It’s a couple of months since Baldurs Gate 3 released at the start of August. A game that I had accepted that I was interested in but not really excited to play, pre-release, then as the release hype hit and the reviews started to land I very quickly decided I needed to be on board. The FOMO was real.
Well that was a decision I am very glad I made. What a game. My only regret is that I don’t have as much time as I want to put into it. In the weeks since I made the purchase I’ve put about 25 hours in and am still on Act 1. Barely a dent in the overall story really. Without using my laptop to stream from my gaming rig while I sit on the sofa in front of the TV, trying to still be sociable with my wife, I’d have only managed a fraction of that. So, it’s not too bad.
Anyway, I am loving the game. Even as a fan of Larian’s previous awesome CRPG – Divinity: Original Sin 2, it’s shocking just how good it is. This is the purest expression of Dungeons and Dragons as a video game. I’ve been able to take everything I’ve learned in the last few years of playing a regular D&D session with friends and put it into the game. Mind you, this is a group which saw our party famously get TPK’d (total party kill) by a small band of kobolds in the very first encounter of one adventure. We’ve not set a high bar.
But that previous experience has been great, it’s let me jump in to BG3 unquestioningly and set about the game and it’s encounters armed with knowledge about short and long rests, spell slots, levelling choices and, most importantly, how to play each class without too much trial and error or reference to tutorials that totally new players may need. Which isn’t to put you off, if you’re completely new to D&D then Baldurs Gate is an awesome way to dip your toes in and get started. It is very welcoming to new players and the learning curve is much, much more forgiving than say a Dark Souls style game.
The writing, the size and scope of the game, the voice acting (oh so much amazing voice acting!), all of it shines in Baldurs Gate 3. If you have even a passing interest in D&D or classic RPGs then you should get on board. My friends who have been playing on PS5 say it’s great there too.
In fact my friends have also been similarly obsessed, most of them quickly overtaking me and filling our group chat with excited messages as they progress through the story. This does nothing to help me feel better about my slow progress through the game. However, I need to get over it as very soon I am due to restart my part-time degree with the Open University and will have very little free time for the foreseeable future (sad violin noises).
For the meantime I’m going to spend my last week or so of free time trying to get as much time in BG3 as I can. Which does make me feel guilty for neglecting all my other hobbies. But that’s a whole other thing I need to get over. If you’ve been playing BG3, let me know how you’ve been getting on, what’s your favourite class build?
Mince and Skirlie 