Here's an example of the combat mechanics in Divinity Original Sin II. Load an ornate chest or backpack with as much weight as possible (literally 1000's of kg), spec into telekinesis (to lift 1000's of kg), and wits and scoundrel (to guaranty over 100% critical chance) and throw the chest at enemies, doing 10K damage with one attack. It's guarantied to one shot any enemy in the game with every attack. Dozens of other broken mechanics are rife in every Larian game. A year after the release of Divinity Original Sin II, Larian made a massive balance patch just to try to make their game somewhat balanced for the none cheese tactic players, and I considered it too little, too late. The game was still highly imbalanced regardless of cheese, and cheese strategies: whether features or exploits still existed, and they were numerous, and game breaking balance wise. Larian make the most mechanically broken games I've ever played in the genre. I could never imagine Larian making a game as nuanced, strategic, and balanced as Tower of Time. It took D&D decades of refinement to get to 5e, and while its not perfect, most would agree it's fairly mechanically balanced. Which is the exact opposite of anything Larian has ever developed to date.
The only reason I gave this game a chance was because I figured if Larian stayed faithful to the core mechanics of 5e D&D, they would have the foundation for a balanced game. I really hoped they stayed true to the numbers and mechanics of 5e, not because I am a fan of 5e, but because it was an opportunity for Larian to make their first mechanically balance game. All the numbers, all the math, and all the balancing was already done for them, how could they mess that up? I hoped that was Larian's intentions behind using the D&D licence, and 5e mechanics. Using 5e core mechanics would give Larian an opportunity to make a game on the foundations of a mechanically solid system. Instead, they made a 5e and DOS chimera, and it's a monstrosity.
Honnestly I'm not sure at all they're interrested in "balancing" their games. I mean... It looks obvious that the game couldn't be balanced at all if they designed unbalanced mechanics as base mechanics...
Players : "Will there be a lone wolf mode like in DoS" ? Larian : "Yes, that's something players asked a lot" "No, using a few base mechanics will allow you to solo'd the game"
Larian promotes cheese/imbalance/exploits under the guise of creativity and problem-solving. That is just their brand.
Swen said in an interview they were skeptical and hesitant when first getting into taking on BG3 because they feared WoTC would make them be as faithful to 5e as possible, but they later found out they was some wiggle room.
A lot of their employees are quirky and very jovial, sticking to pre-made source material with minimal deviation would be a slow death for them. For better or worse, they enjoy experimentation through their creations but that is not what is needed in BG3 in excess.
Really wish they would limit that to the Divinity-verse and truly isolate this game from the rest of their library. And if the opportunity comes for more 5e content, so be it.
Who knows now if there will be a DOS3. Remember Larian was going to do Divinity: Fallen Heroes which has a lot of features they bundled into BG3. The shared initiative and new TB adaptations were all things that were going to be in their next Divinity game.
Once they got the green light for BG3, they announced the indefinite pause on Fallen Heroes and began working on BG3.
