I played the beginnings. (about 50 hours) . That's not much of an advance. It's repeating every fight many times. Have to repeat every step multiple times. There are no different options or different approaches to anything. Only one way to solve every situation. Only one correct dialogue. Only one means to procced at every step. Extremely one-dimensional game.
Now (after 50 hours) the game won't start at all. Launch screen freezes. Send crash report screen pops up.
Game is unplayable! Not recommended!
This isn't so much a review, but an impression of the game as of the first 7 hours in terms of Early Access. I'll likely delete it at some point and update.
First of all, the game is extremely unfinished. You WILL lose all your progress at some point in development and the game is not currently completable.
Second, it plays weird compared to Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. The original two games were abstracted 2eAD&D to accomodate a C&C style Real Time Strategy effect with roleplaying elements on top of that. I don't think RTWP is a surefire winning formula these days, as evidenced by Pillars 2 or Beamdog's Siege, however, I feel like a lot of my time is being wasted by adhering to 5e too too much. Here, you whiff at opponents uninterestingly with basic attacks for days until eventually you do beat the combat, open the door and move onto the next combat. Combat is pretty limited with not that much encounter variety due to the specific kind of enemy units presently in the game.
As far as story vibes go, the cloying tone is WEIRD. Why does everybody low key loathe me? Why is everybody stressed out all the time? Baldur's Gate isn't Dragon Age. Why hasn't Minsc shown up with Boo and a gaping headwound and started kicking evil's ugly butt? I don't think Larry, Darryl and Darryl, Portalbendarwinden, Lord Foreshadow and Bub Snikt are showing up either. Cmon. Also, the companions seem like incompetents and rubes.
Character creation is detailed OK with a lot of room for expansion. I'm give these companions a shot, but so far they're just too abrasive to be liked. I like Lae'zel though because she at least has SOME sort of plan. Yeesh.
Graphics are mixed. The faces are good but the armor is Dragon Age's impractical melange. Also, yes, female Dwarves can have beards. The environments are unfocused and drab. Motion capture is jank. Music is spot on. VO is screeching and grumbling.
I can't recommend this game because it just needs too much work. Off to a good start but blah.
I was skeptical at getting a game early access at first. This is the first time I have done so. I can honestly say this is exactly what I wanted out of a BG game and have loved every second of the available content so far. Such an awesome job on every aspect, characters, story, environments, gameplay and music. I have not been this addicted to a game since the originals came out. If you liked the originals I highly recommend. I personally can't wait for more content and hope Larian can keep producing a game at this quality for the full release of the game!
The game is beautiful, I've had some glitches especially loading graphics but largely the game is very polished, the storyline feels epic and the characters are really well voiced and animated.
However, this game launched more than a year ago, calling it "early access" at this point feels like a joke. It's selling for the price of an expensive full release game, but playing it is like being part of an MMO at launch: with blank "this class will be added later" assets.
I'm enjoying It but I dont feel like its worth the price point, and I think it should be clearer that this is still a beta version you're paying for l. At this release rate I can't imagine there will be anyone interested left who hasn't already played it by the time it's "done".
