Let's just say that Ragnarok is right. It is all abstract - the environment. If that's true, then the following makes no sense:
The Dank Crypt's entrance is on the beach. You crash on the beach. The nautiloid is north of your position. It's tentacles are still around you and over the beach where you crashed. So, you KNOW the nautiloid crashed on the edge of the beach.
You travel around the bend to the pier with the dead fishermen. There's the Dank Crypt's entrance on the beach. Intellect devourers are all around, having come from the nautiloid that has crashed right there next to the dank crypt. If it was all abstract, it would take hours to get from the beach where you start to the dank crypt entrance and then from there to the nautiloid and then from the nautiloid to the upper crypt area with Gimblebock and company. The only way the entire collection of scenarios makes sense is if it is all one map with everything literally near one another.
Think about it. Shadowheart, if you don't have her with you by then, is pounding at the door and mentions finding another way in at the top of the cliffs. So, the ONLY path to get to the top of those cliffs is a great distance from the beach through the nautiloid, up another long path, back through the nautiloid, along another path where you meet Gale and then another good distance? Should we assume it takes hours to take this very interesting path? You mean to tell me there's no other, shorter way around the nautiloid? No. It only makes sense that the crashed nautiloid is blocking your path around, and the only way to get out of the area is through it two times - unless you cut straight through it and skip Astarion's area.
But let's then say that the entire first area, including the Beach, Nautiloid, Astarion's Locale, the Path Where You Meet Gale, and the Dank Crypt are all one location that is literal. Then, after that, it becomes abstract between that basic area and the Wilderness/Grove where you meet Lae'zel and then get to Silvanus' Grove. If that's the case, first of all, why NOT then make it a single map and have a transition point to the next area? I mean, why make it literal and then have some sort of weird abstract-ness happen and then have it literal again without a transition to tell players that it is, in fact, transitioning from literal to abstract? That's very immersion-breaking and weird. But let's just say it's because you're avoiding transition times to speed up gameplay. Fine. Weird, but fine. Moving on.
Second, doing this actually strips players of freedom of choice. What if I don't WANT to continue along those paths? Now that I'm clear of the nautiloid and dank crypt area, if there is a good distance between this location and the Wilderness/Grove, shouldn't I be able to skip past it and avoid it? There's hours worth of terrain between the two locations. Right? So if there are hours of distance between them, I should be able to choose to bypass the grove altogether. But I can't. I have to go right past the grove. But, you know, one could argue that there literally aren't any other paths through the terrain. Again, it's possible. Weird, but possible.
Moving along. In the grove, it has been argued that there is a good deal of distance between the harpies and the grove. Here, again, we have a strange circumstance. First, there is a smooth transition from the grove to the beach, and you can even follow it along so that you are wrapped around the south side to look upon the Dank Crypt, the cliff where Nadira is with her telescope, and Orn the bear down by the shore... all as one smooth setting. But other things don't make sense if it is miles away. Is there no path from there to other areas at all? Is the only path, even when you pass for miles of distance, out through the eastern gate of the grove and down that single path? And boy that's an awfully far distance for the tiefling boy to wander from the safety of the grove even though there are lots of goblins lurking about looking to kill them - and gnolls who months before slaughtered a lot of them. Kinda weird that he'd wander to the beach so far away with so many dangers lurking around. He might go a short distance if he was poking his nose outside the grove a bit and heard some enchanting music, but miles? Not likely. Thirdly, the harpies are singing a tune that mirrors Alfira's. Now that's strange. Why would they sing a tune that is close to hers if they didn't hear her singing the tune? How could they hear her sing the tune if they were miles away? Nope. All the evidence points to it all being a literal distance.
Moving along. Other things that don't make sense from an abstract area perspective. In the bog, there is a camp. A child and parent were killed there by what appears to be ettercaps. From where did they come? Moonhaven's Whispering Depths, most likely. This is an assumption. Yes. But where else would they have come? I suppose anywhere, but the inference is Moonhaven since you meet ettercaps in the Whispering Depths. Now, why would ettercaps travel so far from their nest for food when there are goblins and other creatures right in Moonhaven for them to feast upon - especially if you assume that the supposed "forest" that Moonhaven is surrounded by has actual animals in it - assuming an abstract environment that actually WOULD and SHOULD have animals? It makes more sense that the ettercaps might have been patrolling about the general area near their nest for food late at night when the goblins and such went back to their camp, but it doesn't make sense for them to travel miles away into the bog. It is therefore implied that the bog and Moonhaven are close to one another. I'm sorry, but it makes a lot more sense that the bog is close to Moonhaven and the nautiloid, for it is presumed that the parent and child crashed their boat in the bog because of the crashing nautiloid. This is somewhat of an assumption, but I don't think it's as much of a stretch as saying that the bog is miles away from Moonhaven and miles away from the nautiloid. It makes much more sense that it is close to both locations because why would the father/child crash their boat there unless they were in a panic?
But, even if all of that doesn't convince people - which it probably won't because some are dead set on everything being totally abstract - what about the fact that I have engaged the Gith Patrol in combat and run to Waukeen's Rest and actually received the aid of the Flaming Fist to help me fight them and kill them? Are you implying that while in combat my character ran miles upon miles along a single road with Gith hot on my trail? And while they're fighting the Gith, I could then run miles upon miles back to where my companions fell, near the bridge, and heal them back to full all during the same combat? And then return in time to help the Flaming Fist finish the Gith? So - just to be clear - initiated the Gith fight at the bridge, three companions fell, with Astarion I ran to Waukeen's Rest and led the Gith into the Flaming Fist who then helped fight the Gith, then while the Gith were distracted, Astarion ran back to the bridge, used potions, and revived my fallen companions, and finally we ran back to Waukeen's Rest and finished off the Gith - and somehow that actually took hours of time? And that makes sense somehow?
This is why we have a problem with the whole "The Map is Abstract" mindset. It ISN'T.
And yet... it is. And that's the problem. How could it NOT be abstract? After all, the camps - both main and mini - aren't anywhere? You can only Fast Travel to them. Also, the goblins are either stupid or blind or plain dumb if they can't find the grove so close to their main base when it is so obviously not hidden enough. Stand on the Harper's Lookout Cache location, and you'll see the grove plain as day. So how could it NOT be abstract? It MUST be miles away. Moonhaven is too small. The bog is too small. The forest is too small. The distance from the grove to the goblin camp is like 5 minutes of jogging at best, but it took Aradin and his companions over a month to go there and return with goblins on their heels. But Baldur's Gate is only ten days from the grove? How does that make sense from either a literal or abstract sense?
And how can you drop down from the Whispering Depths into the Underdark where you land near the Selunite Outpost, but then the Zhentarim stash in the Underdark, which leads up to the Zhentarim Hideout under Waukeen's Rest, is just up the path? But not far from the heart of the Whispering Depths is a secret way back into the blacksmith's forge area in Moonhaven? The distances don't add up?
But, all this aside, even IF it is all abstract and it takes me 8 hours to travel from the grove to Moonhaven, or whatever, I STILL shouldn't have a scenario where I am standing at the entrance to Moonhaven after fighting the goblins, I long rest, I reappear at Moonhaven, I run through Moonhaven to Risen Road, and just as I'm reaching Risen Road, I have a companion say, "Gosh. I'm tired. It's been a long day. Let's get some rest." Even IF I traveled for 8 hours from Moonhaven to my camp, slept the rest of the day away, woke up first thing in the morning, and traveled 8 more hours to return to Moonhaven - and even IF it took me an hour to get through the whole of Moonhaven to Risen Road - why on God's Green Earth would my companions then say they're tired and we should call it a day? We haven't done a God-blessed thing? What? You want to go all the way back to camp and do it all over again? We didn't explore ANYTHING.
But that's what happened to me - and it's happened on more than one occasion. I don't care what way you spin it. The game encourages Long Rests - OFTEN!
And what I'm saying is, players should be encouraged to Short Rest, and frankly, the fact that it's "more convenient" to short rest is not really that much of an incentive. If I'm only short resting because it's slightly more convenient than a long rest, then it's pointless. It's a dumb mechanic. This is especially true if upcoming battles are tough - like the spider lair - and you know you need a full rest to take the monster on. Oh yeah. You're going to take a few extra seconds to End Day and return to fight the monster rather than the quick Short Rest.
And THAT is one of my other points. The encounters are designed so that you are meant to Long Rest before them. But that's not how RPGs work. You aren't supposed to know what's coming, and if you don't know what's coming, you need to still be able to beat it without having to reload. The whole point of a ROLEPLAYING game is that you are taking on the role of the character. You are meant to be able to survive EVERY encounter even if you have absolutely no idea what's coming. If you make the fights so hard that you are expected to trigger them, die, reload, prepare better a second time, and then try again until you win, you're playing Undertale, not an RPG.
