JohnnyBGamer

Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth – Handheld Goodness

Do you ever just enjoy something? Savoring every bit, every crumb, so that nothing is wasted? Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth has been that game for me. The story is a perfect marriage of faith, politics, and human nature.

I have been wanting to play Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth for quite sometime. I often see it, from time-to-time, on sale in the PlayStation Store. But time and time again, I pass on it, not quite sure of what type of game it is.

Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth is a game in the style of old graphic adventures. Or, as we call them today, adventure games. One wanders around, talking and interacting with people and things that are highlighted. The proper amount of conversation, often with many characters, or an item given end up moving the story forward.

The story starts out with a family, traveling, through the woods. They have stopped for the night due to the cold. Their mother is pregnant and the baby is coming. Tom Builder, the husband, has to assist his wife in labor. How will you:

Keep the children busy (you have two, a boy and a girl)
Warm your hands so that they provide comfort
Speak to your wife

A baby ends up being born. A son. What will you do when your family is cold, starving, and miserable? Will you take care of the baby… or leave it in the cold forest to die?

What We Loved

The hand drawn art style. I can’t emphasize this enough. This game looks pretty!
That you do not have to choose all of the individual dialogue options available. You can tell a character as much as you like. Use up all the dialogue options, and you may end up revealing something you didn’t want to.
Playing this on the Nintendo Switch, which seems like the ideal console for Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth. Handheld goodness.
I do not ever think I’ve played a game where you could walk around quoting scripture (while playing as Philip the monk).

What We Disliked

Technical glitches. I had the game remove the markers it uses to indicate what I can interact with. I thought, for a moment, that I was stuck in the game. Did I mention I hadn’t saved in awhile? Thankfully, after restarting, I started exactly where I had left off.
The glacial pace of some of the storytelling.

In the End

Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth is full of intrigue, suspense, and backstabbing. It is a tale of the Kingsbridge priory and village, set against the backdrop of building a cathedral. I’m in love with the unsettled world of law and order in wake of the accidental death of the King’s son. I want to play more.

5 – Just buy it already

Title: Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth
Developer: Daedalic Entertainment
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, iOS
Reviewed On: Nintendo Switch
MSRP: $19.99

Review by Bryan Hall

*Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth was reviewed using a code provided by EvolvePR.

Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth – Loose Lips Sink Ships

In almost every adventure game I’ve ever played, the game wants you to click all of the dialogue choices of a particular character.

Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth encourages you to do the opposite. Don’t want a character to learn something? Simply do not tell them.

I’ve been playing adventure games FOREVER. Retraining myself to not click on all of the dialogue options is hard! But I think it is necessary in order to keep some mystery.

Oh, you didn’t want to know that little Bartholomew killed the puppy with a stone? That he is a little mass murderer? Okay then.

Mystery.

From Across the Net – “Revival at Asbury: A Cold Take”

Tim Challies wrote some thoughts on the Asbury Revival today. I know that many have offered their takes, but I found his comments to be helpful.

“When revival breaks out, we need to guard against treating it as something that has an almost mystical or mythical quality to it. God’s plan for the world is centered around the church, so we should be careful not to inadvertently disparage his “Plan A” which is—and always will be—the church. Of course we should also hesitate to treat revival as if it is nothing or to speak ill of what God may be using for his glory.”

Death, Invincibility, and Living in the Now

About two weeks ago, our neighbor came over and said he had something he needed to talk about. He found out that he had cancer. A highly aggressive form of cancer too (he was having trouble breathing). Today, Tabitha called me to tell me he had passed away.

I am not sure what to think; I am not sure what I should be feeling right now. Here was a man who was approaching retirement. No doubt thinking that he would then have time to do all the things one does in retirement. But no. Retirement was a dream that went poof the moment he breathed his last breath.

What does that mean for me?

I am not getting any younger. My 20’s are a distant memory. My 30’s were the decade I thought I’d finally figure everything out… and didn’t. Now in my early 40’s, I see 50 looming like a oncoming freight train. Saving for retirement should be priority.

My Grandpa Hall retired sometime in his 60’s. Him and my grandma had some good years together, where they traveled and did stuff. Quickly though I watched as dementia slipped in. My grandpa was perfectly healthy minus the dementia. I watched as he became a shell of the man he was. Within his eyes one could see that he knew what was going on. For him, retirement equaled a few good years, dealing with dementia, and then death. I don’t want that.

I don’t want to wait until some magical age where I can retire and FINALLY do all the things I’ve wanted to do. I want to do those things now.

My Grandpa Ayers died in his sleep, at home, in his early 60’s. (I still tear up even thinking about this. Death makes us just a little bit raw. It’s as if we know, deep down, there is something more… that we were meant for so much more.) My grandpa lived his life to the fullest. Investing in my brother and I when my dad was busy working, providing for our family. If anything, I want to live like my grandpa. Who even after he had retired, found out he had to go back to work (a man he had invested with ran off with my grandparent’s money). All through it, I never heard my grandpa complain. He just smiled, loved on us kids, and went to work. Work equaled a means to enjoy his family.

Death can come for any of us at any moment. To think we are invincible, that we somehow can ward off death, is a fool’s thought. Just like my next door neighbor, one moment you are here, the next moment you are facing eternity.

Press Start – Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth

I’ve long wanted to play Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth. It is one of those games that I see on sale for a few bucks, think about purchasing for a moment, but then conclude that now is not the time. I was also unsure exactly what I would be getting into. What “gameplay” did The Pillars of the Earth have? Doing a little research, the game is basically a visual novel where your choices matter. Having played That Dragon Cancer, Batman: The Telltale Series, and even Mutazione, Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth was right up my alley.

Last night, I played through the introduction (which had me, the husband, pulling midwife duties for my in-game wife). Color me intrigued.