I am just going to stick to the facts. None say the game is bad. The worst reviews still recognize its potential but recommend waiting for release.
Gog.com 4.3/5 (Verified Owners)
Steam 88% Positive
GameSpot 6/10 "Reviewing Baldur's Gate 3 at this point in time is a delicate proposition. It shows a good deal of promise, yet there are plenty of warning signs it may not fulfill its potential. But predicting the future is not really the task of an Early Access review. To some extent, it is fascinating to play Baldur's Gate 3 today with the knowledge you will be able to follow its progress over the coming months--and possibly years--with a kind of academic interest in how AAA RPGs are built. You'll be able to witness first-hand how rough cuts are beaten into shape and finally polished. And for some small section of the audience, that alone will be worth the price of admission. For the rest of us, however, there's no rush. Baldur's Gate 3 isn't done yet. It's okay to wait until it is."
Collider B- "Baldur's Gate III is understandably rough around the edges, but it's hard to ignore some of the issues with the game's foundation. Still, it's chock full of content even in its early phases and can be tackled with a myriad of playstyles."
IGN 7/10 "The technical issues are understandable for Early Access, but if you want a polished and pain-free experience, I have to recommend waiting for the full release. There is enough here worth being really excited about that I feel Baldur’s Gate 3 deserves to be enjoyed with fresh eyes when it’s done, or at least much further along. You’ll find numerous moments of genuine storytelling greatness, an exciting and effective turn-based combat system, and freedom to use the abilities of the various classes in outside-the-box ways. I had fun with what's here – but if I had it to do over again, I probably would have waited."
Digital Fix 6/10 "Solid, varied gameplay and an expansive, interesting world are tainted by stiff, glitchy animations, gameplay bugs and other technical issues. With time, this could become a great game. At the moment, it's in dire need of updates before I can recommend buying it, but the potential is there."
DualSHOCKERS 7.5/10 "Coming off Divinity: Original Sin 2, it’s no surprise that Baldur’s Gate 3 already shows a ton of promise not only to build off Larian’s predecessor, but as a worthy successor to an iconic RPG series. The caveat of course is that it isn’t quite there yet, instead showing players a foundation for what’s to come through its complex but satisfying systems of exploration, combat, and player agency and immersion. In its current state, the Early Access release of Baldur’s Gate 3 is an entertaining but buggy one-shot versus a fully-polished experience. But even in that form, Baldur’s Gate 3 looks like the beginning of a grand campaign for the ages."
The Digital Fix 6/10 "Solid, varied gameplay and an expansive, interesting world are tainted by stiff, glitchy animations, gameplay bugs and other technical issues. With time, this could become a great game. At the moment, it's in dire need of updates before I can recommend buying it, but the potential is there."
CGmagonline "I can’t encourage players enough to check out Baldur’s Gate 3"
CNET "If what I've seen so far represents how Larian will bring forth Dungeons & Dragons' Faerun setting through the rest of Early Access and into the final game, I can easily imagine myself putting 200 hours into Baldur's Gate 3"
Critical Hit "While what’s on offer currently is a great deal of fun and an excellent start to the journey, it’s difficult for me to recommend it as it currently stands. If anything, the current build of Baldur’s Gate 3 is an excellent indication of what we can expect down the line, a beautiful projection of the excellence that is to follow."
Game Rant "What's most telling that this will be a great game: only about 20 hours of unpolished gameplay are available to play—and yet when those hours are over, there's an immediate desire for more. If roughly one fifth of a game with limited character creation and so many bugs can do that, then the game in question is going to be something special when finished. The only real struggle will be waiting for the next chunk of Baldur's Gate 3 to hit Early Access.
Gamers Heros "Baldur’s Gate 3 is already a fantastically good time with an intriguing story, colorful characters, and a masterfully created game world. It’s in its very early days, but this is one of the most exciting Early Access titles to hit Steam in years."
GamesBeat "I could say much more about Baldur’s Gate III, but I want to leave a great deal of it for you to discover (I will note of my favorite entities from the Realms makes an appearance). But we do get a good look at where Baldur’s Gate III is going, and I think many of you are going to want to jump onboard."
GameSpew "It was at that point that I decided to hold off on playing Baldur’s Gate 3 further for a while. I’d seen enough. I’m confident that at some point this is going to be an absolutely phenomenal game – all the ingredients are there. But with the graphics to be further improved, more content to be added, the gameplay tweaked and the player character to be given a voice, to play it any further in this Early Access state would possibly only serve to ruin it"
GamesRadar "There’s no arguing with the fact that, by playing Baldur’s Gate 3 now, you’re embarking on a journey you can’t yet finish. Yet there’s something positive in that: the limited scope is an invitation to play - really play, to muck about and test the possibilities - rather than simply push to complete yet another RPG. This one’s worth hanging around in."
PC Gamer "Baldur's Gate 3 isn't an attempt to resurrect an old series. It's something new that pushes the systems and creative mayhem from Original Sin and combines them with the rules D&D. And they're perfect together. It's very promising and seems to be heading in the right direction, but should you buy in now? There's a good 25-30 hours of adventuring to be had, full of memorable fights and characters, but you won't be seeing the game at its best. It's already fun, but it's a bit janky, save wipes are guaranteed and, more importantly, you can't yet make a gnome illusionist, so really what's the point?"
Rock Paper Shotgun "If it were not for this job, and having the self-control of four year old at a birthday party (or games journalist presented with a plate of miniburgers at a press event), I would would want to see this enticing story play out in full. Don’t feel pressured to gather your party and venture forth, but based on what I’ve seen, I think that party is in for one hell of a ride when they do."

Now make a list for solasta lol

Maybe you should go play Solasta. I bet they have forums too. Buhbye.

Well yah its a huge success, only a miniscule fraction are mad its not a completely authentic tabletop experience.

Hey hey I'm on your side. What I meant to imply is that no one reviewed solasta, which I find very interesting and telling of our standards (in short, I think people judging bg3 much more harshly than they judge solasta, which is mostly fair, but also paint solasta as this pillar of greatness, a status this game doesn't deserve)

Slight mischaracterization of all the reviews.

More seriously,
I think most people on this forum agree that this game has potential. The question is how much work/changes need to be done to become an amazing game.
I also think most people think that the game in its current state is enjoyable. But that doesn't mean it can't be improved, and it certainly doesn't mean we shouldn't point out any flaws and attempt to provide valuable feedback.

I apologize. Solasta has some really good reviews actually and has a higher rating on steam so I thought you were being a smart ass. Before people latch on that, IMO Solasta is a much different game targeted at a niche set of gamers. For that niche, I think it's a good game. But even on steam it has <10% of the reviews that BG3 does because of the smaller target. When I get bored of BG3 between patches I will play more of Solasta, but to me there is no contest as to which is a better game.


No its not. Leave it to you to pick the worst review to make your point. Newsflash...it doesn't say the game is bad. In fact it says "It shows a good deal of promise". Try again. Take the average of the numbers. Take the overall feeling from all. There is zero mischaracterization.


Warning: Potentially inflammatory:

You can find plenty of posts where I disagree with someone yet thank them for their suggestions. I am all for constructive criticism and differences of opinion. But there is a difference between making a constructive comment and bashing the game, the developer, and the people that disagree with your comments.

In another thread, I provided evidence and links, yet people still want to perpetuate lies or twist what they said or focus on another item just to be negative.

The purpose of this thread is to be positive and shine the light of truth on these forums and the vocal minority. It's a good game. It will be better. It will never be everything you want it to be and in the end, you may not like it, but you are the minority and your opinion is no more important than anyone else.

I haven't seen a post saying that the game is bad in a while, and the "This is DOS3" Week 1 trolls have mostly vanished. Thanks for keeping it positive though?

I mean, yes? Picking the worst review was intentional, with the "More seriously" line I wrote after it (which you don't quote) was meant to convey this was more of a joke point.

The average of the numerical reviews is around a 7, which is good. Not great, but not bad. Enjoyable, but with definite room for improvement as the game is developed to full release. As both you and I (and the review I quoted) agree on.


Again, we both say that the game is good and will get better but obviously won't be perfect for everyone. There's been a lot of effort put into the game by Larian and its exciting that we're getting another BG game.

However, between the two of us, one of us has spent much more effort bashing people that have disagreed with their comments, so you don't really have the high horse for "respecting differences of opinion."

Says the guy who came into my thread and accused me of mischaracterization...yeah yer a saint.

You know what, that's fair. I was being needlessly antagonistic, and although I also tried to engage this post in good faith with my comments on most people's thoughts on the game, that doesn't make up for the former comment.

Then I suggest we both try to be a little less antagonistic. I think we probably agree on way more than we disagree on and we both like the game and want to see it better so why are we sniping each other?

Now hugs and handshakes all around, and we can all go out for pizza!

Sometimes the harshest critics are those who do see the most potential imo... sometimes...

Nice to see all the reviews together though thx and that most seem to fit my own feel for the game...

Will admit i didnt do much research into what the "EA" access would entail and simply jumped in based on BG 1-2... was a little meh finding out it would be a year(no biggie though) but a little more so the more i read people who seem to think 2 yrs...

Approaching 200 hrs in im starting to realize i was wise not to cancel my DDO subscription quite yet though...

+1

This game was only what, forty bucks? Sixty? I don't know, it was the price of lunch. If it were terrible I would forget about it as quickly as my last meal. It is the fact that is has real possibility -and still in development- that I bother contributing my thoughts and perspectives at all.

I have obviously been eating in the wrong places! I get your point though. I have paid a lot more for a lot worse.

That is precisely it. So have I. I have spent a potentially embarrassing amount on games over the years which I have played for a couple hours each and never touched again. I would like to see something made which is superior, which will inspire people toward even greater efforts in the future. Like with sports. I think the earliest superbowl we have footage off is like number 3 right? Green Bay? Brutal, punishing physicality, there is a lot to appreciate, but compare either championship team with those 20 years later and all of them would blow them out of the water. . .Except maybe the Bills, the Browns and the Colts. Gaming should show even greater disparity considering all the technical ability and developments in physics and rendering which have taken place since them. Imagine if Half Life Alyx were the minimum standard of acceptability instead of the gold standard. It is the hallmark of our species we are always pushing our boundaries, finding new horizons, and redefining excellence.

Personally, I think it is the apologists who are willing to settle for mediocrity who do our shared hobby the greatest disservice, the only exception being the most toxic of trolls.

+1

I don't think many people think the game is actually bad, there is so much good work in it, all the visuals, animations, level building, the story seems promising... But I think many of us agree in that if it stays like this it will end up being disappointing and those ratings will be going down. After all the ratings are given with the promise or hope that some things will be fixed or reworked.

If this game only gets patches for bugs, stability and content without revamping some of the gameplay mechanics that the community has been requesting (like party management and size, combat features, inventory, camping, cantrips, scrolls, useless loot, lack of NPC reactions, and so many other things that we have been talking about in these forums) then the game will probably fail. Also is BG3 we are talking about, the expectations are higher because no one expects some other mediocre RPG, we are waiting for a game changer.

From what people learned from DOS 2 EA then it is very likely that they stick to their original plan and only add those ideas they already had in mind since day 1 and nothing more.

That right there is why I get baited into inflammatory comments and get messaged by the Mods. That comment implies so much self-important BS on top of the fact that it probably sold as much or more in EA than was expected for the whole thing so it's all icing from here. It already CAN'T fail. Read the reviews. All they have to do is fix the bugs, stability, and add more content and it will be more of an amazing success than it already is. And all you "well they have to ..." people can go get bent. Its one thing to suggest improvements, but to say it has to...or it will fail...LOLOLOLOL.

I 100% agree with you Baldur's Gate 3 is already a total success. And by in large people love what they see! All Larian needs to do is finish the game.

Less than 99.9% of the the people who have purchased the game have posted on this forum (or reddit). What the handful of us who post think has effectively zero impact on the success of the game.


Which is exactly as it should be . . . the game is much too far along in the process for major game changes. From this point on Larian is filling out Acts 2 and 3, Classes and Races, bug fixing, finalizing UI, and making some minor story and balancing adjustments. Trying to do more than that is effectively starting over, not going to happen.

Everybody has their "Xan" day once in a while ... we're all doomed, etc. That's OK, just keep the feedback coming in and maybe someday I might even get a Ring of Shooting Stars.

One theme I detect in many of the reviews is basically, "You are going to want to keep playing this game ". I find that very encouraging, especially considering the other clear message is that the mechanics of the game are sometimes frustrating. It sounds like Larian has put a lot of effort on what is probably the hardest part of game design, which is making the player want to keep playing. +1 Wisdom.

Hard agree. If they do NOTHING except for fix up the bugs, polish the rough edges, and finish out the content, this will be an excellent RPG beloved by many people. All of our suggestions are really just ways to make the game even more suitable to our personal tastes, but in no way necessary for the game to be good.

I think what we are seeing different is that for you "success" is making money, if we speak in terms of sales yeah maybe BG3 will do great. But there is more than money to this, in a year where the next gen games are coming out and they had the chance to make the best RPG within this subgenre, to be narrow minded and end up making another 6 or 7 point mediocre game to some of us would be considered a failure (after all if Larian just wanted to make money they could have done another Battle Royale).

Compare it to the movie market, excellent movies like Blade Runner 2049 gave an 80 million dollar loss, and movies like Furious 7 are between the highest-grossing films. Can you really judge a product's quality by the amount of people that like it? But hey, no one criticizes you if you prefer Furious 7 commercial type of movies or games, some people settle for less and that is not bad.

Lastly and I hope you don't take it badly, if you get baited into inflammatory comments and can't keep a civilized conversation when someone doesn't agree with you then that is because you are insecure, it's no one else's fault.

The problem is you don't allow for the possibility that many people already consider it a success.




So more people like FF7, but since you don't, they are idiots. Got it. So applying it to BG3, those of us that think it can't be anything but success and disagree with you are idiots too. LoL OK.





Getting irritated with self-important people who are out of touch with reality does not mean I'm insecure. The fact that you feel that only your opinion matters seems to reek of insecurity to me.

Again if you don't like the game...cool. If you want to tell us what you think would make it better...cool. But to say that Larian must do X,Y, and/or Z or the game will fail is delusional.

How did I miss this statement before?

+1

I think there are different audiences, and like in all types of art and media, there is people who can enjoy less sophisticated materials and in most cases it is a matter of taste and knowledge. Think about music for example, in a general idea people who are actually musicians or have been more exposed to music have more sophisticated taste, maybe enjoy jazz or classical that aren't so attractive to the common ear. Can we enjoy a basic reggaeton? Well maybe yes, under a different circumstance, but not as much as one would enjoy jazz.



I am sorry if my words made you feel like I was labelling you as part of the common mass and I was labelling myself into an elite, that was not the intention. Having simpler taste or less expectations has nothing to do with being stupid, you just set the bar lower. Maybe that is enough for you or you have fun in other ways, maybe I have played so many things already that I need different content to actually feel it like an authentic experience.

Yet:

And:

And:

If those statements are not meant to sound elitist, you may want to check your writing style.


And I am totally cool with that and have said so. The issue is that you seem to think your minority opinion is somehow more sophisticated and better, so what you want needs to happen for the game to be successful.
Let me try to explain this difference. I have put together multiple lists of suggestions. In those lists are some things I am totally against. However, I realize that if it is something repeatedly asked for, it should be included because my thoughts are not the be-all and end-all. I have literally thanked people for expressing opinions that I am diametrically opposed to because their opinion is just as important as mine.
Or let me try another way... Why should Larian try to conform to a "sophisticated" niche instead of wider appeal? And why do you think that if they are successful in appealing to a wider audience that they would score lower in reviews?

I think everyone should give their opinion. The more the better. Just don't be arrogant in assuming that your opinion is worth more than anyone else's opinion.

3/10

Because the reviews aren't made by the bigger audience that is easier to please, instead those are made by game designers, developers or people who actually belong to minorities like those you describe. To me there is nothing wrong in assuming some people is easier to please, but then if you actually please the hardcore minorities of people who are a little more perfectionist, with an eye more detail oriented, you will also please the bigger audiences (in most cases).

I would like to emphasize this, but I don't want it to sound arrogant: people who aren't seeing any problems with BG3's gameplay are being more permissive when it comes to details, to verisimilitude, with perfectionism. And that is not bad, it doesn't mean they are stupid, it just means that they don't care about those little things, they will have fun anyways.

It is not my ideas or my own voice that I am preaching, I am talking about a part of the gaming community that does care for those details and who think that the game needs some gameplay fixes, and to quote some reviews too you will see that I'm definitely not the only one hoping for some gameplay changes:

Collider:

"You won’t find remarkable combat here. In fact, I often found myself trying my best in dialogue to skip combat when possible. It’s tedious and takes a long time, a downgrade from the addictive terrain-based fights in DOSII"

GameSpew:

"All the ingredients are there. But with the graphics to be further improved, more content to be added, the gameplay tweaked and the player character to be given a voice... "

GameSpot:

"I found the tone of much of the writing to be a turn-off - the dialogue itself feels off to the extent that I'm not convinced anyone wants to be there."

"That your primary character remains silent during conversations, while everyone else is fully voiced, only exacerbates the problem, heightening the sensation you're playing as an interchangeable mannequin"

Polygon

"The act of playing Baldur’s Gate 3 is a rough one because of how slowly it moves and how constrained it feels to have to play this rule system “by the book.” It’s like hanging out with the worst rules lawyer on the planet."


IGN

"There’s also nothing I could find to stop me from heading back to camp and resting after every single fight, though, which tilts the scales too far in the opposite direction. If I can fully heal and regain all of my spells whenever I want, Baldur’s Gate 3 loses the feeling of being on a long and dangerous adventure on which you must think carefully about your limited resources, which is a staple of D&D"



These were basically the same things you probably heard me and so many other users in this forum complain about, camping breaking immersion, mute main character, combat needing a re balance or some rework. If so many people (even though still a minority) are saying the very same thing... then maybe Larian should try to listen?

Cause most fans of BG1/BG2 played it, went WTF, complained to no avail. and moved on out while laughing at the <its really BG3!!!> hipsters.
Whats left is BG1/2 haters, DOS fans, D&D heads, and AAA cringy cinematic dialogues and sex lovers.
People who like to game will naturally stay in the forums as time goes by, reinforcing their belief that everything is peachy lol.

Given time, the trolls always move on. Probably something to do with their short attention spans and primal desire to be heard/herd.. BG3 will get better and better and if it stops getting better, perhaps the modders will take it to where they wanted it to go. Like life, this is a journey.

1) No, the people who write those reviews are not game designers, developers, etc. They are everyday people who can regularly write a review. As I will point out in the negatives you have cherrypicked, in many cases they are clueless.
2) I have not seen a single post on this forum with someone saying the game or even the combat system is fine as is. At 450.8 hours, I am probably one of the biggest fanbois here. If I am being honest, I could live with just bug fixes and added content. Now live and want are very far apart. You can find plenty of criticisms from me. For example, I have stated multiple times that the movement system is atrocious. Annoyances range from small ones like casting a spell on a party member and having them run around like cockroaches in a foul kitchen that has just had the light come on to huge ones like having to split your party apart and jump them individually or else they are in their own way. I won't even go into how many times I have moved one character slightly and the other three all step in fire. Again criticism and suggestions are encouraged by me.
3) How many people in these forums have complained that combat in BG3 is too much like DOSII, yet this clown wants it more like it? WTF?
4) We know the player will be given a voice in spite of some people here not liking it. So this reviewer didn't even do any research to see what is already on the horizon. Amateur hour.
5) Again, see #4.
6) Yeah, it's purposefully constrained by a rulebook called DnD 5e. How many people in these forums complained that Larian deviated too far from the rules? And this clown thinks they need to deviate further???!!!
7) I am in favor of this. However, IMO it would alienate more people than it would please. Therefore, I have requested it being an option as part of a complex difficulty system. Doubt Larian listens, but I can always hope.
8) And we have examples of them listening. Hopefully, patch 3 will contain yet more examples. Some things though, I feel are a waste of breath. For example, please continue to ask for a dynamic resting system, but IMO there is a ZERO percent chance of it. Again, we can hope.

This interest me, I haven't heard. Do you have a link or something where I can find the confirmation?

Btw just reading your critics I realise that I think very much the same as you do, the difference is like you said you are a fan already and don't care if those get fixed you will enjoy it anyways, and to me and I guess I am not the only one, those things ruin the fun after a couple hours. So in a way it is also your voice that I would like to be heard by Larian.

In regards to those reviews there are people who want a heavy D&D aligned game, those are the core D&D players out there, and others who are new to those rules and can see the issues of a 50 year old tabletop system brought to a videogame, personally I don't care which one they choose as long as they manage to make a fun combat. I loved the combat in DOS2 and I love playing D&D as well even though I acknowledge the system is a bit old and has its issues.

I think people keep bringin Solasta up because they did the heavy D&D based game very well, right now I think BG3 is sitting somewhere in the middle of that and DOS in a really odd place and it would be best to decide which were to go.

It was discussed here https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=738806 lately. Shortly: one of their writers said this on reddit long ago.

PS: Also there was one moment in the game when my character actually talked during cutscene.

I agree BG3 is an enjoyable video game as it is, and I would say Larian have managed to balance the views of the different player groups ( BG/FR fans, DIVOS/General videogamers, and TT 5e players ) quite well.

BG3 does not NEED to change its game-play to be successful.
BG3 could BENEFIT from offering options, where practical, that would help players tailor the experience if they don't like the balance Larian have chosen.

Obviously much of the game content has not been completed, and obviously there are functional problems with the clipping/animations and conversation/state management, which I'm sure Larian know perfectly well.

Beyond that, Larian are more likely to listen and respond to player feedback where it concerns HOW players interact with and control the game - UI, input methods, camera control - but I do not expect any significant changes to the way the game works.

Nor should there be significant changes really, since Larian were perfectly open with everyone who has bought into EA, showing off multiple gameplay streams. BG3 does not fully meet my preferences either, but I still bought it on the basis of what I had seen, not some fantastic expectation that the game would change markedly.

I could not agree with this more. I would love to see many changes as options.
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=733462

Hey thanks for those links guys, I hadn't heard anything about fully voiced custom characters! This is kind of awesome