I mean, it's all my best guess and all, but I'm thinking that the reason we haven't gotten true reactions in BG3 is because they are attempting to come up with a preset-style solution so combat will be quick and crisp without interruption.
I have a hopeful alternative interpretation of events to offer. (Boy, have I ever been burned with optimistic predictions… but I refuse to learn!)
It could be that there’s a technical issue with true reactions which involves multiplayer. Maybe passing around priority chaotically to let players make decisions on the fly isn’t easy.
I’ve no idea what the specifics might be, but two things were mentioned during the last PfH. 1. A lot of work was being done under the hood for something involving multiplayer which wasn’t necessary in Larian’s previous games. 2. Some features are basically locked in but haven’t been released yet because developpers want to make a good first impression.
So it’s possible reactions aren’t in EA yet because they’re still cooking. As a side note, we can start to tell which features are settled because they’re the ones getting polish. Wizards’ spell-learning panel, tuned UI for rests… These are things that, sadly, will stop evolving mechanically.
But the combat log is still the same as it’s always been, jank and all. It’s a fair bet that combat itself hasn’t completely hardened into its final form, so polishing the log now would be a waste. Cutting words doesn’t even show up. Could this be a sign that CW isn’t meant to stay this way?
