I finished my first playthrough this week, and I loved my experience throughout the game. There are some minor and major issues that I have with the story and characters, but i want to focus on the titular aspect of the games writing.

Any game and story will have some aspects that are better than others, but when you decide to adapt already established characters and follow up on stories already told in full, a writer faces a problem. Especially so in a Role Playing Game, given the nature of player driven story telling by the means of choice and consequence being the foundational pillar of any RPG. Who can decide what counts as the "Official Sequence of Events" or Canon, regarding something so epic in scope and full of choice as the Bhaalspawn Saga. It is not Wizards of the Coast, it is not some Wiki on the Internet, it isnt even Larian, although this is of course their story in principle. It is the Player.

Disregarding players unfamiliar with the classic Baldurs Gate Trilogy for a moment, a returning player will always carry certain expectations, hopes and wants with him, specifically colored by the choices and subsequent story developments they experienced for themselves. This "Headcanon" isnt a consequence of filling in gaps in a story, as is mostly the case when using the term. It is the collective experience and resulting "Canon" for the individual player. This must be respected by any story, that wishes to build on what has come before it. Regarding new players, I'd like to refer to the Pillars of Eternity and it's Sequel. The game offered returning players a save import choice, but more importantly, it gave a questionaire type Menu, that allowed all player to set a "World State" lets call it, emulating the choices one would have took in the first game, that had impact on the 2nd game, even carrying over permadeaths of returning companions. It showcased that save imports weren't needed to respect player choice, further proving that a singular canon sequence of events wasn't necessary to adapt elements of a story that were dependant on player choice.

With the introduction out of the way, Major Spoiler Warning going forward:

Let's start with the playable pair.
Jaheira and Minsc are both excellently done in regards to their writing in general, but especially their personality and unique quirks. They're both an authentic adaptation of the character they were AND that they could have become, given the established (BG1/2/3, disregarding other sources) events between the end of the Bhaalspawn Crisis and the start of the Absolute Crisis. Minsc isn't really difficult to get right, i actually like his "official" 5e portayal, because it is Minsc as he always was. Matt Mercer is an excellent VA and although it took a few lines until his voice started to not sound too different, I really like his potrayal of Minsc, especially his interactions with Boo and Jaheira.
Speaking of Jaheira, not only did they cast the perfect VA for her, the writers show excellent understanding of the character. They nailed her Character and made her ambigious enough regarding past events so as not to invalidate any preset image that one might have of her, while still being able to put a new spin on her. I enjoyed her interactions in Act 3 so much. From how she talked to Ninefingers, to her willingness to give everything if it meant saving minsc, not to mention her home and family. I had really feared that they ruin Jaheira, by making her a romance option, by making her the canon love of Gorions Ward, or by any of the stupid decisions "Official" sources took over the years. Instead I found an old friend, that showed signs of age and change, but that i recognized for who they were. And when i found Khalids Pendant, I truly knew they had done justice to the character.

It pains me, that i cant say the same for the other 2 returning characters.
Let's start with Viconia. Viconia is a fascinating character in the original Games. As a priestess of Lloth, she refused to ritually sacrifice an infant, causing House DeVir to fall out of the Spider Godesses favor. That led to open war with other Houses, Viconias Mother trying to sacrifice her daughter to appease Lloth, her brother killing their Mother and getting subsequently turned into a Drider. Viconia lost her divine powers and was forced into exile. On the surface she faced horrible treatment from people that expected nothing less in return. Until she met Gorions Ward. Throughout their journey together, she changed from an abrasive, arrogant, socially inept and cruel person to someone that would put her trust in others, making an effort to help her companions, in her own unique way, and ultimately becoming a better person, reflected in the game by changing Alignment from Neutral Evil to True Neutral.

The "Viconia" in BG3 doesn't resemble any iteration of this character. She puts Shadowheart to 40 years or more of cruel, twisted torture, abducting her, abusing her, mind wiping her, forcing her to torture her own parents, all in the name of Shar. She is an even worse character, than as a Priestess of Lloth. She got retconned into betraying her own cult in Waterdeep, once again all in the name of Shar. She turned from a, for Drow standards, deeply empathetic but misguided character, to a sadistic, vicious, fanatical Zealot full of contempt.

What i would have expected to find, was a stern, stoic person, being a strict, yet maternal figure to Shadowheart, seeing herself in her, trying to instill her philospohy into her to mould her into what Viconia thinks Shadowheart needs to be, to not only succeed her, but to survive the erratic decisions and Ambitions that Shar will put on Shadowheart as Mother Superior, once she suceeds Viconia. You can see this behaviour in how she speaks and "helps", or atleast tries to help, troubled female companions in BG2, like Aerie and Imoen, aswell. Her Struggle to shield Shadowheart from Shars Dark Ambitions, while still appeasing her and seeing to her duties as Mother Superior would have made for an excellent character struggle, befitting her Character, and making the Divide between Shar and Selune, that defines Shadowhearts entire story even more ambigious, ultimately making both paths morally grey instead of a clear black and white. This is not what i wished this would have been after finishing the game mind you, this was my expectation after 3 Acts of Shadowhearts story, romancing her, getting to know her and hearing her speak about her upbringing, and especially how she talks about the Mother Superior before and after an eventual turn to Selune.

The absolute worst offender is her "dialogue" or rather lack thereof. As with a certain other character in the games finale, there is absolutely no dialogue talking place. The Person posing as Viconia is yelling a few jarringly out of character lines and only really reveals herself to be a cartoon villain, then a fight ensues. Even with Minsc and Jaheira in tow, there was nothing i could say or do that let me have any agency in this, it is as bland and binary as having literal WW2 Nazis as a final villain for Shadowhearts story. Viconia and Jaheira stood at the top of the Throne of Bhaal together and you want to tell me, this is how their reunion would go do down? Beside the fact that Viconia would never do any of this, given the prevalence of Act 2 "Dialogue-Bossfights" and their relation to Shar, why isn't this final encounter handled in this way aswell? Lets say Larian specifically wanted this vision for the finale of this story and replaced the Mother Superior for a different Character, it still is an absolute letdown of a finale, given the path we took to get their. There should be a deeply philosphiocal debate about Shar and Selune, that ultimately results in either the battle, or acceptance of Shadowhearts decisions, maybe even siding with us against the extremist followers of her demanding Shadowhearts Death.

It would have been better to not include Viconia at all, than to have this travesty of a misread on who truly Viconia is, an empathetic but arrogant Outcast, that only ever wanted to be free of the subjugation, others wanted to impose upon her.

Sarevok... Where to begin? Sarevok is a truly evil person. He embraced his divine heritage, but not out of fervor or admiration for his father. Sarevok thought little of Bhaal, seeing him as nothing more than a stepping stone for his own ambitions. He conspired against his own (adoptive) father to take control of the Iron Throne, he succesfully orchestrated a masterplan to take control of Baldurs Gate and sow chaos across the Sword Coast, with the ultimate goal being the Ascension of the Throne of Bhaal, becoming the new Lord of Murder. After his death, his essence was sent to the aforementioned Throne, where Gorions Ward encountered him twice more where he pledged his aid and arms in the battles to come to the brother that had bested him, thwarted his ambitions and cast him into oblivion, leading to Gorion's Ward to part with a piece of their own divine essence (or Imoens for that matter) to resurrect Sarevok. After that, he engages you in multiple deeply philosophical discussions, about fate, morality and death. He offers you an oath, so that you can be assured in his loyalty, which you can decline. He is completly dumbfounded by this, as he cant see reason in the fact that you trust him after all that he has done. Throughout these interactions, if one succesfully challenges his views through debate, Sarevok ultimately turns from Chaotic Evil to Chaotic Good, a fact that is reflected in his Dialogue and Voice Over. As with Viconia, he becomes a totally different person. It was a compelling and inspiring story about absolute evil being overcome and ultimately redeemed. If he wasn't redeemed, his Fate was to repeat his own mistakes and ultimately be bested again, whether it be by his Brothers hand once more or not. People that have played BG3 should realize by now how significant Fate as a concept is in this world.

When i saw Sarevok at the Tribunal I was struck with disbelief. I thought, "He must be Shapeshifter, ofcourse!". And after a really well done bossfight, I stood before his corpse. Not a Shapeshifters corpse, the corpse of Sarevok Anchev.

The game wants you to believe that he is a worshipper of Bhaal, a ludicrous suggestion, he despised Bhaal in his Life, and regardless of the players actions in ToB, gives up on his dreams of ascension. But even more than a worshipper, he seems to be his high priest succeeding Amelyssan, lording over the Tribunal. The only way any of this can even remotely fit in with the story and character of Sarevok Anchev, is if he was indeed a Shapeshifter all along, impersonating Sarevok, for his sheer presence would help boost the fervor of the cults initiates through the Tribunal. Bhaal would get revenge against his traitorous son that allied with Gorions Ward to thwart his plans, by using Sarevoks Legacy in a way that would make him go mad with rage. Orin gets to make her little play pretend psycho family. And Sarevok gets to not have his Legacy ruined by one of the worst cases of character assassinations i have seen in my life.

Sarevok Anchev is my second favourite Villain of all time. His story and legacy mean alot to me and I cant fathom how one of the most iconic, well defined characters of the setting could ever be misrepresented in such a severe fashion.

On one hand, while these two character "Interpretations" left a sour aftertaste, they didnt ruin my experience. On the other hand, a friend of mine, the one that got me into Baldurs Gate in the first place, lost all drive to continue playing after meeting these two characters. He is a massive fan of the Classic games, having first played them in his formative years and many times since. I can absolutely relate to his negative experience and i suspect he wont be the only person with this kind of reaction. I honestly hope, that Larian is willing to go back and make changes to certain parts of the story. These two Characters do not even resemble their Original versions, and that is absolutely unacceptable. It is a show of utter disrespect and ignorance towards two of the greatest character arcs in RPG history and it makes me wonder how they got Jaheira right in the first place.

If this wont get addressed for an eventual "Definitive Edition", the game really doesnt deserve to be called Baldurs Gate 3, regardless of how excellent it is in almost all other aspects.