tl;dr:
Larian, please take feedback with a grain of salt and follow your guts (as I'm sure you do anyway). I don't have anything especially constructive to add, just that I've seen a lot of negativity, and it sometimes seems directed towards the wrong things.
I'm about 18 hours into the game so far. There are some issues obviously but overall I'm loving it. It's scratching an itch for me that hasn't been scratched since DA:O (I'm a big DOSII fan but love it in a different way somehow).
I know this is all coming from a place of passion, but based on the feedback from EA players I've seen so far, I'm a bit worried the game may be negatively effected by the following:
-OG Baldur's Gate nostalgia-boys
-5e purists
-People who are finding it too difficult and blame various game mechanics (there will presumably be easier difficulties they can play on)
-People who think the current companions are going to be the only ones (and don't know they're the more evil leaning characters)
For instance, there's a lot of rage going on about surfaces. I'm not saying they shouldn't be changed at all, but I think the main problems people are having with them are a) companions walking through them out of combat (but this is just a pathfinding issue. DOSII companions never walk on surfaces and it's not a problem) and b) some people are finding combat too hard because of them.
Personally I like surfaces (again I'm not against tweaks and changes to make them work better). I think one of the best things about tabletop RPGs is the creativity you can use, based on the 'computer' being human. You obviously can't do that with a video game, so I think you need systems like surfaces, movable objects, shoving etc to give the players something to be creative with. Otherwise it's just click on enemy to hurt.
In terms of difficulty, I obviously don't have a problem with people having trouble. I do think, though, that people are blaming the game a bit much (a pretty large number of the negative Steam reviews seem to mention in some roundabout way that they were dying too much). I don't consider myself especially good at this kind of game but even trying out a bunch of fairly unoptimal party comps (ie two wizards, a rogue, and a ranger) I so far haven't had much trouble with the combats (I've had my squad wiped maybe once or twice?).
Also when the first trailers came out, everyone was complaining it wasn't dark enough and now people are mad that the companions are too evil?
Don't even get me started about the guy on the Steam forums telling people not to buy the game because it's too 'SJW' lol.
Honestly I think a lot of these complaints do stem from actual issues, but some people aren't sure what the problem is and blame it on something they expected not to like before they started playing.
It's also possible that I've misinterpreted what a lot of those people are trying to say and in reality it is I who is the fool.
Keep up the good work, Larian. I love DOSII and I'm so excited about BGIII and your efforts to bring quality RPGs back to the world.
