Sorry if some area really tired of reading the same things, but I need lodge my thoughts (wrong as I'm sure many will think they are...) somewhere..
Personally, I was disappointed in the presentation of the game so far. Some things I am sure shall be worked on so aren't set in stone at this stage. Other things we simply don't know enough about to make solid judgements on. Some things I don't think will change & I guess I'll have to live with.
1st is 4-man (at least in single player) - I think this was confirmed, but happy to be wrong! I love complex & varied party compositions, it allows for so much more role-play. You can bring along useless but fun characters. & if 2 slots are taken up by must have healer & must have thief, then that only leaves 2 for other stuff, and you probably need to have a melee and caster... so you're pretty much set with Thief, Cleric, Wizard, Fighter. I understand that Larian might balance things so that you don't have to have a healer or fighter, but then you're doing "everyone can do everything" roles, which can be pretty dull. I like my fighter to have to rely on squishy healers & the healer rely on the fighter etc. It creates drama and jeopardy.
Character pre-sets - I don't know if this one will be an issue as I don't know if you make your own they'll have their own story, background, relationships, interactions etc. I think I saw in one vid you can chose backgrounds such as Noble, so maybe that then generate your back-story. But how rich this will be compared to the pre-set characters, I don't know & it worries me that to experience a great wizard story, I need to pick Gale. I know there are more pre-sets to come, so maybe, if there are enough, the choices so varied that it'll be satisfying enough what you are choosing. Nevertheless ... I'd still rather be making my own & be confident that the story/background etc is just as rich as the pre-sets.
Turnbased/RTwP - I really wish there was a way you could have both. This is one I shall just have to live with I think. RTwP would be my choice, but I understand the need for turn based. My main issue with turn based (at least from DOS) is the length of fights, having to watch enemies make their moves & the limiting factor being that you can't fight large groups - the fight would take an hour & you'd move once per 10mins - I'm exaggerating. But still, no more getting mobbed by 30 oozes.
Jumping - (this is a pedantic nitpick, but still...) - I just really don't understand the need for this. It gets so tiring selecting each character separately and jet-pack leaping to places. But, at least it looks like everyone can just jump so I don't need to move teleportation gloves all over the place.
Visuals - this one I understand may be a WIP for Larian, so I do hope for changes. BG for me was so iconic for it's dark atmosphere & seriousness. The presentation was so cartoony, bright and leeching in cheery colourful contrasts. The whole feeling of the world we saw and the combat was cheerful and light, almost comical. When they showed that fight with the kicking off of the guy from a ledge, it was such a happy, cheerful & fun fight, the characters chatting away were so jolly. Even the walking brains looked like you could hug them as well as be killed by them. Regardless of how unimportant some people think this is, it's important to me. Visuals, sounds, atmosphere are really important in creating an experience & I do think it's important that it is inspired by past BG titles & that it continues it's own, strong identity with BG3.
Similar to above (& possibly subject to change), all those cartoony visuals & lighthearted characters and atmosphere, but also the movement, skill activation, sounds, toolbar, tooltips, font, character models, character panels; all of this was very overtly cut from DOS. BG3 looses it's identity, it's link with it's own history, inspiration from it's own back titles and instead piggy-backs on a different title. I've read a lot on how this is the other way around, that DOS is inspired by BG, but if that's the case, I'd complain about DOS having lost whatever initial inspiration there was & gone totally its own way. I just think it's too DOS with little inspiration from BG; if I didn't know what I was watching I'd assume it was a DOS dlc. that BG3 is distinct & has its own identity.
I do appreciate that these last points are very objective, that some don't mind/care or think it that important, and that some (perhaps most) of the issues for me are very likely subject to change. And I also understand that I can't judge a game in pre-alpha based on such nitpicking points from about an hour or so of game-play. But I also understand Larian respond to feedback, so there it is!
Some things I loved! - Classes (obvs); cinematics (I get some people find that really jarring, but I liked them from what we saw); the camp mechanic was really nice (although a lot of the cinematics and dialogue choices etc during the camp were to do with the pre-set character, so again, how much will I loose if I make my own, I don't know); I think the story sounds awesome so far, I really hope they refer back to the ilithid wars or their activity in BG2; volo, loved the reference; the camera view looked great; D20 roles, fab.
Sorry this is long and rambling, I tried to be detached from some of these things and I truly do appreciate that this is a pre-alpha, but at the same time I don't want to just sugar coat everything and say it looks perfect & really really want this to be a great game.
