I don't understand why would having genius barbarians be a problem, and I don't understand why allowing every build permutation its place in the sun is a bad thing.
It's not inherently a bad thing to have every build be cool in its own way, but in this case the ends don't justify the means. They could have gone about it differently, but that could just be because I prefer more simulationist and less gamey systems.
Look, I agree that BG handled combat better, but to give it just 2/5 is ridiculous. since it is not that much different from IE combat which it was aiming for. Now true, if you didn't like IE combat to begin with and would give it a 3/5, then 2/5 makes sense for PoE. However then you are going into the area of personal preferences which nobody really cares about. What I care about is how does the combat compare to the IE games. From that (more objective) perspective giving it 2/5 doesn't make any sense. There are some new mechanics which some people seem to have a problem with, but nothing that would justify the amount of criticism it is receiving.
You're almost right there, I'd just replace IE combat with BG1 combat, and that was my rationale. Compared to BG1 it's pretty much the same, but dragged down by engagement and no fleeing.
This here I don't understand at all.
Exploration is fine, probably the better of those things I put under the same umbrella. Secrets tend to be in obvious places but no big deal.
Loot is ok, lots of variety but a lot of weapon types feel inferior (Crossbows for example are never the best vs any enemy DR, all you need is Arbalests, Blunderbusses and Arquebuses) and the stacked weapon proficiencies are too arbitrary. A lot of unique weapons or armour don't even have flavour text, it's just the generic item descriptions, like all the Codex backer items.
Crafting has been done better in D:OS, MotB and Arcanum, all games Obsidian should've been familiar with for different reasons. Gathering herbs and brewing potions is nice, but cooking feels kinda pointless.
Sneaking is party-wide - this is retarded. No tactics allowed!
Like text adventure elements which allows you to interact with the environment in unique ways,
90% of those are [Inspect], [Use consumable] -> [Get across], [Leave]. So unique!
multiple solutions to problems, addition of skill checks in dialogues,
Which I actually like a lot in principle, even the reputation-based dialogue choices, if only they were a bit better written.
and other things which I don't have time to get into.
If I wanted to get into all the minor nitpicks and individual brianfart design decisions they put in here, I'd end up going Full Roxor.
Also I am very happy that developers are finally catering to the crowd who was starving for real rpgs and that this is a huge step in the right direction, even if it is still not where everyone would want to see it at. Obviously, limited budget and Obsidian's financial problems didn't help things, so I give it 8/10 considering everything. It is not as good as BG or PST, but the fact that it is even comparable with those games is a huge achievement. It is better than IWD and that is a fact which is already putting PoE up there with the classics.
Back before the decline was a fait accompli, we looked at the gems of the genre and thought that it can only grow and get better from here, the sky's the limit! 15 years later and we're marvelling at a successful cargo cult of Baldur's Gate. Mother of God.
stuff like romance with Viconia only to end up with riding the bull cause romances will attract Biowhores and company will start to cater to them; so No thanks.
