But generally I think many people who love these games are in it for the writing, the character romances, the storyline, and the exploration. In this regard, Baldur's Gate 3 has a lot of similarities with Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, and presumably Dreadwolf whenever that comes out.
The individual details of the mechanics are less important to many.
I agree with what you're saying, but I think it's not stretching too hard to say that gameplay also matters for games. Romances, storyline, and so on are fine and dandy, but at some point you have to have some gameplay. Or not, if you want to make a visual novel. And that's fine too!
But generally I think many people who love these games are in it for the writing, the character romances, the storyline, and the exploration. In this regard, Baldur's Gate 3 has a lot of similarities with Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, and presumably Dreadwolf whenever that comes out.
The individual details of the mechanics are less important to many.