I'm currently in Gauntlet of Shar, 85 hours so far. One might think "Wow, so much content". And yes, there is. But the problem is, if this was game made the way these type of games were made back in golden days of cRPG, it would take half that time to go through that content - and that's at the most. Between dev's choice of horrid camera angle for isometric cRPG (yes I know there is camera mod), even worse inventory system and pretty much wrong choice of overarching gameplay mechanism, the game is sometimes excruciatingly slow to play.
Now what I mean by wrong choice of overarching gameplay mechanism? Basically, this game is made as continuous dungeon crawler - which neither BG1 or BG2, nor all those old RPGs we love and compare BG3 to, are. I even, at times, feel more like I'm playing something like Commandos: Behind Enemy lines or Desperados, instead of proper take on BG sequel. Yes, there are terrific areas, with lot to see and discover, but content is way, way too condensed and everything is clumped so tight. Not only does this make for really lousy world building, given that everything is made to feel like set pieces and not living, breathing world, but the gameplay suffers from lack of quiet moments where you just explore and search for new info and quests without dangers of someone jumping you. And no, Druid Grove, Goblin Camp and Last light Inn don't count as towns, they are way, way too small for that.
Add to this some of the nonsensical butchering of D&D 5e rules (to the detriment of tactical combat), terrible UI, mind baffling gameplay issues (like with characters who are in combat, waiting their turn, and characters who are not in combat that can stroll around in real time), mostly subpar companions (compared to BG 1&2), plot that makes both you and your companions from the start feel like you're at least level 5 or 6, instead of level 1 nobodies, tons of bugs, and BG3 really ends up as a good game, but not a great game.
Now, yeah, it sound all very harsh, but I'm enjoying it quite a bit cause there's a lot of really good stuff in it. I know that my choices will eventually boil down to 2 actual choices, but nevertheless I'm making choices and wondering what would it be if I made them differently - and for that alone it is worth it. Design of the areas is (mostly) really good, despite all the shit that camera gives you constantly. Where it's supposed to be interesting, dungeon crawling is pretty good. I just wish overall gameplay was actually much better, and game's grand design making it feel more like proper BG sequel (in which you had overworld and you had to take care of where you rest for fear of being ambushed in the night - you know, like in every fucking DnD edition ever, including 5e) and gaming "journalist" not hyping it as second coming, cause it's not. Out of recent-ish cRPGs something like The Age of Decadence might be called innovative, but that is really low budget and unpolished for many to notice. Disco Elysium is innovative and polished. And something as old as Ultima VII ('92) is epitome of innovative, even today. BG3 is no Ultima VII. It is a good game, being heavily propped by being D&D and having Hasbro, and all the people that rely on D&D 5e popularity, to push it in gaming media.
So far, my verdict is Good (which translates to 7/10).
Last edited by HoloDust - on 01 September 2023
