Superb turn based strategy game on D&D rules, with insane replay value.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a special game, that feel's like a labor of love. That's rare to find these days, unfortunately. I could definitely feel the teams passion when they were making it. They didn't really skimp on anything, that stands out to me at least.

It's turn based, but not gridlocked, so you can really min-max your movement/positioning to the greatest effect possible, and it's incredibly important that you do. At the start of a fight, everyone rolls for initiative automatically, based on each characters stat, and you will end up alternating between highest initiative turns to lowest, regardless if friend or foe. You don't get to use all your characters, and then enemy takes a turn, unless thats how the initiative rolls play out. Mostly it's a mix of your fastest and their fastest taking turns first, with lower initiative characters going later. So its an incredibly important stat, you really don't want the entire enemy team taking a turn before you do.

Turn based strategy was never really a go-to for me, I'd typically get bored of stuff that was turn based, couldn't really get into final fantasy games, and never completed most games I tried back in the day that were turn based, like Breath of Fire, or Star Ocean etc. I only tried them out because one friend or another would be obsessed with those titles. Playing BG3 made me a fan of the style in the first few fights, as there is so much variety in what you can do, to get through each scenario, not to mention everything is just beautiful to look at and Feels Good to explore. I like how much it makes me think, and consider my options (which are near limitless).

I played at tactician difficulty my first time through, and was pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised at how difficult some of the encounters were, there was a lot to consider, and just Whomping my through them didn't tend to work out as well as most games. Being a perfectionist I would typically replay fights over and over, even if I had won the fight, so that I could win it in a more optimal manner. That ends up being important, specially early on in the game when resources are tight. Developing a strategy that lets you get through an encounter practically unharmed is just really addictive for me, I suppose. You typically get your face smashed in the first time you go through a fight, so if that would frustrate you, go for easier difficulty to start with. Many fights seem crazy impossible, until you start to understand how to break them down piece by piece, and utilize your opening moves to max effect, build your characters well, etc. Also, getting out of sticky situations can make you feel like a bit of a genius, it's a very good feeling.

I always liked D&D but never really got to play it, as my friend group were just not about that sorta shit and I didn't seek out groups to play with. So its cool having a D&D like experience on my own, and being able to build characters the way I want, as many ways as I want. This game is based on D&D rules, so if you love that, you will love this. If you haven't tried it, well its a good soft intro to the D&D world. IMO.

There is great variety in builds you can tinker with as much as you want, for a price (which seems balanced, doesnt cost too much or too little to respec), and experimenting with new abilities as you level up is incredibly fun and something to look forward to, as one new ability can completely change the way you approach encounters. If you have the patience, you can set up some really nasty traps for enemies, and get your characters positioned in a way that ultimately cheeses the fight. At harder difficulties the Cheese plays are almost essential, and you might still get your face crit to oblivion, even pulling off perfect openings, making for lots of "WTF" moments and restarts. Some fights took me MANY attempts to get through. Starting at tactician difficulty, there were VERY FEW fights I could oneshot. There is typically more in store than you can account for, your first time in the encounter. Oh, you thought this fight was gonna be easy? SURPRISE! There is a LOT of that in this game. Which is good for me, because it means I couldn't just blow through the game with bare minimum effort and strategy.

I won't talk about my strategies much, because to me that's most of the fun. Figure it out on your own, dickhead. I will give you one tip though, "Bless" is probably the most staple ability in the game, use it.

Oh ya, there is also great storytelling, which changes depending on decisions you make, and there are LOTS of ways you can go about it. Some people love the romance and character relationships you can explore, I kept it minimal as that's not why I was playing the game. You can get really in to it, or pretty much just ignore and blow off companions and their advances, and just fight through the game, thankfully. Not everyone wants to see every sexual encounter combination the game has to offer. Couldn't care less, personally. Though the characters individual development, both psychological and physical, is pretty spectacularly done, and larglely influenced by your decisions. You end up loving and hating characters, it's easy to get immersed in their backgrounds, and interactions. The acting and animation is beautifully done, making it feel natural. Even if its not my jam, I have to give props to Larian for how deep the relationship stuff is, on top of an already immense amount of storytelling that can make it into a cinematic/novel experience. Also must thank them for not overtly forcing it down my throat. I could select the dialogue options and run them out, or I could ignore them. Everything has a consequence though, and its worth exploring some of the dialogue just to unlock different content. This makes subsequent play throughs just as engaging as the first, as there is a lot of new stuff to experience. It's impossible to do "everything" in one play through. The character creation and romance/storytelling aspect makes this one of the most female friendly games ever, I think, judging purely from the amount of women I see in facebook groups for it, sharing their "tavs" and their backgrounds they cooked up for them. So good for them, glad they are having a blast with it.

Im not much in to the evil playstyle, but you can go for some pretty dark shit if that's your thing, and make your party either strive to be paragons of light and justice, or cultivate a dark and twisted crew that is absolutely evil. Or a mix, whatever's clever. Your decisions have serious impact, hell you can even lose party members for good if you piss them off enough. Or.... Sacrifice them. It gets pretty wild.

Maps are all beautifully done and the small details are not missed, seriously, I spend lots of time just roaming around and zooming in to look at stuff up close. You will find all sorts of goodies and awesome shit if you have the mind to take the time. I thought I did a good job full clearing maps my first play-through, but holy fk was I wrong.

I'd say for most people, this game is worth a try. It could very well become one of your favorites. You just have to adjust your mentality a bit if you are used to super fast paced games. I will say, being able to walk away in the middle of a fight and not have bad things happen is kind of nice, if you are a busy person. Less anxiety and stress inducing than other types of games for that reason. Just chill and enjoy at your own pace. When you play this game, it will raise the bar for expectations on what a good game is. Most games will start to feel like corporate money grabs by comparison. Most are, but that's the point, it will really stand out.