I've been playing a little now and just wanted to leave some feedback on the resting mechanic. I'm guessing it won't be the most popular opinion, but anyway...
I'm hoarding my abilities and spells because I might need them more later. I'm cycling through the same basic attacks on all my characters because of this restriction and while I am for now enjoying the fights, I can see BG falling into the same pitfall as Pillars where I absolutely loathe the combat because it takes too long as I'm holding on to my more fun abilities for a time when I will need them more. Yes, this means I need to get better at balancing things, but it just sucks the fun out of the combat for me.
DoS is a game where I love each and every battle I come up against. It's a challenge without me feeling hampered. I get a kick when an ability comes off its cooldown and I can throw a devastating AOE at the enemy. It is fun and it's thrilling while still being a challenge, and isn't that the point of combat in a game? With BG, it's more about wheedling down the enemy with basic attacks and if you get really into a bind, maybe pulling out one of those superior abilities and hope it isn't too late and saves my ass. While I haven't reached the point yet where it feels like a slog to get through a battle, I feel it's a matter of time for that to happen.
I'm fine with the one action/one movement each turn thing. I'm not so much fine with the restrictions based on my spells and special abilities which forms a mental wall to me and turns combat into a slow slog rather than a part of the game I am thrilled to go through. I would very much love to see this replaced by a cooldown or even a limit per encounter. Or perhaps a mix where it's only a handful of over powerful abilities that are tied to needing to rest. Right now as my ranger, I'm constantly going with my basic attack and that's it.
This! Personally I love the tactical challenges the Divinity games offered. The remark on the cooldown mechanic is spot on! DnD is a wonderful system for tabletop, but I don't see how its combat (spell and skill) system can be ported to a fun computer game without altering some of its aspects to better suit the medium. At the end of the EA, I found myself reloading the cutscene before the combat just to pass the skill check of avoiding it. (It also had to do with already hitting the XP cap, and I was sleepy, and whatnot.) Wanting to skip a combat without a good story reason is not something that ever happened to me in any of the Divinity games though. (That said, I'm aware the this Early Access, and issues in general are to be expected. That's why I wanted to make sure to leave feedback.)
Overall, I did enjoy the game, and I agree with most points raised here. With the exception that the combat system should be more like textbook DnD E5 if that results in a more bland combat (see point about further reduced cantrip effectiveness removing even more renewable options).
