But as @Wormerine has pointed out, and with which I concur, it ended up hurting PoE2. Badly. Why? Because PoE1 was so heavily hyped as THE spiritual successor to the IE games that when hardcore fans of the IE games played PoE1 many of them came away disappointed that the game was not EXACTLY like the old IE games they fondly recalled.
I think I need to clarify, that I meant that IE lineage hurt PoE artistically, rather then just commercially. Not that you are wrong, but that's not exactly the point I was trying to make (I didn't mean to present PoE's shortcomings as a failure of fans to appreciate it, but as a failure of the game to be as good as it could be).
I think there are quite a few things you can point to and criticise PoEs for. Something, which hurts PoEs the most to me, is lack of cohesion between gameplay loop and narrative. Let me give an example: PoE2 was pretty widely criticised, among other things, for not being able to
at the end of the game. I don't think that's a problem in itself. I do like that PoE isn't interested in traditional "ascend" narrative, and a certain level of powerlessness is what I adore about the setting. But that isn't expressed in gameplay, because gameplay follows the traditional DnD progression of raising in power and facing more and more powerful forces, and being a bad ass. Either gameplay loop should be changed (I for one would welcome lack of numerical increase in power) or that discrepancy should have been addressed in the narrative. It's not that PoE2 subverts an expectation - it just ignores it, and goes for something that gameplay loop doesn't reinforce narratively. The result is a rather underwhelming finale, which rings hollow. I remember with PoE1 some critics questioned how unavoidable the murder in the game is - which is a common problem when the games tries to elevate narrative to the more ponderous place, without altering pulpy gameplay loop (newer Naughty Dog or Tomb Raider games share the same sin as well).
BGs makes the amount of murder you make the center of moral conflict and a part of your character arc - no matter if you roleplay as good or evil. So, while I prefer many individual elements of Pillars better, I do think that BG, as a whole, works better overall.
I can see some of themes of BG1&2 in BG3, and that gives me hope.
