Initially my plan was to write a full-game spoiler-based post about Pillars of Eternity, but since I figure most people haven’t finished the game yet, I’ll let that one sit for a bit. I do however want to talk about the Endless Paths, because I think the story within that place is very interesting, and I’m also unsure about of a few of the plot details.

Lot of spoilers here, so if you haven’t finished the Endless Paths and don’t want anything revealed, skip this post.

One of the things I really liked, and I thought the place got right, was the evolution of the dungeon and the story. The first few levels are the basement of your keep, and you get the sense that creatures moved down into those levels, while the second half of the dungeon is creatures moving up from the lower levels. Small detail, but pretty cool.

I like how the first half was centered around some group of adventurers that tried to explore the place, but ultimately failed. Most floors have the body of one of them, along with a note hinting at what happened. A nice detail was the ogre quest, where the ogre explains that his patron was poisoned and corrupted from eating the little Xaurip, who you later find out are poisoned by the final act of the adventurer who died in the blood pit on floor five. I like how that story wraps up when you open the door on floor 6, going further than anyone has in a long time.

The second half is more like the mad workshop of Od Nua, and here is where I’m missing some plot details. For instance, the giant statue is called the Titan, is made of adra, and has souls inside it that the adra dragon is fueling itself off of. Od Nua, I believe, intended to somehow use the Titan to get the soul of his dead son back, but did he build the Titan, and if so, did he build it for the purpose of finding his son’s soul? Do they ever explain how his son died? Also the final few floors show a rebellion against Od Nua by his workers, but he is imprisoned because of the adra dragon on the final floor, correct? Did his workers rebel just because he was mad, or was it something else?

Does the adra dragon ever explain how it got itself stuck, other than the fact that more and more adra builds on its body? In my game I completed the quest to move its soul out of the Paths and into the body of the dragon hunter, but I wonder what happens if you manage to kill the dragon (It basically one-shot me the two times I tried fighting him, so that wasn’t an option). Completing the quest that way doesn’t shed a lot of light on that situation or the relationship with Od Nua, other than making the dragon not seem completely horrible as a… person.

I would love to see a future expansion or even a sequel do something major with the Titan. The easy option would be to have it come alive, but since it’s made of adra and seems to store souls, there are other options as well that would be interesting.

Anything major I missed or that you found interesting?