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.
I got a nice laugh out of this pun. Overall I agree it's currently a mixed bag, for different reasons.
Combat - I'm glad you're enjoying the combat. Larian does well with out of the box mechanics, I'm in the camp that some mechanics are too accessible and I'm hopeful there will be more balance with them in the future. Mostly Higher Ground, Jump, Dip, and Backstab are too easy to achieve for the benefits they have. I agree that surfaces like that you're using webs, grease, and acid are in a better place in Early Access.
Dice - It's something that will get better when we can get above level 4. Also I feel they should add humor to low rolls, one of the reasons tabletop DnD is so fun is that bad dice rolls aren't just a bad outcome. Usually something funny and entertaining comes out of it. It would be good for Baldur's Gate 3 to try and capture some of that humor. Also with dice, it's important to keep in mind that the enemy has the same chance to critically miss as we do
The party - I will agree, thanks to jump/backstab, Fighter, Ranger, and Rogue feel more effective in combat. As for the personalities, I agree with your thoughts on Gale the most. He is quite stereotypical and feels like what we could expect any arrogant wizard to be like. Once I got more of Shadowheart's motives her personality made perfect sense.
