It seems to me that when games cater too much to casual gamers, the games get "dumbed-down". The strongest example would be the Elder Scrolls series. Morrowind was a fantastic game for hard-core gamers and casual gamers alike... without compromising gameplay. However, with Oblivion, they catered to casual RPG gamers a lot more, and the result was an over-simplified game world.
One of the reasons I adore Divine Divinity was that it gave so much to hard-core gamers. Silly balance issues like overpowered spells are not a problem for people not obsessed with "beating the game".
I just found a copy of Beyond Divinity, and have not had a chance to play it; however, it looks like another game which caters to hard-core players. I love this. This is what makes Larian Studios great. There is an endless myriad of companies that make cheesy RPG's which do nothing more than cater to people who have no idea how to play.
Furthermore, I have never seen a 2D game with as much playability and role-playing value as Divine Divinity. The combat felt wonderful. There was nothing cooler than taking out an entire orc army by myself. They need to expand on this concept. Most of all, the world felt real. You could feel the struggle of the poor in Divinity. You coud feel the hopelessness of the human armies as the orcs sent waves after waves of berserkers at the lines. The danger and isolation of the forest was real.
A huge worry is that the next game will move further to the Fable gamestyle: short, simple, and shallow. As a dedicated player of Divinity, with easily over 200 hours of gameplay... I want the game to be complex. I want it to have almost endless replay value as Divinity does. There are enough RPGs to cater to every 6-year old who gets his hands on a keyboard.
