Well, with so many people writing and talking about Baldur’s Gate 3, it would seem a bit pointless to add to this trend, but…here we are, after 80 hours of gameplay, to talk about some things and rant about others.
I won’t spend time however discussing the plot and your ‘build your own suicide squad’ with the participation of ticking time bombs that may or may not burst at a moment’s notice. As much as I would also like to address the D&D 5th edition issues (where a player should ask why would they build a barbarian – or for that matter many other classes – when a fighter does everything better having one more action), I won’t. This aspect of gameplay is not a flaw on behalf of Larian Studios as much as a wider oversimplification of a tabletop game design and this would in turn lead the discourse elsewhere. It is important to mention that Larian’s experience of crafting similar products (consider the Divinity series) is displayed perfectly from the overwhelmingly good reviews on Steam.
That being said, the game is without a doubt good, but I’m not here to sing its praise for the aeons to come either. In my opinion, it shines for a plethora of aspects: its soundtrack, the writing and narration is compelling enough (although standard), the setting had been already created (so it’s not innovative) and through and through it is visually pleasing and well made (assuming your computer can run it on at least medium/high settings). There are some exploits here and there (let’s not call them bugs, just rather ways in which the game encourages you to think ‘outside of the box’): stacking potions and barrels, buffing yourself with members in your camp and not in your party, using different items for their daily bonuses and then discarding them and so on. These are not bugs, these are surely features. The RNG component is however a different story given that in certain moments, even with rerolls, the critical failure or critical success seems a little preordained, but as a game-master myself I can condone it; also I am amongst the people who fully encourage save-scrumming if that leads to your better enjoyment of the game – to each his own. There are very few nit-picks that I would have – one in particular that comes to mind is a better customization and management of the inventory: for instance a simple search bar for the internal pouches that you are able to create in your backpack would have been an incredible quality-of-life improvement and not difficult to implement. I am quite sure however that this with other suggested modifications will be provided in future patches or expansions.
So…if I’m not here to discuss about these themes that others analyse in depth and my flimsy breakdown functioned only as an introductory paragraph, what the hell am I doing here?
Well, this is a bit of a rant that goes in a different direction: Baldur’s Gate 3 undoubtedly deserves to be remarked given the hard work of the developers, but it should not be considered the new Messiah of triple-A games for the reasons some critics or people made it out to be. Everyone was ecstatic to learn that the game had no micro-transactions and on release date, it was in fact a complete game (although it had been in early access for some time to better understand where to improve it).
Let me be clear: that is not a goddam reason to praise a game.
The gaming industry has become so bad and packed with cash-grab ploys that as soon as a solid game comes out and its developers have a modicum of work ethics and passion, then it becomes something of a paragon amongst other games. That should be the minimum for a game: being coherent and a finished product, created with passion and with the entertainment of the gamers in mind.
That’s the rub, that’s my rant.
I have always considered gaming as an extension of art and storytelling. Nowadays however, akin to what happens with movies, television series and other products of the entertainment industry, where there is money to be made, so there is room to sacrifice creativity and ethics for that same financial interest. And the gaming industry is no different. I realize that there are some games out there that have been crafted with passion and simply didn’t hit the mark for whatever reason, but the reality of the major gaming companies today is simply absurd. It is all about following a trend and milking everything out of a specific gaming genre before finding the next golden-egg goose. Consider for instance how when a wider audience plays certain specific categories of games you also have a market that is instantly saturated by copy-cats of that same type of game. That is the reality, and although I understand it, it doesn’t mean I like it. I think this hinders the creativity and the significance of games in general.
That’s the rub, that’s my rant.
Today I am more likely to check out games made by small-time gaming companies, because there may still be innovation, storytelling, ideas and thrilling gameplay. Very few are the triple-A titles that still have some value to them and constitute almost an exception, and that is the sad truth I perceive when thinking about the current situation.
I do however still believe in games and how they are an extension of storytelling, just not in as many of them.
PS: Minsc and his miniature giant space hamster – best character.