Though I don’t like reporting on what other sites do (Friendly competition and all that), Giant Bomb recently posted a very illuminating video showing the soon-to-be-released Kickstarter CRPG “Pillars of Eternity”.
Developed by Obsidian, this RPG has been frequently cited as the true successor to Baldur’s Gate and the next best thing to a full-fledged third installment of that series. Though a lot of CRPGs claim to share the same lineage with BioWare’s masterpiece, Eternity is the one game that truly deserves such a comparison…especially seeing as how many of Obsidian’s crew (Sawyer, Urquhart, Avellone) worked on Baldur’s Gate 2 or its Icewind Dale spinoffs.
The video touches upon a lot of new info concerning the game, and if the constant references back to Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale don’t clue you in to who this game is aimed at, perhaps the following picture of the GUI will.
Bearing a lot of resemblance to the GUI in Icewind Dale 2, Josh Sawyer made special mention how of their own GUI would allow for different user interface options…chief among them an option to create a 1/3rd border interface that is reminiscent of the old Infinity Engine games. A nice touch for folks like me who want the added functionality of a giant toolbar.
There’s more than the interface being talked about in the video, however. Sawyer also touched briefly upon the game’s internals, such as their use of the Unity engine (Amazing how unique they’ve made it look) and the real-time combat. Concerning the latter, Sawyer acknowledged the success of Larian’s Divinity Original Sin and went on to mention how their own combat will still retain the same level of depth and complexity, only in the form of attacks of opportunity and position-related disengagement attacks.
Though admittedly, no one I know is worried about Eternity lacking in “combat crunchiness”. Especially with the auto-pause system being ripped right from Baldur’s Gate. It’s easy to see why this game has made 90s PC gamers feel very comfortable.
Lastly, for you story folks, skip to 6:50 in the video for info concerning the story. It is there that Sawyer mentions that your chosen background has an impact on how you are perceived or approached by others within the game and is often brought up during dialog with NPCs.
Overall, Pillars of Eternity is looking to be yet another great oldschool kickstarter CRPG, and should sate the appetite of hungry gamers who have been looking forward to another classic Black Isle/Obsidian adventure. They won’t have long to wait either, since the game is on schedule to release this fall.
