Baldur's Gate 3

I loved DOS2 and I loved the original BG games. Do I love this then? Well, I don't know yet. It has a lot of potential but it seems to be missing something. It doesn't feel like a Baldur's Gate game, it feels much more like DOS3 in "sort of" Faerun. The gameplay is fantastic. I'm someone who played D&D in 1st and 2nd Editions but I'm not familiar with the later rules. I've no idea how authentic it is but it is fun. The only thing I think this needs to improve on is the general feel of the world. It just doesn't sit quite right for me. Maybe this will improve in the later acts, I'm keen to find out.

Es überrascht mich als Genre-Fan am meisten, aber Baldur's Gate 3 macht mir keinen Spaß. Die Inszenierung ist großartig. Was bei mir aber unten durchfällt, sind Hauptstory, Nebenquests, Spielwelt und Spielmechanik. Also genau die Punkte, bei denen ein Rollenspiel punkten muss. An der Hauptstory stört mich der ständige narrative Zeitdruck, der auf komische Weise vom eigentlichen Spiel konterkariert wird. Klar, das ist ein typischen Genreproblem; der Rollenspielheld erkundet immer erst alle Höhlen, bevor er die Prinzessin rettet. Aber dieses Spiel macht es einen unmöglich diesen Widerspruch auszublenden. Die Nebenquests sind nicht schlecht. Aber überraschungsarmes Genre-Mittelmaß. Auch die Handlungsorte sind einfach nur Standard und für Genre-Veteranen ziemlich erwartbar. Alle Figuren der Spielwelt kommen aus Schubladen und vor allem die Bösen sind grundlos böse. Eine richtige Motivation kann ich bei den Charakteren nicht erkennen und es ist nicht nachvollziehbar, wie sich in einer Welt, in der sich alle hassen, überhaupt Gesellschaften bilden konnten. Und dann die größte Enttäuschung: Die Spielmechanik. Standardwaffen machen so viel Schaden, dass taktisches Vorgehen oder Kreativität im Kampf keinen Sinn machen. Der viel zu starke Zufall in den Kämpfen hilft hier auch nicht. Überhaupt ist die Würfelmechanik auch außerhalb der Kämpfe nur unbefriedigend und macht leveln zur Farce. Einzelne Spielmechaniken sind längst nicht so gut verzahnt, wie ich erwartet habe. Dinge die in der einen Situation funktionieren (zum Beispiel sich zu verkleiden und damit nicht erkannt zu werden) haben in anderen Situationen keinerlei Auswirkung. Als jemand, der Probleme gerne kreativ löst, war es eher die Regel, dass das Spiel auf Ideen von mir nicht reagiert hat, als das etwas mal eine sinnvolle Auswirkung hatte. Also mein Fazit, auch wenn ich es echt nicht gerne schreibe: Ich fand Baldur's Gate 3 enttäuschend. Der Quasi Vorgänger Divinity: Original Sin II ist deutlich besser.

This is the new entry into the venerable Baldurs Gate series. It has big shoes to fill as the original entries have become lionised by players over the years. What I can say is this is a very good game. Built around 5e but not exactly 100% RAW. It is broken into three acts. The 1st deals with setting up the story and the dilemma the players find themselves in. Alliances can be made and broken. Eventually your travels take you to the underdark in search of answers. Act 2 sees you following your first real clue and you enter the shadow realms. Act 3. This is were you head to Baldurs Gate and trying to come up with a plan to deal with the dilemma once and for all. Acts 1 & 2 are very well fleshed out. Not surprising they got the most attention during development. Act 3 feels very undercooked and rushed at times. It just about holds together though. The final end scene is a little rushed (no spoliers) and was a little underwhelming. The combat is amazing. The spells are very satisfying. There is plenty of cool loot. Characters look amazing as is the voice acting. Its just let down by the curse of xcom - dice roller clusters around the low end making you miss high % chance to hit targets. The undercooked third act was frustrating at times. I am sure that Larian will work on this as they are bound to release a GOTY version at some point. No DLC is planned, so I suspect it will be QOL changes we will see. Its a good game. Not a 10/10 or a 9/10 but it is a damned good game.

The first chapter is overall worthy all praise this game has gotten. I was immediately hooked, and enjoyed the second real D&D game (as it is turn-based, ToEE was the first) immensely for many, many hours. The writing is good, the characters are mostly good/believable, the music is fantastic sometimes. A clear 5-star. The only thing I don't like is the models for some demi-human races. With chapter 2 the quality dropped noticeably in my opinion - even the music dropped in quality. But the game was still good - that is, until I came to a certain point in the story, where (in part extremely) bad writing combined with real-world politics really was a huge turn-off. The game dropped to 3/5 in my book, and there it stays. For if the end of chapter 2 was at times painful to watch, chapter 3 goes completely bananas when it comes to political correctness, cringe-worthy dialogs, and very shallow characters. I mean, the 2 arch-villains are almost caricatures - one looks like glam-rocker from a very bad band, and the the other sounds like a cackling madwoman who is everything but intimidating. The entire dramaturgy falls into into shambles, one might say. What saves the 3 stars is the endgame/-battle, which was quite entertaining. Baldur's Gate 3 is definitely worth playing, but expect quite a lot "facepalm" moments from the end of chapter 2 and onward. I hope to see mods fixing the aspects of the game which needs fixing, now that the toolkit is available (I hope it will be so here on GOG?).

It's got a bit of a Marvel feel to it—not a good thing. The turn-based combat drags. Obviously incredibly popular with a lot of polish. You either like Larian's writing or you don't: I don't.