20 hours in so far
It shines in dungeon design (as in, how many possibilities there are to traverse the place) and social skills/attribute checks.
The combat system with all its environmental aspects, verticality and jumping and shoving is very nice and detailed.
The encounter design is pretty alright, but, so far, a tad too easy (playing on Tactician) - which is a pity considering the detailed underlying system. I had to retry a few encounters, but it's still not as engaging as Knights of the Chalice, where your positioning alone is already vital to your success. So far the most interesting encounter was the one against the Hobgoblin chief, which I solved with the strategic placement of a powder keg on a roof beam (actually I just forgot it up there
). AI also seems to be more advanced in KotC. Regardless, combat is pretty good.
Aesthetically I feel it is weaker than the infinity engine games - but that might have to do with a general artistic incoherence that's present in 5e. You are like ten minutes in and you got Mindflayers, Drow, Dragons, Giths, devils, and vampires. It's just too much - keep this stuff for the end. I have trouble immersing myself in a story that starts out like this because there is no real relatable anchoring point.
Maybe that wouldn't be a problem if the world itself was strange and alien - so in your mind, you can immediately accommodate yourself to the situation - like in Planescape. That's not a relatable setting, but it immediately goes all the way so you will deal with it much better. Baldurs Gate, at the end of the day, is a standard fantasy setting inspired by real-world locations and architecture - which is very much disturbed by, let's call it, a rather colorful cast. So even in its weirdness, there is more internal coherence in Planescape and that's probably why it works better aesthetically.
The story so far is... meh... I feel like I have seen this before. Specifically in D&D games. It's always "Here is a race of iconic D&D villains who are up to no good - BUT WAIT! - there is another race of iconic D&D villains behind them - BUT WAIT! - there is yet another race of iconic D&D villains behind those - BUT WAIT! - ..." and so on.
I don't particularly care for their interpretation of Volo (again, 5e?), and let's not talk about the companions and their dialogue. Generally, that camp scene always takes me out a bit - I just wanna rest.
Still, so far it's probably the best D&D game since BG2 - which isn't exactly hard since there was what? Legends of the Sword Coast? Not much competition there (I have to add I haven't played NWN2 or its expansions).
Anyway, anything that keeps my attention for more than 6 hours is usually pretty entertaining - so I can say I am enjoying it so far. The most jarring things are really aesthetics (like the goblins and their weirdly perfect haircuts - those guys a better groomed than I am) and dialogue. And sure the encounter design is no KotC, but oh well - it's still pretty good.
My recommendation to Larian is: Don't get lost in a thousand ideas.
Smooth out the aesthetics and do a mega-dungeon expansion.
That's where the game really shines.
Maybe do something like Durlag's Tower.
Except with BG3's variety of approaches.
