Pillars of Eternity

The systems are more complex than they need to be (EVERY character class is multi-ability score dependent), damage-immune creatures return from old D&D games even though no one ever wanted them, and I never really cared that my character was a Watcher (can't I just be an elf rogue? Is that not fantasy enough?) BUUUUUUUUT it was an endlessly fun game. I loved the classes and how none of them felt useless. The voice acting was good, and the writing was better than the lame story deserved.

Like all of Obsidian's games, this is pretty good but comes with lots of issues. Crashes after running an hour. The load screens kill the pacing. Combat is good, really deep, but there's probably too much of it.. Story takes too long to get going but once it does it gets pretty good, shaking itself free of the fantasy genre's Tolkien roots and going off in a different direction.

I had a lot of fun with this game other than occasional rage-inducing moments of difficulty. The required pauses on high difficulties could kill the mood for many though.

Good writing does not necessarily mean good story :/

Zzz. The game's title should be abbreviated as "PilloE", as it contains some of the most bloated, joyless writing in video gaming, joined by an opaque combat system and hordes of trash mobs that simply waste the player's time. The game's greatest strength lies in its intricate character system; once you understand how the mechanics work (which involves spreadsheets and counting frames), it can be good fun to try out different builds and combinations. Shame that the actual content is so lousy.

The actual RPG elements of the game are solid. The combat is brutal, and it gets a bit tiring when you have to pause every few seconds to micro-manage your party or else even simple enemies can wipe the floor with you. That gets tedious. But it has a great story and a little bit of replay value. If you loved old school Baldur's Gate, you'll love Pillars of Eternity.

The game systems just aren't interesting, and the story simply can't pick up the slack. It's an overstuffed, generic, modern imitation of iconic 1990s Western RPGs. I did very much enjoy the illustrated adventure-book, multiple-choice story vignette inserts, which is maybe the only thing that stood out to me about this game.

the worst sort of high fantasy gobbledygook. real-time-with-pause needs to die.

I don't exactly dislike this but I feel like it beat me into submission with words until I stopped caring about continuing. It's up to you whether that makes this game excessive quantity over quality writing or if it makes me impatient and uncultured.