— Some battles are ridiculously hard and need fine tuning. Although I avoided “barrelmancy” for the most part, the only way I could defeat the Githyanki was by suiciding Shadowheart into the main group, dropping barrels, and blowing them up. Although I can play like this, it’s not how I like to play.
I think Shadowheart also wouldn't like to play this way.
It blows down the fourth wall when a good tactic is to suicide a character for a crude but ultra efficient way like this to wipe out an overpowering encounter. It's like the characters are aware the game has an abundance of res scrolls and other cheap ways to res them and continue without any hassle or consequences.
The detailed story-like item descriptions and hand drawn illustrations are in the BG DNA that should be present in BG3 as well. Some of the magic items have really nonsensical properties (heal someone and your weapons become coated in poison, or the target gets pulled... what??) and if they had to try and explain that in a description it would be more apparent just how weird that item is.
As the development with Larian's homebrew continues, it is starting to look like a D&D RAW difficulty mode is becoming the most important addition to the game. Solasta is a good reference as it's 5e RAW tactical combat and resting system are immensely more satisfying than BG3's weird hybrid ruleset with an unhealthy focus on consumables and environment.
