The topic of the thread itself is about "real life politics."
I think it's so amazingly obvious that the events in the game are drawing extensively from real world examples that it's hard to imagine someone bothering to suggest otherwise.
I think it depends on your defitinion of "real life politics". Trying to write a fiction you will always draw inspiration from the world we are living in. Otherwise, the fiction wouldn't be relatable.
When I think "drawing inspiration from real life" I think recreating direct allegories to the events that are taking place. And those become an issue if the characters or events within the fiction make little sense if the meta context is removed.
As much as I am willing to criticise BG3 story, I really don't think that is happening. An "orange" referencial joke aside, the archetypes presented in act3 are broad and generic. The situation might be black and white, but it is the general tone of the whole game. It is not Obsidian game, it is uninterested in creating socio-political dilemmas to put our characters worldview into a test. I can't think of a choice in BG3 that doesn't boil down to "do the reasonable, mutually beneficial thing" or "be as asshole". This is just no different. I think you folks give BG3 narrative more credit than I do.
I believe the inspiration should internalize and come out with emotion and theme. It should grow rich and nuanced, informing all dimensions of a character and setting.
As opposed to being a stand-in for one side of a cable news show panel debate.
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Let me try this a different way, maybe. A character can and should have opinions on issues like this. The problem comes in when the game itself has the opinion.
But you might say, of course the game is going to have an opinion on right and wrong. And that's fair, to an extent. There are some opinions so universally shared that it's understandable and necessary. By and large, we can all agree that cold blooded murder is evil, barring extreme circumstances that become morality questions.
However, there exist certain issues that divide folks in the world, deeply. This is one of them. The OP mentioned two political parties, but it's larger than that. It's more along the lines of nationalists and globalists.
When a singular character in a story takes a side, it's understandable. People do that, and thus characters should do that when it's relevant.
But when the *game itself* takes a side, it ceases to be a stroy with verisimilitude and instead becomes a mouthpiece. Part of seething culture war. It's no longer true to the world, to the setting, to the vast.
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You mention that some of us give the narrative more credit than you do. I would agree with that. I understand your criticism of the response choices that are often available, and I think that's more than fair. Still, I find truly great moments within the narrative that are worth celebrating. I find some of the companions to be exceptionally well done, and I believe the core inciting incident creates for a powerful overall narrative.
That said, I do have some issues with the game. This political thing is one of them. It's a stumbling block that lessens the story.
I also think there are serious issues with Act 3.
I think Act 2 has some issues, but the more I've thought about it, the more I've concluded that all of those issues would be cleared up nicely if Larian decided to release a prelude about the town of Reithwin back in the day.
Imagine playing a character in Reithwin after Melodia dies, right when Ketheric starts going dark. When the cold winds of change sweep through across the land, and folks begin to worship Selune in fear as blackcloaks rise and dark justiciars are named. As the harpers bring war, and as Morfred the stonemason prepares to make a deal with devils to undo his mistakes.
It would be amazing.
