Yeah the connected map view is pretty cool.
The one posted above does have some crops though. You can see where it stops just south/east of Beregost. (We're not seeing Nashkell or the Carnival, the Gnoll Stronghold or Firewine Bridge/Ruins, Gullykin etc.) Just shows the gate to Baldur's Gate there too. So only seeing about half the discrete areas there from the BG1 in the G3 map.
Perhaps it would be more impressive in full? but it does show how the areas link pretty seamlessly.
BG2 was a great game, but I definitely see where the OP is coming from. The expanded companion interaction in BG2 is a good point and was certainly a hallmark of the sequel, though honestly I found the more limited companion interaction in BG1 worked pretty well for that game. It created a more casual vibe with the numerous possible party combinations, such that the player was encouraged to kind of pick up and ditch as they went along, low pressure. Whereas in BG2 I felt there was more pressure to roll with a core crew or to preplan the group based on things like romances, or whether someone was going to bail at a critical moment or start getting all up in another companion's face like a ball and chain. Or even chosing a crew based on meta knowledge about what kind of equipment would be available to them later.
I like the idea of expansiveness via seemless area transitions, but without a world map that is divided into quadrants I worry they'll just end up with something like Skyrim. Skyrim was awesome for the expansiveness vibe at the start, but quickly started to get all bloated and crowded out, with way too many things keyed off the main world map.
