Rate top gamesA pleasant surprise.
This game, at least for me, came out of nowhere with a ton of hype and expectations. What could go wrong? Well... A lot of things. Most 2023 games are launching incomplete, with terrible optimization. And that's only the technical matters. Only multiplayer/online, bad plot/dialogue, useless lore, hollow gameplay are pretty common nowadays. Fortunately, Larian Studios is different.
First of all, the game is absolutely playable. 4K High settings with Balanced DLSS made me so happy. My 2060 + Ryzen 5 1600 are still good when the game is well optimized. Also, the HDR looks amazing, and the gameplay with a controller is impressive. I mean, that's a turn-based RPG and, somehow, it works beautifully.
But what about what matters the most? Plots in video games are rarely as good as some top-tier movies, even when the focus is the campaign. Seeing genuinely good characters' backgrounds, with solid development and plausible dialogues, made me feel so lucky to have the chance to experience it. They look so real, with motivations, ethical/moral clashes, ambitions, etc. Also, their dialogues are rich with subtext content. Along with what is most explicit about the sentence are elements that complement their culture, feelings, and motivations. It reminds me of "A Song of Ice and Fire" dialogues. If I am comparing BG3 to GRRM's writing, you know that the game is good. I cannot forget about the voice acting. It is so good that it made me like characters that I usually would not like just by their voice (Astarion and Laezel at first). Also, their development comes mainly from personal quests - which are amazing. And talking about them...
That's probably the first time that a game made me play the side quests from the adventure itself. I really don't give a damn about the rewards - and that's an amazing complement, since the game is challenging, and you have to pay attention to those types of stuff. I almost 100% it, and I still want more. They were memorable, fun, sad - all of those feelings together sometimes.
The gameplay is challenging, immersive, and pretty variable. I never thought I would like a turn-based RPG so much. It's crazy how much you can do differently just by having another approach. Also, I loved the bosses.
BG3 made me feel a lot of things. I felt manipulated, happy and sad about outcomes, characters' destiny, excited by some fights, in love with the OST, intrigued with the world-building, and, most of all, a true fearless wizard fighting for his and their friends' freedom.
This game, at least for me, came out of nowhere with a ton of hype and expectations. What could go wrong? Well... A lot of things. Most 2023 games are launching incomplete, with terrible optimization. And that's only the technical matters. Only multiplayer/online, bad plot/dialogue, useless lore, hollow gameplay are pretty common nowadays. Fortunately, Larian Studios is different.
First of all, the game is absolutely playable. 4K High settings with Balanced DLSS made me so happy. My 2060 + Ryzen 5 1600 are still good when the game is well optimized. Also, the HDR looks amazing, and the gameplay with a controller is impressive. I mean, that's a turn-based RPG and, somehow, it works beautifully.
But what about what matters the most? Plots in video games are rarely as good as some top-tier movies, even when the focus is the campaign. Seeing genuinely good characters' backgrounds, with solid development and plausible dialogues, made me feel so lucky to have the chance to experience it. They look so real, with motivations, ethical/moral clashes, ambitions, etc. Also, their dialogues are rich with subtext content. Along with what is most explicit about the sentence are elements that complement their culture, feelings, and motivations. It reminds me of "A Song of Ice and Fire" dialogues. If I am comparing BG3 to GRRM's writing, you know that the game is good. I cannot forget about the voice acting. It is so good that it made me like characters that I usually would not like just by their voice (Astarion and Laezel at first). Also, their development comes mainly from personal quests - which are amazing. And talking about them...
That's probably the first time that a game made me play the side quests from the adventure itself. I really don't give a damn about the rewards - and that's an amazing complement, since the game is challenging, and you have to pay attention to those types of stuff. I almost 100% it, and I still want more. They were memorable, fun, sad - all of those feelings together sometimes.
The gameplay is challenging, immersive, and pretty variable. I never thought I would like a turn-based RPG so much. It's crazy how much you can do differently just by having another approach. Also, I loved the bosses.
BG3 made me feel a lot of things. I felt manipulated, happy and sad about outcomes, characters' destiny, excited by some fights, in love with the OST, intrigued with the world-building, and, most of all, a true fearless wizard fighting for his and their friends' freedom.
«Blew my mind»
«Just one more turn»
«Can’t stop playing»
«That ending!»
«OST on repeat»
Other reviews23
I don't much more can be said to praise how well done this game is. It is not only one of, if not the, best Dungeons and Dragons adjacent games but also one of the CRPG games. It has incredible systems to allow for so much variety to keep things fresh and really let you experiment with ways to approach situations. There is enough leeway with respec that you can tweak your character if you think something isn't working like you want it to. The story is great with plenty of depth and twists you don't see coming. Where this game really sets the bar is it's writing and characters. The characters are incredible, yes some are better than others but they are all unique and have great writing to them. You can have great synergy or be at complete odds depending on your character. I had a weird playthrough as I chose to play a Githyanki fighter, later swapping to a Paladin of Vengeance, because a Gith was never an optional race in any of the other D&D games I've played. In this game they are pivotal to the story. I was always at odds with Lae'zel and her brainwashed mentality. There was such a good balance to your relationship and responses to your actions that it really felt like a personal experience. You can really get attached to the characters and their struggles and there are a few very power scenes, one of which no doubt was credit to Neil Newbon's award for Best Supporting Performer. On top of this is the music. The soundtrack is incredibly beautiful beyond words. The three main songs are so good and so well composed it just pairs perfectly. The only issue with the game I had was when proceeding to Act 2, there is another path you can take that the game does not make clear will be skipped if you go the other way, whereas if you go that way you still travel to the other path. This makes it difficult to look up without spoilers in most cases. Choice is part of the design so I understand that but basically skipping an area for nothing, and one that is a big part of a companions story, kind of sucks. Also Gale not being able to jump more than 5 feet lol. Overall this is an incredible achievement that really shows just how incredible the Larian is as a developer and highlights the incredible importance and talent of the voice acting community.
«Blew my mind»
«Just one more turn»
While it's not perfect (stop running into visible traps, Lae'zel!) it is very entertaining and I didn't get tired of it before the end of the game.
Date Completed: 2024-01-06
Playtime: 92h
Enjoyment: 10/10
Recommended: Most definitely
Date Completed: 2024-01-06
Playtime: 92h
Enjoyment: 10/10
Recommended: Most definitely
I thought the game was okay. Obviously the game has a very large scope, and it is quite impressive. The graphics are nice to look at but not super unique or interesting in any way. I found the controls to be kind of clunky and the UI could've been much better designed. The gameplay was alright overall, but a lot of the time it would become very frustrating and honestly felt like the worst parts of combat in DND 5e ported into a video game. The story and overall writing also weren't good enough to really make up for this in my eyes.