When comparing Borderlands 2 vs Pillars of Eternity, the Slant community recommends Borderlands 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best games on Steam with a rich story?” Borderlands 2 is ranked 25th while Pillars of Eternity is ranked 61st. The most important reason people chose Borderlands 2 is:
Those playing on local split-screen can play online with others at the same time. This way even if playing locally with a friend, both can experience online play on the same machine and screen.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Actual couch co-op that can also be played online
Those playing on local split-screen can play online with others at the same time. This way even if playing locally with a friend, both can experience online play on the same machine and screen.
Pro Complimentary classes that are great for teamwork based co-op
The varying classes and play styles are designed to work together and promote co-op play. One player may be a tank, with large guns and durable shields, while another may have medic abilities and a long-range sniper rifle. This makes for a scenario where each class compliments each other, which is a fun way to play together.
Pro Cl4p-trap for the win <3
Clap trap <3
Pro So much loot, that you will barely see any twice
Borderlands 2 makes it feel like Christmas every time you kill an enemy or open a chest. Whether it's ammo or health or a new and better weapon, whatever you find will reward your curiosity and pique your appetite for more. The potential to find the best loot in the most humble locations makes killing enemies and finding chests incredibly exciting and satisfying. While many loot-based games succeed due to this mechanic, Borderlands 2 surpasses the competition by delivering randomized goodies with unique appearances and stats.
The guns and items in Borderlands 2 have distinct visual features depending on their attributes. For example, a gun with a melee attack bonus might have a blade on it. The customization goes beyond pallet swapping (where the only difference is the color), which leads players to become much more attached to their guns than a bunch of polygons should make them.
You will also find tons and tons of different types of guns. Six different types of guns exist in the game. Each gun can be made by one of eight different manufacturers. Each gun is also made of five additional parts. All of which are generated randomly. With the many millions of combinations available, you never know what attributes the next gun you will find will have. This also gives a slightly different experience to each playthrough, because it’s entirely unpredictable what weapons you will find and when.
Pro Contains fun low-brow humor that can still be serious when it needs to be
Despite being an in-your-face action game with an ostensibly serious plot, Borderlands 2 features a fun-loving sense of humor. This is exaggerated in the sidequests, which feature some of the funniest and most creative writing. This helps the player dive into the main plot while also having the choice to go on sidequests that offer an expanded sense of humor.
The humor is often based on popular memes or lowbrow concepts, which should appeal to a wide range of players.
Pro Each playthrough is a different experience
Borderlands 2 is all about options. With near-infinite weapon options and six character classes, you can play the game multiple times and have a different experience each time. The classes have multiple skill trees that let you tweak your character’s moves and abilities to match how you want to play. This all adds up to a gaming experience that is difficult to beat for customizability.
Pro Stylish comic book like art style that breaks from the herd
The solid black outlines and bright colors make this game look great and stand out from other first-person shooters. The artistic style is similar to the art in comics, clean and bright and breaks with the trend of gray and brown in recent FPS video games.
Pro Runs well on low-spec hardware
It even runs well on a core2duo from 2007, and the comic look is timeless without looking outdated.
Pro Combat requires forethought
The combat in Pillars of Eternity usually requires a good bit of planning. Depending on the monsters one is facing the scenario shifts on how one needs to react. Fighting a couple of bandits will call for a complete different reaction than fighting a large dragon. Players have to adapt constantly, which creates an exciting atmosphere and a good bit of tension. The use of the space bar (or having a setting that auto pauses) to pause the game is key in planning how to react to each scenario which thankfully gives the player plenty of time to plan their future actions.
Pro Rich storytelling
One of the main highlights of Pillars of Eternity is the rich and deeply involved story telling. The minutia to be found in game is almost exasperating. Every aspect of the world and the characters within have a very involved background with many different reactions to the players chosen character (race, class, etc.). On top of this there is often very well done voice acting to accompany these scenarios, giving even more life to the game.
Pro Movie quality music
The quality of the soundtrack is comparable to some of the best CRPGs out there as well as films like Lord of the Rings. At times there are looping soundtracks but luckily the sound design was done in such a way that there is also moments of ambient music and sounds to break up the monotony.
Pro Large selection of companions
A player can have up to five different companions accompany them along their quest. Many of these companions have their own storylines, making for a feeling of connection. There is also the option of hiring your own user created companions at an inn, but of course this may not be as exciting as using the game created ones.
Pro Deep character creation
The character creation menu in Pillars of Eternity are highly detailed. The player can choose from six different races that have eleven playable classes. There is also an assortment of sub races for each of the six races. Making for a pretty wide selection of choices that allows the player to create very individualized avatars.
Pro Fantastic throwback to the isometric RPGs of old
For fans of games like Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, Pillars of Eternity truly succeeds in bringing the CRPG genre into the modern era without compromising any of the old mechanics. The isometric view of the game gives a familiar feel but the new engine and addition of many modern effects gives the game a look all its own that fits in with any modern offerings on PC.
Pro Long gameplay
With a play time of up to 70 hours, Pillars of Eternity will last any player for a good amount of time.
Pro Interesting companions
The player travels with a set of unique companions that will make his or her gaming experience even better! You can interact with them, get to know them personally, as well as you may do quests for some of them.
Pro Crafting system
Players can collects items in the world to use for crafting. Crafting allows for creation of potions and scrolls as well as equipable items or enchantments for equipable items such as weapons, shields and armor.
Unlike some crafting systems, crafting in Pillars of Eternity is a mechanic and not a skill, so there is no need to level up any crafting experience in order to craft.
Pro Three editions available that offer extra out of game content
There are three different digital retail editions available for Pillars of Eternity, Hero Edition ($44.99), Champion Edition ($59.99) and Royal Edition ($89.99). The Hero edition is the base game with no extras. The Champion Edition offers the purchaser extra digital content such as a soundtrack and HD map. The Royal Edition offers everything the Champion Edition does with even more extra digital content such as Ringtones, eBooks and a strategy guide.
There is zero in game content missing from any of these editions as Obsidian made it a point to make sure all the extras are just that, extras. Some may say what is on offer for the extra editions is not comparable to the price, really it is just a way for fans to give more money to a studio that bothered to create a genre of game that is often overlooked, a way to show appreciation.
Cons
Con Gameplay can become repetitive
The best strategy is often to run away, take cover, shoot, and repeat. The AI doesn't do much to pursue you, which gives the player a significant advantage and makes patience vital. It can also lead to long firefights with little actual danger – a recipe for boredom.
Con Boring bulletsponge enemies
A lot of the enemies, and especially bosses, are just bulletsponges that require no different tactics in place to beat them.
Con There is little actual cooperation between players
Most of the "cooperation" in Borderlands 2 is limited to shooting the same mob. There are almost no skills or perks that integrate with other characters in a meaningful way (there are a few stat bonuses, but that's pretty much it).
Con Tedious to check gun stats
Being forced to check the stats on each gun you find in order to be able to compare it to the items already in your inventory can become tedious.
Con Limited visual customization of characters
For a game that is full of choices, Borderlands 2 is somehow lacking in visual customization options for the player’s character. There is no way to customize the characters’ faces or body styles; for the most part all that can be changed is the color of their outfit. This can lead to online games full of identical characters, which is not only confusing but also makes it difficult to feel any sort of pride or ownership over your character.
Con Unbalanced enemies
Whether by bugs or by poor design, you may be fighting weak minions at one moment and an enemy that's stronger than the final boss at the other, Crystalisks are almost immune to DLCs characters due to bugs, Pyrotrashers can instakill players just by spawning, the second boss represents a huge difficulty spike right at the beginning, some mini-bosses like Saturn can easily down the player in half the time that the final boss while having roughly the same HP.
Con More tedious with each run
Each time you try to play again in a new difficulty the game becomes even more grindy, slow and brutal.
After the first playthrough a lot of strategies and builds become useless and after the second one only the most OP synergies and builds have a chance to survive, so get ready to search up in google and grind for the most OP stuff you can find.
Con Overrated
It gets old doing the same thing over and over.
Con NPC always talk in the background or HUD
You can't have a funny conversation or nice conversation with your friend, you need to listen to a NPC scream, cry, rant on your ears all along.
Con Tons of jokes just don't land
Yes there are some good jokes that could make you laugh, but you need to hear 150 unfunny forced jokes to get there.
Con Potential lost loot due to sharing
Loot isn't reserved for each individual player when playing co-op, meaning the first person to get to the loot can take as much of it as they want. This can lead to contention between co-op players, which defeats the purpose of cooperative play.
Con Loading screen hell
Zone changes are painfully slow and really sap the fun out of the game.
Con A lot of reading
The amount of text in game may turn some people off as much of the time spent in game will be spent reading.
Con Gameplay is lacking
While clearly an homage to Baldur's gate, the gameplay of PoE does not have anything like its depth. Choices, items and tactical options are very much reduced and, if strategizing for your party plays an important part of what you might enjoy about an RPG, PoE may very well not scratch that itch. Very much a simplified gameplay experience.
Con Single player only
There are no online or co-op modes.