And another "controversial" (in this forum mainly) opinion:
Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire is the best isometric CRPG of this decade (perhaps of the last 2 decades). In general isometric CRPGs are archaic and obsolete, but if you have to play one, PoE2 is the best there is. It was vastly improved over the original and is leaps and bounds over its competition in many ways that are convienently ignored for some reason.
1) Graphics: PoEII has the best graphics in isometric crpgs, hands down. Its engine is kinda shit to be honest, but the art is top notch and can't be matched. Its competitors are shit in the art department, DOS2 is a cartoony POS and Cuckmaker has very low quality art in general, especially the maps are shit, not to mention that Cuckmaker also has slightly cartoony art. Deadfire has the best art, the most detailed, most beautiful, and the most "realistic", thus it puts you into a more adventurous mood than the others
2) Audio: Awesome voice acting, among the best ever in any crpg in my opinion. And really good music.
3) Best control scheme, scripting, camera control, UI, AI, against its direct competitors. There is no comparison really. Just play DOS2, Pathfinder, and Deadfire in quick succession, and you will quickly realize this point. Deadfire oozes quality design in its interface with the player. DOS2 has many issues, including frequent misclicking, Cuckmaker is even worse and has tons of bugs. Deadfire is like the only 1 made by a professional team, the other 2 feel like they were made by modders. When you are spending 60 80 100 or even 120 hours in an CRPG, being fluid and problem free to control is of top importance
4) Combat System: Frankly, Deadfire has the best combat. It is not as simplistic and cheesy as DOS2 combat and it is not autistic like Kingmaker combat. It is designed by a team of professionals with experience in crpg design and it is well suited to VIDEO GAMES. I enjoyed Deadfire combat much more than the other 2, hands down
5) Open world and sense of adventuring: This is really great. DOS2 is not really open world, it feels more like a hubworld. It feels small. Cuckmaker does feel like an open world but the maps are tiny and traveling the map is a chore. Not to mention the supply thingy that is tedious and boring and has no place in video games. Fuck this shit.
The only thing that was mediocre in Deadfire was the story, quite frankly. And the ending is kinda retarded and makes the whole adventure a waste of time. I think this is the worst part of the game to be honest. It feels like Obsidian was so obssessed with making a quality open world adventure that they didn't think about the main quest at all. It feels like Skyrim in a sense, the main quest is just "there" and you are supposed to go exploring. But unlike Skyrim (which is meant to be a theme park and benefits from having weak main story and quest), Deadfire is a game that could have used a better story and a better main quest line. I think they dropped the ball on this one.
All in all, even with the story and main quest downside, Deadfire is still the best isometric CRPG in my opinion. I think it is really underrated and deserved more sales. And i don't understand why in the codex supposed monocled prestigious rpgers can't see its quality. Are they really so butthurt that Avellone wasn't in it that they had to trash it? Or is shilling for Russian BG clone more important?