Some of the joy in games comes from learning the boundaries of what you can do within the rules and then pushing on those boundaries. I think that Larian wants to give players that "I'm clever - I came up with a workaround that just skirts the rules" feeling, but the problem is that they give it away for free.
Blowing up barrels, for example, isn't clever - it takes work to get through the game without having barrels blow up. And once you learn that trick, it's easy to use it again in any fight. Gaining Advantage by getting to high ground isn't clever - it's almost trivial and creates a huge swing in battles; and you can use it in every fight. And even if you don't intend to use it - even if you try not to use it - it's still baked into the system and it will be used, both by you and against you.
The challenge of coming up with clever tactics isn't there - it's too easy because they are given to us for free. We need to be pushing against the rules to earn our victories. Saying "just don't use the cheesy stuff" leaves us pushing on a rotten wall that collapses under our weight. It's not gratifying.
Agreed. What Larian perceives they are doing by creating this environment in the game is not actual reality.
