the early days of the mcc on pc were rough. controller aim assist used to be even better than it is now, and its still too good. as far as i can tell theres still no reach forge. there were no graphics settings available whatsoever for a solid year, there was just a "performance mode" button that didnt do anything. but its still halo, and more content has come out, and fixes have been made. the seasonal model is kinda annoying but ultimately harmless and kinda neat tbh. halo is just a good game and im just so fucking grateful that i can play it on pc at all now

if i could give this game 6 stars, id give it 10. theres genuinely nothing about this game im not intensely in love with.

the gameplay: its so good it hurts. character builds are absolutely fascinating to get into. the core philosophy of building your character is centered around the idea of making any build viable. attributes are always useful for any class, and classes always have a variety of abilities to choose from that can make different builds of the same class feel totally different. the combat is intensely strategic and engaging, giving you so many options for how you want to approach it. the weapon enchantments, potions, scrolls and magic items could all make for a solid game of their own, and thats all on top of the phenomenal character building and customization.

the story: has brought me to tears through the sheer quality of the writing and storytelling on many occasions. the characters all genuinely feel like their own people with their own goals. its fair to say that this clashes with how they just follow the player around, but i think theres enough that the characters do and decide on independently to make it feel right. they always have something to say about what the player is doing or going through, they all have their own deep personal stories that utilize the premise and setting of the game excellently. which, holy shit the premise and setting of this game are remarkable and incredibly engaging. this is, without a doubt, by far the most ive gotten into the main plot of a game ive played. side quests never feel rushed or just thrown in, everything in this game has a worthy story to tell. i cant stress enough how creative and impressive the story of this game is.

the presentation: the 3d graphics/effects and the soundtrack are both just fine, pretty unremarkable in my opinion. but the hand drawn maps and environments are once again, fucking amazing. just, google "pillars of eternity backgrounds" it speaks for itself.

this is my favorite game of all time in every way i care about for video games. i cannot recommend this game enough to anyone who cares about story or strategic rpgs.

speaking as someone who loves pathfinder 1e the tabletop system as well as crpgs. this game is just not that good, but its taunting how almost good it is.

some of the characters are great, some fall flat. the adaptation of several classes and mechanics from pathfinder are great, some mechanics are missing, and some shouldve been reworked or left behind on the tabletop. the level design and quests are almost really cool, but plagued by numerous trash fights in a system that really suffers from that. i wouldve much rather had a more faithful adaptation of pf1e as a turn based game, no matter how much i love real time games like pillars of eternity.