It would make sense to conflate BG3 with Skyrim, because I have had a hard time wanting to go further with either of them. LOL!
I much prefer narrative-focused RPGs and could take-or-leave most combat. Usually when I play any of these games I set the combat level to it's easiest setting because I don't care about "tactically-interesting fights", I want to just get past them and continue the story. BG3 does have a compelling narrative to play through which is good... but the game's D&D combat of "moving pieces around the board" and the time spent "rolling dice" in-game and watching all the animations of every attack just makes every combat feel like a slog. Granted... it certainly evokes the grind-to-a-halt combat from the first two Baldur's Gates... but those games were back when "action RPGs" weren't a thing. I've been tainted by the much faster combat models of Mass Effect/Dragon Age BioWare... GTA/Red Dead... Assassin's Creed etc. that the throwback "board game combat" of BG3 is just painful. I just finally got through Act 2 on what is my first playthrough, and I've been hard-pressed to continue going into Act 3 because it just feels so slow.
(And in case anyone was wondering about my time with Bethesda games, I only finally finished Fallout 3 after watching the tv show and forcing myself to complete it... I'm still trying to work up the energy to finish Fallout New Vegas (maybe once Season 2 gets released and the show takes us there I might get inspired to try and finish the game)... and I've started and stopped Skyrim so many times I know that I will never bother finishing that game ever because there's just nothing there to drive me to continue. Wandering around for hours in the so-called "sandbox" just to get attacked by random "wandering monsters" every five minutes is not an RPG I wish to engage in.)
(And in case anyone was wondering further... what do I think is one of the best RPGs I've ever played? Disco Elysium. And that's because there's virtually NO COMBAT whatsoever. It's just finding and then following narrative plot threads without being stopped every 2 minutes with a meaningless fight, LOL.)
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