I disliked the hard caps on spells for one. Nothing like entering a big boss fight, eating a massive AOE, and saying well now I need to use one of the two castings of my major heal spell and I haven’t even tried to damage the boss yet. Might as well just reload.
I think both PoE games had a problem also inherent in DAOrigins that wasn’t present in Baldur’s Gate and other D&D games: all of the characters have too many abilities. In older D&D games, non casters don’t do much besides auto-attack and chug a potion now and then. This made them not a lot of fun to play in table top, but it’s great design if you are controlling a party of characters. Tanks tank, DPSs flank, so you are mostly microing casters. In Pillars of Eternity they decided to give every class a while set of abilities. It meant I spent a lot more time baby sitting my entire party, pausing, queuing up skills, unpairing, and immediately repausing in more difficult fights. Not fun. I found this especially true in 2, but it was a problem in both games.
Because POE2 has a per encounter spell system, I eventually found myself starting every fight the exact same optimized way, meaning I was making less interesting decisions in combat.
POE2, also makes a strident effort to be super balanced, but a big part of the fun of Infinity Engine games was that they weren’t balanced, and finding ways to break them was a lot of the appeal.
That’s all I can think of off the top of my head, but I had a big old list of grievances that hampered my enjoyment, and I retire really hard to like it, too. I’ve started three games, progressed relatively far, but never beaten the game.
It really makes a lot of sense to me that POE2 underperformed to such an extent that Obsidian had to abandon their much valued independence and allowed themself to be bought out. To me that game just wasn’t fun.
My brother told me that do not play DOS2 it is comedy. My brother even ask does BG3 have lots of silly comedy and not good game? I told my brother that BG3 does not have to much comedy. I have not yet finished POE2 will do, but POE1 was great according to me and not silly comedy.
My brother said to me: "Dear brother I know you like Action and Horror and you dislike silly comedy! My brother said to me never play through DOS2 it haa silly comedy!"My brother actually played though DOS 2, and said it was fare ok game for him, but said I would not like DOS2 since it has silly comedy.
Well and I do not remember that POE1 had silly comedy. and end battle if you do not buy expansion that raise your level before that is hard challenge specially if you in settings the game to hard challenge! POE2 I do not know have only started it.
If you buy DLC in POE1 you might be between level 15-18 when you co to end battle. My group do not remember but roughly level 10-11 and the end battle was indeed stonehard! There is even a Dragon in POE1 but the end battle will not spoil what it was but your worst nightmares if you are like level 10!! Well and yes the Dragon battle was less hard then end battle in POE!! I will not spoil what was enemies in POE1 end battle, but something that scare my level 10 character more then a typical young/middle aged Dragon!
I have also heard that POE2 is to easy challenge? Perhaps I do not know, but POE1 if you do not buy expansion DLS (I did not) so you are low level and go the last end fight in POE1 that is indeed hard challenge! I did win, but died n times before that and spend hours to try win end battle in POE1!
Well and this from me who think hardest challenge Cataclysm is they only right challenge to use in Solasta DnD5 otherwise it is to easy even in Vampire battle at level 5 main campaign. You go to end battle POE 1 at level 10 and I say it is way harder then that Vampire battle at level 5 in Solasta main campaign. You turn up the challenge level settings in POE1 and go at end battle when you are level 10 you will spend hours try to win that or concede and take older save game and then buy DLC to raise your levels with their content otherwise it feels to hard for you or you are like me that did it without DLCS ultra hard challenge POE1 end battle at level 10!
