I don’t know if DOS1 ever had an early access. I would assume no because I’ve never heard of it having one, only DOS2.
Oh, checking news articles indicate it did. Which is weird because everyone considers the first act to be the worst part of the game over there, due to awkward pacing and dumping you into a city with little direction on what to do. Then again, DOS1 played far more like a traditional tactical turn based RPG with lots of exploration and puzzles compared to DOS2, which went completely all in on the combat in comparison.
DOS1 actually let you travel between all previous areas of the game too (and had quests that would crop up in all areas from time to time, along with the fact that it was very possible to wander into a new area, realize you can’t do anything yet, then come back later through a different entrance when the plot moves there). DOS2 permanently locked you out of previous areas when advancing to the next chapter. Though it makes sense considering the far higher stakes in the second game, being literally chosen by gods, while the first game’s protags were a pair of reincarnated magical murder mystery detectives.
(The dual protagonist nature of the first game was super unique. You could have them argue with each other, and even have persuasion checks against each other. You would even get different endings for them based on how you had them react to each other, and they had personality flags in their character sheets based on what dialogue choices they took. Said flags actually conferred certain substantial combat bonuses, but I can’t remember what they did.)
Honestly, I hold the opinion that DOS1 is a better game than DOS2 in everything but the cheeky writing and the combat. I enjoyed the latter half of the first game way more than the second. Especially the ice realm chapter, that was probably my favorite part of both games.
I absolutely agree with everything you just said. In particular I remember the diversity in terrain and how it actually affected gameplay. IIRC unless you took steps to counter it I think in the desert region you were constantly slowed and in the ice realm you were always chilled.
