On @KillerRabbit's and @Zerubbabel's observations, well, that does go far in explaining my antipathy towards BG3 (and yes it is dislike of the game, but not hate, and expect that someday when I can pick it up cheap I will end up playing it). The main story and main characters in a cRPG constitute the most important determining factor in whether I end up liking the game or not. All through EA I simply did not like the story much at all, especially the whole tadpole thing. But I still held out hope that the full game would be better. It now appears, though, that the full game is, if anything, much worse. And also, I'm sorry but I continue to find pretty much all of our companions to at best be lame and in most cases utterly unlikeable. The main antagonists and other key NPCs in the game also seem (from my watching several Youtube streams) at best rather forgettable. The second most important factor in a cRPG for me is having choices that actually impact the game and get reflected in subsequent parts of the game. If the choices presented don't do any of this, then I'd rather just not be given many choices at all than be given choices that don't matter. A completely linear game is better and preferable to the illusion of choice. And BG3 seems to be very heavy on choices that don't matter, most damningly the choice about whether or not to use the tadpole powers. So, even if some of the mechanics and systems of the game are good, even great, I can't get past the earlier points I've made here.
