Pillars of Eternity Preview

A fairly short preview for Obsidian’s Kickstarter-funded Project Pillars of Eternity is available at PC Gamer. It seems to be based on a conversation with project director J.E. Sawyer:

(Combat rounds can be very limiting,) Sawyer says, referring to the way that the Infinity Engine handled fights through a series of six-second intervals. (We’re doing something else, in the spirit of a fully real-time, continuous, purely time-based system.) The aim is to make combat more engaging rather than having sprites ineffectually hacking away at each other, waiting for a dice roll to connect.

Supporting this is a flexible class system. So whether you’re a fighter, wizard or monk, you’ll be able to wear armour. The trade-off is that armour-wearing characters are slower to cast abilities, which isn’t a problem for the lower-maintenance fighters but less desirable for the more micromanagement-heavy magic users. These balanced class mechanics open up more interesting party compositions, with followers being picked from either specific in-world characters or your own creations.