I had to jump to the Larian forums to leave the staff and devs with a brief but heartfelt expression of my thoughts and impressions, post patch 8.
I bought the game on the first day of the EA, and have played each subsequent patch and fix in the years since. Post patch 8, The game is playing and flowing so smoothly and effortlessly that it has given me a whole new appreciation of the entire game. Previous patches and versions had always played a bit disjointedly, as if disparate pieces were patched in to each other but had yet to be refined and honed to flow smoothly and naturally. Prior to 8, the game was very good, don't mistake what I'm saying--but it's not a criticism I would have made if patch 8 had never been created and issued!
But now, after this last patch, the game plays and flows as if every scene had been storyboarded from the beginning--the game is now cohesive in a way it simply wasn't before. As if Larian had plotted out and planned each nuance and plot event from before day 1 of BG3 development had begun! The play flows and draws me in. Bravo! Well done. Larian should be set for the future with what it has learned and mastered, I have no doubt!
I also want to comment on how much better the game renders after patch 8. I've always played @ 4k, sans FSR (BG3 runs so well on my aging AM4 3900X that FSR is unnecessary), max IQ settings, HDR display of 1000nits, on a Phillips 43" Momentum Display, using an RX-6900 XT with the latest AMD GPU drivers (25.3.2 Adrenalins), Windows 11 Pro build 26100.3902.
The game rendering seems visibly improved, such I that I often just pause to take in the scenery and the surroundings. I also note that the segue animations are much better and certainly help to enhance the unified flow of the game as the player progresses.
The game seems "finished" in a way that it simply wasn't prior to patch 8! The irony is that if not for patch 8 I'd never have guessed how much better the game could look and play. Thank you, Larian, for such devotion to this title.
