I have a lot of criticism about the game as it is right now. But some of you are not being fair. Day night circle is at best a nice feature, an annoyance at worst. Adding day night circle simply because it was in BG is kinda stupid (hey poe and pathfinder). Not that Larian doesn't add game mechanics for stupid reasons.
Both pathfinder and pillars of eternity are nice, but at least in my opinion they prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you need more than to copy paste Baldur's Gate gameplay to create a successor.
Yeah, I would put BG 3 in the "nice" category as well.
I do think PoE is a very good and true successor of BG2, though. The story is good and sort of new, the atmosphere is fantastic, the gameplay is accessible and decent, it is nicely ported into the current time, while still making nods to the spiritual predecessor. I still think BG2 is the better game, but I attribute that mostly to my 15 year old self. I would also say that the companions of PoE are on average better than the ones of BG2.
What is interesting though, is that I replayed BG2 about ten times (although only finishing it twice), I never replayed PoE, as I feel fully satisfied with the experience it gave me. Anyhow, I do not know why I replied particularly to you, probably just wanted to defend PoE.
If I would compare the first acts of PoE and BG 3 though directly I would always choose Pillars. The bleak atmosphere and immersion is so much more breathtaking to me, Aloth and Eder are awesome companions and the story grips me way harder than the tadpole. What BG3 has though, which sadly is only a tertiary reason to me, is the gameplay and possibilities aspect, which would be very intriguing, if Larian actually did explain and show stuff in depth. This is what I am most interested in this game right now. I suspect there will be a few nods to BG2 and maybe Minsc, but I doubt the story will present anything more than standard fantasy setting.
