In 2003, Temple of Elemental Evil came out. In the same year, Hordes of the Underdark (for Neverwinter Nights) also came out. The first game was extremely faithful to the then-current 3.5 ruleset, but was bland and unmemorable. The second game took much greater liberties with the D&D rules, but had much better story, characters, creative and epic adventure designs and locations, music, and other game elements.
Everyone who is in the know about D&D games and the CRPG subgenre says that Temple of Elemental Evil is the most accurate D&D adaptation in a video game. The implementation of MECHANICS is highly praised. But no one ever says that they loved it, or that it's one of their favorite D&D games. Conversely, people still talk about Hordes of the Underdark all the time, and many people remember it well and love it. It's considered the best part of Neverwinter Nights by a wide margin.
I think history repeats itself. Solasta is Temple of Elemental Evil again. Baldur's Gate 3 is Hordes of the Underdark.
Wonderfully said, and absolutely true. NWN as a whole was also wonderfully wrought as the "bones" for a creative campaign or online ongoing world run by players. Hordes had loads of character and was beautifully designed but quite imperfect as to following the mantra of the official ruleset. Bioware understood that a game that is fun, and allows creativity and exploration trumps sticking to rules that don't quite fit into a modern computer game, because they were designed for another medium entirely.
When someone turns a beloved book into a film, a good director will make changes to tailor the material so that is presented in the best light to suit the rigors of cinema. The "rules" of literature are altered. There have been films that were pretty exactly like the book they were based on, and they are without exception dreadful things, lacking life and generally clumsy and without substance.
