Finished my first BG3 play through.
I would probably rate it around 8.3/10.
90-ish hours in the end and I was fairly diligent in turning every rock and chasing every quest I could.
The Good:
Decent, though not top quality story. I did find it interesting and engaging enough throughout. Classes and subclasses are very good, varied and link up well with what I think is the best aspect of the game - combat. Combat was excellent, almost all fights require something different from you. There are so many ways to approach them and ways to get through and I’ll probably do another play through just to try out different classes and have a go at hard mode for additional combat challenge. Some party members and villains were great and very memorable. The ones I ran with for 90% of the game (Astarion, Shadowheart and Lae’zel) all had me invested in their stories and were really well fleshed out. Though none reached the Jon Irenicus levels of epic - few villains were really great and by the time I faced them I felt we had history between us and I was itching to kick their ass.
The Bad:
Closing off the map and delivering it in bits and pieces just doesn’t sit with me. If they implemented an option where you can go back to previously played areas and see the impact of your actions, that would be great. Also the fact that you struggle to reach the city only to essentially remain locked in there, deprived me of one of the major joys of games like this. You find a big city/hub, set up, then go out adventuring, explore, come back to the city/hub, sell the shit you looted and go again. No such thing in BG3, in fact my main gripe with the game is a chronic lack of random adventuring, as almost everything is in some way tied to the main quest and drives that narrative forward. Also I think the level scaling is, or was in my case, pretty unbalanced. As I was fairly detailed in clearing out areas, I reached Lv12 almost instantly upon entering the city. Which made almost all subsequent fights fairly easy. My party peaked too early and for 20 hours I wasn’t collecting any xp, only loot.
The Meh:
Not enough great shops or legendary items. The overhyped guy you’re liberating with the hammer, turns out to be a wet sock with two spells and pathetic punches you need to work hard to keep alive during end game battles. Enchanting items would be a nice touch, giving some flexibility on what build to create. Some areas are buggy, nothing major. Party pathfinding, especially when it involves jumping - was consistently crap.
All in all, one to pick up again, possibly on a console after some GOTY/Ultimate Edition is released and everything is polished.
