This is gonna be a pretty beefy message so be advised.
Disclaimer: I am completely new to the series, this is the first Baldurs Gate game that I ever played so I have little point of reference here, if I end up smack talking any long-standing features or beloved mechanics, please remember this is a new guys perspective.
On the whole, from everything I have seen and played, it's all very hit and critical miss and I do mean everything here because it is such a mixed bag.
Having put in sixty-four hours into the early access thus far I can safely say that a lot of things here just really just feel good and a fair number of other things just plain don't.
Combat: Having played a LOT of tactics style games (X-com,ff tactics, Othercide, etc) I can safely say that the actual gameplay is awesome when it all goes right... For example, after taking a tactically advantageous position on high ground and rigging the only path available to said position with oils and webs and acid and such it feels downright gratifying to watch as your enemies stagger trough it all in a vain attempt to reach your position as you rain arrows, spells and freaking barrels at your foes. It's awesome!
When it works...
nine times out of ten I have not been able to set things up to my liking especially on the first playthrough and even when I do chances are there's going to miss or critical miss and then after the turns are done the enemy will waltz right up to one of my casters caster and absolutely decimate them unless the rolls are kind.
Likewise with magic and such a lot of spells are just plain devastating and can really change the tide of battle, when they work. When they don't work however then it feels like I've just wasted a spell slot, a turn and probably a character slot for bringing a caster in the first place.....
In short combat feels great but it is at the mercy of dice regardless of plans, schemes and clever stratagies/tactics.
Dice : The dice mechanics can feel punishing, irksome, and absolutely lethal. I mean it, every time any sort of check shows up I feel nothing but dread because I didn't save for a good while and rolling a 1 will mean potentially getting annihilated by an angry mob of fish people and their "god". Likewise it also means a LOT of saving and loading. Having to save scum every time the dice arbitrarily decide to kill me or jip me out of something good feels pretty lame man, especially because the load times are not grand.
Companions: For being companions they don't usually seem very companionable, in fact I get the distinct feeling that half of them are using me for their own ends or just waiting for something to kill me so they don't need to do it themselves....Right up until after butchering a fortress and everyone celebrates by drinking and getting weirdly horny all at the same time to the point where EVERYONE with so much as a higher than neutral approval of you will be very much interested in sleeping with you for some reason....There's very little feeling of comradery with this band of well, really shady people actually, we have a downright malicious fighter, a sketchy cleric, a demon powered fraud, a blood sucking knife happy rogue, and a wizard...Think I'm painting with a broad brush? Well fine here we go in deeper detail.
The fighter is ruthless, proud, arrogant, cruel and just a bit zealous. In combat this is pretty well reflected, Particularly as a battlemaster as she just mercilessly hacks, smacks and stabs enemies to bits.
Highly effective and downright essential in almost every scenario especially if you don't play a melee heavy class. Outside of combat, she's the first companion you meet in the game and seems fairly connected to the main story. Pretty straightforward and simple to get on their goodside, acts of strength, intimidation, violence and a smig of cruelty. routinely mentios killing the player character if the need arises or whim strikes them.
The cleric is self serving, cynical, sarcastic and just plain sketchy. In combat they act as the healer and combat support unit, though the heals can feel pretty weak if i'm being honest here, especially towards the underdark, and her offensive capabilities feel pretty lacking. Outside of combat everything I do seems to just get under her skin. Acts of kindness? Bad, cruelty? Also bad, asking about her questions such as "what was with that weird magic?" or "what was with that cryptic sounding prayer?" will end with aversion and or hostility with dirty looks. So from a tactics players perspective, she's a lackluster unit who seemingly hates my guts and would be very much unbothered if i suddenly croaked it.
Everything short of extortion and mistrusting the fighter seems to annoy her. You first meet her on the ship and as a fellow survivor she's pretty much in the same boat as the main character and the fighter.
The warlock(?) Charming, likable, heroic and just plain cheesy in the very best ways. This guy is shown to be an expert fencer and routinely calls himself The legendary blade of the frontier! left me thinking oh hey this guy mst be some sort of close quarters casting god of war. I learned the hard way that this lying dirty rotten one eyed schmuck is very decidedly NOT a melee fighter, between his light armor and lack of weapon proficiencies going into good ol close quarters combat with this guy tends to end quickly and painfully in a humbling defeat. He does however have some really killer spells on hand and a fairly nifty story though his reasons for being here kinda stretch a wee bit... thin. Turns out he was recently on a mindflayer ship just like the player avatar (shocker, right?) and now he's helping a bunch of refugees.
generally acting and general acts of do-goodery keeps you in his good graces.
The rogue is a flamboyant, stylish, roguish rogue with a vampiric twist. In combat he is a sneaky, vicious, evasive little murderer, who can be set up to solve a slew of battlefield problems.
Party member knocked down, send the rogue, big ugly monster with it's back turned the rogue has it covered. want an early target ambushed and eliminated before the fight even starts? You get the idea, I found him to be absolutely indispensable for his sheer reliability. And once again we have a crash survivor who shows up near the crash sight.
The wizard is well, a wizard. He's a typical run of the mill wizard, that just sort of appears out of a rune and joins you for no reaso- oh! he also has a brain bug like everyone else here, unfortunately he also has bigger problems.... In combat he does impressive wizardly things when the spells hit. I liked him well enough until he died and then I discovered the horrible drawback to using him in my squad, the necrotic aura that can very quickly ravage the squad (and anybody else that's standing too close) if he's not very quickly revived.
In short we have the fantasy version of the classic SciFi scenario of a bunch of escaped alien abductees on a road trip to rid themselves of some evil alien spawn.
Environmental interactions: it's an impressively pretty robust system. I can oil the ground cover it in sticky webs An set it all on FIRE! Or I can toss a bunch of caustic acid. Beyond that, you can freeze water and even pools of blood! you can cut ropes to drop heavy stuff, attack supports and watch as your enemies tumble and fall to certain injury and probable death. I love all of this, it is awesome.
BUGS!! : It's early access, there will be bugs. That said here's a whole bunch that I saw! Got trapped in conversations to the point where swapping to another character and having them KILL whoever was talking did not end the conversation. Units refusing to take actions or bonus actions, just kinda standing there after the command is issued and chilling out mid animation. T-posing, a LOT of T-posing and a whole bunch very goofy cutscene glitches with what is either supposed to be the love of my life or a horrible parasite bent on murdering me.
Overall all I really do like the game thus far, it's fantastic when it works and everything feels right.
But when it doesn't and I'm stuck staring at a loadscreen rolling my eyes because something awful happened at the dices whims, it's just plain tedious.
