videogameblog

(spoilers)

It's interesting to try and pinpoint the reasons for Baldur's Gate 3's explosive success - isometric TTRPGs aren't typically the first thing that come to mind when thinking of genres that appeal to mass audiences. I think it's mainly down to the breadth of appealing facets that are seamlessly included; in-depth character customisation, opportunities for deeply involved roleplay, technical and crunchy combat systems, an expansive explorable world and countless other small features like romance act as hooks for those who would typically have no interest. On top of that, these systems are especially 'discussable'. You could easily talk at length with someone you'd just met about everything from combat to romance. My interest was initially piqued when I read on twitter that the player would be able to get a job at the printing house and manipulate the newspaper headlines to alter civilian's perspectives. I never actually ended up doing this in the game, but seeing people post/talk about it online was enough to get me on board. At it's core, BG3 is successful because of it's versatility. You can play it good or evil, roleplayer or fighter, polyamorous or celibate. Players are able to shape the experience they want, allowing even those with no interest in TTRPGS (or even video games) to pick it up and enjoy it.

My Baldur's Gate 3 experience was an extensively long one. I'd initially played the first act on release, but started fresh after putting it down for a few months. Playing through the first act again is easy, as it's definitely where the game is unfortunately at it's strongest. After escaping from a mind flayer ship that captured you and put some kind of parasite in your head, the player's motivation is simple; find some way to remove the parasite. As you explore, you'll come across various other characters who are victims of the same infection and they'll join you on your search for a cure. On your journey you'll learn that people are misinterpreting the strange abilities granted to those with the parasite and worshipping the infected as false prophets, convening at a goblin camp. You'll also come across a religion-driven land feud between druids and tiefling refugees in a grove. These are the two major sub-plots of act one. It's up to the player to take sides in these conflicts and aid in reaching the resolution of their choosing, all of which feel impactful. There's alot of overlap between these two groups, with a conflict also taking place between the goblins and the tieflings. Having this multitude of narrative moving parts already in place as the player arrives makes the world feel reactive and alive. This feeling is furthered by the implementation of side quests in act 1 - they all branch off of either the goblin camp or the tiefling grove in some way. You'll come across a splinter group from the tiefling grove in search of an artefact, or run into a goblin outpost in the woods. Act 1 feels like a small interconnected web of quests and information, and it's great at quickly getting the player into the loop of what's going on in this small patch of the woods. Unfortunately after this, that web swiftly begins to fall away.

As you arrive in act 2 you find that there's another two locations, 'The Last Light Inn' and 'Moonrise Towers'. Moonrise is occupied by the same cult from the goblin camp, and The Last Light by refugees taking shelter on their way to Baldur's Gate. Sound familiar? Act 2 immediately feels like a re-hash of act 1, with a much less-developed conflict at it's core. The conflict between the Goblins, Tieflings and Druids in act 1 had significantly more moral depth - you can empathise with both the tieflings and the druids, understanding both of their perspectives. Act 2 boils the conflict down to a simple good vs evil. The game world also feels alot less interconnected, with side-quests being alot more isolated than they previously were. You'll now just come across them while meandering around, like a surgeon killing people in a church. You dispatch him and move on. Alot of Act 2's side-content has this strange disconnect, making it's map feel alot more game-y than Act 1's. I also encountered a major issue with Act 2's narrative structure - persuing side content (which alot of people like to do BEFORE the main objective) before following the narrative up to a certain point can lock the player out of HOURS of significant content and in my case, two major story companions. The game doesn't really warn you of this - while following your companion Shadowheart's questline, you'll reach the end and a popup tells you that 'if you proceed the game world will change'. Not really very clear! I think a more concise 'go and do this part first' here would have been better, but I think the actual solution is to not structure your game like this. My reason for resetting my playthrough in the first place was that a recent patch had made it so you could add an otherwise unobtainable 'evil route' companion to your party while being morally good, but the content skip caused me to miss out on that entirely. It was very frustrating. Act 2 is also where the narrative begins to get very confused - finding a way to remove the tadpole in your brain takes a backseat, as you're introduced to a variety of different characters all trying to take control/destroy 'The Elder Brain', which is the true cause of the tadpoles powers? The simplicity of the original narrative thread of 'remove tadpoles' allowed for alot more flexibility - You're assisting the druids because they might be able to help you if you do. The introduction of the elder brain voids this point, switching your motivation to 'go and kill/gain control of the brain', which is pretty rigid in comparison.

Act 3 is weird. You finally arrive in Baldur's Gate, and it's huge. There's 100s of side quests and characters to talk to. You can go inside of every single building. Despite this wealth of content, this is where the stakes feel lower than ever. Every quest feels isolated, having no impact on the game world other than providing you with some loot. Making the act so side-content heavy like this is where I feel it fails, almost putting the main narrative aside so you can go and indulge in various random side activities. The overload of objectives is also extremely overwhelming, and pretty confusing. At one point I thought there was two cults in the city, but I was just getting mixed up because of how many quests there are. Your main goal at this point is to gather three 'nether stones' to kill the elder brain, which pretty much just means killing three bosses. It feels much less involved than the rest of the game has, and the open-endedness really doesn't help raise the stakes. The ending is pretty cool though.

As I played through the game I found myself becoming increasingly conflicted with the implementation of companions. I love how they all come with a unique questline, different likes and dislikes and they'll sometimes interject during dialogue if they're with you. But I couldn't help but feel disappointed with the REST of my companions. Wyll, Karlach and Halsin all sat idly in my camp throughout almost the entire game. Once I'd recruited them they were reduced to mannequins that stood in my camp, contributing absolutely nothing to the game anymore. Sure, I could have mixed up my party to make sure everyone got some use, but balancing is hard! It would be way too much effort to restructure my party just to alleviate these feelings surrounding the characters in my camp. I wish they'd taken a different approach to how the camp works, with companions going off on quests of their own during the day if they're not being used. Maybe they could even be encounterable in certain situations. For example, Karlach repeatedly expressed a wish to kill Gortash, one of the bosses in act 3. I completely forgot to bring her with me, and after I did I had to go tell her he was dead while she stood idly at the camp. What if when I arrived, if she wasn't in my party, she was already there, trying to kill him alone? It's alot to ask from a game that's already completely packed with countless branching side quests and details like this, but I think it would have elevated companions to another level where they feel like parts of the world again. I think this is another reason why Act 1 is the best; you're able to easily restructure your party because your level is low and encounters aren't too hard yet. I only found this 'mannequin-syndrome' kicked in with some companions as i entered act 2.

Roleplay is easily one of Baldur's Gate 3's greatest strengths. It's insane how many different races, classes, sub-classes and choices can have major impacts on the narrative. I played as a drow who, in my headcanon, was captured from the underdark, and had never seen the surface before. Because of this, she was cruel and unforgiving. As she explored, however, she became more empathetic, eventually shifting her perspectives to be a hero by the end of the game. Playing like this and expecting the game to accomodate for it is a hard ask, as role play systems typically expect you to align with either morally good or bad decisions. In act 2, I encountered a bard who I'd previously beaten up in act 1. I was surprised when the game allowed me to apologise, stating that I wasn't that person anymore. The different paths that players could take through the narrative feel truly endless; one playthrough could be unrecognisable when compared to another. It's also rewarding to see your choices have such significant impacts on how the narrative unfolds; I decided not to align with any specific group directly but I can imagine how different the ending must be if you do.

I could easily write pages more about BG3's combat systems, questlines, companions and stats but that would take too long. Overall I think it's an extremely accessible, malleable experience that offers endless replayability. It truly has something that would appeal to everyone. Also has countless memorable characters and moments. I love minsc