I have both games and to me its not even a contest. Solasta plays like an indie mobile phone game. Its ok for what it is, Im by no means hating on it. Baldurs Gate 3 feels like a major AAA title. It looks beautiful, has an engaging storyline and interesting characters.
Mechanically Baldurs Gate 3 feels more intuitive. The UI is smoother and easier to grasp. The targeting is way better. On ranged targets BG3 will tell you if your target is blocked. If Solasta does this as well, I have yet to find it. But Il also admit I have hundreds of hours more invested in BG3 than Solasta.
But I suppose thats because BG3 grabbed me and Solasta really hasnt.
Ive heard Solasta is more true to D&D 5th edition. Thats cool, I dont really care. To me BG3 is far and away the better game.
No doubt BG3 is well polished and slick. They should with the size of their staff and the millions of dollars in resources. Solasta is bare bones.
Whether you like the UI and combat on both games is really determined by what you are familiar with. If you know 5E well, Solasta is better. Even the UI is better because it is intuitive to someone who knows how combat works in 5E. On the contrary, if you played DOS and not too familiar with 5E, I'm sure BG3 feels much more intuitive because it's set up similar to other CRPGs. And Solasta, when you are ready to attack, the system clearly shows what mobs are open for attack by drawing lines to your character. All the mobs. I've actually missed a few times in BG3 because I didn't have the cursor exactly on the monster because in BG3 you can target the ground next to the monster.
And by admitting you don't care about 5E is obvious why you like BG3 more. You want a graphically beautiful game with detailed characters and a compelling story (hopefully). That's where BG3 shines compared to Solasta; you're right it's not even close in this regard. Your opinion is perfectly acceptable and logical.
But I think Solasta is mechanically more sound but without the huge financial backing it will never look as beautiful as BG3.
