BG1&2 are mostly self contained, in the same way Marvel films are self contained. You don't need to play BG1 to enjoy BG2 (I know I didn't). And while it seems there will be returning characters in BG3 we didn't even get to those. Perhaps you could make an argument that players are expected to know who Bhaal, Mincs or Jaheira are, but so far all we have is new stuff unrelated to BG1&2. BG3 isn't failing to bring new players to the existing story, it fails in telling it's own story.
Self-contained in the sense of being "non-canon", apologies for my clumsy wording. BG1 and 2 were written to be self-contained in this sense, but they stopped being that the moment they got integrated into the larger history of the Forgotten Realms.
I don't deny that Larian's writing isn't the best (I didn't finish either DOS or DOS2, in large part because neither's writing appealed to me), but I don't think adding more exposition will make it better.
And this does come down to exposition. To take an example from the OP, netherese magic. True, I don't think it's ever explicitly defined in the game, so we can try that. Netherese magic is magic practiced by the people of Netheril. Netheril used to be a powerful human empire thousands of years ago. Will this kind of short, to-the-point explanation really make the setting more compelling for the OP? I don't think so. We'll need more, like what makes this magic different from regular magic. We may have to explain the Nether Scrolls, the mythallars, the raw magic and the Weave, and if we're explaining Weave we'll have to explain Mystra, and by the way she used to be Mystryl back then, and then the Netherese... it goes on and on. A short explanation does not make the setting more compelling, and a long explanation is an infodump. Neither changes the writing for the better.
lol really? So a novel about Waterdeep is not an appropriate place to learn about Waterdeep? So what is the book about?
Well, that depends on the book. They usually have plots
In seriousness, I did say basic knowledge, not extensive. You get basic knowledge of the setting by reading the appropriate sourcebooks, then deepen that knowledge (if you want to) through other supplemental media, novels among them. Can someone read a novel to learn about Waterdeep from scratch? Sure, but they shouldn't be surprised if they don't understand everything, and they shouldn't fault the book for that. Are some novels meant to be introductory? Sure, but is BG3 meant to be an introductory game in that way? The 3 in the title says no.
This circles back to the tired discussion of whether this game should be called BG
3 in the first place. Without beating a dead horse, as long as the game does wear the markings of a sequel, people shouldn't expect it to explain everything as if it's an introductory title.
