I was hyped to play this having basically read nothing about it but knowing that I love BG 1 and 2. But when I started I noticed that it basically felt exactly like DOS2. The engine seems to be the same, the interface is similarly clunky, the camera is clunky, and the combat is turn-based. I know that this is a controversial thing but I feel like taking the BG title and changing the combat is like taking a real-time strategy game such as Starcraft and turning it into a turn-based Civ-type game. The worst part is probably the camera. Having a 3D camera that's fixed at a certain angle but which you can rotate is just annoying to deal with. I often found that I couldn't zoom in close enough to get a good idea of what's what, maybe I'm just old and my eyes are failing me, but also the object highlighting key doesn't highlight all interactable objects (not talking about ones that require a perception check, just simple objects). If a game like this is going to have a 3D camera, I should be able to zoom in as far as I like, I should be able to pivot the camera up and down at an arbitrary angle. When I played this game I found myself constantly rotating the camera so that I can see what is happening. Honestly if they let you move the camera with WASD and pan up/down/left/right using the right-click, it would have felt more natural. Instead we have a right-click context menu, and you have to use the middle-mouse button to rotate which is awkward. I honestly feel like the ideal BG3 game should have been on an engine that is actually inspired by the Infinity engine, with a good old 2D isometric view and hand-painted art. The party limit of four characters is also a huge let-down. I like having a bigger party, it makes the party more versatile, interesting, and dynamic. The game basically forced me to leave behind two companions early in the game before I even really had a chance to know who they are and what they're about.
