This review contains spoilers
BALDUR'S GATE 3 UNSHACKLED MY SOUL
(HEBI CERTIFIED 10 OUT OF 5)
Wow. I haven't played any other game since this was released in early August...I genuinely don't have enough time to talk about Baldur's Gate 3 in this review (mostly because I'm not getting paid to do so yet).
I mean...it's probably my favorite RPG of all time now, and for a good reason. The amount of time, love, and passion put into this game is astounding. From the writing to the game mechanics. From the art to music. From sound design to UI...It's all just so goddamn good.
Top tier RPG mechanics and quest design that encourage and EXTREMELY reward creativity and scouring every area of each of its massive maps. I was consistently astounded at not only the density of content, but the consistent quality of it.
The writing is top notch. It feels like a genuine D&D campaign you would play with friends. OH WAIT, YOU CAN PLAY THE ENTIRE GAME WITH UP TO FOUR FRIENDS IN CO-OP. They even made couch co-op available for two players. It's a little awkward but still, the ability for my brother and I to play together in the living room is a luxury most games don't even make the attempt to do nowadays (minus Nintendo).
Characters are incredibly well fleshed out and endearing. I ended up very attached to not only my party but all of the side characters I had been doing quests for. Some of their questlines carried on from Act I all the way through Act 3. It was so rewarding seeing some random NPC from Act I showing up 80 hours later for an interesting follow-up quest in Act III. Felt like catching up with an old chum you went to high school with 10 years after graduating.
The level of detail in this game is mind blowing. Especially the number of permutations of outcomes in seemingly simple situations. You may think an interaction has one of two outcomes...but like a fast food restaurant's secret menu, if you do something random like, say, kill Astarion and bring him to life before talking to him for the first time YOU GET UNIQUE DIALOGUE. There are dozens and dozens of other examples like this throughout the game. It incentivizes replay in a way I genuinely have never seen from a RPG before. I mean hell...I not only had my precious first single-player run, but four other runs that started up as a result of playing with other people and starting a different Dark Urge playthrough. This is definitely a game I can see myself playing for years to come.
Baldur's Gate 3 is not without flaws, of course. There were certainly some really immersion breaking bugs and unfixed bad features, such as having the last scene of the game's emotional climax with my party wearing their ugly helmets which I had consistently switched to "hide helmet" throughout the game. That was very regrettable. There were also visual bugs and quest-related mishaps that could definitely fuck things up a bit and require a reload from a Quicksave. Co-op in particular is quite rough around the edges right now, especially local splitscreen on PS5.
I also question some of the writing decisions for certain NPCs, especially having played the early access for two years. Some of the changes were very, very good. Gale's character change absolutely saved him. Wyll's...I'm not so sure.
I was also a bit disappointed that my character's gear never changed for the remaining 60 hours or so of the game when I received what was ostensibly the objectively correct robe for my sorcerer to wear. Maybe a transmutation type patch in the future could fix this. I really wanted to see my character in some fresh digs after dozens of hours.
But that's the extent of the flaws in my opinion. Otherwise the game is unfathomably generous in other ways. Getting to dye your gear is fantastic. Having not only your class, but also your subclass open unique dialogue options was unbelievable. Implementing the Tasha's rules of getting rid of inherent race attributes within the game's incredibly excellent character creator was fabulous. They even have a slider for vitiligo...that's the first time in a video game that's been an option and goes to show the lengths Baldur's Gate 3 is willing to go to in order to accommodate their players and allow them to play the game as anyone they want to be.
Most importantly of all, being a roleplaying game, Baldur's Gate 3 allowed me to roleplay my first campaign's character in ways that consistently engaged me with them. I know you have definitely heard at least ONE of your friends start to gush about their character in Baldur's Gate 3 the same way someone talks about the dream they had last night. And I'm going to do the same right now (IT'S IMPORTANT FOR THE REVIEW I PROMISE!).
When I started up my first playthrough, I rolled a wild magic Drow Sorcerer who was of both Lothsworn and Seladrine heritage. I multiclassed her with Druid so she could have Moonbeam. You see, because she got her sorcerous magic from a chance encounter she had with a relic of Selune when she was little.
As much fun as it would be to write out even more I had planned for this character, I'll end here by saying...holy fuck. I was able to fulfill her character in so many rewarding ways that sometimes made me think, "Did I choose the canonical character for this game". That's just how goddamn good Baldur's Gate 3 is.
You can tell Larian was comprised of happy devs who were putting all of their love and joy of the their craft into Baldur's Gate 3. And studios that put emphasis in the places that matter attract the best talent in the industry. And it shows in the game. Do I look forward to their next game? Sure. But I'm looking even more forward to my next playthrough as a tortured Brass Dragonborn with the Dark Urge.
(HEBI CERTIFIED 10 OUT OF 5)
Wow. I haven't played any other game since this was released in early August...I genuinely don't have enough time to talk about Baldur's Gate 3 in this review (mostly because I'm not getting paid to do so yet).
I mean...it's probably my favorite RPG of all time now, and for a good reason. The amount of time, love, and passion put into this game is astounding. From the writing to the game mechanics. From the art to music. From sound design to UI...It's all just so goddamn good.
Top tier RPG mechanics and quest design that encourage and EXTREMELY reward creativity and scouring every area of each of its massive maps. I was consistently astounded at not only the density of content, but the consistent quality of it.
The writing is top notch. It feels like a genuine D&D campaign you would play with friends. OH WAIT, YOU CAN PLAY THE ENTIRE GAME WITH UP TO FOUR FRIENDS IN CO-OP. They even made couch co-op available for two players. It's a little awkward but still, the ability for my brother and I to play together in the living room is a luxury most games don't even make the attempt to do nowadays (minus Nintendo).
Characters are incredibly well fleshed out and endearing. I ended up very attached to not only my party but all of the side characters I had been doing quests for. Some of their questlines carried on from Act I all the way through Act 3. It was so rewarding seeing some random NPC from Act I showing up 80 hours later for an interesting follow-up quest in Act III. Felt like catching up with an old chum you went to high school with 10 years after graduating.
The level of detail in this game is mind blowing. Especially the number of permutations of outcomes in seemingly simple situations. You may think an interaction has one of two outcomes...but like a fast food restaurant's secret menu, if you do something random like, say, kill Astarion and bring him to life before talking to him for the first time YOU GET UNIQUE DIALOGUE. There are dozens and dozens of other examples like this throughout the game. It incentivizes replay in a way I genuinely have never seen from a RPG before. I mean hell...I not only had my precious first single-player run, but four other runs that started up as a result of playing with other people and starting a different Dark Urge playthrough. This is definitely a game I can see myself playing for years to come.
Baldur's Gate 3 is not without flaws, of course. There were certainly some really immersion breaking bugs and unfixed bad features, such as having the last scene of the game's emotional climax with my party wearing their ugly helmets which I had consistently switched to "hide helmet" throughout the game. That was very regrettable. There were also visual bugs and quest-related mishaps that could definitely fuck things up a bit and require a reload from a Quicksave. Co-op in particular is quite rough around the edges right now, especially local splitscreen on PS5.
I also question some of the writing decisions for certain NPCs, especially having played the early access for two years. Some of the changes were very, very good. Gale's character change absolutely saved him. Wyll's...I'm not so sure.
I was also a bit disappointed that my character's gear never changed for the remaining 60 hours or so of the game when I received what was ostensibly the objectively correct robe for my sorcerer to wear. Maybe a transmutation type patch in the future could fix this. I really wanted to see my character in some fresh digs after dozens of hours.
But that's the extent of the flaws in my opinion. Otherwise the game is unfathomably generous in other ways. Getting to dye your gear is fantastic. Having not only your class, but also your subclass open unique dialogue options was unbelievable. Implementing the Tasha's rules of getting rid of inherent race attributes within the game's incredibly excellent character creator was fabulous. They even have a slider for vitiligo...that's the first time in a video game that's been an option and goes to show the lengths Baldur's Gate 3 is willing to go to in order to accommodate their players and allow them to play the game as anyone they want to be.
Most importantly of all, being a roleplaying game, Baldur's Gate 3 allowed me to roleplay my first campaign's character in ways that consistently engaged me with them. I know you have definitely heard at least ONE of your friends start to gush about their character in Baldur's Gate 3 the same way someone talks about the dream they had last night. And I'm going to do the same right now (IT'S IMPORTANT FOR THE REVIEW I PROMISE!).
When I started up my first playthrough, I rolled a wild magic Drow Sorcerer who was of both Lothsworn and Seladrine heritage. I multiclassed her with Druid so she could have Moonbeam. You see, because she got her sorcerous magic from a chance encounter she had with a relic of Selune when she was little.
As much fun as it would be to write out even more I had planned for this character, I'll end here by saying...holy fuck. I was able to fulfill her character in so many rewarding ways that sometimes made me think, "Did I choose the canonical character for this game". That's just how goddamn good Baldur's Gate 3 is.
You can tell Larian was comprised of happy devs who were putting all of their love and joy of the their craft into Baldur's Gate 3. And studios that put emphasis in the places that matter attract the best talent in the industry. And it shows in the game. Do I look forward to their next game? Sure. But I'm looking even more forward to my next playthrough as a tortured Brass Dragonborn with the Dark Urge.