Baldur's Gate 3

It's not only one of the best cRPGs I've played in over two decades of my gaming "career", but it's a middle finger to the modern gaming industry that normalises half-baked products, cut content, preorders, early-access exploitation and microtransactions. BG3 makes me smile very often. How animals react to when-a-certain-NPC-is-rescued. How every rat has a dialogue to it (!!!). How I can strike my enemies from underneath the roof (and get pushed down from there as easily). This game is cream-thick with interesting content. Exploring a random, insignificant dungeon is an adventure in itself. It has meaning. There's no copypasting fillers - it's the main dish all along and it doesn't get boring. Larian Studios - for your efforts, for your spirit, for your attitude, for a TRUE new generation of quality: standing ovations.

I don't understand why game developers feel the need to insert misogynistic slurs like "wh**e" in their games. It doesn't make the game better, more mature, edgier, or more immersive. It just makes me think the game is made by misogynists and targeted at incels, and I stop being able to enjoy it. If I weren't past the return period, I would return it.

[EARLY ACCESS REVIEW] So, I usually don't buy Early Access / In Development titles. It's just not a thing I'm keen on. But I'm very glad I did it this time. I've been looking forward to BG3 since I first saw the full HD cinematic trailer (which, by the by, is also the actual game-starting cinematic; the bit immediately after the tadpole enters "your" eye is where you enter character creation). I've got all the graphics dialed to 11 (my computer is, presently, a bit of a beast - Intel i7-10700K processor, 32GB of memory, an NVidia RTX 2070S video card, and the game installed to an M.2-PCIE SST with ~3500MB/sec read and write speeds) .... and it is visually absolutely GORGEOUS. Yes, being very early on in development, there's a lot of missing options - Dragonborn, Gnomes, Bards, Sorcerors, Druids, a LOT of subclasses. But what _IS_ there so far, is pretty solidly well done. I haven't run into any bugs, other than having sound briefly drop out during conversations (briefly, not permanently). There's some polish work to do, on animations during conversations. The tutorial could use a few more "lessons" (like, how to find and disarm traps). But overall? Using what _is_ present, I have been enjoying a _very_ authentic D&D 5E experience, playing my half-drow Warlock (currently level 3).

This is just what I was hoping for when they got around to making another Baldur's gate. I have played all the old classics many times and BG3 brings the franchise up to date. This feels more like a classic Bioware game than it does a Larian game. I am very excited for the full release.

I can't wait to continue my adventure. Fantastic game!