Pillars 1 is one of my favorites of all time too, and to be honest they feel more like a Baldur's Gate sequel than BG3. I also love BG3 but like you said, these games are very different. I like to say that playing BG1, 2 and all the modern games inspired by them (Pillars of Eternity, Pathfinder, Tyaranny) is like reading The Lord of the Rings, while playing Baldur's Gate 3 and Dragon Age Origins feels like watching The Lord of the Rings. That's the best analogy I can give. While BG3 will give you a more cinematic, well animated and well acted experience, Pillars' descriptive text and lore exposition makes the writing a lot more rich.
@@mikeity2009 I'd love a janky, unoptimized, over-written BG clone - I did love BG2 back in the days on my windows 98 machine, I'm used to suffering. Why is it disgusting? I didn't play PoE1 yet.
@@GuyN1ce The only thing I remember not liking is how they did the stat categories. It felt like they were just trying to be different and then they completely changed it again after the game had been out a few months making you relearn how your whole character worked again. That really put me off finishing it back in the day. Mostly it's a really good game though. They completely nailed the atmosphere of those old games
@@Iridescence93 The stats are definitely different than D&D but I feel like they did a decent job of making them feel thematic and still discouraging dump stats. I was thrown off at first but grew fond of the system as time went on.
@@ce5122 i liked the idea of it but it was like a third game plot cramped into a pretty short time. I'm not a fan but the ending? I love it, it gave much closure to the protagonist and it felt like the journey was over after all of the things everyone gone thru
@@diegomarichal4506 do you mean how fast the pacing was or sth? I kinda love the way it turned out, although it was probably due to the deadlines. Like it fits the whole trilogy... You start slow, and then well... it's a lot to digest.
What this game nailed was the desperate and melancholy atmosphere, the story, dialogue, art (color palette, story-book moments etc) and music all reinforced this feeling of hopelessness and mystery. Some of the writing could get a bit too dense at times, but other parts were truly inspired and unforgettable (Durance comes to mind). Deadfire was a big improvement in terms of combat and graphical detail, but everything else felt like a downgrade, especially the writing. This was the last game (White March 1&2 included) where Obsidian displayed its incredible writing, everything since then hasn't hit the same highs for me. Always nice to see people praise and spread the word about this masterpiece, nice video!
yeah, i'd say pillars 2 has solid dialogue writing in serious scenes, but it has a too jokey tone overall and just feels like less than the sum of it parts as opposed to pillars 1. the social system was a huge waste of time too. i don't think the dlcs have the same problems though
I'm glad to see the PoE games getting some deserved love in the RU-vid space, it's about time. PoE pretty much single handedly revived the entire cRPG genre and it doesn't get enough credit for that. It's pretty likely if PoE never happened BG3 never would have either.
It's always cool seeing someone with a open mind figuring out why classic stuff is always the best. It might not be the best quality and even annoying but, when you figure out how to get into the story or mechanics It's a great experience. Though it takes more effort to get into them when you have a more action oriented mind set. I even hated some of the experiences but they always have depth to make it worth your time.
oh man, memories... pillars of eternity is one of my favorite games too. even though i find the combat to be frustrating sometimes its atmosphere, writing, lore and the world in general are top notch. it is also one of the games that improved my english along with BG1 as it has a very heavy writing style. btw, interesting parallel here: you said you had a crappy computer and started playing pillars because of it, thats how i started baldurs gate 1! my computer was a shitty laptop (2nd hand) and in my country we can't afford even medicore computers easily, if you want to buy a computer it's a big BIG deal (even though both of my parents are doctors). so i turned to older games like baldurs gate and monkey island, BG1 gave me most of my favorite memories in gaming. definetly check out BG 1 and 2, and planescape torment.
This might be a hot take, but whilst I enjoyed Pillars 1, I thought how 2 developed upon 1 and added the pirate twist, all the island exploration made it win for me. Both are really great games. As others have said below, BG1 and 2 are 100% worth a play as well, especially if you love pillars 1 you will love them too, of that I am certain edit: I subbed as I enjoy your edits that are very self aware and you implemented good humour into the video
Thanks, man. Im just really starting out and figured id make a video about something i actually care about... and i guess it's working. Thanks for the sub!
hey you convinced me to give it a go! I'm a big fan of BG1 and 2, so to hear that you havent tried them yet is a shame! If you ever did try it out, though, I'd highly recommend a mod called SCS, it just makes the combat a lot better.
Pillars of Eternity came out on PS4 before Path of Exile so me and my friends all called Pillars PoE. Once i got a PC, i saw everyone calling Path of Exile PoE. Through me off big time!
Cool video! I think Pillars 1 is definitely one of the best cRPGs of all time. A very worthy successor to Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. I thought Pillars 2 was pretty mid - not great, not awful. I can understand why the series didn't end up getting a 3rd entry. Hopefully their next first person game in the universe will breathe more life back into it.
Every dude (or dudette) that considers Pillars Of Eternity 1 his or her favorite game, has my respect as a "veteran" CRP consumer since the late 90s. I would be hard pressed to decide which was my favorite, but i can without a doubt tell which has my favorite rule-system, and it would be this one by far! When i first played it (i was one of the early supporters who backed it back then), even with countless hours in BG1 and 2, SW KOTOR 1 and 2, IWD 1 and 2, and who knows what not, this game kicked my butt! BIG TIME! I was well into the half of the campaign when things finally klicked and i fully understood the significance of positioning and battlefield control. And i loved it ever sense. No CRP and no pen and paper rule-set came to a solution of tactics so good, as these guys did. Not all the editions of DnD and Pathfinder combined. This is the first and last game to give frontliners and tanks something to actually do, instead of just take hits. And the way classes, skills, attributes and backgrounds can affect the story and dialogue options? PRINCELESS! If you truly enjoy PoE so much, you might be willing to give BG1 and 2 a try..... but, with a caveat. As ancestors of this game, they would feel quite unrefined and somewhat clumsy in comparison. But you could see what these guys used as inspiration and decided to work on in order to perfect it. And perfect it they did. Kudos man!
Absolutely a first class game that never got enough love. First of all, it´s beautiful !! Argueably the best looking crpg after Divinity Original Sin (incl.part 3). The immersive settings, the lore, sthe side quests, the main quest, ... they are all great and difficult to match. To me it was the closest experience to play BG1 for the first time when it came out... a classic setting with good ol´ classic adventures that you hope it never ends. Great narrative which, although verbose, is worth reading and getting into.... It´s deep an adult. The rules and combat-magic mechanics are very nice and fresh, and allows lots of combinations. The combat difficulty and encounters are right on ! I also like the way enchanting works ... you can put all those plants, gems, etc to a good use (unlike BG3) from the very beginning, and most magical weapons you find around can simply re-created via enchanting (except for the unique ones). It does not come without its drawbacks tho... Given the amount of micromanagement it requires, a better AI behaviour editor would be very welcomed. The lore can feel overwhelming at first, so if you don´t pay attention you can easily lose track of what´s going on. Since you don´t know how your chars scales, it might feel frustrating during level ups, cos you wont know where you are going... but you can always respec! The companion´s stories are NOT that good and compeling, imo. All the past-history stories you get from reading random NPCs souls never lead you anywhere... which feels like a huge lost opportunity, Unfortunately the sequel did not live up to the expectations....
PoE1 has a special place in my heart but it felt too much a legacy game than it's own thing. PoE2? That game is so unique in its setting, themes about culture and faith surrounding the main antagonist and some of the characters (Eder and Xoti). The whole free form approach and everything really, no more grassy fantasy setting and more of a caribbean vibe thats not so seen in fantasy rpgs
I think I'm going to go back to this game I played this game until the end of the dlc The White March - Part II. I was annoyed that the ending, what I wanted to have was blocked by choices from the main game. But maybe I will finish it after all.
I fist played this maybe three years ago and thought it was 'fine'. I just finished it last week and it was a much more satisfying experience. Very very good game.
I grew up with the infinity engine games and it remains my favourite era of RPGs. I‘m so glad to see that this style of game is still appealing to players who have zero nostalgia towards those old games. To me Pillars is the true successor of Baldurs Gate 1 & 2 and I‘m glad it made an impact on you. Different but similar in many regards Tyranny is also great and well worth checking out. Probably my favourite among the modern Obsidian games.
Have you played Tyranny or Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire? Do you plan on making a video on those? Also interested in your take on Torment: Tides of Numenera
Ive played deadfire and will probably make a video on it soon. Havent played tyranny, but i wanna. I havent heard about Torment: Tides of Numenera, but ill check it out. Thanks for the recommendations, though!
This video made me want to retry Pillars. I played it about 3 years ago and never got very far. Just didn't feel immersed like Baldurs Gate or Divinity original sin 2. But I've always heard good things and maybe I didn't give it enough time!
It was great game, I played it back in 2017. While I enjoyed it very much, and the main story was beautiful, there were some things that I felt could be improved. From memory; I think i was a little disappointed that they decided to add just one new class -> cypher. I think they could mix it more. Spells were here and there, I remember cleric has one level 2 spell, consecration or how was it called that i just spammed, it was better than anything else on other levels. The great things were: addition of firearms, cypher class and quests that let you revisit old areas (this one was really good). Interestingly enough I played PoE2 some years after this, but it felt like step backwards somewhat. Still a good game, but not as good as first PoE.
I came from baldurs gate 1 & 2 to poe, but i had a hard time adapting to its systems, so i took a break to play pathfinder wich is closer to D&D, but poe is on the qeue to try another go after.
Try to stick with it. Real time with pause is such an acquired taste.. almost everybody hates it at first glance but it really grows on you. I also hated real time combat and could only play turn based CRPGs, but once it clicked it became very hard to play turn based games now, not because I dislike them but because I ended up prefering real time.
Thankfully after poe1 they started adding optional turn based modes to these crpg games more often, for when you tire of pausing every round/party action cue. I liked that with pathfinder kingmaker for the more difficult fights, I assume it's also in wrath or the righteous though I haven't played that game yet
Baldurs gate 3 should be called divinity 3 5e; that’s not bad, but it doesn’t have the spirit of baldurs gate 1 and 2 like pillars does. This seems to happen a lot these days- tides or numenera is not a sequel to Planescape torment; however despite the fact disco elysium isn’t even fantasy, disco certainly has its spirit.
I could not stand that strength in this game makes the mages deal more damage. Story was ok but a bit generic / forgettable for me. Did not buy the second.
might in pillars isn't just how strong you are...it is also how spiritually strong you are which affect spellcasting. Here is the fun part though lower might and higher int make for a really good aoe wizard that can use blind, confuse and those kind of things to its maximum and in the long run makes no stats dead stats for any class. Yes intelligent fighters and barbarians get their own niche with longer lasting effects and wider areas affected ( such as the barbarian shouts ). That is a really good take in my book vs the baldurs gate system where 1-3 stats are basicly dead stats to classes.
Pillars wanted every stat to be somewhat useful for every character and they wanted to allow for build the same class differently by focusing on different stats and abilities. This has downsides and upsides. It's kinda immersion breaking when your mage is bending metal bars I agree, but getting to choose between int/might makes gameplay more varied and increases replayability.
@@DinkSmalwood yup I love pillars stats system for that...there are no dead stats and some people found that upsetting. It means you can make a dumb brawny barbarian with frency or a intelligent one with lower strength but longer duration and areas for everything including the class cleave ability. Ofc the same goes for fighters and even makes wizards viable to be upclose bladesword style depending on stat placement choices. ALOT of people missed that aspect.
