I am curious if you felt the same way about BG and BG2. I certainly felt like while the graphics were obviously better, the goldbox games combat was just more fun than BG or BG2. Removing the grid and turn-based action only muddied the controls for me, as to handle any hard combat you ended up having to constantly pause so much that it ended up to be the same thing, without the precision.
As for the balance issues, not having an enchanter or cipher, I guess I'm not seeing it. My next playthrough I plan on trying both, so will see.
I largely did, but there were less spam clicks on the group, so really you could just micromanage casters and pause to do target selection in those games. This one, every single class has 2-3 clicks (often per encounter) and there is no way to tell the AI to autocast any of it. I really preferred the gold box style where you could position people carefully, set battle lines, and even have specialized tanks for different tasks. Don't mistake me, I really like this game, but there is no way I am going to play it on harder difficulty because the pausing to micro everything would push it into too much tedium for my tastes. A few tweaks, like the AI knowing when to launch the cleric AoE or Paladin Lay on Hands on its own (as examples) or being able to tell monks and ciphers to just cast certain powers constantly as resources allow, would greatly improve this game.
But in general, I have always preferred turn based tactical strategy RPGs (dating back to gold box games and Wizard's Crown) as a matter of personal preference.
As for balance:
Cipher: Best damage and second best CC in the game, limited only by the focus you build through continuous attack (spec a fast ranged weapon and this is a non issue).
Chanter: Best buffs and CC in the game, building in power as the fights progress, but essentially unlimited casting.
Wizard: Limited but good damage and CC, but has to rest to reload the better spells constantly and will run out in major fights.
Cleric: Best healing and workable in another combat role, but spell casts are again limited. Aura every fight and ability to moonlight as a tank or ranged guy makes this class workable.
Druid: Great damage and utility, but again limited by resting and low endurance/deflection/accuracy make the animal form stuff meh.
The issue is that the first two are not only better at the jobs, but they essentially can do their thing fairly unlimited over time. They also both have superior combat related stats, particularly accuracy and deflection on the cipher, making them better part time shooters/tanks than clerics are. It also does not help that the AI pretty much zeros in on casters with everything and the higher defensive stats of the first two classes mean they can actually survive that bullshit. Other classes have a much better balance spread:
Warrior- Staple tank. Boost the stats that grant deflection, will, and reflex to avoid debuffs affecting you and take the extra engage talent and Weap/Shield talent. You now have the best meat shield in the game and if this is your main, it will always be the last guy to die.
Paladin- Same as above, but you trade some defense for aura abilities and higher resists. My main is this and I have zero complaints.
Monk- Sucks at first, but pretty quickly becomes the highest damaging mele guy, as well as having the best deflection. Cautious attack and the fire damage with wounds talent rock the house. This character also requires the least amount of micromanagement.
Rogue- Stinks and pointless due to the stealth mechanics in the game. All the trap related stuff can be done by a Cipher or Monk dumping points into stealth and mechanics.
Ranger- Great ranged specialist once you get the splitting arrow thing. Having a pet to red shirt against every alpha strike is a nice feature, as well.
Barbarian- Not sure about this guy as the accuracy penalty and reduced damage vs DR on the AE mele seem to make it not worthwhile and the frenzy talent is suicide against anything you might actually want to use it on. If you are going to mess around with dual wielding, this is the class best suited for it. Defenses are piss poor, though. Pretty much every fight will involve holding this guy back and sending him in late, because if he gets any kind of agro he goes down fast and his base deflection is so low that using cautious attack is meaningless.
Key Talents:
Cautious Attack/Weapon Shield Style- Every tank class (and several non tanking ones) should take these if they have any sort of base deflection at all.
Marksman/Gunner- Dedicated ranged guy need the boost in accuracy and fire rate, as they are more or less the most consistent DPS in the game and enemy deflection starts getting pretty ridiculous after a while. The mele weapon ones are a little too specific and you don't know what you are going to get, but the ranged weapons are fairly generic in terms of getting the bonuses to work.
