There are two ways of dealing with frustrating aspects of old CRPG games like Baldur's Gate. One is to do away with them entirely: no more resting, no more inns, make health regenerate! Stupid AI? Put in a cover system, make it tactical! Inventory management is tedious... armor comes in sets! Here lies the way of the modern CRPG, which sometimes feels less like an RPG and more like a first-person shooter or interactive movie. No offense, Shepard and Geralt. Another way of dealing with the idiosyncrasies of the Infinity Engine is to embrace them and make them work. This is what PoE does. The health system is redone to get rid of the rest-spamming that plagued the D&D games, while still making damage "hurt." Encumbrance is gone (good riddance), and inventory is unlimited, while weapons and armor can be enchanted if you get attached to them. Companions take all orders from the player - some reviewers don't like this, but it frankly saves me a lot of screaming at computer screens. Meanwhile, the environments are beautiful. You don't get any billion-polygon meshes covered with 4k textures in PoE, but you do get individually designed environments that show love and attention. Each area tells its own story, from the bloodstains on the dungeon floors to the rickety shingles on the inn roofs. I didn't even know that I missed this aspect of the old D&D games until I started up PoE today, but it really strikes a chord. This game is more than an homage to the old Infinity Engine games - it's a loving rework of the "D&D" type CRPG. It's spot-on, a masterpiece. That being said, understand what you're getting. If you need to mod your dragons into the "Macho Man" Savage, this isn't for you. If you like a click-and-forget combat system, this isn't for you. If your character needs BEWBS, this isn't for you. But if the first thing you felt when you beat Baldur's Gate II was sorrow at the thought of not having any more Baldur's Gate to play, then you *need* this game.
It's not quite Grim Fandango, but it's close. Totally immersive story, great writing, solid soundtrack. The puzzles tend to be on the easy side and the voice acting is patchy at times, but that doesn't keep the game from being great. If you like adventure games, you really do owe it to yourself to play this game.
