If I go to the McDonalds and buy a Big Mac, and I take a bite out of it and it doesn't taste like what I was expecting, I would go to the register and say, "There's something wrong with my burger. It doesn't taste the way I expected it to. Can I:
A. Get a refund
Or
B. Could I get a replacement; another one that does satisfy me, the customer.
We are Larian customers. We are unhappy with the combat system and rules used for this game. We were expecting D&D 5e. We got something totally different.
Now, I'm not looking for a refund, but I'd like Larian to do something to make me a satisfied customer. If they do, I walk away liking Larian more because they were willing to do something to satisfy me and make me happy. If they don't, I'm likely not going to be a very happy customer and I might not ever buy anything from them again.
It matters a lot, when the statements are being attributed to someone that didn't make them. It matters a lot when those statements are taken and twisted by others to imply that Larian has said something they didn't say. The most "damning" quotes in Niara's post are irrelevant, because they weren't made by Larian, but by a third party, and they weren't based on anything Larian said, but on what they hoped for from the game, or on what they hoped would bring them the most clicks, since that's how they make their money.
The problem being that you didn't order a Big Mac, you ordered a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, and they didn't give you the cheese, or maybe not enough cheese. There are some flaws, after all, that do need to be addressed, but at it's core, it is a DnD combat system. Despite your outrage, the basics are there, and it really doesn't get much more basic. Having played both Solasta and BG 3, if one isn't hitting up all the exploits, the combat plays out basically the same, except that it does seem, even w/out the "loaded dice" that had to be added because of skill check rolls that made the community unhappy, that I still hit more in BG 3 than in Solasta. Something that has come up on Solasta's forum as well.
So, as someone that isn't taking advantage of broken mechanics, that hopefully get fixed before release, the game feels very much like DnD. Of course, for me, this isn't a deal breaker either way. I'm looking for something else entirely, based on most of the same information. Contrary to your weak attempt at character assassination earlier in this thread, I'm not looking for a DoS/DnD hybrid, I'm looking for a game that's going to have me looking at the clock and realizing that it's 4 AM, and I should have been in bed hours ago. If this game can do that after release, it's going to be successful in my eyes, and any review I might be inclined to write would state that.
