August 18 Obsidian Entertainment I launched a closed beta testing Pillars of Eternity. Only those who, during the epoch -making campaign on Kickstarter, donated more than a certain amount could join him.
We squeezed there and we. And they found that the same version was shown on Gamescom 2014. Very early, raw and translated, it seems, Promt. But we tried to delve into everything and disassemble the bones, despite the technical troubles. If desired, you can refresh our previous materials about this project in memory: here is the Summary of the Paradox conference, here is the first glance for the game. And now we will talk about what we saw directly in Bet.
Not quite a classic
The developers did everything so that the enthusiastic role -players were stuck for a long time at the stage of creating characters. We have six truly unlike each other races to choose from, and there are only three familiar of them-people, gnomes and elves. The rest of the company is God -like (Godlike), Omaua (Aumaua) and Orlan (Orlan). The latter evoke associations with birds, but actually more like hobbits with furry ears.
Races, in turn, are divided into nationality: for example, there are four people of God -like and two species of Omaua. You remember different types of elves in The Elder Scrolls – Duners, altmers, Bosmers? Pillars of Eternity has differentiation on an ethnic basis at about the same level, that is, each type of God -like or elves has its own bonuses and modifiers. OMAUA grouts prefer to settle mainly on the sea coast, but in the island Omaua the parameters are not the same as that of the coastal.
► a gnome is easy to make up under a resident of Zaporozhye, and give a fiery to God -like to give an elf physique. Or eagle – the growth of those from the gnomes, but, unlike bearded men, are very subtle.
We choose a portrait, voice, physique, hairstyle and beard (if necessary), as well as one of the eleven grades. There are even Dungeon & veterans here Dragons are waiting for surprises, such as: a wizard-folklorist (Chanter) and Cipher (Cipher), a magician with psionic abilities.
At the same time, the role system is not D&D, although it is very reminiscent of it. Of the six parameters of the hero, five classic (strength, endurance, dexterity, perception and intelligence) and in addition to an atypical “determination”. She is responsible for the will, and for concentration, and for the ability to show her harsh character in dialogs.
In addition to the characteristics there are five groups of skills.Secrecy – it is secrecy and is.Athletics allows you to fight longer and solve problems in some cases in its own way. Working with mechanisms refers to the treatment of locks and traps.Survival increases the usefulness of food and potions and helps to cope with dangers. Finally, cognition (Lore) teaches you to determine what a particular opponent is good, and shine with erudition.
► Here, unlike classic rooks on the Infinity engine, the inventory is convenient and does not clutter up the screen.
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In addition to skills, there are perks – they are also talents that should be studied in order to deepen your specialization. According to general impressions, the role system is functional here and with a minimum of excesses. There are no more possibilities than in D&D classic, but to cope with them is much easier.
Good heredity
It is hard not to fall in love with the world of Pillars of Eternity. Here each location is the attraction itself. The cave of the fence, the Khlebopecarny mill, the tavern of the only beta version of the village of Dyrford (Dyrford) is drawn with amazing attention to the details. All locations are completely manual, no Copy/Paste. Landscapes, like portraits of characters, clearly correspond to the bar given BioWare Once in Baldur’s Gate 2 , but adjusted for new technologies and great resolutions. And the new interface is very neat and does not block the review at all.
► level designers competently combine three -dimensional and drawn objects. What looks good in statics is drawn by hand. And where more animation is needed, 3D models are carefully built. See how wonderful it came out, for example, this water mill!
Against the background of manually drawn landscapes, three -dimensional figures of the heroes look a little clumsy, but soon you get used to it. Pillars of Eternity has become a worthy heiress Icewind Dale 2, last game released on the Infinity engine. And although here we have the Unity engine, the effect of "antiquity" in the game is extremely reliable. For complete happiness, only small details like animated grass are not enough, but this is already for gourmets.
There is something to talk about
There are a lot of dialogues in Pillars of Eternity, even with the following innkeeper you can chat on a variety of topics. Smak itself manifests itself in non -trivial situations: for example, having come to the troll’s den, we find that you can drink peacefully with him, talk heart to heart and even undertake to help him with a personal assignment. It is somehow strange to talk, and even trade with someone who seemed to be a stupid predator half an hour ago … but at the same time it is terribly entertaining!
Sometimes the dialogue allows you to immediately go to muzzle – by choosing the corresponding replica, we knock the enemy off. The development of certain parameters of the hero actively contribute to the emergence of new remarks, allowing to intimidate, remove the necessary information and so on. In addition, some answers in Beta are equipped with the notes “Evil”, “Smart”, “Blagodest” and so on. Choosing them, the hero creates a reputation for himself.
► Tasks are pouring on a hero, as if from a cornucopia. Feel free to ask all the characters questions and look do not put on the start to your hero too low intelligence.
However, we have already seen this repeatedly. But a really new thing – illustrated situations with the choice of actions. In Obsidian they are called scripted interaction, "registered interactions". Their set directly depends on your characteristics, skills and heaps of other factors.
A simple example: a monster attacks an important partner in the company’s plot, and you have a choice – try to run and hit the beast or throw a spear at it. If there is neither a spear nor a throwing knife in the reserve, there will be no second (winning) option, and the partner will be injured that lower the characteristics. Probably, under other circumstances, everything could have developed differently – not all combinations of skills managed to try out.
► The hero did not have enough brains to bring the hunters to their heads to clean water. Happens!
► Example of interactive "cat-scene". Almost text quests from "Space Rangers".
Readiness to fight
As in Infinity classics, the battles proceed in real time, but at any time you have the right to pause the game to adjust the behavior of the wards. They often dull in Beta, especially when they choose the route. In any case, the battles are inevitable.
By killing enemies, you collect information about them, and in the diary (the same Monster’s Manual from D&D, but here it is called Cyclopedia) their parameters, weaknesses and immunity are recorded. For example, with stone beetles, which the beta version is teeming with, everything is simple and clear: high resistance to physical attacks, vulnerability before magic with the effect of corrosion.
► Fight! The magician conjures one of the most popular classic spells – a salvo of magic missiles. Pay attention to the right lower corner where the log of the battle is visible. It can be stretched to a convenient size, so that in the fever of the battle do not overlap something important.
FACT: You have the right to set cases in which the game will be automatically put in pause. She here, if desired, can cut down for every sneeze. It turned out that the weapon is ineffective against the chosen monster – a pause. A hidden item was discovered – a pause. Well and so on.
The "magic" team members, whether it is a magician, a folklorist or a cleric, have spells separated by power degrees. For each category of spells, a fixed amount of “utterances” is allocated – say, the first level spells can be used four times, and the second and third – already three. That is, like in d & d. After the consumption of "charges", the heroes have to rest. Also like in D&D. But there are exceptions – some skills can be used, for example, once for a battle.
► Detailed information about the character, his addictions, habits and achievements. Full dossier!
Pillars of Eternity battles are not easy. Even the first enemies met – stone beetles with their woody colleagues – will give you cigarette: some have increased resistance to physical damage, and the latter spit with poison liquefying any protection.
Therefore, it is best to take a couple of “tanking” heroes in the party – for example, Paladin and Barbara, they are thick -skinned. The priest at the first sign of danger should throw protective spells on them, and then magicians with their curses and locks are used to move. With magic, we weaken the protective potential of the most dangerous creatures, while the meleearly beat them with axes and sledgehammers.
In beta versions, the heroes are frail, so at first you have to tinker with the animals, especially if you did not make a shock and did not put up a “easy” difficulty. You can not allocate the whole team and “snap” enemies with basic attacks, without a common strategy you will certainly be drunk.
* * *
So, what we understood from the first public beta Pillars of Eternity? First: Obsidian not only repeat what was good in Baldur’s Gate, but creatively rethinks it. Second: still work on the game and work. A few minutes before we finished these lines, beta version v.257 Once again, I gobbled up our saving files. We try it again!
Success factors
Risk factors
- Very experienced people work on the project;
- The balance between retro and innovation is observed;
- Everything needed in place, all unnecessary without regrets is thrown out.
- Will they have time to finish the winter?
- The combat system is focused on the most thoughtful players;
- not the fact that the new world will be disclosed sufficiently.
We will wait?
In the coming months, the project will have a lot of competitors, and the same "old" and "true traditions". But in Pillars of Eternity itself, we doubt the least. If it is still completed, the game will turn out to be beautiful.
Waiting rating: 95%
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