I’m not that guy (the one you asked to reply…), but I will say this as a lover of the first two games - play them. They are remarkable games and 20ish years after coming out I still play them (and do so regularly). If you’re a younger gamer you may find the interface or the graphics a bit clunky, but really, you ought to give them a go.

From my time on the Baldurs Gate subreddit, it seems like 3 was less story connected (per others’ comments), but that was before some of the added characters were announced (e.g. Minsc). That said, I haven’t played 3 at all, so I can’t comment personally.

tl;dr: I don’t know if you’ll be missing out in the story by starting with 3, but you should definitely play 1 & 2 because they’re incredible games.

Isn’t a product of the fediverse yet.

Welcome, Bill!

I just hope OP doesn’t break both arms while they’re out doing… whatever it is they’re going to be doing.