In a recent episode Extra Punctuation Yahtzee made an interesting classification of how game's can engage the player, those being: context, challenge, and catharsis. I think it is a pretty good simplification, as I think I can easily put every game that I played an enjoyed under one or more of these headings. As such I thought it could be interesting to look at BG3 through those three lenses.


Context


"Context refers to storytelling. If you’re playing a game because you want to know what happens at the end, or learn more about the setting or find out what’s going to happen to characters you like and/or relate to, then we have a game that’s strong on context. Very firmly the territory of your classic adventure games, RPGs and visual novels. But it’s not just about having a story. Every game has context to a certain extent. Space Invaders doesn’t have a story but it does havw context because the things you shoot look like little alien gribblies. If they looked like adorable lambs and mewed plaintively as you shot them it’d probably have been a different experience."

That is definitely, what I found appealing in original BG1&2 - the fantasy of adventuring, characters to interact with, immersive world. I never thought D&D was a good combat system from gameplay perspective, but I thought it did context well - a sneaky thief to fight different to an archmage, or undead, and that sells the fantasy of the situation.

This is, IMO, biggest "downgrade" from BG1&2 to BG3. The artificial and contrived feel of the world, clash between game mechanics and it's narrative, how mean, and unenjoyable characters are to interact with. Riddiculous, jump, shove and other mechanics, which goes against the narrative of the game. At least for me, Context isn't compelling me to play more, and I honestly don't really care to see more of the story.

Challenge

"The second leg, Challenge, hopefully shouldn’t need too much explaining, it’s what video games are all about. But it’s worth noting that while the other two legs offer direct satisfaction of some kind, challenge is about creating satisfaction with yourself, with having the skills or the intelligence to conquer a task or puzzle. It’s also about the satisfaction of putting the work in to gather resources or build yourself up from a lowly position in order to eventually triumph over adversity, so you can have the soft challenge of an RPG where you have to level up and gather equipment to make your damage numbers high enough to take on the big boss at the end, or the hard challenge of a Dark Souls or a one on one fighting game where having the best stuff is less important than developing your actual thumb dexterity, reflexes and muscle memory."

This is, where I think BG3 has the most potential, if the game gets balanced properly. Again shove (and I think it explains why I hate it so much - it negatively touches multiple aspects of the game), and other potentially harmful homebrew options. I don't think every game needs a well designed combat, but not having it, definitely harms the potential engagement. So far BG3 also undermines its "soft challenge of an RPG where you have to level up and gather equipment to make your damage numbers high enough to take on the big boss at the end" - so far it doesn't have much of it (which I personally approve - I am much bigger fan if tactical challenge, then statistic challenge), but that is where, for example, I find "shove Hag from stealth for guaranteed kill" is so detrimental - as it actively undermines any satisfation player might get from beating the enemy through tactical skills, or leveling up.


Catharsis


"Lastly, we have Catharsis. The least helpfully named leg because the other legs both offer catharsis of some kind, strictly speaking. What I mean here is everything that creates pure satisfaction on a visceral, sensory, moment-to-moment level, without offering challenge or needing context. This, friends, is the realm of popping bubble wrap. It’s not very challenging to blow off a villager’s head in Resident Evil 4 in a shower of chunks, and context doesn’t add a whole lot to it either but it’s undeniably cathartic. See also swinging through the city in Spider-Man. Or the level up effect from World of Warcraft. Sure, it’s a challenge to get to that point, ostensibly, but the knowledge and effect of having grown stronger is utterly secondary to the sheer visceral joy of hearing that delightful sound and seeing that bloom of light."

Is this BG3 appeal? Sheer production value making people enjoy it, in spite of shortcomings in previous two aspects? I have some issues with BG3 clunkiness (cough chain system cough, attacking from stealth one by one and joining to combat cough), but interacting with stuff is fundemantally satisfying - be it throwing or smacking a goblin over a head, and shoving someone to death does give some basic satisfaction. Maybe those are just games that are not for me - currently playing Spider-man, and while combat and swinging is incredibly fun and satisfying, and can't help but with the game would have more sustance - narratively, or challenge wise. And at least for me personally it would check out - I always enjoy BG3 for the first couple hours I play it, but easily get bored with it, due to lack of compelling gameplay or engaging narrative to push me forward. While Context or Challenge alone can carry the game for me, catharsis cannot.