Bud Viking

I'm on my first playthrough in 2020. Not being able to cast a spell before combat does not make any sense, IMHO breaks immersion (I'm a priest but I've forgotten how to cast a spell without an enemy in sight, even though I know where about to fight a dragon) and triggers my greatest gaming peeve....designers telling me how to play my game (it feels like a baker decreeing what sandwich I can make with the bread I bought, or Honda telling me what route to take to work). I've read the comments of those that support it and I'm not swayed. If it was an option players would have the choice. Those that don't like it, don't do it and visa versa. It feels like telling a soldier "go on patrol but don't don your body armour before contact, oh and don't load a magazine or rack a round in the chamber until AFTER you're under fire". Maybe it's pissing me off because the first character the Master Below one punches is my priest, even though I initiate battle with my main, a pally standing on the opposite side of the dragon. I run around to res him and by then half the party is dead. Oh and my party is level 11.

Something of a necro post here, but I am on my first playthrough at the moment. Personally I find the whole need for camping supplies ridiculous. Frodo walked half way across middle earth without worrying about "camping supplies". How is living off the land an issue in a fantasy game where essentially the lifestyle/technology is equivalent to Medieval times and the wilderness is teeming with game. What "camping supplies are they running out of, Coleman camp fuel or propane ? One of the benefits of playing a game so long after release was being able to download a mod that eliminates the need for "camping supplies". I much prefer the classic D&D / Baldur's Gate model. Camp anywhere you want, but risk getting jumped by baddies.