I just bought the game earlier and it's downloading, I'm about to play...
Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!
I also started getting into Baldurs Gate 1&2, I am currently on BG1 now.

just one thing: DONT open the box

you will know what i mean

Advice? Try finishing Baldur's Gate first, then get into Pillars of Eternity. While I don't share this point of view and think Pillars is a lot better, a ton of people claim otherwise and say BG series are superior - thing is, with interface and graphical advancements Pillars have made, playing a BG game after playing Pillars might feel somewhat clunky. Which is why I would suggest first finishing the older titles and then getting into the newest one.

A low level character is fragile, especially when alone. Since there is no level scaling, some enemies will be too dangerous for you. Don't be ashamed of avoiding them and coming back later with reinforcement.

Some characters can be recruited only after you advanced in the story, so speak to them again, or come back to maps you already did visit.

Combats can be confusing, so use spacebar to pause the game and issue new orders. Halfspeed can be nice during combat, too.


And, more importantly, enjoy. It's a nice game :)

Using autopause settings is also quite handy - they're somewhere in the settings menu. Personally, I have the game set to pause automatically wehenever:
- I spot an enemy
- I spot a hidden object
- One of my character's endurance is low
- One of my characters dies
- One of my characters kills his target
- One of my characters finishes using an ability/spell

This configuration stops the game whenever anything significant which might make me want to change orders around happens. Half game speed is also good, yeah.

That one is really mandatory. I tried playing without it, and it was
"The lead character has spotted a trap" Zaaaap

Not a somewhat, But SUPER ugly interface! Personally, I feel Obsidian make the objective of Pillars of Eternity: The definitive IE game.

Anyway, another suggestion, think on making a rouge as hired companion (mainly if you didn't buy the expansion) or any other NPC which focus in traps.
And... save

I personally hate the turn-based style, so I don't have many auto-pause, except for death of characters (which is not cool when you are using summons), and sometimes when detecting a hidden thing.

Or giving many mecanics ranks to one of the characters.
My own trapsweeper/lockbreaker is Aloth. I love to hear him complain about it :)


Oh, and yeah, "save often, save early" is a good advice. A fight can turn ugly real quick.

Oh yeah, give Aloth mechanics if you enjoy listening to sarcastic remarks :-P I would -love- to see there being proper modding tools for Pillars so people could transfer Infinity Engine games to the engine Obsidian has created. But, well, even if that happened, there would be no way to get DnD ruleset into the game - altho I would not even object to playing with Pillars ruleset, as long as unique item properties would be kept in spirit of the original.

Concerning PoE: NPCs with yellow name plates are Kickstarter backer NPCs. Their stories are not related to your quest so you are not required to read them.

Pillars of Eternity is a great choice. My advice: don't go for the bear at the first moment xD. You know what it means at the very early of the adventure.

Thanks so much for all the pointers :)

Pillars is tactically substantial, but a lot more forgiving in the character building and min/max department.

Retreat isn't really a thing. But at least "save early, save often" covers the same ground.

The bear encounter on the post-tutorial map is deadly, and the bandit camp in the East or Southeast area is unusually hard as well. The game isn't too rough on Normal from there on, as long as you don't explore too far ahead and try to do quests in lumps that are roughly the same as the order received. (I'm only midway through the game, though - and I hear the White March can be rough)

You may or may not choose to hire one ally, but more than that is highly unnecessary due to the game's providing you with one of almost every class fairly early on, though some are later than others.

IIRC...
Never joins you: Barbarian
Joins in The White March: Monk
Joins late: Rogue
Joins mid-game: Druid, Cipher, Paladin, Ranger
Joins early-mid-game: Chanter
Joins early: Priest
Joins super-early: Wizard, Fighter

It's nice to have a Barbarian, too - but you may as well make it your main character rather than a hireling. Monk is take-or-leave, and might be too fragile for the hardest setting. Ranged Rogue is a strong choice for low-micromanagement party. Ranger is sort of meh, a second-tier DPS with a third-tier tank companion... Just doesn't seem worth it in a big party.

I generally like to have one per-rest character (Wizard, Priest, Druid) and the rest use alternate resources or per-encounter abilities. I go with Wizard as the per-rest character because of early availability and because it gives me something to do with all of those tomes. Also, you get to choose whether to burn everything or try something more subtle. A single per-rest character lets you keep one stack of aces up the sleeve without suffering too much for using AI heavily otherwise.

For the tank line, Fighter used to be the best, but Fighter's Regeneration is now available for other classes. If you keep Eder around, then a second fighter or a Barbarian or Paladin is a good idea. A front line of 2-3 is good to have if you want a full party of 6. 4 would be fine too, but then you're looking at a Monk or a duplicate of one of the other classes.

If you like doubling up on classes, then of course you can hire more of whatever. I'm guessing they will write up a Barbarian for White March Part 2, but we're not there yet. For now, main character Barbarian is the unique simplest way to have one of everything without hiring extras.

I would argue against playing any of the old infinity games. They are excellent games in their own right, but didn't age all that well and you will most likely get bored of them long before you get to Pillars.
Also, Infinity games (BG, Icewind Dale etc.) are based around D&D ruleset, whereas Pillars has it's own custom ruleset, and they play very different.

Just start with Pillars first then after you've beaten it, you may want to look into Baldur's Gate and the others.
Also, as konpeki said, you can stay away from yellow-name plates, it's a long and tedious read and sooner or later you are bound to ignore them.

One last piece of advice, stop listening to people who tell you what to or not do, just get in there and experience your own adventure, if it involves learning the hard way, that's just part of the fun.