I'm biased about NWN. To this day, it's the best D&D inspired game I have ever played. I have put thousands of hours into this game.
So if BG 3 aims at being a better NWN, I am all in. But I don't know if NWN and BG can be related in terms of improvement over another though, cause it seems the fandom is quite distinct on these two games.
I tend more toward NWN2. Mostly because I favor 3.X over 2nd ed and NWN2 came with a wider range of available races to play.
And to be fair, most of the improvements I see are in general tech rather than specific game development deals. But I do love the inclusion of jumps and shoves quite a bit as it gets closer to my tabletop experience than any prior game. Also the harpies flying was great. Maybe a few more lines of development along and we can get actual 3D environment with flight or maybe even underwater adventures...that would be great. Get a Ghosts of Saltmarsh CRPG in development.
Anyway, to be fair with NWN1&2, both their original campaigns were mostly showcases for what you could do with the assets in the game in making your own stuff. NWN's OC really overstayed itself, though it was fun, it felt quite a bit longer than it was or needed to be. NWN2's campaign wasn't as bad at that, and even though it was 1-20 instead of 1-15, it felt shorter and felt like it moved better.
In both cases, the story thread held together better than it did in BG1 which feels a bit....unfocused...I guess is the right word. There's the overall plot about who killed Gorion and what the secret about you is, but most of what you do is sort of wander over the map and do random things. Where as, there's some of that in NWN/NWN2 but most of the bigger quests hold some connection to the central story.
I am not comparing this to Shadows of Undentide/Hordes of the Underdark or Mask of the Betrayer though. I'm holding off on that. Those expansions feel like they're entirely their own games.
