Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Explicit decapitations and Disney squirrels

I’ve read through this thread and found it really thought-provoking, thanks folks.

There do seem to be quite a few original BG fans who don’t see BG3 as a (worthy) successor, though, and while it’s entirely possible the thread is representative in that way, I do want to throw in a bit of counterpoint as someone who played BG1 & BG2 (and IWD, NWN, Planscape: Torment) when they first came out, and numerous times since. And who finally struggled through DOS after three attempts and probably as many years, and whose DOS2 playthrough petered out in act 2.

My own take is that:

- BG3 gameplay is clearly different from the old games, and while I agree with many of the niggles people have highlighted and hope they get ironed out, on the whole I reckon the changes are for the better.
- Okay, yeah, I don’t like the way most animals speak either.
- But while it of course comes across differently when voiced by realistic-looking characters, the dark and absurd humour (plus dashes of pure silliness) thrown into a more serious story is absolutely something I feel I can recognise and appreciate from BG1&2.
- It’s superficial, but I’m liking the scattered references to the original games, eg in the books with Candlekeep interviews, about the Bhaalspawn crisis and Faldorn’s manifesto, and I’m sure that as the game goes on we’ll get more that ties back that I’ll have fun smugly recognising.
- And in terms of events in the game, even in these first few areas in EA I’m enjoying the echoes of the first game (druids v shadow druids, lots of the Underdark, disturbing dreams, and so on) and there’s not much that actually happens that I couldn’t see happening in the first two games even if the feel is somewhat different due to BG3 being made by different people.

So, in short, and acknowledging this is very much a personal opinion, this particular old BG fan is very happy with the direction of the game, and is finding Larian’s new and different take on BG intruiging and fun, but with enough commonality to see it as a genuine successor to the games I’ve loved for 20+ years.