Pillars of Eternity: Hero Edition

What I loved: - Big focus on character customization: ez implementation of custom portraits etc if ALWAYS welcome for me. And adding custom companions to replace the standard ones - even more so - New interesting classes and abilities: while perplexed at first with the complexity of it all, I found it very intriguing later. I started experimenting with my own builds instead of finding ones online - Character reset option: fucked up your build? No problem! Just visit a tavern and fix it for a relatively small sum of gold! Great idea - Decent plot: while it's nowhere near Torment level, I was way more invested in it than the ones of Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale - Combat mechanics: very intuitive, reminiscent of old-school isometric RPGs, but even better! What annoyed me (just a bit): - Custom companion penalty: while 1 level isn't that much... Why put it in at all? - Music: in my opinion the weakest part of the game, especially the combat tracks - Isometric view has it's cons: while a welcome sight at first, I did have a couple of fights where I couldn't see a damn thing due to trees, shrubs, rocks, spell vfx etc. - [Spoiler] The Adra dragon: what kind of reward could possibly be worth getting past this fight? I had no intention on getting back to this side quest after completing the game

and I'm all about it. This is a first serious CRPG I`ve played and I had a fantastic time 60+ hours to complete base game and DLC. +World building. +Main story. +Party/stronghold management and progression. +Characters. +World map. -Game is quite overwhelming with terms, world history and lore at the beginning. -A LOT of reading. -Difficulty* -Could have used more unique encounters (bosses). -Skyrim voice actor in DLC was giving me PTSD. *Played it on normal difficulty option which the game recommends to play on easy for the first timers of CRPG, but even on normal it was quite a breeze especially so after mid way point and towards the end, with occasional difficulty spikes on bosses. Even so I was overloaded with various potions, scrolls, food buffs, ring effects that were completely unnecessary using them would have been a total overkill. Definately lookin forward to Deadfire going to crank up the difficulty for the first playthrough and I think I might look into other CRPG games.

Im not sure about the dislike this game gets from some lanes of RPG fans. Exposition and "lore dumps" are interesting to those invested in the world. The combat though, is classic Sawyer "balance above all else" the story is interesting, though that is certainly subjective. Its not a low level adventure ala Baldurs Gate, Its not...whatever BG3 is. Its its own thing. Personally I enjoy the setting, the lore, the ambiance of it all. I certainly wouldnt call it perfect, but it stands on its own and among the classic Bioware/IE engine games or just CRPGs its certainly is in the same vein and even class. It may not hold up in nostalga to the classics but for a modern take on a RTWP CRPG? I think its outstanding. Going back to the setting, I prefer the first over the second or even over more whimsical settings ala Pathfinder. Battles are handled quite differently than BG positioning and choke point matter especially in POTD. Overall in almost 300 hours I still find myself coming back to this over Pathfinder, BG3, DOS2 and some of the other more recent offerings in the world of CRPGs. I certainly wouldnt call it my favorite game, but it is my favorite of the crop during the re-emergence of them 10 years ago. Something about the bleak setting, a world teetering on the edge, etc sucks me in every time over the bright colorful worlds of the others.

This game really suffers from a mediocre plot. I had big expectations from this game (I was a baker from day 1), but I got really disappointed when the game came out. The combat system is really nice, so is the character systems. But the plot is linear, got me bored and I never finished the game.

Remember those bad game masters that made their own home brewed game systems and would run you through those terrible home made campaigns, trapping in combats that overpower you where retreat or withdraw is not an option. This is a game that takes all that frustration and pours it into a into a single poorly executed mess. Lets go with the pros of the game: It's pretty and runs well. Cons: The pacing of the game is terrible. You are constantly struggling against being out numbered, out classed, or out leveled. Often it's all at the same time. You do not get equipment, cash or levels fast enough and every battle is a grueling slug fest. This is a turned based game that is put to a real time beat, so managing your group in combat leaves you constantly pausing the game to micromanage each character. Character pathing is atrocious and the character 'bases' are larger than they look often making it look like you can move a character thru a space but then the get stuck or roam around the entire battle field provoking free attacks from the enemy which leads to... The stupid engagement mechanic. If you 'engage' a target and then they try to move away you get a free attack. This only works against you never in your favor. Enemies that come in large groups will pin your front line and then the rest will maneuver around and get to your casters and if they try to flee, the enemy gets a free attack. When you have a stat that adjusts the radius of a spell you need a casting circle so you're not constantly guessing where the spell is going to strike. Also you can't cast on character portraits so you have to hunt for your team on the battle field to heal or support them. The stat system is anti intuitive spreading defenses over six stats so you always have glaring weakness that allows one of the enemy to one hit your characters. There is no enough space for the aggravating cons of this game. Don't waste your money.