Baldur's Gate 3

Do no research, read no guides.

Save often and don't worry about save scumming. There are a lot of gotcha traps, especially in the early game, that are funny when they don't wreck all your progress by propelling you into a bottomless pit.

The game lets you save just about any time, even in dialog right before you pick something to say. Don't worry too much about failing dialog choices though. Even a failed roll still gives you interesting story. Some interactions might only happen if you failed your roll.

But again, save often because the game can have bugs and can crash or mechanics can work differently than you expect.

There are almost no quests that have a time limit where they count how many long rests you've taken. Most of them the game will give you an indication that time is running out, but even if you ignore it the story still makes sense - you're just too late to finish a quest a certain way.

Almost all quests don't actually care about time so you can long rest whenever you like and in fact you should rest more often than most gamers probably do because a lot of the story events happen when you sleep.

Often the best tactic in combat is to run away, especially on higher difficulty settings.

P.S. If you're playing with a controller (e.g. on console) there's a puzzle in act two that is broken. If you get stuck on a puzzle with colorful lines and brains, it's not because you're dumb but because you have to click the left thumb stick to enter precision mode to click things like a computer mouse. Otherwise the things you need to click to solve the puzzle are too far away from the character and you can't complete it

Don't follow guides, be creative. This game rewards thinking outside of box.

Don't save scum.

Don't be afraid to experiment.

Go in blind. Its a great game. You're very likely going to want to try multiple different builds. I wouldn't be concerned about getting it "right" the first time, because you won't.

Save often and run into encounters with reckless abandon.

The game isn't designed to be punishing. You can mechanically optimize choices, but you'll drastically limit your story experience when just about any option is viable. This is a game I'd recommend going through the first time without worrying about guides. Make natural choices and see what happens. There are things I remember from earlier playthroughs that I never see any more I guess because I'm optimizing without realizing it.

DND 5e (the rules the game is based on) is a weird system, mostly forgiving.

Your stats matter a lot. The bonus from stats only goes up on even numbers. A 10 is +0. An 11 is +0. A 12 is +1. Yes, this is crazy.

You can only improve your stats every 4 levels, where you can choose to get +2 stat points (or take another bonus from a list, but most of them aren't worth the opportunity cost)

Different classes and backgrounds have different "proficiencies" in skills and equipment. Your wizard can't function well in heavy armor. The game will tell you if you put on something you can't use. Pay attention to it, otherwise you might end up wondering why you can't hit anything or cast your spells.

The game expects you to long rest in camp a lot. Even though the story suggests otherwise and it says resources are limited, don't worry too much about it. A lot of story beats happen in camp, and most of the game isn't really time sensitive. Dnd's balance is kind of stupid imo in that it expects you to do like 6 encounters before resting, and that typically means (after low level) only the last one is a challenge. Rest as often as you need to. Blow your spells. Don't be like me and hold onto them until you finish the whole map.

You can respec for cheap pretty early on, too. Can't change your species or background but you can change your stats and class.

Just start!

There is no wrong way to play nor a right way with this game. I've been through the game 5 times now, each path different, each one unique. I will offer one hint, though.

In the second act protect the priestess of Selune at the inn any way you can. It helps big time.

I second the one about learning the rules of DnD. There so much extra stuff you can do like throwing things or magicking yourself around that I didn’t know for a while. I use the wiki a lot to understand what’s available to find in the zones, but avoid using it in narrative decisions. I also save scum a lot so I don’t miss out on loot.

How much do you know about DnD? You’re going to want to familiarize yourself with the DnD rules if you don’t know them. As for resources on the game you should start at bg3.wiki it has everything about the game in a good format. Also ask specific questions here if you get stuck. There is just so much to the game that you’re better off just jumping in and saving often (you’re gonna die a lot in the beginning).

I would try a ranger (gloomstalker) or fighter (arcane archer) or bard (swords) for bow and arrow guys. For magic i would go with warlock (any subclass) as it’s the easiest mechanically of the magic users.