We all knew Bards and Gnomes would be coming eventually, so not really impressed or disappointed by that. Also happy they are starting to clean up cinematics and things like that, starting to look much better. Of the things I wasn't aware would make an appearance:
- Swarm AI Mechanic > Have to see how it works, but this seems like a really great addition. I don't mind BG3 combat even if it isn't DOS2 levels of entertaining... but I dreaded the fights with tons of 'trash mobs' because of how long turns would take.
- Companion Emotion During Dialogue > I could see this being great, but could also see it being a bit over the top if you have a lengthy conversation with a companion and they are perpetually stuck with one of those odd faces. I thought some of the Shadowheart emotions looked good, others looked meh.
- More Hair Stuff > A good change. More customization is always nice.
- DOS Style Shovels > I think this is fine. I liked the feature in DOS, imagine it will be fine in BG3.
- Casting Cantrips/Spells During Dialogue > Necessary change, glad it is now in the game.
- Playing Music w/ NPCs and Your Party > I guess this is a neat little addition. I could see doing it a couple of times and then forgetting it exists though.
That being said it does appear that they have entered the 'polishing' phase for the game. I would imagine the vast majority of the content for all acts are done. I imagine all classes, companions, races, etc. are all complete and fully playable. Now they are just fine tuning everything...
Which is to say I think anyone looking for major system overhauls is likely to be disappointed upon release. We'll get tweaks and adjustments, but I think something like a new reaction system is probably out of the question at this point - although Larian could surprise me!
