📖 Game Review - Pillars of Eternity (Story Focused) 🏛

Channel:

Miriviews

Subscribers:

439

Published on February 22, 2022 8:29:05 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfz__PUwe7k

Game:

Pillars of Eternity (2015)

Category:

Review

Duration: 1:08:18

612 views

42

A review which mostly focuses on the story in Pillars of Eternity, but also goes over the gameplay, look, sound, and even a little trivia. Contains mild to moderate spoilers, and many jokes. I hope ya’ll like some of the humor. Let me know in the comments if anything got a chuckle. I also included many info graphics, so that those who want more info can pause and gain extra detail, beyond that which I say aloud.

But if you’re looking for a review that delves into the mechanics and balance issues, then this is definitely not the review for you. I wanted to focus on what it’s like to play the game, and the roleplaying aspects of the RPG, instead of diving into features in a how-to-play style of way. For this reason, I skimmed over many points, and focused on the story. For example, I didn’t really use the game’s Companion AI, because I found managing them myself to be more productive. So, I didn’t go over those settings. Similarly, I set the party's formation once (6 dotted button on the HUD), then didn’t use it again, so I didn’t mention that, either. As for combat, while I skimmed it and mentioned some points, I didn’t go into balance issues and whatnot.

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📌 EDIT: Since posting the video, I've learned that the story-line of PoE was essentially designed by a committee. This situation likely explains a lot of the problems with its writing. Source below.

RPG Codex Interview: Eric Fenstermaker on Pillars of Eternity, by "Infinitron", 06 Mar 2016. As found online 26 Dec 2022.
https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10231


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📃 ** Version Information: ** 📃

I played the Definitive Edition, which includes the core game, the Deadfire Pack DLC, and both of the White March expansions. It also includes many extras, which were originally included with the Royal/Champion Editions: Campaign Almanac PDF (36 pg), Collector’s Book PDF (116 pg), Cookbook PDF (25 pgs), Hi-res Concept Art (35 images), Hi-res Map, Novella by Chris Avellone (“The House of Wael,” as both a 78 pg PDF & audiobook), Ringtones (19 total, voice clips & sound effects) Soundtrack (not complete: only 26 tracks. Both as MP3s and FLACs), Strategy Guide PDF (524 pg), “The Road to Eternity,” which is a making-of documentary (runtime: 124 minutes); and a set of 8 wallpapers at various resolutions.

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📏 ** Sections: ** 📏
00:00 – 01:17 = Intro
01:17 – 38:48 = The Story
38:48 – 53:26 = The Gameplay
53:26 – 59:05 = The Look & The Sound
59:06 - = Final Thoughts
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🔧 ** Technical Info ** 🔧

I wanted to vary up the audio to be more lively, because the game’s audio has an ambient feel. For that reason, many tracks are from the YouTube Audio Library, and are ones that don’t require attribution. I also used many sound effects, both from the YouTube Audio Library and freesound.org, which don’t require attribution either.

But for those interested, and because I do appreciate being able to use others’ musical creations, here are the 39 non-game tracks that I used. I used some more than once, and don't want them to create auto-chapters in the review. For this reason, I'm just gonna list them in alphabetical order:

🎵 YouTube Audio Library Music Used: 🎵

Annihilate - Jeremy Blake
Argonne - Zachariah Hickman
Bluesy Vibes (Sting) - Doug Maxwell_Media Right Productions
Called Upon - Silent Partner
Cold Water - Patrick Patrikios
Delta – TrackTribe
Dodo Bird - Quincas Moreira
Don't Ya Bite Now - Dan Lebowitz
Et Voila - Chris Haugen
Final Boss - Myuu
Fusion of Dhol - Aakash Gandhi
Galactic Damages - Jingle Punks
Here Come The Raindrops - Reed Mathis
I Have a Reservation - TrackTribe
If I Had a Chicken - Kevin MacLeod
Lightning Bugs - Geographer
Lost In Prayer - Doug Maxwell
Love or Lust - Quincas Moreira
Mariachiando - Doug Maxwell_Jimmy Fontanez
Medieval Astrology - Underbelly & Ty Mayer
News Room News - Spence
Night Snow - Asher Fulero
No.8 Requiem - Esther Abrami
Pachabelly – Huma-Huma
Positive Fuse - French Fuse
Rainy Day Games - The Green Orbs
Running Errands - TrackTribe
Russian Dance - Joey Pecoraro
Seclusion - The Tides
Serious - The Tower of Light
Staycation - Corbyn Kites
Survive the Montage - RKVC
The Curious Kitten - Aaron Kenny
TipToes – Myuu
URL Melt - Unicorn Heads
Who's Using Who - The Mini Vandals
Wild Fires - Doug Maxwell
Wrong - Dan Henig
Zoinks Scoob - R.LUM.R

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** And I know that I said "harbinger" incorrectly, but I've got no idea why I did.

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