For me it wasn’t the fire that kept drawing comparisons to Divinity. It was the writing. The opening is beat for beat Divinity tropes and it was off-putting. It took hours more gameplay and character development for that edge to wear down, though it has probably permanently shaded my first playthrough. Perhaps that opening was one of the first things written, and thus the most akin to its predecessor.
Once the game settles in, things feel less Divinity and more Faerun. The fire metaphor is apt though. Things do creep in from time to time to remind you who built this adventure. It’s like a signature. I don’t always like it, seeing the hand in this case is more jarring because of how sensitive I am towards the setting and gameplay. But the craft is so thoughtful otherwise, it’s broken through those barriers for me.
I agree, and it comes through in the companions, too. And despite them singling out Jaheira in the article I have a hard time recognising much of her, except for the appearance. Maybe the hundred years passing is the excuse but I wish her bossy, sarcastic, witty personality was more present and recognisable.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the game and it has been monopolizing my attention but it’s still not beating the Divinity 3 allegations (though I’m only at the end of Act 2, still).
For me the games I have enjoyed the most are Ratchet and Clank games. I’m so lucky there has been many releases with most of them being good. Longer development cycles and the mindset of releasing when ready would be better for these games too.
I haven’t played the last 3 games but I know that one very appealing idea for them that keeps players around is the newer fluid mechanics and lack of bugs on launch. This series is like the bread and butter of Sony games, you’re never feeling like it’s just a reskin of the previous game.
For some reason, something as simple as using the F5/F8 as quicksave/quickload keys felt like a blast from the past. Maybe it’s been around the whole time and I stopped noticing, but it reminded me of playing old RPGs.
F9 was used in most Bethesda games for quickload. Not sure if this was a typo but AFAIK I only used quicksave before but it still counts as a hard save in BG3 which I appreciate.
Fuck I just learned there’s a quickload from this comment lol. F9 didn’t work and I didn’t even think to try F8.
So as someone who is an avid fan of Bg1 and bg2, but having never played divinity games because of kinda lack of interest, is bg3 worthy or not? I don’t want to get disappointed.
I had played some post-bg rpgs like dragon age: origins, but it felt like meh and I did not complete it.
I can’t do much to answer your original question but you could always try it and refund it within the 2 hour period steam allows.
Sure, you won’t be able to get the full experience but in that time you should be able to get a basic feel for the game and some characters which could let you form your own opinion.
Steam can be pretty loose with the period too within reason. I only returned a game once, it was the Outer Worlds and I put like 4 hours into it. I explained to them that at that point it was clear that choices didn’t have the big impact I thought they would and I felt deceived.
It’s a great game by all measures, but it really feels more like a sequel to the last two Divinity games rather than the Baldur’s Gate series. The only thing it really has in common with the old games is the setting, a few recurring characters, and the fact that it’s based on D&D. Otherwise, they are about as different as CRPGs can get.
If you want a spiritual successor to the old infinity engine games, look at the two Pillars of Eternity games and the two Pathfinder games.
Pillars of eternity was fucking incredible. They absolutely nailed that old bioware vibe, something I’m certain the cranial leakage Larian employs is incapable of.
I never played BG1 or BG2 or any of the Divinity games. I have played DND a lot. This feels like medieval fantasy Fallout 1 & 2 with AAA flourishes. I really like it. It’s very unforgiving. There are a lot of creative ways to finish quests. You can miss entire bits of the game based on choices. There’s a character you literally cannot recruit based on your morality choices, and with them entire subplots. The game is DEEP
Baldur’s Gate 2 is one of my favourite games of all time, and I was extremely worried and sceptical that BG3 could live up to the hype and the name of the franchise.
To the first point, it definitely has. The game is fantastic, deep, fun and absorbing, with gorgeous environments, interesting nooks, crannies and dungeons to explore and lots of fun making custom multiclass combos for your character.
It does a good job of creating a facsimile of playing Pen-and-Paper D&D with an abundance of skill checks and visible Dice Rolls, and if you decide to roll with your failures instead of save-scumming it has lots of different permutations for events and decisions can have serious consequences.
When it comes to how it relates to the previous games, I’m at the end of Act 2 and have yet to discover a real reason for this game to be called “Baldur’s Gate 3”. So far it has been entirely standalone, narratively. There might still be connections further down the road, however.
The real difference is in the writing. If what you love about the old Baldur’s Gates were the characters and the writing and you want and expect more of that then you will be disappointed. First of all, this game takes place 100 years after BG2 so expect very few familiar faces. The one returning character I’ve encountered so far has not felt particularly recognisable, either. It’s a damn good game, but it definitely feels like an unmistakably Larian game, and not a Baldur’s Gate game, writing wise. It particularly comes through in the companions.
As someone who adores the old games, I still recommend trying it as I’m having a lot of fun with it, but you might want to pretend it’s called “Divinity: Faerun” and not Baldur’s Gate 3 to enjoy it fully.
I love BG series since I’m young (started playing bg1 when I was 14, and I was still playing this year). While BG3 is different in many respect, it is honourable to the franchise IMO.
The game is different obviously, because 20 years have passed. Beamdog made a remaster is what you want is the original game. And BG3 shares a lot with divinity original sin, mostly because it’s the same engine running it. It’s not real time with pause, you have far more interactions with the environment, far more possibilities while exploring the world, and the world is far more reactive to what you’re doing.
IMO BG3 is better than bg2 in almost every respect.
The companions relationships are deeper, and they still have their own personalities, they’re not just following you like in almost all bioware games post BG. There can be very dramatic moment with them.
The rest of the game has a lot to do with what made BG good games. And there was a lot to it.
An important part was the dnd fantasy world and rules. They are updated to 5e, and it’s still dnd, no other game than a dnd franchise would have that.
Most other aspect were already there in Dos2 though: exploration, character and group building, itemization, open world and big side adventures. All that is there and it is the quality of BG. The freedom to do anything the way you like is also there and better than with BG, because the engine allows so much more.
The tactical aspect is also there. The only difference, as I said, is turn based instead of real time with pause. If you’re OK with that, I cannot see how you wouldn’t be happy with BG3, except for some nostalgia that would prevent you from liking anything new. IMO BG3 is factually a better bg2.
Lastly, the story. I’m not that far, and I haven’t seen many connections with bg1 and 2 stories yet. There are references. And the story happens around and in Baldur’s gate (unlike Baldur’s gate 2 btw).
I loved BG2 and it was one of my favourite games ever for a very long time. Though when I read the old BG sub on Reddit it seems people there disliked everything I loved and hyperfocused on things I just considered part of the vehicle to deliver an amazing story that allowed so much freedom and depth that made you feel emotional and connected. I had tried to replay BG2 but the mechanics are so, so outdated now and distracting.
BG3 over delivers on the choice depth, story and connection but does so with an updated, fun and much better engine with much more mechanics.
A big reminder to how far Bioware has fallen