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[Cornbread78]

General Info:
Initial release: March 26, 2015
Console release: August 29, 2017
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
*Ported over to consoles by Paradox Arctic*
Genre: RPG (action) isometric
Designer: Josh Sawyer
Platforms: PS4, XB1, Windows, Linux
Price: $49.99

Box Art:

Details:
Pillars started as a Kickstarter project, where it shattered all funding goals and pulled in more than 75,000 backers. Now, Paradox Arctic, in partnership with 505 Games, is bringing Pillars' to new platforms (PS4/XB1.) Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition includes all previously released additional content from the PC version, including all DLC and expansions in a single package.

•Award-winning writing, story and artwork of Pillars of Eternity, and The White March: Parts I & II
•Countless character creation options, from races and classes to character backgrounds which drive your personal story
•An epic universe to explore, filled with intriguing party members and companions, a variety of in-game factions, and a lovingly rendered world to traverse
•New UI and controls designed from the ground up, presenting the Pillars of Eternity experience like never before


" Paradox Arctic has thoroughly updated the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of the award-winning RPG for play with a controller, and have entirely redesigned the UI for easy viewing on televisions. Players will be able to easily navigate the game's detailed character creation, real-time-with-pause combat, and party management from their couches thanks to new TV-friendly menus and controls."


Pillar's history from the mouth of Evilore:

What's the gist of the game, then?

Pillars of Eternity is a real-time-with-pause tactical party-based fantasy role playing game, spanning two large hub cities and a vast expanse of wilderness locales and beyond. If you're unfamiliar with the subgenre or you're not a million years old like those of us who crowdfunded this game out of our massive old-fashioned Costanza wallets, think Dragon Age PC's strategic camera mode without all the suck. You control your party of heroes with RTS-style click and drag controls, pausing when necessary to queue up actions and abilities, then unpausing to see it all play out in glorious mayhem.

Pillars had a design goal of recapturing the look, feel, and uniqueness of the classic Infinity Engine computer RPGs (Baldur's Gate 1&2, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale 1&2) of fifteen years ago without compromising the game for broader audiences or console-friendly controls or anything else that would typically be necessary for a mass market product in 2015. Like the classic IE games, it uses prerendered backgrounds with hand-drawn elements for a timeless and beautiful look. Just look at those screenshots.

Instead of using a D&D ruleset or its Forgotten Realms setting, though, all of PoE's game systems have been built from scratch, along with a elaborate original fantasy setting: Eora, a world which delves deeply into the concept of souls.


Pillars of Eternity is a classically styled party-based computer RPG made by the fine folks at Obsidian Entertainment. It was successfully crowdfunded on Kickstarter, in a campaign that raised $4 million and single-handedly saved the company from impending closure.

- The enthusiasm and generosity of NeoGAF's members contributed significantly to the Pillars of Eternity Kickstarter campaign, with NeoGAF tracking among the campaign's highest inbound links. If you contributed to PoE, sleep soundly in between marathon PoE play sessions knowing that you helped make an important game possible and also helped save Obsidian from sleeping six feet under next to Black Isle.

A core group of NeoGAF enthusiasts, coordinated through the time and efforts of NeoGAF member shagg_187, also raised an additional $5000 for the PoE Kickstarter to secure a very special and limited backer award: our very own NeoGAF inn inside Pillars of Eternity. Seriously. With specs figured out jointly by those of us who raised the money, the NeoGAF inn — called, with appropriately classy subtlety, the Goose and Fox — can be your home away from home inside the game. Until you get banned for saying something about Nintendo in the NPD common hall.

It's situated in a prime location in one of the two main hub cities, Defiance Bay, in the Copperlane district. The innkeeper is our very own veteran banmaster Bishop. Check it out and explore the NeoGAF easter eggs Obsidian included, starting with the sign outside the door (image above)

Screens

World Map:

Media
Announcement Trailer
IGN 13 mins of Gameplay


Other Info:
Evilore's Pillars of Eternity OT
PoE: The White March OT


Reviews:
PS4 Metacritic
XB1 Metacritic


Trophy/Achievement List:
PS4 Trophies
XB1 Achievements

*Quick and dirty so console folks jumping in for the first time can enjoy & learn some of the history with NeoGAF and Obsidian for the title. I will update more tomorrow, but for now, this will do. Thanks for the title Purkake4 and CottonWolf. As always, no spoilers please!

 

[ahoyhoy]

Sundries for sale.

 

[Anoregon]

Enjoy, consolebros. Game is fucking dope.

 

[MisterShine]

If I had 50 dollars to drop I'd buy this for giggles like I did Wasteland on PS4. I never thought games like this would be playable with a controller (and I'm still not convinced) but the previews are saying otherwise?

I'll be watching the thread for newbies who'd like some advice at least. Have fun guys!

 

[Catvoca]

I'm definitely interested in this, glad they ported it to consoles! Not sure I'll get it day one though, I really like Obsidian's writing and worldbuilding but I tend to get bored by combat in crpgs. Anyone know if the game is fun on easy breezing through the combat scenarios or no?

 

[watdaeff4]

Do we have any idea what the controller layouts will be?

For the record this post isn't to mean this game won't control well on consoles. I have both an Xbox and PS4 and if there is going to be a ton of use of R1/L1 (LB/RB) getting it on PS4

 

[Cornbread78]

Do we have any idea what the controller layouts will be?

For the record this post isn't to mean this game won't control well on consoles. I have both an Xbox and PS4 and if there is going to be a ton of use of R1/L1 (LB/RB) getting it on PS4

I didn't see any kind of breakdown online yet, but will add to OP once I do.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Even though I still have Wasteland 2, D:OS, and Torment at varying stages of completion, I still preordered this.

 

[watdaeff4]

I didn't see any kind of breakdown online yet, but will add to OP once I do.

Thanks!

 

[Karak]

Do we have any idea what the controller layouts will be?

For the record this post isn't to mean this game won't control well on consoles. I have both an Xbox and PS4 and if there is going to be a ton of use of R1/L1 (LB/RB) getting it on PS4

I have been playing it for a week. What exactly do you want to know?

 

[Brandon F]

Enjoyed it on PC so much, debating double-dipping.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Time to revisit GAF Inn in style!

 

[watdaeff4]

I have been playing it for a week. What exactly do you want to know?

For example do you use those buttons a lot? (R1/L1; RB/LB)

Also I hold the controllers where I use my index fingers to switch back and forth between those buttons and R2/L2 (Rt/LT) is there a lot of instances of doing that in this game during the flow of combat?

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

I'm streaming the Xbox 1 version - https://www.twitch.tv/pepsiman4mayor
Feel free to ask questions about the port.


Be wary of spoilers.

Spoiler

Just opened the path to Twin Elms

 

[ResourcefulStar]

The most important piece of advice I can give to newcomers is this: abuse the choke points.

You see this screenshot?

Don't play like this. Instead, have a character or two equipped with heavy armor and a large shield stand in a doorway and have the rest of the party shoot and cast spells from behind their backs. This can effectively negate the number advantage that enemies enjoy in many scenarios.

 

[Aaron D.]

I'm so jealous of those getting to experience PoE for the first time.

By far my favorite modern cRPG and just about Top of the Pops for all time (nothing will dethrone Planescape).

Enjoy, console 'Gaf!

 

[watdaeff4]

The most important piece of advice I can give to newcomers is this: abuse the choke points.

You see this screenshot?

Don't play like this. Instead, have a character or two equipped with heavy armor and a large shield stand in a doorway and have the rest of the party shoot and cast spells from behind their backs. This can effectively negate the number advantage that enemies enjoy in many scenarios.

Thanks for the tip

 

[Hostile_18]

This and Yakuza on the same day. It's a good time to be a gamer

 

[TheChaos]

Any tips for a PoTD run?

 

[watdaeff4]

Any tips for a PoTD run?

What's PoTD?

 

[Screaming Meat]

What's PoTD?

Path of the Damned or something similar. It's the hardest difficulty.

 

[TheChaos]

What's PoTD?

Path of the Damned. It's basically an ultra-hard mode.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

What's PoTD?

Path of the Damned. Highest difficulty.

edit: beaten twice over

 

[danowat]

Any pro enhancement?

 

[xeroborn55]

anyone know how big the font is? my tv is kinda small and far away. already played 30 hours on pc but id be down to double dip.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

Any tips for a PoTD run?

Pause to the point that it is a turn based game.

 

[Karak]

For example do you use those buttons a lot? (R1/L1; RB/LB)

Also I hold the controllers where I use my index fingers to switch back and forth between those buttons and R2/L2 (Rt/LT) is there a lot of instances of doing that in this game during the flow of combat?

yes you use them a good deal for sure.

As for the font size asked elsewhere. Its easily viewable on small tv's so far and there are some options not for size but for switching some stats to graphics versus numbers and so on.

 

[watdaeff4]

yes you use them a good deal for sure.
.

Thank you very much

 

[Staf]

yes you use them a good deal for sure.

As for the font size asked elsewhere. Its easily viewable on small tv's so far and there are some options not for size but for switching some stats to graphics versus numbers and so on.

Yo Karak! Can we expect a review of this?

 

[demosthenes]

I should finish this on PC.

 

[Balphon]

Any tips for a PoTD run?

It's really not that bad unless you're crazy enough to try PoTD/Ironman. You just have to put a little more thought into party optimization, though not to the point where you have to go crazy with it. I never finished by PoTD run but I got up to the last dungeon with just the story companions and did most of the side content.

Crowd control is even more valuable due to the volume of enemies so you may want to either hire a Cipher early or rush to get Grieving Mother ASAP (I'd recommend the latter).

As with most ultrahard modes it'll be most difficult early. Expect to spend most of the first dungeon kiting ghosts around and running back to the inn every 2 encounters.

 

[TheChaos]

It's really not that bad unless you're crazy enough to try PoTD/Ironman. You just have to put a little more thought into party optimization, though not to the point where you have to go crazy with it. I never finished by PoTD run but I got up to the last dungeon with just the story companions and did most of the side content.

Crowd control is even more valuable due to the volume of enemies so you may want to either hire a Cipher early or rush to get Grieving Mother ASAP (I'd recommend the latter).

As with most ultrahard modes it'll be most difficult early. Expect to spend most of the first dungeon kiting ghosts around and running back to the inn every 2 encounters.

Thanks. Sounds like I'll be picking my party around area-based moves then. Cipher, Wizard, Druid, Priest, and then 2 tanks.

 

[Lister]

Any tips for a PoTD run?

Don't do it your first playthrough unless you are willing to spoil yourself by checking out the locations fo specific weapons and magic items, etc. You need to understand the systems well to make progress and there are apots in the game where you can be pretty stuck.

So yeah, I would reocmmend saving it for a replay, and play on ahrd your first time around. Path of the damned locked in so you won't be able to slide down to an easier difficulty.

 

[TheChaos]

Don't do it your first playthrough unless you are willing to spoil yourself by checking out the locations fo specific weapons and magic items, etc. You need to understand the systems well to make progress and there are apots in the game where you can be pretty stuck.

So yeah, I would reocmmend saving it for a replay, and play on ahrd your first time around. Path of the damned locked in so you won't be able to slide down to an easier difficulty.

I actually played through the game before on PC on Normal, I thought I'd give it a stab to see how far I get. I looked up the Trophy list and it's not required for a Platinum (whew).

 

[CottonWolf]

I'm streaming the Xbox 1 version - https://www.twitch.tv/pepsiman4mayor
Feel free to ask questions about the port.


Be wary of spoilers.

Spoiler

Just opened the path to Twin Elms

For context, this is ~3/4 of the way through and everything at this point is a massive spoiler.

 

[Joey Ravn]

The Trophy list for PS4 seems surprisingly... attainable. None of the hardest Steam Achievements on PC, like completing the whole game and DLC in Expert, Trial of Iron and Path of the Damned modes. Yikes. But those two mutually exclusive Trophies, Relative Pacifism and Super Murderer, will require at least two playthroughs, one of which will require a lot of planning.

Tempted to get this on PS4 just to try my luck at the Trophies. I never even got past the first town in the PC version

 

[Lister]

I actually played through the game before on PC on Normal, I thought I'd give it a stab to see how far I get. I looked up the Trophy list and it's not required for a Platinum (whew).

Ahh, ok, nevermind then.

Yeah I'd agree that crowd control becomes extra important. You also nee dto really specialize each character. Play around with strategies and be prepared to re-level at an Inn whenever you need to change it up.

My favorite build for the expansion content in PotD is Eder as the beefies tank ever, and my character + the Devil as extremely deadly glass cannons doing sneaky, sneaky flanking damage. Anything standing between eder and those two is dead in a few moments. Requires a lot of moving aorudn the battlefield and being careful about what's targetting the rogues though, as some of the higher level enemies can kill them very, very quickly.

I've recently respect eder from meatshield to a more offensive fighter build with items/talents to lock down enemy casters and instead beefed up Maneha. I would use Eder's charge to blast past the front lines and get at the casters in the rear, and stealth my two rogues before sending them around the front lines to the same place, leaving Maneha, Aloth and durance to hold the rest.

Worked much better against groups with powerful caster units that I was having toruble with.

 

[popsicle_sundays]

Just kicked this off on PS4 and initial impressions are really positive. It plays so well on a controller and runs great to boot.

I do have a question about builds, I've got with a Paladin Tank character (Pale Elf) and noticed that there were changes to stats from when PoE launched to now, namely Perception and Constitution.

I went with 13 Might, 13 Const, 10 Perc/Dex, 13 Int, and 19 Res, am I on the right track? I wanted some Might for damage but heavy Res for defense. I also see they buffed INT a bit so it should help with aura's and will.

 

[Anno]

Just kicked this off on PS4 and initial impressions are really positive. It plays so well on a controller and runs great to boot.

I do have a question about builds, I've got with a Paladin Tank character (Pale Elf) and noticed that there were changes to stats from when PoE launched to now, namely Perception and Constitution.

I went with 13 Might, 13 Const, 10 Perc/Dex, 13 Int, and 19 Res, am I on the right track? I wanted some Might for damage but heavy Res for defense. I also see they buffed INT a bit so it should help with aura's and will.

That's pretty Res heavy for what's become the "meta" for PoE builds. It'll work just fine though if you pick up some damage elsewhere. That's more of a support build of stats than anything that can deal good damage.

 

[MADGAME]

First timer here. Buying on PS4 but not day one, have a few games to complete first. Excited by all the positive comments!

 

[popsicle_sundays]

That's pretty Res heavy for what's become the "meta" for PoE builds. It'll work just fine though if you pick up some damage elsewhere. That's more of a support build of stats than anything that can deal good damage.

That was the plan yeah, to surround myself with DPS. Awesome, glad I'm on the right track, thanks

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Great game. Played it when it originally came out on PC and a bit more after the expansions packs were out. I'm getting this again on PS4 because I just like playing games more on consoles now, but I'm really curious how well it will run and what the controls will be like. But I managed to have a good time with Wasteland 2 on PS4, and so I'm not too worried.

 

[FlyinJ]

My biggest concern isn't the controller interface... it's the load times. I'm holding off until I hear how they are.

It ruined the PC version for me once I got to the city and had to go in and out of buildings constantly and had to wait between 10-30 seconds for it to load every time.

 

[Crumbtiny]

Really excited to get to play this after hearing so much great stuff about it. Is it reminiscent of Divinity Original Sin at all? Greatly enjoyed the console version of that. We're flooded in here in Houston, so this will give me something to do for the next few days.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

My biggest concern isn't the controller interface... it's the load times. I'm holding off until I hear how they are.

It ruined the PC version for me once I got to the city and had to go in and out of buildings constantly and had to wait between 10-30 seconds for it to load every time.

The load-times for the Xbox 1 version are about the same, possibly worse.

 

[Durante]

Really excited to get to play this after hearing so much great stuff about it. Is it reminiscent of Divinity Original Sin at all? Greatly enjoyed the console version of that. We're flooded in here in Houston, so this will give me something to do for the next few days.

Divinity: OS is turn-based, while PoE is Real-time-with-pause. So that's a pretty significant fundamental difference.

Comparing the two in other metrics, I'd say that PoE has the more interesting setting, quests and companions, while D:OS has more freeform gameplay, a more novel battle system, and of course coop.

They are similar in that they are 2 of the very best recent (as in the past ~3 years) CRPGs

 

[Crumbtiny]

Divinity: OS is turn-based, while PoE is Real-time-with-pause. So that's a pretty significant fundamental difference.

Comparing the two in other metrics, I'd say that PoE has the more interesting setting, quests and companions, while D:OS has more freeform gameplay, a more novel battle system, and of course coop.

They are similar in that they are 2 of the very best recent (as in the past ~3 years) CRPGs

Oh man, real-time-with-pause sounds fun! Kind of like Dragon Age/KOTOR which i think the OP mentions. Thanks for the info, can't wait to play it.

 

[CottonWolf]

Really excited to get to play this after hearing so much great stuff about it. Is it reminiscent of Divinity Original Sin at all? Greatly enjoyed the console version of that. We're flooded in here in Houston, so this will give me something to do for the next few days.

Vaguely. It's more serious, and the combat is real time with pausing rather than turn-based.

 

[Durante]

Oh man, real-time-with-pause sounds fun! Kind of like Dragon Age/KOTOR which i think the OP mentions. Thanks for the info, can't wait to play it.

RTwP is conceptually my favourite system for RPGs, though D:OS did a marvelous job with its turn-based system.

Anyway, I hope console player enjoy and appreciate this game. It's fantastic.

 

[CottonWolf]

Oh man, real-time-with-pause sounds fun! Kind of like Dragon Age/KOTOR which i think the OP mentions. Thanks for the info, can't wait to play it.

Think a top-down Dragon Age and you're basically there.