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Baldur's Gate 3 is defying game industry trend-chasers — and is being rewarded for doing so
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this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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Baldur's Gate 3
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All things BG3!
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)
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I'm really tempted to buy it, but I have little time to play nowadays. It seems like the kind o game that you need to invest time to enjoy.
It is incredibly long. I've got over 50 hours now, and I'm not even seemingly anywhere near the titular city that is the game's namesake. I know it's in the game; I have quests to visit people there. I don't know how many acts there are, possibly 3; I've not even finished act 1 and I've been glued to this game super hard.
But you can also save literally at any time. Mid combat, mid sentence of dialogue, wherever. So you can always stop exactly where you are, at least.
Damn everything about this game sounds exciting.
It is. You also have actual choices with actual consequences too. The "normal" route is to side with the good guys, but I'm pretty confident you can also choose to play evil and have another campaign on the complete opposite side of the fight.
They really push the moral ambiguity thing hard. Especially with the first few companions you get. And especially if you pursue their personal quests.
I wouldn't call it moral ambiguity usually, more that it pushes the idea that previous mistakes don't define a character totally. It's basically the typical TTRPG character tragic backstory. Some of them are more greedy than others, but it's usually just that they did something wrong in the past and are trying to make up for it, or they're a different person now, or whatever. It is strange there's not a single normal character in the party though. I'd love to have some person there who's just wondering Wtf is wrong with all these people.
I'm probably mid way through act 2 (hard to tell, but it feels like it won't be too long) and it seems like Baldur's Gate is still a long way off. I'm assuming after taking care of the main act 2 thing Baldur's Gate will be right around the corner though. Still, if that city is anything like the rest of the game so far, it's going to have a lot to do.
I've played it for 50 hours and I'd estimate I'm about half way through. So you are right. Though I've enjoyed every second of those hours. Also if you're constantly so busy you can't play a game or have you time, you're definitely living life wrong.
Have you ever heard of Capitalism?
I work most of the day and when I finish I have little time to share between studies, chores, family, partner, friends and games. Maybe during the weekends I can play more but I don't have the time I had during uni.
Edit: Fuck I'm mad with the
Pay me a salary and I'll stop wasting my time going to work so I can go play games.
Hard to get context across in a post, this was only intended as a playful jab. I know all too well the consequences of aging and how it sucks your time away. Though I got divorced sometime ago and my (adult) kids live with me. I work full time but from home, the time I save on the commute allows me time to cook etc and not having to be up as early allows me to stay up later at night. But because of this isolation I don't really get out much There's no "other half" and friends are in short supply, no co-workers to hang out with in my free time. Which leaves me plenty of time for video games. Now is this a good trade off! I don't think so, would much prefer to be in your shoes.
Sorry, you're right, is difficult to get the tone just from a post.
Being down voted for being stuck in the machine of capitalism and having little time for entertainment is bonkers. "Living life wrong?" Motherfucker, it's not like most people have a god damn choice in the matter. Sure, let's just quit our jobs and starve in the gutter. 🙄
I'm losing my shit over this. Some people are so out of touch with reality.
I'd argue you have plenty of time for this game. It's big, but it isn't filled with bullshit and doesn't waste your time. Treat it like playing pen and paper D&D. You can play a campaign over many sessions and possibly hundreds of hours spread out over a long period, but if it's time enjoyed it's time well spent. You don't need to sit down for an eight hour session. Just play for an hour or two and come back some other time. It'll still be there and there's no battle pass or anything to miss out on.
Most modern games suck because they treat your time like nothing. They have you doing bullshit quests and collecting meaningless items. BG3 doesn't do that. It treats you like an adult who can make their own decisions. It doesn't waste your time and everything you choose to do will be fairly meaningful. It is what gaming should be in my opinion.
50 hours in? No, you aren't half way through I'm pretty sure. I'm not done yet, but apparently it's around 200h. Are you done with Act 1 yet?
How is the combat? I bounced off of Divinity 1+2 hard because combat seemed to be too aoe focused and save scumming required, because just going in as you'd usually do would result in one or two members of my party being killed before I could even get my first turn in.
It is hard but very rewarding. Often if a fight seems too hard you can use the environment to your advantage.
Way way way less surface spam than in DOS2, and less aoe.
It is definitely not aoe focused. I played through all of early access, and in my experience it required some tactical thinking, you couldn't just bum rush everything
I find the combat just right. I'm playing in balanced mode (there's story mode, balanced mode and the mode you play if you hate yourself).
I find the combat super rewarding, I can think I'm about to lose but manage to pull it back by the skin of my teeth. It seems incredibly well balanced. Some fights really do have me on the edge of my seat.
There is surface effects but it's not as ingrained as it was in divinity series, sometimes creating and exploiting the right surface can give you the edge, but it's not always needed. Aoe sure helps but with the limited amount of casts and spell slots, it's something you save for when it will be most effective.
As for save scumming, they seemed to have covered a lot of bases, and failing might open a different story arc etc, so worth sticking at it even in the face of defeat. It strikes me as a game with a lot of replay ability because of this, though I find it hard not to reload if something doesn't go my way, it's definitely worth running with the consequences just to see what might happen. My character lost one of his eyes :(
Sounds way more to my liking. I'm not totally averse to area of effect spells or reloading if stuff went pear shaped, I just don't like it being the default to blow up half a firework factory every fight or using reloads as a tactic constantly. Definitely hoping it will arrive on Xbox soon.
I'm sure Larian and Mirosoft will get it working on the Series S.
Do you have the Series S? I was wondering how many people bought the Series S over the Series X.
Tactician difficulty (the hardest) isn't too bad. I'm not sure what changes, but I haven't struggled much. You need to have decent builds and know what you're good at, but it's not hard.
One issue I have though is my character is a wizard and I normally control them. Ending up in a random ambush with them at the frontline is bad. I wish there was a way to customize your movement pattern and have your controlled character behind somewhere. I'm pen and paper, a good DM always asks how you're moving and in what order. I wish this did something similar, but let you choose who would talk or whatever else.