Baldur's Gate 3

The game is certainly worth the price and the title of Baldur's Gate 3. It might be quite similar to other Larian games, but it doesn't stop it from being top notch CRPG experience with modern day graphics and interesting plot.

This game is what I wished Dragon Age and Mass Effect. My choices made an impact on the game's world and there are so many ways to resolve a quest. Any game that lets me attack the first NPC I encounter is a good hallmark of how open world it is and in control I am. I'm still playing 100+ hours in. It's more open-world and massive than the original BG games. I was amazed by how much story, lore, homages to the original, and world scale. Lots of side quests and exploration. The tone of the game is serious but enough humor and silliness to not take it too seriously (like in the original games). The music is amazing, especially for one boss fight. I did encounter a couple of game blocking bugs that were fixed the next day by a hotfix, but I can forgive it because of how much content and work was put into this game. There minor quality of life tweaks that could be used: painful inventory management and waiting for all NPCs' turns in large battles. One caveat about this game is the controls and UI can be difficult for players that never played the old cRPG or the Divinity: Original Sins series. Even I was confused by some of the UI, and I played all of Larians' past games. For fans of the old BG games, the only things that might be disappointing is the combat system and looseness of the Forgotten Realms lore. It takes some things from the D&D system/books, but it's just some book lore peppered into the Divinity: Original Sins engine. I personally like this new system better, except for a way to pause the whole game world to I can plan my moves (their turn-based mode is too tedious). This is my favorite game in the last decade (over the Mass Effect series and Dragon Age series). I highly recommend it for people that love complex combat systems, slow paced RPGs, or love lots of lore and backstory. Probably wouldn't recommend it to people that are very strict about their D&D rules and lore. I hope Larian would make more games like this in the years to come.

My biased opinion as an older gamer: Good D+D video games have been a rarity recently. Neverwinter Nights and The original Baldur's Gate games being unsurpassed as yet. They took place in the original Faerun universe which has a well-developed and well-loved world in which to set their stories. Other D+D games like Pillars, Pathfinder and Crown of the Magister used their own fantasy worlds which didn't quite cut it for a D+D game (although still good). Then there was Larian with their technically accomplished Original SIn games which were brought down by uninteresting world building and wacky, comical gameplay which was hard to get immersed in. It's like they were enjoying poking fun at the fantasy tropes a little too much, creating parodies of rpg games. Baldur's Gate 3 has given Larian a great D+D setting for them to build a brilliantly accomplished game in. The D+D ruleset has also elevated their creation and makes the tactical battles very interesting. Now we have the best D+D game since those classics from years ago. Unfortunately, Larian have spoiled it a little by their overuse of their comical environmental special effects (exploding barrels and pools of electrified water etc.) They also have a ridiculous amout of love/sex content between every single character which can fortunately be avoided by not clicking on the corny chat up lines! Still, a great game. Highly recommended.

So unlike most reviews here I’ve purchased the game and I have played it. If anyone tells you it’s not rough around the edges they’re just outright lying to you. Online play is currently borked and there are all kinds of animation issues. I have not crashed yet, character customization is nice, story is interesting enough from what I’ve seen. I’ve enjoyed the characters I’ve run into. Is it Baldur’s Gate? Yeah, I mean, it’s in the Forgotten Realms setting. I think a lot of folks have some rose tinted glasses when looking back at the original games. They were great for their time but it’s time to move on. Is this DOS3? Absolutely not. DOS2’s combat has been more interesting and the game itself doesn’t take itself nearly as seriously as BG3 seems to. Am I glad I paid full price for an Early Access game? Absolutely. The game has a lot of potential and extra revenue for the developer is just going to make it that much better. Think of it like backing a kickstarter, the more money it gets the more stretch goals we unlock. It’s going to be a great game from what I’ve seen.

Disappointing there is no demo, instead you're asked to pay $60+ for a game you haven't seen and won't really for a long time before the full product is released. There are dozens of Forgotten Realms games if the setting is what you want, this is supposed to be Baldur's Gate, which to me is a game involving preparing and arrranging your party for real time combat where you pause the action and reorient your party to the changing landscape of the battle. Turn based Divinity Original Sin gameplay is another animal entirely. Disappointing that real time with pausing gameplay is almost entirely missing from modern gaming.