Spiderweb Software has been around for like 25 years and made stuff that got vee into PC RPGs when I was a child. I had shareware versions of the original Blade of Exile series and 100%ed them.
So I messed with Avernum the other day and it's definitely an upgrade, but honestly I preferred the Ultima style graphics over the Geneforge isometrics, and preferred having six people over four.
With Avernum you basically need The Trinity and one flex. With Exile you could do so many different things since you had six slots.
But I was building my party for Avernum and I was just like "Well what to do is kind of mandatory isn't it? I guess I can do random stuff with my 4th"