All-in Baldur's Gate is an excellent RPG and it is money well-spent. Why four stars then? Because the name "Baldur's Gate" is not just a name, but also an obligation. An obligation, that has been almost fullfilled. Almost! Without spoilers, I can say that the last big story arc of the game (named as Act III) is suffering a quite noticeable drop in the quality of quests, immersion and storytelling. It feels rushed and crunched to the bitter end, with plenty of choices being... forced, railroaded and disconnected. That applies sadly to the endings, which felt for me just bad, cut short and underwhelming. The companions are awesome, but their interactions are by no means on the awesome level I remember from old Baldurs. There isn't that much banter, they do not really form relationships/rivalries with each other and it is clear that plenty of work has been put into some of them, while the rest feels rather lackluster and lacks content. A quite controversial point are also the romances, after playing I am led to believe that some devs/writers behind that were really into polyamory, that applies to almost all characters at some point in the game and breaks the immersion in some cases. Not to mention that starting of the relationships is sometimes too easy and feels a bit forced. Pity, that visuals took over immersion and depth here. Do not get me wrong, the game is still very, very good, but not legendary. Act I of the game was one of the best RPG experiences I had in the last decade, but game does not keep up that level of immersion in the later parts of the story. BG3 will allow you to bring your heroic or villanous alter ego to life, but my advice? Wait some time until Larian polishes the game even further and then buy it.
Got killed after 20 min of playing. Instant uninstall. I do not really want to sacrifice the scarce free time I've got left after work just to get barely good enough to actually enjoy a game. I prefer taking a game slowly and then scale the difficulty level once I've figured a thing or two to keep the gameplay challenging and rewarding. So if you're looking for a casual run'n'gun then this isn't the right place.
