Dear Baldur's Gate 3,

To be honest, I didn't care about this game from the day it was released until the day it won Game of the Year. It didn't catch my interest; I had never played a CRPG before, and I didn't think it would be my kind of game. I found isometric RPGs boring, and I thought I would struggle with them, and Baldur's Gate 3 didn't seem any different. However, BG3 turned out to be a game that changed my perspective on the genre completely. I bought the game at full price the morning after it won GotY, and I believe I got every penny's worth. Baldur's Gate 3, far from just being the best game of 2023, stands as one of the greatest games ever.

Despite its scattered nature, the game feels cohesive, with a perfectly written and satisfying story, incredibly deep and diverse companions with unique personalities, engaging combat that challenges your brains, and puzzles that add color to the game with a sweet difficulty level. This game, oozing effort from every corner and finely polished, makes you feel like you're playing a real masterpiece. It has even sparked my interest in CRPGs, which is a significant achievement for someone who used to dislike the genre.

For me, the strongest aspect of the game is its story and characters. I shed tears at many points during the game, especially during the character stories. I have never played a game that cared so much about character stories and gave such importance to its characters. Each character has long quests, perfect romance scenes, and incredibly emotional (or uplifting) fantastic endings. The story is really epic, with every scene giving you goosebumps. It succeeds in making the player care for it, leaving them unable to resist wanting more. I was satisfied with every character's ending in my playthrough, except for Gale. I don't remember leaving a game with such satisfaction in the story and characters; Baldur's Gate 3 holds the top spot for me in this regard. (':

In terms of gameplay, the game uses a turn-based system based on the D&D 5th edition rules. I generally don't like turn-based combat, but the D&D gameplay has always appealed to me. I found myself drawn into the game in every aspect of its gameplay. It's a game where you genuinely have to plan your approach to the enemy, and you can't just rush in blindly. Despite being someone who prefers ease, I enjoyed this aspect. Every fight was very satisfying for me, and the superb boss battles contributed to that. And what about the music during those boss fights? I could sit there listening for hours, especially during the battle with Raphael.

The fantastic music I mentioned contributes significantly to the game's presentation. From camera angles to facial expressions, from sounds to voice actors' performances, everything is flawless and adds impact to the game's scenes. Nightsong's salvation, Astarian's infamous scene... it contains many moments that I'm sure will stay in my mind for a long time. Comparing this to other recent games, it's evident how much effort and success Larian has put into this. The dialogues are engaging, and while some sentences may be incredibly long, it's worth enduring for memorable moments and enjoyable scenes. It's not a problem. It's a beautiful way to showcase the liveliness of the characters and the game world.

By the way, the game's additional content is incredibly extensive. I forgot to mention this, so let me touch on it briefly. With side activities, the game offers over 100 hours of gameplay, and these side activities are not the typical boring ones you find in Ubisoft-style games. They have been worked on as much as the main quests, providing fun and engaging activities that feel just as rewarding and necessary for a complete experience.

I won't make this review too long. I just finished the game, and I'm incredibly emotional. I believe this game is one of the best ever. Before playing BG3, my heart was set on Zelda for GotY, but in the packed 85 hours I spent in the game, I understood that BG3 truly deserves this award. It's the first time in a long time that I've liked a game this much. I thank Larian for reviving my slowly dying "interest in games"... it seems the problem wasn't with me but with the terrible games that are being released. (':

In short, if you're on the fence about getting the game, don't hesitate. You're in for an epic and emotional adventure with remarkable stories.

truly one of the greatest visual novels ever released if not the best. it has a memorable, lively, unique and lovable cast of characters (though miles edgeworth is obviously the one who shines the most), which is not something we usually encounter in a visual novel. the cases gradually got better and better and the last case was a literal masterpiece. the fourth case was my favorite though since the character development in this is just so heartwarming. the dialogue in this game never ever bored me, i did not skip ONE dialogue in this game and this is the first time this happened to me in a visual novel. everything is just so well written, the story is always exciting and makes you curious about what will happen in the next testimony and you also always wonder how the things will turn out while investigating. the soundtrack and the character sprites are also very well done and both of these play a big role in this game's charm.
to summarize all of the written above, phoenix wright: ace attorney has the most fun you can have in a visual novel and is overall a phenomenal video game.