But I do think the non-linearity has a lot to do with how the maps are built in BG3. I’ve been amazed how throughout the EA experience I have been constantly discovering something new each time I play. This is a direct consequence of Larian using large, single maps that are crisscrossed with a variety of intersecting paths. In games like Dragon Age or Pillars of Eternity, with more focused maps, it is very easy to tell when you have completely explored each map and experienced everything it has to offer.
Exploration in BG3 is absolutely great. I regularly hear people talk of rather sizeable things I haven't seen, and I've been through the EA twice. My problem with the maps is that I have no sense of how big they're supposed to be, and the distances between major events suggests that we are on a really very, very small island. Which makes all those nice locations feel to be implausibly close together.
It is interesting that you bring up running away from fights. This is one of my big gripes with DA Inquisition. The moment when I decided I hated that game occurred when I was wandering around the wilderness and accidentally stumbled into some bears. I wasn’t really paying attention (and to be honest, I find DAI’s combat really tedious, so I was kind of already checked out. The bears immediately dropped two of my party members and said “oh crap, I’m going to run away.” I then discovered that the game doesn’t actually allow this. When I got a certain distance away from them, they would just respawn right on top of me. I ended up just running all the back to the camp “safe zone,” with teleporting bears popping up alongside me all the way until I crossed the threshold which force-ended the combat encounter.
LOL, I didn't even know that things worked that way in DAI. I guess I just reloaded whenever I was in over my head because, like you, I find DAI's combat tedious and boring. I've been doing that in BG3 and in DOS2, too. I'd rather not, really, but running away is just so tedious in a turn-based game. If I ever play DOS2 again, I'll give everyone the Escapist talent. That way I can always escape ambushes and engage the enemies later at my convenience. I'd rather like some kind of auto-escape feature in BG3. That would greatly mitigate the incentive to "ambush everyone, roleplaying be damned" I mentioned in another thread. It would also greatly mitigate the effects of the "every fight is at your level" impression.
