I've played quite a few crpgs in my time (icewind dale and baldurs gate, wasteland 2, divinity original sin, pathfinder kingmaker) but this one stand out far above them to me. each one of those is a great game with exceptional strengths (except kingmaker), but none of them stand up to the dominance of pillars of eternity in every part of the game.

the gameplay is definitely my favorite out of all the real time crpgs ive played. each character in your party has very unique abilities, and manage to stay simple and palatable at the same time. you will always know exactly how to best utilize every last ability in your entire party, and this simplicity allows player skill to impact fights in much more fluid and satisfying way. this in comparison to games like pathfinder kingmaker, which have almost too many abilities for you to comprehensively use, which either slows down combat to a painful crawl, or has you lower the difficulty; or in contrast to baldurs gate and icewind dale, where combat feels very empty with very little for characters to do. despite ostensibly taking place in real time, slow mode and free pausing while you assign your party members means the game is still a tactical strategy game first and foremost. critically, it isnt an adaptation of any ttrpg system. so many games like baldurs gate or kingmaker are forced to make drastic concessions or adaptational changes, and combat ends up rather flat and overly simple. a ttrpg is made with the engagement coming from your dice and friends at the table running it yourself. pillars of eternitys combat is made with all the depth and complexity afforded to it by being a computer game.

the story is downright remarkable. the writing itself is beautiful, and has admittedly brought me to tears at least a few times just by the sheer quality of it. the characters all make perfect sense as you talk to them, they feel real and consistent, and they all come together and play off each other's solid personalities very well. the plot is absolutely fascinating, focusing both on depicting contemporary real world issues, as well as storylines and conflicts entirely unique to its own fantasy setting. the tone is top notch, as a dark fantasy that never stoops to cartoony characters or tropey levity. it's unique, engaging, thought-provoking, and just so creative.

the graphics and music are by far my favorite out of all these games ive played. i really love the music of this game, and i dont really care about video game music at all normally. this is probably because of how unique it is, it always stands out from other game soundtracks, and is always recognizable in its style. as well, i personally strongly prefer 2d environments and simple models over full 3d worlds. every environment and dungeon room is hand painted and bespoke. this game builds upon the art style established by the older games of its genre, and works only to enhance it, focusing on the existing charm to create something truly wonderful. this applies not only to the graphics, but to every part of the game as a whole. 10/10