I expect that folks are really very careful not to give offense or acidentally identify with a faith they aren't part of because in the Forgoton Realms gods are real and real arseholes about things like that!
Absolutely no one comments on Tav being a cleric, and it rarely is brought up at all. I find this too bad, since it seems to be a interesting way to develop relationships between the various characters.
I hope that someone makes a mod with Astarion asking if the player is a cleric or something when they first meet.
At minimum a “library†with lore, descriptions, terms, meaning, etc in the main menu. A good list of all the phb gods, realms locations, etc.
What we should have is a nice encyclopedia system where when we find a book, it's entry is added to it. Many other games have good encyclopedia system. They can be used for other stuff too, spell entries, lore about magic items, info about monsters and npcs, etc.
Key terms (Gods, famous people, well-known locations & historical events) should be highlighted in dialogue, and allow you to hover over them for a basic explanation. Shar - "Shar, The Mistress of the Night, is a neutral evil goddess and the twin of and counterpart to the Good-aligned goddess Selune. Her followers exhibit..." This solves the issue of Tav having in-world knowledge that we players don't. It also remains optional to read these blurbs, but difficult to miss like a library/codex (do I even need to included googling in this list?) would be.
Lol then have the narrator explain. She does exposition all the time.
"You remember Shar as an evil goddess with her cultist being horrible A holes across faerun."
I think that all of these should be added.
In storytelling, it's a matter of show, don't tell. Show the evil and danger of Shar worshipers, don't tell about them. It's more powerful to the player to actually see their evil in some way, as opposed to reading about it in a lore book or hearing the narrator say they're evil.
If the player's character knows a lot about Shar because of the History Skill, they probably know as much as or more than the player would know from reading books about Shar.
The narrator would just abridge what the character knows for the player, and the player could read books to learn more.
"Show, don't tell" is good, but it should be for certain flashbacks, current events and future events.
Lore books require players to actually read them. They don't do a lot of good if the player just picks them up, and stores them somewhere, or sells them. A Glossary/Encyclopedia will be subject to the same shortcoming. If a player doesn't use it, they're going to be in the same boat the OP is in here. When I'm playing a new IP, I read all provided lore, I even go so far as to seek out any books provided, in game. If there's a glossary/encyclopedia, I'll read it, but, and there's always a but, I have to do it. Even something like providing hyperlinks in dialog is useless, if the player doesn't click it. At some point, the player is going to be expected to do some footwork, if they want to be informed.
Your character was born in the FRs. They have knowledge that you don't. This isn't a design flaw. It works that way in every game out there. Exploration and books don't exist to inform the character, they exist to inform the player. The impetus is on the player that wants to be informed to search up that knowledge. It's not like this information isn't provided in game, it's that you didn't find it because of how you chose to play. That's fine and all, that's the magic of non linear story telling, or limited linear, as the case may be. However, because you missed something, or didn't actually read something you found, doesn't mean there's a problem with the game. If that were the case, every game ever made would be "broken". As I said, your characters always have the more "common knowledge" things that you, as a player, don't.
A problem is that it can be difficult to find the books.
In Bethesda's games, I usually read every letter, note, book, log, etc. that I found.
Though I don't remember anything from them other than some of the titles and some lore, despite quite a few of them being interesting to read.However, when I would go to the wiki sites after a few playthroughs for each game, it usually turned out that there were still books, logs, etc. that I hadn't read in the games.
Also, I usually have problems remembering things, but I don't feel like reading the books again after I send them to storage, so having a lore section in the menu, hover boxes with abridged information in the dialogue and narration would be helpful.
As for the games not having a problem, I disagree.
Players should be able to know what their character knows about the world before dialogue options appear that don't make sense.
It's okay for players to not know what characters are talking about at the beginning of a game and to be brought up to speed as the story progresses, but only as long as they're not having to make decisions without knowledge.
If I was told on the ship at the beginning of the game, "Choose to follow Shar or Selune", I wouldn't know which to choose unless the game described them.
When you select the Cleric class, a summary is given of what each deity is like, and it wouldn't make sense for them to not do that.
Not only that, but there's a difference between reading about main information and reading about extra information.
Main information (e.g. Shar is an evil goddess, and her sister Selune and her are enemies) should be available quickly and ideally through dialogue and cutscenes since some decisions would be too difficult to make and would also lose impact without that information (what might have been a dilemma just turns into plain confusion), while extra information should be available through books, dialogue and cutscenes, since it's usually just details that might not greatly affect decisions.
Brilliant! Let's remove all the in game lore, it's worthless right? Except that, if you had found a couple of books lying around in places that you may actually get to before the temple, you'd at least have an idea of who Shar is, if you'd taken the time to read the book(s) when you find them/it, knowing that you are uninformed about the world's lore, right?
It makes sense to have players learn about certain details through books rather than to have them sit through many hours of exposition, but I think that there's a middle ground that Baldur's Gate III doesn't quite reach.
It's a simple diadem with a flat, perfectly circular black onyx as its sole decoration, and in terms of the forgotten realms, it is very obviously a symbol of dedication, not mere ornamentation - and can only be a symbol of Shar...
lol
"My dear Watson, did you not see her jewelry? She favors onyx. Clearly, she is a priestess of the most foul!"
Onyx is often associated with evil deities in the Forgotten Realms.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Onyx#Rumors_and_Legends"Unenchanted onyx was believed to cause bad luck when worn or carried. Elminster has confirmed this suspicion."
"The lesser drow deity Vhaeraun was known to occasionally send onyx to show his favour or disfavour to his followers."
"Similarly, black onyx was sacred to the Chultan demigod Eshowdow, and he valued unholy items made of it."
"It was a common tale that when Shar stepped on Toril, she left onyx stones as her tracks."
