I find BG3's attributes to be at least a bit more balanced than 5e as written tends to be.
Arcana comes up a LOT. To the point that even my Githyanki ranger has gotten a fair bit out or Arcana checks. Right at the start you need Arcana to know what the buttons on the ship do. I've also seen it rolled in the background during conversations a fair bit and can unlock new dialogue options. So if you're playing a Face character you'll want at least decent Intelligence along with Charisma so you can know what your character is talking about.
You only need arcana for your MC if you encounter it in dialogues, and i dont ever recall any meaningful in any way arcana check i encountered that way. For those 'open world' arcana checks you want a dedicaded wizard which would do them for you, as i said YOU yourself dont get any benefits for having +1 int or any drawbacks of having, say, -7.
