My experience with DnD is not too extensive, but a few years ago I did play a long campaign that lasted almost two years. While I couldn't say I was still a novice by its end, I never got fully invested in the systems or the experience. I was never able to distinguish what made some sessions a drag and others a wonderful time where everyone was crying of laughter. Eventually I reached the conclusion that, if not the direct cause, the fact that the DM was having fun with what we players were providing was closely related to the emotional richness of the game. This idea resonated with me so much while playing Baldur's Gate 3, this massive powerhouse by the unique Larian Studios that seems to answer the question "hey DM, can I do this" with a "sure, my dude".
While it soon gets very gamey and nothing can really replace a tabletop dungeon master, Baldur's Gate 3 shines the most in those moments of invitation to divert. The game makes you feel (or tricks you into thinking?) that you always have a wide array of possibilities in everything. Cast Silence on those drums so enemies cannot alert reinforcements. Fly over that wall and skip the entire toll quest. Shove that boss off that cliff and omit this whole fight altogether. Embrace barrelmancy. Use your ultra charismatic bard's speech skills to convince that devil to commit suicide. That is the kind of questions I was mentioning before, that only a bold or sufficiently entertained DM will allow. These moments combined with the high production value of animations, music and voice acting are incredibly powerful for the player.
However, everything, even that feeling of practical omnipotence, fizzles out in Act 3. Buggy, sloppy and clearly incomplete a la MGSV, it focuses on an overcrowded city that, nicely crafted though it may be, could have used more negative space. I can't even imagine how it would have felt if the Upper City hadn't been cut. Whereas in Act 1 the game encouraged your exploration and supported your improvisation, all that liberty of choice feels super cramped in the second half of the game.
The implications of your decisions and the ultimate fate of the NPCs you learn to love in Act 1 stop being foreseeable and become almost unfair. While it works wonders to add grimness and seriousness to the plot, it makes you stop caring about the way you play out your quests, after having dedicated so much thought and care to these in the first part of the game.
Unexpectedly, this brought to me a new way to approach a second run: a puzzle of destiny. How can I manage to save Sazza the goblin AND all the tieflings BUT still loot the items from the goblin camp for that sweet build that I just found on Youtube? Is it even possible? How far can I mingle with Minthara without forsaking the Grove? What happens if I ignore the hag completely? What is the highest number of allies I can gather for the final battle scene? And so on. I have to comment here how much I loved that Smash Bros-like "Everyone is here" scene in the end. Small emergent objectives like these help you keep yourself invested even after having felt underwhelmed by the treatment of Act 3. This is only possible thanks to the incredible replayability of the game: the range of builds and origin stories invite you to play one run after another. Even surprising gear combinations affect the gameplay enough to give you the itch to try something new back on level 1.
Overall BG3 is not trying too hard to offer a challenging experience, but a fantasy exercise to linger in for a while. I am not necessarily thinking of romantic fantasies (I hear the horny jail is overcrowded, and when there is no more room in the horny jail the horny will walk the Earth), which here are probably too much on the nose, but also weirdly specific power fantasies: in my first run I was basically Marvel's Hawkeye. The magic arrows system is curiously detailed and very fun to master.
I will remain skeptical when big companies start asking random studios to make more CRPGs just by looking at the immense success Baldur's Gate had, thinking that anybody can make a lot of money in this genre. Meanwhile I am delightfully surprised to say that this was my game of the year.
While it soon gets very gamey and nothing can really replace a tabletop dungeon master, Baldur's Gate 3 shines the most in those moments of invitation to divert. The game makes you feel (or tricks you into thinking?) that you always have a wide array of possibilities in everything. Cast Silence on those drums so enemies cannot alert reinforcements. Fly over that wall and skip the entire toll quest. Shove that boss off that cliff and omit this whole fight altogether. Embrace barrelmancy. Use your ultra charismatic bard's speech skills to convince that devil to commit suicide. That is the kind of questions I was mentioning before, that only a bold or sufficiently entertained DM will allow. These moments combined with the high production value of animations, music and voice acting are incredibly powerful for the player.
However, everything, even that feeling of practical omnipotence, fizzles out in Act 3. Buggy, sloppy and clearly incomplete a la MGSV, it focuses on an overcrowded city that, nicely crafted though it may be, could have used more negative space. I can't even imagine how it would have felt if the Upper City hadn't been cut. Whereas in Act 1 the game encouraged your exploration and supported your improvisation, all that liberty of choice feels super cramped in the second half of the game.
The implications of your decisions and the ultimate fate of the NPCs you learn to love in Act 1 stop being foreseeable and become almost unfair. While it works wonders to add grimness and seriousness to the plot, it makes you stop caring about the way you play out your quests, after having dedicated so much thought and care to these in the first part of the game.
Unexpectedly, this brought to me a new way to approach a second run: a puzzle of destiny. How can I manage to save Sazza the goblin AND all the tieflings BUT still loot the items from the goblin camp for that sweet build that I just found on Youtube? Is it even possible? How far can I mingle with Minthara without forsaking the Grove? What happens if I ignore the hag completely? What is the highest number of allies I can gather for the final battle scene? And so on. I have to comment here how much I loved that Smash Bros-like "Everyone is here" scene in the end. Small emergent objectives like these help you keep yourself invested even after having felt underwhelmed by the treatment of Act 3. This is only possible thanks to the incredible replayability of the game: the range of builds and origin stories invite you to play one run after another. Even surprising gear combinations affect the gameplay enough to give you the itch to try something new back on level 1.
Overall BG3 is not trying too hard to offer a challenging experience, but a fantasy exercise to linger in for a while. I am not necessarily thinking of romantic fantasies (I hear the horny jail is overcrowded, and when there is no more room in the horny jail the horny will walk the Earth), which here are probably too much on the nose, but also weirdly specific power fantasies: in my first run I was basically Marvel's Hawkeye. The magic arrows system is curiously detailed and very fun to master.
I will remain skeptical when big companies start asking random studios to make more CRPGs just by looking at the immense success Baldur's Gate had, thinking that anybody can make a lot of money in this genre. Meanwhile I am delightfully surprised to say that this was my game of the year.