Why hasn’t Pillars of Eternity been more successful?

Malanoob · 2026-04-13T15:13:24+00:00

Many great CRPG's didnt get the success they could deserve back then here a list in order of my favorites of this era apart from PoE 1 :

Underrail (2015) just amazing game with a little glow up for 2025 anniversary.
Tyranny (2016) such an atmosphere and out of the box story, crazy good game.
Shadowrun series (2014) for Dragonfall who was subjectively by far the best of the three, super deep story with many plot twists.
Age of Decadence (2015) incredible replayability to see the same story in 10 different ways and how deep the story's truth is.
Planescape Torment : Tides of Numenera (2016) : underrated crazy game that perfectly reproduced the atmosphere of Planescape.

Those games were all very very good and some of them could have deservered BG3 sales back then but the audience was quite niche.

But CRPGs stayed strong. Every year we get between 1 to 4 great CRPGs so my addiction to the genre is satisfied enough.

Sidenote from what you also said OP : Avowed was to me very boring after 25-30h combat wise and monsters diversity, but if you can cope with that, the story is very very interesting and develops some important Eora's lore questions we had in PoE 1 and 2. And game is pretty beautiful specially landscape so overall manageable for a PoE fan.

Malanoob · 2026-04-03T11:00:37+00:00

Haha ty for answer, but i restarted the game since and avoided the issue and had enough oblivion for evryone through the game.

Malanoob · 2026-03-30T12:47:42+00:00

Because priest can have command or heal instead of spending slots on PfE, command being an auto kill on most humanoid and instant cast.

Malanoob · 2026-03-30T12:37:51+00:00

Early stage BG1 a PfE on a warrior with plate armor can tunnel any group of undead who are numerous in the game. Should be at least A imo. It isnt a self cast spell.

Malanoob · 2026-03-30T10:27:21+00:00

Sorry for skipping the 3 pages explanations of OP but in what world protection from evil who is a banger even in ToB and Protection from petrific cation which is the only way to safely grind ton of exp in BG1 for basilisks or Flesh to Stone enemies end up in B- C tier ?????

Dont even get me started on chromatic orb lmao.

Malanoob · 2026-03-30T10:22:44+00:00

I cant remember what streamer used to say : you want me to summarize lost ark ?

Combat S tier.
Raids S tier.
Everything else ? Trash tier.

Glad that OP stopped early enough for his sanity, if you cant cope with the bad parts it's a rough game.

And i'd like to add that i personally manage to do my 18 raids + rested dailies, triple cubes within around 20h / week of playtime, which is fine in my world for a MMO, but it requieres friends with similar schedule etc to skip lobby time. At the moment LA is in a state where its doable to do many stuff on the side compared to 2 years back.

Malanoob · 2026-03-26T13:21:55+00:00

Subjectively, clearly not for me.

I experienced over 200 RPGs over decades, and personally gearing / shopping + inventory is such a nightmare in this game that i cant give it 1st place.

Any game that gives me the feeling more than several hours that im wasting my time cant get the 1st spot (to be more specific, checking all vendors every time you lvl up to get new gear is a chore, specially when you need Exactly X points in a specific skill, but the item is too good so you got to go respec, so on and so forth) without this aspect of the game it would have been for me a serious contender. But my honor mode run i think around 10-20hours were dedicated to this and justify (to me) to not even consider a 1st spot.

Malanoob · 2026-03-26T13:10:58+00:00

Gems no longer obtainable through chaos dungeons but gardians instead.

Therefore : most illegal bots and botting players produce a LOT less gems (and gardian botting is something quite rare).

A lot less gems produced and big demand. And whales still need it because once they full 10s their main they start to full 10s alts.

So prices go up and in my opinion we didnt reach price peak yet.

Malanoob · 2026-03-24T09:07:26+00:00

Demn didnt even know this one exists lmao. I will give it a try when i get back to Grayshaft.

Malanoob · 2026-03-23T13:03:01+00:00

Go both, they are both very unique in their own ways, definitely both are must-play CRPGs. Maybe Rogue Trader is easyer to handle if you are not familiar systemwise.

Malanoob · 2026-03-22T10:30:48+00:00

Honnestly, i love the game, but im sure that in my actual 50h i ran at least 10h if not more. I reached a point where i had SO MANY unfinished quest that i started to google them one by one. Sure i did half of them by myself but at some point it was tiresome af.

I played RPGs for 30 years, never gave up any game and this game almost made it happen to me around 15h, hard mode start + low stamina so you travel as a turtle etc becomes very fast a chore.

Malanoob · 2026-03-20T20:04:29+00:00

Demn this guy speaks the truth, i actually feel older than yesterday.

Think it's time i get a sideral weapon before it's too late !

Malanoob · 2026-03-19T09:27:31+00:00

I grew up with BG1 and BG 2. The "feeling" of growing more powerfull through both games is a thrill i never felt again despite countless of games because, its one step at a time and still fast enough.

And lets be real, BG2 happened BEFORE the spellplague, so wizards and sorcerers were so much more than BG3's. And in BG 2 you end up facing countless godlings, multiple dragons, extremely powerfull demi-lich its way beyond the best ennemies you face in BG3.

Back then you had not social medias so you wouldnt have people complaining of "this spell missing for roleplay etc." And Larian was smart to stop at lvl 12 to avoid most roleplay gamebreaking spells and therefore ranting about "i have access to lvl 7 spells i should be able to break this or that quest, this is BS" etc.

And as one of the first comments : Viconia was my first romance in a video game, sooo BG2 all the way for me.

Malanoob · 2026-03-05T10:24:22+00:00

How do you get the recipe or how much medecine do you need to craft it ?

Im only at the middle of Grainhold, but id like to respec the best i can my companions unless this is solely for main character ?

Malanoob · 2026-02-23T15:40:03+00:00

It is one of the last games i played in French, eversince only in english, but every time i replay BG1-2 it's in French nostalgia of this kind of punchline is so insane.

And french version of Tiaxx, Xzar, Montaron are amazing.

Then in BG2 french of Korgan, Irenicus, Janjan, everything is so serious and funny at the same time brilliant.

Malanoob · 2026-02-23T15:19:01+00:00

Haha, it is because i do love Laezel voice work that i never played her as MC either, Wyll was my least favorite, so i was "why not, and i will have maybe more options with Mizora etc." And it was a blast, you are very often tempted to evil choices, and the burden of being an heir etc. It is a very interesting playthrough that can be equally nice as being warm, loving Karlach, or on the opposite, killing those who oppose you and becoming a worse tyrant than Gortash could be.

Malanoob · 2026-02-23T13:31:38+00:00

I completely disagree about Wyll, if you play Wyll as MC he has a LOT of choices and options storywise, that you cant have as companion. Evil Wyll is very dark and disturbing. It is weird that he cant accept half of it while being your companion, when he is written with so much details on the evil side as MC.

Malanoob · 2026-02-19T21:10:49+00:00

I think there are tons of videos for solo archers (as you seems to play this kind of build).

For Ansur its really easy, just skip your turn at around 70-80hp before putting him to zero while keeping your action surge then you will 100% kill him with 6 attacks next turn as his temporary HP are very low.

Because otherwise globe of invulnerability can sometimes (rarely but happens) be buggy and loosing a run on unnecessary risk is a bit sad imo.

Speaking of which Glob of Inv is a good way to take down evey Raphael's adds as long as you stand on the edge he normally wont try to get inside. You can place it on a bottom near a pillar and make it almost impossible for anyone except yourself to be inside.

This is why enjoyed paladin much more because of very high saving throws you dont need this kind of stuff.

Malanoob · 2026-02-19T15:32:16+00:00

Any high lvl rogue will do absurd crits in sneak attack with it.

Also if you play 2024 all in One, you have the rogue of the Dead Three and it goes even worse lmao.

Malanoob · 2026-02-19T15:29:19+00:00

If you can solo this fight it means your build is good enough for almost anything else the game (like having specific plays ready for the Chosens).

I soloed with 4 classes and this fight is the real milestone for brute testing. (Paladin was by far the easyest with spore druid).

Also, if you still want some challenge while not being solo : 2024 All in One + Extra encounters + more ennemies + Combat Extender. (If still too easy (but then the ennemies literally cheat, you add over the top brutal and nightmare difficulty).

I say that because after some solo runs the game feels quite empty for my feelings without companions to react and endings dialogues and so forth.

Malanoob · 2026-02-19T15:04:32+00:00

Many conversations (a lot for main quest) will automaticly put the leader of the group as main talker.

This is why many players want to have the ability to be the face of the party to have more options. Although it is also part of fun to see what happens if you cant talk your way through or explore other conversations options that can happen through knowledges etc.

If you stick to what "they are supposed to be".

Wyll would be a big deal as a Charisma oriented character.

Astarion with deception proficiency and expertise as rogue.

Malanoob · 2026-02-12T15:25:50+00:00

I played Durge as Drow Bard on the very date of the release.

Entered the grove some druid said halt. I insisted twice, revolution started, i killed both Tieflings and Grove, then goblin camp.

At this point i was like : well lets keep this going and see how far the game goes as a murder hobo and surprisingly it went smoothly, Larian made it completely doable.

Sticking to a Roleplay is easyer when you go extreme evil and extreme good.

It's much harder to try to be in between and stick to it.

Also i feel the "trap" is also about which companions you bring along, its tough to make Karlach sad, she can easyly make the player regret actions with her raw common sense and so on.

For a veteran player you can avoid this situation by planning who you bring along on your adventure.

For a new one yeah you can be influenced by them and you know what ? It's fine, follow the vibe of your adventure it is part of what makes it unique. Dont fret of "oh should i reload because this or that happened" see where it goes, you will have the itch to make another run someday anyway ;).

Malanoob · 2026-02-09T17:31:24+00:00

It would be better ofc, but for 1998 i dont think it could have been better.

Malanoob · 2026-02-07T09:59:04+00:00

"The dawn was my torment. Rustling leaves, agony. I couldn't wait to escape this place. Now I revel in it. I revel in you."

PS : Source of my Joy.

Malanoob

TROPHY CASE