[Aerich]

Not sure about the whole saves thing, but I think the spell is only really useful at higher levels. You only get 1 missile at 7th level, and one for every 3 levels above that - the catch is that each missile has +1/dmg per caster level, and the number of missiles tops out at 7, not 5. There's also a small AoE as well.

I really only use Magic Missile to take down Mirror Image or to disrupt spellcasters, so I can't really see the point of using MFM until I get my level high enough that they do some serious damage. I'd rather use my 4th level slots for party buffing and some of the enchantment-type spells. Lvl 1-3 spells are perfectly fine for single-target direct damagers.

Part of the reason Chromatic Orb is so good in IWD 2 is because of the feats - with SF: E and SP it is easier to affect things with spells (it seems), and the value of a stunned enemy is higher because Power Attack and Maximized Attacks allow you to take it down quicker than you would in IWD/HoW. It's much more of a tactical decision now.