Some ramblings.
I've been playing for seven hours. The game is lots of fun, camera be damned. In my opinion, the verticality and lighting do matter. I've used my mage and rogue archer from higher points, and it has helped a lot. Both in not getting them killed, and in doing nice damage, or lighting areas (wizard). I did a fight without much light, which was very stupid. My party kept missing most attacks and defensive rolls. Bring on the torch, and they had a much easier time of surviving. I can't say if the encounters are better than EA or not, but I guess if you didn't like that, you might not like the full game. I think four humans would be a good party, but I went dwarf fighter, halfling rogue, elf wizard, and human cleric. Classic four that seem to be filling their roles very nicely, for now.
The combat is fairly straightforward, turn-based, tactical, and fairly lethal if you don't make sure to light up environments. Your squishes are indeed squishy. Two or three successful hit on your wizard, and they're down. The fighter is very sturdy, especially the mountaineer, when you position him next to a wall. There's cover here and there, so that's what you can use, or when I fought spiders, I put him next to the wall and he was almost unstoppable, except some shitty rolls. Shoving a few enemies off ledges has also worked wonders. My party is level three. I haven't gotten to choose much in terms of feats and such. I've mostly been picking spells for the cleric and wizard. We'll see how it goes.
The city I have visited isn't huge, but it fills its purpose. You'll find a few shops and NPCs to talk to. Do your stuff, talk to people, sell/buy new gear, and accept new quests, then you go out on adventure. There's a world map that you travel on. Locations you are meant to visit will pop up. Choose the one you would like to travel to, and you'll get an estimated time of arrival. On the way, depending on how long your journey is from the city, you have a set amount of forced long rests. Be sure to bring rations! You can either travel slow, but safe. Medium pace, decently safe, or you can travel fast, but it's more risky. Depending on your pace, there is a higher chance to get attacked while camping. Be sure to be fit for dungeonerring.
I've liked the dungeons that I have visited so far. In the first place, there was an area that I found while traveling in "cautoius" mode, which will let you find secrets. Once I got there, it was a fairly big fight with goblins. Dungeons and the outside areas that I have visited don't feel to small. I personally feel a sense of adventure. Once you have no enemies in your vicinity, you can short rest, but there are also a campfire or two spread out in dungeons. Use that to take a long rest, replenish health and spells.
Overall, I've for some reason thought about Drakensang. It has that feeling to me. I say this in a good way. If it wasn't for the menus, I feel like this is a game that wasn't made in this day and age, which is a compliment. I'm a happy backer, and I can't wait to dive in tomorrow.
