So, I haven't posted in a while. But I did finally buy BG3 after ignoring early access forever. We're currently in the last act on our 3rd run, second on Tactician. AFAIK, BG3 had upwards of 500k concurrent players on Steam which for a CRPG is.... absolutely insane. The game in many areas is probably the best CRPG you're going to play in the modern. Plenty of choices, companion dialog interactions, branching stories that while still narrowing into act 3, give new perspectives on what is going on. While most players will pick Tav (the meme name for the custom character), Origin characters bring their own take on many events. Dark Urge, without spoiling too much, basically MAKES this game BG3 if you play as them (NOTE: Dark Urge is the only Origin character you can modify like you can Tav).
Sidenote: even 20 years later, I'm just fuckin' "done" with mindflayer/Illithid bullshit. But whatever, here we are.
Combat is DnD 5e with Larian shennans sprinkled in heavily. You have probably heard memes about barrelmancy. But even without that, once you grasp the core concepts of the system, combat can become a lot easier. Action economy is everything and unfortunately you WILL find that Damage > a lot unless you are using specific builds. Some come online early, others later. Itemization is incredibly powerful in BG3. Certain items make either strong builds absolutely broken, or turn a scuffed build into something OP. Outside possibly pure Rogue, nearly any class is viable and offers numerous playstyles. Rogue is "fine" but this is an action economy game, so by level 5 a LOT of classes start taking off. Good thing it's only 100gold to respec.
The story is more than serviceable with multiple well voice acted takes on the current ongoings. I find it pretty generic and lampshaded as someone who's just read a ton of this stuff, but I have enjoyed it more than I thought I would. There's plenty of content scattered everywhere. The musical score is a banger. If you have any inclination to purchase a turn-based RPG, you literally aren't going to find a better option.
The game can be a bit buggy, esp as you go on further. But outside 2 instances of the UI totally shitting out, I've not had to ALT-F4, nor savescum an interaction.
Co-op is finally "fixed." If you start together, anyone can pick Origin or Custom. If you join after the start, you have to make a Tav. OG this character was stuck in your party no matter what, but now you can stuff them in a closet (not a joke) and run another character to fill out your group. Coop is fun, works pretty well, but the coop partner is treated more as a merc than in games like Div 2 (where you could romance and interact with NPCs just like the host).
Bard is probably my favorite class to face as. Watch out though, you can (and it's fine if this is what you want) talk a lot of fights to death. You still get the XP, but you're prolly not getting loot.
bilateralrope wrote: ↑2023-08-20 12:57pmThe only Larian games I've played are Divinity 2 and Divinity: Dragon Commander. So I have to ask if they have the player transform into a dragon at any point in Balder's Gate 3.
Withers: No. The best you're going to get is playing as Dragonborn. Who can Fus-ro-dah a breath attack. They are humanoid though. You ain't the Red Prince in this game.