... Larian do a vastly superior job of understanding the potential for roleplay outside of dialogue. That is something I really appreciate.
This comment really resonated with me. I'm not sure how much it's the fact I've played and replayed the same bit of game and experimented with different ways of doing things more than I have with any other game, and how much it's Larian's approach to game design, but I've really felt when playing BG3 that the whole game can feel different playing different characters not just the dialogue and selections I make within it. My concept for my character affects how I approach challenges such as getting into (and out of) the goblin camp and Ethel's hut and so on, where I'll go and in what order, how and when I use stealth and so many other things. Even how much I loot! If Larian manage to build on this and provide multiple other ways to express who my PC is then it might make up somewhat for lack of voice ... though I'd rather have both!
I think that ultimately a big chunk of my dissatisfaction with the game comes back to here. Without dialogue grounding me, all the rest is just "the stuff I do to get to dialogue and roleplay." I love picking dialogue options and making choices, that's the part of crpgs I always look forward to. If I could get a choose your own adventure book with equal or greater depth of character customization than a game like PoE or DAO, I'd love that game to to death and it'd probably be my favorite thing ever. It just doesn't feel natural for me to do a lot of the weird, random stuff the game let's me do. Playing characters that do that just doesn't feel right. I can't think in terms of "my character would approach by this route" if I'm left free form, it ends up feeling more like "Well I guess I'll try this way." Which is not nearly as satisfying. Maybe if I thought differently I'd enjoy this game as much as other folks seem to. But I guess it just means Larian and the games they make just aren't for me.
Regarding voiced protagonists, it really is a matter of taste. I think for me at least, I'm constantly worried that voiced protagonists and the limitations on character expression they impose will eventually completely push out quality unvoiced crpgs, which would mean the death of the kind of experience I really enjoy. So I'm glad if BG3 really does have a silent protagonist since then at least thats a high profile game supporting voiceless protagonists.
