Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Feedback and Critics

THis ist my first Post on this Forum.
Although i own Divinity:OS1 and 2 i never felt the need to post something on Larian Forums. But with BG3 i am realy motivated enough to register and write here.

Though i never could motivate mayself to finish those games i have to say that i enjoyed playing them. Even if they were not my cup of tea i must say that they were so detailed and obviously made with love that it was a great experience playing them.

That beeing said i didnt buy BG3 because its a Larian game but just because i am a DND and Baldurs Gate fan. I guess the hours spent with those games went in to many thousands over the years.
So buying a Game called BG3 was a no brainer no matter who produced that game.

The Positiv:

When i startet the game, watching intro and creating character and playing prologue, at first i was blown away by the details and atmosphere.
The dialogues with the closeup kameras and the Dice-roles on checks...... damn..... felt like the holy Grail of Roleplaying.
And the Sound..... guys realy! AWESOME!!! Helps alot creating a epic immersion! I cant remember a game where i was soo impressed during first Hour!
The way downward began when i first hit the Jump button..... or more precisely when i used it in combat.......


The Negativ

..... jumping around on Crates and stuff..... felt so extremely wrong..... abit like super Mario in a tactical combat. At first i didnt realize this immersion breaking ridiulous movement was also a Disengage decided to never ever use it.... until saw it was necessary to get height advantage.
And as further i progressed into game the worse the combat became.
DnD combat was always about tactic within a Team. Since DND is a class based system where EVERY class has advantages but also tons of disadvantages and limitations its tactical core lies in the Teamwork to overcome shortcomings of the individual characters. At no time i could feel this spirit. With a partysize of 4 the DIvinity games where perfectly set as every indiviudal char was a classles powerhouse with tons of Combos. With DND the 4 people are not enough to bring most of the class diversity to the table. In PnP DnD the groups are only smaler cause its more dificult to get enough people together regulary. A Problem that doesnt exist within a Computer.


But it got worse and worse..... i felt that even a Class doesnt realy matter. You play a wizard ----> use cantrips or spells to create Groundhazards. You play a Ranger -----> you use Arrows to create hazards. You play a Rogue or fighter ------> you throw grenadelike items to create Hazards. Or you shoot barrels or use environmental things. In the end Class barely matters. And it seems the game ist designed around the Premise that it doesnt matter how you put your party together you can go with ANY combination as it doesnt realy matter. I never felt that a Healer ist needed for example. Also i cant see the point of a Tanklike character. While from a Game-perspective this is working and working well! From a DND perspective this is the worst DND experience i ever had. With the exception of "Demonstone" maybe.

Even the Character progession seems totaly unimportant and very shallow although thats not realy Larians fault but the streamlined 5e Abomination of WotC.
When i encountered enemys i was shocked that i faced a INTELLEKT-Devourer at lvl 1 and immediatly had the impression i took a wrong turn somewhere. And when i encountered goblins with tons of Hitpoints it became just obvious that DnD was written on cover but was never meant to be the Soul of the game.

My charakters making like 10 yard-Jumps onto ledges and firing arrows on exploding barels felt like a stab into the Heart of Immersion every single time.
The awesome Presentations of Dialogs and Story kept me going and trying to avoid the abysmal Combat whereever possible.
But after jumping down the Well and encountering Phase-spiders i finaly quit the game. Dear Larian.... Phasespiders are DANGEROUS but their Phasing ability is meant to suprise an enemy and appear suddenly behind him and overhelming him...... its NOT meant to phase around Platforms shooting like Guerilla Mutant Ninjas with the Player making mentioned 10 Yardjumps after them. It became very obvious that Larian has a near unmatched skill for story telling and love for details. But has no whatever connection to DND and its Spirit. Belive me Gary Gygax would have taken away the Licence from you if he where still alive and had any saying in it.

He always said that DND was about working together as a Team to overcome Problems greater than the indiviual part of the sum. Never get that feeling in BG3.

If you realy plan on reviving DND and its spirit you have to totaly let go all of your Divinity Mindset and dont listen too much to WoTC as they have almost killed the whole Brand with their 4th edition. You need to watch what made DND so successful in the first place. It was neither accessible nor easy to handle or streamlined. It was a thing created FROM Nerds FOR Nerds. Check the Gamebox from Pools of Radiance and see that fat Handbock with tiny written letters to even make you barely understand the game. I am not saying this ist the way to go but game was successfuly because of complexity and depth (compared to other games at that time).


Finaly i want to thank you fro reading and i honestly expect to be attacked by Larian Fans since i am posting in their Forum and writing critics on their favorite game. But maybe one of the devs at least comes to think only a few seconds about what i said then i am allready happy enough.

Best Regards