A theatrical performance on the streets of Defiance Bay. The game is filled with moments like this one.
Graphics:
Pillars of Eternity definitely managed to capture the look and feel of the Infinity Engine games. This is mostly thanks to Obsidian's excellent adaptation of the Unity engine and amazing art style which uses a somewhat subdued, natural color palette, especially in outdoor environments. Everything from character portraits and wooden frames to beautiful 2D isometric perspective is back and not only does it capture the spirit of the older classics - it actually manages to improve upon it. The resolution is now sharper and clearer, shadows adapt to the position of the light sources, all characters are in 3D, you can zoom and the special effects look better than ever before.
Conclusion: Pillars of Eternity > Baldur's Gate 2
Every room is hand drawn and looks completely different from other rooms in the game. This makes the graphics timeless and far superior to repetitive 3D environments.
Sound:
I love both Pillars of Eternity and Baldur's Gate soundtrack, although Baldur's Gate definitely sounds more epic - not that more epic necessarily translates into better. Likewise, both games do a pretty good job when it comes to sound effects, but the slight advantage does go to Pillars of Eternity, simply because it does some minor details better - like foot step effects adapting to the ground, better quality of hit sounds, better sound quality for magic effetcs, etc. Still, I think that Baldur's Gate had superior voice acting overall due to a more diverse set of actors, including the amazing David Warner who gave his voice to Jon Irenicus.
Since, I personally like Baldur's Gate music slightly more and since I think it's voice acting was better, I will have to give this one to Baldur's Gate.
Conclusion: Baldur's Gate 2 > Pillars of Eternity
Instead of explaining how good the game sounds, here is the whole Pillars of Eternity soundtrack.
Character creation:
Character creation however has to go to Pillars of Eternity. Not only are there more options to choose from when it comes to the aesthetics, but there are also many nice features that are nowhere to be found in the older classics. For example, you don't choose only a race and a class as it is the case with Baldur's Gate. In Pillars of Eternity you also get to choose your culture and background with addition of choosing your own motives for traveling to Dyrwood very early in the game. Not only that, but in Pillars of Eternity each attribute and skill will have its uses both in and outside combat, which was not the case in Baldur's Gate. And to top it off, in Pillars of Eternity it is completely viable to role-play any kind of character you want. You want to play a very wise and intelligent Barbarian whose strength has decreased due to old age? Yes, you can do that and it won't make your barbarian completely useless in combat. The same applies to other classes and this flexibility is possible due to Obsidian deciding to create viable alternative playstyles for different classes through their flexible rule set.
The fact that Baldur's Gate has more race/class variation does not diminish all the improvements Obsidian put in their character creation, so there is no contest here.
Conclusion: Pillars of Eternity > Baldur's Gate 2
The only thing the new system lacks is the pickpocketing skill. You can still steal from various containers, but forget about stealing from people's pockets.
Combat:
It seems to be looking pretty bad for Baldurs Gate thus far, however combat is one of the things that Baldur's Gate still does better. Don't get me wrong, Pillars of Eternity has very good combat, better in fact than many classics of Baldur's Gate era - such as Fallout 1&2, Arcanum, and perhaps even the legendary Planescape Torment. It certainly has superior combat in comparison to some newer titles such as Dragon Age series or Neverwinter Nights 2. However it does fall short when we compare it to Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale and most of the criticism comes from pretty bland encounter design and slightly inferior rule set. Pillars of Eternity namely decided to invent their own interpretation of D&D rules, sometimes to its own detriment. There are a few things that Pillars of Eternity indeed does better, such as already mentioned character creation, more flexible attributes and abilities for melee users. However, Baldur's Gate features ranged weapon ammunition for different types of damage, more unique spells and better encounter design. In Baldur's Gate, for example, it was not uncommon for a wizard to protect himself by casting a globe of invulnerability, a powerful spell that allowed the wizard to sit there and laugh at the feeble molestations of pretty much everything. In Pillars of Eternity no such spells exist which results in pretty unsatisfying encounters, since the wizards that can otherwise cause the most havoc can also be brought down by ranged classes within just a few turns. All you have to do is equip some firearms and aim at the wizard while he covers in fear at impending doom.
There are also some minor annoyances in Pillars of Eternity which I cannot justify no matter how much I try. For example, the inability to equip weapons while in combat makes dropping your weapons through dialogs a needlessly frustrating experience. Lack of ammo such as explosive bullets is just a missed opportunity for extra strategy, while bad pathfinding can ruin even the most fun encounters. Pathfinding was a common problem in Baldur's Gate as well, so I don't see this as a huge issue if we are going to compare the two games, but it is a bit silly that Obsidian was not able to fix this issue even after all this time.
I also noticed on various forums that people complain about the "engagement" mechanic which punishes the player if he tries to move too much around the battlefield, but to be quite honest the "engagement" mechanic doesn't really take anything away from combat. It just makes your initial positioning slightly more important, and once you learn how to safely disengage or protect yourself with various spells or abilities, it actually begins to add to the strategic elements of the game, so I really don't understand why people complain about it.
All in all, Pillars of Eternity has good solid combat, better than many of my favorite games, however this one has to go to Baldur's Gate - simply because of all the amazing and diverse encounters which are lacking in Pillars of Eternity.
Conclusion: Baldur's Gate 2 > Pillars of Eternity
Combat can be pretty challenging at times, but nowhere near as challenging as in Baldur's Gate.
Writing:
Both Pillars of Eternity and Baldur's Gate share similar concepts and themes, however the main distinction comes from two very different approaches to writing. In my opinion, Bioware always seemed to focus more on light fantasy with a comedic touch, whereas Obsidian does not shy away from portraying or commenting on controversial topics such as prostitution, abortion, religion vs science, torture, immoral medical practices, prosecution, slavery, etc. In that regard Pillars of Eternity does feel slightly more mature and interesting. Furthermore, Obsidian likes to create characters which are heavily defined by their culture, history and backstory, whereas Bioware seems to prefer creating "types of characters". This of course does not mean that no characters are defined by their culture or backstory in Baldur's Gate - one only needs to look at Viconia or Keldorn to see how such a notion would be completely wrong. However, Obsidian does seem to focus more on this particular aspect and Pillars of Eternity is no exception to this rule. Another thing that Obsidian is famous for are games full of choices and consequences, skill checks in dialogues, moral dillemas etc. Needless to say, all of these things can be found in Pillars of Eternity in abundance. While Baldur's Gate had some choices and moral dilemmas as well, especially when it comes to different ways you can influence your companions or having different strongholds based on your class, it does not have skill checks or interactive text adventure screens.
In conclusion it needs to be said that the writing style of Baldur's Gate is vastly superior, however when it comes to games I do not judge the writing just by how beautiful the sentences are written. There are other elements that need to be taken into consideration, and it is exactly because of this that I strongly believe Pillars of Eternity to be the winner in the writing department.
Conclusion: Pillars of Eternity > Baldur's Gate 2
A plethora of dialogue options fills my heart with joy.
Story:
Evaluating the story is a very subjective endeavour, especially when one is faced with two interesting narratives without any noticable plot holes. So the story is one aspect where I cannot decide the victor on any objective criteria, nor on my own personal preference. When it comes to the setting itself and the whole concept of the two games, part of me really like the less generic Pillars of Eternity more. However, the epic nature of Baldur's Gate combined with personal "there can be only one" Highlander type of story does leave me with an unparalleled level of enjoyment.
In the end I will have to call this one a tie.
Conclusion: Baldur's Gate 2 = Pillars of Eternity
If you don't like to read go play Call of Duty!
Character dynamic:
I was considering putting this under writing, but I think it is an important enough aspect that deserves to be examined seperately, especially since this is something that Baldur's Gate does better than any game I have ever played. In Baldur's Gate it was completely possible for characters of different alignements to not get along. They would argue, express their disagreements very vocally, and sometimes even attack each other. Not only that, but you could actually build relationships with these characters, both friendly and hostile, and if you pushed someone over their boiling point, they would leave your party never to return. You could also become romantically involved with your characters, get them pregnant and cheat on them, enjoying often times hilarious aftermath of your actions. None of that is in Pillars of Eternity, which is quite frankly the biggest disappointment, because this is what made Baldur's Gate such a classic for me.
All you have in Pillars of Eternity are character backstories and their quests. And once you are done with those you can forget pretty much everything in regards to character development, their interaction or their dynamic.
Conclusion: Baldur's Gate 2 > Pillars of Eternity
One thing that was vastly improved in comparison to Baldur's Gate is the reputation system. NPCs recognize your major characteristics based on your actions and new dialogue options become available.
Size:
Not that Pillars of Eternity is short, but it cannot compare to the giant monster that is Baldur's Gate which is bigger in every possible way. The world map is bigger with more diverse locations and bigger areas to explore, there are more playable characters, more quests, more villains and... do I even need to go on?
Conclusion: Baldur's Gate 2 > Pillars of Eternity
Pillars of Eternity is huge. Based on your playstyle and amount of reading you are willing to invest, the game can take up to 100 hours to finish.
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Quest design:
I was really worried that Obsidian will go with the easy route and create a vast world filled with bunch of MMO quality quests, but luckily this was not the case. In other words quests feel like real quests and very often you have to think on your own to be able to solve them. It has very similar design to Baldur's Gate, but with an addition of multiple paths which is definitely a welcomed change. Yes, Baldur's Gate did have multiple paths as well, but not as often and not so well done. However, the thing that Baldur's Gate still does better is the scope of sub-quests. Namely in Baldur's Gate, sub-quests usually lead into other sub-quests which you will need to solve before you can return and solve the previous ones. In Pillars of Eternity it is unfortunatelly much more straight forward which when combined with its smaller areas does leave you with more to be desired. So, I am slightly divided on this one. From one side I love the ability to solve quests in more than one way, but on the other side I wish the scope was bigger.
This might be by a hair's margin, but I would still have to give the quest design to Baldur's Gate.
Conclusion: Baldur's Gate 2 > Pillars of Eternity
After questing its always smart to take a little break.
Replayability:
Both games feature choices and consequences and in both games these choices lead to some consequences that don't really matter in the grand scale. That is why some people argue how you only have an illusion of choice - similar to Telltale games - but not choices that matter. While I feel that this is a fair criticism for both games, fundementally it does not tell us anything about which game has better replayability. To evaluate replayability, I am going to examine both the quantity and the quality of choices and consequences. Quality translates into how deeply your choices influence your playthroughs, while the quantity simply means the total number of choices and consequences within the games. This distinction is needed because I feel that Baldur's Gate has deeper choices and consequences, which is evidenced mostly by the effect you can have on your companions as well as being locked out from certain strongholds and quests based on the class of your choice. This in turn results with a constant need to replay the game, so that you can experience all the content. However, Baldur's Gate does not have skill checks in dialogues, quests are usually solved on a very linear path and choices and consequences do not appear as often.
This leaves me with a difficult decision, but I will have to grant this one to Baldur's Gate as well, simply because I value quality over quantity.
Conclusion: Baldur's Gate 2 > Pillars of Eternity
Instead of animated sequences you can expect well written and interesting narration, just as it was the case in Baldur's Gate.
Summary and some final thoughts:
So this whole review can be summed up to:
Setting: Pillars of Eternity
Graphics: Pillars of Eternity
Sound: Baldur's Gate 2
Character creation: Pillars of Eternity
Combat: Baldur's Gate 2
Writing: Pillars of Eternity
Story: tie
Character dynamic: Baldur's Gate 2
Size: Baldur's Gate 2
Quest design: Baldur's Gate 2
Replayability: Baldur's Gate 2
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Pillars of Eternity: 4
Baldur's Gate 2: 6
Tie: 1
The final score is 6:4 for Baldur's Gate 2 with some pretty difficult decisions and 1 tied result, which I think more than justifies my initial point how Obsidian succeeded where others have failed. True, some aspects are more important than others to different people, and certain aspects are heavily influenced by our own personal biases, making them almost by default very debatable topics. However, I don't think that anyone can rationally justify a position where they would be completely in love with Baldur's Gate 2 while at the same time harbor extreme hatred for Pillars of Eternity. Still, a world is a big place and I know someone will try to prove me wrong. I have already talked with a few people who fall into this category, but I wouldn't call these people rational.
If there are 10 things I would like Obsidian to improve, either in an expansion or a sequel, they would be:
1.) The game needs bigger maps.
2.) Obsidian needs to improve their encounter design.
3.) Ammunition with different types of damage and hampering abilities please!
4.) Companion interaction, their development and their dynamic needs to be done better, with an aim to achieve the same complexity as in Baldur's Gate 2 - including romances.
5.) Playable characters need to be able to equip weapons while in combat. (There is already a mod that fixes this, but these things need to be part of the default game)
6.) Kickstarter content needs to be better adapted to the lore of the game.
7.) The game needs a walk option. (There is already a mod for this, but as I said earlier, these things need to be part of the default game)
8.) The game needs more meaningful choices and consequences.
9.) It would be nice if we could have different strongholds based on character class.
10.) Obsidian, please re-examine your writing style. Adjective hoarding does not good writing make.
The bottom line is this. The very fact that we finally have a game which can stand toe to toe to the legendary Baldur's Gate 2 is a testament to its strength. Pillars of eternity is by no means a ground breaking game. It doesn't innovate and it comes with many small annoyances, but at the same time it also improves many things in an already established formula while creating an interesting world I will gladly revisit.
Final score: 8.3/10
