Voted PoE.
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Setting: Tyranny
Although not an accurate reconstruction of the terrestrial Bronze Age, Terratus is more interesting and alive than Eora.
I think the ordinariness of the setting was precisely the reason why so many codexians were turned off by PoE. Personally, I found it tolerable but not in any way exciting. The game is quite uneventful to boot - p. much everything significant happens during the last few hours (the ending of Act 2 is supposed to be a big event but the way it's implemented ruins it).
Story: Tie
Neither is better because both are flawed.
Sadly, the story in PoE never goes beyond the initial shtick. (Souls and adra, man! You must give a damn... although we can't really explain why.) They shouldn't have kept Iovara secret so long. If she were able to communicate with the Watcher through dreams and visions, it would be a very nice touch. The power struggle between the Defiance Bay factions could also play a more important role in the story, escalating gradually throughout Act 2 instead of suddenly going from petty squabbles to an all-out riot.
Tyranny's storyline is disjointed and full of plot holes like any power fantasy. It's not terrible but it's not great either.
Combat/Ruleset: PoE
I don't mind cooldowns at all, but I've seen FPS games with more enemy and encounter variety than what Tyranny can offer. For a fantasy RPG that's incredibly lame and lazy.
Spell crafting is a promising feature but the implementation is lacking. Slumber is an even more OP opener than unnerfed Mental Binding, and cone spells are totally out of control in the absence of friendly fire.
Learn-by-doing skill systems are invariably broken. In Tyranny, Lore > everything else. Hey, it's time to rejoice because fun is finally allowed! Seriously speaking though, the ruleset feels like it's torn from a more complex game and hastily stitched to Tyranny (which is partially true).
Writing: PoE
In the long run any discussion regarding writing is bound to be as subjective as apples vs. oranges so I'll just say one thing here: grammar counts. Nothing breaks immersion like a broken sentence or a misspelled word (and no, patch 1.03 didn't fix them all).
Companions: PoE
I see people arguing that companions in Tyranny are better and I simply cannot take those people seriously. Edér vs. Barik, Devil of Caroc vs. Verse, GM vs. Sirin, Aloth vs. Eb, Durance vs. Lantry, anyone else vs. KiS. In each case it's hardly even a competition.
C&C: Tie
PoE doesn't have much C&C. Although it doesn't offer obviously fake choices like AAA games, the consequences are always minor and none of your choices affects how the main story will develop. In Tyranny too many events and decisions are forced via gating, triggers, and cutscenes. Like others have mentioned, branching isn't true C&C.
Music: Tyranny
No contest here.
