Finished DD and decided to give Beyond Divinity a try, despite mixed reviews. I was hoping someone with experience playing the game could help me figure a few things out:
1 - binding function keys to potions: in DD, this was simple - click the potions button, put the mouse cursor on the desired potion, press a funciton key, done. In battle, pressing that function key instantly drinks that potion, no fuss, no muss. In BD, this doesn't seem to work at all. I click the potion button, mouse over a health potion, press F1 (F1 then appears over the icon, telling me it's been properly bound) - but when fighting, pressing F1 does absolutely nothing. I always have to click the desired potion to use it, which can certainly be done when paused but defeats the whole purpose of binding a key to a potion for quick use.
2 - skill points - Does BD allow one to waste a skill point by creating two identical level one skills in different skill slots? (For example, could one give a character level one identify item twice by adding the skill in different slots instead of in the same slot) I ask because on my first level up I gave a character one point of elemental strike (earth damage), then, upon levelling up again, and wanting to make the same attack stronger, I created a new identical skill in a new slot, same everything, giving one point to earth. But now it appears I have two of the same low-powered skill occupying two slots, rather than one level 2 spell. Frankly, I'm finding the skill system in BD very unintuitive so far. It looks like I wasted a skill point and will have to either start the game over or spend 300 GP to "unlearn" the skill. Or have I missed something? Why would the game allow you to do this?

1) What they don't tell you is you can't assign certain F keys since they are bound to game functions. I finally figured out that the keys bind the same as DD but I had to use F6 or higher since the F1 - F5 are permanently bound to party members 1 - 3, Select All and Change Leaders. I use F9 and above since they are separated from other F keys which eliminates hitting the wrong key under pressure. Pausing the game will allow you to heal both at your leisure.
If you use a potion hotkey it will only heal the lead character, so if both are taking damage you will have to pause, switch characters and use another potion. This was unbelievable to me ??? Maybe hit F5 to change lead characters than your potion F key and F5 again to change back, haven't tried that yet.
2) I did the same thing. I can't tell if the skill was stacked or not but I assume the game does recognize duplicate skills. I deleted the dup and reassigned the skill point to my first skill set . . . for a hefty price. I am careful to create / assign skills now so maybe the UI will become clearer as I get further into the game.
I want to like BD but . . . I'm not pulled back to it the way I was with DD. I'm about to escape so I'm hoping it will get better . . . =)
Edit: If you press ESC, Options, Keys . . . you can see what the F1 - F5 keys are permanently assigned to. I assume, as I play the game, that these F keys will become helpful. I only have the Deathknight at the moment so I resent not have my old F1 for potions option. The F5 for change leader may be helpful but it will take me a while to do so with the F5 key rather than manually.
I'm finding the BD interface to be one of the most unintuitive UI's that I have ever used. Skills are especially strange since DD was so simple.

Thanks for the response Stuff - your answers are always concise, informative, and welcome. I actually considered that maybe the first five or six Function keys were hardcoded in the game, but dismissed the theory when the game allowed me to reassign the default function of those keys to other keys. Why would the game allow this if it isn't going to then allow you to reassign the free keys at will? It smacks of a lack of polish.
The skills setup is just weird, and a definite downgrade from the first game in terms of usability and comprehensability.
Sounds like we're at about the same point in the game. The death knight's voice is horribly annoying and the mechanics of managing two characters is a bit of a turn off to be honest. The core gameplay is still pretty solid but overall BD feels like a step back.

It is a step back from DD, I have just about given up on it having reached the imp village. The controls are cumbersome, the story is tedious, the Death Knight is cringe worthy, and the game is too slow. However I don't think Larian were wrong to try it, I like the experimentation, and they obviously realised things hadn't quite panned out as they hoped, because they went back to the more standard pattern for Div 2.

It seems we have come to the same conclusion independently . . . =)
I had to lol when the Deathknight's voice is mentioned. I found it so annoying that I play with the sound off. He doesn't speak often now so I may turn the sound back up. He sounds like a wrestling commercial and makes me ask "What were they thinking"?
I was also very disappointed in the soundtrack. I found it to be almost as annoying as the voice acting.
After DD, BD has been a jolt. Along with the other problems you guys mentioned I also found the combat to be less than polished, sorta slow, almost like automated turn based combat. Found myself waiting on the required number of strikes to land so I can get on with the game.
Battlefields? Not sure what to make of those yet. With the poor interface design, voice acting and soundtrack, I doubt I will finish the game. Still, I will continue for a while as I want to be convinced that it is not a game that I could recommend . . . =)