Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3 is a great game. I've put in excess of 80 hours into it for my first playthrough, and I will pick it up again to be sure. The battles are great, and the world is beautifully crafted. I wholeheartedly recommend the game to every RPG and strategy gamer. Nevertheless, as a fan of the predecessors by name as well as tabletop D&D 5th edition, I have a number of gripes with it: - Unicorns everywhere. Every single companion has to have a ridiculous over-the-top background story, which makes them appear less than normal, relateable people and more like superhero caricatures. - Weak Story. The overall story of BG3 is a generic 'Evil wants to take over the world' story, with a number of ridiculous twists and excessive use of larger-than-life events and antagonists. The story also engages in gravedigging with regards to events and characters of the predecessors, but disregards some major conclusions from the old games in order to utilize them as 'Remember this' events. - Cut spells. BG3 has cut quite a few spells from 5th Edition, and many others are not handled according to tabletop rules, often making them worse or uninteresting to use (looking at you, Fly). This also hurts class balance, as for example the Warlock's already small spell selection is reduced even further. - Larian engine. BG3 is basically Divinity with a D&D license, and it shows. The game showers you with special arrows, fantasy handgrenades and other unbalanced nonsense which doesn't fit into the 5e rules. - Martial superiority. The excessively powerful weapons and armor tend to favor non-caster-classes; this is made even worse by the aforementioned special arrows & stuff, and the fact that all classes can use spell scrolls (!). Time and time again I have asked myself why I bother using spellcasters, when a barbarian or fighter can just use a scroll of fireball in crucial situations when enemies are clumped together, and dish out ridiculous damage against single targets in all others.

As stated above, do not expect Divinity: Original Sin 2 (a great game) or strict D&D 5E rules from this. But both inspired Larian to create a great game. A lot of love was put into companions (some arguably much more than others). Great voice acting. Intriguing backstories and personalities, but beware - they might be a little too clingy (to put it mildly). Fun combat where tactics, party composition and items (yes, even those around you) matter. For some people it may get too easy, for some too difficult. No matter the case, I had fun. Main story is probably what you'd expect from your Game Master, but there's also a lot of intriguing side stories (and there's a lot of them). There's also 4-player co-op available, but I recommend at least one single-player playthrough before jumping into that :D (Disclosure: I experienced a lot of bugs - some say I'm cursed - but it was all during patches and hotfixes, so I should've known what I was getting into. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun, and it's definitely my Game of the Year.)

The best RPG I have ever played and one of the best games I have ever played. Amazing in almost every aspect and at a lower price than games with a quarter of the content. Almost every choice you make in the game has an effect later on, and it allows you to play as your own character. More than customization of appearance or a choice of faction, it gives you the freedom to determine exactly who you are. The NPCs are well fleshed out and companion characters treat you differently depending on your attitude and choices. Most of the companions have a consistent character throughout the story or change in a meaningful and logical way. This is a masterpiece.

...lacks polish, missing features, has a few bumps and sticky places, periodic malfunctions, some areas seem somewhat bare... Nevertheless, it's a blast to play. There's lots of detailed content and places to explore and lots of choice with an intriguing story. Characters are lively and don't feel or look like stiff dolls. The animation is so good I regularly get lost in the conversations and haven't skipped thru them like I usually do. I'm more than happy with my $60USD investment and I'm just getting started. GREAT JOB Larian! Looking forward to seeing how the game develops over the next year (or so).

This game not a bit a classic BG-seria. Don't get it wrong, it's still a good,really good game, if you don't expect from it to be another game you mostlikely will enjoy it. But if you hope for a "good old Baldur's Gate", you probabbly gonna be disapointed.