!!! Long Post ahead !!!
Though I enjoy PoE tremendously and believe it is a better game then BG it still falls short of being as good as BG2 for a variety of reasons. This thread's purpose is to collect the communities gripes with the game's mechanics and design as it is atm and to collect our suggestions for changes in the upcoming expansions or sequel. Ideally I'd want Obsidian to use the expansions as a chance to do a partial revamp of PoE and retroactively enhance the vanilla game, though of course I have no clue how much of this is doable.
Some rules first. 1.) I want this to be a help to Obsidian, so please don't derail the thread by bickering about someones opinion back and forth. And don't drag that limerick into this. 2.) Don't just bash the game and list what you hate. Give examples and say what you'd like to see improved. At least write out a sentence. 3.) No outlandish dreams or dramatic diversions from PoE core mechanics. For example, "Please make PoE2 full 3D", "TB combat!", "Full voice acting for everything!", etc...
Think of it more like improvements from BG1 ---> BG2. My Points:
1.) Encounter Design I'll echo here what others have criticized in their reviews. Most encounters in PoE are very same-y /messy. Usually you get rushed frontally in large numbers, except when you have to trigger a conversation first and have to stand in the middle of a bunch of enemies. Where are the ambushes? No doors closing on you and stealthed rogues backstabbing you. No archers shooting at you from balconies. No powerful wizard that you can't just bash down. What about poison immune monsters in a room full of poison gas? Part of the reason leads right into...
2.) Hard counters The aversion to use immunities or at least VERY high resistances to certain damage types or effects is hurting the encounters. Right now powerful casters without a wall of meatshields are impossible. There is no real need for me to change my weapon/spell loadout, ever. No trolls that have to be killed with fire or acid. No golems that are vulnerable to blunt damage only. And so on... So give monsters special qualities that have to be countered and likewise give the player ways to counter certain things via potions or spells, as well. Speaking of...
3.) Spells This can easily be redeemed in the expansion I believe. Please add in more interesting spells that allow what I wrote in the last point. Short to medium time immunity from spells, immunity from physical attacks, elemental damage, whatever. And a spell to dispel these in turn. Yes I'd very much like some form of mage battles back. Sequencers too, as those would help enemy mages to be more of a threat as well. Oh, I'd also help if the mage could target buffs like Fireshield on allies.
4.) Enemy AI / Abilities Something basic like enemies using potions, summoning figures or special ammunitions for their ranged weapons would improve things a lot.
5.) Stronghold That was disappointing. Lots of options, none of them meaningful. Vendors sell just common stuff. Resting bonuses are laughably bad. No quests or special events. And by events I mean things that require my presence and are solved by dialogue or battle and earn a reward, not just some notification on a menu. The Stronghold as it is, is basically a fancy browsergame where you upgrade stuff and then farm your earnings at set intervals.
6.) Companions Please add some more. And more importantly they need to be a.) more influential in conversations, b.) more talkative and c.)be less subdued.
To explain: a.) Though they interject at points it never made a difference. It's just additional flavor text to read, but no one ever reacts to what they say. Unlike in Planescape where you really had to be careful what you said around Vhailor and where you took him.
b.) The partybanter is really lacking. Rare and then only a few lines of floats with spoken dialogue. It wouldn't hurt to ape BG2 here again with written dialogue popping up which you have to click through. Like that you can actually let them have a meaningful conversation.
c.) The root lies here I believe. Because there are so few companions OE couldn't afford to have any of them leave your party or be too overly good/crazy/silly so that someone couldn't stand to have them around.
So to prevent that none of them have any overbearing character traits, deep dislikes or attitudes. Some bicker/joke but all get along. That makes it pretty boring imo, since the party dynamics are at a continual standstill.
Nothing good happens and friendships form, nor is there hatred that ends in a battle. Again, this is why banter is often stale and meaningless. There can be no progression and no clash of personalities. Also, it really wouldn't hurt to crank up the lightheartedness, the game could use ten times as many joke banters, i.e. when Eder is all mopey about his hand falling of after being bitten. Finally, it doesn't help that the companion quests are likewise anti-climatic and uninvolved, as far as I can tell right now. They just stop after you visit mappoint a then b then c. No twists, no battles, no reward. And again BG2 and Planescape did it better.
7.) Reactivity
So, I guess locking someone out of content for the character he plays is something undesirable for the Devs but my wish would be that in those cases to get what I want there should be another skill check or two. Threaten or bribe a racist, use some mind control as a cipher or somesuch. That's all of the top of my head and respect to you if you actually read all that. Now post your own!