A special mode in Pillars of Eternity 2 is so difficult that it almost borders on self-torture. Even the developers personally congratulate you on completing it!
When you hear the term “hard game”, you probably think of Dark Souls, Sekiro or The Lion King for the Game Boy (that was so mean, really!). The YouTuber Mortismal Gaming is now introducing a new candidate that deserves the label brutally difficult
: Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire.
By this we don’t mean the role-playing game in normal mode, which most of you are likely to know. Although there are some tricky parts here too, especially towards the end of the campaign, it’s nothing compared to the game’s true hard mode.
We’ll tell you everything worth knowing about this remarkable achievement in detail:
- What is the hard mode of Pillars of Eternity 2 all about?
- How did the YouTuber manage this challenge?
- How did the developers react to it?
- Why is Sören so traumatized by The Lion King (okay, we’ll leave that out)?
The ultimate challenge in PoE 2
In his video, Mortismal Gaming shows the exact conditions of the run, which are: Pillars of Eternity 2 must be played through in Triple Crown mode while completing all twelve God Challenges.
This combination is quite a challenge:
Pillars of Eternity 2 runs in
The aforementioned God Challenges are no less brutal. The player must have completed certain quests by a given time, otherwise the game ends. In addition, the NPC Vela accompanies us throughout the entire game and the young lady must not bite the dust at any time.
Also…nice
: If a companion goes down for ten real-time seconds in combat, he dies. Oh yes, escape in combat is never possible.
We have embedded the video mentioned at the beginning of this special challenge for you here:
The way to success: This is how the YouTuber proceeded
For his hero character, Mortismal Gaming chose a very specific class combination, namely Bloodmage in conjunction with Priest of Skaen. This gives him access to some unique skills for overcoming all the challenges of the Triple Crown mode.
The Bloodmage can restore class resources in combat. The focus is on the ability to sacrifice health points in order to cast powerful spells. The Priest of Skaen, on the other hand, has three spells that are indispensable for the challenge:
- Withdraw protects the NPC Vela in combat, making this spell indispensable for success.
- Barring Death’s Door and Salvation of Time in combination with a certain Iten make the character almost immortal, as the buffs from the two spells can be stacked endlessly.
Doesn’t sound too hard!
you might think. The catch is that you first have to get this far in order to learn these powerful spells. And don’t forget: you still have to complete the God Challenges first.
Especially the first hours of gameplay in Pillars of Eternity 2 are therefore a real ordeal. But Mortismal Gaming actually managed to complete the Triple Crown mode – and for that, there was a special reward.
A post from a role-playing legend
The PoE developers at Obsidian Entertainment were probably quite surprised when, after a long time, an email with the subject line I did it, ha!
(or something like that) popped up in their inbox.
Of course, it’s not enough to simply claim that you’ve completed the Triple Crown mode. You need to provide proof. The YouTuber had to submit the recording of the entire game play session as well as the save file so that Obsidian could check the legitimacy.
Afterwards, Mortismal Gaming was delighted to receive a very special gift: a personalized letter from cult developer Josh Sawyer His works include not only Icewind Dale, Fallout: New Vegas and Neverwinter Nights 2. He also served as game director on Pillars of Eternity 2.
Would you like to receive a letter like this from Josh Sawyer? No problem, you still have plenty of time to do so. Obsidian wants to keep handing out this gift until a total of 50 people have completed the Triple Crown mode.
