[Review] Baldur's Gate 3 Lives Up To the Hype

spet 4 2023

Baldur's Gate 3 finally came out of Early Access for PC on August 3rd, 2023. I had pre-ordered the game (I wanted the free upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition... sue me) and I began playing right away. Now, after a full month and 85 hours, I am finally finished with my first playthrough of BG3!

I really enjoyed this game! I tried to take my time with it and not just rush to the end, and it was so nice to just have a really meaty, fun game to sink my teeth into. I'm coming off a years long torrid love affair with Destiny 2 and let me just say— this was just what I needed to pick my spirits up. BG3 is a super engaging game with a pretty good story, great characters, and fun mechanics. I've rarely played games with turn based mechanics, but I was surprised at how easily I adjusted and how fun it was! I'm also not really a big D&D fan but (the extent of my D&D knowledge is listening to The Adventure Zone and playing one session of D&D with friends in high school), but I found that this game really streamlined a lot of the D&D aspects that I find tedious in real life (sitting and rolling dice and adding up bonuses makes me wanna do something drastic).

There is truly a lot of choice in this game, and I know "your choices matter" is something of a gaming buzzword at this point, but it does genuinely feel like what you choose impacts the game. No two playthroughs will be the same. I also just really appreciated the world and the aesthetics! I've never played a Baldur's Gate game before, and I found the world to be really intriguing and fun. It's also just a beautiful game (when the textures load in properly) and all the environments/character/armor design are gorgeous.

I do have a couple critiques, because no game is perfect. My big criticism is just that it's pretty obvious that some aspects were added in relatively last minute. Halsin's character was the only one I could never really get invested in. It really did just feel like he was a non-party member elevated to companion just because people thought he was hot in EA. He's not really my type, so him being "the hot one" just didn't land for me. I also found it strange that the polyamory solely revolved around Halsin, especially when it was a big part of the pregame marketing hype. Like, Shadowheart and Astarion are perfectly fine with being in a throuple... but ONLY if Halsin is also involved. Other characters will also signal that they're ok with "sharing," like Lae'zel and Karlach, but will actually get super pissed if you actually try to open up your relationship. Which would be fine, but then why market the game as having poly romances, when there is ONE poly romance that you basically have to jump through hoops for?

However, otherwise I did really appreciate this game's approach to romance and sex. I think the gaming industry has moved slightly past the early Bioware days of "Insert Kindness Tokens into NPC until Sex falls out" style romance, but it's cool to see BG3 take such a varied approach to romance. Each character has different standards of sex and intimacy that feels like it works for their individual character and story. I also thought a couple individual character arcs are really strong, even without romancing that character for "extra" content. Honestly the only character whose companion quest I wasn't completely satisfied with was Gale (more on that a little later). I found both Shadowheart and Astarion's quests to be really well written and moving, and I also really loved Karlach and Wyll's side quests.

Another critique I have is that the character creator is SO diverse in some ways but there's one giant noticeable weakness. Why can you only be skinny and buff? I get having body type presets, but when the only presets available are "short buff" and "tall buff," it gets really annoying. Especially when this game is marketed so heavily as being a game where you can really create your own character you identify with. It feels like "play your way... unless your way is fat." In other ways, the character creator is such a giant step forward in terms of customization ( I want customizable pronouns and genitals to become standard in the industry and I'm not joking), but the lack of body types is a giant weak spot that needs to be addressed. I'm honestly surprised that I haven't seen more discussion about this.

Those are all the non-spoilery criticisms I have, so let's get into story complaints. We are moving into SPOILER TERRITORY now... beware!!

My big endgame story critique is that the Emperor's character ultimately just fell flat for me. He never really got a solid, consistent character and the big "reveal" that he's actually Balduran feels like such a nothing revelation, because no one really reacts to it and it's brushed off. Also, it's just a really weird writing choice to have him side with the Elder Brain if you decide to free Orpheus, because the entire game has been about him trying to kill the Elder Brain. The speed at which he completely switches sides gave me whiplash. I can definitely see him turning on Tav and trying to kill them to take the netherstones, but why would he side with the Elder Brain completely of his own free will? You know, the thing that enslaved him for centuries?

It really just felt like they had no idea whether they wanted his character to be a genuinely sympathetic (if a bit shady) guy doing the best in unfortunate circumstances, or if he's just supposed to be tricking us the whole time. Again, his ending (if you free Orpheus) feels weird, because there are a million ways he could have still been a final antagonist (mind control, turns on us and has to be killed, etc) but the way they chose to do it felt so... contrived.

My last complaint is that some of the character endings felt really well developed and some felt really weak. I loved Karlach and Wyll going to Avernus together (I also managed to save Wyll's dad without Mizora's help so they're both completely free), I liked Orpheus basically passing the baton to Lae'zel, I got a nice ending with the person I romanced (Astarion), but the way Shadowheart and Gale just... vanish is really funny to me. At least Gale has a little exchange where he's like, "Well, I guess I'm giving up on the Crown of Karsus" (which felt really anticlimactic, considering his is basically the only companion quest that doesn't get resolved until the VERY LAST SECOND OF THE GAME), but Shadowheart literally is just like, "Yay we saved the city!" and then never speaks again!

I get the concept of only having a really in-depth ending with the person you romanced, but it does just feel... odd that you can max Shadowheart's approval out and she doesn't even get a single one-on-one conversation at the end of the game. Even Gale got a couple lines! Maybe this is a bug, but I was under the assumption that only her romance cutscene was bugged...

Overall, I thought Baldur's Gate 3 was a really fantastic game. It's lived up to the hype and praise it's receiving and it's a game that I can definitely see myself coming back to for a very long time. I've already started like three more playthroughs! The game is well worth the cost and I feel very satisfied with my purchase!