I recently asked the forum for game recommendations. I received a lot of great feedback. I've narrowed it down to Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Pillars of Eternity I and Tyranny. I'm trying to make my final decision and I'm hoping the community can help.

What I'm looking for is a game that has good replay value. The replay value can come from playing side quests or the main story differently from one playthrough to the next. And/or the value can come from being able to play different classes/characters from one playthrough to the next.

Also, which game (in your opinion) has the most interactive combat system. I'm looking for a game that you need to participate during the combat by selecting spells or actions. I don't want all the combat to just be sitting back and waiting for it to end.

So which game do people recommend?

Thank you in advance.

I belief Pathfinder and Pillars would be good recommendations either way, also by other people though personally i enjoyed the combat aspect of Tyranny the most. Tyranny is a more of a tailored adventure, certainly the first couple of levels and if you have the full deal the story in Tyranny can be enjoyed in quite some different manners but this could also be said for the other games since there are many classes and routes to try and find out.

Personally i'm not one for replaying a game of these magnitudes real soon but others gravel about them soo there you go, you might even want to try and pick - up the origin game Baldurs Gate Enhanced Edition, i'm sure it will be offered for a steep discount either on gog or on steam

Tyranny. Never played the other two games, but Pillars has an extremely low level cap (12, afaik) and you reach it after about playing half of the game, meaning that you don`t level up anymore in the second half of the game.
And Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a mix of RPG and Kingdom Simulator, not a good choice for an RPG.
Tyranny has a lot of replay value, even the prologue can be different from playtrough to playtrough (I`m pretty sure that I wrote this word wrong).
So I would recommend Tyranny.

Tyranny does have alternate endings depending on faction (or dominance), so in theory it's designed for replayability, though I think some of the side quests would be repeated, and it doesn't seem like the core gameplay changes in any way.

That said, while personally I enjoyed my playthrough quite a bit and the story line I experience was decent, I've never been tempted to go back just to experience another ending.

I started but never got too far in Pillars 1, and haven't played Pathfinder at all.

Another that hasnt played Pathfinder here.

I enjoyed Pillars for a good 20+ hours but the continual need to return to your base got annoying and after a short break I found I no longer had any idea what was going on (a flaw I find in many RPGs though tbh).

Tyranny on the other hand I smashed my way through and really enjoyed. Theres definately a decent amount of choice based replay value (right from the start you're forced to make choices that affect how the world will appear in your playthrough).

I've spent 1200+hours on Pillars of Eternity 1+2.

The first one is still my favourite - incredibly rich storytelling, quite a grim world, excellent world repercussions in the NPC's dialogues due to your choices, and very tactical combat at higher difficulties. The 2nd has improved the combat even further with dual classes. POE 1 has outstanding replay value due to the way you decide roleplay each time differing from one another, changing your experience. I can't recommend these games enough, best modern CRPGs out there.

I own Tyranny and played it for 2 hours, couldn't get into it, but it's on my to do list. You play quite evil.

I own Pathfinder Kingmaker but have yet to play it.

I’ve only played Pillars so far, which is really good.

If you’ve not considered it, Divinity Original Sin 2 is spectacular.

I'm a little biased, as I'm a pretty big Obsidian fan and I've only ever completed Pillars of Eternity 2 (working on a playthrough of the first game). That being said, I've played all three of those and of the three, I'd definitely say PoE is my favorite.

- Pathfinder has gorgeous aesthetics, some pretty ambitious gameplay elements and feels like it was ripped straight from a TTRPG (which makes sense, given its source material). However, as a result of this, it can be a bit harder to get into if you're not highly experienced with isometric CRPGs.

- Tyranny has an incredibly intriguing story/theme, some cool visuals (if a bit bland in other areas) and great choice-and-consequence gameplay, but suffers from a weak combat system. I'm also not a huge fan of dark fantasy, so while the setting and story are definitely unique and intriguing, it doesn't appeal to me as much as the high fantasy setting of Pathfinder and PoE.

- Pillars of Eternity has a beautiful art style, a solid combat system (especially in PoE2), fantastic companions, extremely deep character customization systems (though cosmetics are slightly limited) and an incredibly intriguing world with extremely deep lore despite the youth of the series. I actually prefer the PoE games to the Infinity Engine classics (which are amazing, don't get me wrong) and PoE2 is my favorite narrative RPG of all time. The only issue I have with the first game is that its combat is far less fleshed out. In the first game, it's a lot closer to what you see in Baldur's Gate. The second game, on the other hand, has loads of abilities and a lot more nuance to it that really feels like the proper definition of a tactical RPG combat system.

Overall, I recommend all three but if I had to give a list of favorite to least favorite, I'd go Pillars > Pathfinder > Tyranny. Pillars of Eternity is a fantastic game to start with if you've never played this type of an RPG before. Also, thanks to how deep the character creation and class/skill systems are, I'd say it has some very solid replay value. In terms of combat, like I said, it's not quite sit-and-wait combat, but you'll definitely find that it's less involved than its sequel.

PS: If you haven't played them already, definitely check out the Divinity series, particularly Divinity: Original Sin and its sequel. It's turn-based combat but it is, bar none, the best turn-based combat system I've ever encountered.. and I'm a guy who normally can't stand turn-based combat in RPGs. Those games do a great job of combining great RPG gameplay, a high fantasy world full of epic storytelling and hilarious humor, and great writing all throughout.

Level cap of 12?!!!?!!! That seems so low for a game many people seems to rate so highly. Although I have no clue how quickly you level up or anything. Can anyone confirm the level cap is this low? I've been playing the first DOS and I think it's great. I was looking to play something a bit different after I finish but I'm sure I'll eventually get around to DOS 2.


Thanks again everyone for the great input!

Well,on the Storepage of the DLC to Pillars, it`s said that it raises the level cap from 12 to 14, so the base game has a level cap of 12. And I`ve read many posts about that people reach this cap about halfway thru the game.

Tyranny is the definition of replay value.

I rarely replay RPGs, but Tyranny I played through four consecutive times... and each time was a totally different experience! I can't recommend this game highly enough. It's one of the best RPGs I've played in twenty years.

Just as a teaser, fairly early in the game you come across an important choice. You have to pick A or B, which sets you on different paths, and picking one closes off the other forever.

The first time, I picked A. I really wanted to see what would happen if I picked B, however, so I played it through a second time. During that playthrough, I thought to myself... you know what... I think there was actually a third choice. So after completing the game a second time, I started it again right away... and discovered indeed, there was a third way to play it!

And then during THAT playthrough, I thought, hey you know what... I bet there's yet another thing you can do at that moment. So when I finished, I started a fourth playthrough, and sure enough... there was another way to go, that gave a TOTALLY different game!

Each time you restart, stats carry through from previous playthroughs, and the difficulty ramps up, so it remains a challenge and a lot of fun.

If you like RPGs at all, this is the one.

Yeah, Tyranny is much fun. The only thing that gives me headaches (written wrong?) are to tower riddles, but luckily I found the website of a german gaming magazine which shows all the figures, you have to draw.

I haven't played Pathfinder. Of the other two I much preferred Tyranny. If replay value is important then Tyranny has one huge advantage, even not taking into account its multiple choices- game length. If you're like me and fully explore every game and don't just do the main story, then Pillars with all expansions took me 100 hours. Tyranny with all content takes a little over 30 hours. You can play Tyranny multiple times in the time it takes to play Pillars just once.

The biggest issue for me with Pillars was hitting the level cap way too early- but like I said I'm a player that explores every inch of a game and does all content. But once I hit the cap it became dull. Also, the combat in both Pillars and Tyranny isn't as good as the old Infinity games- but that's mostly to do with the systems. In Pillars the party view distance is artificially short (your party all suffers from myopia apparently) and enemies close on you ultra fast and lock your characters into place (engagement), giving little room for any tactical movement. The combat should be very tactical and mobile- but never really was. Maybe if combat is the main thing for you then Pathfinder may be better, but I haven't played it- like I said.

well i did gave pathfinder a couple of tries, i'm currently figuring out how to defeat the chapter 2 end boss thing, the last obstacle before you get your own lands

based on those experiences i would say that pathfinder comes closest to baldurs gate, which it should right, pathfinder being dnd 3 ruleset if i'm not mistaken

Pillars i found to be most obscure with all kinds of effects either beneficial or not in a most obscure way compared to the damage stats in dnd ..... almost like you create a fearmonger in dnd with all kinds of weird spells such as scare and fear etc etc .. pretty elusive i found that to be but on the other hand, if you use autolevel up for your companions and with the great a.i. sets you can use it is pretty simple all in all ... on easy and normal that is

furthermore i would say that Tyranny is a lot simpler in a refreshing way, more dnd so to speak with much clearer abilities but also more in a comical set of way which is kind of weird but it works. The whole tone in Tyranny is more mature then pillars but other details seem to suggest the developer had some fun with creating this game