Im a big baldures gate fan from the beginning. I cant even count the time i spend in BG2. I bought BG3 on EA start and by now have about 130h playtime already. Even tho some things are different compared to the old BG parts, i for myself can say its an unbelievable good game already in EA. If the full game is just as good as the EA part its definatly a new Standard for CRPG same as BG2 set back than.
This is a very solid attitude. Couldn’t say how many CRPG titles I have dropped due to endless quests and dialog that are immediately forgotten in the larger story arc. It’s one thing to build a world with side quests, another to have the savior of said world be required to do fetch quests for 50% of their journey.
From the last 4 open world games i really enjoyed:
Ghost of Tsushima - could have used being a good 30% shorter.
Witcher 3 and Horizon Forbidden West - entirely non repetitive but still took forever. Could have been shorter with little loss.
Horizon Zero Dawn - felt just right. Surprisingly, Elden Ring felt the same, in spite of it being a lot larger. But then I'm a rabid fan of Soulsbornes (I still think the best was Bloodborne and that's probably the shortest.)
Bringing the side quests together or making them meaningful for the Big Bad (eg in Mass Effect and Horizon Zero Dawn) really is a huge step above the fun but shallow RDR-style "open world = do whatever you like."
I give a pass to Fallout for creating one of the most fun universes.