I'll put it like this. The game is amazing. Stunning in every way. Both real time and turn-based combat modes play exceptionally well, and the choices based off of reputation, skill, attributes, as well as abilities make you feel like your choices matter; from your race and general disposition, to the abilities you take on the perk tree.
Now, this being said, I have a bone to pick with the game. This game at it's core has been about Fantasy, Adventure, Power, and Choices. The first and second game (for the most part) do a very good job of giving scratching all 4 of those itches. In the second game, you become THE HERALD OF BERATH (now that's a title right?). The scene on the docks where you can show the harbor master "what you are" is a scene that I will never forget. Now, tell me why, in a game that does such a good job with power scaling, and making you feel like you're the next best thing to a god, makes your power utterly insignificant in the end. You're the Watcher, with the Gods at your back, and you can't stop Eothas. No matter what you do. No matter your choices. You can only influence how he goes about it. In a game about choices, I felt betrayed by how little my choices mattered in the end. And by the fact, that in the end, I don't even get to see the product of those choices in anything but ending slides. This was not how this game should have ended. And I must admit, when all the characters in the game were telling me, to my face, that there was no way to stop Eothas, I didn't believe them. I thought there must be something. So at the end of the game, my Passionate/Benevolent character decided to fight against the inevitable, to save the wheel, to protect the world and the experiment the gods created. To give MY world a chance to beat the gods at their own game. And through my efforts, and carefully planned decisions, and character building, I..... Was immediately destroyed and absorbed by Eothas and nothing I did mattered, and I may as well have never made this character to begin with because it left me with a pointless, and futile ending. The journey was amazing. The destination made my journey insignificant. Made who my character was, insignificant. Made his aspirations, insignificant. In embracing the fact that I could never stop Eothas, it killed what this game was about. The Fantasy, was cut down by the harsh reality that a mortal cannot challenge a god. The adventure, was made utterly pointless. I may as well of listened to Eothas and waited for the end. The Power I felt I had in this world, was nothing in comparison to Eothas. And The Choices? The never mattered to begin with. That's why, for as much as I love these 2 games, I really wouldn't recommend them to someone I know would be as invested in them as I was. Because it was heartbreaking. To the casual player? Amazing games, 9/10, they should absolutely buy and play both of the games. But man. This game burned me.
