Baldur's Gate 3

I have nostalgia for BG1 and BG2 from when they originally released, but also did a playthrough of both games, plus Throne of Bhaal, in the past month. After finishing a playthrough of BG3, how does it compare? I will say at the outset that BG3 is a fairly good and meaty game, and is worth checking out if just to see what a AAA-budgeted CRPG can be. Full VA is great. My own playthrough was approx. 120 hours, and there is reactivity I want to explore further on future playthroughs. BG3 feels like a game in the same genre, but not much like a BG game. There are a handful of references to the earlier games, but the presentation feels nothing like BG1 and 2. While the default tone of the original games is "dark", the tone of BG3 is "whimsical". Two caveats: in Act 3 (of 3) of the game, without spoilers I will say the story started to feel like it belonged in the same universe. There is also an "origin" at character creation that will probably be a stronger tie that I have not experienced yet. The writing is mixed. Companions feel more fleshed out, but there are fewer of them and, without spoilers, the thrust of most of their stories felt very samey. For big-picture story, it feels like they wanted to make a blockbuster movie, complete with sometimes eye-rolling dialogue. Of the three, I'd probably rate BG2's story as best, though BG3 felt less railroaded. Gameplay-wise, it is very different. Turn-Based instead of RTwP, party of 4 instead of 6, 3D environments with elevation, even the classic party member green circles are white! For some these are welcome changes or unimportant differences; otherwise, the Pillars of Eternity or Pathfinder CRPGs are better spiritual successors. User experience is something I would say the original games actually did better at the time of this review. Changing party composition is a pain, inventory management is a pain, even the camera controls and maps are awkward in some environments, largely thanks to the environments being 3D.

Sadly the story is very lackluster. Companions in my opinion are mostly annoying and i didn't really care about them. I think way too much time was wasted on details most people would not even notice instead of developing the most important parts of the game.

Only the first act is in the game, and only half the classes, and not all of the subclasses, and not every players handbook race is available, and it's buggy, and tool tips are wrong, and arms and armour are missing, and there's few companions, and theres few feats, and and and and and; All of these points can be thoroughly ignored as the game is in early access as it so clearly advertises. HOWEVER Early access or no, there is a game underneath what is missing that exists to be criticised. If you want an apt description of the language used, the dialogue is cringe. The quest design is unbalanced for sure, but more importantly it's design is highly flawed, while Larian brings their fabled wacky expectations to the table, you can talk to the dead, and find unique solutions, they'll railroad you if you play the game straight. (That's beyond the rule-set limiting you so that your party doesn't affect your skills, it's whoever talks does the skillchecks). The companions are made dull through unsubtle grandiosity, in other words, they're shallow one-trick ponies. The plot is highly reminiscent of DoS2, you start on a ship that crashes and lands on a beach that takes you to a town and bla blah. In terms of the overall story, it doesn't feel, progress or act like Baldurs Gate. Several liberties taken with the ruleset that takes this away from 5e. Alot of fixes for things that aren't broken. Please see: http://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=682449&nt=20&page=1 for a thorough examination of the issues this game possesses. This would be a fine purchase were it called Divinity 3. The game itself looks beautiful. The soundtrack is awesome. This has the potential to be amazing. But it's not. It's every flaw that could happen with Larian making the successor to Baldurs Gate. A worst case scenario. To be frank, it's lazy. But if you want Baldurs Gate 3, you'll have a closer time buying pathfinder instead. Final Verdict: Wait for sale.

This game made me realize I really prefer infinity engine games. Like the divinity games, this was extremely similar and I brought this expecting Baldurs Gate, but I got Divinity. It's my own fault, I guess the signs were there that it would be like Divinity, but I waited so damn long for another Baldurs Gate I had tunnel vision. I still play Baldurs gate 1 and 2 regularly and it's still relevant. Yeah, graphics could be nicer, but I like the simplicity of what it offers at face value but the complexity of its underbelly. It makes for an enjoyable game. This game felt much more complicated at the face value, such as the environments, items, characters ect almost to the point where they are distracting, but then much more simplistic on the systems, such as spells, leveling, combat ect. To me, that waters down the experience and I felt like I spend more time distracted by things I wasn't interested in while looking to find a game that challenged me and awoke something in me. I couldn't really get into this. To me, everything felt linear and I wasn't engaged to dig deeper into the world, or the characters. I think I will give it another solid go when it goes on sale, but for now, I got a refund as I lost interest in playing it.

Remember that old ToEE game from Troika that had so many bugs you wanted to cry? Yep! That’s BG3. And honestly I could deal with the bugs cuz it’s early access but I hate when devs try to put their own take on the game instead of using the darn rulebooks. They’ve made the goblins in this game super intelligent compared to how they were written and it’s so bothersome. Use a different race if you want the enemies to be intelligent! AVERAGE goblin stats are SEVEN hit points. They made the entire race of goblins level 3 fighters clerics or wizards. They should have conquered all of Faerun by now! Just frustrating - great plot line, great cinematography- but if you are going to call it DnD then play DND and not some perverted version of it!