Clearly it wasn't. As it was comparing to Starfield, which is not a CRPG.
That you went on to state your interest in CRPG's, the original line I quoted was not specific to CRPG's given that it was a comparison to a non-CRPG.
If your intention was that BG3 raised the bar for CRPG's, you should be more clear about that and for comparison purposes, should compare to an actual CRPG.
1. Does Larian make good combat systems?
Personally, I wasn't such a big fan of DOS1 combat... It honestly felt like dual wield wands and just regular attacking everything seemed better than literally anything else.
DOS2 had the god awful armour system. That not only had the whole "Status effects don't work while armour exists" making 99.99% of skills worthless (Especially since when armour was removed, targets died within a round anyway) and the split between physical and magical armour meant you were penalized for having a diverse party instead of focusing either entirely physical damage or entirely magical damage to burn through a singular armour type. Divinity Unleashed mod made the game 1000x more enjoyable due to reworking this trash system.
BG3 is meh combat. It's based on DnD but with various extra liberties that make it less strategic (Such as everyone being able to swap between melee and ranged weapons at will, with shields and such still providing benefits while using a ranged weapon). It's fairly standard in terms of video game DnD combat (Which doesn't ever compare to the actual fun of a TT system where things are more dynamic because things are not hard coded)
That said, I admit that the concept of surfaces in combat are interesting. It's just they've been implemented kind of awkwardly throughout the games (In DOS2 it's hampered by the dumb armour system. In BG3 it's shoehorned into a DnD game)
2. Does Larian make good worlds to interact with?
Larian's worlds are decent. In the sense that their size and density of things to do are pretty good. Generally I still like DOS2 with More Uniques mod to make exploration a smidge more interesting. BG3 feels somewhat unrewarding to fully explore without such a mod (Also things like the diggable loot being mostly garbage don't help)
3. Does Larian have good plot writing...?
I think the Divinity plots were passable.
DOS1 being you as mage hunters, hunting mages because sourcery is bad.
DOS2 being you as mages, escaping from prison and then developing your sourcery because mages are people too.
BG3's plot is kind of trash though.
4. Does Larian have good character writing...?
I think character writing from them has generally been positive.
Lohse, Fane, The Red Prince, Lae'zel, Shadowheart and Karlach are characters I've been reasonably fond of.
BG3 has had a number of complete duds though like Wyll, Halsin, The Emperor...
I've said it before, but I think I'd hate Gale's guts and find him super obnoxious if it wasn't for his VA and his expressive character - now I just sort of find him a lovable scamp.
Gale is irritating because his background is completely at odds with how he's portrayed.
Literally, his entire story is based on him being a narcisistic prick, ignoring the wishes of his Goddess GF to try and gain more power because he thinks he knows better than a literal god.
Then his character is a charming, caring, selfless person.
A complete 180 in characterization. Only we don't actually get to experience any character arc when this change occurs (Unlike with say, Lae'zel) or any reference to a change of personality.
