I’m loving my time with this game also! Over 60 hours in and I still haven’t beaten Act 2 lol. It’s one of those experiences where you don’t realize how massively consequential certain intentional/unintentional choices are until you hear another person’s experience of the game. The sheer amount of work to layer the game this way is mind-boggling.
I remember being 17. Going to Babbage’s in the mall. And picking up my massive box of the original bakeries gate. It was 6 CD’s. I knew I was in for a time. After installing it for 2-3 hours (those were the days) I was enthralled by what really was a very open game especially at the time.
Baldurs gate 2? Same magic. Bigger more political world.
Baldurs gate 3 bounced off of me in early access. But I wanted to wait for the full release. And I jumped in.
And loved it. I was a hard sell too. I revere the original games as probably the best rpgs ever made. (Sorry cloud, Terra, crono).
Once you understand that “yes, you can do that”. It opens up. It has been so long since a game has said “break me.” Modern gaming has become obsessed with balance and making every challenge 1% harder than the last just to keep you on that dopamine treadmill of feeling like you’re constantly getting better. Along comes BG3 begging you to break it.
Too hard? Figure it out. Too many enemies? Have you tried bombs? Or talking?
Yes standing on top of 10 boxes does make you hard to hit. You mean I can just sneak in and assassinate that guy?
Wait I was meant to recruit that person?
It’s refreshing but you have to let go of the last decade of game design. A decade that programmed content meant to be tackled in a few specific ways and look like choice. And don’t get me wrong. Those games are good. But the paths are programmed. There’s the guns blazing or the stealth path. You can choose one of the other.
BG3 gives you a lot of choices by, instead of programming a players way through the game, the developers just programmed systems, characters, and encounters. It’s up to you to figure out how to flex those systems in those encounters. With those characters.
It is hopefully a wake up call and a breath of fresh air.
I’m loving my time with this game also! Over 60 hours in and I still haven’t beaten Act 2 lol. It’s one of those experiences where you don’t realize how massively consequential certain intentional/unintentional choices are until you hear another person’s experience of the game. The sheer amount of work to layer the game this way is mind-boggling.
Loved Skyrim, so if it's similar it ought to be good. Someday I'll play BG3.
My sister continuously shares her adventures throughout Baulders Gate 3 and continues to BEG for me to play it.
Your review brought joy to my sister and upset when you mentioned the death of Halsin!
Continue what you’re doing, a fantastic read!
You know what’s hard for me?
I remember being 17. Going to Babbage’s in the mall. And picking up my massive box of the original bakeries gate. It was 6 CD’s. I knew I was in for a time. After installing it for 2-3 hours (those were the days) I was enthralled by what really was a very open game especially at the time.
Baldurs gate 2? Same magic. Bigger more political world.
Baldurs gate 3 bounced off of me in early access. But I wanted to wait for the full release. And I jumped in.
And loved it. I was a hard sell too. I revere the original games as probably the best rpgs ever made. (Sorry cloud, Terra, crono).
Once you understand that “yes, you can do that”. It opens up. It has been so long since a game has said “break me.” Modern gaming has become obsessed with balance and making every challenge 1% harder than the last just to keep you on that dopamine treadmill of feeling like you’re constantly getting better. Along comes BG3 begging you to break it.
Too hard? Figure it out. Too many enemies? Have you tried bombs? Or talking?
Yes standing on top of 10 boxes does make you hard to hit. You mean I can just sneak in and assassinate that guy?
Wait I was meant to recruit that person?
It’s refreshing but you have to let go of the last decade of game design. A decade that programmed content meant to be tackled in a few specific ways and look like choice. And don’t get me wrong. Those games are good. But the paths are programmed. There’s the guns blazing or the stealth path. You can choose one of the other.
BG3 gives you a lot of choices by, instead of programming a players way through the game, the developers just programmed systems, characters, and encounters. It’s up to you to figure out how to flex those systems in those encounters. With those characters.
It is hopefully a wake up call and a breath of fresh air.