I think there is a rather simple solution for everyone in this thread:
- if you want to hit regularly and come through the story without much optimizing take a low difficulty whre AC and attributes for enemies are lowered but keep their HP as in DnD ruleset
- if you want to play hardcore DnD take a higher difficulty level with pretty much all stats as in the rules (there will be a few deviations but that is unavoidable)
- if you want a high difficulty but a game mechanic based on bloated HP stacks and safe hits as 95% of all games out there just play one of them or wait for DOS3
I agree with you 100%, but the problem is we aren't even remotely close to the hardcore option being in the game. Based on the hard left turn from the 5e ruleset and direct porting of so many DOS 'features', it seems like Larian isn't interested in that hardcore option.
I wouldn't give up about that so early in the EA process. This was their first shot and I think they of course come from the DOS battle system which is fundamentally different. We won't persuade them to remove surfaces and to be honest I think they don't even need to. But instead of adjusting DnD things to their creations they should adapt their creations to DnD which is far easier in my opinion. And doable. And our job is to provide them ideas and suggestions on how to do that. Given time I'm sure they will implement at least some of these ideas.
Wholeheartedly disagree. Because doing it that way ends up in the massive mess of mechanics we have now. And this game wasn't marketed as DoS 3 set in Faerun. It was advertised, and milked for all the nostalgia, as a D&D game in the spirit of the Baldur's Gate series. Starting from an entirely different game system results in butterfly effects that ruin the adaptation attempt. Changing one small thing, like letting everyone Hide as a Bonus Action, carries down through dozens and dozens of different balance changes. Having so many surfaces chips away at HP in a rule system that isn't built to support that, whereas DoS 1 & 2 were developed, at their core, as being games where you went into every fight with full resources.
Starting from the other direction (the rules system you want to use) means you get to take advantage of all the balance built into that system. You get 6+ years of play testing, for free, and tons of additional content available. Start with the rules, then build the mechanics. I get that modding DoS 2 code is easier, and if they want to make the cheapest game possible that's the route I'd go. But if they want to make the third installment of the Baldur's Gate series and a game that will remain monumentally popular 20+ years from now, start from the rules first.
