I really like the game and think that it’s exactly how the original BG 1-2 should be adapted to a modern AAA+ video game. I even think it’s one of the best games ever and surely in the top 5 for me. But there are some things that are not very difficult to change, and I’m sure could make the in-game experience even more enjoyable for many players.
1. Allow switching between the characters in dialogue once per dialogue if they are nearby (make some small distance like 20 m). There are some scripted situations when you can allow a companion to handle dialogue or you can take it in your hands. It should be the same everywhere. For example, when the party meets a certain demon in a certain temple, for me, he started a conversation with Gale, despite that I was going there with the whole party and my leading character selected. It makes no sense why only someone who was walking behind can do the talking, while a persuasion expert, who is also the party leader, and who is in the same situation, should keep quiet. Even with crimes, if another character is nearby, why can’t he speak everyone out of this in the “I’m his lawyer” style?
2. There should be no respecs available in the honour mode. From a roleplaying point of view, it’s even worse than save scumming. Especially for scripted companions. At least limit it to once per character. There are very strong builds available even literally with the first 3 companions, they can beat the honour mode without much trouble, not to mention mercenaries. If someone is playing the honour mode, they should already know what they are doing. But as it’s not exactly cheating, it makes players respec the whole party after every other fight; it’s annoying to do, but players do what they can to maximize their chances for survival. Like in some battles, 3 fighters and 1 cleric will do best, in some - 4 rangers-stalker-assassins, in some it may be good with 3 casters for AoE and summons, etc. It’s a very stupid thing to change the whole party this way regularly. It’s a thing that I don’t want to do in honour mode, but will do as long as it’s not cheating, despite that it will spoil my experience (want to win). To be clear, in Tactician, I only used it once in the late game, to respec Shadowheart as a light cleric, because it fits her story on a good path (and much more useful).
3. I believe there is still no option to include the honour mode boss legendary actions in the custom mode, but it should be there for sure. Some people exploit saves in honour mode only because they want top difficulty but without permadeath (or rather permadeath from bugs that will end a run).
4. Buried stashes that we should dig up are so monotonous, boring, time-consuming, and even almost annoying for most of the game. They almost always contain something minor, never completely useless, but never something really significant (with an exception of something like 4 in act 3, but also so-so). The chest is almost never locked and looks the same (exceptions in act 3). Add some more chest diversity, something cool at least in a few of them in acts 1-2. Some chests could be locked, trapped, etc. It also feels that at the very least in act 2 there are way too many of those. It would be better if there would be at least half of them, with double loot. Moreover, digging them isn’t fast and the process looks ugly for a modern game, it would be better just to have the chest instantly on the surface. If I will play again not in the honour mode I will just ignore all of those.
5. Add more of the useless funny trash, similar to the djinni circus rewards. Could be nice in some chests, especially buried ones, so there would be not only rotten vegetables (which are ok). More useless easter eggs, not only in the form of books, but also as descriptions of items.
6. Make the skin of Viconia look younger. It doesn’t really end up looking so old for a drow, even for a very old one and even in the current D&D where they’re mortal. I’ve read so many discussions in this regard on other forums. Lots of the original BG fans truly hate this. It’s ok for Jaheira though.
7. Switch back for Minthara to be unavailable in a non-evil playthrough. Decisions should matter in both directions. It’s so casual for her being available in a good playthrough. It was one of the better parts when she was unavailable. The camp is almost empty if to play a true evil, while if to play good you can have literally everyone now. Why even play it evil then if there is nothing that good guys can’t get. You can remove the whole evil part with equal success. There rather should be some more pure evil companions that will not be available in a good playthrough.
8. I think it’s obvious that there is a lot of work for the devs to do in act 3, with these bugs, crashes, lagging, and loose ends, and I hope that most of it will be fixed eventually. But one thing that left me especially annoyed is the quest of Aylin and Lorroakan. If to not kill him she and Isobel are not joining the final battles. I’ve missed it at first because I’ve not picked an option about Lorroakan in the dialogue with Aylin when it first appeared and it never reappeared again (bug?). I’ve convinced him that she’s dead and it was a seemingly good solution, there was no option to start a fight in dialogue neither with him, nor with Aylin, nor with Rolan (though all related quests still can be completed by killing him “manually”). It makes no sense that she’s not joining the final battles after all these situations and travels only because I didn’t kill some wizard she probably never even heard of.
9. From the same series as the previous one. In the underwater prison if Duke dies as a result of Mizora’s action (she got me, didn’t expect this to happen and decided that it's worth not loading a save) there are zero consequences, no related dialogues. There should be a real mess in the camp after this, but there is only something like “I’ve seen the duke dead in the iron throne” and “oh no... well, back to funny stuff” in response. Like seriously? Just “seen a body” and nothing on how this happened?
10. Would be nice to have an option to choose in the beginning if the player wants gay/straight advances from the companions (but not from non-companions, mind flayer thing could be there for fun and for some possible hidden context, as well as twins are ok). Even a possibility to switch romances off completely would be nice. Sometimes it’s really annoying and there is so much hype about it. For instance, it was just annoying enough with Astarion, Gale, and Wyll, but it really made me sick with Halsin in act 3, especially when I’ve already completely romanced Shadowheart at this point. Little bit too much. Like, can my character make a sign “I don’t f$#k bears” to put it in the camp somewhere as a precaution from mental trauma? Seriously, I think that Halsin is completely messed up as a character by this romance-related stuff, probably even for most of ladies and gays (imho).
11. On the other hand, I don’t think that romances suck. It would be nice to have more romance-related content and options, especially in act 3. Like to story-wisely restart romances with previously rejected companions and some fun interactions related to (not)multiromancing, not necessarily without clothing. How about someone leaving the party because of this? It’s a side thing not related to difficulty, so it’s not so casual as to respec characters all the time and not that meaningless as having an evil character in a good playthrough.
My intention was to play the honour mode with an evil durge right after completing the tactician as a good Tav (got 50/54 steam achievements, except “hot date” from possible ones), but act 3 is so bugged and crashes so often by far that I seriously doubt that this is achievable without cheating with saves, at least with my PC. So, I’m looking forward to a stable optimized version (“definitive edition”?).
As well as a DLC/extension would be more than wonderful. I know that there were none for both of D:OS, but both BG1 and BG2 got one large original extension each, so it would be in the series’ spirit, I would definitely pay for it as much as for a full-scale game.
