It's a big RPG with lots of modern features. It has a ton of replay value but you probably won't keep engaged multiple times as you would with Baldur's Gate or other Forgotten Realms games. It not much like Baldur's Gate. It is a little similar to Divinity: Original Sin.
While this could be a good standalone game by itself, I don't recommend it. The characters are not engaging enough compared to the standard of recent RPG's anyway. The graphics range from good to great and it's voiced. However, I found that even with an increased modern presentation, overall this game is less immersive than even games where you can't fully make out character's faces! It just isn't personable enough.
The full turn based combat is a big step down from Baldur's Gate's real time with pause and frankly is less strategic and unnecessarily time consuming. The combat system as a whole has an overwhelming number of options but it just feels like you have less control of your characters and more fluff, while the computer is doing most of the work for you.
I personally don't care for the story much. It's okay and has a similar tone to some of the Baldur's Gate 2 stories but put simply, it's hard to care about the characters or world as presented. The writing is theme park -like, in the vapid, hyped thrills sense, and not thorough enough to connect you to everything inside.
There is a lot to like and a lot to be disappointed in here. But there are also some over the top breaking points if you are on the fence. The inclusion of cgi porn in the romances, the inclusion of the now infamous bestiality, inclusion for inclusion's sake, the lack of legacy class combinations/options from BG1/2, low level cap and underdeveloped character endgame, the combat system completely foreign to Baldur's Gate, and the list goes on.
Overall, it's just not Baldur's Gate, not the next best thing, and not worth the time really. Don't expect it to be Baldur's Gate the Third, expect...something different.
Bugs, bugs and another bugs. Quest bugs so very noticable. Would be 60/100 if it shipped without them.
Classic Larian style of game.
-Frontloaded with good content and second half is rushed and buggy. (Minsc is basicaly there just to be there.)
-You hit level cap too soon.
-Very easy combat.
-Inventory managment - terrible, exacerbated by junk items
-Party Managment - terrible, you need to talk to change members, this exacerbates Inventory
Managment when you need to get something from NPC who is not in party. You cannot level NPCs
who are not in party.
- Cannot say much about music as it is very hard to notice when it plays, like it was made not to interfere with voice chat in Co-op, even main theme is kinda weak, especialy when compared to other CRPGs.
If I jump twice in quick succesion rest of the party jumps only once, so I have to get them over 1 by 1. This is very annoying. Jump should be automatic if character can jump over. That pressing jump creates some power surge, which just delays the time it takes to jump is cherry on top.
Presentation is great, The exploration is quite good (read - really good). The combat is boring as hell (that's 5e for you),. Your party skills don't matter if you are in a conversation or an event since only the active character can roll. The UI has issues, the game has no manual or even the "at higher levels" button that way smaller games have managed to fit in for the classes. Your character has more choices for genitalia than faces and there's a distinct lack of QOL features - changing a companions weapon shouldn't take 10+ clicks.
Only experienced a few game breaking bugs (infinitely stacking buffs, being permanently encumbered - that sort of thing.
I also find only one of the origin characters likeable, two tolerable (which means hirelings are mandatory until later in the game) and act 3 is still a bit of a mess. The storyline also is questionable considering the ending of the previous entry.
The graphics are great but the game itself isn't. It doesn't feel like a D&D game at all. One of the core elements of D&D is your alignment, and you can't even choose an alignment in this game. You don't really pick a deity either.
The combat in the game is messy. There are times when characters will do something you don't want them to do, simply because the game decides it's better. For example, rather than trying to shoot from a distance you wish, the game will automatically make them walk in range of a target and shoot which often means placing them in a really bad position to get attacked.
When trying to set up for combat while in tactical mode, if a character is not "engaged" with an enemy it moves outside of combat on their own which is ridiculous. During combat which is supposed to be turn based they will walk around freely as if not in combat. This means they will try to walk (not in turn based mode) up to the party leader. This leads to them moving out of the position you initially put them in (and didn't want them to move).
Combat is also scripted; if you reload you will find enemies doing the same exact attack every time, such as throwing an item that causes a fire or standing at a specific location and casting a "concentration" spell. This means there are very specific ways to defeat them rather than having it be random which reduces replayability.
Another really annoying thing is that your party members will not avoid hazards. On more than one occasion I had a party member that was standing with a hazard between them and the rest of the party (fire, acid, etc) and after combat they walked straight through it after combat ends to join the rest of the party. I even had a party member die to their own cloud of daggers because they walked through it to rejoin their party.
The story is also very boring and generic and I found myself forcing myself to play the game in hopes that it would get better over time.
