I'm an older gamer (46) and I have some views on this. I played D&D when I was younger for many years. I played AD&D 1st Edition and 2nd Edition. I knew those games inside and out. This colours what I am going to say.
I played Pathfinder Kingmaker and I gave up in the first act. I found the combat far too hard for someone with zero knowledge of the tabletop game. I've read various guides and so forth and they all rely on knowing the mechanics inside and out. The game itself feels great but it really is a lot to get your head around if you don't play Pathfinder. If this had been based on AD&D 1st or 2nd Edition I think I would have been fine. I haven't played Wrath of the Righteous but I expect this to be similar.
BG3 on the other hand I have really enjoyed playing so far. The mechanics are as alien to me as they would be if I had never played AD&D but I never feel that I am being punished for it.
I played Kingmaker and I had and still have very little experience with D&D. I still enjoyed the game for the story and the kingdom management mainly, and played with the difficulty set low. However I don't think I ever truly comprehended the system while I was playing. However with WotR, not only do they do a better job providing tutorials to explain how things work, but the turn-based mode makes it a lot easier to see what individual things do and mean. So while it's still just as complicated, I do think those two things make the game a easier to comprehend.
Originally Posted by Saito Hikari
I'm a bit disappointed that there's no clear martial archetype, although they've openly said that they didn't choose one for the subclass contest design because it could have gotten them in trouble with Valor and Swords Bard being a thing in official DnD. Maybe they could get around it with feats though, and the new DLC is supposed to be adding in a bunch of new feats to the game which have yet to be revealed.
They also actually said that the feats were specifically meant to make martial classes more interesting. So I think you'll be in for a treat there.
