What up HIVE family? 🤗 Hope everyone is doing well in their endeavors. 💪
I decided to do a retrospective on this game because the story of it, in-front and behind the camera, as they say - is amazing. 😁 Sometimes, some things, just line up in a very specific way to bring out the best in people. The greatest art comes out of these semi-coincidences. 🎨
We are about to embark to discover the power of a titan, a trendsetter, a game that brought back an entire genre. Full stop, no joke, that's what Pillars did. 💯
Therefore, I hope you guys brought your reading glasses, because in this edition of Through the Lens 🎞, we'll be looking at arguably the greatest CRPG of all time. Obsidian Entertainment's comeback from 2015: Pillars of Eternity, Roll it! 📽
🚩 UP TOP 🚩
As with all of these I suggest you listen to the soundtrack while reading this piece. 😌
I've never been big into CRPGS. Never did Neverwinter Nights or Baulder's Gate or Fallout. Those games were slightly before my time. And by the time I got to experience them, they were showing their age. 👴
(Computer Role Playing Game) Roleplaying on the computer, typically in a fantasy environment, although some take place in a medieval setting. A major characteristic of CRPGs is the user's ability to move freely throughout the venue.
But I've always had great respect for Obsidian and their writing (Fallout New Vegas is objectively the best Fallout 😤). SO when I heard they're doing an old-school CRPG, I was willing to give it a shot.
And oh boy am I glad I did. 😁
💪 DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK 💪
At the time of this game's release the CRPG genre was dead. Obsidian even trying to make this game was a huge risk for the company. Thankfully, it payed off. This tumultuous journey was so risky, and payed off in such spades, that Obsidian themselves decided to create a documentary around it. I will reiterate some of their points here, but I highly advise you give it a watch - if you re in any way curious about game development.
The CRPG audience was hungry for a new entry in the genre. So much so that they decided to support Obsidian's Kickstarter find proves. Raising nearly 4 million dollars, which at the time was one of the most successful Kickstarter of all time. 😎
Naturally, Obsidian being the Gs they are, came through in spades. Unlike other companies that try to min-max their Kickstarter profits, Obsidian didn't hold back. And brought us a product that was so strong, it revitalized a dead genre.
Literally took it from the scruff of the neck, and said: we're not done with you yet, boy. (or girl, they might've said girl, who knows?)
👑 THEIR OWN MASTERS 👑
Obsidiant today is a part of Bethesds/Microsoft, but at the time of this game's release they were an independent studio. Mostly scraping by with doing other publisher's games. i.e. contract work.
As with every creative. They said enough's enough, we want to do something for ourselves. We want our vision to be out there, not some publishers. They believed in this core principle so much that they were willing to risk the entire company, and the livelihoods of all these employees to get it done.
You might call that mad, you might call that childish. But creatives will understand.
What if it didn't work?
Irrelevant, since it did work. Sometimes you have to risk your house, in order to buy ten more. (a bad analogy but we're rolling with it 😁)
Balls of steel aside, the madlads took the concept of "being our own masters" to the next level. ⏫
They created their own rule set, separate from the D&D ruleset that was used in games like Baulder's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Now, I am far too dumb to understand the deeper repercusions of these changes. For my part, I enjoyed the combat in these games (these because they used the same ruleset in the sequel) but I've heard that in higher levels it might break(?), or something. I dunno man, for the layman it worked quite well. 😃
Naturally, they had to create their own world from scratch, and oooof dod they ever. ⏬⏬⏬
🌄 MASTERS OF THEIR CRAFT 🌄
Eora is one of the greatest fantasy worlds ever devised.
I'm a nerd, so I read a lot of books. And there are very few fantasy worlds as deep, and complex, as Eora. I gotta give a huge shout-out to Chris Avellone, an absolute madman who went HAM creating this masterpiece. 👊
World, shmorld, who care? Are the plot and characters any good?
YUou high my dude? You think I'd be raving about this game so much if it wasn't perfect? 👏 Shush and listen.
The story in this game is absolutely phenomenal. I've had very few gaming experience where a story could transport me inside its world. 🙂 This usually happens with books for me, so that a video game managed to invoke the same level of commitment from me is very special.
Each character that you meet along your journey/add to you party, has his own quest that you uncover during the game. Some stories are more involved than others, but they are all well made. Not to mention the main quest in itself has some great picturesque moments that just stick with you. 🤹♂
Even more impressive is that you can load your save file into the sequel: Deadfire. And the choices you made, the way you interacted with the world, will get transferred into your second playthrough.
This allows for MAXIMUM ROLEPLAY>>>
As an aside: this game has one of the most involved character creation systems. It truly lets you feel like your character in ways other games just fall short. ANd it deffiitely deserves a mention.
I have this little small section here for the combat, because frankly I sucked at it. 😅
As I already said, this game has its own ruleset. Did that contribute to the combat being hard as balls for me? Maybe. But I think me being a newbie had more to do with it than the core design principles behind it. 🤡
I def found the combat fun in places, and it still served enough for me to finish the game, but what hooked me was the story, the characters, and the world. As long s the combat was playable I wouldn't mind it. As long s it didn't distract me from the amazing tale I was experiencing > we gucci.
Suffice to say, if you're an experienced CRPG player, then the combat system in this game will definitely provide enough meat for you to sink your teeth into. 💯
🏆 LEGACY 🏆
The game sold like hotcakes in winter. I mean it sold. So much so that Obsidiant were able to continue their independent endeavors for years to come (until they got bought out by Bethesda and by proxy Microsoft 😅). For anyone who is familiar with the expenses of game development, they know that this game was a huge success.
The second game came out, and it sold less than the first. It wasn't a failure, but it halted the development of the third game. They made some risks in that game that didn't exactly pan out, unfortunately.
However, the name Pillars of Eternity and Eora are entrenched in the gaming zeitgeist. Obsidian is currently developing their first AAA RPG set in the Eora world. And if you think I'm not excited about that project then you haven't been paying attention. 😁
Anyone that was following the gaming industry back in 2015 will tell you that this game was everywhere. And it was a genre game that most didn't know existed. For that alone, it is in the pantheon of giants.
Shout-out to the 🍕PIZZA🍕 gang, 🤙 gang. 🤙
Super fun to write about one of my favorite games/stories. 😁
I actually started writing about the sequel, but then decided against it. You can't talk about the second game without at least mentioning the titan. So then it turned into 2 whole sections dedicated to the first game. Soooo I decided the heck with it, let's just write an article about the first game. 😁 I probably will go back to that first article, but not right now. 😂 Eora can wait a while longer, lord knows I've waited for Pentiment long enough. 😭
Hope everyone enjoyed reading, I always appreciated your feedback as well. 😌
I highly recommend this game to anyone reading this, regardless of the type of gamer you are. If you've never played a CRPG before, just place the game difficulty to the lowest setting and experience this amazing story and the characters therein.
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Have a great start to your week folks! 🙌