To start things off, I'd like to make it clear that I love rpgs, they've been my favorite genre ever since I was first introduced to Dungeons and Dragons as a young lad. And among them, Baldur's Gate has always been the shining jewel. Not the best story sure, that's Planescape, and not the most complex, that's Neverwinter Nights, but a mix up of so many different elements to make a masterpiece. Charm, clever writing, great characters, and being able to play how you want. This game is NOTHING like that. Things start well. Character customization is deeper than these times may have gotten one used too, and it's familiar for old rpg fans. Until you get to the attribute system and face the game's first "fix". The core system of the game is inherently immersion breaking, all in the name of "balance". Your wizards become the strongest in the party, your tanks the smartest, and when it comes to skill checks it's ridiculous. From there it gets worse. Combat is in one word, awful. The engagement system is broken, AI is laughably stupid, and biggest of all combat does NOT provide experience. Restricting ways to play is NOT acceptable, especially not for a game claiming to be a return to the old days. More to add, wizard play has been heavily nerfed compared to the old IE games, due to all spell casting being restricted to actual combat. Want to prepare yourself, cast that buff before hand? NOPE, can't do it. The story, while uneven, is okay, but lacks any kind of charm or really clever. It also suffers from trying to hard to be deep, instead of just letting it play out naturally. And characters while well-written, are rather bland, and mostly unmemorable. In conclusion, I wanted more than anything for this game to be the next Baldur's Gate. As it is, it's lacking in areas that were perfectly solved over 20 years ago. If you really want a modern rpg experience, I heavily suggest Divinity Original Sin, Shadowrun Dragonfall, or the recently released Tyranny(which solves issues here, and is amazing).
16 free DLC packs that anyone else would sell for money. What else is there to say other than CDPR are amazingm and showing everyone else the proper way to do it. Small packs fro free, full expansions for money.
