I've played a lot of the referenced games, but none all the way through. This one looks like the best yet, maybe, so I expect to get some use out of it.

... from people who got advanced copies. Looks very good, although it won't run on older systems since it requires 4 mb of RAM. But that is common now. Looks like a very deep, dark story with interesting and innovative systems. I've never been a real big fan of any of the DnD rules sets, because after a time armor becomes irrelevant. This may not be the case with the combat system developed for PoE.

If you ever played Darklands, this might engage your interest as well: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1649838104/serpent-in-the-staglands/posts?page=1

Made by a two-person team for peanuts. It looks like it may have merit as well, although the gfx will not blow anyone away.

-- Mal

with a Barbarian DW as the main character. I've gotten slaughtered several times on normal. I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

I'm not good at such things. Early on, the game strips you of some sidekicks, there's a certain damned bear...

That much may in part have been because I'm playing a chanter. A tankier character might have made it.

I've found that I'm slowly getting the hang of this game. It may be the first CRPG that I finish, or even play more than a week or two, since Might & Magic in the nineties.

and M&M3 and completed them more times than I care to elaborate. LOL.

I killed the MegaDragon in MM2 by continuously running the Ancient Dragon over and over until I leveled enough.