Originally Posted by Wormerine
So few things I can mention on top of my head: there are very few hard progression gates - per act, you have a lot of freedom as to order you complete the content (and of you complete the content) - and that content has reactivity (so rather than open-world game with small pieces of individual activities that can be completed in any order, but they play out the same regardless, let’s take for an example the infamous Shadowheart that required a lot of custom triggers and hand made narrative content).

This is neither new, nor complex though. This has been a standard of modern RPG's for decades.

Originally Posted by Wormerine
A lot of companion content happens dynamically, rather than in predefined, linear, set in stone progression gates.

Did we play the same game? EVERY companion content happens after predefined, linear, set in stone progression gates...

The only thing about BG3's companions is that some of their content is tied to the predefined, linear, set in stone progression gate of Long Resting. Meaning you can skip certain content by not Long Resting enough...

Originally Posted by Wormerine
NPCs and objects in BG3 are quite interactive, with individual AI (they will respond to your actions, like sneaking, doing illegal actions, will react to noises, have their own reputation system etc.) NPCs and objects have weight and can be moved around, that has further consequences.

Which is also not new nor complex. It's been a staple of Bethesda games since FO3.

Originally Posted by Wormerine
Spells and skills have a lot of properties that can be applied and will interact with NPCs and objects in the world. Objects have also permanence - which isn’t uncommon, but it’s worth mentioning due to their interactivity.

Though, most of the spells and skills have limited properties that can be applied to NPC's and objects. Ironically, DoS2 was more complex in this manor due to it having a more developed surface system with more combinations of surfaces (I.e. Water can be electrified, or burned into steam and that steam can be electrified. The same is true for Blood and electricity/ice can transition across both blood and water without issue. Poison can also be burned into poison clouds)

Originally Posted by Wormerine
Compare it to usually cRPG fare

BG3 is more interactive than typical cRPG's... Which is one of the reasons why I'd personally call BG3 a Modern RPG more so than a Classic RPG. Since most of what it does is simply incorporate modern designs, such as those found in games like Bethesda titles.

Originally Posted by Wormerine
Permutations and potential interactions are so numerous that testing this game must be a nightmare.

They're not THAT numerous. There's still only very limited ways to interact with things. It's not like you can start a fire in the grove and burn down all the houses because fire interacts with objects in a complex way, it's not like you can use Create Water to flood an area and wash away objects. It's not like NPC's will react to you doing these things in a somewhat realistic manner.

You simply have some ways to interact and NPC's have their standard flags to respond to certain actions you do. It's nothing significantly complex, even compared to other CRPG's since they also have their limited interactions and standard flags to respond to actions. Heck, there's a guy on these forums that keeps making threads about the complete lack of complexity involved in certain situations (The most recent one being the "Tiefling vs Druid morality" whereby due to the lack of complexity, the Tieflings in the grove will simply attack you or throw you in jail for any crime because of the limited scope of the AI flags - Meanwhile Kagha allows you to step in to protect Arabella)

The only thing that BG3 does that is implicitly more complex than any other RPG out there, is it takes on the ability to move objects (Though, not as complex as in Bethesda titles and other similar games (Such as those like Stanley Parable, Prey, System Shock remake etc) where you have more freedom to move objects and in Skyrim in particular they have weight related interactions in the form of pressure plates that require certain weight objects to utilize). Which is nothing major, especially by modern standards.