My impressions on the BG3 EA so far (copied from message boards elsewhere)
Axl_Krow
Member Posts: 69
Well, it's definitely early access. Quite a few bugs in the animation.
Beyond that, the game looks and feels incredible. It really captures the tone of the original series nicely and I wasn't expecting that. Based off a few of the trailers, I thought it looked more like Dragon Age, but I love what I've experienced so far.
It captures the tone of Baldur's Gate rather well, I'd say. It does a pretty good interpretation of the drab, weary world of the first couple games quite nicely. Note that "drab" isn't exactly an insult here. Baldur's Gate to me is a much less vibrant, albeit colorful world than Divinity and is a bit less "lively" and has more of a depressed tone across the board. I thought that would be lost-in-translation through another developer's lense, but it's really not.
The gameplay definitely uses Divinity as a base, but it doesn't feel like I'm playing Divinity at all, really. It still feels unique to the game itself. I'm not really a DnD player, but it didn't feel so alien to me. There are more similarities to the original series than I think people might realize.
Of course, I also played the OG unpatched BG1 CD and I doubt anything could feel as terrible as that.
People just may have a hard-time coming to grips that there's a sizeable luck factor with the DnD system the games are based off of. Anyone who's unfamiliar won't consider options they have to offset that.
Companions
I love all of them, but Shadowheart is absolutely my favorite.
She's just entertaining and her snide remarks are hilarious as hell. Overall, she seems rather reasonable enough in her judgement.
Lae'zel reminds me quite a bit of Jaheira, but more out of sheer pride rather than the naturally stoic nature of a harper. Jaheira was stern, but she wasn't quite as harsh as Lae'Zel can be. I don't hate Lae'Zel, but she's probably my least favorite companion.
Gale is freakin' great. There's not much more to say about that, especially without avoiding spoilers.
Wyll's pretty cool so far. I think he's awesome based off first impressions, but I just met him in my second playthrough where I actually managed to keep him alive. That said, my main character is a Warlock, so I'll probably save his party space for my Ranger when I get around playing her.
Astarion's cool. I was mildly turned off of him at first, but he grew on me rather fast. Still don't like him quite as much as Shadowheart, Gale, or even Wyll, but I fully expect to enjoy a playthrough with him in my party.
Overall, Shadowheart > Gale > Wyll > Astarion > Lae'Zel
That's my personal ranking based off what I've played. It's hard to compare them to the NPCs of the original series, but people have to remember that aside from the obvious standouts, there was a lot of NPCs across both games that were quite bland and didn't have a lot to them. I have no doubt in my mind that Shadowheart, Gale, and Astarion will prove worthwhile companions that can stand the test of time alongside the likes of Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Kivan, Edwin, etc.
Obviously not Minsc, but he's a special case. Not even my favorite of the companions, but I don't think there's a single other character who's name is as synonymous with "Baldur's Gate".
-end-
It's a little haphazard formatting, but I didn't feel like typing a whole new entry when I've got my thoughts pretty ironed out elsewhere. I have hard time finding ways to word things, so it was just easier to do it this way.
So far I've played a Tiefling Rogue and a Human Warlock. I also started another playthrough as a half-elf Ranger but haven't really dived in with that one yet.
Pics coming soon!
Beyond that, the game looks and feels incredible. It really captures the tone of the original series nicely and I wasn't expecting that. Based off a few of the trailers, I thought it looked more like Dragon Age, but I love what I've experienced so far.
It captures the tone of Baldur's Gate rather well, I'd say. It does a pretty good interpretation of the drab, weary world of the first couple games quite nicely. Note that "drab" isn't exactly an insult here. Baldur's Gate to me is a much less vibrant, albeit colorful world than Divinity and is a bit less "lively" and has more of a depressed tone across the board. I thought that would be lost-in-translation through another developer's lense, but it's really not.
The gameplay definitely uses Divinity as a base, but it doesn't feel like I'm playing Divinity at all, really. It still feels unique to the game itself. I'm not really a DnD player, but it didn't feel so alien to me. There are more similarities to the original series than I think people might realize.
Of course, I also played the OG unpatched BG1 CD and I doubt anything could feel as terrible as that.
People just may have a hard-time coming to grips that there's a sizeable luck factor with the DnD system the games are based off of. Anyone who's unfamiliar won't consider options they have to offset that.
Companions
I love all of them, but Shadowheart is absolutely my favorite.
She's just entertaining and her snide remarks are hilarious as hell. Overall, she seems rather reasonable enough in her judgement.
Lae'zel reminds me quite a bit of Jaheira, but more out of sheer pride rather than the naturally stoic nature of a harper. Jaheira was stern, but she wasn't quite as harsh as Lae'Zel can be. I don't hate Lae'Zel, but she's probably my least favorite companion.
Gale is freakin' great. There's not much more to say about that, especially without avoiding spoilers.
Wyll's pretty cool so far. I think he's awesome based off first impressions, but I just met him in my second playthrough where I actually managed to keep him alive. That said, my main character is a Warlock, so I'll probably save his party space for my Ranger when I get around playing her.
Astarion's cool. I was mildly turned off of him at first, but he grew on me rather fast. Still don't like him quite as much as Shadowheart, Gale, or even Wyll, but I fully expect to enjoy a playthrough with him in my party.
Overall, Shadowheart > Gale > Wyll > Astarion > Lae'Zel
That's my personal ranking based off what I've played. It's hard to compare them to the NPCs of the original series, but people have to remember that aside from the obvious standouts, there was a lot of NPCs across both games that were quite bland and didn't have a lot to them. I have no doubt in my mind that Shadowheart, Gale, and Astarion will prove worthwhile companions that can stand the test of time alongside the likes of Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Kivan, Edwin, etc.
Obviously not Minsc, but he's a special case. Not even my favorite of the companions, but I don't think there's a single other character who's name is as synonymous with "Baldur's Gate".
-end-
It's a little haphazard formatting, but I didn't feel like typing a whole new entry when I've got my thoughts pretty ironed out elsewhere. I have hard time finding ways to word things, so it was just easier to do it this way.
So far I've played a Tiefling Rogue and a Human Warlock. I also started another playthrough as a half-elf Ranger but haven't really dived in with that one yet.
Pics coming soon!
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