I mean, what is there not to say about Baldur’s Gate 3? It won Game of the Year, and now having beaten it, I completely understand why. I had been interested in this game ever since it was released, though it winning the award is what ultimately pushed me into actually buying it. And what else can I say other than “this game is an absolute masterpiece”. Mechanically it’s amazing, but what truly pushes this game to the level of masterpiece is this game’s writing, no doubt about it. There’s so much to this game that I absolutely adore.
Now this game already appeals to me on a fundamental level. I’m a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons (though I’ve never had the chance of being in a good campaign), so I felt right at home with Baldur’s Gate 3. There was already so much I was familiar with, and playing it really did feel like I was playing an authentic DnD campaign. That as well is something I’ve always longed for, so Baldur’s Gate 3 was able to finally give something I had always wanted, even though it is not an actual tabletop campaign, which I find impressive. While this game supports multiplayer, it’s able to create an experience that emulates a DnD campaign for a single player game as well.
And must I say, I absolutely love the character customization in this game. Of course you have your classic DnD classes, a whole array of different playable races, and a ridiculous amount of ways to customize your characters appearance. I remember spending a good half hour or so making my character look the way I wanted her to, which yet again encapsulates an aspect of Dungeons and Dragons that I adore. There’s even more aspects to customization as well, particularly in the background of the character you play, though that only plays a role in getting inspiration more than anything else. I bring up how many options there are for customization for a point that will be brought up later down the line.
I’ll be honest here, combat is not my focus in tabletop settings, even I’ve played few. Combat can be fun and all, but to me I’m more of a narrative, roleplay, and story kind of person. That’s what ultimately appeals to me, but I don’t dislike combat. And that speaks true for Baldur’s Gate 3 as well, though I do enjoy the combat in this game. I love strategy and tactics and a game like this really speaks to me. And there’s so much that can really impact a battle. Sometimes there’s oil on the floor you can ignite with fire spells, you can push enemies off cliffs, and god do I love a good sneak attack. This game really made me think on what the most optimal move in a situation was, and I adore it for that. There were some really tense and really hard battles, and it felt super rewarding to figure out the winning strategy, especially when the odds were slim. And not only that, but I also really appreciate being able to control the companion characters. It allowed me to experience what it was like to play more than just the class I chose. Since I primarily had Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach in the party, I got the experience of not only Druids, but Clerics, Rogues, and Barbarians as well, which is so nice.
And yet, what makes this game as amazing as it is is the narrative and how the game delivers it. It’s by far the strongest aspect of this game, thinking of this game’s narrative not only impresses me, it overwhelms me. This game of course is your standard DnD fare, but this isn’t a tabletop campaign, this is a video game, so things are wildly different when analyzing them here.
I adore the companions characters with no shadow of a doubt. I almost had all of them, expect I accidently got Lae’Zel killed and couldn’t revive her. I also could’ve spent more time with Wyll and Gale, though I didn’t want to remove my main 3 companions, as I already grew too attached to them. But even still, I love how these characters are written, their backstories, their personalities, just everything. I love seeing them grow and change as the narrative evolves, and I grew to really care for them as well. My favorite companion though was easily Shadowheart. And outside of the companions, other major characters are amazing written as well. While I won’t say who they are as it would spoil things, the major villains of this game are amazing, and so many other major characters are so well written too, it’s so impressive. And this all is strengthened by the amazing voice cast of the game, they did an outstanding job and I adore it.
But what makes this story special, you may ask. With all I’ve described of it, I’ve described how great of a game Baldur’s Gate 3 is, but not why it’s story is special. Though, that’s what we’ve been leading up to all this time. I have no better way of putting this, but every playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 is personalized. Every choice you make, path you walk, even the character you create, everything comes together to create an experience that cannot be replicated by anyone else. The class you choose can impact dialogue options, change how story beats can go. That same is true of the race you play as, even at times, the subrace you choose can impact dialogue options. Sometimes having a unique combination of them can impact them as well! That on top of skill proficiencies, backgrounds, that stats you choose, and every other single decision you make, major, and minor, can change how your story goes. The path went down can be one that wildly differs from the one you chose, and there’s possible evil-aligned routes you can take that I avoided like the plague. Character outcomes could change, the ending of the game could change, and all of it is tied to the choices you make. I can’t even begin to fathom how many voice lines are in this game, how many possible outcomes there are, and most of all, how much I didn’t see. This game is a branching web of paths leading to an infinite number of conclusions, and it’s ridiculously impressive I adore it fully.
And I’ll be completely clear, I can’t ever imagine a review I have of Baldur’s Gate 3 being an absolute showcase of the game in full. While I did beat the game and see it to the end, it feels like my one singular playthrough nothing but a small percent of how big this game actually is. There’s so much I didn’t see, there’s a whole character that never appears unless you play as him at the start of the game, and so many routes and paths I chose not to take. I want to see more of Baldur’s Gate 3, see so many different paths that I could’ve taken. See what happens if I choose one path over another, and what thread of consequences that entails. What would it be like to play a villain? What would it be like to play, say, a monk instead? There’s so much that I want to try out and experiment, but I’ll say, imagining every possible option in this game overwhelms me, there’s just way too much. Though I do plan on replaying Baldur’s Gate 3 at some point though, multiple times I’ll say. I love experimenting, and I really like to experiment with new builds, or playing as one of the companions.
Though I’ll say Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t the best performing game, though it might be my laptop, I can’t say for certain. Especially in Act 3, it took a good while for everything to load in, and there were times where voice lines didn’t function properly, animations didn’t play properly, so on and so forth. Though yet, it might be laptop, so take that with a grain of salt. Even still, I can overlook these issues, not only are they minor and I’m very patient, but with how strong the narrative is, and how solid the game is mechanically, the performance issues are a bit of a small blip in the whole game.
And sitting here, now having beaten Baldur’s Gate 3 properly, I see clearly why this won so many awards. It’s through and through a masterpiece of storytelling, with a story so massive, I can completely believe this game requires the 130 GB download. So much love and care was put into this game, and it can be seen in every single corner from beginning to end. For me, Baldur’s Gate 3 was an experience unlike any other, and I’m glad I was able to experience this game firsthand.
Now this game already appeals to me on a fundamental level. I’m a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons (though I’ve never had the chance of being in a good campaign), so I felt right at home with Baldur’s Gate 3. There was already so much I was familiar with, and playing it really did feel like I was playing an authentic DnD campaign. That as well is something I’ve always longed for, so Baldur’s Gate 3 was able to finally give something I had always wanted, even though it is not an actual tabletop campaign, which I find impressive. While this game supports multiplayer, it’s able to create an experience that emulates a DnD campaign for a single player game as well.
And must I say, I absolutely love the character customization in this game. Of course you have your classic DnD classes, a whole array of different playable races, and a ridiculous amount of ways to customize your characters appearance. I remember spending a good half hour or so making my character look the way I wanted her to, which yet again encapsulates an aspect of Dungeons and Dragons that I adore. There’s even more aspects to customization as well, particularly in the background of the character you play, though that only plays a role in getting inspiration more than anything else. I bring up how many options there are for customization for a point that will be brought up later down the line.
I’ll be honest here, combat is not my focus in tabletop settings, even I’ve played few. Combat can be fun and all, but to me I’m more of a narrative, roleplay, and story kind of person. That’s what ultimately appeals to me, but I don’t dislike combat. And that speaks true for Baldur’s Gate 3 as well, though I do enjoy the combat in this game. I love strategy and tactics and a game like this really speaks to me. And there’s so much that can really impact a battle. Sometimes there’s oil on the floor you can ignite with fire spells, you can push enemies off cliffs, and god do I love a good sneak attack. This game really made me think on what the most optimal move in a situation was, and I adore it for that. There were some really tense and really hard battles, and it felt super rewarding to figure out the winning strategy, especially when the odds were slim. And not only that, but I also really appreciate being able to control the companion characters. It allowed me to experience what it was like to play more than just the class I chose. Since I primarily had Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach in the party, I got the experience of not only Druids, but Clerics, Rogues, and Barbarians as well, which is so nice.
And yet, what makes this game as amazing as it is is the narrative and how the game delivers it. It’s by far the strongest aspect of this game, thinking of this game’s narrative not only impresses me, it overwhelms me. This game of course is your standard DnD fare, but this isn’t a tabletop campaign, this is a video game, so things are wildly different when analyzing them here.
I adore the companions characters with no shadow of a doubt. I almost had all of them, expect I accidently got Lae’Zel killed and couldn’t revive her. I also could’ve spent more time with Wyll and Gale, though I didn’t want to remove my main 3 companions, as I already grew too attached to them. But even still, I love how these characters are written, their backstories, their personalities, just everything. I love seeing them grow and change as the narrative evolves, and I grew to really care for them as well. My favorite companion though was easily Shadowheart. And outside of the companions, other major characters are amazing written as well. While I won’t say who they are as it would spoil things, the major villains of this game are amazing, and so many other major characters are so well written too, it’s so impressive. And this all is strengthened by the amazing voice cast of the game, they did an outstanding job and I adore it.
But what makes this story special, you may ask. With all I’ve described of it, I’ve described how great of a game Baldur’s Gate 3 is, but not why it’s story is special. Though, that’s what we’ve been leading up to all this time. I have no better way of putting this, but every playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 is personalized. Every choice you make, path you walk, even the character you create, everything comes together to create an experience that cannot be replicated by anyone else. The class you choose can impact dialogue options, change how story beats can go. That same is true of the race you play as, even at times, the subrace you choose can impact dialogue options. Sometimes having a unique combination of them can impact them as well! That on top of skill proficiencies, backgrounds, that stats you choose, and every other single decision you make, major, and minor, can change how your story goes. The path went down can be one that wildly differs from the one you chose, and there’s possible evil-aligned routes you can take that I avoided like the plague. Character outcomes could change, the ending of the game could change, and all of it is tied to the choices you make. I can’t even begin to fathom how many voice lines are in this game, how many possible outcomes there are, and most of all, how much I didn’t see. This game is a branching web of paths leading to an infinite number of conclusions, and it’s ridiculously impressive I adore it fully.
And I’ll be completely clear, I can’t ever imagine a review I have of Baldur’s Gate 3 being an absolute showcase of the game in full. While I did beat the game and see it to the end, it feels like my one singular playthrough nothing but a small percent of how big this game actually is. There’s so much I didn’t see, there’s a whole character that never appears unless you play as him at the start of the game, and so many routes and paths I chose not to take. I want to see more of Baldur’s Gate 3, see so many different paths that I could’ve taken. See what happens if I choose one path over another, and what thread of consequences that entails. What would it be like to play a villain? What would it be like to play, say, a monk instead? There’s so much that I want to try out and experiment, but I’ll say, imagining every possible option in this game overwhelms me, there’s just way too much. Though I do plan on replaying Baldur’s Gate 3 at some point though, multiple times I’ll say. I love experimenting, and I really like to experiment with new builds, or playing as one of the companions.
Though I’ll say Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t the best performing game, though it might be my laptop, I can’t say for certain. Especially in Act 3, it took a good while for everything to load in, and there were times where voice lines didn’t function properly, animations didn’t play properly, so on and so forth. Though yet, it might be laptop, so take that with a grain of salt. Even still, I can overlook these issues, not only are they minor and I’m very patient, but with how strong the narrative is, and how solid the game is mechanically, the performance issues are a bit of a small blip in the whole game.
And sitting here, now having beaten Baldur’s Gate 3 properly, I see clearly why this won so many awards. It’s through and through a masterpiece of storytelling, with a story so massive, I can completely believe this game requires the 130 GB download. So much love and care was put into this game, and it can be seen in every single corner from beginning to end. For me, Baldur’s Gate 3 was an experience unlike any other, and I’m glad I was able to experience this game firsthand.