14 DAY TRIAL // The Obsidian-created Pillars of Eternity is probably one of the most important role-playing games to launch in the coming year and the development team working on it is releasing yet another update linked to it that allows gamers to learn more about companions and their stories.
Eric Fenstermaker, the lead narrative designer, first offers a highly fictionalized account of his own day, which can generate some laughs, before talking about how the studio is approaching the creation of characters that gamers can select for their own parties.
He explains that, “we have an arc for each of our companions, but each arc has multiple potential endpoints, in just the same way that the plot has multiple endings. Which endpoint the arc ends up at will be, in one way or another, determined by what the player does - whether it's something they say or an action they take or some other choice they make.”
The main concepts powering Pillars of Eternity when it comes to companions were first pioneered in the Fallout: New Vegas that Obsidian has created, but the team is also adding some new concepts that a science fiction series could not support.
Because the fantasy setting of the new title is entirely new, all the characters that gamers can work with are designed to act as representatives of either their race or their class, giving players important information and allowing them to plan future interactions with those groups.
Obsidian says that it wants gamers to remember companions after they finish a playthrough and worry about their final fates.
Eric Fenstermaker adds, “By varying widely the particulars of each companion's persona and struggles, the hope is that while not everybody will necessarily love every companion, most will find at least one that means something to them.”
Players will also be able to make a number of choices for all the characters they travel with that will influence their story and what element of their personalities becomes dominant.
The lead narrative designer also assures the community that there are no plans to make Pillars of Eternity a game about the battle of good versus evil and that the morality system will have plenty of quirks to experience.
As always, the Obsidian team is keen to hear any feedback from the community of fans that backed the game on Kickstarter.
Launch for Pillars of Eternity is set for the final quarter of this year.