Recent reviews by Harry Hole

i dont normally get very into contemporary online games, but i cannot stress enough how phenomenal of an experience this game is for anyone that cares about shooters or co op games. i could go on for hours about every small detail and decision made that makes this game so unique and fun and cool

i was very excited for this game, im a big time classic rpg head and i also love co op games. this game is a profound disappointment.

random skill checks are genuinely a nightmare. i played this game with a friend at first so i wouldnt just savescum all the time, and it just extremely frustrating to leave everything up to d20 rolls. the lack of a normal distribution means trying to "build" your character towards anything is still wildly unreliable, the sheer range of equally possible results on a d20 far outweighs your proficiency bonus. so the alternative is to just drown every skill check as many buffs as possible, stacking up guidance and inspiration so the choices you made with your character build and proficiencies *still* hardly matter at all.

combat is just 5e with a few minor changes. theres a few egregiously bad decisions in 5e that are easy to ignore entirely playing on tabletop with your friends, but in a computer game, it is *enforced* that you are not allowed to use your action on something that costs a bonus action. 5e also just has very little depth in its combat, everything feels the same because it just comes down to what gives you advantage. martial classes just put themselves in positions to get advantage, and spellcasters either just cast nukes or spells that give your martial classes easier access to advantage, and some classes or builds just get completely shafted by the action economy. combat is also remarkably frustrating to navigate, movement is entirely committal but pathing is awful and the camera is unwieldy.

of course, the story is going to be the most subjective and personal, and i do think theres plenty to like about the story. but i also personally think that some characters are better than others, and it can be hard to find a lot of the actually engaging plot threads.

if im twenty hours into an rpg and im not invested in any of the characters or searching for answers to important questions, if im not craving more combat or advancing my character, it makes me want to play something else.

the game has improved a lot since launch and is still getting better. the gameplay is just fantastic and always has been, such a fun and engaging game

lets not beat around the bush: this game was proudly written and directed by a gamergater and it shows.

the elephant in the room is the cumans. now itd make sense that a bunch of uneducated catholic peasants would be resentful of the unfamiliar cuman mercenaries hired to pillage and murder across the peaceful countryside. but this game seems rather indulgent in having every single character loudly voice their opinion that the cumans are all godless savages, evil to the core. there is of course no effort to provide any sympathy or resolution for the cuman people at large. people love to pull the excuse of "well, [insert asian steppe culture here] isnt around anymore, so im not hurting anybody by calling them corrupt eastern barbarians" but its painfully obvious they just want an excuse to talk about how scared they are of asians.

a point of contention is that theres nothing but white people throughout the game. people love to shout about how of course there werent any black people there at the time, but whats actually relevant is that there were of course many different turkic people living in 15th century bohemia, but their only representation in this game are the foreign cuman murderers and rapists there to antagonize you the whole time.

another point of contention is the role of women. sure, you dont need to portray a world of total gender equality. but its very possible to have any sort of sensitivity, of which there is absolutely none to be found in this game. women tell you stories late at night in your bedroom of their husbands tragic death, and how good and strong you are; you rescue them from scary asian invaders; your characters mother doesnt even have a name before shes brutally killed because her husband failed to save her.

and now for things you gamers actually care about. the game is very poorly optimized for pc, with severe pop in issues and wildly unstable framerate. the game boasts of an open world full of quests, but every side quest is a blatantly half assed fetch quest. the game as a whole is a very promising immersive sim with very creative combat i guess, but most people wont like how intentionally punishing and inconvenient it is.

this very quickly made it into maybe my top 3 favorite video games of all time. i got 100% completion on my first playthrough.

if you like star wars like i do, youll love this games story and characters. its fantastic, and very refreshing considering they dont make good star wars movies anymore. this game plays out like a very slow star wars movie. the plot genuinely moved me, and there is so much cinematic creativity throughout

the combat is good. its closer to sekiro than a souls game, with a strong emphasis on parrying and a much faster pace, and neat abilities and powerups to get, but boss fights feel pretty aimless and random

the exploration is neat. i enjoyed getting 100%, mostly because i really love the cosmetics. the cosmetic customization in this game is just great btw. lightsaber parts, jackets, droid skins, and ship skins. any puzzles are simple enough to be pleasant, and nothing is TOO out of the way with thorough exploration and a little creativity.

the soundtrack is very nice. nothing id listen to out of context, but it brings great flavor and tone in the moment. the graphics are just incredible. i really didnt think it would be possible for facial animation to be at this level, not just for the human characters, but the aliens too.

phenomenal game, a near pinnacle of cinematic presentation and storytelling in a video game

the tag system is genuinely extremely fun and gives the game so much depth, on top of things like pushblock reflecting and infinity storms
also rollback netcode

this game rocks i like it

its really not limited, its not "solved", the lobbies work now, the rollback is still great, and its fun :)

if youre not already playing this, dont. this game is doing everything in its power to be hostile and confusing to new players

pway hawf wife uwu

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