Because some of us don't play it for the romance and dialog. We play it for the combat and class building. I don't want their builds, I want my builds. The game is a module that I want to take my party through. It was promised and then implemented poorly. Self-built should be just as rewarding as taking the companions. I'm not anti-companion, but I'd like more options. If I could re-roll the companions to match my party-building ideals, that would be great. Also, if I wanted to read 6th grade writing ability, I'd grab another Kindle Unlimited book.

Amiri's writing…Grrrr, Arrr, Hrrre, Aha, etc. Me tough barbarian girl.
Valerie's writing. Obey the law. I'm a princess but want to be treated as a board; well except by you my Baron. Please ravage me!
Linzi's writing. Pip squeak, heya mister, ooh I don't like this, can I have your autograph
Harrim's writing. Gloom, Doom, I'm dying. I should be dead. Worship my boring ass god and be doom AND gloom.

Honestly, did it take Chris 5 minutes to write this tripe?

Who can read the dialog of the companions and not laugh at how horrible it is?

The travelling around constantly camping has annoyed me so much, i'm close to calling it quits (travelling from one side of the map to the other sux). Chapter 1 and I have no idea what I am supposed to do now. I assume i'm waiting for fog to clear.
Am I missing something? Is there a location I'm supposed to find (map looks almost complete)?

Two jobs, kill the evil gnome that you met in the prologue and kill the Stag Lord. To kill the gnome visit the Sycamore Tree map and complete the two dungeons. To kill the stag lord, clear the Temple of the Elk and do all the quests from the Nymph. She'll reveal it.

Travel light and it's much faster and less annoying.

Thanks I'll try that.

Thanks, I wonder if the game is buggy ( maybe a 4k resolution issue). Caves and other areas do not show entry icons. Had a hard time trying to get the icon to show up for the spider cave.

Have you tried pressing tab key?

when you are on map screen you can turn on or off if you want to see different markers on that map, including area exits.

Caved in and bought this. Definitely feels a bit like early success, will wait for few more patches.
Feels really like a homage to classics, even if a "bit" unoriginal, RtwP clumsiness and all, with meh story/writing and good char building. Feels like less original, charming Baldur's Gate with worse writing ( at least with second one), on par combat and better rpg mechanics. Not a fan of art style though..looks a bit washed out, with "cartoonish" char models ( though some portraits are quite good).
If anything it's obvious how modern crpgs should be done: either a clear copy paste of IE ( for ye old fans: lol grognards) or something that really stands apart ( like the coming Elysium). POE was kind of half way in between.