Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part I
An expansion for Pillars of Eternity
Pillars of Eternity: The White March - Part I is a large sprawling expansion pack with hours of gameplay integrated into the main adventure. Along with the new quests and area content, the team at Obsidian continues to support and make improvements to the entire game, including the additions of Player Party AI and Enhanced Enemy AI. Even if you haven't played Pillars of Eternity, now is a great time to jump in and experience the hardcore classic RPG with The White March - Part I. Main features -Raised level cap: Your party of six adventurers can now progress beyond level 12 to 14. The additional levels add powerful new spells, abilities and talents for all 11 classes. -New areas to explore: Largely focused on the snowy environments inspired by Icewind Dale, the expansion will feature a new quest hub, and many additional quests and dungeons. -Soulbound weapons: The expansion features mighty artifacts that grow stronger over time. These weapons gain different powers and attributes depending on the character class that binds to it. -New companions: Part 1 of the expansion introduces two new companions you will be able to use throughout all of your adventures. The Devil of Caroc, a rogue, and Zahua, a monk, will be available to join you on your quest in The White March and will travel back with you into the base game. -Multi-class talents: Classes will now have additional options to diversify and take on some of the abilities of other classes. -Party AI: Now you will have the option to set AI scripts for your party, allowing you to focus on controlling the characters you care about most. -Enhanced Enemy AI: Enemies and monsters are now smarter than ever. The new AI makes the entire game more of a challenge, and spell casters will use a wider variety of their spells in more devastating ways. -Respec: At any inn or tavern the player can re-level their party members. It gives flexibility for the player to experiment with the RPG systems and try out builds with the newly added multi-class talents. If you aren't completely satisfied with your character, you can now do a rebuild and start over fresh.
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This DLC has some of my favorite looking areas of the game. The base game itself looks good but some of the locations started to feel similar after a while so the cold icy environment was a ncie change of pace. The detail in the environments was pretty good.
New music and combat music has been added in this DLC with some variations on existing combat music and Justin Bell does an amazing job like with the base game. The music itself really does remind me of The Elder Scrolls music though with a more heavy tone at times here.
Voice acting is more prevelent here, though not fully voiced, and I like it.
Gameplay
When I first played Pillars I wasn't a huge fan of the realtime with pause combat but after playing more of it through the DLC I've enjoyed it mroe especially the more difficult fights.
The new armor and weapons added alone make this DLC worth it since it makes helmets, gloves and boots actually useful while also adding unique and special weapons
Story
The story is fine I guess? It's not actively bad or anything and fits with everything else in Pillars but it's simplistic. I do like the new companions and their questlines
Bonus: Crägholdt Bluffs suffering
I had some issues in starting the DLC since I thought I was supposed to start with Crägholdt Bluffs which is and endgame area for level 14. I was trying to do it with a level 9 party so I ended up in a week of suffering and frustration. I think you get a message when you first get the quest for the WM which says that this isn't where you should start but I must have missed it so I ended up in thos Bluffs. In my defense keeping an endgame area close to the player base is not good design.
Overall, if you liked the base game you will likely enjoy this too
The main focus of this expansion is the combat for some reason, but it's bad. The encounter design is annoyingly frustrating; enemies, such as the lizards and shades that populate the maps in the hundreds, have abilities that stun party members for an unreasonable amount of time. The shades in the battery are specifically annoying because they can teleport party members away from your party and stun them. There is a ridiculous amount of encounters in both the overworld and the fortress itself, making the entire experience feel like a massive slog. It doesn't make any sense to me; the base game is extremely tightly written, yet the expansion decides to focus on the game's functional yet repetitive combat.
Score: 8/10
A pretty enjoyable first expansion to an already enjoyable game! I'm really enjoying my time with Pillars of Eternity, and in usual Obsidian fashion you have to play the expansions before you complete the main story which is what I'm doing! Best time to start this expansion is the at the end of Act 2/beginning of Act 3.
This expansion has you to travel to the land of White March to reclaim the Durgans Battery for the people of Stalwart. White March features many snowy tundra's which is a nice change of scenery from the base games areas. What I enjoy a lot about this game is how many of the side quests start out simple but turn out to be so much more and a lot of them often present you with meaningful choices to make which I always appreciate in my RPGs! You also get two new companions, both being really cool and different from the ones you get in the base game.
The expansions story is pretty enjoyable to play through and to learn the lore of Stalwart. By the end I already wanted to start the second part, as I can safely say this is one of Obsidians strongest DLCs! And most versions of the game you can buy come with both DLCs bundled with the base game, so it's worth your time and money!
All DLC I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-dlcs-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/