When comparing Pillars of Eternity vs Path of Exile, the Slant community recommends Path of Exile for most people. In the question“What are the best RPG games on Steam?” Path of Exile is ranked 11th while Pillars of Eternity is ranked 33rd. The most important reason people chose Path of Exile is:
There's a staggering amount of builds and skills you can try out in Path of Exile. There are 7 classes, 19 subclasses, 194 active skill gems, 107 support gems, and over 1000 skill nodes on the expansive skill tree. As a result, there are hundreds of possible combinations, allowing you to spend hours theory-crafting just to create the perfect build. Even if you don't feel like planning out a build from scratch, you can just look up one of the many guides online and get straight into the action.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
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.
Pro Hundreds of possible character builds
There's a staggering amount of builds and skills you can try out in Path of Exile. There are 7 classes, 19 subclasses, 194 active skill gems, 107 support gems, and over 1000 skill nodes on the expansive skill tree. As a result, there are hundreds of possible combinations, allowing you to spend hours theory-crafting just to create the perfect build. Even if you don't feel like planning out a build from scratch, you can just look up one of the many guides online and get straight into the action.
Pro Completely free without pay to win mechanics
You can just download and install the game without any purchases. On top of that, there are no pay-to-win mechanics and the only things locked behind paywalls are cosmetic effects, pets, and additional storage space. You can easily play the game for hundreds of hours without spending a dime.
Pro Regularly updated
Every 4 months or so, Path of Exile has major updates, adding new interesting mechanics, skills, items, and various other content. As a result, every time you come back to Path of Exile after taking a break, it feels like a new game.
Pro Great setting
Path of Exile is set in a dark fantasy world where everything is gradually becoming worse. At the foreground, you have the massive continent of Wraeclast that once was the home to a flourishing empire, but now is a place filled with the undead, evil spirits, ruins, and echoes of the past. To make matters worse, malicious entities from another dimension seek to corrupt the world and its inhabitants, giving birth to disfigured monstrosities that seek to end you. The end result is an immersive setting with dark motifs, body horror, loads of gore, and a very tense atmosphere, which is refreshing in an era dominated by family friendly content.
Pro Feels exhilarating to play
While the gameplay might feel a little slow and clunky in the beginning, it gradually picks up speed as you progress, allowing you to swiftly destroy large groups of monsters with any skills you choose. Whether you're shooting ice arrows with your bow, freezing and shattering every enemy on-screen, or if you're cleaving enemies with a massive axe, causing them to bleed and explode on death, it just feels incredibly satisfying.
Pro Greet Developer
Grinding Gear Games provide a lot of communication and community interaction
Cons
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.
Con Anti-experimentation for new players
The game heavily punishes any experimentation for new players. Unless you have near perfect understanding of late game and the various viable build-options you are more or less unable to experiment your way into viable builds (and the options for correcting mistakes are limited at best). So, unless you are fine with having to scrap a bunch of characters for being sub-optimal, you are more or less forced into following player-made guides to learn the game rather than through engaging with the game itself. This may or may not be a problem for you.
Con Very high learning curve
There's quite a lot to learn when starting to play Path of Exile. There are the mechanics, the crafting system, and the skill gem system. However, the most intimidating factor is the massive skill tree with over 1000 skill nodes, 6 classes and 19 subclasses, allowing you to create hundreds of unique builds. Unfortunately, creating a functional build is really difficult, taking hours of theorycrafting, so it might be better to stick to guides as you're starting out, unless you're fine with possibly messing up.
Con Endgame can get really repetitive
It takes an exceptionally long time to get any wealth, useful items, or access to endgame bosses in this game. You endlessly farm the same maps, hoping you'll get lucky with a few good items, but that usually won't be the case, which can be really discouraging to keep playing. This is made worse by the fact that your character progression comes to a grinding halt near the upper 80s of character levels, requiring you to buy insanely expensive items to feel any progression at all. If you don't like grinding, you'll get quickly bored of Path of Exile.
Con Clunky trading system
The western PC version of Path of Exile currently requires using an external site to find deals or sifting through scam attempts in the trade chat. After you find an item you want to buy, you need to message the seller, and if they respond, enter the same area as them to make a direct trade. There is no auction house, no mail, no automated trading posts, and to sell stuff you have to buy a premium stash tab via a microtransaction.
Con One shot fest
This game has an extreme learning curve, meaning you'll invest 100 hours of just reading on the internet before understanding the basic game, plus the endgame is a one dimensional "spam all flasks and one shot everything or get one shot" style of gameplay.
Con Unrewarding
You fight 40 minutes with "uber uber boss" and he drops white items that can be found anywhere in barrels most of the time
whats worse, you have to "farm" "fragments" to start that boss battle, that will take a while too, if you decide to buy the fragments, you will drop nothing and you will lose a lot of currency.
Con Some aspects of the graphics look dated
While the graphics have received updates over time, a lot of the visuals still lack polish you'd see in most AAA games. Some textures are fairly low res, certain character models look weird when they have armor on, and the animations feel somewhat stiff and clunky. You probably won't notice this during active gameplay, but when you stop for a moment to look around it becomes painfully obvious.