Oh, and if you would like more bite sized recent RPGs that also have stories that are more on the political/intrigue side of things, I *highly* recommend Tyranny and Shadowrun: Dragonfall.

That said, the mechanics of the game are sublime (although I think combat has a serious 'the entire floor is lava' problem with its elemental interactions). The story is kinda just there and involves a universe-level threat and bad guys that are just kinda bad without much complexity. I know DOS2 gets a lot of love around here, but if you're coming to RPGs primarily for the story and roleplaying element of it, I don't know if it's going to check the boxes that you described liking. I think you'll like PoE2 because it's almost ENTIRELY politics and there honestly isn't even really a central villain in the story (you spend the game chasing after someone who is presented as sort of an antagonist to you, but it's hard to actually call him a villain and the game lets you roleplay your character as not trying to stop him as much as just trying to figure out why he's doing what he's doing). Deadfire lays out that twist from the start and is set in a completely different area of the world so for the most part it's very self contained from the first.

The first game is good, but I think it takes way too long to actually find its footing and it's not really until the third act that the world really comes alive after a really notable twist in the story.

PoE1 is not necessary to play PoE2, if you can only see yourself playing one game, go straight into Deadfire. Real Time - It's essentially a coin flip between Kingmaker and Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire.ДЇrom your description of the story elements you like though, I think Pillars is actually going to be the most to your taste.

Divinity into the dark