Hi all,

I'm a Latecomer to isometric classic RPGs - more by accident than design I ended up with DOS:EE and then DOS2.

I kind of like the idea of this type of game, but DOS2 fails on me for two reasons: The turn based combat, and the for me absolutley unfriendly start of the game where there are too many things you need to consider in order to proceed without frustration. Especially the lack of clues around the main quest bother me.

So, how would POE2 compare? Can I get the non-turn-based combat to a point where it's more action-orientated, and can I expect that I get enough clues to find my way trough the main quest?

I have not completed this game yet, but so far the games lets you know where to go next.
The combat is not turn based, but I wouldn't consider it action orientated (I guess it depends on your definition though).
Your peeps actions are determined by their AI/Behaviour settings (which is based on their class and you can edit it to suit your purposes) and they will use their skills or abilities based on their settings. Or you can control them more by having their AI turned off, they will not use their special abilities/spells etc, so you have full control of their ability uses (they will still use basic attacks to defend themselves).
You can pause at any time and adjust your tactics.

I have only briefly played DOS1 (found it meh, but always meant to give it a second chance) have not played DOS2, so I cannot give you a comparison.

Edited Slightly.

Concerning the action part: make no use of combat-pause and the action will be right in your face and BEAT.YOU.TO.DEATH. It's no ARPG but that's not what you're here for, right? If you were to play a game like Diablo you'd play a game like Diablo.

As for the main quest, I'm not quite sure what kind of "clues" you have in mind. I played DOS2 too and the one thing about the main quest (or "story") that bothered me most was that it had no relevancy to my character at all - in terms of "why even bother?". Maybe it was due to playing as Lohse - the only part of her that wishes to continue on the "story" path is the part of her that is NOT her - or in general that all the premade characters have a story of their own they'd rather do. Compare that to POE2 and you'll find no such story-story-conflict. Your story IS the "story" (main quest), your companions do of course have a story of their own just like in DOS2. And the PC's background is what they did or not did in POE. So you can't compare the PC in POE2 to a generic PC in DOS2 ... in my opinion at least.

As for actual clues: I never got lost in DOS2 and neither in POE2, so ... care to elaborate?

Yeh, as GrizzledLone says, there is the main quest, companion quests and the usual side quests (and places to explore that may have no quest but interesting things in them).
The ones I have done seem to be pretty good at "hinting" on the next course of action - if you read the blurb properly (the quest hints seem pretty decent to me, as I said, read the blurb properly and apply common sense).
There are also several choices/options you can make to complete a quest (and sometimes the results may vary - again read the text properly and apply common sense).

POE 2, main character is nothing but a quest pointer, lacking any soul or heart. Like DOS 2 the level of writing is variable in quality. However, POE 2's main story is unbelievably short, linear and lacking depth or complexity. The game world is like a TES game, compartmentalised factions with extremely little impact on each other. Game combat mechanics they're both fairly different and both scratch the need for theory crafting... however I find the combat for me more fun and tactical in DOS2... but more theory based in POE 2 which I like, however, combat is hurt in POE 2 by long attack speeds and recovery time, where the armour system in DOS2 can be annoying at times. Despite what it may read like, I still enjoy them both, both have scored in the 80s from me, good games, but neither are genre defining or the best of, imho. I still prefer DnD by miles/kilometres :P

Knowing what I know now, I would still buy them both in a heart beat... we need to support these type of games, if we don't, we'll get another darkage of games lacking the more classical styled cRPG.