As expected, this is DOS3 with D&D ruleset taking place in Faerun. This is where similarities to previous installments of Baldur's Gate franchise end. BG3, just like DOS2, is a juvenile, bland, colorful, vanilla RPG in which you will be hard pressed to find memorable moments. It bears no resemblance to previous titles - which would be somewhat understandable have they decided to create a strong modus operandi of their own. Unfortunately it's a game that's afraid to venture forth be it in art direction, music, writing, character personalities, location design or multi-layered combat system. And what it's not afraid to do - is soulless. As DOS game it could have been great and let DOS fans add another game to their Larian altar, placed next to a picture of Swen. As BG game it's mediocre at best, with barely any redeeming qualities. At least Bethesda kept true to the spirit of predecessor when making Fallout 3, flawed as it is.
This is a gem, work of art. I love the visual style, minimalistic UI, climatic music, (nearly) no timed events, (nearly) no jump scares, attention to detail (unique log designs, procedural lightening, the whole surgery scene). On the flip side storyline has been delivered pretty heavy handed, some of the riddles have not been thought through (throw your best guess at the wall until it sticks, that is try every item with every interactive element of the environment), music is pretty underwhelming (especially for Mark Morgan). Lack of polish is clearly visible (every one of the log entries scattered around the ship is written in similar manner, voice acting is mediocre), but that's to be expected, since the game has been created by one man army ;) Isometric 2D point and click horror (as if that was a genre) done right. Let's see what Beautiful Desolation brings.
Pros: - DOS2 has interesting take on combat - heavily utilizing environmental effects and both horizontal as well as vertical planes - music is pretty good - sandbox mechanics are implemented pretty deep, if you value your freedom at a cost of the cons below, all the power to you - the writing - as in dialogues - is pretty good Cons: - main storyline is mediocre at best - the overall vibe is light and goofy, the game doesn't take itself seriously, which isn't a bad thing unless taken to the extreme, as it is here - game atmosphere is light as well, don't expect anything thought provoking or mentally engaging - generic UI, sounds, menus, animations - there is no art in any of that - voice acting galore - art direction is very generic - memorable locations are few and far between, most of the environment consist of grey and yellow cuboids - game "ambience" is shallow, cartoonish and childish, run around with bucket on your head, talk to turtles, build pyramids out of chests - sandbox freedom as a vehicle to obtain the fun gameplay if that's your thing - characters are taken straight from Marvel superheroes movie in literal sense - every one of them has a divine spark - so plays nice to the younger audience - turn based combat is tedious and tiresome, random encounter with trash mobs take 20 mins to resolve - combat, although hard, is very straightforward, bring down magic or physical armor on the baddie, then shoot them up. Sure you take use of pools of liquids, barrels, throwables, employ some buffs and debuffs, but nothing really forcing you to strategically plan - and react (except for the positioning). By that I mean eg. no advanced defensive spellcasting system - it all boils down to armor values. - generic lore, it's no D&D - weak classes, no alignment, and so on - custom made chars get nerfed compared to origin story one - generic, random loot and loot galore - a plethora of junk called inventory, and god forbid you are a hoarder type, you will get buried
