Baldur's Gate 3 Review (ElCid)
T.L. D.R. this is one of the best games ever created and deserve every single award it won.
My first playthrough of Baldur's Gate III took over 250 hours to complete, just by walking around, interacting with party members, NPCs, trying to complete every quest, testing different builds. Yet the game never felt like it was padding.
It's no wonder a lot of AAA devs complained that this game overdelivers, because it does in all aspects. You can truly see the passion and dedication of Swen and his team with this title because it's just so freaking massive; yet by the end of final Act you're still left craving for more, wanting to explore more of this beautifully crafted world and characters.
Strengths
✅ This game provides a fantastic, almost accurate experience of 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. The devs had to adapt a lot of the rules to fit the game format but if you've played DnD before then this will be easy to grasp.
✅ I think the best part of this game is how much freedom you have to tackle on challenges and fights. For example, I play a lot of Stealth Strategy games (like Commandos, Desperados and Shadow Tactics), so I really enjoy setting up my party members to dispatch bosses with few actions as possible while striking with one character after the other while hiding. There is a lot of player expression you don't see in any other game.
✅ The character writing of this game reminds me a lot of BioWare's, which is poetic considering that Baldur's Gate I & II were made by them. Nearly all character arcs feel satisfying. I've been craving for a game like this since the Mass Effect Trilogy. Also, if you've played the original Baldur's Gate games, prepare for some nice surprises.
✅ The replay value of this game is absolutely gargantuan, because there are different routes, quest outcomes and small details that carry changes through the rest of the game. Not to mention different classes to experience. You'll often find yourself tempted to start fresh new save files to restart your journey with different classes, and I don't blame you.
✅ The fact this game has, on top of all that, FULLY FUNCTIONAL ONLINE MULTIPLAYER WITH UP TO FOUR PEOPLE, is the cherry on top. Being able to play this game with friends (and struggling to align the schedules) is ridiculously fun and further adds replay value.
✅ The modding community is very active and Patch 7 (September 3rd, 2024) even added an official mod manager and support in-game.
Weaknesses
❌ Even on the lowest settings performance can sometimes tank a bit in large populated areas. You may see a significant drop in FPS. But overall this game is very well optimized.
❌ I feel this game could've done a better job with some of the tutorials. For instance, you can fail or even downright miss quests if you long rest too much depending on which part of the game you are.
❌ The game rewards "murder hobo'ing" a bit too much. You still get experience for milestones (discovering new locations, completing quests without killing, etc.), but if you want to maximize experience gained it's easier to just slaughter everything.
❌ The final Act feels a bit lackluster in some aspects, not to mention the gauntlet of fights leading to the final battle being a bit disappointing. No spoilers but I was expecting something more way more flashy and bombastic.
Baldur's Gate III winning Game of the Year in 2023 is a testament that gamers just want fun, complete experiences that respect their time and don't try to exploit their wallets with lootboxes, season passes and cashgrab microtransactions. Crazy, huh?
It's a shame we won't get an expansion or DLC for this game, but I frankly can't wait to see what Larian is cooking; whether it's Divinity: Original Sin 3 or a brand new IP. I'm sure they'll apply everything they learned with Baldur's Gate III and blow our minds once again.