Played this game a while ago when it was kind of half baked and I dropped it because I could see the potential of how good it would be and wanted to give it a shot once it was ready, boy am I glad it did. Combat is fun, characters are great, your choices matter, this game pretty much nails RPG. Dare I say it, it's even better than DOS2. Reasoning this for me doesn't hit a 9 or 10 though is I still feel it's a very buggy game, and even though I'm more lenient to bigger games when it comes to bugs, I can only go too far before the game gets penalized

generally i don't review anything based on first impressions but as a series veteran i just gotta say: this sucks, man

it opens on mindflayers on a spaceship fighting undead dragons in the sky or some shit to this effect and i look at it and i just feel nothing. it's so boring. it's so completely unearned.

every previous larian game i've played has just been the epitome of everything that bores me about fantasy rpgs so i guess i'm prejudiced. but this isn't even really baldur's gate 3, this is divinity 3 or whatever number they're on. let me explain.

far be it from me to uphold "brand identity" to the detriment of creativity, but think about what made both baldur's gate games work: they put in the work to situate you in the world, get you acquainted with candlekeep and everyone living there, before pulling the rug from under you, and then doing the same thing again on a much grander and scarier scale at the beginning of 2. they gave you a reason to care. this one just kicks off on epic and fucked up shit happening to you like it's a marvel movie.

i know it's early access and etc etc but you put the stuff that's supposed to hook people in the first hour or two, and that hook was clearly supposed to be a) the combat (about which i have no complaints but also it's unmemorable) and b) how cinematic it is -- which is the exact thing i'm complaining about. baldur's gate had the pace not of a movie, but of a fantasy novel; maybe not the most ambitious or literary one, but 250 pages in you just kind of get attached and keep going. this one has the pace of a youtube video. i don't want this.

EDIT: yeah i eventually finished the game anyway. i wouldn't say ALL my whining was vindicated, i was actually very pleasantly surprised at the quality of some of the character writing. however, overall, i really don't think i was wrong to rate it low. act 2 is a dull slog and act 3 would have been actually pretty sick if not for the ending sequence being so completely out-of-the-ass ridiculous. i can't describe it without spoilers, but if they were trying to replicate the experience of being railroaded by a DM who thinks they've come up with the coolest shit ever, it's a massive success.

also orpheus is not a fucking githyanki name. i'm sorry. the hook on the wall on which i suspend my disbelief is very sturdy, but it didn't survive that one. at least call your half-baked NPC that you had to invent on the spot "steve swordguy" like a real DM would.

I played the full early access last year, and I've played it again now. I've enjoyed Baldur's Gate 1, 2 and I'm a Divinity: Original Sin fanatic, combine that with my love of RPGs and DnD, and I’m selling my soul to Larian.

It is undeniable the care and love that Larian is putting into this game. You only need to check their Panel from Hell and how they are interacting with the community in order to receive first hand feedback from the early access (but without losing the essence of BG). This game has an absurdly immense amount of details and connections, the freedom of the Divinity games plus the madness of a good Dungeon Master who knows how to take care of every thread that weaves the story.

Also, with a year between playthroughs (100% complete each), I've seen the evolution with quite a few patches in between... and it's not just the things they add, it's the level of wanting to polish everything until it shines, and still wanting to make it even better. Both in exploration and combat they offer a range of possibilities that allow you to have as much lateral thinking as possible, characters with layers and layers of depth (both in the companions and in your social relationships with them), and NPCs that enrich the world.

Finally, the few little things that are still missing in terms of character and class customisation, with early access I imagine they are more restricted so we don't get spoiled 😜 However, considering the trend set by Divinity (specially the well polished DOS:2), I have no doubt that this aspect will too be well taken care of.

In general, early access allows you to experience certain things, which they then use to check their work with the community. But, it doesn't offer the full experience (Act 1, in this case) as they're saving things for once the full game comes out (and even then its current state is insane!).
For those complaining that it's taking too long: hello? world pandemic? workers needing rest and such?

TL;DR: I don't think I will feel the same way about another RPG game after this one ❤️

https://pressakey.com/game,1999,6235,Baldur-s-Gate-III-Early-Access-Preview,.html

Ob und wie ich diesen ekligen Wurm aus dem Kopf kriege sei hier nicht verraten. Halte ich mich an den Heiler in Bärengestalt, die alte runzlige Hexe aus dem Sumpf oder gehe ich einen Pakt mit dem waschechten Teufel ein? Entscheidungsfreiheit wird bei den Larian Studios großgeschrieben und wird im fertigen Spiel gewiss auch die Spreu vom Weizen trennen. Denn nicht jeder Kompagnon findet alles total dufte, was ich da an der Schwertküste treibe.

Alles in allem macht Baldur's Gate III bereits jetzt einiges richtig. Die Geschichte ist ansprechend, die Charaktere schön eigenwillig und die bisher veröffentlichten Patches haben den Spielfluss bedeutend angenehmer gemacht. Die Entwickler kommunizieren dauerhaft mit der Community, tauschen sich aus und beweisen wieder einmal ihr Händchen für klassische Rollenspiele. Wenn die beiden noch fehlenden Akte ebenso abwechslungsreich daherkommen wie der erste und die restlichen Unebenheiten bis zum Release im kommenden Jahr begradigt werden, können sich die Divinity-Macher schon bald einige weitere Trophäen in die Vitrine stellen.

ok i'm updating my early access review. i've played most of this game. i fell off somewhere mid-act 3. bg3 so thoroughly surprised and delighted me at every turn. it is a deeply considered game, seeming to account for nearly anything you could possibly do. i don't know what else to say that others haven't said better. early access gave me "dos2 but different," and the final product is beyond what i could've imagined. congratulations to larian for knocking it out of the park and having a huge commercial success via a crpg in 2024. wowee

It seems the game is on its way to becoming an incredibly accurate D&D videogame but I have to say, the fact that it's still in development even though they had promised to be done with it by now is kind of annoying. Then again, making videogames is incredibly hard so it's not like they can do it overnight. Nonetheless, Baldur's Gate 3 is definitely a well-made game and I think it'll soon become the golden standard for this genre. But for now, I don't know if I would recommend it to anyone.

I DO think this game is great and there's many reasons to buy it even if it's not finished yet. The gameplay in itself is pretty run-of-the-mill for this genre of games but it's also really fun. I'm a sucker for games where you can customize your crew completely and live out your fantasy and basically do whatever but at the same time, I feel like the game tends to push you on a certain path a bit too much sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I like that it's story-driven, but damn does it feel like whatever you do or say will basically do jackshit for the story and it'll just keep on chug-chugging.

The graphics are so beautiful and while I am definitely one to marvel at graphics, I usually don't give them too much of an importance. But GOD DOES IT LOOK GOOD! And the funniest part is that the graphics are THIS GOOD for a game that features primarily isometric gameplay so you can never truly appreciate it in its entirety. I have to say, though, that I encountered a few visual glitches that kinda bugged me and reminded me that I was still just playing a videogame, so that took me out of the experience a bit.

As a big, BIG fan of Dungeons & Dragons, I really liked this game. It abides by 5e rules and that makes me happy cause that's what I play :)) but nonetheless, I'd recommend this game to basically anyone who's looking for an action RPG with huuuuge character customization and a plot that is actually lowkey interesting. Although the fact that it's NEVER on sale and that the game is about halfway done in terms of story and gameplay makes me kind of reluctant to advertise it as an "amazing game".