I think getting rid of a lot of stuff would make things more manageable for sure. Removing books, etc. What you describe could be really good too. I think that what makes Baldurs Gate 3 worse than a lot of the games you describe (not sure about the original two games since I never played them) is the fact that you have to manipulate the inventory of each character individually. you can't just have one shared inventory that you can pull up and consult, you have to go back and forth, you lose access to stuff if you remove a companion from your party, it's just an added layer of complexity on top of a system that, you're right, has overall only ever really been 'adequate' for the most part.
