The game is not that big, it's far more linear than advertised, the maps aren't really that big, and loot is lacking. The only reason people have 100+ hours is due to extensive conversations, dialogue, and the fact that it gives you no direction. Once you know what to do and where to go, the games shortness becomes apparent. The spell list is underwhelming, and so are the number of classes available. Not producing an expansion is going to hurt longevity, and eventually, people will stop playing because of it. The level cap sucks. Yes, I know, you dont need to be level 20, but who cares if you're brokenly op? It's supposed to be fun, and believe it or not, there are people (like myself) who DO enjoy grinding levels, and there are more of us than people realize. The level cap is a huge miss. The story is not that great (I'd even go so far to say it was very clearly rushed), and the only thing holding it up are the party member quests, which are far too easy to fuck up thanks to the lack of direction. Exploration is strongly discouraged due to the abysmal loot, and it feels unrewarding. There aren't enough legendaries, and you often stick with the same weapons throughout the campaign and are rarely encouraged to try something new. Also, horny companion system makes no sense. Please, please tell me why I was a complete, total shithead to gale and halsin yet they still both "confessed their love" to me? Like, I literally went out of my way to earn their disapproval, and I chose the shittiest dialogue options with them every opportunity I could, and they still said they wanted to sleep with me. Wtf?
I agree with a lot of what you said. I'm pretty sure though that I read that the level cap was in place because after level 13 wizards gain access to level 6 spells, many of which would either be impossible to program properly or, if they worked as intended, would break the game.
Well, if you did you'd have the whole D&D community after you. Some of them weren't pleased that specific spell effects and conditions weren't the same in game, and that was a hot topic in the community when the game first dropped. Kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't thing, so why break the game or disappoint players?
But they already crossed that line. There's tons of shit from 5E that aren't in BG3 and lots of mechanics work differently. You don't need a rope to climb, you don't need to find and secure and area to rest, there are no hit die. Shit, Cleric is missing like 7 entire domains.
So what if they exclude a couple impossible to balance spells?
I mean. There's a balance to walk between changing things to make game play more accessible and fun in a video game setting, and making it broken and perhaps less fun to play.
I very much agree on the loot. I had thought there'd be quite a bit more? It's one of the type of mods I kept adding, just to get me some variety. What do you mean there's no fancy swords for a paladin??