Baldur’s Gate 3 is a frustrating game for me to talk about; for one, I keep having arguments with a close friend of mine (the friend who insisted I play this game both back in Early Access and once it was fully released) who insists the problems I have aren’t with the game, but due to me being unable to enjoy things. This is obviously wrong, but I’d rather talk about what makes me dislike BG3 so much, and why it is still a good game in spite of that.
Baldur’s Gate 3 occupies a genre I have little experience with: the western CRPG, with my only prior taste of the genre being the masterpiece Disco Elysium–which features none of the problems I’m about to list–I came into BG3 with very little expectations aside from my brief time playing the Early Access multiplayer with friends back in 2020. From what I have been able to interpret from the zeitgeist surrounding this title is that it isn’t particularly innovative or compelling for any unique reason, rather that BG3 is a masterfully done execution of tried and true tropes of the genre, and unfortunately those tropes have very little appeal to me. Clicking on a location and watching the characters slowly jog from place to place, too many menus (all of which are far too small and unintuitive even on the largest setting), characters who all share the same body types despite the pitch of “player choice” (what about the player’s choice to not be fucking anorexic), and the extremely cliche generic fantasy setting.
It took me listening to a recent episode of the Triforce Podcast about BG3 to even understand what the appeal of the game was for people (outside of everyone who is unbearably horny about the generic pretty people in the game), and that appeal is the variety of choices and control the player has on being able to choose their own path.
And I, uh, don’t care about that, lol.
While BG3 is undoubtedly an achievement in what it is doing, and its execution is profoundly excellent, nothing about what it is doing appeals to me in any way. I have little interest in playing a game where the focus isn’t on fun minute-to-minute gameplay, but on character interaction and CYOA style narrative branching. And I am upset that I don’t enjoy it! It isn’t fun to see a game everyone else is loving and nothing about it clicking for me. Fortunately, however, I don’t actually have to play this game. The only things about the experience that actually spoke to me was the Dark Urge playthrough and Lae’Zel being a whole-ass BDSM freak, and I really appreciated her for being the sole party member who was slightly less generically attractive and having an openly off putting personality.
I constantly found myself lost among the overly-realistic environment, where nothing stood out against one another and signposting was vague at best. I could never tell what I was supposed to find compelling about the setting or plot scenario (almost like a bad D&D campaign!) and was barraged with unappealing dirt the whole time. Even with as much freedom as BG3’s camera gives the player, you are still not allowed to even see the sky.
How much is all that freedom of choice worth if I can’t even look at the sky?
Not much, I’d imagine.
Baldur’s Gate 3 occupies a genre I have little experience with: the western CRPG, with my only prior taste of the genre being the masterpiece Disco Elysium–which features none of the problems I’m about to list–I came into BG3 with very little expectations aside from my brief time playing the Early Access multiplayer with friends back in 2020. From what I have been able to interpret from the zeitgeist surrounding this title is that it isn’t particularly innovative or compelling for any unique reason, rather that BG3 is a masterfully done execution of tried and true tropes of the genre, and unfortunately those tropes have very little appeal to me. Clicking on a location and watching the characters slowly jog from place to place, too many menus (all of which are far too small and unintuitive even on the largest setting), characters who all share the same body types despite the pitch of “player choice” (what about the player’s choice to not be fucking anorexic), and the extremely cliche generic fantasy setting.
It took me listening to a recent episode of the Triforce Podcast about BG3 to even understand what the appeal of the game was for people (outside of everyone who is unbearably horny about the generic pretty people in the game), and that appeal is the variety of choices and control the player has on being able to choose their own path.
And I, uh, don’t care about that, lol.
While BG3 is undoubtedly an achievement in what it is doing, and its execution is profoundly excellent, nothing about what it is doing appeals to me in any way. I have little interest in playing a game where the focus isn’t on fun minute-to-minute gameplay, but on character interaction and CYOA style narrative branching. And I am upset that I don’t enjoy it! It isn’t fun to see a game everyone else is loving and nothing about it clicking for me. Fortunately, however, I don’t actually have to play this game. The only things about the experience that actually spoke to me was the Dark Urge playthrough and Lae’Zel being a whole-ass BDSM freak, and I really appreciated her for being the sole party member who was slightly less generically attractive and having an openly off putting personality.
I constantly found myself lost among the overly-realistic environment, where nothing stood out against one another and signposting was vague at best. I could never tell what I was supposed to find compelling about the setting or plot scenario (almost like a bad D&D campaign!) and was barraged with unappealing dirt the whole time. Even with as much freedom as BG3’s camera gives the player, you are still not allowed to even see the sky.
How much is all that freedom of choice worth if I can’t even look at the sky?
Not much, I’d imagine.