Seriously, IIRC even Larian has alluded to in the past the choice to do a Baldur's Gate sequel instead of a standalone/new series of D&D games had to do with the name recognition. People will line up for 'Baldur's Gate III' based on the reputation and name recognition of the franchise even if they never played another game in the series, and they'll do it in a way they would never do for "Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Cormyr" or whatever. Hell, a lot of the decisions around this game are definitely around leveraging recognition-the return to Baldur's Gate itself, when only the first game featured that city, the inclusion of Minsc. The MTG tie-in...It is undeniable that nostalgia/name recognition is a huge part of the attraction to the game and one Larian is aware of.
And it works...hell-I myself don't really like 5e either as a setting or as a game system, but here I am just the same at the promise of even a whiff of the nostalgia I have for the old games and that pre-spellplague Forgotten Realms setting. Maybe it's all just nostalgia bait and it's naive to expect it to deliver, but If the legacy of the BG franchise is what Larian is going to hang their hat on, then I think it's entirely fair to judge them on how well they deliver on that aspect.
I expect Larian to deliver a superb game as always-I have enjoyed every one of their games I have played to date-but will it be a worthy heir to the Infinity engine games? IDK about that.
