I completed the game on Tactician difficulty today, and while it's a good game, I can't say it's great. Larian Studios is truly impressed with its creation of an immersive and highly interactive DND world, complemented by excellent voice acting and well-developed characters. Without a doubt, it stands out as the best entry for players new to the CRPG genre.
While it's a good game, I must admit that it falls short of being the best in its genre. This isn't entirely Larian's fault(and mostly not), but rather a consequence of the DND 5e rule set the game is based on. After Act 1, the combat becomes quite dull, with little incentive to control your enemies or build magic defense layers due to the concentration mechanics and their limited effects. The resistance mechanics, where damage is halved when resisted, are also problematic, effectively doubling the HP of many enemies and turning them into sponges. (and Larian gave tons of enemies physical resistance in Tactician difficulty) The combat encounters are well-designed in ACT 1 but diminished rapidly afterward, due to the higher levels of 5E gameplay becoming monotonous, as the most effective strategy is often using normal attacks to hit your enemies, I finished the game like a breeze with these strat but it's far from fun and engaging.
While Larian's efforts are commendable, the game does have some drawbacks beyond the 5E rule set. The main story is just alright and somewhat boring, more like a forgettable Hollywood summer action movie with no thought-provoking events, idea conflicts, or philosophical dialogue. This lack of depth makes the game so much weaker when compared to classic CRPGs like the old Infinity games(including its predecessor BG2/TOB), VTMB, FNV, KotOR2, or Disco Elysium. Although the characters are likable and interesting, they can also come across as bland and occasionally cringy(I won’t allow Gale’s backstory if he is my PC). Overall, the game feels more like a mimic of a tabletop RPG with an ordinary story module, a competent Dungeon Master, and a group of just alright players.
Larian definitely deserves the praise they got, but also really needs to work on combat and overall RPG system and story/character writing.
Oh and optimal-wise the game runs well but it crashes when some bosses die/use certain skills, maybe it is my AMD gpu being AMD gpu.
While it's a good game, I must admit that it falls short of being the best in its genre. This isn't entirely Larian's fault(and mostly not), but rather a consequence of the DND 5e rule set the game is based on. After Act 1, the combat becomes quite dull, with little incentive to control your enemies or build magic defense layers due to the concentration mechanics and their limited effects. The resistance mechanics, where damage is halved when resisted, are also problematic, effectively doubling the HP of many enemies and turning them into sponges. (and Larian gave tons of enemies physical resistance in Tactician difficulty) The combat encounters are well-designed in ACT 1 but diminished rapidly afterward, due to the higher levels of 5E gameplay becoming monotonous, as the most effective strategy is often using normal attacks to hit your enemies, I finished the game like a breeze with these strat but it's far from fun and engaging.
While Larian's efforts are commendable, the game does have some drawbacks beyond the 5E rule set. The main story is just alright and somewhat boring, more like a forgettable Hollywood summer action movie with no thought-provoking events, idea conflicts, or philosophical dialogue. This lack of depth makes the game so much weaker when compared to classic CRPGs like the old Infinity games(including its predecessor BG2/TOB), VTMB, FNV, KotOR2, or Disco Elysium. Although the characters are likable and interesting, they can also come across as bland and occasionally cringy(I won’t allow Gale’s backstory if he is my PC). Overall, the game feels more like a mimic of a tabletop RPG with an ordinary story module, a competent Dungeon Master, and a group of just alright players.
Larian definitely deserves the praise they got, but also really needs to work on combat and overall RPG system and story/character writing.
Oh and optimal-wise the game runs well but it crashes when some bosses die/use certain skills, maybe it is my AMD gpu being AMD gpu.