Review for Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition. Game for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 29/08/2017
The world is now full of successful Kickstarter projects. The result of Pillars of Eternity however, is outstanding to date indeed this title is one of the four which received the most support from enthusiasts and it is therefore not surprising that the Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition, comprising the base game and the two expansions.
Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition is available for Playstation 4 and Xbox One and boasts a completely revised interface to be usable also via controller; technically the game remained almost identical, but the porting was carried out with expertise (unfortunately, unfortunately, from what we saw with the console version of Torment: Tides of Numenera) and the software maintains Stable 30 FPS even in the most "crowded" situations.
I almost four million dollars raised have made it possible to create a title full of care, details and, not an indispensable but always welcome element, the complete localization of subtitles and menus. The final result has some flaws, but given the amount of texts, these are more than understandable typos and never affect the understanding of a sentence.
Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition obviously maintains that "old school" graphic style of the PC version, the only aspect that, together with the animations, shows the side to the criticisms: the models of the various characters have a clear and inspired character design behind, but the polygonal realization is not the best, even in comparison to the less recent Divinity: Original Sin. It must also be said that the main purpose of Pillars of Eternity was not to show jaw-breaking graphics, but an original and believable world, beautiful and dark, in which to immerse yourself and live your own adventure.
From this point of view, the result is excellent: in addition to the remarkable longevity, which thanks to the expansions comfortably reaches and exceeds 80 hours, Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition brings to the console the incredible level of detail of every single setting, in which every single plate, barrel and bone has been placed with good reason, to create real paintings in which to move.
The scarce freedom of aesthetic customization of one's avatar makes up for a impressive number of possible combinations between races, sub races, origins and starting class. The possibilities of roleplay are flanked by those of metagame, or the raw "parametry": dozens of primary and secondary stats, points to be awarded, race effects, active and passive abilities and many, many equipment will delight the nostalgic of loved ones, old strategic RPGs and, why not, even paper campaigns.
On the other hand, the avalanche of figures and values will induce confusion and panic in the less accustomed: just like the PC version, Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition is not a product for everyone and indeed, the console port aims at an even smaller type of audience than the “master race” panorama.
Exactly as already discussed in the review of Torment: Tides of Numenera for Playstation 4, the followers of the genre should gather the right amount of information before proceeding with the purchase, perhaps observing gameplay videos in which at least the basic mechanics are shown in practice , in order to avoid disappointment.
The Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition HUD, adapted to controller commands, is definitely an excellent transposition of a genre born on PC and it is yet another demonstration of how, in the end, the strategic RPG can absolutely work even on different platforms.
The fact remains that even the most savvy console players will lose more than a few minutes to figure out, thanks an excellent tutorial as regards the functioning of the game and the countless activities available, but it is essential to concretely indicate which keys to press to open the countless submenus.
Having overcome these initial hurdles, Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition is a completely faithful porting of the original title, a product that embodies the quintessence of independent play, obviously born for profit, but made with passion and dedication in every aspect, from completely original setting to the most irrelevant of the optional dialogues of the last side quest at the bottom right.
Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition is the concrete proof of how a project, supported in large part by the players themselves, can reach absolutely competitive quality levels on the modern multi-platform market. Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition expresses the desire to reach the widest possible audience, including those unfamiliar with this type of game: it is a great and complete conversion, but it remains a niche product, which can cause love to first sight or deadly boredom in equal measure.
► Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition is an Adventure-RPG game developed by Obsidian Entertainment Paradox Arctic and published by Paradox Interactive for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 29/08/2017
