Yeah that makes sense to me too. I was more referring to the fact that when some of my characters join into combat late, a lot of times they're missing an action even though its their turn. I always just have to pass in those situations.

The whole camp should’ve been locked in.

Agreed. In the Goblin Camp, I've even had situations where I would trigger one group, but I can clearly see goblins in another room just walking around casually. Breaks immersion a bit.

The worst part is when only one character goes in and you don't realize the rest of your party is still free and all the enemies just gank on that one character relentlessly.

I actually cheesed it the other way--my tired and battered party was trying to exit the goblin camp without fighting the main force in the courtyard (at this point, I didn't know I could fast travel when not near a portal, and wanted to play it out for RP reasons anyway).

So I sent my thief out first, and he disengage/sprinted through the entire camp, drawing all the attention. Once everyone was drawn away, I let combat sit there "paused" while the other three party members waltzed out the front door and off to safety. Then my thief outran everyone.

Personally, I wish Larian would have given the option to lock the entire map into turn-based mode when combat begins anywhere, but I know it's not everyone's cup of tea (especially with multi-player). Just my preference.