Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Press/Media opinions on BG3.

I thought there would already exist a general topic on press/Media opinions for BG3, but I couldn't find any. I thought this article berlow would be worthwhile to bring to the forum's attention, but a general media topic might be the best place for it. I'm sorry if it's a double, but I did search for an existing one.

The tile of the article : It's Official, Baldur's Gate 3 Is The New Skyrim.
https://www.thegamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-bg3-is-the-new-skyrim/

I know Skyrim from reputation of course, though I never played it.

The article opines that good games become timeless when an enthousiastic community forms around it. This was very strong for Skyrim and is now happening to BG3 to a similar degree.
The part that resonated especially with me (and triggered me to share it) was this :


I think that 's so true. The NPC's are so attaching that the numerous flaws and loophoses in their backstories and the main story are easily forgiven. I've seen a series of interviews (around 40-50 mins. each) with some of the main actors, and several interview with a bunch of them together at one or other convention, and enjoyed these very much each time. They'll become icons on their own, IMO.

I don't think the Skyrim comparison is fair, Bethesda has had very different design philosophies than Larian, and some people enjoy quantity over quality slop. There are over a decade's worth of mods for Skyrim, true, but the bones of game remain the same and it's very much slop. I don't want to turn this into a "lolskyrimbad" thread, so I'll stop there.

I do think though, that part of BG3's success has been embracing of marginalized groups so openly. It turns out, most people have an identity that intersects with a few marginalized groups(definitely plural), since the only non-marginalized identity is effectively the extremely specific ruling class neurotypical cishet white man that a lot people mistake themselves to be. No one reading this post is that.

@Sniffinc, we ask that folk avoid entering into discussion on sensitive topics like politics here so we can debate the game without having the threads derailed by wider, real life disagreements. There are some points that it’s fair to make that inevitably touch on real life politics, but the last bit of your post crossed the line.

We don’t want any debate on that point here, and it would derail the thread to discuss, and a good rule of thumb is that if a point can’t be disagreed with or debated without breaking forum rules or sending a thread off topic, it’s better not to chuck it out there in the first place.

Let’s not go any further with this.

I’m sure mods are really important to extending game life, just like multiplayer, even though I’ve managed to clear over a thousand hours playing without touching either yet! I also can’t comment on Skyrim, as I’m a cRPG fan who embarrassingly hasn’t even tried it.

But I will say that the commitment of the cast to their characters and the community is fantastic to see, and speaks really well of the experience they had working with Larian. I’ve only watched the odd panel and TT stream, but they’ve been really engaging.

Skyrim is over 13 years old so a vanilla vs vanilla comparison with BG3 doesn't really cut it. What makes Skyrim still relevant today is its massive modding community. BG3 will never match Skyrim for either the number of mods or the number of players using them. Lover's Lab has a more active community than this site. Over on Nexus Skyrim SE has 45 new mods today while BG3 has 9.

The guy who wrote the article doesn't seem to know much about Skyrim. Devlin and Cicero are minor characters and neither can be a follower/companion. Lydia can be a follower but I wouldn't describe any of the three as "iconic".

Very much like "-insert game- killer", "-insert game- in the New -insert another game-" is a meaningless clickbait phrase most of the time.

Yes, BG3 is a very successful title that also belongs to a sprawlng genre of "RPG", yes. Considering how different both titles are, I am not sure any other connection can be done between the two, or how much audience overlap there is. Is Elden Ring "new Skyrim" as well?

If there is comparison to be made, it's probably Dragon Age: Origins - a big budget cRPG production making a niche genre approachable to a wider audience.

As to:
It sounds like a vocal minority thinking that everyone follows BG3 social media content as much as they do. I am sure there is an audience which is engage that way, but it's not why Skyrim or BG3 is successful. It is just part of it. Key of any mass appeal product is to appeal to as many demographics as possible. Among 15 millions of sold copies, I imagine relatively few engage with BG3 "community" or have crush on actors behind the characters.

At least you spared yourself the disappointment.


I almost had to get into an argument on another forum when I attempted to explain to a guy in denial why BG3 was in fact A LOT closer to Dragon Age Origin than it ever was to BG2 in almost every single part of its core design and structure.

Lydia getting smashed by traps over and over and over is absolutely iconic!

Followers blundering in to traps is not peculiar to Skyrim nor is Lydia the only follower in Skyrim who does it. Wander around Skyrim with 70 followers in tow then come back and speak to me about traps (and doorways and narrow passages and ...).