I was referring to the 'feel' of the game. I'll tell you what my perceived differences are:
1. BG and Pathfinder games have smaller maps, but more map traversing. You spend maybe 5 hours (or less) per map. BG3 and DoS have large maps. You spend about 30 hours or more on a single map. When you traverse maps, you're basically progressing the Chapters.
2. Six characters vs Four characters.
3. Camera controls. You can't really move the camera that far from where your characters are. You can for BG and Pathfinder Games.
4. Where are the weapon proficiency levels? A classical D&D / Pathfinder game can have weapon proficiencies up to Level 5. This is one of the big advantages of choosing a Fighter - able to have a +5 DMG, +5 Attack Roll for a weapon type whereas other classes can only go to +2. In BG3, it seems you're either proficient, or not proficient.
5. The spell system feels different. In classical D&D / Pathfinder games, you have the traditional say.... Six Level 1 spells, Three Level 3 spells, One Level 4 spell. In BG3, you have a certain spell quantity in your spellbook. You can freely load your spellbook with more Level 2 or 3 spells compared to Level 1, but your number of casts for each Level is a separate thing. I admit this is an improved quality of life design decision, but it feels different nonetheless.
6. Painted character portraits vs rendered portraits. I can understand if you think this is petty, but I think it affects the feel alot. I think painted portraits enchances the fantasy/storybook feel alot.
7. Finally, Dragon Age-esque dialog vs Text Dialog (with Portrait). This one is important. It's about visualizing the dialog from an NPC portrait instead of seeing it being acted out. The visualization is part of the storybook imagination aspect.
Anyway, I'm not nitpicking the above differences to say that the game is bad. The game is good (compared to Diablo 4, which left a bad taste in my mouth). But it feels different enough from traditional D&D/Pathfinder games that it reminds me of DoS.
Some of your points are that way because of the game being based on 5E and not AD&D 2nd ed like the BG 1 or D&D 3.75 a.k.a. Pathfinder.
That said, my main gripes are:
> Inability to create custom hirelings. No, I won't use the pre-generated undead ones, since I can't change their names, race and looks. And because they're undead...
> Inability to readjust my appearance.
> Inability to preview equipment and dyes
> Party size of 4 is annoying. Personally, I'd have prefered a limit of 5 or 6
> Party controls are rather clunky and haven't been improved since EA
> A lot of 5E rules were needlessly changed in favor of homebrew stuff that drastically affects balance and gameplay
