Haven't I seen this video already? Anyways, great choice using D&D units over real metric ones, gives the campaigns always a old timey fantasy feel to it!
Your quote is from Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. Gandalf said this: "I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." Charles Dickens wrote: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."
How does the game handle split screen co-op? Playing DOS2 on a split screen with my wife was the closest to an actual tabletop experience I got from a video game, my best cRPG experience and one of the top gaming experiences in general. We hope we can get something similar or better from BG3.
How is the writing? I have found the writing in Divine Divinity Original Sin to be *bad*. Very immature and all over the place. Did they improve? Cheers man, thanks for the review.
It isn't for me either, but I think I'm going for it. I own DOS:2, but restarted it a few times. I really enjoy the world, but sometimes the combat is just a little lon gin the tooth. I like the skill checks and this still sounds like an improvement over their older games.
I know everyone says this, but I just wanna add in as well. Your reviews are the greatest on this platform. I trust your opinion more than anyone else's. Thank you so much for the content, we appreciate you!
Serious credit where it's due.. Laramie understands contrast and color in their visuals. And not just coloring contrast but clarity too and it's importants... it's such a shockingly rare treat actually in modern games. This is like the visually spiritual polar opposite to elden ring... and even breath of the wild in how they actually maintain the color depth rather than just having a great out washed over broken TV looking and it's always popped, ever since the early builds. There's always this striking like I catch with how colorful it's been and how detailed and while the actual gameplay hasn't always been the most clear in terms of UI and the chaos etc.. unless probably because you're playing it and it's turn-based and that makes sense.. but in terms of like everything that presenting to you has always just been so crisp.. and it looks better than a lot of the high expensive modern rendering smeary garbage just by that virtue alone.. I can't remember the last time I saw this getting embraced so wholesale maybe The Witcher 3 and it's original form.. but this is kind of like taking that to another level and treating it as like part of its entire visual DNA it seems. honestly sometimes with modern games I feel like I'm being gaslit as somebody that's a camera operator who has good vision... I feel like with every year the urgency that Tim Sweeney needs to replace his glasses, having been chipped and peeled.. poorly formulated light transitioning coatings.. Vaseline water cracks.. and just the general prescription that's been in in long since need of a refresh.. as it seems like all of these things that that affect corrective lenses in the worst of ways have started to become part of the visual makeup and best practices brought about by talks at GDC and unreal and just in AAA in general.. like it's a photographer chromatic aberrations the devil.. you go through a lot of effort to make sure you don't have it it certainly not a feature of quality camera equipment. Despite having its place in distortion effects.. it shouldn't be part of your regular vision if it is then you need to clean your glasses lol.. or get new ones.. and it's certainly shouldn't be part of camera, although sometimes there's not much you can do in that regard depending on how much budget you have.. it's the look of cheap glass basically or dirt.. and and they used to add dirt to the screen and they still do LOL.. humans aren't cameras goodness gracious LOL
The accessibility of the complicated and turn-based combat in these Larian games is really excellent. Never thought I’d be enjoying the combat in a game like this.
Same. I have never enjoyed CRPG's because of the combat in those games. But here, it just clicks. The combst is so satisfying once you get the basic mechanics
Unbelievably excited for this game, have also abstained from playing any early access or watching any reviews to keep myself cleaned of spoilers except this review cause I love them so much. Hope the game lives up to the hype and that everyone has a good time with it!
ACG is one of the only people I genuinely trust with reviews. It's so hard to tell who is being genuine now since everyone is paid or sponsored in _some way_ How do we know their opinion wasn't skewed by the $3k they get? Shit, it would sway me for sure! Lmao
One thing I am a bit surprised about is the lack of faces for the character creator. In a game that relies on so many close in dialogue moments, its a bit disappointing to only have a few different faces with minor variations. I wonder why they didn't have an option to customize faces, was it to avoid issues with facial animations?
They may do what they did with DOS2. Add more in the future. I think they made such an effort on world building, class design, dialogue etc, that faces were more than likely a afterthought. Like they did with DOS2.
Never, EVER underestimate Larian. The studio is basically what CD Projekt could be, If they didn't let marketing division make executive decissions. Hands down the best RPG creators in the world. Larian Studios - I salute you all.
I mean also bioware still ok (despite some hiccups but hopefully this will be a bit of a rivalry and I don't see any evil or greed despite being who they owned by) and firaxis they're still doing good nowadays didn't do much@joceja23
@@changsiah2 Bioware is not okay, bro. Anthem was a flop and they are shadow of themselves for a long time and I don't see them changing that while they are under EA's boot.
CDPR only own 35% of their company, so have to answer heavily to shareholders. Sven and his wife own 70% total of Larian, and so ultimately decide the direction. (1 share = 1 vote at general meetings too).
this may not be my cup of tea but I'm glad to see a deep DND-inspired RPG game with this scope and ambition came to fruition from an experienced studio. Great review Karak, hope you get your well-earned rest after playing this
I love how you introduced the classes. I’ve never played Baldurs Gate before but I am obsessed with Divinity Sin 1&2 so it’s nice to hear that the classes are similar. Makes me more pumped.
Man. Larian Studios have become the collective king of crpgs. So grateful to the team for reviving Baldur’s Gate and showing it the love it deserves. Most anticipated RPG in my lifetime.
Yal fools have no life. I get it but still, 20 hours a day on a fictional game that has no meaning on our lives besides being happy that you making progress in a fantasy world
Even if the execution might not be as good.... the way you describe side quests vs main quest reminds me of The Secret World/Secret World Legends. Which I love for its world and lore. But hearing you mention how it's all connected in furthering your understanding of your surroundings, and the people within, that's how SWL also connects each side quests. So I was already invested in wanting this game, but since I truly loved that aspect of SWL, and can safely bet that this game will execute that portion a lot better, it's a no-brainer now at this point! Update: haven't enjoyed a game like this in such a long time! It's truly worth it!
Technically, the druid is also the best "commander of animals" since you can either turn into them or summon them with various spells. Ranger is more of a archer with spells.
Really, this isn't my sort of game and I doubt I'll buy it, but I love the review and I love that it exists. Lotta unhappy customers out there right now, and this seems a return to the joyous, artistic and experimental games of old, when developers wanted to show you the characters they could develop and the stories they could make, rather than the products they could develop and the money they could make.
It really felt like an in-person tabletop D&D game to me too except for one instance when trying not to walk through poison clouds in that Grove. Meanwhile, there are mounds of other things i could habe climbed over in a tabletop game but not in a video game that the devs didn't anticipate the player wanting to do.
@@shadowskill111 Having played DOS 2, and BG3 EA... Unless the subsequent acts fall down (and it really sounds as though that is not the case), I'd say BG3 actually needs a new, bigger pair of shoes. It's fantastic on every level, and I say this as somebody who absolutely loved (and still loves) DOS2.
One of the last good development studios, at least when compared to anything not considered to be "indie". The only other one that comed to my mind would probably be fromsoft. This is truly a magnificent accomplishment. I really hope Larian never gets sold to a big greedy publisher.
Something I love about BG3 is stepping away when I need some food, sleep, etc. and strategizing how I want to approach a particular battle. I probably have several hours of afk time throughout my 100+ hours, but was I really afk when I'm constantly thinking about strategy, new builds, etc.? No other game has done this to me.
I'm only one person. I can only like your effort and wisdom so much. Walking into this one with no knowledge other than "Baluder's gate I and II existed. Larian is at the helm and this is more D&D than Divinity." I really don't think I'll ever put this one down.
Nobody I know has the creative, and often comical, approach to game reviews as ACG. Listening to the character creation section of this video kept a constant smile on my face.
It just released on Xbox, and I immediately came here before dropping the $80 for the deluxe edition. I'm beyond excited to finally dive into this game. Especially after hearing your thoughts on it
the early access alone is already the size of many triple a games with an insane amount of content and fully voiced outcomes. the amount of detail and effort put into the game especially the community interaction is what makes this game special. i hope more people dont pass this game up because its not an action combat game
I want this game to succeed so well that it sends a message to the industry that we want quality content, no more MTX crap etc. But I doubt this will sell well enough to do that, which is a shame. Needs 10 million or more sales realistically. I'm also really nervous about playing this because the EA showed it has the same frustrations as I got from DOS2 - enemies can move further and attack more than you can per turn. It just feels...unfair, all the time, especially at the start when you're so weak. I dunno. I have really mixed feelings that this game will blow me away with the story but frustrate me in the actual combat.
This game sold 1 million units in 2020 when early access started. Sven Vicke by Larian said in an interview, that sales after EA are usually around ten times the EA sales. Not taking into account any additional sales since 2020, this equation alone would let them hit the 10 million in sales you're deeming necessary for this game to do well.
It won't get 10mil for the simple reason that it's not releasing on consoles simultaneously. Ps5 is in September and Xbox is in 2024, and usually in that sort of situation, the console releases sort of just eek out with no fanfare and minimal marketing so people don't even notice.
It's not like the industry doesn't know. They don't care. Just like grocery stores know the customers would be a bit happier if they did some nice things but lower profits. Their priority isn't your happiness. It's getting the maximum amount of people to hand over their money for the minimum amount of effort, resources, and manhours from them.
You are without a doubt the best game reviewer on the internet. Been watching you for almost 8 years now and your content remains the absolute best in the game. I’ll even watch your reviews on games that I have no interest in at all just cause you are so engaging to listen to with a level of detail you really cant get anywhere else. Keep going my dude
I've never played a Baldur's Gate game before, but I've always wanted to. The third entry in the series looks really good so far, so I'll have to give it a shot. Thanks, Karak! I appreciate the hard work! God bless and stay safe!
I'll note, you dont really need to have played the other games, it will help, and there are certainly plenty of lore vids online, but it eases you in well enough I think, and there are books or folk to talk to to help get you up to speed ^_^
Ive found that ACG reviews are the most learned than any other, in sound design and execution. Not sure what he does outside of game reviews but his understanding of sound is unmatched in the industry imo.
Barbarian> *Hits you with a Large Salami* DM> Roll 2D6 18. DM> "You stagger back from the log of meat the Barbarian just hit you with and the first thing out of your mouth other than the shock?" You> "OW!" As you reel in pain throbbing your shoulder where the Salami impacted Barbarian> "Huh, That did more damage than I thought It would." *Adds it to his pack* You > "You do know your supposed to eat those right?" "RIGHT?" Barbarian just gives you a dirty look and walks away.
A sphincter is not a butthole. The human body has many sphincters, it’s used in your circulatory system for example to stop your blood from flowing back down
Tieflings aren't people who have made deals with devils, FYI. They're people whose family lines have been "tainted" by devils or demons. Sometimes that means an ancestor made deals with a fiend, but the most common route tends to involve a direct familiar connection to such an entity.
GOTY. There’s nothing else I could say. If you love role play or fantasy. This game is for you and it is a fucking masterpiece with hundreds of hours of replay value. Original release date In September would have been a fight between this or Starfield. I’m 100% positive I’ll still be playing this in September and I probably won’t even pick up SF now. Larian studios set a bar on what a finished game really feels like on top of shade towards micro transactions. They are the lord and savior no one really talked about and their product is phenomenal. Player count just keeps rising!
It's taken years in beta, and it seems well worth it! This is how game companies should treat their products. Larian has done for BG3, what CDPR should have done for Cyberpunk 2077. I look forward to years of future CRPGs based of this engine, if they can keep up the quality!
I hadn't played a full-on CRPG/RPG like this since Dungeon Siege in...2002. It took about 1 hour of gameplay to be completely hooked, It's beautifully daunting, intriguing, interesting, and most importantly, fun. I'm actually impressed by the controller adaptation Larian made. I honestly thought it would be super cumbersome, but it turned out to be fairly intuitive. Once in a generation game sounds quite right imo. Also, love the reviews!
So excited, and so happy to see full controller support. Played about 10 hours on my deck and I cannot wait for the full version to finish downloading.
@@times7171 it's definitely not the most stable experience in terms of frame rate, but honestly on the decks screen I think it looks great - it's good enough I've been happy playing it docked too, but I'm not the most framerate or graphics sensitive. I think because it's turn based framerate matters less too, I think it's around 20-30ish most of the time.
Just take your time and go over your options, don't try to run when you can't walk. Read your abilities, both general and class, and just experiment at your own pace.
@@strange144 Yeah, it's not "exciting" in the sense of quick reactions or quick thinking, but it can very much be exciting when you're in a really complex combat encounter and you need to think really carefully to survive! It rewards clever thinking, and the thrill you get out of thinking of a clever solution is basically where the excitement comes from. Well, that and just sometimes gambling on luck - that can feel great when it pays off too!
180 hours later, finally done with the game. It's been a blast, but looking back, the combat in DOS2 was done better, with much easier ways to "combo" stuff :(
Not a single game has me sucked in like this one in a long time. DOS2 and Wasteland 3 come to mind, but bg3 is on another level, it can hold its own to the classics like neverwinter nights, Planescape torment and of cause BG2 or Icewind dale. Playind diablo 4 and this back to back one has to be quite dense not to see the huge difference in love and care that went into them.
I just found out about you and this baldurs gate review made me subscribe. It was really informative and also really funny. I like that you covered everything thoroughly without spoilers. Thank you for such a great review. What is your opinion on the illithid powers?
Well being BG1 and 2 veteran I'd say you're not gonna understand some easter eggs and references. Nothing big but to have a FULL experience playing previous games is necessary. However unless you're a die hard DnD fan it would be hard to invest 80+ hours into BG 1 and 2 them being 25 years old games.
I also have to add the armor cosmetic and designs are more distinctive, pleasing to look at compared to those beggar clothes in D4 (and you need to pay for the 'better-looking' ones).
This style of game is not my cup tea. However, I'm pumped for everyone having an absolute blast and super happy for the Devs to see this level of success!
dont remember the last time i've been so excited for a game. bg1, 2, icewind dale etc were my childhood and larian is the only studio to have filled that whole with DoS1 and 2, and now this! COME ON DOWNLOAD SPEED!
Switching from GW2 to play this game. In a lot of ways this game seems like it will play like GW1 did, a Competitive/Cooperative Online Role Playing Game. The amount of detail and roleplaying aspects... I'm totally excited to get in to what this game is offering. I just setup my characters yesterday thinking about what I want to do with each "toon".
Somewhat related, has there ever been a film like Princess Bride, but instead it cuts to a group of people playing DnD? Maybe the (4th wall breaking) social aspect of the game often gets downplayed or even omitted entirely in DnD based shows and movies since having two story lines in two worlds would be too much or something? The people playing the game should be a much bigger part of the story since they are so central to the experience of playing the game, and it's so lame when a DnD movie plays it super straight and doesn't show that at all. It would then be like any other fantasy movie. It would be cool if the story lines of the group of friends/strangers intertwines with their campaign and the conclusion of one influences the other by the end, for better or worse. A real life example would be the story of id Software's ill fated DnD campaign. I think that would be a great premise for a movie.
The biggest accomplishment of BG3 is being able to play a complex CRPG with a controller. They've also ditched the worst thing about old crpg's which was real-time combat.
Yeah lack of turn based was the only reason I never got into the original BG games. I own them and still want to play them properly one day though, especially after already spending 40 amazing hours in this insanely good and lore rich world since BG3's full launch.
So being new to PC gaming, I have Wrath of the Righteous sitting in my backlog, which I'll probably play first. But this looks amazing and I'll probably snag it at some point.
If you're new to PC gaming, Wrath of the Righteous is probably going to be overwhelming and you'll have a ton of things to learn, unless you're already familiar with the tabletop game. Even though BG 3 is complex and challenging, it's still like a simplified and forgiving version of Wrath of the Righteous.
I was on the fence about buying this game, but after this review I went to the steam and pulled up the game, only to find out.. I had bought it last July. Great review as always, time to play!
Currently 50 hours into a session and I'm still only partway through exploring the first act. This review summarises my exact feelings towards this game, the depth and complexity are genuinely remarkable, yet it retains an accessibility of only giving you as much complexity as you go looking for. If you want to be a straight up fighter with 4 attacks in a turn and leave the rest to others then you can. If you want to manage spell slots, class features, and a complex coordination of buffs etc. then it will let you do that too. I've particularly been impressed by how many options are available that are emergent from your gameplay - strength, for instance, appears to just be a combat focused skill. Except, strength also governs your jump distance, giving you a whole host of new solutions to puzzles, platforming, and combat situations. Whatever role you decide to play, it will bring its own flavour to both the narrative moments in dialogue and in pure gameplay situations. Genuinely a masterpiece.
Sounds daunting. I can see how good the game is but i also see that it's probably months of time investment to play through it. Or a week or two of entire days off.
