Already posted this on reddit, but I figured, why not throw it out here too? I was planning to pile my feedback in one big review of EA, but I'm lazy I procrastinate I'm busy and don't know when I can get the whole thing out.
It's not really a secret that there's a dichotomy going on with what the game tells you (you could die at any moment) and what the game lets you do (abuse long rest). While long rest's abusability is a whole 'nother problem, what I really want to look at with this post is how to possibly fix the story-gameplay dissonance.
Several cutscenes necessary to progressing companion quests and deepening your relationship with them can only be seen by using long rest. And they don’t pop up all at once. You need to long rest at least twice to hear Raphael’s offer, Gale apparently (I haven't been able to trigger it) has a cutscene that locks you out of his romance if you miss it, and it can take several long rests before you catch Astarion trying to drink your blood. You also need to long rest to trigger the parasite dreams and obtain the super powers you were hoping to tap into when you experimented with the tadpole.
In short, playing the way the game implies you should play actually robs you of the chance to get to know your companions more or progress their questlines, stifles the main quest, and hinders your rise to ultimate power (if you want it).
My suggestion is that these cutscenes should either be implemented in a way that ensures you always see them (especially Raphael’s), or the game should introduce some sort of quest barrier. Something like “the goblins will attack in three days”, and you need to long rest three times to trigger the next stage of the quest. This could also encourage players to explore more, since in this scenario, they have three days of free time, and what better way to spend it than on side quests?
Personally, I favor the second scenario, since I think it’s smoother and, in-universe, would work as a way to lull the party into a false sense of security/make them aware that Something Is Weird about their parasites (though I'm aware there are already a few conversations where they comment on it being strange already). It also gives the player full control of the "time limit", in that it won't run out until they let it, which would hopefully alleviate the stress that usually comes with such things.
Thoughts?
(Also, please let me know how well you think this feedback is constructed--this is my first time actually helping out with EA)
