Thanks for the comments! I definitely understand where you're coming from.
The lack of a sense of passing time is definitely a big one for me and contributes to the feeling of, once the player is past the prologue, the whole narrative slowing to a relative standstill. Which, as you point out, lies in stark contrast to the
stated urgency of our tadpole problem at the beginning of the Act. It can be pretty jarring. Of course, this is a common drawback of having a game packed with side content, but there are ways to structure the narrative/progression to still give the player a feeling of forward momentum.
With regard to the companions I found their backstories lacked credibility for a Level 1 character. Apart from perhaps Lae'zel, the rest were so exceptional that it feels like a gathering of Marvel super heroes, rather than a group of adventurers who have the opportunity to start relatively humble and grow together. The story also divulges in concept from previous games where the main PC was the character with the mysterious background which was slowly revealed; with every companion sharing the tadpole all of a sudden the main PC on longer feels quite so special, if that makes sense.
I would totally agree that there is little nuance in the game, everything is cranked up to the max from the brash planes traversing prologue to experiencing The Underdark, and all the dangerous monsters that Larian could possibly throw at us, all in Act 1! Long gone are the days of earning your crust fighting low level critters, instead we have HP bloated goblins laden with explosive arrows and bombs. This does curtail the sense of progression/achievement I feel. Is it a case of too much too soon? Trying too hard to be 'fun'?
This point was definitely one of my main concerns when I first installed and played EA back in late October/early November. Nearly everything, from character backstories to the stakes of the side quests is cranked up to 11. One of the beauties, as you note, is the feeling of growth. That doesn't mean every game should start with us running around whacking rats until we can move onto kobolds and kobolds until orcs and on and on, but if the relative stakes start high and don't relent, you lose out on both vertical growth and the kind of idiosyncrasies that complement and draw out satisfaction from completing further content. The most relevant analogy I can think of here is to cooking: If you make a dish homogenous in texture, taste, color, etc., while it still might taste good it is not going to excite someone the same way a heterogenous dish will. The contrast between different flavors and textures is what makes you able to truly appreciate their differences and makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Starting out fighting cambions, mindflayers, owlbears, and potentially even a dragon doesn't leave a whole lot of room for an upward trajectory, and is likely to make the brief respites seem less like a welcomed breather and more of a nadir. I would agree that a lot of this could stem from a desire to make the game feel "epic" from minute 1, which has the unwelcome effect of making everything feel one-note.
Items/gear - I did find a large amount of loot in my various playthroughs and to be honest wasn't expecting to find a plethora of magic items, given that we play Levels 1-4.
I did however find there was a bit of a lack of variety and more of certain weapons than others, which meant more often than not you ended up with surplus items that you had no real need for. It doesn't help that the inventories are huge and a frankly a total mess from a UI perspective. Another thread touched on this directly, calling for more realistic inventory similar to BG1 & 2; limited slots and a properly implemented weight limit.
I would totally concur on the lack of variety with garments/armour and everyone looking the same. Some of them are simply OTT and hideous (here's looking at you Ring Mail with huge 1970s collars). I'd love to see options for less gaudy armour, for example. Not everyone wants to look like a peacock.
Agreed on gear, and that's why I tried to hedge a bit, too: I know a lvl 4 Ranger is not going to be rocking legendary equipment. But given the ubiquity of junk items (and food) and the lack of real visual customization in gear, it can have the effect of making the "good stuff" feel really sparse even if it's not. Even more purely cosmetic options would be wonderful for giving our party the feeling of its own personality and style, beyond epic loot.
The point about weight and slot limits is well-taken, too. I think the current situation is actually very solidly captured by the "messiness" and "surplus" feeling of the inventory. It seems that Larian has gone into development with the philosophy that "more = better" (having just read Drath's very good thread on how Larian is using user data, this seems particularly poignant... they seem to interpret "fun" as more and bigger explosions and effects) and, as is often the case, more is simply more and can actually add up to something worse over all. This applies equally to the aforementioned issue with encounters and narrative beats. Sometimes subtlety is king.
