Baldur's Gate 3

While the game is far from perfect in its mechanics, camera views, etc., the gameplay is thoroughly enjoyable and a lot of bang for the buck. Far fewer bugs than many modern games (looking at you Bethesda). The writing, as far as wordsmithig goes, is competent. Unfortunately, immersion is badly compromised by a pretty superficial and juvenile worldview as well as shallow politicizing. It’s hard to remain caught up in the story when you can practially read the mind of the writers trying, and failing, to make some kind of meaningful social statement. A lot like my 7 yr old daughter expostulating on the moral complexities of Pokemon. Also, the different races in the game are shallow and uninteresting. It’s not very compelling when an orc warrior is just a human with a underbite and has the voice and mannerisms of a typical 15 yr old high school student. Still, in a gaming industry full of microtransactions that charge you for a new colour of armor, and where it’s the norm to release games with game-crashing bugs, BG 3 stands out as a product that gives gamers more of the quality they deserve. Well worth the purchase.

the game takes most of its inspiration from the original sins games wich is good if you liked them but it has little to do with the Baldurs gate 1 and 2 that i played growing up. the conections to the previous games are superficial and fells more like pandering than anything else. my first dislike is that the gameplay and the story is compleatly at odds with it self. the whole midflayer larva feels tacked on for how little it effects the story untill the absolutly last minutes of the game. the second part is that the game omits so much information, from chracter creation to item descriptions. i frequently had to look up information outside the game like class progression and potion effects. and the less said about act three the better.

Sorry, but... why are people raving about this game? Aside for incorporating DnD 5e into a game very well, it's just average all around. Characters? Have potential for sure, but the writing is average, if not downright boring. Atmosphere? Well, not too much of it, and the game tries to be funny too much. Yeah, that's how Divinity was and you can just accept that BG3 is basically Divinity and move on - except BG3 is different enough to remind you that this is indeed DnD. So if you're familiar with DnD and Forgotten Realms you might be put off by... everything: how it looks, sounds and feels. When I'm playing BG3 I cannot believe for a second that I am indeed exploring the world of Forgotten Realms. It feels more like some funny scenario. I haven't met a single interesting NPC so far, too. I'm bored, boss. I want interesting characters to talk to, with well written dialogues. Jesus, even findinga hideout run by young tiefling criminals didn't amount to anything interesting. Unfortunately, this is a candidate for a refund for me. How can an RPG with talking bears can be so unimpressive. Divinity 1 was more impressive than this.

Veteran players of the Baldurs Gate franchise are some of the least demanding people for cutting edge graphics; opting for story and gameplay in a time when 3D gaming was becoming more popular. Now onto the main issue with the game itself. It does not feel like a spiritual successor in anyway to Baldurs Gate. With only some small dialogue tweaks the game itself could take place in an alternate universe. Now normally this would not be an issue but the combat itself is not my cup of tea. Combat is very focused on "floor" effects and taking advantage of elemental pools by dipping your weapon inside. Jumping in this game is a way to avoid attacks-of-oppurtunity from leaving melee range and it looks downright silly to jump half a screen. (Also as an aside for jumping. Since jump distance is based on youre maximum movement per turn which is based on race along with a strength modifier... it is entirely possible to create a character that cannot advance in the tutorial area because of a mandatory jump) This lends itself to a very wide sprawling battlefields where your jumping and littering the battefield with a glitter fiesta of elements. Now for the UI. Its pretty bad. Details are lacking in for almost every action from a spells duration to DC for modifiers to movement. I dont understand why the actions (sneaking, jumping, dipping, etc.) share an similar size with the hotbar for a characters' actual skills. The actual dice rolls for making a difficulty check are a wink to its D&D roots but it feels hollow. And thats what the game feels like. Hollow. Guess ill stop playing.

If you like Larian games fine. It's taken Larian's usual approach and added "Baldur's Gate" to the title but apart from that its very different to the titles it is supposed to honour. Its beautiful but the UI is slightly clunky and finding specific actions can be a nightmare. The party members seem to be walking demographic tick boxes. They should also do something about the dice rolls; yes, I know its decided on a d20 but having to watch the animation of the roll over and over is just irritating. It feels like a game that tries to be all things to all people and suffers by stretching itself to thin. If you like the Divinity games then you'll probably enjoy it. If you like Baldur's Gate 1/2, pick up the Pathfinder or Pillars of Eternity games because they are the real "spiritual sucessors".