Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
After a 3rd playthrough, first one since launch, DLCs included.
Full disclosure - I love Pillars of Eternity. I backed the game before it came out and my name is among one of the first in the credits. I beat the game twice in succession at launch, but haven't played it since, nor any of the DLCs before now. I wanted to revisit the game ahead of the Avowed launch.
I beat the game on Path of the Damned difficulty, all DLCs included, 100% achievement in about 75-80 hours played time.
First things first: The way Pillars of Eternity (1 and 2) does difficulty is my absolute favorite way. Where a lot of CRPGs tune the enemies ridiculously (like buffing their AC to absurd heights, so you can't hit them) Pillars takes a different approach. The higher the diffuculty, the more enemies you face. Some enemies get upgraded (a whelp is instead a drake) and they tune their armor a bit. This makes for a great challenge, but not one that feels impossible to overcome without breaking the game in some way. Path of the Damned difficulty in the current and last version of the game felt really well tuned. I remember at launch it was a bit too easy, but they have fixed that. Big thumbs up for the balance in the game.
My favorite aspect of Deadfire is the combat. The game has my favorite system in any CRPG. It's incredibly satisfying to take down enemies with the correct dose of debuffs, attacks, buffs, etc. I played a cipher and it felt really good overwhelming enemies' willpower after my mage and priest knocked that particular defense down. The multiclassing and bucketloads of items make for an abundance of great builds you can tool around with - all pretty well balanced.
Deadfire storywise is weak in parts compared to its predecessor. The main story consists of about five bigger quests that in terms of the playtime amount to maybe 10 hours. However, the game is great in its other content. I think it's the most "open world" CRPG there is. The main story pushes you a bit forward, but the world is where it's at. There are multiple factions to work with (or against), plenty of islands to explore, treasure to be found, etc. It all tells a great thematic story about colonisation and faith.
The three DLCs are great additions. In particular I liked Beasts of Winter. Seeker, Slayer, Survivor was my least favorite and felt a bit repetitive.
My biggest gripe with the game is the performance. For a game from 2018 it runs shoddily at times. It seems there's still a memory leak issue or something similar and the frames at times drop below 30 on a modern rig. Unity engine at work I guess... A restart fixed the most immediate problems. Otherwise the game played well and was bugfree for my experience.
I'm biased, I love Pillars of Eternity, and I can't wait for Avowed. I'm a bit sad that Avowed isn't a CRPG, but I'm hoping it's great regardless. Should you play Deadfire? If you like CRPGs it's an absolute MUST. I highly recommend it, 9/10.

For me Baldur´s Gate 2 is the best story driven, party management, isometric RPG that I have ever played (Fallout 1 and 2, and Arcanum being other two worth mentioning).

I loved Divinity Original Sin I and II and Baldur´s Gate 3. Larian did an amazing job. But there was just something missing - every step of the way I felt I could conquer everything with ease as an experienced RPG player. No anxiety, no excitement, no fear of the unknown.

But not in this game. That fear of the unknown, of being underpowered, of: "oh no, there is another set of stairs going down, and my characters are broken, beat, and scarred already...should I turn back?". That is what for me makes an RPG of this type truly great. The feeling of being lost, overpowered, looking for strategic solutions, some crazy tactic to win, and all that on the seventh underground floor of some random dungeon, on some random island, where initially you just went to collect some free water and food. It makes it so much more rewarding and enjoyable once you win, and once you become a bully.

This game combines the best from BG 2 and Arcanum. It reminds me of both. It is not as flashy as Larian games, but boy in my opinion it is much more fun and exciting to play. The lore, the atmosphere, the setting, just perfect.

For the first time in 15-20 years I have that feeling of excitement and anxiety at the same time when playing an RPG of this time (I exclude Dark Souls, Morrowind and Gothic from this talk, because they are not RPGs of the same type).

10/10.

This game feels like a weighty literary classic—challenging, but deeply rewarding for those who see it through to the end.

Well worth your time
Great game! Deep, diverse and imaginary characters, world, factions, races, places, faces and story. A lot of gameplay, i have 147 hours and counting (including 1 DlC). There's a lot of trash loot though and I did spend more time futzing with vendors than I'd have liked, but overall, the game play is great and well worth your time if you like isometric RPG's with either real time or turn based combat.

I wish the quality of this game had been made clearer to me sooner.
Perhaps the best crpg I have ever played, with excellent writing, voice acting, characters, mechanics, classes, and an open world that feels meaningful and expressive to interact with. I sincerely hope that there is a pillars of eternity 3.
The Beast of Winter DLC is one of the strongest story driven expansions I've seen in a crpg, and a delight for anyone who is interested in the lore of the world of Eora.

Deadfire is hands down one of my favorite CRPGs ever
The worldbuilding and lore- Absolutely unmatched. Both Pillars games are to me the best Obsidian has ever done.
Every region, every god, every faction—it all feels so alive and deep. The political plot and wild metaphysical stuff are genuinely cool, everything together make you feel like you're actually in a real historical place, despide being a high fantasy game.
Sailing your ship around Deadfire, finding weird ruins, combats, lost islands, ancient mysteries... it scratches that explorer itch so good.
It also have what it's probably the best implementation of real-time with pause combat in any CRPG. Feels so fluid and tactical once you get into it. Very cool builds & classes too.
If you like CRPGs at all, this one’s a must. I keep coming back to it. Love it.

It is simply a masterpiece. Fantastic Worldbuilding, amazing and perfectly voiced characters, a sense of adventure and a very complex but easy to use framework and ruleset. Loved every hour I spend with this.