I actually bought BG 1 & 2 after 100+ hours in BG 3 early access. That's all thanks to BG3.
Finished BG 1, and for sure I had far more fun in BG 3 EA than BG 1. Can't wait to play BG 3 EA again.
BG 2 has very good story (far better than BG 1), but I'm just about half through so far.
But then another Bioware title; The Mass Effect trilogy still remains my best Bioware game, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic a close second.
All I want is a good RPG, mostly a great story, but good graphics are helping a lot as well. And BG 3 it's already more than that.
Those who are unhappy have other expectations, like D&D rules, and they need a rework of current systems or an advanced mod editor early enough; so the community can create enough "fixes" to please an even larger player base. One-time commercial success is easier to achieve, than making a name in the long term. That means winning over more and more players, without losing the core audience.
doesn't change that the original BG trilogy is still regarded as the seminal RPG experience on PC against which ALL OTHER PC RPGs HAVE BEEN MEASURED ... even DOS 1 and 2.
BG3 might be "fun" because it is more modern, but that is precisely the "pewdiepie" audience that Soul Scar mentions.
The writing in BG3 is atrocious; I've read Choose Your Own Adventure novels with better characterization and structure. The combat is slow and non interactive; every fight is exactly the same. Dialogue is narrow and uninspired; every conversation ends either in absolute success, or combat.
By and large, the people happy with BG3 are DOS2 fans, or younger players who came to BG after DOS. With the odd exception, everyone else is put off by this game because it is neither a BG game, nor a D&D game.
The sales of BG3 won't be like DOS2. They've already sold the majority of the copies they will sell of this game because of the hype around it. IMO Larian shot themselves in the foot and have proven to be a one trick pony. They are so scared of failure that they aren't even TRYING to do something unique for BG3.
