zlacker

I've played the original, that came on 5 CD-ROMs, the expansion, Baldur's Gate 2 on launch, the expansion and have played it over and over again for over 20 years at this point. I also played table top games and read the novels behind Toril, like Elminster and Drizzt. I was extremely skeptical of 3 but the developers are clearly dedicated fans of not only the original but also DnD and Faerûn, IT IS a worthy successor of the originals and an excellent adaptation of the 5E ruleset.

They had to start a new character at level 1 anything else would've made no sense at all and you clearly don't know what you are talking about if you think they could've continued the Bhaalspawn story (at level 31/40+) after Throne of Bhaal.

But it's funny because you basically sound like me before I actually gave it a shot, I didn't think they could've possibly pulled this off, but they did, as unlikely as that sounds in the gaming world today. In many aspects it is even closer to the table top experience, which to emulate, was the entire point of the original, but some things couldn't be done because of technical limitations at the time.

Just give it a fair shot, it's worth it.