CHENNAI : While we wait in anticipation of the PS5 (and speculate the games that will be released alongside it next year), I attempted to play a classic RPG on the PS4 (although it isn’t the ideal platform for such a game). Role Playing Games continues to be that evasive format that most of us struggle to play on, and Pillars of Eternity doesn’t make things any easier for someone starting out with RPGs.
Character Selection takes almost as long as reading a full length book, if you want to do it right. It involves some careful understanding of the different character backgrounds and powers. A beginner would find it hard to comprehend if these choices in creating the perfect custom character really makes a difference as the game progresses. A seasoned gamer, on the other hand, would find well-explained stats that helps you figure out the in-game combat system.
But the real question here is your character: do you really think it worth investing three hours figuring out the face your Elf Mage should have, memorising the names of spells, and remembering that half-orcs and kobolds are creatures, Nashkel is a place, and Gorion is actually a name? The customisation process is clearly a precursor to a game with continuous googling interjections for the right strategy to use at different points.
The game is considered a ‘spiritual successor’ to isometric third-person RPG called ‘Baldur’s Gate’, for which development began way back in 1995. The story of Pillars of Eternity itself, is set in the earth’s equivalent of an ‘Early Renaissance’ period; the story of the player character starting out as a ‘Watcher’ of souls. The aim of the game is to reverse the curse that the player is exposed to in the beginning of the story.
The amount of attention given to the universe given in terms of content (the game has innumerable footnotes and an in game encyclopaedia) makes it deserve time that I believe I’m incapable of investing. But if you have a headstart on RPGs, then Pillars of Eternity is worth some hours on record.