Ngl I played Solasta recently, got to level 10 so far. And based on what i've seen on their implementation(You can swap weapons once per turn and you need 1 free hand to cast a spell. You can't "free" your weapon hand it has to be the shield) : It just nerfs the cleric.
In BG3 I had my custom cleric on the frontline with the shield while throwing spells. Played on release so I don't remember the name of the specialization but it got to a point where I had some bonuses to blocking with the shield so really hitting him was close to impossible despite his possible spell bursts.
In Solasta I have to choose If my spell is worth the risk of getting cut in half. On higher levels my cleric is effectively a spell caster ( and playing accordingly) until the later phase of combat where he just finishes people off with the mace.
Personally I liked the idea of having to choose instead of having both. Isn't turn combat all about choices, positioning and weighting risk? Especially for spell casters?
You take choices away you flatten the combat in my opinion.
Interesting point of view from GM4 above too. Like if anything just limit shield swapping.
I think that limitation could be cool just because clerics in my opinion can do just waaay too much in D&D video games I've played ^^ BG3 included.
