Baldur's Gate 3, technically, isn't a published game yet. It's selling at $60 for Early Access, and though rife with many flaws, I found myself scratching that itch I've been missing now that I've graduated to full-time DM instead of full-time player. But is it worth the price? Let's find out. The GoodIn terms of visuals, narrative, and the sheer scale of this game knocks every other fantasy RPG out of the water. It's a straight 10/10 for visuals alone. The story (no spoilers) is captivating, with an alluring plothook that immediately makes you want to jump into the game and immerse yourself into its world. As a long time D&D 5e player, I was excited to see the city I've read about so urgently be animated, visualized in its full splendor. And my god, did Larian Studios blow it out of the water. You can see the opening cinematic and the announce trailer below, but the animation, graphics, voice acting and sound design-- just the direction in general was magnificent. A lot of my gripes with games that tout their "realistic graphics" is that they're too grounded in reality, and people don't play games just to experience real life. If they wanted to experience real life, they wouldn't be playing games! Baldur's Gate III beautifies real-world graphics. Idealizes it for the player so we can truly feel immersed in the fantasy realm that is Faerun. And I love it. The different races are gorgeous in their own ways, and the historical landmarks/areas are so wonderful that I wish I could dive into the screen. THAT'S what games should do with their visual engines!
And the visuals aren't superficial, either. The graphics and the structure of the game supported by it allow us, the player, to explore vast and beautiful areas, with seemingly endless areas that we could explore. The character customizer is also on par, with beautiful face, hair, race, etc presets that can let you make a million different Tavs. The music, as well, is an absolute banger. Borislav Slavov, the main composer, did a fantastic job with creating music that could fit a serene druidic grove, or a tough battle with goblins, or a lucid dream with a figment of your imagination... the song 'Down By the River' is downright addictive, and I found myself singing the song under my breath, not quite wary of the true meaning of its lyrics. What stands out to me the most, however, are the characters. The character design is a straight 20/10, the writers truly knocked it out of the park developing each and every character's personality, quirks, and motivations. I immediately fell in love with Astarion, the snarky, roguishly handsome rogue of the party with a not-so-subtle secret. But when I got to spend time with the other companions, I found myself loving them too. Shadowheart is a bit frosty at first, but she has a soft spot once you prove that you're worth her time. Astarion, shaped from constant pain and edge, wants to see the world burn for him, of course. But he was also funny, charming, and one of the first ever companion characters that I have ever encountered in fantasy RPGs that outright flirts with you first. Lae'zel is tough (and at first, I HATED HER) and standoffish, only focused on her goal to climb the ranks of her Gith clan-- but she has adorable moments, due to being in a world that is new to her, culturally. Gale is a sweet wizard with a tough secret, wizened after his brutal mistakes and generally a good guy. Wyll has the classic nerdy hero complex, often calling himself the "Blade of Frontiers" which I found hilarious. As a big-time Dragon Age: Origins fan, the game's winning point was its companions. I loved Alistair's dorkish, but good-natured attitude, Morgan's frosty but pragmatic outlook on the world, Zevran's suave demeanor but tragic history, Wynne's stern but maternal behavior towards all the party members, Shale's slow softening to the squishy warden, Oghren's classic Dwarven drunken-gruffness, and Sten's silent but tough conduct. They all had unique histories, motivations, and slight quirks, with the spontaneous bit of dialogue with each and every companion combination. Baldur's Gate 3 recreated that magic for me. The character design, the writing, the details all knocked it out of the park. Each character has a unique animation habit they perform when they talk to you; Lae'zel favors leaning towards Tav, pointing at them, Astarion makes wild, ostentatious gesture and even Tav, your character, has their own habits too, favoring to cross their arms or placing their hands on their hips. So overall, Baldur's Gate 3, for early access, has a lot of amazing features that make it an enjoyable game so far to play. And for the cherry on top, Larian Studios isn't putting the crunch on their employees to get the game complete by a frivolous deadline. They're treating their employees well by having no deadline at all, and while I'm rather impatient I would be fine waiting so long as this game's potential was mastered. But what about the bad? Well, let's get into that. The BadAs someone who has never played any games from Larian Studios, adjusting to the gameplay was a challenge. There was no tutorial to define the infinite possibilities of actions and combinations I could take in order to play through the game. While the narrative did a great job of introducing the player immersively into the plot, there is no tutorial to define the controls, which can be problematic for players who are not used to this gameplay system. Additionally, spells, attacks, inventory, and other actions must be streamlined. I personally found it difficult to navigate items to throw, use, etc through combat, and figuring out what I needed to do and where I needed to go was a challenge, as the questbook was not streamlined/organized by completed/finished quests. For gameplay alone, it is challenging, especially for casual players who have not experienced this gameplay system before unique to Larian Studios games, or even for players that have never played D&D 5e. I definitely raged a few times, trying to learn why I had x percentage accuracy for a spell, or how so many enemies were tossed at my low level party. A tutorial during the beginning sequence on the Nautiloid sequence would fix a lot of these issues, as well as more work on streamlining the UI so players can navigate menus easier. I found the keybinds for certain menus to be really unintuitive and difficult to learn. For some minor details, there definitely needs to be more customization options if Larian Studios really wants to lean into the D&D 5e vibe of the game. Less facial presets and more Skyrim-esque sliders would do good. I also really enjoyed how your Tav can have their own personal voicebank (and even speak now and again!) but like in Dragon Age: Origins, I'd like to see more of a variety and more androgynous/ambiguous voices so players can play a more queer character if they so desired. Additionally, the companions so far are incredibly... polarizing, to say the least. While I gradually grew to like them, not all players have the patience to get to know a companion that's a jerk for the first fifty hours of gameplay. Gale and Wyll are the exception to the rule, being the only two out of the six available companions that are friendly towards you right off the bat. I found relationship building a bit difficult to do, as it often conflicted with my character's desires. I wanted to play a chaotic good light cleric for my first playthrough, but I found myself save scumming A LOT due to my choices gaining the disapproval of the majority of my party members. I understand that the developers did not want the players to "buy" the companions' approval with gifts, but I think it should be possible for any player to win the approval of all companions no matter how they choose to play (with some brave exceptions). A possible solution would be to include rare, but meaningful gifts that the companions would accept at a certain relationship level, so they would view it as a genuine token of friendship/romance rather than someone trying to buy their affections. Finally, a lot of the features need to be made evident. I had no idea that a higher charisma stat could lower the prices of items with merchants, or that giving away items/gold for free could win merchant approval and get me lower prices. Apparently there is an approval meter that I missed because it was so small and innocuous, I missed it. In SummarySo what's my final verdict?
Overall, Baldur's Gate 3 is a wonderful game that has a lot of potential. From the graphics, to the story, to the sound design, to the characters, it's clear that this game has a lot of passion and loved poured into it in order to create the ideal fantasy RPG that players have been craving for years ever since Dragon Age: Origins was a spark in someone's mind. However, for a game, it is missing a lot of enjoyable gameplay. I personally found myself raging and save scumming a lot of fights, getting KO'd by a bunch of raggedy goblins in one save and creaming intellect devourers at level one in the next. I found the RNG used for ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws detriment the gameplay, greatly. In D&D I am looking for a unique experience where I could possibly do everything and anything and in order to balance out the playing board I roll dice which randomly decide my outcome, and I'm okay with that. In a game like Baldur's Gate 3 however, which is rife with possibilities, it is still a game-- and there are limits. Personally, as a player, I'm here to live out my fantasies as an epic adventurer in Faerun and feel good about it, and there is no other outside force (such as a Dungeon Master or a Player) that I need to "play fair" with if that makes sense. Essentially, I find the RNG frustrating, which according to Larian they try to amend in Patch 4. I would say that while Baldur's Gate 3 is an amazing experience and if you have the cash, should totally try, it is not worth $60 at the moment. And while I may be a college freshman/sophomore by the time the game is finished, I think it is worth the wait.
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AuthorHey, Jay Phung here. This is my blog where I reflect on various assignments from Game Design! Please enjoy your stay (´・ω・`). Archives
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