Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous vs BG3

After playing a bunch of WotR, I find it incredibly difficult to go back to Kingmaker. WotR even in its unfinished state is a better game than Kingmaker in virtually every conceivable way. The leap in quality is comparable to the jump between DOS1 -> DOS2. Perhaps even beyond that, as DOS2 sacrificed quite a few things from DOS1 (as in crafting and actual dangerous exploration) in order to focus on the combat design, while WotR didn't really sacrifice much of anything at all.

Like I already have 275+ hours across all of the alpha and beta phases of WotR. I only have 180+ hours across my Kingmaker playthroughs in comparison.

If you do intend to get into Kingmaker, there's a few things you'll probably find very questionable, the kingdom management system foremost among them. But it adds quite a lot of weight to the narrative, IMO. The first time I played through the game, the combination of the aytpical story along with the gameplay structure was quite intriguing, and I did feel a great sense of accomplishment when advancing into each chapter, much more than I had felt in any cRPG previously.


I think this entire argument should be approached from a different angle. In WotR, your player character is really just a nobody that got railroaded into being something special due to factors also completely out of their control if you really want to deeply analyze it. Though there is one fundamental difference there, the powers you have are truly yours to mold into whatever way you see fit. It's too early to see if you can do anything similar with the tadpoles, or if it's going to be a binary 'get rid of them ASAP or embrace them' thing.

Anyway, the real point is that the true difference is in the presentation, and it all goes back to how the party interacts with each other and the rest of the world - and everyone already knows my thoughts on how WotR is leagues ahead of BG3, if not all other cRPGs thus far in this category. Even though your character's story is somewhat railroaded as hell in WotR outside of choice of mythic path, the actual dialogue options you can have are quite varied since it's a game that places quite a lot of emphasis on alignment. The way that the party members and supporting cast interact with you and each other makes your character feel like someone that is an integral part of the group for very personal reasons other than being the obligatory party leader, and it gives off the impression that you and the rest of the cast have always been a part of that world, no matter how differently you fight or role play in each playthrough.

BG3's party in comparison feels like a group of annoying tourists getting into everybody's business and making up plans as they go along in comparison.

That said, BG3 -can- stand out in different ways in this category, without having to play follow the leader in regards to the other cRPGs or something. There are ways to add a lot of subtle reactivity that goes a long way towards reinforcing a character's development. For one, certain party members could have unique combat lines when attacking or encountering specific enemy types. Wyll could have quite a bit to say about the goblins he's attacking. Or Gale could be utterly freaked out by the Beholders. Lae'zel could try to act tough in front of the Minotaurs, and so on.

Although once again, I am someone who places great value in world building and how it is presented, enough to pick up and care greatly about such subtle means of character development and world presentation. And honestly, BG3 hasn't really done very well in the world presentation part, as it doesn't really convey the sheer scale of the setting or give you any reason to care about anything beyond your immediate surroundings. Though this will likely change over time, considering the current setting isn't very conducive to such things.