I have never played baldur's gate or any ot before BG3. Mainly Fallout as my most recent RPGs and i think it more of a table top D&D RPG with more NPC companion specific stuff thrown in
one downside is that it isn't really open world really kind of railroaded into a path of progression for the "main quest"
so if you like tabletop D&D RPG, this is a game for you
It fully deserves GotY even if you might not like it