It's hard for me to really rate BG3. Much of what it is narratively and gameplay-wise is a pretty standard affair. It's a nice hook for protagonist-ifiying a bunch of characters. And, looking at each character through the lens of a DND-created player character, they're not bad. But I feel left with is... more of an achievement, than a fun videogame,e
Larian is at their best in highlighting all the maneuverability available in potions and spells and using the verticality to its best, and the world reactivity. Choices that lead into branching narratives, small choices that make their appearance known 40 hours later. It feels inexhaustible. It feels like you could play it a hundred times and still not see all it has to offer. It's a design marvel in that niche; it does things most crpgs only claim to.
But the problem in BG3 is also what it is at its core; DND. And not just DND, but 5e. The most turgid and boring form of tabletop RPG gameplay you can find. 5e, frankly, sucks. Not to say the other systems are vastly superior or anything; DND in general is pretty flawed fundamentally, but 5e, and thus Baldurs Gate 3, doesn't even get to enjoy the unbalanced madness the other versions of the game are. Even most of what is 'broken' is very tame.
I'm largely comparing BG3 to Wrath of the Righteous here, and I can't... say I enjoy it as much, despite how much of a feat the game is technologically. WOTR isn't a narrative marvel either, but there's a lot more to sink your teeth into. It explores stuff like war as a stepping stone. Hams its hyper-fantasy epic scale like it should. And while the game has faults in its gameplay side, for sure, there is so much... more to dig your teeth into. The character progression is so much more full and filled with options.
Baldurs Gate 3 feels ambitious but handicapped. It chained itself to the system where creativity goes to die. What it cares about, world reactivity, is great, fantastic even. And there's decent-to-good writing found in various sidequests, sure. But in the end, it's a game I felt more like I was more admiring than playing - where the idea is more fascinating than the game itself. So while I respect the game, a lot even, and I am deeply impressed by it, but I... can't say I 'like' it all that much. This makes sense to somebody, I'm sure.
Larian is at their best in highlighting all the maneuverability available in potions and spells and using the verticality to its best, and the world reactivity. Choices that lead into branching narratives, small choices that make their appearance known 40 hours later. It feels inexhaustible. It feels like you could play it a hundred times and still not see all it has to offer. It's a design marvel in that niche; it does things most crpgs only claim to.
But the problem in BG3 is also what it is at its core; DND. And not just DND, but 5e. The most turgid and boring form of tabletop RPG gameplay you can find. 5e, frankly, sucks. Not to say the other systems are vastly superior or anything; DND in general is pretty flawed fundamentally, but 5e, and thus Baldurs Gate 3, doesn't even get to enjoy the unbalanced madness the other versions of the game are. Even most of what is 'broken' is very tame.
I'm largely comparing BG3 to Wrath of the Righteous here, and I can't... say I enjoy it as much, despite how much of a feat the game is technologically. WOTR isn't a narrative marvel either, but there's a lot more to sink your teeth into. It explores stuff like war as a stepping stone. Hams its hyper-fantasy epic scale like it should. And while the game has faults in its gameplay side, for sure, there is so much... more to dig your teeth into. The character progression is so much more full and filled with options.
Baldurs Gate 3 feels ambitious but handicapped. It chained itself to the system where creativity goes to die. What it cares about, world reactivity, is great, fantastic even. And there's decent-to-good writing found in various sidequests, sure. But in the end, it's a game I felt more like I was more admiring than playing - where the idea is more fascinating than the game itself. So while I respect the game, a lot even, and I am deeply impressed by it, but I... can't say I 'like' it all that much. This makes sense to somebody, I'm sure.