Obsidian knows how to balance an encounter

Apr 20, 2015 22:36 GMT  ·  By

The first time I met a drake in my travels through Pillars of Eternity, I was pretty sure that I would never be able to defeat one unless I used all the resources my party had and carefully managed each step of my characters during battle.

A few minutes later, I was introduced to a group of them and re-evaluated my position on the difficulty of the new title from Obsidian.

Another few hours after that, I met a dragon and I actually paused the game to try and remember how hard fights with such creatures where in the Baldur's Gate titles (the answer is that they were very challenging).

So I did what every modern gamer should do when they feel that Pillars of Eternity is becoming too difficult: I simply went to the Menu and turned down the difficulty.

I then fought the battle and promptly pushed it right back up, while accepting the fact that I would be returning to easy quite a few times before my time with the new Obsidian experience is through.

The team understands that frustration is bad for video games

Obsidian has always had the reputation of being a developer that fails to perform adequate Quality Assurance and often does not take into account the needs of the player.

With Pillars of Eternity, they have managed to deliver a mostly bug-free experience and they have also made it very easy for fans to tweak the game to suit their tastes.

The combat sequences can be either fluid, for those who want to turn the difficulty down and simply move through the story, or they can be slowed down and loaded with tons of feedback for the fans who want to carefully choreograph each move their characters execute.

The choices make Pillars of Eternity feel open and friendly, a game where players get to decide how they get feedback and how they enjoy the gameplay.

During my younger years, when I was a Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale fan, I would have seen a change in difficulty level during a campaign as a sin.

As a modern gamer with limited time, I appreciate the freedom that Pillars of Eternity introduces to simply move past a troublesome moment in order to enjoy the rest of the universe and story.

Pillars of Eternity Images (5 Images)

Pillars of Eternity characters
Pillars of Eternity memoriesPillars of Eternity world
+2more