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 add 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.
Im 104 hours in at this stage - I agree some encounters are very challenging but thats what makes it so enjoyable, a sense of achievement - I tend to use as little Larian rules as possible but I do use the jump to get out of attacks of opportunity in a tight spot, dont use barrelmancy at all (apart from shooting the wrong one & blowing myself to pieces) . I use highground when it makes sense & I dont long rest pretty much until im out of options.
But thats just me playing it how I want to & I do believe some of the tougher encounters may be different by the full release of the game i.e you can be past level 4 potentially for these areas - or we may have to live with the Larian game design & play it how you best enjoy it - the more I play it the more you can see Larian trying to get this to appeal to a wide audience & from a financial & sales success perspective thats a smart move. Do I want to see it watered down so far it dont feel like D&D?.... certainly not but currently it has a huge D&D vibe for me.
