+1, I am in the same camp.
I was so impressed by Act 1. I've beat the game at this point and just started a Dark Urge playthrough. So I've got a different perspective now.
And coming off Act 3 and the ending and diving into a new playthrough really REALLY shows that all the effort went into the first 2 acts.
I'm back to salivating for the next long rest just so I can see what happens next! And knowing that in Act 2 but mostly Act 3, no one has anything to say about anything and there isn't any interesting camp events anymore makes it all kind of sobering.
For context, I had Orpheus become a mindflayer instead so my ending will be slightly different than yours so spoilers:
I also romanced Astarion in my first playthrough and the amount of depth he has doesn't fit the rest of the game or ending at all. I kind of can't believe the same people who created Astarion also created Wyll or an ending where Astarion burning in the sun is a joke, Gale gets no resolution for his quest, in my playthrough Shadowheart literally says nothing at the end, I didn't even get to see Jaheira or Halsin, Karlach gets all the attention (this was post Patch 2), and for some reason Wyll is acting like we're buddies even though we had the worst relationship the whole way through?
And my boy Astarion basically gives me a sentence of "Yay! We win! Okay, bye." Like...no goodbye kiss. No thoughts on not being able to be in the sun.
There's even a sentence that you can say that says "Everyone, why won't we go have a party? Drinks are one me!" and the response is "We're down for that!" but....nothing. No party. Karlach and Wyll go to Avernus, I have 0 clue what Shadowheart does cause she doesn't speak, Lae'zel goes off basically flipping off the whole group, and Halsin and Jaheira are nowhere to be found.
The TLDR of all of this is the ending and the unengaging Act 3 is the worst and biggest reason this game remains in EA in my mind. It's not finished. It needs work. I love it and hate it with equal measure.
