Didn't agree with every single thing, but you've brought up a lot of very good points.
Like cinematics: they aren't inherently good or bad. They were very good in TW3 (and appropriate for the type of the game it is), but in BG3 their quality doesn't justify their existence. Perhaps this will change, but that's A LOT of work...
And the overacting. The theatrics. It's so bad. And you included a great example: the female tiefling emoting with her hands(?) - very characteristic for someone who tries to act too much. That in addition to custom character pantomime. I've said it before, but imo the solution is to either implement a demeanor system or just reduce custom character screen time by 90% or so.
Also a good point (as someone else here noted) on how the game is designed to be played with origins as protagonists and how the protagonist shots make sense in this context. It's rather disheartening after Larian repeatedly stated custom characters are very important to them. Especially that it's just one symptom of a larger problem - and this is said by someone who is pretty neutral on the topic of origins.
Half-agreed on companions: I prefer characters that are somehow "special" (not Mary Sues or chosen ones, just something interesting about them) and I'm not a fan of "Average Joe in Scenario A, B and C". However, I detest melodrama and YA, so fully agreed on that front. Larian seems to have gone the way of melodrama=good writing (a pet peeve of mine). That said, I think every companion could work, just take their "college kids show" parts away. I also wouldn't expect a character to be from the place we're exploring; we're all strangers here and that's imo a valid approach as well.
Regarding horny players: I don't see why close-ups would make any difference; also disagreed on the part Niara already commented on. Imo the reason BG3 playerbase is horny is because of how the game is most similar to DA, which includes a prominent dating sim minigame. There are people who mostly (or only) play DA games for the romance parts. And since Larian did "the same but more"... well. Then of course you have fetish characters (as you said) that line up for the PC (
any PC, thay'll jump at whateer) as if the whole plot was speed dating... That's also another problem with the characters: they are all slutty, if I am to be blunt. All. Not just playboy Astarion, not just Lae'zel raised in a culture of one night stands. It's the stereotypical college kids again, this time it's the horny aspect to add to melodrama. (Ok, I'm not sure about Shadowheart. Perhaps she's less slutty. But she's still in the same "dating system".)
There's a part you've said quickly and didn't elaborate on, but I think it's worth mentioning: the problem with the characters is not that they're evil. You can have evil characters that work great as companions. Like most/all of BG2's evil companions. And even BG1's (cardboard as they were).
If companions stay as they are now, I'll likely go with custom party. Which is something I almost never do and one of the primary reasons I have yet to play IWD. (Btw, there's a mistake in your video: you have NWN as one of the games on Infinity Engine instead of IWD. I know, both have wintery things in the name, I got them mixed up at a couple occasions as well. :P )
To be honest, BG3 seems to have been a project management nightmare. It has an EA but it simply wasn't made with future changes in mind - they've over-invested in specific things (e.g. voice acting) too early, so now it's a lot of effort to change (dialogue, for instance).
Yep. I feel like they wanted to show off the shiny(?) cinematics, voice acting and all the stuff that will draw in modern/casual audience. And then dialogue/writing in general is going to suffer.
I don't think "other games do it" is a good reason, because other games also don't; or "it has to appeal to a larger market" either, because that's an argument for accountants, not players, and games can do well without cutscenes anyway.
This is something I often see as a counterargument to feedback deemed "elitist": "it will never sell! most people like X and the game needs to sell well!". And this is, exactly, something to worry about for accountants. As a player, I'm going to suggest things that
I think will make the game
better - not necessarily "more marketable". By that "marketable" logic, BG3 should be a mobile game with tons of MTX. Or an MMO. Or, idk, a live-service looter shooter.
