At some point I'll write a full review myself but I thought it was a great game with some serious flaws.
Cons
The main story is a disaster. There is no good reason to trust the emperor after we stab them but the game never acknowledges this. The Emperor's decision to join the elder brain is confusing at best. And the lines for the Tav who dislikes being manipulated are awful - The Emperor steals all the good lines.
The elimination of Daisy was a mistake. We're left with a guardian we don't trust but not trusting him is represented as xenophobia instead of a resentment of being manipulated. (and if you don't think the Guardian lies review the dreams on youtube and note that The Emperor admits he lied and manipulated you)
The "absorbing" tadpole system is, well, dumb. The edgelord approved tadpole menu shows it destroying brain tissue in exchange for power. I can't imagine playing a Tav that would think this was a good idea.
Larian never listened to those of us asking for a 6 person party or a replacement for the chain system
If you play a Tav (and the Durge is too edgelord for me) you will have less content than any companion. Gale is better wizard, Shadowheart speaks to her god, Wyll talks to his patron, Lae'zel deals with the most significant figures in Gith culture and Tav is the sidekick.
The game really punishes non completionist runs and we never really get an "feel free to explore" moment in chapter 3 despite the fact that the map was clearly designed for such. It seems odd to visit those lovely shops and try on new outfits while some orphan is being tied down on an unholy altar and Ravenguard is living on borrowed time.
Wyll's rewrite was bad.
(of course this was a true in BG2 as well - who is worst sister of all time? That would be charname who has 80K gold but still hasn't sailed to rescue Imoen)
Larian had to deal with the WotC's floating dumpster fire.
Pros:
The treatment of the FR lore was great. And this is really saying something because this was my greatest worry in EA; early in EA it seemed that Larian knew next to nothing about the lore of game it was developing. But it was great! The Karsite weave, the battle between Shar and Selune, Sharess represented accurately, the books on Nethril and the weave . . . So, so much to say that I'll save for my own review.
The character quests - unlike the disaster of a main plot - were interesting. I **hated** Gale in EA but I came to like the arrogant prick in the final release. Astarian is just a fantastic character all around. Lae'zel developed a second dimension by the end of the game. I still enjoyed Wyll's story what little of it remained. Unpopular opinion but I wasn't happy with Karlach.
The size of game. This should be the new normal. If I am going to shell out 60 dollars I want hundreds of hours of gameplay and some good writing. (and, again, I do believe the character quests, many of the dialogues and most of the books were well written)
I even liked most of the jokes! Which is saying something because I hated the DoS2 sense of humor. Lae'zel is funny.
. . .
Lae: *sultry voice* "Yes, I've been told that I'm scintillating"
Wyll: "Oh, truly?"
Lae: *soldier voice* "No"
The cats. Love the cats
Jaheria was perfect. I wish could recruit her right away. Minsc was Minsc. Or even a bit better than the previous version because his voice actor captured something the previous one missed: how could Minsc be so foolish but still be ranger? I think we see something of the Ranger in Minsc's discussion of the spirits of Rashemen.
Shadow visages. The narrator's delivery was flawless.
The game - unlike WOTR - was playable at release. Despite the fact that I prefer WOTR to BG3 Larian has better business ethics. This *must* become the new standard - games should be playable on release.
I happy with the horniness of the game. I'm a fairly sexual person and the randiness of the game didn't offend me like it seems to have offended some others
