the awkward, disorganized inventory system and UI has been making me engage with gear less. I straight up don't bother looking at new gear a lot of the time to figure out if anyone in my party can use it because I find the inventory management just tedious.
There is something off about it, to the point I tend to ignore inventory. It is far from being the worst I have seen in an RPG - D:OS2 and Dragon Ages were far worse in that regard... though maybe BG3 full release will surprise me. We do have access to only few items at the moment afterall.
You think the Dragon Age games were worse, really? Maybe I'm biased because DA:O was my first crpg and it set my expectations, but I really do think that BG3 having you manage every character's inventory individually does genuinely make it worse than anything else I've played. I also have to deal with their carrying capacity, occasionally swapping things around, going to vendors to sell stuff off, it takes a system that was already flawed and makes it worse.