Pillars of Eternity is a modern cRPG that is well constructed, but not particularly special. No element in this game stands out as above average. The story is extremely slow to develop. The overall story is interesting, but the slow pace removes all tension. The characters feel as if they're meandering along a linear path to a predetermined ending that the player cannot affect. Other than some interesting dialogue options, I do not feel that any of the choices that I made affected the story whatsoever. The writing is not particularly captivating. The combat is frustrating and requires a great deal of micromanagement. The combat makes up a large percentage of the game play, but players are not rewarded for participating in combat. i.e. combat provides mediocre loot and no experience gain. The stronghold management is poorly designed and detracts from the game. I give the game three stars because of the art, the voice acting, and the nostalgia factor. The game play and story are really a 2/5. I purchased PoE due to the glowing reviews on Metacritic (89%) and GoG (4/5), and due to the fact that it was created by Obsidian. I paid $40 for the Definitive Edition, and I do not feel that it was worth the price. For Mac users: I used GoG Galaxy for my installation on Mac OS X High Sierra, and it worked perfectly. I recommend Mac users use GoG Galaxy for their installations.
