Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t the first successful attempt to marry cinematic aspirations with the traditional branching narratives and simulationist world-building of CRPGs. 2009’s Dragon Age: Origins had a very similar mission statement, offering a spiritual successor to BioWare’s earlier Baldur’s Gate titles long before Larian took us back to the titular city (and its surrounding areas).
I’ve been loving this game. The spells are so cool sounding and looking. The characters all look amazing. When comparing it to DOS 2 I’d say that it’s really made the roleplaying aspects shine. Divinity feels like the combat plus the puzzles start to overload everything into the second act.
Bg3 gets stronger in its second act in a lot of ways. Partially because your power levels scale up in satisfying ways and partially because the stakes get higher and the world more dangerous and bleak.
Many characters that appeared earlier really shine in the second act too.