I don’t really consider myself a big Baldur’s Gate fan, I had dabbled in the first two game in a very limited capacity, but I was too young to really enjoy these at the time and couldn’t wrap my head around the THAC0 systems and other intricacies of dungeons and dragons. I had always heard that they were good games, but as the times went my bread and butter was more like the Dragon Ages and other more action-RPG oriented titles. The allure of playing one of these games in co-op really drew me in, and the buzz was positively glowing, so I went into Baldur’s Gate 3 a bit unsure. The uncertainty didn’t last long, this is an amazing game.
From the get-go - character creation - you are immersed in the setting and possibility space of the game immediately. All the classes and races are there and the character creator is pretty robust. My first character was a dwarven paladin and he was pretty cool. Leveling up, customizing your character through items - I’ll excuse BG3 for having way too much magical items that you would only dream of in a tabletop setting - and special powers you get along the way is really fun and allows you to impact the world inside and outside of battles.
The story by itself is pretty cool, with a strong first act that setups a mystery of illithid proportions with a ton of intrigue, factions, interesting NPCs to talk with and some pretty chunky choices to make here and there. The game’s three story acts kept me engaged and the twists and turns were cool It suffers a bit from the “Disco Elysium Effect” where further playthroughs feel a bit too similar and it breaks the magic a little, but that’s not a big complaint. I’m not going to spoil much, but one aspect of the story that I felt so-so about was the fact that you are “corrupted” by something, and in terms of the story it’s really bad! But the game also wants you to engage with that system, and it can create a bit of a dissonance. I’m also not a fan of how load-bearing long rests can be, they are a kind of resource that you spend in order to recover your health and spell slots, but they also advance story beats. If, like me, you tried to use them only at the last possible moment, you would miss on a few things.
Battles are turn-based, where you move your characters around in initiative order, use a pool of actions (standard actions and bonus actions) to cast spells, use abilities, attack and more, while trying to position yourself tactically to protect your weaker characters (usually mages) and get the upper hand on enemies. It’s really fun! Sometimes the AI doesn’t do too great and allied characters will do the dumbest stuff ever, sometimes there are a few frustrating bugs, sometimes you’ll try to do an action and it’ll get eaten up in the void, but it’s still a blast to fight in.
Outside of battles, you perform skill checks, either passively or by rolling big ol’ dice and pick dialogue options that either match your internal roleplay or a combination of your chosen class and race. Save scumming can be a way out when you roll critical failures on important issues, but you’ll also gain “inspiration” from performing certain actions while your characters have matching backgrounds, and these can be used to reroll die the “right” way as well. The game won’t (usually) end because of a failed roll, but it’ll mean an unwanted combat (or sometimes worse), which ultimately isn’t that frustrating if you don’t want to do everything perfectly.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is definitely something special, an amazing game that follows a long tradition of role playing titles that absolutely nail what they were trying to do. It’s fair to say that with all the time it had to cook in the Early Access oven and the apparent love and passion put into this project is evident, and I’m extremely glad it exists. If you’re even slightly interested in role playing adventures in fantasy worlds, or enjoy dungeons and dragons, or just want a grand ol time with a memorable cast of characters and locales, you really should check it out!