Baldur’s Gate 3
Oh my fucking god! That’s what I think about when I think about Baldur’s Gate 3. And I mean this in a good way.
It encompasses everything this game has meant to me in the past few months. From getting blown off a walkway or cliff, getting made love to by a bear, Gale asking you for another magical artifact, taking an hour to make your character, to how massive the game is. All of these things make me go OMFG…but lovingly.
My first encounter with Baldur’s Gate, anything, was with Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. My brother and I would play this for hours back in the early 2000s. I didn’t know at the time that it was part of a franchise or had anything to do with Dungeons & Dragons, as it had more of a game style similar to Diablo. I remember the game fondly, though, so when I heard that Baldur’s Gate 3 was being made and coming to early access, I got excited about all the hacking and slashing I’d get to do again. So, imagine my surprise when I watched a video of the first few minutes of Baldur’s Gate 3 and witnessed the gameplay. I thought to myself, “Why did they change the game to turn-based, and what are with all of these dice rolling like a casino?!” How foolish I was.
A few years later, I started seeing the advertisements for the game that would be coming out for PC and PS5. I thought to myself, “Damn, this thing still hasn’t come out?” but I couldn’t help but be in awe of the trailers. After reading up on it and finding out that it would also be multiplayer, I convinced myself to get the game. If I knew what I was in store for, I would have needed no convincing at all. I had a PC at the time but wanted to get the PS5 version as I played primarily on it and thought it would be easier to play with friends. The PS5 version would be out a matter of weeks after the PC version, which I was fine waiting for, or at least I thought I was. From the time that the PC version was released until the PS5 version, all hell broke loose with this game. It was the talk of the town. Gaming websites everywhere were handing out 10s like they were Skittles, and the game got overwhelming predictions to be Game of the Year at the game awards, which it got. It was everywhere. This made me so hyped to play the game and also so scared to scour the internet, dreading stumbling upon a spoiler. Finally, though, September 6th, 2023, rolled around, and my gaming life would change forever.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was developed by Larian Studios, the popular Divinity: Original Sin game makers. Larian was given the opportunity to make the game by Wizards of the Coast after they were impressed with some of the pre-release material of Original Sin 2. The game is based on the 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons rule set. It was revealed at E3 2019, entered early access on October 6th, 2020, and was finally released on PC on August 31st, 2023, for PC and September 6th for PlayStation 5. The game went on to sell over 10 million copies, garnered rave reviews, and earned multiple Game of the Year awards across the industry.
Now, in the early parts of the post, I mentioned taking an hour to make a character, and that is not a joke. It’s the first thing they have you do shortly after starting the game, and it is INTENSE. I spent at least an hour creating my character. Going through each race, each class, each subclass, hairstyle, and more to find just the right character for me. All this while, my brother waited for me patiently. I settled on a Male Half-Elf Fighter (I did a female Elven Ranger, who I later changed into a Warlock, for my solo run) and hit the ground running slowly.
This game literally drops you on a beach and says good luck. It gives you the freedom to go anywhere and damn near do anything. And I mean anything. The game is split up into three long acts, and through fortunate and unfortunate events, I’ve had to replay Act 1 about four times. Each time, it has played out in a different manner. Whether a quest was completed in a different method than before or you passed a dialog check you couldn’t on the last playthrough, it always felt fresh and new. And this persists throughout the game. I’ve never played a game with this much ability to influence how the story plays out.
The combat is just as good. I enjoyed the thought that goes into the battles and making moves that would set up my carefully crafted plans on how to win the battle. For someone like me who has never played Dungeons and Dragons, it sure made me want to play it. I know there is a big difference between playing a video game and a tabletop RPG, but the game helped me understand some of the mechanics and made the daunting task of starting my first campaign a little less scary. The only thing it would lack is the beautiful graphics accompanying the battles and the entire game in general. It looks more detailed than anything I’ve played before. From the sprawling streets of Baldurs Gate to the House of Hope, everything looks carefully crafted. It is a sight to behold.
I could gush about this game forever, but my fingers would probably end up bleeding from all the typing, so onward to My Favorite Part. The thing I love the most about this game is it’s multiplayer. There has been no other game in recent memory (other than Helldiver’s 2) that has brought me more joy in playing with other people than this game. I was excited to play this game with friends, and it came out at a perfect time when that was exactly what I needed in life: friends. The game lets you run a campaign solo, or you can have up to three friends join you. I was lucky enough to have my brother, Noel, and our friend, Bryan, accompany me through my first campaign. It took us a few months and having to restart the game due to a bad save file to complete it, but we did it. We were all dedicated and made sure we set time aside to play together throughout those few months, and it was some of the most fun I’ve had in forever. We spent hours watching each other slip on grease, mess up dialog choices, and try to start a relationship. I was notorious for getting us into fights at the wrong time, not paying attention to a battle, and making the wrong move. All of these events brought us closer, making beating it that much more gratifying and turning this game into something that is special in my heart.
We still game with each other at least once a week now, and I can only imagine the other relationships this game has made stronger from experiences like ours. I believe that it is a testament to Larian Studios that they were able to make a game as refined as Baldur’s Gate 3 but were also able to make something that brought people closer together in fun, imaginative ways I could never think of. I hope this game serves as an example to other studios and, in turn, brings more games that will give similar experiences like this, and when they do, I can’t wait to get my party back together and make even more memories with them.