HoloDust said:
BG3 is very solid game, that does some things really good, some things really, really bad, and then some things doesn't do at all. Eventually, I wouldn't be surprised if Larian even becomes 2nd party studio that starts doing D&D exclusively, due to how much Hasbro and WotC are pushing for "digital future" (and funny thing is, CEO of WotC since last year is Cynthia Williams, who came to Hasbro from Microsoft, same one who said that "D&D brand is undermonetized. We want to unlock type of the recurrent spending we see in video games", and who is, if I understood it correctly, actual expert in microtransactions and similar shit). |
In terms of storytelling/writing it's a lot closer to BG than Divinity. While there's still some comic relief, the game takes itself pretty seriously. Characters have a lot more depth and the tone is pretty close to the old BG games.
In terms of gameplay, it's not really that similar to old BG games though. This isn't just the fact that it's using 5e instead of adnd2e or that combat is full turn based instead of rtwp now, but that the gameplay design and structure is way different than the BG1/2 and is instead a lot closer to DOS2. the level/world design is probably the best example of this since instead of having multiple standalone maps connected through a world map, you now have one large pseudo open-world where all areas are connected together where you use fast travel to get around easily. This isn't the only example of such a difference though, there's so many things related to the overall game design that are very different from BG1/2 (some of which are a result of going with this style of world design such as the lack of a day/night cycle). The overall gameplay design and structure is practically identical to DOS2 (albeit using the 5e ruleset as a base and with certain gameplay elements such as surfaces modified to be less important).
To give some more examples, quest design and progression are very different and are instead a lot more open-ended and less "tightly scripted". Exploration and interaction with the world is more heavily encouraged. Environmental interaction is also a larger factor in combat than it was before. There's also no random encounters, and encounters are unique and will never respawn.
If liked BG because of the storytelling, I think you'd probably like this game since it's not that far from it in this aspect . If liked BG for that general style of gameplay and want something that is as close to it as possible I'd recommend going with something like Pathfinder Kingmaker or Pillars of Eternity.
