With Baldur’s Gate 3, it is finally time to embark on an epic journey again. After years of anticipation and countless studios attempting to breathe new life into the legendary series, Larian Studios emerged victorious. With all their know-how and creative might they delivered a colossal Dungeons & Dragons adventure.
Back to the Forgotten Realms
When Gary Gygax invented Dungeons & Dragons it was a blessing for a lot of people interested in fantasy and adventures. Ed Greenwood finally found a place for his childhood stories. He went on to create the world he dreamed of as a child in a new product for Dungeons & Dragons creating the world of the Forgotten Realms. For many DnD players, most of their adventures take place in this world. Baldur’s Gate is a large city on the Sword Coast where many adventures start or eventually lead up.
In Baldur’s Gate 3 you wake up inside a giant flying ship occupied by mind flayers. You remember a tadpole being implanted. Not exactly good news if you want to survive. The tadpole works as a parasite and transforms its hosts into new Illithids or mind flayers within days after the initial infection. Most of the mind flayers lay in waste as the ship is being attacked by Githayanki warriors. As you make your escape from the ship you’ll have the chance to team up with a few other survivors. Strange visions caused by the tadpoles make it obvious you were not the only one infected. The psychic bond could prove to be a blessing to your survival.
Roleplay your way to a cure
In Baldur’s Gate, you can make up your character or choose one of the many pre-made characters. Picking a pre-made character has its merits for those new to the roleplaying genre. They have a pre-made backstory so you know how your character acts and reacts in the world. You also get a few leads to start the game making this the easiest way to ease into the genre. If you’re familiar with roleplaying or DnD you can make up your own character and just be whoever you want to be while seeking a way to get cured before turning into an octopus-looking fiend.
The world of Dungeons & Dragons might feel daunting with all its rules but I can assure you, you don’t need to know all the rules to enjoy Baldur’s Gate 3. I’m quite sure you’ll learn the rules as you play along. It has merits to know the rules to take advantage of certain situations early on but the game does a good job of easing you into the harder stuff through pop-up prompts helping you out when necessary. The only thing I would stay away from when this is your first time playing is creating a character from scratch. The menus for creating a character are well constructed but the many choices you’ll need to make could deter you from just having fun in the game. And trust me… once you’re in the game… you’ll have plenty of fun.
They thought of everything
In the table-top world of Dungeons & Dragons you have the choice of being who you want but more importantly, to act in whatever way you want. If you want to be a chaotic elf who likes to put fire to everything… you can. If you want to avoid conflict as much as possible and just charm your way through an adventure… you can. If you want to just hack and slash everything that’s in your way… you can. It is impossible to calculate everything a player could throw at you, that’s where the oddly shaped dice come in. These are used to determine if your intended action will succeed or fail. Baldur’s Gate 3 has no human Dungeon Master to resolve all the oddballs players throw at the game. Everything had to be programmed into the game. In previous entries, you noticed the limitations in the engine by the things you couldn’t do because they were simply not programmed into the game. With Baldur’s Gate 3, it seems like the programmers went above and beyond.
It almost feels like I as a player have complete liberty to do whatever I want. Every situation has multiple ways to unfold based on the intentions of the player. For instance, one of the first bigger areas you’ll no doubt encounter in your playthrough is the goblin camp. I was intrigued by the many options I had to take care of the goblin camp. After I completed my objective in the goblin camp I went on Twitch and watched some other people run through the camp and noticed a bunch of different ways I never thought of. The fact the good people at Larian Studios conjured up a goblin camp but also implemented a plethora of ways to deal with the camp shows their devotion and love for the project. “Going the distance” is what sets this game apart from most RPGs I play.
The story keeps evolving
Like in any good DnD session… you need great battles that can be solved in multiple ways but you also need a good story. Everything you do in Baldur’s Gate 3 adds to the story. Along the way, you’ll meet many different characters that can aid you with your tadpole situation. Some of these will eventually join you and offer new paths to take. Some of these will help you forward while others will slow you down. Going one way or another is entirely your decision but finding out new information based on the backstories of all your companions is always fun. Not every path is useful in your survival but each will unfold more of the story and all will be heaps of fun. With every line voiced brilliantly you’ll emerge yourself into the world of Baldur’s Gate 3 and eventually develop a deeper connection with your companions. The amount of fan art and fanfiction already available based on the characters from this game shows how much they impacted the players.
Conclusion
The way Larian handled this loved IP is to be applauded. They made sure new players would fit right in while still offering an intricate table-top RPG style adventure filled to the brim with content. The way Baldur’s Gate 3 is presented should be the standard for all RPGs to come. The original Baldur’s Gate has long been one of my favourite games but this instalment knocks it out of the ballpark for me. This game deserves all the praise in the world.
