You know what? Maybe I will. I'm tired of arguing with people for over a year making suggestions to make this game better in a vacuum where Larian just says nothing. All I ever get out here is, "Well tough. They're not going to even consider that, so shut up."
So, maybe I will. However the game turns out, whatever. It COULD be more awesome, but if all they want is a streaming meme game with tons of plot holes and exploits and gimmicks and things that just don't make sense, then this game will probably just plop in the toilet for me, just as it has for many others. It's pretty, but it has SO many things wrong with it.
Take Barcus, for example. How the bloody bleep does he get to Grymforge before me? Does he get there through the SEALED TEMPLE, THE DEADLY SPIDER LAIR, or THE HAG'S LAIR? Makes no sense. Oh wait! Maybe he snuck past the Zhents and minotaurs.
I totally get what you are saying. You should know that in Multiplayer we try to define beforehand what kind of game we are going for, sometimes we are just there to be goofballs and sometimes we go in with clear objectives and roleplay our characters in discord.
I really don't see them being able to do this correctly without having some way to 'define' the game through settings before you start playing. Bg1 AND Bg2 had the same features - where you could define the level of rules you wanted to follow. Believe me, I would choose the Barrelmancy = NO selection on every serious game. I think a "Core Rules" feature is essential - and that means no homebrew nonsense.
You are right about Barcus also, he seems to be defined by his incompetence as an actual adventurer - something he admits to later if you bring him into your camp. His head is so far up his ass he has neglected practical considerations like "what's your gameplan here?". I don't think Larian made a mistake in including him or his Arc - his incompetence is a foil on why it is important to be in an adventuring party with a diverse skillset. I could see him relying only on stealth to get to the Underdark - and as a deep Gnome he may have found another entrance we didn't know about - and then getting caught by Duergar.
