No, the first game gave me no reason to seek out the sequel.

Agree. Got the same feeling from DA Inquisition.

As for games in the IE style, I've never been a big fan. The camera position has always made me feel distant from both the characters and action. Add to that the fact that most of the games aren't voiced, and I tend to feel like I'm watching a boring, silent tv show rather than playing an experience. A few have worked for me, but most don't. Same reason I can't get invested in Diablo.

Find it interesting that no one is talking about either of these two games in terms of the stories being engaging, exciting, or emotional.

The story of Pillars of eternity 1 is really engaging I loved it, it is just one of the many great thing about the game and the only one where you cannot esplain why it's great without spoilers, while the main story of PoE 2 is more a side quest (the great thing about this game are side quests, there are a lot and they are great).

The camera distance is important to manage the party, also PoE 2 is fully voice acted (I, on the contrary, think this is a bad thing, I read faster than the voice and English is not my native language so reading in Italian and listen to a English voice over is not that great), PoE 1 is only partially voice over.

Not sure if you will enjoy the game (since you already said that you don't like bird view camera) but I loved the story part of PoE.

For DoS the main focus is the combat. But the story is not bad at all.

To me the story was a mixed bag. There actually were some interesting parts to story and setting, but I felt it was uneven; for all the things that were special and gripping, there were just as many if not more things that were repeating your average fantasy tropes and therefor boring to me.

One thing I can say in favor of PoE is that contrary to D:OS I actually played through it (and the DLCs) completely, while I stopped playing D:OS halfway through. That's also related to me playing PoE on my own and D:OS with a friend though. (We both don't really know why we stopped, but I was under the impression that he lost interest. And personally I had some difficulties adapting to playing it in co-op, at first, because I'm a - borderline OCD - completionist in single player, reading everything there is to read, searching every nook and cranny, and that play style is not ideal for multiplayer, and D:OS does few to encourage you to play differently, as, like I said, it's still very much a single player game with lots of dialogue and loot and secrets to find.)

Anyway, since I finished PoE, I also wrote a review for it at the time. The only things I forgot to mention in it, from my memory, were that I also disliked the level cap and the Kickstarter backer NPCs. To me, the grindy combat against the same type of enemy groups later in the game completely lost its point once I couldn't even get any more XP rewards from it, which made it even worse. And everywhere there are these backer NPCs standing around that if you click on them give you a vision about their experiences in the form of a little short story written by a backer (kind of like the sensory stones in Planescape: Torment's sensate headquarters; not sure if you played that). They vary in quality, most are not that great, just walls of text that have nothing to do with the rest of the game and don't really fit into the settng either. Fortunately, they are marked by a specific color and even as a completionist, I soon learned not to click on them anymore.

Pillar of Eternity is boring, the sequel is better but still... Level Cap is too low

about the level cap you are right.
Even I, that loved PoE 1 and 2, was disappointed in the low level cap... I like to be overpowered in the ending of the game but with PoE it was impossible and I had to lower the difficulty (especially in the latest PoE 2 dlc which is the only one that I didn't like).
The problem is that many had complained about the opposite (i.e. that the game was too easy) while I always found it very balanced and, as I hate to decrease the difficulty while I'm playing, I did everything to finish everything at the level that I had chosen.
With PoE 1 there was only one dragon (the ice one) that forced me, while in PoE 2 (which was for the most part excellent and balanced) what broke everything was the last dlc (that of the coven magicians), even the combat arena dlc was still possible without lower the difficulty level and interesting (it was great to learn many tactics in that dlc, it was really different from the rest of the game).

The problem, I think, it's the level cap. Since the 3rd dlc is more difficult than the rest of the game.

Well, I haven't finished the first Pillars of Eternity yet but Deadfire is one of my all-time favorite games, definitely my favorite narrative RPG. If we're talking about the first Pillars of Eternity vs. Divinity: Original Sin, I'd say PoE is a little bit better. Larian is a great studio with great development ethic and indisputable skill in creating fun, memorable RPGs and game worlds. I've thoroughly loved the series so far; I own all the games but I've only played Original Sin and Divine Divinity so far (working on a full, chronological playthrough).

However, two things that make the Pillars of Eternity better are:

1) The combat.

and

2) The overall atmosphere/storytelling/world building.

I really, really despise turn-based combat systems. While Original Sin definitely has the best of the best when it comes to turn-based combat systems, I will always prefer more action-oriented combat. RTwP delivers the best of both worlds, which is why PoE is superior overall... that being said, I will say this much: the combat in the first PoE is quite frustrating at times. They really perfected the formula in PoE2.

As for the atmosphere, story and world building, the reason I say that is because PoE takes itself way more seriously. I don't mind lighthearted, more whimsical fantasy as long as the silliness and whimsy isn't over-the-top. In fact, I find Larian's sense of humor to be quite refreshing and fun. However, I certainly prefer that more serious, epic tone that PoE has. The world of Eora is a great amalgamation of the elements of fantasy, epic mythology, realistic (and massively interesting) characters which creates an inherently more interesting world. Rivellon is a fun, fantastical world to explore but the darker, grittier elements tend to only appear when they're shown in a humorous light. I don't feel nearly as attached to the characters in Original Sin as I do in PoE. Furthermore, the storytelling is just my personal preference in RPGs. I like having open world freedom in games but when it comes to narrative-driven games, I don't like being too lost, scratching my head as to what I should do next or what I need to do to complete a quest. Instead, I prefer the game challenge to lie more in the management of reputation/relationship systems, as well as engaging combat that isn't excruciating in difficulty.

That being said, I really love both franchises and both developers; they're among my favorites (as you can see on my profile bio). Credit for the best fantasy world name in history goes to Larian with Rivellon. As a Christian, I also like that a lot of the themes in the Divinity series seem to touch on issues and themes within my own faith (though most of it is open to individual interpretation). However, I just prefer the overall design and world of Pillars of Eternity. Also, Obsidian's sound team did a better job with sound design and music, IMO. Kirill Pokrovsky's (RIP) soundtracks had some really beautiful pieces in them, there's no denying that, but I just prefer the soundtracks on PoE; there aren't many better RPG themes than the Eora theme. But yeah, I love both of 'em, I just prefer PoE overall.

In TL;DR terms, if I used only a quick phrase to describe the difference between the two...

Divinity series: fun, lighthearted and pretty
Pillars of Eternity series: artistic, epic and beautiful

That is a game I wish I had purchased when I had the chance. Have heard from a number of people who enjoyed it.

once you've gone bioware ;)

though imma say it, you migth enjoy Tyranny for the... perspective.... It is the same company and if confronted with the option of choosing between DoS and Tyranny....

Torment:Tides of Numera is another epic title, at least epic to me since i stopped playing after feeling disgusted/confused by with chosen the option of being eaten alive, maybe one day

tales can still be obtained through igg or fitgirl but i'm not sure if it is a working version

Tyranny is a good game but it's hard to get into, IMO. Part of that may just be the way I play RPGs, though: I only really play good guys or at least neutral guys. Working for the bad guys feels weird to me. Then again, I'm kinda playing it in an attempt to outwit and outmaneuver Kyros and hopefully find a way to free the world from their reign.

I haven't played Tides of Numenera yet but I really want to. Right now, I can't afford it, though. inXile definitely knows what they're doing, I love how they've revived/created spiritual successors to some of Interplay's greatest hits. It makes me so glad to see the classic Interplay and Black Isle teams basically reunited again through inXile and Obsidian; it's not quite the revival of the Interplay golden age but we're certainly getting some of the greatest modern and classic-styled RPGs from them both.

yes sir both interplay and black isle were responsible for many many good hours in my youth

Especially the start for Tyranny ( i do belief you need a dlc i just bought the complete set without doubt ) you are confronted with many choices before the actual game starts. This setting of a back ground really adds to the immersia. You choose a role in the court you are part of and ( this is what others say ) this part combined with the versatility in character choices really grant this game added replay value outside the oh lets try this class.

Pathfinders manages to deliver the same through their story telling in some part of the game making some parts more rpg like then ever.

The similarities between Tides Pathfinder and the obsidian games are staggering, i did not do any research but would you happen to know if they all use a similar engine?

anyways i hope that my rpg feeling will return again somewhere later this year but for now i can only find some degree of satisfaction in the puzzles some 4x games offer or the killerinstinct awakend by Grim Dawn!

I know quite a few of these retro RPGs use Unity, especially PoE, but I'm not sure which ones other than that. I do have Pathfinder: Kingmaker and it seems to be quite a bit of fun so far. Also, I definitely want to get Grim Dawn, it seems like quite a bit of fun! I've enjoyed action RPGs like Diablo but I don't pour as much time into them as I do open world or story-driven RPGs.