Originally Posted by Sven_
Baldur's Gate 1+2 were a fairly faithful adaptation of a tabletop. Hundreds of spells, class combinations, options galore.

The Witcher 3 meanwhile in comparison for all its qualities is an action adventure Netflix movie that witcher senses itself. I see no connection to Baldur's Gate in it whatsoever anymore.

To me the truly next Baldur's Gate won't look 100% like it though. It's not yet arrived. Why? Because you know all its tricks it has on offer already, and have seen it numerous times. Dragon Age too is basically a streamlined for the bigger markets BG given a cinematic coat of paint. I'm waiting for the game that for instance may not merely copy but redefine what party AI / interaction can be (with actually AI in general being underused, e.g. how about a Thief who on the occasion can't keep his his hands off objects in the game world?) and generally still carries that torch of bringing the tabletop feel to a PC.

I guess that it's (again) a question of what is the "spirit of baldur's gate". you can certainly argue that baldur's gate is highly regarded because mechanics much more than story. I disagree, but that's a valid opinion.

another example of really great and memorable RPGs, that what made them great is less controversial (I think) - Fallout 1-2, Planescape:Torment. Do you honestly think people like these games so much after all these years because of RTwp (never played too much of fallout, but as far as I remember it wasn't even a thing there)?

Larian's Biggest Oversight, what to do about it, and My personal review of BG3 EA
"74.85% of you stood with the Tieflings, and 25.15% of you sided with Minthara. Good outweighs evil, it seems."