Thanks for the answer, that looks like what I saw and imagine.
So what about the idea of real time with time slowing down ? Doesn't it fit better to your intentions if you would bring them in a video game ?
(Considering that you choose the number of characters you're playing, MP or SP)
RtwP slowdown would absolutely be the better choice if engendering a sense of urgency was Larian's primary objective, but this isn't their primary objective. Larian is trying to do exactly what BG1 did, recreate the full rules of Dungeons and Dragons as closely as possible in a video game. Where most of the licensed games are loosely inspired by D&D, or only include a fraction of the classes, races, and spells, Larian is doing what Bioware did and trying to include everything, all of the many myriad of options, within the scope of whatever the level cap happens to be.
The first Baldur's Gate used the old AD&D2.5 rules. This system is well suited to RtwP because it was a far more rudimentary game. In combat, you were mostly either attacking or casting a spell on your turn. It was pretty straight forward.
5th Edition is a completely different beast. I'll give an example using my favorite character, a multiclass monk / sorcerer.
I roll initiative well and start first. I can use two attacks in one action, so I do so. Then, I decide to use some of my ki points to execute Flurry of Blows as a bonus action, allowing me to attack two more times. After this, I decide as a special action that one of my unarmed strikes which already connected was actually a Stunning Fist, so I spend more ki to try and stun my opponent. My opponent makes his saving throw, avoiding being stunned. Now it is his turn and he is mad. He swings at me with his axe. He rolls well, it is a hit. Now I have the spell Shield prepared. Shield provides a brief 5 point bonus to my armor class until the start of my next turn, and is cast as a reaction upon getting hit. But, I only have 1 spell slot left, a 3rd level one at that, and I want to use this to teleport away with Thunder Step on my next turn, not use it to cast the 1st level spell shield. I have plenty of hit points, so I decide to take the blow, banking on him not hitting me again with his next attack. He swings again and the dice do not favor me, he connects. This time I decide I can't eat another axe to the face, so I begrudgingly throw up my shield, expending my last spell slot to avoid the attack but ruining my plans to teleport safely away, forcing me to come up with a plan B.
How would you faithfully translate all of this into real time with pause? And this is just one round of combat with one build. There are so many actions, reactions, bonus actions and special actions in 5th edition, and trying to reimagine all of these to work in a real time system that is still somehow faithful to the source material is a nightmare charlie foxtrot of a task. Nope. No thanks.
The heart of what makes a Baldur's Gate game a Baldur's Gate game is not characters, or the specific story, or even the city of Baldur's Gate. It is the faithful and near complete reproduction of D&D rules in a video game. There is more to it than just that, obviously, but that is the core you start from, and I think Larian is doing an impressive job of it, so far.
