BG3 still needs a bit of work before it's perfect

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Baldur's Gate 3 (Reviewed)

Developer: Larian Studios

Publisher: Larian Studios

Released: Aug 3, 2023

Price: $59.99 USD

Baldur's Gate 3 is a choices matters CRPG produced by the renowned Larian Studios that heavily relies on the foundation of Dungeons and Dragons 5e with high focus on the narrative while also hosting a lot of player choice in terms of actions.

The Baldur's Gate series is regarded as one of the best among a handful of CRPG titles. I've played their past games and had a great time with them even though they were dated in terms of what I would prefer playing today, they aged like a fine wine.

There are many games that try to replicate with such quality, such as Solasta or Pathfinder, but they just don't do it right with how high the bar has been set, making them anything but mediocre when all they try to do is be something they are not. rather than trying to be something fresh and intuitive that isn't annoying or boring.

Story

Your journey begins as a captive on a Mind-Flayer Nautiloid ship.

You and the other passengers are subjected to their parasitic infection, in which mind-flayer larvae climb into your eye-socket and makes it's way into your brain.

In the name of the absolute, the Mind-Flayers infiltrate and control their unwilling followers in this manner. If the parasite is not removed, it will only be a matter of time before your parasite is given the order to change you into a squid-like nightmare a Mind-Flayer. However, no matter how many times it is issued the command, you never change. Thus the story follows to why, what makes you so different?

Issues

There are a lot of bugs

As I mentioned in my first impression, this game is not without complexities. Whether it's a game-breaking bug, minor spelling and grammatical errors, a soft lock, or poor AI pathing. The list is lengthy and will not be discussed in detail to save a lot of time.

I can assume that these issues will be addressed promptly, but the game had time during its three-year Early Access stage to fix these bugs that can waste hours of your time if you do not save frequently, Auto-Saves do not activate unless you camp or enter a completely new location on the map, which wastes camp resources.

If you're willing to put up with these flaws, my advice is to constantly remember to save after and before every event, as new places could be game breaking.

Features

Some of the best narrative I have ever listened to

The story's narrator, as well as the characters' voices. It's all done so brilliantly that you can't help but pause and absorb all of the energy they exude. It actually brings out a lot of their emotions, such as rage, grief, and desperation.

Nudity & Intimacy

I'm not sure how I feel about this feature that they choose to incorporate into the game especially in light of the flaws and problems previously mentioned. This can be turned off without a toggle that is shoved in your face at the start of the game.

Even so, there are some shape-shifting and special-effects scenarios that will not censor your nudity even when you have it enabled to not show anything but clothing.

Be aware of this if you do plan on streaming it or playing it with younger audiences.

As long as the other character's alignment with you is sincere, you have the option of romancing them. You can do this by getting to know them and making them happy.

Each character's dialogue will eventually become accessible as you develop your friendship with them. However, upset them enough and they will leave forever.

Multiplayer

I tagged along with a few of my friends on some of their adventures, and while it was enjoyable to interact with one of my own characters and do anything I wanted, it felt inappropriate because I didn't want to interfere with their story or play their game for them. I primarily followed them around spots I'd already completed independently, although the replay-ability wasn't all that fantastic even though they had done some of the events in ways that I had not previously seen before. It just felt bland returning.

It worked perfectly, with no disconnects or problems. It's fun to play with close friends, but joining strangers can be hit or miss if you do anything that upsets them.

However, there is currently a major flaw in the games system which inhibits the ability for your friend or yourself from ejecting their character from the party once they leave multiplayer. This effectively makes it impossible to play solo with a new character to replace their character. While also having zero way to communicate in the game.

Races Because the game is based on the rules of D&D 5th edition, you get immediate access to certain well-known races. Some of the more unique and exotic races, on the other hand, were never planned to be introduced or may be added in the future. The latter, though, is more likely. This is disappointing because, while I don't mind the races, the more I played as a Dragonborn, the more I wanted I could play as a Tabaxi, my favored race in D&D, and many others agree with me on this.

Class & Subclass selection Unless you are well-versed in D&D, choosing advanced classes with a mixture of a subclasses might be somewhat difficult for you to comprehend. Those who are more of a beginner should stick to one primary class and one subclass associated with it.

I eventually decided that I would love to be a Elemental Sorcerer with Wild Magic as this causes the character's magical powers to be given a dash of chaos resulting in unique and unpredictable moments in my journey both positively and negatively.

Multi-Classing

A multi-class in Dungeons & Dragons is a broad concept. In this case, I chose to be a Sorcerer, but felt the desire to want access to more disciplines of elemental fire magic over time. But decided to just stick with what I had already, as there wasn't much else I was interested in within any of the other subclasses within multi-classing.

There are no restrictions on the number of classes you can have, but the more classes you do have, the less you can actually accomplish because you aren't really good in a single class, but rather a collection of 1st and 2nd tiers with no access to 3rd or 4th skills and spells. It's there if you really want to experiment and go wild.

You may speak to a companion, withers, which is someone you find and accompanies you on your journey early on, for if your allies perish or you want to switch skills and classes. You can for a price, play around with what you like and don't like. It's quite diverse and well put together for those who enjoy deep theory crafting.

Inspiration

If you play your character in a way that is genuine to his or her personality traits, ideal, bond, and defect, the game will reward you inspiration, which can be used to reroll important dice rolls that could have ended badly for you especially in big boss fights.

My character adores bloodlust, wants nothing more than to savor every slaughter, and sees the life ebb from their victims' eyes. So, if I remain faithful to their character, I will receive inspiration as a reward. Each character has their own things, so make sure you read up on them if you want to get the most out of everything!

Illithid powers

While you work to remove the parasite that has taken up residence in your head. You do have the choice to use its power to fortify yourself, albeit doing so runs the risk of using the same power you're trying to get rid of which could end up being a mistake. Some allies won't allow this until they trust you, while others are eager to gain power.

30 Minute Gameplay

Some Spoilers

There isn't really anything new to offer; the gameplay is largely unchanged from the samples shown in the previous review. There are several puzzles that can be solved, a lot of story, and more difficult foes to face as you progress deeper into the game.

Conclusion

I would wait a while There are just a few problems and flaws with the game, but they should be resolved in the coming weeks and months. Due to the problems I've encountered, I just don't think it will be all that fun for new players to experience, as it can be exhausting.

It will never be worth what they are asking in its current condition because it feels lacking in comparison to their earlier titles, which are both more affordable and well-developed and have more promise. The pandemic made it difficult to fully develop the game over its lengthy Early Access period, which I knew from the very beginning.

The quality meets what I have come to expect over the years from developers, bad and good. The apparent lack of testing they conducted, bugs and other issues.

I will admit, I enjoy breaking games a lot, which frequently results in hard and soft locks, serious bugs, and other issues that can break the game. Although there have been many here even while not trying to break the game, I still find it enjoyable.

The game works as planned if you follow the instructions and complete everything in order, but if you start to wander into other areas or forget about important tasks and side quests, things may start to go wrong, people may repeat themselves or vanish. This concludes my views of this game; while my opinions may be met with criticism, that is what distinguishes gamers; you don't have to like the same things as others, nor do you have to agree with them.

If you want to catch me on one of my streams or locate me on social media, you may do so at the following locations, I'm always playing something new.

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- Pawkt