Baldur's Gate 3

So this is a fine game, there is nothing wrong with it on it's face. If you enjoyed Divinity Original Sin 1&2 as I most certainly have, you will like this game, unless you were actually looking for a Baldur's gate game, then you may be disappointed. Unfortunately the game is incredibly mislabeled. This is not Baldur's Gate 3, this is Divinity: D&D Edition. I wasn't too worried about the story not being connected to previous Baldur's Gate games and the tale of the bhallspawn was more or less competed, but what I didn't expect was something that is Baldur's Gate in name only. Lets go over the good stuff before I complain anymore. This graphics are great, the mechanics, apart from the utterly unnecessary hulk jump mechanic, are solid. I was frankly baffled at the need to include this before remembering that this is actually Divinity Original Sin 3 in disguise and a jump would have been a good addition to D:OS2. The game uses D&D 5th as the basis for it's gameplay and it seems to be well implemented. Sound and voice acting are excellent. Larian's signature tactical combat is there and is solid as always, unfortunately that's also the problem, because it doesn't feel like BG combat. The game is just a reskin, graphical update and slight mechanical change to D:OS2. On it's face this is not a bad thing, but it's quite obvious that when they got the rights to BG3 they just ported their current game from D:OS3 and changed a few things around so they could slap the name on it. I'd say it has as less in common with BG 1&2 than Fallout 3 did with Fallout 1&2, but Fallout 3 is also a decent game, so there's that. On the other hand if you liked Divinity: Original Sin 1&2 but wanted the same game set in the Forgotten realms, designed by guys who hadn't heard of Faerun before they got the rights to the game, than this is the game for you. Overall, decent game, but not a BG game, go into it knowing that and you'll be fine, at least me know D:OS3 will be looking sharp though.

So, it is a worthy game, worthy of graphics are better, worthy of mechanics are better, and worthy as a pliable and interesting game with plenty of replay. However: I paid the money upfront, and I go to GOG to avoid all the rent a game feel that Steam. EA, Epic, Ubi etc gives you by having to use a third part interface just to play the game. I like clicking on the exe and playing with nothing else going on. So... why can't I turn off the telemetry???? Please take this seriously: You may ask folks to opt in as a default (the polite respectful approach) You may ask folks to opt out as a default (the rude and impolite) but you may not force telemetry - that's rude, disrespectful and treats us like cattle for other marketing and revenue purposes beyond the money we handed out up front. Folks, vote with you money, get refunds, and don't buy lastly: isn't that a clear violation of the GDPR?

I stopped playing halfway through the game. Don't get me wrong: Baldur's Gate is certainly a good game. However, it suffers from the same lacks in world building and setting as Divinity Original Sin 2. Instead of depicting certain races - Tieflings, Aasimar, Elves etc. - as rare, secluded and enigmatic, they are thrown at you in quick succession and shown as everyday occurrence. Right in the beginning of the game, for example, you meet an entire settlement of Tieflings - in the vicinity of Baldur's Gate - who are just another kind of staple Humans who happen to have Horns. This 'sloppy' kind of writing was already present in DOS 2. A whole lot of potential was going to waste for quick "show effects" - stong abilities, powerful races and monsters were thrown at you in the first act, obviously to catch the attention of the players. It would have been very easy to start more slowly. Maybe to have the protagonists happen upon a human fisher's village after crashing, which is under attack by goblins. And a secluded druids grove that doesn't want to help. And then, somewhere in the third or fourth act, you might have come across Tieflings. Going fast and flashy is not always the best.

TLDR: If you are looking for a turn based D&D 5e game, set in the Baldur's Gate setting (Forgotten Realms), you will likely not be disappointed. ==================== As a long time fan of the Baldur's Gate series, the Divinity: Original Sin series and tabletop D&D, I was hyped for this game. I was disappointed. I found it bland, to the point where I am losing interest at level 3. It's not a bad game per se. Graphics are really good. D&D 5th implementation is mostly true to tabletop. It's just not what I wanted, so I am writing this review to shed some light on the gameplay experience. Therefore, bias included. Reader beware. The games basics run smooth an the game seems to accomplish what it sets out to do. That is, to serve the D&D 5th tabletop experience. Compared to Baldur's Gate the gameplay, due to being turnbased combat, is much slower. And because the actions in combat reflect the tabletop D&D choices, rather than the much more decisive Divinity Original Sin choices, the game ends up being technically true to tabletop, while also being bland to the point of boring in combat. Outside combat, Larian has crafted a beautiful world to explore, which is unfortunately hampered by character control. The new jump ability is great. There is no way to tell the entire party to jump (or stealth). Having to manually tell each and evey character to make a single jump at a time is not great. Add to that the slightly wonky mechanic that selecting a new character makes the previous selected character cancel movement (or jumping) means dragging a party across the map is a tedious experience. The tone and story is very vanilla. Little to no tongue-in-cheek humor. Companions are your run-of-the-mill BioWare snowflakes. No option for DoS-style Lone Wolves, as expected. Unlike BG party size does not affect how much experience each individual character gains. To sum up: The combat is not fullfilling. Exploration is frustratingly wonky. Story and tone is meh.

Well, aside of being buggy as hell, I am little disappointed. Game is more like Divinity: Original Sin 3 than Baldur's Gate 3, so as a fan of Baldur's Gate series I did not enjoy it as much as I could, but if you like D:OS series, this game is for you.