I have bought GOG games before (mostly old titles from 80's-00's, and they are DRM free since it wasn't really a thing back then.

I am about to buy, here because it's DRM free... then I notice EA... DRM free and EA don't go together. Is this truly DRM free, or is it just GOG DRM free and you still have to connect to EA every time you play\Install?

I'm going to hazard a guess that you read "EA" somewhere referencing the Early Access and assumed it stood for Electronic Arts. You are mistaken. Electronic Arts has nothing to do with this game.

I am pretty sure you are confusing the context. EA here meant "early-access". If I am not mistaken - BG3 is developed and self-published by Larian studios.

Ahh, Early Access. That answers some confusion. Thanks!

To add info for anyone reading this thread with a similar question: Yes, the game is truly DRM free. It can be played in single player mode, completely offline.

You have the option of creating a larian account if you choose. I haven't tried multiplayer, but I've read that if you want to play online multiplayer, you need to have a Larian account. I suspect that's because Larian hosts the multiplayer pairing servers and they don't want every rando on earth banging on their API.

So yes, it is as DRM free as is reasonable. If you buy it now, you can even still download the Early Access installers and play the EA version, which has some minor differences from the full release for the same content areas.