I've played BG1 last month again for the first time since the 90s... I did play other games based on the system in the meantime, so the combat was fresh in mind - and it was awful. I hated D&D, the way spells were handled, the squishiness of the mages, the boring and utterly simplistic gameplay in combat for the non-spell-caster classes... so yeah, I didn't miss D&D's 'action' and not dynamic fights and the RTwP back there was probably one of the worst gameplay experiences in my 30+ years of playing video games. D&D for me definitely never meshed with realtime and the difference is hugely visible in DAO contrary to any infinitey engine game. The whole system there is designed to work in real time and it shows the way abilities work, characters are designed,... simply everything. It even showed more for me in PoE2 when they added turn-base-combat all of a sudden I enjoyed PoE-combat - not because of being turn-based vs real-time debate, but because the system in its roots was designed for turn-based-combat being a D&D copy.

The thing about BG1 that shocked me was actually how horrible the dialogs in BG1 were. Most were written tongue in cheek, with horrible amateurish comedy and over the top acting not fitting the story at all - things I didn't notice back then being younger and completely unexperienced with RPGs. These days I cringe at every response I get to select. The main protagonist sounds like a caricature of an absolutely bland hero.


I do remember BG 1&2 foundly, they were the groundwork that got me hooked to RPGs and now in my 30s I'm working in the video game industry because of the love for the games they made possible and influenced. This doesn't change how deeply flawed many things about BG1&2 are from a modern perspective. PoE1 is a perfect example of that - they did a game that felt closest to a BG to me to the point I was bored by it because it felt too similar/familiar with no understanding for what were design decisions back then and what were technological limitations. PoE2 was gameplaywise a much better game (storytelling in both I wouldn't call great).

So I don't care which one is the 'worthy successor'. Times have changed too much. I don't need a BG-clone, neither from a UI perspective nor its poor game mechanics. I also don't need to get the old companions back because that series got a fine ending. BG3 to me looks like a flawed game at this point that has the chance to really shine if they fix their balance and follow 5e a bit more at the expanse of DOS.