First time poster here, just thought I'd give some feedback from someone that plays D&D, has played the old BG/Icewind Dale games and also D:OS 2
I've seen the previous interviews, where it was stated that the game would be based on D&D 5e, which got me kind of hyped. Based off of that, I've made some assumptions and these are my comments:
1. I was pretty sure it'd be turn based (which is fine for me) but did not expect this team initiative type of thing - I feel like it might be fun as certain synergies are unlocked, so I'm happy to play around with it, thought I am worried about how much of an effect winning initiative can have due to the short fights in D&D (usually in the region of 5 rounds).
2. I expected the combat to be almost fully ported from D&D, meaning that:
- I was expecting more reactions than attacks of opportunity and am actually missing them quite a bit - the main one being counter spell, though others such as hellish rebuke or the rogue's uncanny dodge also apply (and most importantly choosing when you use your reaction).
- I am really unsure about what was done with the bonus actions - the fact you can shove, make ranged attacks with improvised weapons (boots) or actual ones (dagger), a jump that is movement AND disengage (ok, that one might be story specific), drink potions and more as a simple bonus action seems to break a lot of the fine balancing done in D&D 5e, meaning the core combat mechanics are completely revamped and need to be fully rebalanced. I'm wondering if there are still bonus action spells and action spells as there are in D&D or if that was removed altogether. Lets not forget most classes are not able to use an object, disengage or dash as a bonus action - if you make that available to everyone you should also remove things like second wind from the fighter, which makes the classes all play the same; That would probably be a bad thing in regards to replayability.
As a result of these adaptations (mostly the bonus actions), the combat system feels like an odd mix of D:OS and D&D, where you simply have 2 actions per round and quite honestly, I'd prefer sticking to one system or the other, so that "I know what game I'm playing" to put it in the most colloquial of terms (i.e. know your audience instead of trying to please everyone).
3. I *LOVED* the "verticallity" as you've come to call it. The fact you can stack boxes and move on top of them is just icing on the cake. I do have a small suggestion though: remove the 10 meter jumping mechanic (or make it once per long rest or whatever) and instead add a climbing mechanic (with the appropriate athletics skill check and/or tool requirements where needed) - by doing this, you could also make ladders/climbing use movement in combat rounds and avoid the whole infinite loop of the AI walking up and down ladders as it has in the actual gameplay reveal.
Leaving the topic of D&D and addressing the game style, I would like to agree with the poster above (Tibovation) - the beauty of the BG games was in it's grittiness and "realism" - let magic be magic and martial skill be martial skill. While blurring this line (such as the bubble appearing around my warrior as I charged for example) in divinity was fine in my opinion due to the game world itself, I feel like it simply doesn't fit in the BG "feel" of the game. Toning down the color intensity might be a great way to bring a "darker" vibe to the game as well.
On the note of RTwP or TB or whatever other system imagined I don't really care that much - as long as there's tactics involved and not JUST a random number generator I'm more than happy.
The past tense in conversation is really strange for me and the movement of characters in these scenes feels... off - I'm not sure how to describe it, somehow "forced". If there's anything I was REALLY missing in the conversations however, it would be other party members butting in, depending on their thoughts and emotions (kind of as it was done in DA:O) - that just makes the game feel more alive and the characters traveling with you have a larger impact on the story (though I understand that might already be present and we've only experienced too little of the game to see it).
With all of that being said, I would like to say that these comments were meant primarily as suggestive feedback to the folks at Larian that have worked hard on this game - even if it stays in it's current form (minus the bugs and missing features) I plan to play and enjoy the game, though I feel like the groundwork is there to make this game beyond excellent.
