I also like BG3 better than Dragon Ages - but outside presentation and some interface similarities (chain system, hotbar) I don't think games have much in common.
BG3 and DOS2 are far less linear. You are encourage to be creative in how you use abilities and systems to complete challenges. I wouldn’t say DA games are strictly on rails, but they are far more on rails than Larian’s games.
Uh...DOS2 is....less linear? By what metric?
I would describe it less as linear vs open, and more active vs passive.
Foundations of Dragon Age games are rather consistant - Narrative Adventure with MMOish combat inbetween. Those games are passive - player's gets no agency. You don't get verbs - you can't attack unless the game decided enemy is hostile, pickpocketing... is there. You passively follow game's narrative and everyonce in a while the game asks you what branching path you would like to explore. This is not a wrong way of making a game - Witchers are pretty much just that, and I think are phenomenal.
Larian games are system driven - you can always attack, you can always pickpocket, you can pick up and move objects etc. You do get scripted cinematic choices, but a lot of BG3 interactions are systemic. As such, I think it has more in common with Tim Cain RPGs, and Immersive sims (and most importantly Ultima, but I never played those). Add cinematic dialogue to Fallout1&2 or Arcanum, and I think you would game that is about as Dragon Agey, as Baldur's Gate3 is.
I do agree that while D:OS1&2 gave player a lot of systemic freedom, they were poorly equipped to react to whatever player did narratively. BG3 story is much, much more reactive and flexible and I am much happier player thanks to it.
Edit. @Tuco that's a solid list, but I didn't say that Larian took no inspiration from Dragon Ages. I do think, though, that those are mostly superficial similairties. And I think the few solid ones might be the result of Dragon Age and Larian both doing cinematics. More elaborate cinematics require characters to be in predetermined places. Not a problem is a game where we don't control NPCs (like Witchers) but a bit more problematic if one wants to stage a scene between controllable NPCs. Therefore, a stage where our companions become NPCs - Normandy in Mass Effects, camp in Dragon Age&BG3.
