Pillars of Eternity 2 Story
“Hey, guys? I could use your help with the zombies over here.”
You are the Watcher of Caed Nua. You came close to death when the god Eothas returned as a giant statue. On your quest to discover his purpose, will you join forces with the mad god or will you do everything in your power to stop him?
Pillars of Eternity 2 Gameplay
Pillars of Eternity 2 is a single-player role playing game with a top down view similar to Diablo and Baldur’s Gate. You can equip characters in your party with different armors and weapons, much like a traditional RPG. Party size is limited to 5 characters, so that tactical combat is easier to execute. And thanks to the crowdfunding stretch goals, the level cap was increased from level 16 to level 18. You can choose from one of six races, and gain different buffs as seen in the table below:
Each race comes with two types to choose from, each with their own unique color scheme.
With each character creation, players are allowed to choose one main class and one sub-class. This allows for different types of combat specializations. Build paladins specifically for defense, attack, or a combination of both. Build your rogues for critical hits or enhance the damage of their attack by increasing their stealth abilities.
The player takes their party on a journey through the world of Eora from an isometric perspective. You are once again in the role of the Watcher, and make your way to the Deadfire Archipelago in pursuit of Eothas. The decisions you’ve made during past events in the first Pillars of Eternity will have an influence on events in Deadfire.
As you journey in pursuit of the god Eothas, you will encounter enemies from carnivorous plants to werewolves and lizard men.
It is your task as the Watcher of Caer Nua to either help Eothas achieve his mysterious goals or end him before he can succeed with whatever plan he has.
“We’re not just gonna leave it this time, are we?”
Pillars of Eternity 2 Day/Night System
One of the things that can break up immersive gameplay is when NPCs do nothing more than stand in the same place, whether it’s been 5 minutes or 5 hours. In Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, the NPCs will behave a certain way influenced by the Day/Night cycle. If their shop is only open during the daytime, you will have to return during the daytime to speak with them. A guard may become less observant during the night, leaving you an opportunity that was not there before.
The end result of certain quests will vary depending on how and when the quest is turned in. Each member of the party will be affected in different ways by the weather. Certain party members may not be up for a battle if a severe storm is happening and their stats may suffer for it. Others may be excited about having a battle during a day with full sun.
Pillars of Eternity 2 Ship to Ship Combat
In an interview with Matt Miller of Game Informer, creative director Josh Sawyer had this to say about battles that take place on the sea:
“There are two ways you can think about them: ship-to-ship duels, or deck-to-deck combat. The ship-to-ship duel is a system we developed that is more tactical and slower paced.”
Players can avoid ship-to-ship battles if they wish and dive straight into combat on the deck of the enemy vessel. This type of combat will be slower and turn-based, allowing players the time to strategize in advance.
Pillars of Eternity 2 AI Behavior
The biggest issue with the previous installment was how closely it followed the combat of Baldur’s Gate.
The newly introduced AI-Behaviour system will allow players to fully customize how their companions behave during battle. Direct your healers to automatically heal as soon as another party member is afflicted by poison or direct a caster to buff your paladin’s defenses when a strong enemy is nearby.
For those who don’t wish to dive into the combat customization of AI behavior, there are a number of presets for players to choose from. According to developers, the combat system and AI behavior system took inspiration from games like Final Fantasy Gambit and Dragon Age: Origins.
Pillars of Eternity 2 Character Importing
Players can import their characters from the previous installment of the game. Although this does not unlock new content, it opens up different dialogue options and certain situation will have different outcomes. And with the ability to give a character muti-class traits, anyone playing the game can re-spec (redistribute points) their previous avatar for stats more suited to the Deadfire landscape.
Pillars of Eternity 2 Factions
There are four factions that players will run into during the course of the game: the Principi, sailors who are made up of pirates, smugglers, and mercenaries. The second are the Huana, a tribal people indigenous to the Deadfire Archipelago. The third faction, the Royal Deadfire Company, is a trade company with whose methods of exploration and conquest can be seen as aggressive. The fourth are the Valian Trading Company, a group motivated by profitable ventures.
Pillars of Eternity 2 Trailer
Campaign Launch Trailer:
Pillars of Eternity 2 News
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Versus Evil. Obsidian may be remembered from titles such as Knights of The Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (2004) and Fallout: New Vegas (2010).
The creators ran their crowdfunding campaign on the site Fig.com. The goal for the project was $1.1 million and was reached and exceeded in under 23 hours. By the end of the campaign, fans have backed the project with over $4.4 million. With a development budget well above their expected goal, the team was able to deliver a well-polished game to fans of the first installment in the series.
When asked about the sequel, creative director Josh Sawyer stated he wanted the game to be set in a new location within the familiar universe. This game is also expected to be far larger than the first.
Pillars of Eternity 2 Release Date
Initially, Deadfire was set to release on April 3rd, 2018. Obsidian Entertainment made the decision to push back the date of release to May 9th, 2018 for the PC. According to developers, this extra time will allow them to put the final touches to the game, allowing them to deliver a title deserving of the fans.
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire will be released later this year for Xbox One, Playstation 4, and the Nintendo Switch.
