Yes and no. DOS2 wasn't strictly level-reliant; it was overly loot-reliant. Weapons and armor scaled *way* too much with item level - which tied into your level progression. A simple mod to alter the scaling made this much less of an issue however. D&D 5e is strictly more level-reliant, especially so at lower levels, but since BG3 will be *much* less loot-reliant, the impact should be lessened. The tactics; from the unprecedented verticality and mobility to interactive environment, will matter that much more.
I have no issues with the game being linear; open world mostly only makes sense in sandbox-games and MMOs. BG2 was somewhat linear; several chapters were location and story progression locked, but in the open regions you could skip ahead to more dangerous areas though it was counterproductive to do so. Mostly an illusion of freedom. The replayability of DOS2 lies in the origin stories and the choices taken, *not* in the order of which you encounter the enemies. In BG3, the generic characters will be put on somewhat equal footing with the origin stories for even more replayability. Considering most gamers, allegedly 9 out of 10, don't even finish a game though...the issue of linear vs non-linear is a matter only for the most hardcore fans who likes to play the game a certain way.
