Classic game of heroism from my childhood. Fun puzzles, characters and story. Combat is OK given when it was made, and there are still a few odd bugs (though nothing which breaks the game).
This review is based off patch 3 of early access. BG3 already has solved one of my greatest hates in modern CRPGs: item levels. I love that it doesn't matter if I'm level 1 or level 20 (well, 4 in EA): a sword is still a sword. It's my character itself who is amazing, NOT the shiny objects they're wearing. I get driven insane by the whole "this is a level 1 sword, it does 1-3 damage; this is a level 5 sword, it does 30-40 damage". A game forcing you to constantly upgrade weapons through a pointless treadmill is NOT fun. It's just tedious and boring, and removes the significance of when you get a magic item (eg. you find a legendary suit of armour, worn by a great tyrant who terrorised the world... Oh, sorry, it's level 5, you're level 10 now, here's a random common item that's now three times better...). I am so incredibly grateful to Larian for loyally implementing 5e's itemization where the power of the character is based off their own skills and abilities, not their gear. Thank you! I am also absolutely loving the story and characters. The companions are all compelling and I'm really enjoying the narrative - looking forward to seeing where it goes. I love that the game encourages you to actually consider the fact that you're all strangers drawn together by circumstance and that there's no reason for any of you to trust each other. The trust must be built over time. On the negative side, I would really like to see some of the D&D 5e rules followed closer. I think disengage should be a full action, not a bonus action, as it diminishes the rogue's speciality and it removes the risk/reward of whether or not to chance an opportunity attack. I would also really like to see ritual spells implemented along with reasons to not constantly long rest. At the moment, there's no reason not to long rest after every battle, which causes a bit of class imbalance, as wizards can just go all out every fight instead of needing to manage their resources.
