I think there are some parallels to be drawn with a common critique about World of Warcraft which currently has a level scaling feature so that all enemies are the same level as you, more or less. If you can't grow to out-level and overpower enemies, and go back to reflect on your growth, then growth becomes meaningless. Or at least feels less impactful. So I appreciate the dream of being able to return / travel in reverse in that sense, as it amplifies that RPG sense of growth and progress as a character. That'd be the argument I'd pitch anyway, if I was trying to convince someone.
I'm no fan of level scaling for a variety of reasons, not least because it undermines the need to gear up. You should always feel like your characters are moving forward in terms of their development, that their skills at their chosen profession are becoming more polished. There's a single player game, I can't remember which it is (might be TW3) where fighting under level enemies provides you with little to no XP depending upon how far over level you are. You can do it if you want, but it's a pointless exercise. BG3 could have something similar. Better to have areas you are probably going to struggle with without better gear and experience, just like in real life, than have everything at the same level.
The fact that Larian already said the Origin characters you do not take with you after Act 1 will not be playable after you leave for Moonrise (similar to DOS2), also confirms this. Once you depart for Moonrise, you will not return to this area and you will not be able to swap out to unused Origin characters.
Not at all, it simply means they have their own real lives and are getting on with them, pursuing their own methods of removing the parasite. It wouldn't make the slightest sense for you to travel back to the Dank Crypt only to find Shadow still banging on the door, now would it? Even if it did prove the maps are locked, the entire point of EA is for Larian to listen to feedback. Judging by the feedback in this thread, the idea of self contained maps is an unpopular one, and one they would do well to revise. Of course, that is entirely speculative since we don't know anything for sure right now.
BG3 Act 1 ends the same way the Act 1 of DOS2 ended. Dialogue box, ready check, advertisement.
The fact that Larian already said the Origin characters you do not take with you after Act 1 will not be playable after you leave for Moonrise (similar to DOS2), also confirms this. Once you depart for Moonrise, you will not return to this area and you will not be able to swap out to unused Origin characters.
BG3's Act 1 ends the way it ends because it's early access. We have no idea what is planned at Moonrise tower, or whether it's part of Act 1, Act 2 or some transitionary area between the two. It's simply the end of EA. Correct me if I'm wrong but we also have no idea where in Faerun the first act/prologue/EA takes place. DOS2 was escape from an island, over to the mainland, back to another island, then back up the coast to the mainland. You were crisscrossing water as part of the story which is why it made sense from an immersion perspective to have self contained maps.
BG3 has a very well thought out and immersive fast travel system in magical portals (I never got the whole Statue thing in DOS2) so there should be no reason why you can't fast travel back to a map you have already visited. Plus if you really wanted you could just buy a horse and travel back the way you came, if it's located on the same continent.
