Okay so didn't get to play as much as I'd like but I took some screens of a few things to show.
First up is the formation editor (currently not working but yay!):
You can save up to four different formations. Right now formations aren't working at all, no matter what formations I make or try to set it just keeps going to this one oval formation that has everyone mixed up, so this currently makes moving around in dangerous areas a bit of a chore, but it is a beta. It seems everyone moves at the same speed, but I'm sure there will be some variance with abilities and gear, what I would like to see is a toggle that forces everyone to move at the speed of the slowest character (more of an Infinity Engine rant).
Next up, sneaking:
There's some good and bad to sneaking. The good is the system itself, those circles show you how well each character can sneak. The smaller the circle, the closer you can get to enemies before being noticed (enemies also have their own detection circles). The problem with sneak right now is that there's only one button for it, and it activates sneak for everyone. So as far as I'm aware, I can't for example hide my rouge in the corner and then make my fighter visible to the enemies so they chase and open themselves up to backstabs. You can use abilities to accomplish this (i.e. cast a spell at them), but I would like to be able to choose who exactly is sneaking and who is not.
Third on the list... I guess I'll call it 'events':
In the old Infinity Engine games, when you clicked on something that could be interacted with, it brought up descriptions and choices in the usual dialogue box. In the above screenshot, I had clicked on a beam and instead of just seeing dialogue, you get these cool drawings with the descriptions and possible actions on the left. Apparently if I had some rope I could make my way across. It's a nice little touch that feels more immersive IMHO.
Last up, a dungeon/underground screenshot:
I actually tried to zoom in for this one, but instead of zooming the game would remove fog of war if I scrolled one way, and added it back if I scrolled the other (lol cheats). It is a beta...
There's definitely a lot of work still left to do. My one major gripe is with the combat overall. It feels very fast and chaotic compared to Infinity Engine games. All characters move too fast IMHO, especially creatures! Combined with all the random combat related bugs (weapons disappearing, characters just standing there, pathfinding), fighting stuff just isn't very fun. Also the difficulty seems very random. One fight I'll kick ass and the next a smaller group will roll me. There are quite a number of classes to choose from, and I need to forget D&D rules and mechanics because stats are different in this game. For instance, 'Might' which sounds like strength, increases damage, but it applies to spells as well as melee weapons, and range weapons. So I created a mage with little to no Might, and ended up with weaksauce spells.
Also, it seems there is a limit to how many rests I can do. Game shows me 3, apparently that's all the supplies I have enough for. Not sure I like the idea of having my camping/resting limited in such a way.
All in all though, I know it's a beta so a lot of my gripes will be patched up and polished away. The combat definitely needs to change, it does not feel like the combat in Infinity Engine games, but they are taking feedback on this.
Edit: Forgot to ask, are there any requests? Things you want to know, or see?
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