Baldur's Gate 3 is finally out, though the absence of a preload option means that I have spent very little time with it so far. But that doesn't matter because I've set aside most of the month of August for Larian's beefy role-playing game.
Post-Tears of the Kingdom and pre-Starfield, this big, sexy Dungeons & Dragons RPG slotted neatly into my most anticipated upcoming game spot. I’ve been wanting to play BG3 since it first launched in early access, but have been patiently (and anxiously) waiting for it to emerge into the light of 1.0. Everything I’ve heard (and the 50 minutes I've played) has me assuming it will be extraordinary and, given that it's been three years since I went deep on a CRPG with Wasteland 3, I’m finally ready to commit to a huge, new, choice-driven, systems-heavy game.
But I’m still nervous about taking the plunge for a number of reasons. Though I enjoyed what I played of Larian’s last game, Divinity: Original Sin II, I found it difficult as hell. The trouble started from the very beginning. I’m a big fan of a deep character creator, and tend to get serious about the role-playing aspect of role-playing games. Outside of work, I write various kinds of fiction and I've often used RPGs as a writing exercise to work through who exactly a character is, what their backstory looks like, and what choices they would make. Given the range and frequency of decisions presented in a game like Baldur's Gate 3, it's a great way to get a sense of the full range of your character's personality. For that reason, the more flexible a character creator is, the better it is for me.
But, DOS2 tripped me up from the moment I hit those early screens, thanks to a ton of race and class options to sort through. There were also premade characters that you could choose from, but if you did, you wouldn't get to interact with them in game. It was a lot of thought from the beginning and I was worried I would screw myself over before I even started.
Then, on the normal difficulty setting, I constantly lost battles in the early game. And even if I made it through a battle but lost a character, I was immensely confused about how to revive them. Getting into DOS2 ended up feeling a lot like getting into a Souls game. I was having a good time but was always confused and scared.
Everything I've heard about Baldur's Gate 3 has convinced me that it will contain a lot of the same design decisions that tripped me up with Divinity: Original Sin 2. Given that it also appears to be exceptionally long, I'm worried that my resolve to complete it will be tested early and often. But I'm committed to not being a quitter this time around. Maybe that's the way I can fully embody my character. Just like they're on a long and trying quest, I will devote myself to seeing this journey through to the end.