Jean-Luc

I'd suggest you play more, listen to reviewers less. Spear and mace are very different. They do different damage types which can be significant depending on enemies' damage reduction types. Spear has reach and can attack from behind another character for example which can be pretty useful. Bonus accuracy and DR bypass are very different too, accuracy means little vs. an opponent with high DR while the spear would be better vs. an opponent with lower DR but higher deflection. As for loot, equipment has enchantments similar to DnD. So for example you had your generic +1/2/3 bonuses or life drain or + 1d6 of a certain type of damage or some kind of spell effect on strike, etc. PoE has pretty much all that stuff. For example, instead of +X enchantments it has weapon quality which increases accuracy and damage. You can also enchant stuff and make your own magic weapons/armor as well as just find or buy them.

Can't be bothered to go into details so I'll just say I'm enjoying the combat a great deal playing on hard. Despite being superficially similar to the old IE games, PoE's rules are quite different. It just takes a bit of getting used to, that's all. It's a game that requires a bit of planning and thought, you can't just attack+move your way through enemies. Once you figure it out it's very satisfying.

Hope they hotfix this.

I've no problem with saves but I do get frequent black screen freezes during area transitions. It used to only happen periodically but not I can't exit Raedric's Hold at all. I can move between different areas inside the Hold but trying to get outdoors via any exit (sewers, ramparts, main entrance) results in a black screen and freeze.