Pillars of Eternity has brought back the style of the legendary RPG based on the Infinity Engine, titles such as Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale or Planescape: Torment. The Obsidian Kickstarter was a real oxygen ball for the company, which bet that a considerabl
e number of users would pay for a return to this format, tired of modern alternatives focused on individual adventures, the sandbox and the immersion versus the taste for managing a group, the pleasure of the text in front of the cinematics and the
dialogues, or the attention for the decision and consequence, one of the pillars in all RPG that values its narrative. The bet was a resounding success of critics and audiences, leaving the company in a more comfortable situation, and what is better: with something 100% own on what to build.
That construction begins with the first expansion of Pillars of Eternity, White March, new content that in turn will come in two parts. As a whole, it promises to be an ambitious expansion, full of content, news and an interesting story with new characters to meet.
This will be the last expansion before the team puts its efforts into the sequel, so it is an opportunity to continue progressing and perfect the original game to leave the best possible flavor. The expansion adds a new adventure with a plot made in a northern location,
in addition to a new high-level scenario, completing the original map even more. An important distinction is the fact that it is not a post-game adventure, but a new option that opens up when you manage to become the owner of Caed Nua.
For those who start a new campaign, it will be a more available path to follow, and for those who use a campaign already advanced, the same game will warn if they have the appropriate level, giving the option to scale the level automatically if our group is too powerful. Automatic scales are anathemas to many role fans, but since it is an option, there is not much to object to.
The story begins with a call from the town of Stalwart, a fishing village almost forgotten in the maps, where few are venturing. But it was not always like that. There was a time when this was a prosperous and powerful region, a place where kings and nobles came in search of a precious good: a special steel that was only produced in the White Forge..
This steel was coveted for its beauty, but especially for its hardness, capable as it was of cutting stones or resisting any blow in the form of armor. Interestingly, in the main campaign was already pointed to this material thanks to an exceptional weapon called the
Lost Blade of the White Forge, which existed before the content of the expansion was known, a good detail that will please those who value the care for the tradition and background in a RPG scenario. In any case, that was a long time ago and something happened
with the dwarves that led that place. The doors of the White Forge were closed and no one has managed to penetrate the fortress, so we went here to see if the conquerors of Caed Nua can work the miracle.
But beyond the expansion, and as or even more important than it, we must stop at the changes made in the face of version 2.0, changes that affect all PoE users, even
if they do not have the expansion. It is an ambitious set of improvements, balances and additions aimed at improving the original game experience, especially in certain areas of combat and character development. One of the most obvious (and welcome) additions is the incorporation of an AI for the members of our group.
Those who read the original analysis will surely remember that one of the criticisms made was the lack of this facet, necessary for those who do not like to micromanage the six members of their group or stop the game constantly to introduce new commands.
Now we can activate a series of rudimentary behaviors for each member, which are divided into two groups: degree of aggressiveness, and types of actions depending on the class -more the possibility of allowing or not to use skills that do not recover until rest -.
We can for example indicate a priest to focus on support tasks, or a monk who focuses on skills that interrupt enemies, especially conjurers and priests. These options allow us a much more fluid combat, allowing us to concentrate on less but more important
decisions and leaving us full control at all times. We would have liked more flexibility, of course, the options are quite basic and automated, so we can not specify what skills we want to use and which ones we do not use for each character, or specific situations in which we want to
use a specific spell, but as a “patch” to cover something that should have been in the original game, it works reasonably well to give you a combat base.
