Hard to even know what facet of the game to address first--so many competing questions and concerns from fans of Baldur's Gate, the Divinity series, and classic CRPGs generally.

Let me say first that I have 60+ hours in the game as I write this, and I have not finished the content--the content in the *first act of the game contained in the pre-release*. Needless to say, anyone concerned about the scope of the game being insufficiently epic is going to be pleased. Speaking of common concerns, anyone worried about a lack of continuity to the previous games in the series will also be pleased, assuming they keep an open mind--many of the notable differences from the earlier games are down to there having been three(!) editions of Dungeons & Dragons released since Baldur's Gate 2, and the ensuing changes in game design that have arisen since. Even an isometric game, if using 3rd Edition rules, would have quite a different feel (as seen in Icewind Dale II), to say nothing of how much more controversial a 4th Edition take would have been. It genuinely annoys me how tieflings are everywhere when there was, what, literally one in the entirety of the first two games, but again, this is 100% from the parameters set by 5th Edition, and Larian is just doing right by the source material here.

But yes, beyond that, obviously Larian is producing a game using a mixture of their own style of CRPG and the pre-existing influence. I definitely never thought I would shoot a fire arrow to blow up an oil field in Baldur's Gate. But the thing is, any critic being intellectually honest should acknowledge that this kind of turn-based game with the possibility of more open-ended and innovative combat tactics is what many people thought Baldur's Gate should have been in the first place. Consider yourself lucky if you do not remember the "this isn't D&D" arguments when it came out that the game would be playable in real-time, or the complaints that there was no creativity to combat tactics (remember how a single wolf could wipe out half your party in the first chapter?). This is to not even mention the "Black Isle making a cash grab" complaints when Baldur's Gate's sequel was still called "Baldur's Gate," despite the city not making even a single appearance in the game. Some people cannot help but hate anything new, and those people in time will either realize the new thing is actually good... or will still be complaining about, say, Fallout 3 a decade later.

Speaking of Fallout 3, one of the things I find most interesting about Larian's efforts here is that they have brought in a more complex conversation system than ever existed in most Infinity Engine games (Planescape: Torment perhaps notwithstanding), but despite it being a change, I imagine even people otherwise critical of the game's direction are happy to see skills and ability scores (and races, and classes, and backgrounds, and and and) serving a purpose in conversation. For that matter, it is hard to imagine many complaints about Baldur's Gate III being an incredibly gorgeous game overall, or having an astoundingly compelling and grandiose opening cinematic that sets the tone: some truly outlandish and mind-boggling events are taking place, and you are at the very center of them all.

But yes, if you read the discussion forums (which I do not recommend doing until the trolls have gotten a little more bored), you might get the impression that this game has nothing to do with Baldur's Gate I and II. Well, I mean, it has more to do with those two games than Fallout 3 did with the first two Fallouts. Or than Neverwinter Nights 2 had to do with 1. Or than Icewind Dale II had to do with I. Or Might & Magic VI did with V. Or Wizardry IV did with III. Look, I too would have been totally into another real-time-with-pause isometric game, but as someone who has been playing Dungeons & Dragons since the 1990s and loves little more than a quality party-based RPG, there is so much to love here that I have no idea how cynical you have to be to ignore them in favor of the handful of things that do not exactly match up with what you wanted. No amount of tie-ins to the rest of the series will be enough for the naysayers, whereas when within the first hour of exploration I found a plot-critical book where the story arc of a Baldur's Gate I companion set events in motion in this game, well, that told me they were definitely not going to forget their history.

This game is absolutely going to be one for the ages, and I am already going to go ahead and say Baldur's Gate IV, or whatever they do as a follow-up (because they obviously have one planned given the low level cap here), is already on my must-buy list, given how much care has gone into this game already.