Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 is Trash

[Litmanen]

I can understand how a game can be entirely shit but still get overwhelming praise from mainstream audiences and even win 'GOTY'. But how is it that this pile of shit gets a free pass on the codex?

The whole game from top to bottom is an asset flip. Larian has to be the laziest developer in existence. It has no world map that expands upon the scale of the world because they couldn't be bothered designing a map travel system from the ground up, since they didn't have these elements to pull from Original Sin. All previous BG games had map travel, POE had it, Pathfinder, etc. What's their excuse?

It's got the same linear level design from past Larian games where exploration means choosing which road to walk down and which 'encounter' to be shoehorned into. There's no actual world exploration or freedom in BG3. Instead, you are just presented with endless roads that lead directly to one amusement or another.

The combat is the worst implementation of turn based combat I've ever seen in a game. Absolutely banal from start to finish.

The writing is dogshit. There's no reason to want to do anything or care about anyone in this garbage rendition of the DnD universe. You're given some bullshit about a tadpole and then you're set off to roam around and they expect you to care about this trite. But the side quests are the worst offenders and amount to nothing more than amusements or stupid jokes. Is BG3 an RPG or a fucking theme park? There's no coherence or world building whatsoever. I thought Fallout 4's Commonwealth was pretty bad but BG3 takes the cake.

Abhorrent camera, graphics, and controls. The view distance is so bad it's a wonder they even allowed a pseudo 3rd person camera option. Your character constantly runs into invisible objects that are strewn across the ground everywhere. For example; some pebbles on the ground have a 1m collision box around it. It's the worst collision work I've ever seen in a game.

No day/night cycles or any means of measuring time. Yet the geniuses at Larian still opted to include time-sensitive quests and locations. Once again, there's no cohesion at all about what's even going on in this world, when, or why.

I could keep going. I wish I could put how I feel about this game in only a few words but nothing I can come up with does it justice. All I can say is Baldur's Gate 3 is the worst RPG I've ever played in my life and it's not even close. It's a game that pretends to be an epic adventure with it's flashy cutscenes and animations, yet it is lacking in pretty much every other important aspect that makes a good RPG. It must look impressive to someone new to the genre, because that's the only explanation I have as to why this pile of shit got the praise that it did.

"Hey hey, look at me, I'm an anarchist."

 

[processdaemon]

I can understand how a game can be so good that it gets overwhelming praise from mainstream audiences and wins 'GOTY'. But how is it that a game can be such a masterpiece that it gets such a warm reception even on a more critical site like the codex?

One of the biggest contributors must be Larian's economical reuse of assets from previous games, which allowed them to build on their previous successes without wasting time reinventing the wheel. Larian has to be one of the most efficient developers in existence. By retaining the structure of the D:OS games instead of copying the Infinity Engine games and their more faithful spiritual successors they were able to seamlessly blend the main setpieces and sidequests in each of the three Acts together in such a way that perfectly balances exploration and story progression.

Exploration becomes a carefully curated adventure where every path leads to expertly crafted encounters. While it doesn't have open-world freedom, its design ensures that the world feels alive and that the player is rewarded for exploration.

The combat is the best implementation of turn based combat I've ever seen, although of course RTwP is better in every way so that only means so much. The use of 5e makes it accessible to D&D newcomers while the addition of Honour Mode, customizable difficulty and difficulty mods allows veterans to set their own pace, making it possibly the combat system with the widest appeal of any TTRPG videogame adaptation.

The writing is goofy and contains a lot of Larianesque humour that is perfectly balanced by the equally Larianesque ability to murder anyone that annoys you. There is every reason to want to do everything and I can't help but care about some of the characters in this top tier rendition of the Forgotten Realms. You're given some background about a tadpole and set off to roam around, free to explore the world at your own leisure. The biggest reward for exploration the side quests, which range from charming diversions to more complex quest chains that can affect everything from the fates of your companions to the allies that join you during the final battle.

The abhorrent camera (even I can't spin that one) is more than made up for by the graphics, with mocap that perfectly captures the feeling of a scene without veering into the uncanny valley. While the game isn't optimized for playing in the pseudo 3rd person perspective offered, in isometric view the backgrounds appear beautifully rendered, particularly in Act 1.

No day/night cycles or any means of measuring time. Thank God that the geniuses at Larian decided to cut this pointless life sim bullshit in the hopes that anyone who cares will fuck off back to Skyrim. To accommodate this, the 'time-sensitive quests and locations' don't progress with time but with main quest progression or rests. The main exception to this is a burning building in Act 1, but one can only assume that Swen credited his players with the intelligence to realise that things that are on fire tend to burn.

I could keep going. I wish I could put how I feel about this game in only a few words but nothing I can come up with does it justice. All I can say is Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the best RPGs of 2023 and it's not even close. It's an epic adventure with flashy cutscenes and animations, yet doesn't forget every other important aspect that makes a good RPG. It makes sense that it looks impressive to someone new to the genre because it's impressive to everyone else too, which is why it has garnered near universal praise.

 

[Sweeper]

But how is it that a game can be such a masterpiece that it gets such a warm reception even on a more critical site like the codex?

 

[ShiningSoldier]

People who love BG3 are like people who love Jake Paul. I mean, there are definitely plenty of them, but does it mean we should listen to them?

 

[mondblut]

Maybe they're just waiting for the most butthurt award.

That one is taken for years in advance, sadly. But this one is a strong contender, I admit. Maybe we should have "the most butthurt user other than atlantico" award.

 

[Drakortha]

Did some belgian guy fuck your wife or why are you so angry?

No it's worse than that. If only you could see BG3 for what it is, maybe you'd understand.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Maybe they're just waiting for the most butthurt award.

That one is taken for years in advance, sadly. But this one is a strong contender, I admit. Maybe we should have "the most butthurt user other than atlantico" award.

Good point. I'm ashamed for my oversight.

 

[Drakortha]

If the Codex gives out a butthurt tag for calling BG3 unmitigated garbage they will be making it clear for all to see what side they're on and they will lose all credibility.

 

[Drakortha]

And realize this; there is more outrage on his forum about pronouns in Avowed than there was for how Larian handled BG3. And probably more butthurt, pound-for-pound, than I could possibly have for BG3 alone.

Let that sink in. You are a pathetic bunch, truly, if you think that anyone else besides yourselves deserves butthurt recognition.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

It's still the best of the series.

 

[Butter]

Larian sure are following in BioWare's footsteps. In unrelated news, BioWare is going to lay off 80% of its workforce after VeilGRIDS sold less than 500,000 units.

 

[raeven]

Not only is bg3 not the first or most egregious asset flip in the codex's top RPGs, it's not even the first or most egregious asset flip in the baldurs gate series.

 

[Justicar]

This is kino



This is trash

at 05:00 mark I can hear some motifs from Diviinity 2 soundtrack pure fucking laziness.



Simple facts.

 

[Lokhir]

Which is the reason I never played the game at all to begin with. Every single one of the flavor-of-the-month games overhyped by theytubers and sucked off by normalfags always turn out to be dogshit, imagine my lack of surprise here.

 

[Crispy]

Hey Drakortha do you have an opinion about Solasta?

 

[DemonKing]

There's a lot I don't particularly like about BG3, but when you look at stuff like Bioware's most recent effort writing it off completely is like whinging at finding a flawed diamond in a sea of excrement.

 

[Skinwalker]

WOKE TRASH!

 

[Drowed]

Eh, it's just Divinity: Original Sin 3 with D&D frosting on top and a lot more content. It's exactly the same game formula/skeleton. If you hated the first two games, you'll hate this one. If you liked them, you'll probably like this one too. It's that simple, really.

The OS series is "kinda" liked by the Codex. And by kinda, I mean that some people think they're okay-ish games, and some hate them with passion. The Codex wouldn't be the Codex if people didn't hate things with the power of a billion supernovas. It really isn't surprising how divisive the game is here since Larian has caused this reaction since its Kickstarter era.

 

[Mark Richard]

After putting hundreds of hours into DOS:2 there came a point where I never wanted to play it again. Larian following up DOS:2 with another swords & sorcery fantasy setting using similar mechanics, visual style, and tone, gave me a massive case of fatigue. It all contributed towards the perception this was just a reskin with Larian's trademark zaniness now seeming out of place (some might counter by mentioning a certain cursed girdle as if it encapsulates the entire franchise, but a few silly interactions in a massive adventure does not put BG1 & 2 on the same level as BG3). If I hadn't played DOS:2 so extensively then I might have a very different opinion.

 

[Doktor Best]

Did some belgian guy fuck your wife or why are you so angry?

No it's worse than that. If only you could see BG3 for what it is, maybe you'd understand.

Pretty sure i can clearly see what BG3 is. It is Divinity Original Sin 3 with slightly better writing and a D&D setting. Is it overhyped? Yes. Is it better than anything Bioware has released in over two decades? Also yes.

I just dont get why youre so mad butthurt. You dont like the game. That shit happens. Now instead of writing off 50 bucks and some wasted time you decide to actively waste more time on a game you dont like by endlessly ranting about it.

And this thread isnt even that entertaining.

 

[Dark Souls II]

The OP is, naturally, 100% correct.

BGIII is one of the most worthless buckets of slop ever produced for the goyim. You have to literally have some kind of mental impairment to enjoy Larian's trademark idea of combat, aka spilling various fluids on the floor, like a toddler. But of course normies don't buy it for combat, normies buy it for animated, fully voice-acted interactions and romances with companions. BGIII is a computer program equivalent of a harlequin novel.

The fact that the game is even called "Baldur's Gate" is an ultimate slap in the face of docile goycattle consumers who purchase and utilize this game, like a dog eating its own vomit, not knowing any better.

Full disclaimer: I have, of course, never played BGIII for even one second, and I never will.

 

[Drakortha]

Pretty sure i can clearly see what BG3 is. It is Divinity Original Sin 3 with slightly better writing and a D&D setting. Is it overhyped? Yes. Is it better than anything Bioware has released in over two decades? Also yes.

BG3 is not better than Dragon Age: Origins or any of the Mass Effect games. Call those games console slop or whatever you want. But at least they have competent and cohesive worlds, characters, quests, and narratives. DA:O is a far better spiritual successor to BG than BG3 is as a direct sequel.

Obsidian RPG's get a lot of hate on the Codex, and yet every single one is above and beyond BG3. New Vegas, POE1, POE2, etc. Even The Outer Worlds is more competently made. There's more thought put into the backstory of Edgewater than anything in the first act of BG3.

 

[DemonKing]

DA:O is a far better spiritual successor to BG than BG3 is as a direct sequel.

What do you expect given it was made by the same (still vaguely competent) Bioware that produced the first two games?

BG3 takes a few characters/elements from the originals but is very much it's own beast otherwise. Given the over 20 year gap between the release of 2 & 3 it's not like the majority of the audience would even have much idea what the originals were anyway.

 

[Drakortha]

BG3 takes a few characters/elements from the originals but is very much it's own beast otherwise. Given the over 20 year gap between the release of 2 & 3 it's not like the majority of the audience would even have much idea what the originals were anyway.

The audience shouldn't need to know the originals to know that BG3 is trash. The problem is they see the cutscenes and the motion capture and they become encapsulated under a spell. Because that's what the entire budget of BG3 went into; cinematics, motion capture, and marketing.

 

[DemonKing]

The problem is they see the cutscenes and the motion capture and they become encapsulated under a spell. Because that's what the entire budget of BG3 went into; cinematics, motion capture, and marketing.

All that stuff probably helped push it from niche audience to a breakout hit amongst the normies, but if there really was no gameplay substance or other redeeming features (like the writing and characters being bland and forgettable) it would have crashed and burned.