Pillars of Eternity: A new beginning

Pillars of Eternity was a darn fun RPG when I played it last year, although at some point I lost momentum and didn’t finish out the story. I think I was waiting on the big 2.0 patch with party AI improvements and whatnot. In any case, I reloaded and rerolled for a new adventure, and wanted to periodically blog about it along the way!

Having played once before, I feel more on solid footing creating a character that will fit the playstyle I prefer. This time around I go with a Ranger, for two reasons: because pets are awesome and because I want to be a crack shot with a rifle.

Syppi the Ranger chooses to be a Hearth Orlan — smaller races rule! — and selects an antelope as her companion animal. I was tempted by the wolf, as I’m sure 85% of Ranger players are, but didn’t want to go the obvious Game of Thrones route. Besides, how often do you get an antelope to hang out with you? I’m down with that. I called him Lopp in honor of WildStar.

I gave her fairly high perception and dexterity, with a dash of athletics thrown in for good measure. I just need her to shoot fair, shoot fast, and not be a slouch physically.

And there’s Lopp the antelope as we start the game!

So what am I looking forward to this time around? Here’s a quick list:

1. Developer commentary — I love the bonus audio tracks that give you some insight as to why the devs made the places and stories they did.
2. More enjoyable combat with better AI
3. Actually seeing the story through (knock on wood)
4. A different main character experience (Chanter was fun, but I get one of those as a companion anyway)
5. Cool RPG touches, such as text asides, in-depth dialogue, and environmental interaction
6. Playing it on a computer that’s much newer than my three-year-old laptop