Baldur's Gate 3

Remember how deeply Baldur's Gate would immerse you in its world, just through the dialogues alone? How it could create a sense of reality, the feeling of being part of something new, and wanting to learn more about it? That's partly because in the dialogues of Baldur's Gate your attitude sets the tone, and every action grows organically from that. In BG3, you only get to chose the action, and it dictates what stance your character must take to achieve it. Every actor knows that it's not the text, but the way you deliver it that makes the difference. Life is not made up of basic colors, it's the nuances, the subtleties that make it appealing. Moss green, sky blue, alabaster white, crimson red, hazelnut brown. The dialogues in BG3 use the attitude system from Mass Effect. Green, blue, white, red, brown. But make no mistake, they won't ever straight up tell you that. They'll make you think you can order a Tequila Sunrise, but what you'll get is a Bloody Mary. And then it's somehow your fault for not ordering correctly. Know what you are offered with BG3. The choice is yours.

As the title says I really want to like this game, at least more than I currently do. As someone who played the original saga back around its release and many times since I was exited for this game for largely nostalgic reasons I suppose, and it has been fun to run into Elminster and Jaheira but there is something missing. The fist two games and DLC's were full of humor and whimsy. I find none of that here, just Po-faced companions who take themselves too seriously and seem desperate to bed the player character. I mean seriously, every companion makes a play for the PC at some point and goes away downcast when I reject them, are meaningful friendships not a thing in this universe? Relationships in the party in general seem poorly handled to me. There is no time given for things to build between characters and relationship dynamics just seem rushed to the point where I find myself simply not really caring about the other characters. All their secrets are too easily revealed and this happens way too fast. Anyway that's probably enough about that. Overall I find that the story fails to grip my imagination. Everything of apparent meaning in the game is undermined by an apparent lack of consequences or simply being handed to you on a plate. Romancing companions is pointless as they will all try and jump your bones no matter what you do it seems. There are way to many magical items rendering them valueless and frankly a bit annoying. I get a serious case of choice blindness every time I open my travelers chest. Generally I just find that the story is robbed of meaning by a lack of consequences, cool items and relationships are rendered valueless by being handed to you gratis and false sense of urgency is just an annoyance that breaks any sense of immersion. And do not get me started on the camera and the map. I have never played a game with a more annoying camera and map implementation. Just follow the player character, or the selected character. Oh well, out of space

Based on Act 1, seriously impressed with this game. Always loved the BG series and dusted off the old tomes to play a fair bit of D&D during lockdowns - and Larian just 'gets it'. They have really shown a love for BG, while not just doing a rinse / repeat of the previous titles. They captured that spark you can only get in your home D&D sessions and distilled in into a CRPG - and yeah, there is some whacky stuff, but folks, if you've never played tabletop, sit back, strap in and get ready for a random, crazy, hilarious, heroic, evil, somber, light hearted, surprising, mysterious romp thru the Realms...

While the game is far from perfect in its mechanics, camera views, etc., the gameplay is thoroughly enjoyable and a lot of bang for the buck. Far fewer bugs than many modern games (looking at you Bethesda). The writing, as far as wordsmithig goes, is competent. Unfortunately, immersion is badly compromised by a pretty superficial and juvenile worldview as well as shallow politicizing. It’s hard to remain caught up in the story when you can practially read the mind of the writers trying, and failing, to make some kind of meaningful social statement. A lot like my 7 yr old daughter expostulating on the moral complexities of Pokemon. Also, the different races in the game are shallow and uninteresting. It’s not very compelling when an orc warrior is just a human with a underbite and has the voice and mannerisms of a typical 15 yr old high school student. Still, in a gaming industry full of microtransactions that charge you for a new colour of armor, and where it’s the norm to release games with game-crashing bugs, BG 3 stands out as a product that gives gamers more of the quality they deserve. Well worth the purchase.

the game takes most of its inspiration from the original sins games wich is good if you liked them but it has little to do with the Baldurs gate 1 and 2 that i played growing up. the conections to the previous games are superficial and fells more like pandering than anything else. my first dislike is that the gameplay and the story is compleatly at odds with it self. the whole midflayer larva feels tacked on for how little it effects the story untill the absolutly last minutes of the game. the second part is that the game omits so much information, from chracter creation to item descriptions. i frequently had to look up information outside the game like class progression and potion effects. and the less said about act three the better.