A new update for Pillars of Eternity introduces turn-based combat, along with balance changes, fixes, and UI improvements.
Obsidian has published a new version of Pillars of Eternity (the first), including a completely functional Turn Based Mode, offering players another option for experiencing the combat system. It is available immediately and can be activated at the beginning of the game. Players will be able to activate it via the Options menu, Key Bindings, or a HUD Button.
Turn-based Mode was created with a totally different combat flow than what we see in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire.
In this new mode, there is no limit to how many times your character(s) can act during a round. How many times your character acts is determined by their Initiative speed from the Real-Time with Pause System. Faster characters will be able to act more times during a round, while slower characters will act fewer times and possibly miss a whole round if they receive significant speed reductions.
In addition to changing the combat flow for Turn-Based Mode, Obsidian has made several changes to adjust the overall combat balance. All damage from all types of attacks will increase by 35% in Turn-Based Mode; these increases were intended to ensure encounters do not stall out due to slow action.
Additionally, the area where you graze (attack roll lands in an open space) has been expanded, the area where you would miss (not land anywhere near the target) has been shrunk, and Basic attacks will perform identically to Full Attack attacks.
Also, Obsidian has reworked the way Intellect functions in Turn-Based Mode. Duration effect scaling now scales at 10% per point instead of 5%.
Many systems were designed to work under the old system. Now that the initiative system has changed, weapon switching, potion usage and toggle switches are now considered Free Actions.
However, each type of action can only occur one time per turn. If an interrupt occurs, it will “push back” an enemy’s next turn by adding Initiative Value to them. Enemies can still cancel spell casting if interrupted successfully. Finally, Chanter Phrase Progression has been rewritten so that phrase generation is now based on the amount of Initiative Elapsed (i.e., how long it takes to finish your turn).
Outside of Turn-Based Mode, the update contains numerous bug fixes covering almost every aspect of combat, user interface, visual display, and localization. A number of bugs associated with Spiritshifting interactions, Stacked Status Effects, Holy Power, Helwax Mold, Summoned Concelhaut, and a number of other bugs associated with UI and Cutscenes were addressed. Smart Camera functionality has been added to Turn-Based Mode.
New key bindings for End Turn/ Delay Turns have been added along with default End Turn input on Space Bar / Enter. Restoration of Original Main Menu Art has also been implemented. Korean Localization was added to all versions of the game and some Polish Translation Errors have been corrected.
With the release of this update, Pillars of Eternity now gives players two ways to experience one of the best known Modern Classic RPGs. Here is the Steam page.
