Pfft. Okay then.

You need to understand that The Witcher 3 is an action game, with rpg elements and some really basic consequence...
PoE is a true RPG like the original western D&D like games, you control a party in a really complex strategy game with multiple path that depend on multiple stats.

The Witcher 3 is like baseball... it test your coordination.
PoE is like chess... the winner is the one with the best strategy (sometimes even before you start).

Not just that... in the witcher 3 you gain exp when you defeat monsters...
In PoE you gain exp only by exploring, descovering new monsters.
For both games you also gain exp when you complete a quest.

So in PoE you usually want to avoid battle, while in the witcher 3 you will get exp if you battle more.

In PoE reading is the best thing.... it's like an interactive book where you control the story... while the witcher 3 is more like an interactive movie where you have little control of the story.

In PoE you role your character in every possible ways, everything you decide to be will open new possibilities for PoE 1 and even 2...
In The Witcher you role a good witcher : Geralt.

If you really want something in between start with The Witcher 1, it's cheap (many times free) and it's a really great RPG-Action game where stats matters more than reflex. It's a strange hybrid and I thing it's really different from both the witcher 3 and pillars of eternity. Or just try to play PoE like you would play chess

Don't take it the wrong way, but I'm still baffled as to based off what "amazing reviews" you made the decision to buy PoE. Weren't they accompanied by screenshots showing you that the game "looks retro and not that great", that it has a totally different perspective than W3 and lots of text? Did you buy it without looking at any pictures or gameplay footage altogether? Didn't the reviews talk about the gameplay, character creation, how PoE was explicitly kickstarted as a game similar to old classics like Baldur's Gate, instead of trying to innovate? Etc., etc.

It seems very strange to me that someone would buy a game without researching the basics about it first, just to be surprised that it's totally different than a completely unrelated game they've played before. If the second part of your post wasn't worded so nicely, I'd almost have thought you were just trolling ... O_o

Maybe next time, come here to ask questions about the game *before* you buy it. ;)

Sounds like both PoE and Witcher 3 suck. Good, apparently I'm not missing anything (my laptop can't run them).
Odd how gaming actually seems to have regressed in recent years (apart from the visuals).

I feel your pain for trusting glowing reviews. Pillars of Eternity is not a bad game, but it is definitely an old-school game made with a low budget, which is why the graphics are not the best. You should not look too deeply into the eyes of those 3D character models, especially Kana Rua.

As you have seen, the combat in this game is not very...personal. You can kindof steer it, but mostly the AI will do its thing. You can treat it tactically by pausing frequently and giving instructions. In my opinion, that option is not very well-implemented, but check the Options Menu to see if any of the auto-pause conditions appeal to you. Perhaps you can try more preparation for your party. Does everyone have food, resting bonuses, and potions? Make sure everyone has an alternate weapon with a different damage type. Try sending your sneakiest character in first in Stealth mode to locate enemies, then arrange the other party members before attacking.

There is an official strategy guide for the game, believe it or not. Depending on which version you have, it may be available to you as a PDF.

Good luck!

Meh, some games are just impenetrable to your tastes. Isometric 'god-like' points of view in retro games always turn me off (though they don't seem to stop me from buying them). I'd rather be in 1st or 3rd person or at least in the flatter zelda/FF like top down abstraction of the 8 and 16bit era games.

Next GoG sale maybe try the first Risen game. If you can look past the janky combat system it's a pretty decent little RPG (in terms of story and exploration) for the 2dollar sale price (I would not recommend the others in the series though). Besides that you have Bethesda titles and of course the older Witcher games as well.

Preamble: I'm still playing to TW3 so I didn't reach the end of the story, but I spent already about 55 hours on it. Instead, I completed PoE some time ago.


In my opinion TW3 is a great game, but definitely overrated as RPG. Its main flaw is the story, which could be much more engaging. Some important decisions, like those related to the story of the Bloody Baron, have little or none tangible consequences on the world itself. I spent some time wondering what would have been the best solution to solve the Bloody Baron's quest, but after all it would not have changed much (except for the Baron himself).

TW2 was much, much better. Since the first minute of gameplay, it gave the impression that Geralt actions really influenced the world and that every decision had very important consequences. The war between north and south appeared to be more "tangible" and the situation very dangerous. In TW3 the war seems just to be just a static background, something not to really worry about (at least after my 55 hours of play).

Moreover, in TW3 I'm spending lot of hours doing always the same side missions (hidden treasures, bandits camps, go killing a monster after read a village board, ...) just to level my character and to become stronger to deal with main missions. Sometimes it seems to play an action, or something like that.

PoE is classic RPG. It's all another kind of videogame, similar to Baldur's Gate and many other classics. Dialogs are less "theatrical", but lot of them are important and you should care to what you say or not to say. Combats are more tactical, since you have to coordinate your group skills to beat the opponents. The story develops itself with more continuity, not just leaving the player to level the characters for hours.

No, Pillars of Eternity obviously can't compete with Witcher 3.

TW2 falls apart mid-way through the game . Most of the stuff that occurs after you cross the spirit field is way less developed than the stuff before that. After that point, the quests/world/characters becomes bland/boring/unpolished. The final act is especially terrible.

I don't agree, but anyway we can still say that half TW2 was better than full TW3.