Times have changed and games have evolved a lot in 20 years. I don't think you can directly compare the original games to BG3.
In the original games many silly things leave room for interpretation or can more easily be forgiven for being cringe because the whole thing looks much more like a game with crude pixel graphics and a very limited top down camera. But when silly things are rendered in photorealistic 3D close-ups with full voice acting in BG3 it's much more in your face.
I just wish the direction of BG3 was tighter. It's a bit all over the place with different teams doing whatever they like rather than being directed towards one vision and stylistic choice.
If there's too much silly and goofy in gameplay or writing the main plot, which is actually quite dark, will lose it's impact because everything will just feel like ha-ha. This happened to me in Divinity, I just didn't care about the story because the gameplay was what it was. You have to be very subtle with the lighter tones and humor when you're telling a story like BG3. Disney cartoon characters or combat is a no-go. For me anyway, I need to stay immersed and these pull me out of it.
