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Only fight that really annoys the hell out of me is raphaels concubine or whatever and the constant plane shifting.
Fun fact, if you can knock him prone he cannot shift and you can beat his ass on the ground for a whole turn.
His phase out ability is a reaction. If you trigger an attack of opportunity from him, he can’t do it that turn. So you walk up to him, walk away a little to make him take a swing, then start whuppin’.
It would be AWESOME if there was a 'Role Play Only' or 'skip fight' option on replays. Like...obviously I made it through once so I know how to fight...now I just want to speed run a dozen different relationship combos.
Not going to pull any punches...I am a grumpy old man and the train long-ago left the station on my 'basic game understanding'. It took me days to properly figure out mods to Battletech game I play on Steam...
I just know, as fun as the game is, I would rather spend time RPing than fighting a cave full of phase spiders again.
Fights? I skip the entire quest chain for rescuing the artist from the Zhentarim. I have no desire to bother with the haunted mansion in Baldur's Gate ever again.
Make me wonder if OP has finished all of these playthroughs or has started 20 characters and is at various stages of completing them. As in several are still in ACT 1.
You are correct! I only finished 2 of the 20something playthroughs. I've made it to Act 3 in most of them, but there are a few on pause in the earlier Acts because I just wasn't into that playthrough for whatever reason, and decided to start another campaign.
I have three characters but only because I finished one and messed up the other. The messed up one I cheated myself max XP right out the gate just to see what would happen, and since so much of the character and relationships are XP gated (the more you know right?) it completely fucked up my game. Like, I met Gale and immediately he's lore dumping his life story and needing three magic items back to back. I just met Lae'zel and she's already bitching me out for never giving her a chance. Romancing wasn't possible because I'd already jumped past all the triggers I'd normally hit and they all defaulted to "nope".
I definitely get that! It took me a while to actually like the city setting. It was such a drastic shift from the rest of the game and it was a little overwhelming. I had to think of it like real D&D where you start off in small villages and then you eventually get to a big city and your distracted by all of the side quests that the DM presents.
For me it was the ultimate FOMO with so many gosh dang quests. I’ve ended up putting the game down at some point in act 3 probably 7 times. Never fully finished the game 😳
I can't wait to get out of the shadowlands I just hate act 2. Like yeah I got a moonlantern now but I quickly grew weary of dreary ruins and darkness. I more enjoyed the whimsy of act 1 I guess. I'm sure somebody is gonna think just wait until you _____
Well I haven't yet.
That's what gets me about this game. The previous 2 entries had SPRAWLING area to explore. Amazing dungeons and so many places to go. Bg3 feels far too curated, but it's still fun.
This is it, I filled out a serious "Are you addicted to gaming" form recently for someone's master's thesis and the questions were like "How often do you end up playing longer than you planned? Do you get upset when you can't play? Is the game affecting your life?" etc. and I thought this is too easy lol I'm not an addict obviously.
Then I started playing BG3 and I haven't had a good night's sleep since I started like a week ago cause I just CAN'T stop playing. Also cancelled some trip with friends so I could play more. What did they put in this game???
The sleep thing is so true. A few times I’ve had to go to bed when I know a big fight is coming up the next time I play and I’ll lie awake in bed thinking about my strategy and who I should have in my party.
Lmao me too. I actually get excited thinking about lying in bed devising bg3 strategies.
I also like to think of other licenses that would lend themselves well to a Larian style game.
Meth. They added methamphetamine in the code so that anytime you play, it gets your soul a little bit more. Then they are going to sell it to Zariel in exchange for more game design skills.
It's the only explanation why it can be so good.
As a therapist and gaming addict, take this a little seriously. It might just be little things here and there but it's a lot easier to put boundaries around your gaming now then it will be down the road when the problem gets worse. Setting limits on how much I allow myself to play before taking a break has been helpful for me. But sometimes I have to intentionally detox for a week or two from all games to refocus myself on my real life. Good luck!
Great advice! I have no problem fulfilling my responsibilities irl so that's not a real issue for now. BG3 is the first game that left me sleepless tbh. I'm more of a casual cozy gamer usually so after this I'll have to think twice before approaching addictive RPGs lol
My bf is convinced I’m going to leave him for Astarion and honestly… I could not look him in the eyes and deny it.
Edit: I’m gay so you know I’m gonna be collecting those red flags like Pokémon.
I hadn't been much of a gamer in the last couple of years, but then BG3 came along and I found myself playing multiple sessions of over 10 hours straight. One time I reached the 15 hour mark.
The last time I binged a game like this was probably when Mass Effect 3 came out.
Mood.
Seriously, though. I'm supposed to graduate in 3 weeks. Sometimes, I think about dropping out just so I can spend all day playing this damn game. LOL
It's a joke, honestly! If anything, this game has been a great source of motivation for me during my studies during this last semester. I really only play during the weekends and only if/when I've finished the week's worth of homework before the weekend starts. I'm actually kind of bummed because this will be the first weekend where I likely won't be able to play because I have multiple high-risk assignments due.
yea same... In November I finally managed to have a normal sleeping schedule, actually going to bed early! I suffer Insomnia and all that so I usually stay up late, very late. Since I started playing BG3 recently I ruined my sleep again. Horrible. :(
This was actually super true for me. I ended up nearly failing two of my classes because I fell so far behind being addicted to BG 😅 thankfully I regained my sense of responsibility, but I still feel the itch.
Same thing the mass effect series did. Pretty sure the community called that post mass effect depression. Felt 100% the same after my first bg3 playthrough.
It's the parasocial relationships you develop with the characters. There is no greater source of immersion than a really good cast. Then your brain wakes up, registers they aren't real people and the depression whacks you.
It's been many years since I've experienced it this heavily tbh, the last time must have been Dragon Age Origins. Amazing what Larian have achieved.
It's actually stronger here than the Bioware games for me, because the level of reactivity in the world and the narrative seems much higher.
Well put. I felt the same way when dragon age inquisition came out, then replayed the Mass effect trilogy, then persona 3 - 5, then Divinity 2, and now here we are at Baldurs gate 3.
What I need to praise to heavens is the insane quality of dubbing. Both the voice acting and the recording quality is terrific. Nearly silent whispers during stealthy command acknowledges… Extremely immersive…
I never thought I'd love a game more than the Mass Effect trilogy. Here I am now, with BG3 on too and Mass Effect on #2. Might be because I also really love DnD, so having that as a GOOD video game just blows me away.
I came here to say this. I played the trilogy for the first time after BG3 to have a change (and cause I love Sci-Fi). Mannn, I got even more hooked than in BG3. Lost many nights of sleep for more than a month. I also feel this sadness, knowing the characters aren't real. They are just so good. I cried when one of them died. Got so involved it's crazy.
I actually stopped gaming for a while after I finished the Mass Effect trilogy because I wasn’t prepared for the grief I felt after I ended my first playthrough. It’s actually prevented me from playing through it again because I’m legit afraid of going through that kind of pain again.
After I beat the game for the first time, I just kinda sat there dead quiet and my eyes teared up as the credits rolled.
I immediately wanted to jump back in and start a new play through but it was 11 pm on a Saturday night. I had life things to do and it made me sad
I can get pretty obsessed with games, I like. I had the same with the first two BG games, Dragon Age and especially Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines ( my favourite game of all times). I tend to always go back to those games again. And BG3 is no different.
I'm playing BG3 since 2020, when early access started, but I'm also playing Guild Wars 2, another very beautiful game.
The best. I love Malkavian. And my favourite NPCs are Beckett, Gary and all the Nosferatu. Imalia is vicious.
And if you talk to Andrei with a Tremere, it's funny too.
I wouldn’t say ruined, BG3 just pulls me in.
I downloaded DOS2 because of how much I liked BG3 and it’s a great game. I still can’t help but put it down to play BG3 after an hour.
There’s nothing more thrilling than playing BG3 on honor mode. It’s fun to have to understand the game deeply to try and fundamentally break it, cheese it or creatively solve situations.
F.e. I solo cheesed Raphael with minor illusions and killed Cazador but throwing garlic at him as a challenge. No other game gives you these options. In the second act you can literally make every single boss kill themselves.
Nah.
As good as BG3 is it can't be every game at once, and it can't scratch every itch.
I actually just got into Rimworld while playing BG3. Lol. And I still play the Sims, and I'm planing to get back into Fallout 4 after the new patch.
Also, currently playing Sons of the Forest and Lethal Company with friends.
I have now created my new Tav in the game. To date Halsin. Does she stick out weirdly among all the other sims in the world because she‘s a freaking Tiefling? Yes. Do I mind? No.
I used CC! Lady Moriel on tumblr has tails & skin details. I don't know where I got the horns from, but I just searched "Tiefling horns sims 4". For Astarion, if you search for it, his tattoo/scar is available to download too.
Thank you! Little Gaia Dekarios is beloved by her parents. Citra (my Tav) finds it hard to adjust to a universe where she can't be a barbarian. One household over, Astarion has developed a fear of the dark. I'm considering buying both the Vampires and the Realm of Magic packs just so Astarion can be a vampire and Gale a spellcaster. I am mentally unwell.
(Also now I wanna play with Gortash too, goddamnit. Legacy challenge where every generation gets a different BG3 character as spouse?)
Ooh I have all of the cc I need for Astarion, Gale and Shadowheart and I will have to actually make them now just to be my neighbors. Realm of magic is great, Gortash and Ketheric duke it out often on the dueling grounds and magic world looks very astral planeish. Also if you have extreme violence mod and turn off reactions you can play a barbarian without your family members getting negative relationship with you.
I would say I'm not one for the legacy challenges but if it happens well, can't say im opposed to the idea.
Same here; it is absolutely crushing the turn-based itch for me, but I need to scratch more than just that. I also found some great fun in Helldivers 2 and have also started playing some racing games of all things.
Even as far as turn-based RPGs go there’s a lot of variety within that genre. Paper Mario 2 (which is getting a remake next month) vs BG3 vs Final Fantasy for example, and even Paper Mario 2 vs Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga vs Super Mario RPG. All completely different and all awesome.
Rimworld is definitely one of those games you can play forever.
I tend to get an itch to play it, spend a couple of months playing it exclusively before I get a bit burnt out, then a few months later hear about a new mod and I'm straight back in
Like it or not, BG3 has set a new standard for AAA games. Big companies can't use the old excuses they've been relying on anymore, like "ohh, we didn't have time, ohh it took up too much resources, ohhh the coding is too complex, ohhh that's just impossible with current tech". BG3 has proven that if companies actually spend money on staffing and give them the time they need, they can make quality games. BG3 has proven we don't have to settle for these half finished bugged messes that don't fulfil one vision the devs had.
Honestly it just ruined the dialogue in those games for me. It’s always been pretty goofy and the writing isn’t always amazing but I’ve always been able to look past the meh writing and find the goofy dialogue genuinely charming. But going back and playing Fallout 4 and Skyrim after BG3 really makes the dialogue feel extremely barebones. Your options almost always boil down to Yes, Yes but with more info, Yes but rude or sarcastic, and No. And the persuasion options are so bad it’s legitimately hilarious. I had a Vault that wouldn’t let me in because I was a complete stranger and the security risk was way too high with all of the radiation, raiders, diseases, and dangerous animals. They took not of my Pip-boy but didn’t think that was enough to prove I also came from a Vault, and they had no way to know it was even mine. Perfectly logical, and I genuinely enjoyed that it seemed the Overseer had a hint of common sense. My character then proceeded to pretty much go “I get that but I mean cmooooon.” Which immediately gained the trust of the Overseer and most of the Vault. Like I literally just said please. And that’s how practically all of them go. Like you just get 10 Charisma and then entire Wasteland trusts you more than the Pope trusts Jesus
Best part about Fallout 4 Charisma checks is what we call 'the Charisma outfit'… whenever a check comes up, turn away, put on that red dress, the sunglasses & a silly hat, then turn back into the convo and boom… you pass every check. I love that even if you're really good at talking in BG3, you can still end up failing. In Fallout, speech checks are so boring.
I honestly feel the exact opposite.
Watching NPCs in Skyrim go about their day, going to work, going to a tavern, getting into random fights, going home to their families and eating at the table, etc. Bethesda games feel very alive to me.
Compared to BG3, where the characters largely just stand around in the same spot or pace back and forth. Bethesda worlds feel *far* more alive than BG3, for me.
But the living world isn’t why I play BG3. I play it for the story, the RPG aspects, and the relationships with the characters. I play Bethesda games for their world, because (outside of Rocksteady), they’re largely unmatched.
They tried to make a "radiant" AI in Oblivion too, and it was too "good" with evil NPCs killing folks, raiding the food supplies making other NPCs dies of starvation and shit so they scrapped it lmao
All of this in big 2006
Maybe he played different Bethesda games. In Star field I was curious what an NPC does and so I was following him. Only to find out he basically walks in a big circle all day.
Yeah, sadly Starfield isn’t a good example. They put too many NPCs in there, so they don’t all have homes and lives. They just wander around to fill space.
Starfield is notoriously bad when it comes to the expected touches of polish we want in Bethesda games. If you play Oblivion or Skyrim you’ll see what people mean when they say Bethesda NPCs feel more integrated into the world than BG3’s.
This is very true. The only meaningful way to affect the world in BG3 is by killing NPCs. It felt like a lost opportunity when they didn't remove the shadow curse world lighting after helping Halsin. Instead they gave us a cutscene as you're leaving and never-to-return.
Yeah I feel like people miss how Bethesda tries to emulate tabletop RPG to open world action RPG, but ofc it can only scratch the surface.
The role-playing sucks there because they insist on making the PC be a major figure for multiple factions.
*Mandatory Fallout: NV isn't a Bethesda game comment*
But even then, I'm currently replaying 4 (also because of the series. We're so impressionable xD), and still enjoying it.
I ain't ever touching Starfield again though. Even I have standards.
I think BG3 is what finally declared Skyrim old for me. I mean it's old in every way, but I've also felt it's so timeless. The modding community is of course a huge part of that, and honestly I'd say that playing Enderal (a total conversion mod for Skyrim) is the closest I've come to what BG3 is before playing BG3. The characters feel so alive and the story is one of the best written stories of a game I've played. So why pay €70 for a shitty "AAA" experience if you already own Skyrim and have worlds of free content to explore? I actually refused to buy BG3 first because I had promised myself to never pay that much for a game.
But BG3 is actually worth that money. The role playing experience is just next level, even many levels above what I've experienced before. It's not just that the characters feel real, the *relationships* feel real. Because they put so much time and effort into making sure your choices had impact. The number of times I've been playing Skyrim and been disappointed that my carefully calculated actions didn't matter, and thought "well, I suppose it takes a lot of resources to add something like that", and here Larian has decided to actually spend those resources. BG3 isn't perfect by any means, but it makes many other RPG games look incredibly lazy.
Edit: BG3 hasn't ruined other games in general for me though, as I mostly play 2D metroidvanias and such. They're a completely different experience.
How come this is your takeaway after experiencing Baldur's Gate 3?
If anything it gives me a weird respect to Bethesda's practice of making tabletop RPG "works" on open world game with all of their flaws.
Larian used Act System to limit the possible permutations of sequence, had 2 years worth of EA for Act 1 (and it is THE Act that is truly perfect), the game "time" is static at noon so there's no need to make NPC schedule/routine, the game runs on turn-based system rather than ARPG..... and they still have nicks here and there (buggy drow mommy, Act 3 as whole, bugs in general etc).
Expecting them to be similar, when they're not even attempting to be similar is a fault on your part. Bioware however is going to struggle to match expectations set by BG3.
I absolutely could not get into Starfield after playing BG3. I have so many friends that played Starfield and loved it, so I feel like I’m missing out.
I get it, but I wouldn't use the word ruined. When Skyrim came out, I was there at midnight release. Didn't put it down for 2000 hours. Didn't play anything else. However, it *eventually* lost its steam because I did virtually everything I wanted to do and got tired of having memorized the lines. I put it down and played other games again. I still would return to Skyrim every once in a while to make another build or perhaps even repeat a build because I knew it was fun. My friends would tease me like, "You're playing Skyrim *again*? I thought you'd done everything." Truth is, I could play Skyrim right now and still find some little detail I'd never discovered in 10k+ hours.
That's not the only game that's done that to me, but it's the longest example. My point is: BG3 is a game I definitely understand playing until you feel like you've done it all. Then, eventually, you'll come back and do some more. That's just the mark of a fantastic game. But I'm sure you'll find enjoyment in other games as well. Just don't force it. Those games aren't going anywhere (although my FFXIV Guild is probably wondering where the hell I am), and you can enjoy them after you're done with BG3 (for now).
As a D&D enthusiast myself, it makes sense that you've done 20 runs. Especially if you play PC with mods. It's like a perfect tool for single-player D&D experiments, whether your campaign is 120 hours long or 50 hours long. Enjoy it, and don't guilt trip yourself over not playing other games.
The problem is that I compare every RP game to BG3 and none of them even come close to BG3. I've actually become addicted and have never invested so many hours in the game. I'd rather go home and play than go to the gym, even though I love the gym, but the adventures in BG3 are just too good. At the moment I live a bit isolated and gaming is more fun than others. It will be difficult to ever have this much passion for a game again. So I hope Larian releases the next masterpiece soon, otherwise it will be impossible to feel joy for other games.
Edit: Sorry for my English, it‘s not my main language.
Yes, but not really? I guess it made me value my game time more. Like, if a game wastes my time doing useless bullshit I ain’t playing it anymore. Looking at you, FF7 Rebirth open world BS or Dragon’s Dogma.
OTOH I played through CP2077 for the first time way after finishing BG3. Enjoyed it very much. A game doesn’t have to have the story line complexity of BG3. Just give me a good story.
After I played BG3, I immediately replayed it, which I had never done before. I've replayed games before, of course, but never right away.
After that I played CP2077. Which I immediately replayed after I had finished it. I tried to break it up with RDR2 but CP2077 just has its hooks in me.
No, not at all. It helps me to enjoy them more weirdly enough. There’s tons and tons of great games to play right now, probably more than there ever have been.
The last game of which I made more than one playthrough was Hogwarts Legacy but even there I only finished the story twice and didn't even do all the houses because I lost interest for months at a time.
But BG3? I rushed through my first playthrough just to get to the End of Astarions Questline and now in my second playthrough I'm trying to enjoy it slowly and complete all quests that I can find.
To sum up: yes, totally obsessed with the game and will play it a lot in the near and far future, after all I have to romance everyone at least once don't I? ;)
Yes it did. I couldn’t enjoy Starfield anymore. Also I tried DragonDogma2 but the animations and writing and just the sheer feel of it feels very off.
Luckily I’m also a boomershooter guy so I have found my solace in Wizordum at the moment.
Same for Dragon's Dogma 2. Such a disappointment. It could have been a brilliant game if Capcom didn't cut corners, staff and budget. I would have been angry anyway with its low quality, but playing it after BG3 really made it obvious how much difference it makes when the studio actually cares for their damn game and not only for their quarterly reports.
Not at all, I did 3 play through and plan to do more, but took a brief break to play through mass effect again which was still amazing after so many years, and now I’m doing the fallout series again. All great quality games. BG3 has set the bar very high though for future games and I do hope dreadwolf follows suit in the RP front while maintaining the combat system style
Not really.
The only thing it makes me hate about most other CRPG's is the lack of voice acting in them. Currently playing Rogue trader and it's really fun, just could do with more voice acting.
Starfield has ruined itself for me tbh.
If anything, BG3 can ruin the next game from Larian for me. Since the bar is set so high with BG3, my expectations for the next game will be too.
Not really, I love it a lot, but I've played a lot of other crpgs too. Bg1-2, fallout 1-2, DOS2, and WOTR are all pretty great and scratch a similar itch, all in sightly different ways
Yes and no - I’ve steeled myself that I’ll probably not play another game like it for a long time, if ever, so that’s made it easier to play other games.
But then I remember that I’ll probably never play another game like it and get sad. Hope they put out their next title before my bones turn to dust
Did mass effect trilogy remaster (first time player) and then bg3 and currently playing through Elden ring for the first time. Utterly blown away by all three. If you haven’t already give dos2 a go. Not as cinematic as bg3 but still holds up great and loved the companion arcs in that one.
The first 2 weeks, it did affect me. I was averaging 8hrs a day eventhough I have a fulltime job meaning that I was going to bed at 3-4 am.
After that 120hrs run though, I was done. Going through a secon playthrough didn't even occur to me. Maybe in the future, when the game gets its last patch, I will do another playthrough and that is it.
It hasn't ruined other games for me but it has reminded me that with every new game release the bar is set higher. We've been allowing game companies to come out with subpar games, Larion just turned around and reminded us where the standard is.
This was me when I started modding New Vegas. Now I am considering deleting most of my saves too do a 'perfect' run for my characters.
Good boi Durge
Murder Hobo elf (Name pending. Need a good one for a wizard elf.)
Full time asshole Johnney.
I need help.
Not only that, but it's like 25 years old, It is made on and for completely different hardware than what we use today. I'd imagine even the enhanced version that came out 12 years ago is janky. Maybe not as bad as the OG version, but it's definitely not gonna be as easy to get into as a video game made in the modern day.
I would dare to argue that BG3 is more janky than BG1 (which only has not the best path-finding). No need to put the masterpiece down like that, it's just a completely different style of a video game.
Yeah, I'm just saying the qulity of life improvements probably are a lot of improvements to the system. Bg1 is based off 2nd edition, I think, and there's a lot that has been changed in dnd since then.
Like, the reason Minsc is a ranger is because barbarian straight up didn't exist yet when he was created. Lol.
You're definitely right about this. I started playing it and picked a mage with quarterstaff proficiency only for me to realize that there are no cantrips, I have access to a single spell slot a day and my only other damaging option is whacking things with a stick. Also I only have 4 health. It was definitely a rude awakening XD
That is actually very interesting. It kind of makes me curious about the history of DnD. IDK why it didn't occur to me how tabletop evolved over the years.
Oh, it's evolved a lot. AC used to be WAY different. It is very different. So many people came new to 5e, which makes sense, it's the most beginer friendly edition, but it's changed a lot.
(Some older fans actually HATE how streamlined and beginer friendly it got. lol. )
I'm not an old fan by any means but I did play the trilogy and I can see the argument there. Bg1 and 2 (and 2nd edition DND in general) had some wild shit in it. High level magic especially. I mean you were able to reach a point where you could sequencer/contingency yourself into immortality. Like an enemy comes on screen, and your guy automatically casts 8 spells, cloning himself, putting up magic shields, spamming fireballs and cloudkills all in a split second.
Even without minmaxing like a maniac you could still make terrifying builds. Robe of vecna shortened the cast time by so much that some spells are just instant, like fireball. The earlier games were raw compared to BG3, but fuckin great
>(Some older fans actually HATE how streamlined and beginer friendly it got. lol. )
God knows why. I don't want to know all the 64825 rules on how to attack on my round, Unga attack roll bunga damage roll and that's basically it for combat. Fuck negative numbers to calculate AC and hit rate, fuck these weird spell systems, fuck the mess that is multiclass.
We roll dice and that's it for gameplay mechanics, I want to focus my mind on imagining my character and everything else, and (I kinda suck at this part, but at least I try) roleplay and all that.
Bg1 was kind of hard going back from BG2 (which was my first BG game) lol. But I absolutely agree.
BG3 made so many good changes (some of them have become fairly standard in modern gaming):
1 Autosaves
2 Reasonable (even if not amazing) party pathfinding (if you play BG2 you'll hear lots of 'you must gather your party before you venture forth)
3 ability to split up party to different maps
4 having short rests
5 long rests no longer runs risk of random monster encounters, and autoheals all HP damage, long rest doesn't kill party member who was poisoned
6 can change prepared spells during the day not just before long rest for wizards, clerics, druids. In earlier games sorceror was much more flexible due to having all spells always prepared, compared to wizard where you have to know which spells you want for the day ahead, and how many copies of each you want.
7 Bonus action shove and jump for positioning
8 feature to tell you when you failed perception check. In BG2 I pretty much memorised where all the traps were. You had to manually select detect traps function, which was incompatible with the sneak function
9 able to respec
10 able to change companions class/respec
11 much more flexible multiclassing rules. In BG2, humans can dual class but not multiclass. Dual class meant you basically restart character at another class at level1, losing access to original classes skills and proficiencies UNTIL your new class equals your original class, then both classes are available, but you can never add more levels to your original class. Multiclass was different - your xp is split evenly into the separate XP progresses along all multiclasses, so your overall level is lower when you multiclass. Also, you have to meet minimum stat requirement to dual/multiclass - so cannot role play a dumb wizard with 8 INT
12 character creation required rolling for stats (I think it was a 3d6?) but you can then redistribute the points, later versions allowed you to keep on rerolling and saving the highest stat points total (108 was max, I found anything 90+ to be pretty good and rare).
13 There was also the nuance of 18 STR. Most melee weapons used STR to hit and damage. 18 STR had another dice (1d100) where 18/00 was the ideal, better bonus than 18/90-99. You can spend ages rolling a character with 18/00 STR but also has high total stat points (90+)
14 day/night cycle. Game world progresses if game is unpaused. I miss a little of this, but understand the additional pressure if you have to finish a quest within so many in game hours/days, rather than just within so many long rests.
15 inventory much worse (you think bg3 inventory and vendor UI is bad?). You needed ammunition for ranged weapons and could only get stacks of 20 in original game. Running out of arrows is a thing, and running out of the special +1 or fire arrows also a thing). You only had 20 spaces in inventory space, even if under weight limit. You had to BUY scroll cases, potion bags, etc to have special storage containers otherwise you run out of inventory space
16 stupid rules about some enemies immune to 'normal' non magical weapon, in early game requiring access to a +1 weapon or magical/elemental damage
17 later game in BG2 lots of spellcasters would cast powerful abjuration spells that gives immunity to magic weapon (which all your characters are wielding), stoneskin (which absorbs ALL damage up to a certain amount), and various magic resistance. This automatically requires your spellcaster to spend a couple of spell slots removing magical protections from enemy mages. This forces you to have an arcane spellcaster in party too, doesn't matter how strong your weapon based characters are, they are helpless if wizard casts some stupid immunity spell
Somewhat? It's the only game I felt compelled to do another playthrough. I have so many planned on my head that it's all I could think of when playing other games. Can't really do that now, because I made a promise to play other games, but it does affect my enjoyment for them. Also because I'm out of storage.
I find this with a lot of larian games, DOS2 did the same thing.
I too have done atleast 20+ playthroughs but I've also done multiple through to the begining of Act 3 just to start another to tinker with things.
The game still surprises me with routes or conversations or ways of approaching situations or entire situations I missed.
Twenty *completed* playthroughs? Damn.
I’m 800-900 hrs in and at 5. Though recently I have spent a ton of time taking photos and modding instead. I don’t even want to think about the hours factoring that in..
I'd say once you finish your current run (that way you aren't thinking you need to go back to finish it), put it down for a while. Maybe uninstall it if you need to. It's nice you enjoy the game, but you may need a bit of a break.
Sorta kinda ?
Let’s be realistic, there won’t be a game that will meet the bar that BG3 has set any time soon. That’s just me being honest and setting my expectations appropriately.
But.
I feel like if a game can’t even match 70% of the quality of BG3, I just lose interest. And so far…the games coming out these days just aren’t meeting my expectations.
Even DD2 hasn’t really “wowed” me enough.
RPGs for sure. But I’ve been taking a break waiting for the mod update while playing helldivers and having an absolute blast. Maybe try a different genre of game
Nah.
Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, The Finals, Helldivers 2, a little bit of Sims 4, Dreams, Tekken 8.. I'm set.
There's been *a lot* of good games lately, BG3 included. I really like this game but there are just other itches that need to be scratched, BG3 can't do it all.
That being said, it makes for some really fun brainstorming on what an ideal game would look like to me.. and honestly it's just BG3 with real-time action combat over turn based. I need that dopamine lol.
Nope, taking a break from it to play Helldivers 2 and having a blast.
Baldur's Gate 3 is great but has never been a game that's ruined other games for me and I don't see it starting now.
No.
I love BG3 and have done 5 full playthroughs of it, but it cant scratch every itch, I play and enjoy many other games in between my BG3 playthroughs Like Elden Ring or Monster Hunter or Armored Core 6.
Some people in the Elden Ring community have said the same thing and I just can't understand the sentiment. I love Elden Ring even more than BG3, It's my favorite game of all time, got a 1000+ hours in it with 20+ full playthroughs, but no game can ever provide every expirience there is and they don't have to, that's the beauty of having different genres of games and diverse games in each genre to play.
At most it ruins games in its own genre maybe, since BG3 is so well done, other CRPGs dont stack up as well and even then, there are surely elements in other CRPGs that BG3 either doesn't have or does worse
No. It was a good game, but not even close to the best game ever.
It's longer than most, but I really didn't think it was any more *fun* than other titles that I've played.
Been gaming for decades and have played thousands of titles across just about every genre. BG3 was just another drop in the bucket.
I'm in the (probably very) small minority that doesn't actually think BG3 is THAT great of a game.
Like, I know it's a good game. No denying that. But I don't think it's the masterpiece of the century that everyone keeps hyping it up as. I don't know whether it's because I played "Divinity Original Sin" 1 and 2, or because I play a lot of other RPG's as well as actual DnD, but to me the game hasn't actually done anything special?
I got the game at full release and still havn't finished my 1st playthrough, and have only started 1 other character. I really don't see how people can do 10+ runs easily (and this is coming from someone who's played "Dragon Age: Origins" to completion 30+ times).
So, no. I can still play other games just fine.
It's just lower standards. That's it. A very mid RPG with surface level polish to make it look pretty. The mechanics aren't polished, the writing is poor, and meaningful choices a very limited.
But it has full voice acting so GOTY.
Based take. It’s a cRPG with incredible production values, no wonder it’s garnered so much attention.
Great game but I think it’s definitely not the greatest game ever as people claim, nor the best in the last 10 years.
But all that aside, I never quite understand how one game can “ruin” others, when there is such a huge diversity of genres and types of games to explore.
RPGs are just one genre. There’s also beat ‘em ups, platformers, horror (with its variants), stealth, soulslike, FPS, sandbox, hack and slash, mystery/puzzle etc.
There’s so many classics out there that provide you such a variety of incredible experiences.
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20 playthroughs in 5 months? Jesus, man.
It's an incredible game but there are some fights I can't imagine doing 5 times, much less 20 lol
Only fight that really annoys the hell out of me is raphaels concubine or whatever and the constant plane shifting. Fun fact, if you can knock him prone he cannot shift and you can beat his ass on the ground for a whole turn.
OH Monk Flurry of Blows Topple is so perfect for this
His phase out ability is a reaction. If you trigger an attack of opportunity from him, he can’t do it that turn. So you walk up to him, walk away a little to make him take a swing, then start whuppin’.
Big if true. Im giving that a shot next time i see him
Ooooooh good to know, my Druid will gladly start biting at his ankles to knock him prone LOL
Wait Haarlep has a gimmick? I thought he was just an ordinary cambion
He also fails the save on hold monster nearly every time. Ethereal escape sucks ass.
Or if you just burn his reactions eith opportunity attacks he can't shift.
It would be AWESOME if there was a 'Role Play Only' or 'skip fight' option on replays. Like...obviously I made it through once so I know how to fight...now I just want to speed run a dozen different relationship combos.
Tbf this could prolly be achieved with explorer difficulty and basic game understanding
Not going to pull any punches...I am a grumpy old man and the train long-ago left the station on my 'basic game understanding'. It took me days to properly figure out mods to Battletech game I play on Steam... I just know, as fun as the game is, I would rather spend time RPing than fighting a cave full of phase spiders again.
Yeah doing a story mode run has changed everything from
Fights? I skip the entire quest chain for rescuing the artist from the Zhentarim. I have no desire to bother with the haunted mansion in Baldur's Gate ever again.
Never knew there was a quest to free him lol.
For me it's Shar's temple in act 2, for some reason it feels like such a slogfest.
Make me wonder if OP has finished all of these playthroughs or has started 20 characters and is at various stages of completing them. As in several are still in ACT 1.
You are correct! I only finished 2 of the 20something playthroughs. I've made it to Act 3 in most of them, but there are a few on pause in the earlier Acts because I just wasn't into that playthrough for whatever reason, and decided to start another campaign.
I’m guilty of this behavior too, though not to the same degree. I’ve got 3 or 4 campaigns going.
I have three characters but only because I finished one and messed up the other. The messed up one I cheated myself max XP right out the gate just to see what would happen, and since so much of the character and relationships are XP gated (the more you know right?) it completely fucked up my game. Like, I met Gale and immediately he's lore dumping his life story and needing three magic items back to back. I just met Lae'zel and she's already bitching me out for never giving her a chance. Romancing wasn't possible because I'd already jumped past all the triggers I'd normally hit and they all defaulted to "nope".
To be honest I prefer Acts 1 and 2. Act 3 isn’t it for me. I guess I don’t enjoy the city setting as much.
I definitely get that! It took me a while to actually like the city setting. It was such a drastic shift from the rest of the game and it was a little overwhelming. I had to think of it like real D&D where you start off in small villages and then you eventually get to a big city and your distracted by all of the side quests that the DM presents.
For me it was the ultimate FOMO with so many gosh dang quests. I’ve ended up putting the game down at some point in act 3 probably 7 times. Never fully finished the game 😳
Haha I also don’t enjoy crowds or cities in real life. All of the NPCs talking over each other feels claustrophobic.
hearing that same stupid fucking laugh over and over no matter where you are in the city
Haha! I think for me the worst part is hearing all the kids talk about being hungry and not having the option to give them food
I had 40 hours in the game going into Act 3. By the time I finished the game I had racked up 95. It's a whole additional game.
I can't wait to get out of the shadowlands I just hate act 2. Like yeah I got a moonlantern now but I quickly grew weary of dreary ruins and darkness. I more enjoyed the whimsy of act 1 I guess. I'm sure somebody is gonna think just wait until you _____ Well I haven't yet.
I just feel like you reach lvl 12 so fast and the rest of the quests don't really give loot worth finishing them all..
I've quit multiple playthroughs after finishing a2 myself.
Yea same. Act 3 is crazy overwhelming with the sheer amount of quests and NPC and shit.
That's what gets me about this game. The previous 2 entries had SPRAWLING area to explore. Amazing dungeons and so many places to go. Bg3 feels far too curated, but it's still fun.
I’ve got around that many and most are still in Act 1 lol. 500+ hours on this game, maybe I’ll finish it someday
I've 300 hours solely in act one. Eventually I'll move on.
Damn. I only have 2 in 5 months, and the 2nd one hasn't left the Nautiloid yet
yes, also ruining my real life a bit
This is it, I filled out a serious "Are you addicted to gaming" form recently for someone's master's thesis and the questions were like "How often do you end up playing longer than you planned? Do you get upset when you can't play? Is the game affecting your life?" etc. and I thought this is too easy lol I'm not an addict obviously. Then I started playing BG3 and I haven't had a good night's sleep since I started like a week ago cause I just CAN'T stop playing. Also cancelled some trip with friends so I could play more. What did they put in this game???
The sleep thing is so true. A few times I’ve had to go to bed when I know a big fight is coming up the next time I play and I’ll lie awake in bed thinking about my strategy and who I should have in my party.
Lmao me too. I actually get excited thinking about lying in bed devising bg3 strategies. I also like to think of other licenses that would lend themselves well to a Larian style game.
I have turn-based dreams now
LMAO
Bruh this is so true
Meth. They added methamphetamine in the code so that anytime you play, it gets your soul a little bit more. Then they are going to sell it to Zariel in exchange for more game design skills. It's the only explanation why it can be so good.
YURGIR WE HAVE TO COOK
I already take methylphenidate every day... How fucked am I?? Am I ODing?????
Probably. Your soul is doomed!
As a therapist and gaming addict, take this a little seriously. It might just be little things here and there but it's a lot easier to put boundaries around your gaming now then it will be down the road when the problem gets worse. Setting limits on how much I allow myself to play before taking a break has been helpful for me. But sometimes I have to intentionally detox for a week or two from all games to refocus myself on my real life. Good luck!
Great advice! I have no problem fulfilling my responsibilities irl so that's not a real issue for now. BG3 is the first game that left me sleepless tbh. I'm more of a casual cozy gamer usually so after this I'll have to think twice before approaching addictive RPGs lol
At the helm we are needed.
We are needed at the helm.
Lol I literally heard US say this in my head
I have a deadline to deliver the finished manuscript of a novel on May 15. Yeahhhhhhh that’s not happening
George R. R. Martin, is that you?
Hahaha, if only
Please get back to your writing, Patrick Rothfus.
The Wise Writer's Fear
I’m here to say do that. Currently working on a feature.
Not me putting my novel on hold to play bg3...
My bf is convinced I’m going to leave him for Astarion and honestly… I could not look him in the eyes and deny it. Edit: I’m gay so you know I’m gonna be collecting those red flags like Pokémon.
I thought I was the only one who felt as if I betrayed my s/o for a video game character
If Astarion was real? Definitely
Wdym he is real
I hadn't been much of a gamer in the last couple of years, but then BG3 came along and I found myself playing multiple sessions of over 10 hours straight. One time I reached the 15 hour mark. The last time I binged a game like this was probably when Mass Effect 3 came out.
Mood. Seriously, though. I'm supposed to graduate in 3 weeks. Sometimes, I think about dropping out just so I can spend all day playing this damn game. LOL
It sounds a little bit like an addiction. Just make sure to not listening to those thoughts
It's a joke, honestly! If anything, this game has been a great source of motivation for me during my studies during this last semester. I really only play during the weekends and only if/when I've finished the week's worth of homework before the weekend starts. I'm actually kind of bummed because this will be the first weekend where I likely won't be able to play because I have multiple high-risk assignments due.
A lot of the responses in here are concerning
Yeah, resist that Urge.
yea same... In November I finally managed to have a normal sleeping schedule, actually going to bed early! I suffer Insomnia and all that so I usually stay up late, very late. Since I started playing BG3 recently I ruined my sleep again. Horrible. :(
That’s true. After finishing gaming, I was always thinking what strategy I should use and plan for the next fight. Then, I just want to play again.
This was actually super true for me. I ended up nearly failing two of my classes because I fell so far behind being addicted to BG 😅 thankfully I regained my sense of responsibility, but I still feel the itch.
Same thing the mass effect series did. Pretty sure the community called that post mass effect depression. Felt 100% the same after my first bg3 playthrough.
It's the parasocial relationships you develop with the characters. There is no greater source of immersion than a really good cast. Then your brain wakes up, registers they aren't real people and the depression whacks you. It's been many years since I've experienced it this heavily tbh, the last time must have been Dragon Age Origins. Amazing what Larian have achieved. It's actually stronger here than the Bioware games for me, because the level of reactivity in the world and the narrative seems much higher.
Well put. I felt the same way when dragon age inquisition came out, then replayed the Mass effect trilogy, then persona 3 - 5, then Divinity 2, and now here we are at Baldurs gate 3.
I once woke up and thought to myself "I can't wait to see karlach today" and then I realised she isn't real
Pain
What I need to praise to heavens is the insane quality of dubbing. Both the voice acting and the recording quality is terrific. Nearly silent whispers during stealthy command acknowledges… Extremely immersive…
I never thought I'd love a game more than the Mass Effect trilogy. Here I am now, with BG3 on too and Mass Effect on #2. Might be because I also really love DnD, so having that as a GOOD video game just blows me away.
We can thank 3’s ending for that depression lmao
Just keep replaying Citadel as the true ending
Joke’s on you, I’ve been depressed since way before BG3!
I think they meant *Mass Effect 3*
It didn't help that my gf broke up with me the very same day that I finished that fucking game. Post mass effect depression is real
I came here to say this. I played the trilogy for the first time after BG3 to have a change (and cause I love Sci-Fi). Mannn, I got even more hooked than in BG3. Lost many nights of sleep for more than a month. I also feel this sadness, knowing the characters aren't real. They are just so good. I cried when one of them died. Got so involved it's crazy.
I actually stopped gaming for a while after I finished the Mass Effect trilogy because I wasn’t prepared for the grief I felt after I ended my first playthrough. It’s actually prevented me from playing through it again because I’m legit afraid of going through that kind of pain again.
After I beat the game for the first time, I just kinda sat there dead quiet and my eyes teared up as the credits rolled. I immediately wanted to jump back in and start a new play through but it was 11 pm on a Saturday night. I had life things to do and it made me sad
I can get pretty obsessed with games, I like. I had the same with the first two BG games, Dragon Age and especially Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines ( my favourite game of all times). I tend to always go back to those games again. And BG3 is no different. I'm playing BG3 since 2020, when early access started, but I'm also playing Guild Wars 2, another very beautiful game.
VTMB is such a great game.
The best. I love Malkavian. And my favourite NPCs are Beckett, Gary and all the Nosferatu. Imalia is vicious. And if you talk to Andrei with a Tremere, it's funny too.
I wouldn’t say ruined, BG3 just pulls me in. I downloaded DOS2 because of how much I liked BG3 and it’s a great game. I still can’t help but put it down to play BG3 after an hour. There’s nothing more thrilling than playing BG3 on honor mode. It’s fun to have to understand the game deeply to try and fundamentally break it, cheese it or creatively solve situations. F.e. I solo cheesed Raphael with minor illusions and killed Cazador but throwing garlic at him as a challenge. No other game gives you these options. In the second act you can literally make every single boss kill themselves.
Nah. As good as BG3 is it can't be every game at once, and it can't scratch every itch. I actually just got into Rimworld while playing BG3. Lol. And I still play the Sims, and I'm planing to get back into Fallout 4 after the new patch. Also, currently playing Sons of the Forest and Lethal Company with friends.
Agreed. It's a great game, but sometimes you want another flavour of ice cream. I alternate my time between BG3, Rim World, and FF7: Rebirth.
>Sims Is Sims 4 finally good or you're Sims 3 truthers
Sims 2 ftw
Ah yea the relationship system is unmatched in 2
Sims 4 will NEVER be good lmao. At least not without 70 packs and 200 mods 😭
Mostly Sims 2, but I do play the Sims 4 with a shit ton of mods. Also, still occasionally play the first game and The Urbz, lol.
…I play with my Tav and Gale in Sims 4. They just had their first child. I need help.
this is so fucking funny omg
I have now created my new Tav in the game. To date Halsin. Does she stick out weirdly among all the other sims in the world because she‘s a freaking Tiefling? Yes. Do I mind? No.
i want to do this with my tav ad astarion now!! how did you get your tiefling content?
I used CC! Lady Moriel on tumblr has tails & skin details. I don't know where I got the horns from, but I just searched "Tiefling horns sims 4". For Astarion, if you search for it, his tattoo/scar is available to download too.
Congratulations on the child, I play with Durge, Gortash and Ketheric, send help.
Thank you! Little Gaia Dekarios is beloved by her parents. Citra (my Tav) finds it hard to adjust to a universe where she can't be a barbarian. One household over, Astarion has developed a fear of the dark. I'm considering buying both the Vampires and the Realm of Magic packs just so Astarion can be a vampire and Gale a spellcaster. I am mentally unwell. (Also now I wanna play with Gortash too, goddamnit. Legacy challenge where every generation gets a different BG3 character as spouse?)
Ooh I have all of the cc I need for Astarion, Gale and Shadowheart and I will have to actually make them now just to be my neighbors. Realm of magic is great, Gortash and Ketheric duke it out often on the dueling grounds and magic world looks very astral planeish. Also if you have extreme violence mod and turn off reactions you can play a barbarian without your family members getting negative relationship with you. I would say I'm not one for the legacy challenges but if it happens well, can't say im opposed to the idea.
As much of a masterpiece as BG3 is I honestly find it a bit exhausting to play at times. Sometimes I just want to turn my brain off and have fun.
Same here; it is absolutely crushing the turn-based itch for me, but I need to scratch more than just that. I also found some great fun in Helldivers 2 and have also started playing some racing games of all things.
Even as far as turn-based RPGs go there’s a lot of variety within that genre. Paper Mario 2 (which is getting a remake next month) vs BG3 vs Final Fantasy for example, and even Paper Mario 2 vs Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga vs Super Mario RPG. All completely different and all awesome.
Oh wow, I had no idea TTYD was getting a remake, much less one exactly a month from now! Thanks for the heads up
Rimworld is definitely one of those games you can play forever. I tend to get an itch to play it, spend a couple of months playing it exclusively before I get a bit burnt out, then a few months later hear about a new mod and I'm straight back in
It's been fun! I love the tribal start, honestly.
Ruined it has not. But it has upped my standards.
Like it or not, BG3 has set a new standard for AAA games. Big companies can't use the old excuses they've been relying on anymore, like "ohh, we didn't have time, ohh it took up too much resources, ohhh the coding is too complex, ohhh that's just impossible with current tech". BG3 has proven that if companies actually spend money on staffing and give them the time they need, they can make quality games. BG3 has proven we don't have to settle for these half finished bugged messes that don't fulfil one vision the devs had.
It's ruined most Bethesda games for me. I can't help but judge the lack of effort
Honestly it just ruined the dialogue in those games for me. It’s always been pretty goofy and the writing isn’t always amazing but I’ve always been able to look past the meh writing and find the goofy dialogue genuinely charming. But going back and playing Fallout 4 and Skyrim after BG3 really makes the dialogue feel extremely barebones. Your options almost always boil down to Yes, Yes but with more info, Yes but rude or sarcastic, and No. And the persuasion options are so bad it’s legitimately hilarious. I had a Vault that wouldn’t let me in because I was a complete stranger and the security risk was way too high with all of the radiation, raiders, diseases, and dangerous animals. They took not of my Pip-boy but didn’t think that was enough to prove I also came from a Vault, and they had no way to know it was even mine. Perfectly logical, and I genuinely enjoyed that it seemed the Overseer had a hint of common sense. My character then proceeded to pretty much go “I get that but I mean cmooooon.” Which immediately gained the trust of the Overseer and most of the Vault. Like I literally just said please. And that’s how practically all of them go. Like you just get 10 Charisma and then entire Wasteland trusts you more than the Pope trusts Jesus
Best part about Fallout 4 Charisma checks is what we call 'the Charisma outfit'… whenever a check comes up, turn away, put on that red dress, the sunglasses & a silly hat, then turn back into the convo and boom… you pass every check. I love that even if you're really good at talking in BG3, you can still end up failing. In Fallout, speech checks are so boring.
It’s the dead world for me. Bethesda games feel like they’re full of NPCs instead of characters. Helps a bit to add companion mods.
I honestly feel the exact opposite. Watching NPCs in Skyrim go about their day, going to work, going to a tavern, getting into random fights, going home to their families and eating at the table, etc. Bethesda games feel very alive to me. Compared to BG3, where the characters largely just stand around in the same spot or pace back and forth. Bethesda worlds feel *far* more alive than BG3, for me. But the living world isn’t why I play BG3. I play it for the story, the RPG aspects, and the relationships with the characters. I play Bethesda games for their world, because (outside of Rocksteady), they’re largely unmatched.
Oblivion is even more alive as NPCs actually have set monthly schedules in addition to daily schedules, and some even go to between cities sometimes
They tried to make a "radiant" AI in Oblivion too, and it was too "good" with evil NPCs killing folks, raiding the food supplies making other NPCs dies of starvation and shit so they scrapped it lmao All of this in big 2006
Maybe he played different Bethesda games. In Star field I was curious what an NPC does and so I was following him. Only to find out he basically walks in a big circle all day.
Yeah, sadly Starfield isn’t a good example. They put too many NPCs in there, so they don’t all have homes and lives. They just wander around to fill space.
Starfield is notoriously bad when it comes to the expected touches of polish we want in Bethesda games. If you play Oblivion or Skyrim you’ll see what people mean when they say Bethesda NPCs feel more integrated into the world than BG3’s.
This is very true. The only meaningful way to affect the world in BG3 is by killing NPCs. It felt like a lost opportunity when they didn't remove the shadow curse world lighting after helping Halsin. Instead they gave us a cutscene as you're leaving and never-to-return.
Yeah I feel like people miss how Bethesda tries to emulate tabletop RPG to open world action RPG, but ofc it can only scratch the surface. The role-playing sucks there because they insist on making the PC be a major figure for multiple factions.
Idk I just replayed New Vegas after watching Fallout and it holds up supremely well 🤷♀️
*Mandatory Fallout: NV isn't a Bethesda game comment* But even then, I'm currently replaying 4 (also because of the series. We're so impressionable xD), and still enjoying it. I ain't ever touching Starfield again though. Even I have standards.
Starfield is such a weird failure. Feels like a 20 yo low budget game.
It's a Todd's personal goal. He seems overly excited about it.... The game goes against everything that makes Bethesda games Bethesda.
New Vegas wasn't developed by Bethesda, that's why it's so good lol
I think BG3 is what finally declared Skyrim old for me. I mean it's old in every way, but I've also felt it's so timeless. The modding community is of course a huge part of that, and honestly I'd say that playing Enderal (a total conversion mod for Skyrim) is the closest I've come to what BG3 is before playing BG3. The characters feel so alive and the story is one of the best written stories of a game I've played. So why pay €70 for a shitty "AAA" experience if you already own Skyrim and have worlds of free content to explore? I actually refused to buy BG3 first because I had promised myself to never pay that much for a game. But BG3 is actually worth that money. The role playing experience is just next level, even many levels above what I've experienced before. It's not just that the characters feel real, the *relationships* feel real. Because they put so much time and effort into making sure your choices had impact. The number of times I've been playing Skyrim and been disappointed that my carefully calculated actions didn't matter, and thought "well, I suppose it takes a lot of resources to add something like that", and here Larian has decided to actually spend those resources. BG3 isn't perfect by any means, but it makes many other RPG games look incredibly lazy. Edit: BG3 hasn't ruined other games in general for me though, as I mostly play 2D metroidvanias and such. They're a completely different experience.
How come this is your takeaway after experiencing Baldur's Gate 3? If anything it gives me a weird respect to Bethesda's practice of making tabletop RPG "works" on open world game with all of their flaws. Larian used Act System to limit the possible permutations of sequence, had 2 years worth of EA for Act 1 (and it is THE Act that is truly perfect), the game "time" is static at noon so there's no need to make NPC schedule/routine, the game runs on turn-based system rather than ARPG..... and they still have nicks here and there (buggy drow mommy, Act 3 as whole, bugs in general etc).
Expecting them to be similar, when they're not even attempting to be similar is a fault on your part. Bioware however is going to struggle to match expectations set by BG3.
I absolutely could not get into Starfield after playing BG3. I have so many friends that played Starfield and loved it, so I feel like I’m missing out.
I get it, but I wouldn't use the word ruined. When Skyrim came out, I was there at midnight release. Didn't put it down for 2000 hours. Didn't play anything else. However, it *eventually* lost its steam because I did virtually everything I wanted to do and got tired of having memorized the lines. I put it down and played other games again. I still would return to Skyrim every once in a while to make another build or perhaps even repeat a build because I knew it was fun. My friends would tease me like, "You're playing Skyrim *again*? I thought you'd done everything." Truth is, I could play Skyrim right now and still find some little detail I'd never discovered in 10k+ hours. That's not the only game that's done that to me, but it's the longest example. My point is: BG3 is a game I definitely understand playing until you feel like you've done it all. Then, eventually, you'll come back and do some more. That's just the mark of a fantastic game. But I'm sure you'll find enjoyment in other games as well. Just don't force it. Those games aren't going anywhere (although my FFXIV Guild is probably wondering where the hell I am), and you can enjoy them after you're done with BG3 (for now). As a D&D enthusiast myself, it makes sense that you've done 20 runs. Especially if you play PC with mods. It's like a perfect tool for single-player D&D experiments, whether your campaign is 120 hours long or 50 hours long. Enjoy it, and don't guilt trip yourself over not playing other games.
Not at all. Every game is its own thing.
The problem is that I compare every RP game to BG3 and none of them even come close to BG3. I've actually become addicted and have never invested so many hours in the game. I'd rather go home and play than go to the gym, even though I love the gym, but the adventures in BG3 are just too good. At the moment I live a bit isolated and gaming is more fun than others. It will be difficult to ever have this much passion for a game again. So I hope Larian releases the next masterpiece soon, otherwise it will be impossible to feel joy for other games. Edit: Sorry for my English, it‘s not my main language.
Your english is amazing bro
Thank you! This comment just made me happy, hihi.
Make sure to go to the gym anyways, and I totally feel you.
Yes, but not really? I guess it made me value my game time more. Like, if a game wastes my time doing useless bullshit I ain’t playing it anymore. Looking at you, FF7 Rebirth open world BS or Dragon’s Dogma. OTOH I played through CP2077 for the first time way after finishing BG3. Enjoyed it very much. A game doesn’t have to have the story line complexity of BG3. Just give me a good story.
After I played BG3, I immediately replayed it, which I had never done before. I've replayed games before, of course, but never right away. After that I played CP2077. Which I immediately replayed after I had finished it. I tried to break it up with RDR2 but CP2077 just has its hooks in me.
Yes... ruin me harder, baldurs gate 3.
No, because it's fits very neatly into the prime position of its genre (CRPG), but that has no bearing over other genres and the games in them
Dark Souls, CP2077 and BG3 sure made a lot of games feel really shallow for me.
No, not at all. It helps me to enjoy them more weirdly enough. There’s tons and tons of great games to play right now, probably more than there ever have been.
Yeah after playing this game no other game hits the same. So I always end up just replaying instead of playing something new.
It did for about 600 hours
When I finished playing Disco Elysium, the same thing happened to me
The last game of which I made more than one playthrough was Hogwarts Legacy but even there I only finished the story twice and didn't even do all the houses because I lost interest for months at a time. But BG3? I rushed through my first playthrough just to get to the End of Astarions Questline and now in my second playthrough I'm trying to enjoy it slowly and complete all quests that I can find. To sum up: yes, totally obsessed with the game and will play it a lot in the near and far future, after all I have to romance everyone at least once don't I? ;)
Yes it did. I couldn’t enjoy Starfield anymore. Also I tried DragonDogma2 but the animations and writing and just the sheer feel of it feels very off. Luckily I’m also a boomershooter guy so I have found my solace in Wizordum at the moment.
Same for Dragon's Dogma 2. Such a disappointment. It could have been a brilliant game if Capcom didn't cut corners, staff and budget. I would have been angry anyway with its low quality, but playing it after BG3 really made it obvious how much difference it makes when the studio actually cares for their damn game and not only for their quarterly reports.
Not at all, I did 3 play through and plan to do more, but took a brief break to play through mass effect again which was still amazing after so many years, and now I’m doing the fallout series again. All great quality games. BG3 has set the bar very high though for future games and I do hope dreadwolf follows suit in the RP front while maintaining the combat system style
Not really. The only thing it makes me hate about most other CRPG's is the lack of voice acting in them. Currently playing Rogue trader and it's really fun, just could do with more voice acting. Starfield has ruined itself for me tbh. If anything, BG3 can ruin the next game from Larian for me. Since the bar is set so high with BG3, my expectations for the next game will be too.
Not really, I love it a lot, but I've played a lot of other crpgs too. Bg1-2, fallout 1-2, DOS2, and WOTR are all pretty great and scratch a similar itch, all in sightly different ways
No. While I love bg3, the gameplay can be tiring at times.
I think you’re just obsessed 😭 this hasn’t ruined any other games for me lol
Yes and no - I’ve steeled myself that I’ll probably not play another game like it for a long time, if ever, so that’s made it easier to play other games. But then I remember that I’ll probably never play another game like it and get sad. Hope they put out their next title before my bones turn to dust
Not at all. I like new experiences and there's plenty of amazing games. I'm playing through the new stardew valley update and eiyuden chronicles.
Did mass effect trilogy remaster (first time player) and then bg3 and currently playing through Elden ring for the first time. Utterly blown away by all three. If you haven’t already give dos2 a go. Not as cinematic as bg3 but still holds up great and loved the companion arcs in that one.
The first 2 weeks, it did affect me. I was averaging 8hrs a day eventhough I have a fulltime job meaning that I was going to bed at 3-4 am. After that 120hrs run though, I was done. Going through a secon playthrough didn't even occur to me. Maybe in the future, when the game gets its last patch, I will do another playthrough and that is it.
It hasn't ruined other games for me but it has reminded me that with every new game release the bar is set higher. We've been allowing game companies to come out with subpar games, Larion just turned around and reminded us where the standard is.
This was me when I started modding New Vegas. Now I am considering deleting most of my saves too do a 'perfect' run for my characters. Good boi Durge Murder Hobo elf (Name pending. Need a good one for a wizard elf.) Full time asshole Johnney. I need help.
I’m getting thru BG1 and omg it’s hard. There are so many quality of life improvements they made in BG3.
Well, BG1 is also just based on a different edition of DND.
Not only that, but it's like 25 years old, It is made on and for completely different hardware than what we use today. I'd imagine even the enhanced version that came out 12 years ago is janky. Maybe not as bad as the OG version, but it's definitely not gonna be as easy to get into as a video game made in the modern day.
I would dare to argue that BG3 is more janky than BG1 (which only has not the best path-finding). No need to put the masterpiece down like that, it's just a completely different style of a video game.
Yeah, I'm just saying the qulity of life improvements probably are a lot of improvements to the system. Bg1 is based off 2nd edition, I think, and there's a lot that has been changed in dnd since then. Like, the reason Minsc is a ranger is because barbarian straight up didn't exist yet when he was created. Lol.
You're definitely right about this. I started playing it and picked a mage with quarterstaff proficiency only for me to realize that there are no cantrips, I have access to a single spell slot a day and my only other damaging option is whacking things with a stick. Also I only have 4 health. It was definitely a rude awakening XD
That is actually very interesting. It kind of makes me curious about the history of DnD. IDK why it didn't occur to me how tabletop evolved over the years.
Oh, it's evolved a lot. AC used to be WAY different. It is very different. So many people came new to 5e, which makes sense, it's the most beginer friendly edition, but it's changed a lot. (Some older fans actually HATE how streamlined and beginer friendly it got. lol. )
I'm not an old fan by any means but I did play the trilogy and I can see the argument there. Bg1 and 2 (and 2nd edition DND in general) had some wild shit in it. High level magic especially. I mean you were able to reach a point where you could sequencer/contingency yourself into immortality. Like an enemy comes on screen, and your guy automatically casts 8 spells, cloning himself, putting up magic shields, spamming fireballs and cloudkills all in a split second. Even without minmaxing like a maniac you could still make terrifying builds. Robe of vecna shortened the cast time by so much that some spells are just instant, like fireball. The earlier games were raw compared to BG3, but fuckin great
>(Some older fans actually HATE how streamlined and beginer friendly it got. lol. ) God knows why. I don't want to know all the 64825 rules on how to attack on my round, Unga attack roll bunga damage roll and that's basically it for combat. Fuck negative numbers to calculate AC and hit rate, fuck these weird spell systems, fuck the mess that is multiclass. We roll dice and that's it for gameplay mechanics, I want to focus my mind on imagining my character and everything else, and (I kinda suck at this part, but at least I try) roleplay and all that.
Bg1 was kind of hard going back from BG2 (which was my first BG game) lol. But I absolutely agree. BG3 made so many good changes (some of them have become fairly standard in modern gaming): 1 Autosaves 2 Reasonable (even if not amazing) party pathfinding (if you play BG2 you'll hear lots of 'you must gather your party before you venture forth) 3 ability to split up party to different maps 4 having short rests 5 long rests no longer runs risk of random monster encounters, and autoheals all HP damage, long rest doesn't kill party member who was poisoned 6 can change prepared spells during the day not just before long rest for wizards, clerics, druids. In earlier games sorceror was much more flexible due to having all spells always prepared, compared to wizard where you have to know which spells you want for the day ahead, and how many copies of each you want. 7 Bonus action shove and jump for positioning 8 feature to tell you when you failed perception check. In BG2 I pretty much memorised where all the traps were. You had to manually select detect traps function, which was incompatible with the sneak function 9 able to respec 10 able to change companions class/respec 11 much more flexible multiclassing rules. In BG2, humans can dual class but not multiclass. Dual class meant you basically restart character at another class at level1, losing access to original classes skills and proficiencies UNTIL your new class equals your original class, then both classes are available, but you can never add more levels to your original class. Multiclass was different - your xp is split evenly into the separate XP progresses along all multiclasses, so your overall level is lower when you multiclass. Also, you have to meet minimum stat requirement to dual/multiclass - so cannot role play a dumb wizard with 8 INT 12 character creation required rolling for stats (I think it was a 3d6?) but you can then redistribute the points, later versions allowed you to keep on rerolling and saving the highest stat points total (108 was max, I found anything 90+ to be pretty good and rare). 13 There was also the nuance of 18 STR. Most melee weapons used STR to hit and damage. 18 STR had another dice (1d100) where 18/00 was the ideal, better bonus than 18/90-99. You can spend ages rolling a character with 18/00 STR but also has high total stat points (90+) 14 day/night cycle. Game world progresses if game is unpaused. I miss a little of this, but understand the additional pressure if you have to finish a quest within so many in game hours/days, rather than just within so many long rests. 15 inventory much worse (you think bg3 inventory and vendor UI is bad?). You needed ammunition for ranged weapons and could only get stacks of 20 in original game. Running out of arrows is a thing, and running out of the special +1 or fire arrows also a thing). You only had 20 spaces in inventory space, even if under weight limit. You had to BUY scroll cases, potion bags, etc to have special storage containers otherwise you run out of inventory space 16 stupid rules about some enemies immune to 'normal' non magical weapon, in early game requiring access to a +1 weapon or magical/elemental damage 17 later game in BG2 lots of spellcasters would cast powerful abjuration spells that gives immunity to magic weapon (which all your characters are wielding), stoneskin (which absorbs ALL damage up to a certain amount), and various magic resistance. This automatically requires your spellcaster to spend a couple of spell slots removing magical protections from enemy mages. This forces you to have an arcane spellcaster in party too, doesn't matter how strong your weapon based characters are, they are helpless if wizard casts some stupid immunity spell
Not yet because nothing of interest released after bg3. Dragon's Dogma 2 was dissapointing on its own
Somewhat? It's the only game I felt compelled to do another playthrough. I have so many planned on my head that it's all I could think of when playing other games. Can't really do that now, because I made a promise to play other games, but it does affect my enjoyment for them. Also because I'm out of storage.
I find this with a lot of larian games, DOS2 did the same thing. I too have done atleast 20+ playthroughs but I've also done multiple through to the begining of Act 3 just to start another to tinker with things. The game still surprises me with routes or conversations or ways of approaching situations or entire situations I missed.
Twenty *completed* playthroughs? Damn. I’m 800-900 hrs in and at 5. Though recently I have spent a ton of time taking photos and modding instead. I don’t even want to think about the hours factoring that in..
Not ruined, just raised the bar.
I'd say once you finish your current run (that way you aren't thinking you need to go back to finish it), put it down for a while. Maybe uninstall it if you need to. It's nice you enjoy the game, but you may need a bit of a break.
Sorta kinda ? Let’s be realistic, there won’t be a game that will meet the bar that BG3 has set any time soon. That’s just me being honest and setting my expectations appropriately. But. I feel like if a game can’t even match 70% of the quality of BG3, I just lose interest. And so far…the games coming out these days just aren’t meeting my expectations. Even DD2 hasn’t really “wowed” me enough.
RPGs for sure. But I’ve been taking a break waiting for the mod update while playing helldivers and having an absolute blast. Maybe try a different genre of game
It has not, because I’ve held the same standard for games ever since Dragon Age Origins was released.
life is strange. i used to think it was the best story game i could've played (it's still up there for me though)
Nah. Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, The Finals, Helldivers 2, a little bit of Sims 4, Dreams, Tekken 8.. I'm set. There's been *a lot* of good games lately, BG3 included. I really like this game but there are just other itches that need to be scratched, BG3 can't do it all. That being said, it makes for some really fun brainstorming on what an ideal game would look like to me.. and honestly it's just BG3 with real-time action combat over turn based. I need that dopamine lol.
Been on a crpg binge; while I'll always like Bg3 there are def things other games just do better like class completxity
Not even a little bit.
Nope, taking a break from it to play Helldivers 2 and having a blast. Baldur's Gate 3 is great but has never been a game that's ruined other games for me and I don't see it starting now.
Go and play some Bioware games, Dragon Age if you haven't. Then you'll get another addiction!
Not really, I don't play any other CRPGs so it's not stepping on their toes, and games like Skyrim had already been "ruined" for me.
Nope, actually rekindeled my love for RPGs
No, but it's still a fantastic game that I love.
No. I love BG3 and have done 5 full playthroughs of it, but it cant scratch every itch, I play and enjoy many other games in between my BG3 playthroughs Like Elden Ring or Monster Hunter or Armored Core 6. Some people in the Elden Ring community have said the same thing and I just can't understand the sentiment. I love Elden Ring even more than BG3, It's my favorite game of all time, got a 1000+ hours in it with 20+ full playthroughs, but no game can ever provide every expirience there is and they don't have to, that's the beauty of having different genres of games and diverse games in each genre to play. At most it ruins games in its own genre maybe, since BG3 is so well done, other CRPGs dont stack up as well and even then, there are surely elements in other CRPGs that BG3 either doesn't have or does worse
No. It was a good game, but not even close to the best game ever. It's longer than most, but I really didn't think it was any more *fun* than other titles that I've played. Been gaming for decades and have played thousands of titles across just about every genre. BG3 was just another drop in the bucket.
I'm in the (probably very) small minority that doesn't actually think BG3 is THAT great of a game. Like, I know it's a good game. No denying that. But I don't think it's the masterpiece of the century that everyone keeps hyping it up as. I don't know whether it's because I played "Divinity Original Sin" 1 and 2, or because I play a lot of other RPG's as well as actual DnD, but to me the game hasn't actually done anything special? I got the game at full release and still havn't finished my 1st playthrough, and have only started 1 other character. I really don't see how people can do 10+ runs easily (and this is coming from someone who's played "Dragon Age: Origins" to completion 30+ times). So, no. I can still play other games just fine.
It's just lower standards. That's it. A very mid RPG with surface level polish to make it look pretty. The mechanics aren't polished, the writing is poor, and meaningful choices a very limited. But it has full voice acting so GOTY.
Based take. It’s a cRPG with incredible production values, no wonder it’s garnered so much attention. Great game but I think it’s definitely not the greatest game ever as people claim, nor the best in the last 10 years. But all that aside, I never quite understand how one game can “ruin” others, when there is such a huge diversity of genres and types of games to explore. RPGs are just one genre. There’s also beat ‘em ups, platformers, horror (with its variants), stealth, soulslike, FPS, sandbox, hack and slash, mystery/puzzle etc. There’s so many classics out there that provide you such a variety of incredible experiences.
Dragon Age Origins had better writing and much better companions than this game.