This game is legitimately so good it feels like it has no right to exist. Going into this game, I knew that it was going to have an extremely well done and in depth combat system, and be absolutely brimming with well thought out combat encounters that would force me to think tactically to make it out alive. Because, well, it’s a Larian game. I already know they’re the best at that. What I didn’t know was that I was also getting a story that sweeps you off your feet in epic fashion. I genuinely couldn’t tell you how many times this game had a cutscene or line of dialogue that made my jaw drop. Or how many times my heart was pounding from pulling off a very narrow victory against oppressive odds. The story covers pretty much all of the major beats I enjoy in my fantasy stories: low-stakes adventure, to extremely epic fantasy, to throwing in some conniving villains with political intrigue, all in one big game.
I also wasn’t expecting the characters to be so good and feel so human. In Larian’s last game, DOS2, all of the companion characters were fine. They all had well developed, unique personalities, and that serves their purpose well enough for you to spend a few dozen hours with them while you go off on epic adventures with them. But in BG3?? These characters that you spend so much time with have such well written and believable dialogue they feel so much more human than I ever could have possibly expected them to. I also found their character arcs really well done, two of the characters I spent a lot of time with on my first run made me tear up at several points in their character arc. There are also SO MANY companion characters, it makes me really excited to replay this massive game with a different set of companions, to see which other ones I really like.
I know a lot of times in RPGs like this, the dialogue choices you get often boil down to: 1.) “Goody two shoes” 2.) “Neutral” 3.) “♥♥♥♥♥♥♥” but that absolutely couldn’t be further from the reality of how dialogue choices are in BG3. Of course you often do have the “goody two shoes” and “♥♥♥♥♥♥♥” responses in there sometimes, but they’re THE VAST MAJORITY of dialogue choices in this game feel like a very logical and proper response than any other game I’ve played. I spent a lot more time reading and thinking about my dialogue choices than I would have expected because of how natural most of them feel. Plus I LOVE how many dialogue choices you get for the race or class you’re playing! It feels awesome to be playing a barbarian, then to be given advantage on your intimidation because you picked the choice, “Grip the wreckage. FLING IT ASIDE.” it practically feels like you’re playing DnD at the tabletop with your friends, and your DM just said, “Hell yeah, go ahead and roll that with advantage.”
Speaking of comparing this game to DnD, people who are very familiar with the lore of the Forgotten Realms, either from playing the tabletop games, or the first BG games are gonna have a field day with this game. There are so many references to stuff you’d know from them, it’s like being given a nice little treat fairly frequently. And Larian absolutely NAILED how a campaign that involves Illithids a decent amount should feel. From the epic scale of the plot to the general tone throughout the story, they just did an excellent job handling one of my favorite fictional monsters.
The character customization is another HUGE draw. It’s DnD, the game people have been playing in their minds for decades pretending to beat up epic monsters for decades. Of course it’s not without its flaws, but saying that you have a “wide amount of options” when thinking about making a fun character is an understatement. There are so many fun ways to beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of your enemies in cool and creative ways, and that’s before we even think about multiclassing! Of course Larian knew this would lead to choice paralysis and let you respecc your character for a small gold fee, so you don’t feel too bummed out if you think you’d much rather be playing completely differently. The way items work is REALLY smart in this game too. Pretty much everything is a sidegrade, you’re always reading the descriptions of magical items to see what kind of effects the gear has, and if it’ll work better for your character than what you’re currently using. I like this system a LOT more than the leveled items in DOS2. It felt like I was practically throwing out all gear and replacing it every level, because the increase in stats made your gear feel irrelevant, FAST. Towards the end of the game, I was constantly comparing passive buffs and active abilities on all my equipment. You might hang onto an amulet for most of the game because it lets you use a great spell every short rest, or you might replace it in 15 minutes because you found something that gives JUST the right passive buff for your character.
The combat is maybe my favorite part of the game. The way Larian designs their combat encounters just really works for this kind of game. The way enemies engage with the nuanced combat system and environment is sure to make you really slow down and think. It forces you to understand what sort of buff the boss’s minions are applying to him, and how you can use the environment and your own abilities to make the fight unfair. You will NOT make it very far in this game taking fair fights, and this is a big part of what makes it so engaging and replayable. As every party comp will want to solve things differently, as will every player! They definitely threw more than a few combat encounters at me that made me wish they’d bought me dinner first, but hey, that just made me feel that much more satisfied for outsmarting them once I figured it out. I will most certainly be back SEVERAL more times to explore this ludicrously content dense game(seriously, there’s stuff to do everywhere, and once you get to the city proper it feels like you can’t even cross the street without bumping into a cool questline) both in coop modes, as well as just single-player on tactician difficulty.
As for things I didn’t like? It could definitely go for some quality of life upgrades as far as party management goes. An auto-formation while walking around would be nice, as would a way to manage all your companions' inventories at once, as would a quicker way to add or remove people from your active party! I do think a lot of the NPCs are a bit too horny, it genuinely feels like I have to beat most of my camp off with a baseball bat if I'm only interested in one of them. Also, you gave JK Simmons a role in your game, but he hardly sounds like JK Simmons!! Lean into that, I want to hear that man get mad! Demand to speak to your manager! Do you know who he is?!?
I also wasn’t expecting the characters to be so good and feel so human. In Larian’s last game, DOS2, all of the companion characters were fine. They all had well developed, unique personalities, and that serves their purpose well enough for you to spend a few dozen hours with them while you go off on epic adventures with them. But in BG3?? These characters that you spend so much time with have such well written and believable dialogue they feel so much more human than I ever could have possibly expected them to. I also found their character arcs really well done, two of the characters I spent a lot of time with on my first run made me tear up at several points in their character arc. There are also SO MANY companion characters, it makes me really excited to replay this massive game with a different set of companions, to see which other ones I really like.
I know a lot of times in RPGs like this, the dialogue choices you get often boil down to: 1.) “Goody two shoes” 2.) “Neutral” 3.) “♥♥♥♥♥♥♥” but that absolutely couldn’t be further from the reality of how dialogue choices are in BG3. Of course you often do have the “goody two shoes” and “♥♥♥♥♥♥♥” responses in there sometimes, but they’re THE VAST MAJORITY of dialogue choices in this game feel like a very logical and proper response than any other game I’ve played. I spent a lot more time reading and thinking about my dialogue choices than I would have expected because of how natural most of them feel. Plus I LOVE how many dialogue choices you get for the race or class you’re playing! It feels awesome to be playing a barbarian, then to be given advantage on your intimidation because you picked the choice, “Grip the wreckage. FLING IT ASIDE.” it practically feels like you’re playing DnD at the tabletop with your friends, and your DM just said, “Hell yeah, go ahead and roll that with advantage.”
Speaking of comparing this game to DnD, people who are very familiar with the lore of the Forgotten Realms, either from playing the tabletop games, or the first BG games are gonna have a field day with this game. There are so many references to stuff you’d know from them, it’s like being given a nice little treat fairly frequently. And Larian absolutely NAILED how a campaign that involves Illithids a decent amount should feel. From the epic scale of the plot to the general tone throughout the story, they just did an excellent job handling one of my favorite fictional monsters.
The character customization is another HUGE draw. It’s DnD, the game people have been playing in their minds for decades pretending to beat up epic monsters for decades. Of course it’s not without its flaws, but saying that you have a “wide amount of options” when thinking about making a fun character is an understatement. There are so many fun ways to beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of your enemies in cool and creative ways, and that’s before we even think about multiclassing! Of course Larian knew this would lead to choice paralysis and let you respecc your character for a small gold fee, so you don’t feel too bummed out if you think you’d much rather be playing completely differently. The way items work is REALLY smart in this game too. Pretty much everything is a sidegrade, you’re always reading the descriptions of magical items to see what kind of effects the gear has, and if it’ll work better for your character than what you’re currently using. I like this system a LOT more than the leveled items in DOS2. It felt like I was practically throwing out all gear and replacing it every level, because the increase in stats made your gear feel irrelevant, FAST. Towards the end of the game, I was constantly comparing passive buffs and active abilities on all my equipment. You might hang onto an amulet for most of the game because it lets you use a great spell every short rest, or you might replace it in 15 minutes because you found something that gives JUST the right passive buff for your character.
The combat is maybe my favorite part of the game. The way Larian designs their combat encounters just really works for this kind of game. The way enemies engage with the nuanced combat system and environment is sure to make you really slow down and think. It forces you to understand what sort of buff the boss’s minions are applying to him, and how you can use the environment and your own abilities to make the fight unfair. You will NOT make it very far in this game taking fair fights, and this is a big part of what makes it so engaging and replayable. As every party comp will want to solve things differently, as will every player! They definitely threw more than a few combat encounters at me that made me wish they’d bought me dinner first, but hey, that just made me feel that much more satisfied for outsmarting them once I figured it out. I will most certainly be back SEVERAL more times to explore this ludicrously content dense game(seriously, there’s stuff to do everywhere, and once you get to the city proper it feels like you can’t even cross the street without bumping into a cool questline) both in coop modes, as well as just single-player on tactician difficulty.
As for things I didn’t like? It could definitely go for some quality of life upgrades as far as party management goes. An auto-formation while walking around would be nice, as would a way to manage all your companions' inventories at once, as would a quicker way to add or remove people from your active party! I do think a lot of the NPCs are a bit too horny, it genuinely feels like I have to beat most of my camp off with a baseball bat if I'm only interested in one of them. Also, you gave JK Simmons a role in your game, but he hardly sounds like JK Simmons!! Lean into that, I want to hear that man get mad! Demand to speak to your manager! Do you know who he is?!?
MyGameOpinions
9 months ago