Baldur’s Gate 3 Honest Review: Time to Be Real

I am positive everyone in the gaming community already knows how amazing Baldur’s Gate 3 is. We have all seen the amazing scores. Seen streamers and friends playing it. The cries of anguish from “developers” because someone has actually released a finished, polished product that does what it advertises on release.  Do note that Baldur’s Gate 3 is an 18 and does have the following, Violence, Bad Language, Sex.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Review, here I am going to review the game. Explaining why I believe it is the game of a generation and pray that it finally opens gamers eyes to how we have been getting screwed by developers and publishers for the last 10+ years.

What is Baldur’s Gate 3?

Starting out I will say I never played Baldur’s Gate 1 or 2. I watched my brother play the second but it never took my fancy and I never tried it myself. I have also never played Dungeons and Dragons. Baldur’s Gate 3 does not require previous knowledge or experience to fully enjoy it.

For those of you that do not know, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a masterpiece of gaming recently released by Larian Studios. This is the third game in the series. It is a TRUE RPG game that revolves around rolling dice for outcomes. Bladur’s Gate 3 is based on the board game Dungeons and Dragons or DnD.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is your story. You write it how you want to. You want to become a Bard and talk your way through trouble? A psychotic assassin that hears voices and kills randomly? A gentle Paladin that saves everyone? Well as many as they can. A fierce warrior that charges into battle but bumbles almost every conversation? All these options and more are open to you. This is your story, your game, your decisions and your consequences. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 is Groundbreaking

The reason I call BG3 a TRUE RPG is because they have finally delivered on what other companies have been promising for 10-20 years. Consequences. This is truly groundbreaking. A gaming company delivered on what they said they would!  Every action, every battle, every decision can and will affect your character, your personal relationships (with party members and others) and the world as a whole. 

Do not get me wrong, other games have tried and in some cases almost succeeded in doing the same thing. Every time in the past though that decision was a big point in the game, it was a “ohh this is an important moment”. You knew it could affect the rest of the game. Sometimes with a simple line change in a conversation or a major boss battle.

In Baldur’s Gate 3 though, every decision is like that. Every conversation has the chance to have a knock on effect. This could potentially kill every NPC in an area or make one of your companions leave your side forever as well as unforeseen and unknown consequences. 

With Baldur’s Gate 3 being so changeable it gives the game enormous replayability. I can honestly say, personally I have never before completed a 100 hour plus game. Restarted it the next day and did it again. 

The best part is the second play through was completely different. People that died or did not join me in the first play through were there in the second. The companions’ entire personality changed based on my actions and conversations with them. There were new quests I did not find in my first play through or could not get because the quest givers died or some other factors. Entire areas changed for the better or worse based on what I did differently. 

The Brilliant Combat of Baldur’s Gate 3

The brilliant combat in Baldur’s Gate 3 takes a bit of getting used to if you have no experience with DnD or Larians other games, Divinity Original Sin. I am in that category, I played the first Divinity but not the second and have not played it since release. So going into BG3 I will not lie, I was overwhelmed as hell. It was like going into Dragon Age Origins for the first time and accidentally opening the Tactics screen. But 10x worse.

I was overwhelmed and confused. I did not understand how the hit chance worked or why something would suddenly force half my party to fall asleep. However after playing the game for some time I began to get the hang of it. I began to understand what each of the numbers in the character screen did and how they affected my characters. Once I began to understand it and in time built my characters around it the combat became one of my favorite aspects of the game.

You may be wondering if learning the combat is worth it or if the game is worth it with the effort required to learn. All I can say is YES. To enjoy combat you do not need to do what I did. You can simply play the game and make your character as you please. You may struggle in a fight or two but you will get through it. As a gamer I am personally a bit of a Min/Maxer so I like to play on the hardest difficulties and challenge myself. That is why I spent so much time learning the intricacies of it. 

One of the beauties of Baldur’s Gate 3 is that you can talk your way out of or through half the fights if not more in the game. I know someone that went Bard and focused on talking their way out of trouble more than actually fighting. That is an option open to anyone.

Think Strategically During Combat in Baldur’s Gate 3

Never in Baldur’s Gate 3 do you feel overpowered. Even at max level, it is never a breeze. You always have to pay attention to your battles and think strategically. It is a nice change that from that first battle until the last the combat has meaning. Many other RPGs after the first half you begin to get so overpowered that the combat begins to feel like a drag and waste of time instead of something to enjoy.

Baldur’s Gate 3 never feels like that. You will become stronger. You will get more hit points, do more damage or even have more turns. The enemies scale with you though. There are more of them as you progress and they get stronger. It was always a joy to fight and the combat never felt repetitive or boring from start to finish.

The Emotional, Heart Wrenching and Heart Warming Story of Baldur’s Gate 3

What would a RPG be without its story? Well with the RPGs we have had recently i think we all know. It would be nothing. It would be a boring waste of our time and money.

Luckily for you Baldur’s Gate 3 is here to save the day. The story hooked me instantly. I have no previous knowledge of the Lore of any BG or DnD. Yet the moment I started and saw the first opening scene I was hooked. I had to know. Who was i? Why was I on this ship? What is with this weird guy with tentacles? And why on earth are there demons attacking me?

As I progressed through the story I was never disappointed. I was actually surprised a few times as well by the twists and turns. After 25+ years of gaming and reading Fantasy books, having a game actually be unpredictable was mind blowing. Baldur’s Gate kept me guessing, kept me moving.

It feeds you the story slowly as you progress through the game, it never gives you too much information at once and always leaves you wanting more. As I progressed, people I thought were allies turned out to be enemies and the reverse. Allies turned out to be not who I thought they were. Some enemies actually made me hate them. Having a villian in a game creates real emotions in you, real feeling towards them is beyond amazing. 

Still Remember the Tears Swelling

Never before have I ever felt guilty for my actions in a game.  In Bladur’s Gate 3 there were many times I felt guilty though. I felt sadness for something I did or wished I could have chosen another path. I also felt joy and anger. When one of the villains refused to give me information about my past I wanted nothing more than to force it out of him when he smiled condescendingly at me. When I saved one of my companions from eternal damnation or brought peace and happiness to another, I felt the corners of my mouth stretch into a smile. 

When I finished my first play through (psychotic assassin) I can still remember the tears swelling in the corner of my eyes. It was so heart wrenching, I do not think I have ever felt so guilty before. I was devastated for days afterwards because of my choices and actions. I intentionally replayed the game and was a pure Paladin on my next play through to make up for it.

Your Actions Have Meaning

Perhaps the most surprising thing in Baldur’s Gate 3 is their approach to what you can and cannot do in games. You want to slaughter some tree hugging druids? Go for it. You want to have a 4 way with your love interest and 2 prostitutes? You can. 

Never before has a game allowed you this level of choices before. There has always been a line in games. Perhaps that line exists for a reason and should not be crossed. Who am I to say? But in Baldur’s Gate 3 they cross that line in a variety of ways.

Is Baldur’s Gate 3, Art That Will be Remembered

Some Loveable, Some Intolerable Characters in Baldur’s Gate 3

Throughout Baldur’s Gate 3 you will meet a multitude of characters. Some loveable, some intolerable and some just annoying. Your actions with each one will change the way they react to you. The most significant will obviously be your companions. Each one has their own personal quest chain. There are multiple endings for each chain and each one will affect how they act towards you going forward. Some may even end up leaving your party forever if you are not careful.

The Many many Videos of Baldur’s Gate 3

There are videos throughout Baldur’s Gate 3. Many many videos. There was never a time when I skipped one though. Each video is done beautifully with an attention to detail that is amazing. 

Conclusion, Baldur’s Gate 3 is Truely Breathtaking

If you have read this far then you know this is a masterpiece. This game will outlive me. It will be remembered in the same breath as The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. You cannot ask for more out of a RPG game than this. It is one of the only games in years that I have not once regretted spending money on. Not even for a second. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 is amazing in every aspect. Combat is interesting and fun from start to finish. Story full and complete, it reaches into you and makes you feel like you are part of it, no DLC required. Personal relationships, you actually WANT to help your companions. Bugs, none or very very few, when they did occur they were fixed within a day. Micro transactions (None). Graphics, great. Videos, breathtaking. Release, polished.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is the game of the generation, this is the standard AAA games should be held to, if they cannot reach this they should not expect the same price tag.

If i could i would give this game a 15/10. That makes no sense though. So it will get the only score it can be given in good conscience. 

This has been an honest Review. Hope you enjoyed the read.