So I'm curious, what difference does it make if we have a DM tell us to roll a check, and fail it, and the game, the DM we have, rolls it for us, instead of breaking the flow of gameplay with "Roll a x check"?
Hmm, so in a pen and paper I go into a room and the DM has to describe it to me in his words. He tells me to roll for perception or I ask him and he gives me extra info. In the game I enter a room and see it completely, the visuals do not need explanation. I roll a check out of nowhere and suddenly a lever, a button or even big container pops up. That is somewhat odd. And the game does not tell me really well what I just noticed. The DM would tell me there is a button. In BG3 it might be that skeleton, this button, that vase.
I do not actively need to roll the check and I do not even have to notice it as a player, it can be passive. I just want to be notified what I did see and what it is for. Otherwise it is pretty confusing and/or infuriating. This is a game design problem for me not only related to skillchecks, but generally the game does not tell you a lot what you can and should do and what things are for. That is one of my biggest gripes with the game and quite breaking for me, too. I hope this somewhat explains how it relates to perception checks and how they are implemented.
There's nothing inconsistent with these two scenarios. In one case, it has to be explained, because you cannot physically see it, and the DM won't be telling you what you didn't find if you fail the roll. The same thing happens here, when you fail a roll, you don't get a clue about what you missed. The impetus is the same either way, the "DM" is asking you to make a roll.
Now, I have had the "that's interesting", to paraphrase it, but I've always managed to figure out what was interesting. That there are videos explaining it means that someone else did too. At some point, it becomes the responsibility of the player to figure things out, or it becomes an interactive movie, instead of a game. Now, a caveat, perhaps they could add better explanations for things like trapping, etc., but if players just close the window when a tutorial flashes up on the right side of the screen, instead of opening a box to read, or has tutorials turned off, the game can't really share that knowledge.
