Don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoyed my 110 hours with this game, and think its a really faithful translation of DnD into videogame form, however I do we think we are cutting this game a lot of slack. There is so much stuff in this game and its a miracle it even runs, but some of that stuff could have been replaced with QOL improvements.
- I must have come across every single bug and glitch this game had, no kidding. I was tripping over bugs. Whether it was characters not getting their action when they really needed it, Jaheira deciding to just not follow my character, or quests not updating properly, this was just infuriating. Granted, it could have been because of my ONE mod, but if a singular clothing mod breaks your game that much, maybe you should reconsider not having official mod support.
- The one mod I did install was a clothing mod that basically gave me 100+ extra outfits for my characters, because I thought the clothing options the game does give you (ESPECIALLY in Act One) looked shit. If you didn't want Victorian styled patterns with armor, you were shit out of luck.
- Act 2 is easily the best act, its not even close. The reason it is the best is because it is the most balanced, but the exploration serves a purpose and isn't aimless. Everything you find is important. Act 1 is bad because you are punished for exploring by overpowered encounters, and act 3 is bad because there are a hundred and one quests to do, but about five of them are marked on the mini map, meaning you have to check every single building or consult Google if you wanted to complete your party member's personal quests.
- If my whole party is in stealth and one person attacks from stealth, WHY DOES MY WHOLE PARTY NOT ROLL INITIATIVE? LARIAN THIS MAKES NO SENSE!
- I am a DM. I run numerous tabletop games. But if I threw some of the Baldur's Gate 3 encounters at any of my players, I would be rightfully blacklisted as a DM. The game relies on you being able to reload saves, which it shouldn't, especially because that gives people a false expectation for DnD. Some of my least favourite encounters included but are not limited to:
1) The first Gith encounter in Act 1 where Lae'zel keeps pestering you to go, but has enemies that are so much more powerful than you until you go and do every other possible quest beforehand.
2) Orin and her unstoppable debuff that means you either need access to magic missile or unreliably kite her while you spam some sort of AOE attack on sanctuaried enemies. Bonus points here because if you initiate the encounter proper way you have to roll a 23 or a party member immediately dies forever.
3) Oh what? You're near the end of the game and are finishing Shadowheart's quest? Here's 50 enemies in one combat, so you die a slow and agonizing death by a thousand cuts.
4) Here's an asshole who has infinite invisibility, and the eye of see invisibility only works on him if he fails a roll in one of his highest stats
Here are the things I did like though:
- The exploration, when it worked well, was very addictive. I spent hours at a time exploring the underdark and the shadowfell, as there was always something around the next encounter.
- The writing is easily the best thing about this game. The character writing and the integration between them and the main plot is stunning and I am in awe of how well the story works. However, I am getting tired of the 'open world game where the main character is dying and does increasingly shadier shit while trying to stop it' trope.
- When the combat isn't hillariously badly balanced its actually really fun. The fight against Ketherich, the attack on Baldur's Gate, the last light inn fight, the assault on Moonrise towers. They're all great encounters and I would have loved if all the encounters were as well done. But unfortunately Larian has two ideas for how to make combat more difficult: adding a hundred adds, or having enemies attack a hundred times.
- At the end of the day, its still DnD, and DnD is really fun. I get to play a funny naked monk that can't get hit, spam eldritch blasts at every given opportunity, and get that shot of dopamine every time a sneak attack goes off.
- I must have come across every single bug and glitch this game had, no kidding. I was tripping over bugs. Whether it was characters not getting their action when they really needed it, Jaheira deciding to just not follow my character, or quests not updating properly, this was just infuriating. Granted, it could have been because of my ONE mod, but if a singular clothing mod breaks your game that much, maybe you should reconsider not having official mod support.
- The one mod I did install was a clothing mod that basically gave me 100+ extra outfits for my characters, because I thought the clothing options the game does give you (ESPECIALLY in Act One) looked shit. If you didn't want Victorian styled patterns with armor, you were shit out of luck.
- Act 2 is easily the best act, its not even close. The reason it is the best is because it is the most balanced, but the exploration serves a purpose and isn't aimless. Everything you find is important. Act 1 is bad because you are punished for exploring by overpowered encounters, and act 3 is bad because there are a hundred and one quests to do, but about five of them are marked on the mini map, meaning you have to check every single building or consult Google if you wanted to complete your party member's personal quests.
- If my whole party is in stealth and one person attacks from stealth, WHY DOES MY WHOLE PARTY NOT ROLL INITIATIVE? LARIAN THIS MAKES NO SENSE!
- I am a DM. I run numerous tabletop games. But if I threw some of the Baldur's Gate 3 encounters at any of my players, I would be rightfully blacklisted as a DM. The game relies on you being able to reload saves, which it shouldn't, especially because that gives people a false expectation for DnD. Some of my least favourite encounters included but are not limited to:
1) The first Gith encounter in Act 1 where Lae'zel keeps pestering you to go, but has enemies that are so much more powerful than you until you go and do every other possible quest beforehand.
2) Orin and her unstoppable debuff that means you either need access to magic missile or unreliably kite her while you spam some sort of AOE attack on sanctuaried enemies. Bonus points here because if you initiate the encounter proper way you have to roll a 23 or a party member immediately dies forever.
3) Oh what? You're near the end of the game and are finishing Shadowheart's quest? Here's 50 enemies in one combat, so you die a slow and agonizing death by a thousand cuts.
4) Here's an asshole who has infinite invisibility, and the eye of see invisibility only works on him if he fails a roll in one of his highest stats
Here are the things I did like though:
- The exploration, when it worked well, was very addictive. I spent hours at a time exploring the underdark and the shadowfell, as there was always something around the next encounter.
- The writing is easily the best thing about this game. The character writing and the integration between them and the main plot is stunning and I am in awe of how well the story works. However, I am getting tired of the 'open world game where the main character is dying and does increasingly shadier shit while trying to stop it' trope.
- When the combat isn't hillariously badly balanced its actually really fun. The fight against Ketherich, the attack on Baldur's Gate, the last light inn fight, the assault on Moonrise towers. They're all great encounters and I would have loved if all the encounters were as well done. But unfortunately Larian has two ideas for how to make combat more difficult: adding a hundred adds, or having enemies attack a hundred times.
- At the end of the day, its still DnD, and DnD is really fun. I get to play a funny naked monk that can't get hit, spam eldritch blasts at every given opportunity, and get that shot of dopamine every time a sneak attack goes off.