I've been disappointed. The atmosphere/vibe of the game feels wrong. Larian made it too much like Divinity with non-stop comedy and campiness. The NPCs behave like they're in a movie that deliberately cast the very worst actors in the industry, with acting so cringeworthy and hammy that it's painful to watch. While the original BG series had room for comic relief and over-the-topness, this game seems to have almost nothing other than that. Everything is cranked up to 11, nothing is down to earth. Every part of BG3 comes off like it was designed by someone whose main goal was to make things as extreme and unusual as possible. I really prefer my fantasy settings to be tempered against a backdrop of realism, and BG3 utterly fails to be a believable experience. It ruins any chance of immersion for me.
And then it's just too similar to D:OS in all aspects. It feels like playing a D&D mod for D:OS2. The looks, the controls, the playstyle, the way you interact with the gameplay environment; Larian really didn't do enough to make the game feel different. Imagine if Bethesda had made Cyberpunk2077 and it was literally just Skyrim set in Night City, with Skyrim controls and mechanics and everything. Disappointing, to say the least.
Finally, the combat is terrible. Just profoundly unenjoyable. Part of that comes down to the fact that 5e is a tabletop game that translates inelegantly into a turn-based video game experience, but Larian could have alleviated that somewhat by not restricting the party size to four. With just four party members, the player just doesn't get to do enough during fights. Often you sit there for minutes waiting for a turn, and then you get to do one thing with one character and it's time to wait again. I believe Larian will heavily tone down the mindboggingly terrible "elemental surfaces" stuff in time for release, so that's not something I'm too worried about, but combat as a whole is so clunky and boring.
I am baffled by this first paragraph in particular. This game is, if anything, a little bit light on the humor compared to original Baldur's Gate games and the Divinity games. If anything, I kept waiting for a joke that never came with this game. I found the large majority of this game to be rather serious and down-to-earth. The opening with the dragon attack and the ride through hell is cinematic, but everything else was a bit subdued. The everyday stories of the refugees at the Tiefling camp and the general way everything played out was pretty fine imo. It just boggles the mind to me that you found this game ridiculous. What particular instances of ridiculousness stood out to you?
On the second paragraph, it's made by the same people. It stands to reason that there are certain design similarities. For the Bethesda thing, that's sort of what they did with Fallout because they're the *same game studio and they design games similarly because they are made by the same people*
The four party members has a reason. the main reason for that is the 5th edition reccomended party size. The Dungeon Master's Guide reccomends 3 to 5 players should make up an adventuring party. 4 fits cleanly between that. Other than that, it's subjective, so I got nothing.
One second the game is serious and you crush a head with your foot... The next second you dip your sword in a candle or a torch.
Next time you heard about poor refugees killed by goblins... A few minutes later you eat the head of a pig between two attack during combats.
See how it looks ridiculous and inconsistent all over the place ?
- BG3 is 4 party members because D&D is 3-5... - BG3 is turn based because D&D is turn base (with rounds of 6 seconds and spell duration in minutes, not in turns) - Time doesn't exist in BG3 because time doesn't exist in D&D... - You can dip weapons in BG3 because you can dip weapons in D&D...
Wait... All those sentences also looks ridiculous...
So, you're saying that the game mechanics are somehow stupid or goofy? I don't understand why you would think that. I also didn't understand that was what you were getting at, it seemed as if you were claiming that the story varied wildly in tone, which it doesn't.
There's nothing too goofy about dipping imo, I think it's just sort of a catch-all in an attempt to show all the goofy combat shennanigans that any good DM would allow in actual, IRL, tabletop DnD.
I'm no proponent of eating to regain health either, but there's nothing that seems so ridiculous about doing it. It's been a thing in games for years. It's just, like... a thing. BG3 is four because that is the median party size in the reccomended size. It stands to reason that 4 is what was chosen.
And yes, BG3 is turn-based because DnD is turn based! That is absolutely correct!
Time does pass in BG3, just not in a day/night cycle. You travel around during the day, and take long rests when it gets dark.
Again, Dipping is sort of a catch-all for all of those DnD combat shenanigans that any good DM would allow.
