Cheese fest ? - I wonder if a lot of players who use this term use this play style because they cannot beat the encounters without resorting to it. Because certain mechanics are available doesn’t mean you have to use them.
The game is very hard and frustrating for a normal game mode if you don't use backstab, highground advantages and jump. If you use them it become easy. If you use barrelmancy, poison, dipping, eating each turn, shove,... It become very easy.
You should try different playthrough and different mechanics limitation to understand how the game difficulty is(n't) balanced. Everything is made arround Larian's homebrew.
This is true. Larian expects you to use their special mechanics to win (imo-cheese). If you try to stick with 5e rules, you are handicapping yourself, especially since the monsters use Larian mechanics to the fullest.
