Pillars of Eternity

Confronting Thaos... Well, until the expansion, anyway. One side benefit of an internet outage (I was without internet for most of the weekend) is that all those single player games I never get around to finishing are suddenly totally available! I was pretty close to the ending of Pillars of Eternity last time I played, working on the god appeasement quests before heading to the final confrontation in the Sun in Shadow. During those, you start thinking about how you see the world continuing after the big evil is defeated, and just how that defeat will be accomplished. But then again, as the ending draws nearer, it’s clear that pretty much everything you know about the world (and knew back in your past life as well), was wrong. ...

When I got to Act III in Pillars of Eternity, I stopped. One of the first quests I got asked me to strengthen the future bloodline of a long-established family by culling its weak souls so stronger ones could take their place. The weak soul the quest giver had in mind was currently in a child. Now, in the Pillars world, past lives are a real thing, and death is not the end. Dealing with past lives drives the plot of the game. Aloth shares his mind with a barbaric woman from the past; the ranger companion is tracking down a reincarnated hero of her tribe; the protagonist and the villain of the game… well, no spoilers here. ...

I kinda figured there’d be a dragon at the bottom of the Endless Paths. I knew there was an achievement for killing all the dragons in Pillars of Eternity, and I hadn’t seen any, yet. Some mean old drakes, but no actual dragons. This is the first. Given what a tough fight Od Nua gave me, I’m not at all certain I want to tangle with a dragon at this level (10). ...

Darna was a long time, well-respected member of Team Tanglewood. I loved her from the moment I first recruited her back at the Black Hound Inn in the Gilded Vale. I made her a monk, because I needed a tank, and I thought someone whose power operated from wounds would fit the bill. I found out just now that there was an actual warrior waiting to be hired… but I guess I missed him. Anyway, Darna couldn’t tank at all, her DPS was subpar, I (a rogue) ended up tanking far too often; even the ranger’s pet made a better tank. ...