I will say this, I would prefer rtwp over turn-based, but it's not a real deal breaker for me, Larian's turn-based does a lot to justify itself.
To me, aside from the fact that it really doesn't feel like Baldur's Gate, I take the biggest issue with the way conversations are handled. In my opinion, not offering full replies for the player character removes a lot of player expression, and it makes it extremely jarring that the PC is mute. The player can't even fill in the blanks because the scene progresses *immediately*. The past tense makes it even worse somehow. As a result, the writing overall feels really starved, unfortunately. I'm also not a fan of the cinematic camera. I'll be honest, a half-decent static 2D hand-drawn character portrait will be much more effective in a CRPG any day of the week. I also think that full VO is extremely overrated in this genre. Just a few voiced lines per character are more than enough to establish their character. After all, we are not trying to watch a movie here. As a complete outsider, I see this as a complete waste of resources that could have gone towards *writing*.
But I don't want to just be negative, I think the story premise is fantastic and the deep dynamic roleplaying elements are just as impressive as they were in OS2 and they are rightfully Larian's claim to fame.
There's just something missing in the audiovisual presentation that would make it Baldur's Gate. I mean, Pillars of Eternity had that feeling and they weren't even using the license. I hope Larian don't get discouraged by what could easily be seen as just straight up negativity because they have a lot to be proud of. But I think they understand that we are all masive BG fans - just as I'm sure they are - and when it's a numbered sequel, we have almost unrealistic expectations.
