@ Zerubbabel: +1 , that's a nice way to put it into words, indeed I would also like them to focus on world/immersion building.
However, given:
- D/N is apparently impossible somehow for larian
- static NPC's with no schedule or activity they are carrying out except playing statue until you meet them & very compressed 'abstract' world building seem to be Larian trademark design choices
- the story boiling down to a kind of plot armour for the world to be as desolate, abandoned and empty as it is because of the conflict going on (e.g. the inn is burning, the grove is besieged) and the fact we know from the trailers that the city of baldurs gate is probably destroyed or also under siege or abandoned when we reach it
I'm kinda convinced that we won't get something as immersive, living/moving as Athkathla in BG3 but simply an 'urban' version of the CH1 map
Edit: * Athkatla
I don't want to knock Larian because I DO like what they've made since DOS2, but these are very valid concerns. I suppose I could make my peace with no D/N cycle if they had other ways of expressing the passage of time in an immersive manner (*cough* a weather system would allow for more diverse ambient sounds and could be random based on long rests *cough*). My least favorite part of the Larin style would be the NPCs that just wait around for you to interact with them, having a lot to say when you click on them to talk alone, but absolutely nothing to say to other NPCs or about changes in the world around them (See: the party in DOS2 basically being cardboard cutouts that have a PC-to-companion interactivity only based on their backstory with no banter or companion-to-companion interactivity, even when their major quests literally overlapped and contradicted each other, like Ifan and Sebille and Red Prince except for that Dreamer in Act 1). I guess I could make my peace with the theme park style map if it has a lot of content... maybe they can make it make sense by keeping us in certain districts of the city? I'll always prefer DOS2 gameplay because it's just FUN, but I wish they targeted the immersive aspects of BG2 in their game philosophy a bit more here. JUST for Baldur's Gate, just the city, I'd prefer more Athkatla and less Arx.
