I feel quite vindicated that pretty much every single criticism I've made of the game over the past three years has proven to be correct, based entirely on what even the fans of the game have been saying here and elsewhere. What is surprising, however, is the extent to which people are still willing to insist it is "the greatest game ever" or even simply that it is "an awesome game." And here I'm not even speaking of fans of the game in this forum. That most of the people here would be die-hard fans of all things Larian is not in the least bit surprising or unexpected. I'm speaking of all the pro reviewers and gaming journalists, who are supposed to be objective and honest and fair in what they write about games, and not gushing cheerleaders.
Like you I dislike when people just repeat PR talking points or get caught up in waves of hype. But BG3 is a strange creature. Or, as I like to think of it, it's like a good junk shop. The main plot is a shambles but the good parts are really, really good.
So, strangely, both are true - the game is a shambles and it's really good.
You know that I just posted an angry request for changes to the end game so let me balance that some by mentioning some good bits for humans who like Forgotten Realms lore.
Major plot spoilers follow. Click and be spoiled!
The Selune / Shar representations were perfect. You really got the sense of just how evil Shar is and what her vision of eternal night would look like.
The things you and I were worried about with Shadowheart were represented well:
Good Shadowheart enters a chamber where she learned to torture people and expresses feeling of remorse. Then in another chamber we find the parents only to find out that Shadowheart needs to kill her parents to cure herself of the strange Sharran wound that Shar has cursed her with. You and I both wanted the evil of Shar's church to be represented and we got that!
And this bit has clearly been written by a Forgotten Realms fan. The trap is pure Shar - SH needs to either keep the curse or embrace the loss of her parents. And the 'cure' requires that you act just like a Sharran. Yep, that's the sort of thing the evil god of loss would do, isn't it?
And the scene has a real pathos to it - the father asking you to kill them for the sake of his daughter's future, the mother whose mind has been destroyed by Shar . . .
Also, the shadow vestiges in the shadow lands are really well done. When you click on the destroyed shadows and you access memories of who these people were before Shar and Kethric warped their souls. Makes the end boss fight fun - "evil meet my sword, sword meet evil . . ."
And the city of Baldur's Gate feels like an improved version of the city we visited in BG1. It's lovely . . .
To be a bit repetitive - BG3 is a strange. Some parts are the best I've ever seen in a game and some bits are complete trash. Unfortunately the end game falls into the latter category . . .
That's also the case for WotR - I know Arushale has many fans but imo she's written as a generic aime waifu fantasy. The final WotR dungeon was trash but the conversation with Vorlesh was fantastic . . . WotR combat is better but let's not forget how ridiculously, unacceptably buggy WotR was on release - in this BG3 is miles better.
Which do I prefer? Right now I think WotR is the better game with the better main story. In WotR players have agency but BG3 has better writing.
Both offer hundreds of hours of gameplay and that should become the new cRPG standard.
