"Its just an option" is too often a cop out for lazy or weak design. And, the insulting attitude people fir new players who may be interested in a dnd game is rather dumb. Dumbing down the game won't make any new dnd fans. Not a one.
I have introduced plenty of people to dnd. Never need to dumb it down fir them. I learned dnd at 10. I'm not a genius. I figured it out. Can you imagine if chess got dumbed down to attract 'casuals' or new players? Ridiculous.
New players should be presumed to be capable of learning how to play the game without dumbing it diqn. Afterall, if they are willing to pick it up abd play they'll likely be willing to learn.
Isn't that how it is supposed to work whenever you try something new? Learn how it works. The gatekeepers are the ones who think non players are too dumb to understand the game all of likely love. Well, unless you are a Larian first dnd second kind if fan. Then I get it. Laruan doesnt really like dnd or bg anyways. They've made that clear in the oast all the while claiming this will be a 'super accurate depiction of dnd' while changing major parts of it.
Now, this post is harsh, but it's not all bad. I've enjoyed previous Larian games. I'll likely enjoy this one flaws and all.
*sigh*
Larian made a game centered around a story, they want as many people as possible to see their story. It's the strongest point of the whole game. It got pretty obvious a few years back already. The game is an *adaptaion* of the D&D system, set in the Forgotten Realms lore.
Seeing everyone (on this forums only, mind you, all 10 of you seem to be here) bicker about D&D mechanics and whatnot makes no difference to the throng of people that will play this game as it is ment to be by Larian - to experience a story. Litte to no one will care about party composition because they will choose companions that they like. Little to no one will bother with building the perfect character because they will pick the flashiest skills of the bunch.
And yeah, sure, there is a vast inbetween - consisting of people who take the changes in stride and think how to work with it, not dispairing "nooo, my D&D experience is ruined forever, I'll go back to playing BG2 now".
Could they implement different difficulties consisting of a range from "story - little to none restricting D&D mechanics" to "hardcore - you will die on your first fight 3 times becuase the rng hates you". They could have, but they didn't. I like to think they had a reason, having all this data from EA from the last few years - an ample opportunity to actually see how people play and what is too difficult.
