The more you move away from the established rules, the less it actually is the original game.
Bottom line.
Neverwinter Online is D&D set in Faerun. Is it 5e? 100% no. It is an MMORPG, plain and simple. But then, no one cares because they in no way set an expectation that it would be even remotely like tabletop 5e. So, everyone plays it expecting a pure MMO game.
BG 1 and 2 were made as adaptations to tabletop D&D, and BG3 has also been created as an adaptation. So, immediately, it's like the illusion cakes. They said, "I'm making an adaptation of 5e rules.". So, immediately D&D fans and DMs like me especially are thinking, "I know these rules and I'm finally getting a true video game adaptation of D&D turn based 5e. Yes, they said there would be homebrew, but what DM doesn't have some homebrew. I can handle some homebrew."
But the more they deviate from the rules with homebrew after homebrew, suddenly, I as a DM begin to think, "Am I really even playing D&D anymore? It feels more like some other game here. Where is the Rogue Expertise? Why don't imps use poison stingers? Why don't intellect devourers devour intellect? Why do phase spiders have ultra overpowered Misty Step and spit poison? Why don't we use Hit Dice during short rests?" Over and over again, I'm wondering WHY they made their homebrew and therefore killed a bunch of other rules and characteristics which then required more homebrew which then killed more rules until now I'm not even sure if I'm playing even a D&D game.
It's a fun game. I love it. It's just not what I originally wanted based on what was advertised, an actual adaptation of D&D. It's more like Neverwinter online in the end. It is set in Faerun, but gameplay-wise, it is getting further and further from true D&D.
It smells like cake and tastes like cake, but it looks like hamburger. At the end of the day, it's cake, not hamburger.
Just to be clear, hamburger = D&D 5e. Cake = Whatever BG3 actually is.
I like cake, but it's NOT hamburger, even if it was packaged like hamburger.
Adaptation in works of art does not mean carbon copies, many adaptations are only in part. Here is how they define adaptation in film.
"An adaptation is new story, or a retelling of an old story in a new media form, that is based on an already existing work."
