I kind of think PoE's main quest's issues are that it takes a while to get rolling and isn't great at motivating you in the way BG 1 was. It's probably meatier than either of those games thematically and in terms of content, in my view. Combat in BG 1 is probably a little more varied overall and the AI of the BG games is slightly better at providing meaningful challenges though still cheeseable to hell.
I really don't get people holding up BG 1 as an example of build diversity - building a fighter that doesn't have 18/18/18 STR/DEX/CON is always suboptimal, and the curve for stats in AD&D meant that the more you diverged from that the more suboptimal you were. 2 had some but that was from the range of kits and really wide variety of items rather than actually in the character building stage. Dual and multi classes are really important for the replayability precisely because the single classes of AD&D games are really monotonous in their design.
DAO - I really liked DAO's choice and consequence. I think the companions for it are probably the weakest of any of Bioware's modern games, though, and linked to that dreadful gifting system. Oghren is the only one I really liked. And the Dog.
The guy in your stronghold.. forgot his name but the big baddy at the end. He tells you to go to Defiance Bay to the Temple of Woedica to learn more of your awakening.