Pillars of Eternity Review - More Than Homage

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Wait... hold everything.

An Obsidian game that isn't riddled with bugs? I am so freaking sold it's not even funny.

 

[Amir Kondori]

So, I'm confused.

This game will reward little or no experience to help with leveling up and customizing your character after combat, but will reward loot (procedural or predetermined?) that is meant to help with combat? And the player is meant to do tasks for X NPCs because they need XP?

Completing quests will give you most of your XP. Max level is 12, so every level is a big deal. You do some get some small XP from killing enemies, but you have to kill X amount, then get some XP, kill X amount more, basically you are filling out the bestiary and getting XP from that. You also get small amounts of XP from doing stuff like disarming traps.

I think it works way better than forcing combat to level. You will clear maps and enemies will not respawn. It is different in many ways from Baldur's Gate, which many people will compare it to, but once you get used to it and understand this is not just a modern BG you will start to realize how amazing and deep this game really is.