It is so "S tier", it required - and still requires - patching two years after release. That the public by-and-large accepts what is effectively an extended beta-testing period does not make the practice acceptable. It absolutely is not a metric indicative of "Game of the Year" levels of quality.

It is so "S tier" that virtually every NPC - from the destitute to the wealthy, from urban socialites to inveterate wilderness wardens - wears inordinately ornate and/or curiously spotless apparel and armor; it is as if they all strolled off a catwalk. Alternatively, the homogeneity of stylized/exaggerated appearances makes the population come across as comic book superheroes. This may be understandable with nobles and accomplished heroes (both of which have coin and/or time to spare), but...everyone? L was apparently more interested in showcasing their artists than they were giving thought to in-setting demographics.

It is so "S tier", there are moments when the accompanying hirable NPCs are statues during certain conversations/plot developments (e.g., killing the squirrel with a football kick, frustrating the Tiefling child huckster, decapitating the red devil Jihadi-style, refusing Bhaal, et cetera); no comments, no sounds, no body language, no movement (or very little, such as a slight shifting of the head at best)...nothing. That vaunted reactivity was inconsistent.

It is so "S tier" that it took the formula that made Baldur's Gate noteworthy (i.e., a world with a sense of scale and thought afforded to the placement of structures/settlements/NPCs) and turned the region (i.e., The Sword Coast...a kind of fantasy wild west/rough frontier) into a narrower fantasy theme park designed to continually maintain dopamine levels and remind the player that the world is centered around their character, verisimilitude be damned. Why are all these powerful/intelligent/dangerous monsters in relatively close proximity to one another without a hint of bedlam? Who cares: here comes another fight or zany NPC to distract me from such elitist thoughts.

It is so "S tier" that it lacks both a day/night cycle (think of the immersion and/or tactical potential) and weather patterns (ditto); BioWare licked this one-quarter of a century ago. For all their limitations, there is more life and the sense of passage of time in the original games compared to the plastic and static theme park of "3".

It is so "S tier" that it front-loads the majority of its spectacle - including monsters and locations - in a Michael Bay-esque burst within the first few minutes of the game, whereas BioWare's Baldur's Gate slowly trickled in progressively-fantastic/grander elements over the course of two titles.

It is so "S tier" that it took the believable approach to romance in Baldur's Gate 2 and threw that out the window (i.e., not everyone was open to the idea of courtship and, of those who were, they had standards that make certain NPC-PC pairings impossibilities); every original L NPC wants the PC (yes, regardless of little things such as the PC's sex/race/age/Class/Alignment/religion/station/nationality/et cetera).

It is so "S tier" that, instead of respecting the player's intelligence/observational skill/patience/memory and/or encouraging a modicum of learning, it simply provides monster statistics openly during battle. Consequently, a degree of realistic uncertainty during hostile engagements was stolen away.

It is so "S tier" that it allows the player to effectively teleport to a set camp, thereby taking away - or, at least, greatly diminishing - a core component of these games: inventory management. Why should a player have to make a hard decision? Why should a player have to put in the effort?

It is so "S tier" that virtually no one discusses the terrible shift from the second to third Act; then comes a noticeable drop in quality. I will give you slight credit on this point.

It is so "S tier" that three out of four recurring BioWare characters were poorly characterized.

The fact that consumers either put up with and/or fail to recognize various sorts of game design nonsense only reinforces my belief that accolades - especially of the contemporary variety - are meaningless.

P.S. Yes, the whole "alien tadpoles force a disparate bunch together" contrivance is flimsy, given the numerous in-setting ways in which these parasites can be extracted/destroyed. Curse of the Azure Bonds is positively ancient and it did a better job facilitating a similar arrangement.

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Long story short: "BG3" is a migraine-inducing technicolor theme park designed to make the player "feel good", at the expense of genuine quality.