Though not the pretties game to look at, the art style and direction make for a game that resembles the original quite successfully. More modern looks could have easily detracted from the game and its terroir.
The game starts out with four user created or pre-made characters that then allows 3 more to be added later in the game for a total of seven. The large party size allows for plenty of player choice and customization of their team, in order to fit anyones play style or particular play scenarios.
While there are a few points where a p[layer can choose to use unintended actions, more often than not a set skill has to be used on set items in order to interact with them. Sadly this leaves little room for experimental gameplay or use of imagination to try for unintended circumstances.
There are three different digital retail editions available for Pillars of Eternity, Hero Edition ($44.99), Champion Edition ($59.99) and Royal Edition ($89.99). The Hero edition is the base game with no extras. The Champion Edition offers the purchaser extra digital content such as a soundtrack and HD map. The Royal Edition offers everything the Champion Edition does with even more extra digital content such as Ringtones, eBooks and a strategy guide.
There is zero in game content missing from any of these editions as Obsidian made it a point to make sure all the extras are just that, extras. Some may say what is on offer for the extra editions is not comparable to the price, really it is just a way for fans to give more money to a studio that bothered to create a genre of game that is often overlooked, a way to show appreciation.
A player can have up to five different companions accompany them along their quest. Many of these companions have their own storylines, making for a feeling of connection. There is also the option of hiring your own user created companions at an inn, but of course this may not be as exciting as using the game created ones.
Players can collects items in the world to use for crafting. Crafting allows for creation of potions and scrolls as well as equipable items or enchantments for equipable items such as weapons, shields and armor.
Unlike some crafting systems, crafting in Pillars of Eternity is a mechanic and not a skill, so there is no need to level up any crafting experience in order to craft.
The quality of the soundtrack is comparable to some of the best CRPGs out there as well as films like Lord of the Rings. At times there are looping soundtracks but luckily the sound design was done in such a way that there is also moments of ambient music and sounds to break up the monotony.
For fans of games like Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, Pillars of Eternity truly succeeds in bringing the CRPG genre into the modern era without compromising any of the old mechanics. The isometric view of the game gives a familiar feel but the new engine and addition of many modern effects gives the game a look all its own that fits in with any modern offerings on PC.
The character creation menu in Pillars of Eternity are highly detailed. The player can choose from six different races that have eleven playable classes. There is also an assortment of sub races for each of the six races. Making for a pretty wide selection of choices that allows the player to create very individualised avatars.
The combat in Pillars of Eternity usually requires a good bit of planning. Depending on the monsters one is facing the scenario shifts on how one needs to react. FIghting a couple of bandits will call for a complete different reaction than fighting a large dragon. Players have to adapt constantly, which creates an exciting atmosphere and a good bit of tension. The use of the space bar (or having a setting that auto pauses) to pause the game is key in planning how to react to each scenario which thankfully gives the player plenty of time to plan their future actions.
One of the main highlights of Pillars of Eternity is the rich and deeply involved story telling. The minutia to be found in game is almost exasperating. Every aspect of the world and the characters within have a very involved background with many different reactions to the players chosen character (race, class, etc.). On top of this there is often very well done voice acting to accompany these scenarios, giving even more life to the game.
Unlike the first Pillars game, which was a linear set of explorable regions, Deadfire offers up the whole world for your adventures. You'll be exploring anywhere you want right from the beginning. The best part is, nothing is procedurally generated or random. Every map, enemy placement, and interaction is carefully hand-crafted and intentional. This allows for a more organic adventure that doesn't feel forced or suffer from bad placement.
Quests can be completed in multiple ways, depending on how you want to approach them. You're able to tackle quests in a multitude of interesting ways such as sheer brute force, stealth, diplomacy, and more. For example, if you need to get a key off an NPC you can either fight them, try to steal the key, or even talk them into giving to you. Depending on how you build the skills of each member of your party, the possibilities for completing quests are almost endless.
While your ship is mainly used to explore and hop from island to island, it goes well beyond that. Seeing another ship on the seas and attacking it (or being attacked by it) in naval combat gets you to you fight to make sure your boat stays afloat. Being out on the ocean can spark a whole bunch of different random encounters with hostile forces.
You can also assign your party members to various positions such as navigation, cannons, and more depending on their unique skillsets. Depending on their skills, different party members will have various benefits when assigned to different positions such as better accuracy or steering capabilities.
You never know what situations you'll find yourself in or what islands you'll discover when you're traveling the high seas, making it a pretty fun and exciting experience.
Pausing the combat action between every swing of your sword or winding up of a spell can lead to really some really strategic play as you plan each and every move. Positioning your party or deciding what actions to take can be handled with a lot of thought behind it.
Additionally, all of your units can be scripted individually to do things like attack, heal, or use a spell when certain conditions are met. This means your healers will only cast their healing spells when actually needed, or your mages will only use a devastating spell at just the right time. From start to finish, this full control over the combat helps it to feel more like an intricate puzzle beaten with brains and awareness, rather than a button mashing frenzy.
Your skills and character stats influence every dialogue choice, interaction, and even how NPCs react to you. The world around you dynamically adjusts and changes based on how you're building your character and who you choose to recruit to your party.
When interacting with NPCs, you're presented with unique dialogue options or opportunities based on your skills and reputation. Perhaps one NPC that would have given you a quest doesn't trust you anymore based on an action you took previously in the game. Or maybe you're good at stealth, so you are asked to carry out a sneaky operation. If your diplomacy is high, you can even talk your way out fights or help NPCs resolve their problems without violence.
Sometimes, something as simple as being a certain race or hailing from a certain place will change the way you are treated or the quests you are asked to complete. You or your party's background might even mean the difference between an NPC being a friend or foe.
All of this opens to the door to some really immersive role playing opportunities where you can really feel the weight of your decisions and how you choose to flesh out your stats.
Crafted potions, traps, and bombs are very weak and ineffective in combat. It's possible to succeed in combat without them, so there's really no point in crafting or using them to begin with.
Most common enemies pose little to no challenge. It's very easy to become overpowered and simply steamroll through packs of mobs. There is an option to pause the live action and ponder your next move in combat, but it's rarely ever needed or utilized, except on the highest difficulty setting.
Note: At the time of this writing, the devs have promised a future patch to rebalance the combat difficulty.
Rather than focusing on stopping the god you set out to destroy, much of your time will be spent helping side characters and running errands for the three main factions. Most of the game is devoted to these side quests/objectives and only a handful of these have any noticeable effect on the main storyline progression.