Questions from a new player: difficulty, companions, etc.

[SkySlam]

Hello everyone! New player here, willing to buy the game as soon as possible from GOG. I've been following the development of the game during the last few years, but without putting too much attention on it, because I really hate to wait and I already knew that the anticipation would have killed me. So, now that we are really close to release, I'm just starting to catch up with the game, and I've got some questions for the backers/beta/knowledgeable players; I'd really appreciate your help!

1) How difficult is "normal"? I'm not an RPG expert by any means. I'm fascinated by this world, but sometimes I lack the patience to focus on every aspect of a battle, and in general I'm more the APS guy than the strategic one (e.g. I'm skilled at Dota, while I'm pretty bad at D:OS). I've played and enjoyed BG2 years ago, but I think I was switching between normal and easy modes during the whole game, and for sure I remember frustrating moments/battles there. Do you think I can finally face the challenge of an old-style RPG at normal difficulty? Or would it just ruin my gaming experience? And what about "easy"? Is it a viable setting for inexperienced players like me or is it just "trivial", made for people without a brain (or without enough time to focus on the "nerdy" aspects of the game)?

2) About adventurers: I'm planning my party ahead, and I'd really like to fill a gap in my team by using a custom character made by me as my 6th companion. I already know that he won't interact with me or other NPCs, but will "the world" notice his presence in my team? Or will he just be non-existent in roleplaying terms? Example: if my 6th character is a godlike adventurer, will a village hostile to godlike people react to him being in my party? Or will the people just totally ignore him as if my party was made of 5 characters only?

3) Language: The game will be translated in my mother language (italian), but in general I prefer to play any game in its original form. How hard will it be for me to understand everything? Will characters speak in strange/unclear/dialect ways? My official "english level" is B2, will it be enough to understand everything, without missing a comma of this amazing experience? And if I decide to play it in italian, will there be voice dubs or just subtitles?

Thank you for reading this wall of text, I hope someone will shed a light over all this!