My Review of Baldur's Gate 3's Early Access.

[Dragon Master]

Okay, so I have put in over 60 hours into the early access and I'm going to do my best to take various aspects of the game, as they are at this moment in time, and give each segment a score on a scale of 1-5. My overall score will be the average of all segments.

Gameplay: The game is a point and click adventure game, very similar to older style games and the classic role playing game, popularized by games like Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 or Fallout 1 and 2. It does its best to follow D&D 5th Edition rules for combat, skill checks, attributes affecting classes, with a lot optimized to handle things automatically.

In a Dungeons and Dragons game, if your character is in the middle of doing something the DM may just announce the players to make a perception check, and if all the characters fail the check then the characters, and the players, don't see or hear whatever it was that was going on with the perception check. The same is done in Baldur's Gate 3. For example, in one of my playthroughs, there is a rock near where you meet Astarion that if a character walks near it the game will do a perception check. If every character fails the check then nothing can be done, but if someone in the party succeeds the check then a party member, or the player character, with sufficient strength, can move the rock and find a hidden treasure trove for the Harpers.

This can be seen as a negative for players who want to discover all the secrets or are unfamiliar with Dungeons and Dragons. Sometimes the dice roll badly. Unlike Dungeons and Dragons, players can just reload a previous save if they wish whereas at the table the game moves on regardless.

It is important to note that it is not a bad thing to fail a check, whether in the open field or a conversation with a companion or other npc in the game. Baldur's Gate 3 allows for a wide variety of ways to accomplish our goals, and failing a check is just another route to get there. In fact, some of the funniest or most epic dialogue and moments in the game comes from a failed check. From trying to kiss a goblins foot and stealing a ring from his toe to the consternation of your companions to provoking a fight with the goblin camp if you fail, or intimidating the goblin into kissing your feet instead. There are many options, and some options may not even be available, or some options are only available, depending on the player's chosen race for their character.

The game has the player start off with the opening cinematic before they create their characters. Players will select their race, gender, class, pick their skills, spells (if their class has any) and their attributes. Veterans of D&D 5E will recognize where each class's strengths lie. The recommended choice from the game isn't bad and will give you a solid character but will not optimize them, if that's what the player wants to do.

Each class has their own set of skills and abilities. Fighters, for instance, are proficient in all weapons (can use all of them) and can wear medium armor for a higher AC (armor class), Wizards can learn a large variety of spells, can copy spells from scrolls into their spell-book and are the only class that can do so and Rogues are the sneaky archers/backstabbers of the group who gain access to the absolute most skills to be proficient in among all the classes.

Classes get special features unique to them that no other class gets. Rogues, for example, upon reaching level 2, can use their bonus action to dash whereas every other class has to use their regular action to do so, while Fighters have an ability called Second Wind, which lets them use their bonus action to heal and can use this once per short rest, and Clerics get a channel divinity ability, unique to their own subclass and domain as a cleric, alongside the channel divinity "turn undead". Features unique to one class cannot be learned by another class.

The game has many bugs and my game has crashed a few times. For a tiefling Wizard, his tail glitched in a room and ended up leaving a trail that looked like a snake stuck to my tiefling, going back to where the glitch started before hard crashing, as one example.

The UI is also not very intuitive and it takes a little bit of experimentation to see where the default hotkeys are and what buttons to push so there is a bit of a learning curve.

4/5.


Story: It's hard to say how good the story is, as we only truly have access to Act 1 in the early access, so instead I'll judge it based on its hook, how well it draws the players into the story and how invested we are in this world and its characters, and the events that start the adventure forward. Minor spoilers for the first act ahead.

Our character, along with all of our companions so far, were kidnapped by the Ilithids, Mind Flayers, who have infected us with a tadpole. Mind Flayers breed by kidnapping sentient races and placing tadpoles in them that slowly eat away at their brains and transform the host into mind flayers, destroying their mind, bodies and souls in the process. After taking over the ship, our character is in a race against the clock to try and find a cure before the tadpole transforms us into a mind flayer.

Over the course of the adventure, the player and their party, who you may recruit, deny or kill as you please, begin to notice that the tadpole is not working the way it is supposed to, and that during conversations the player may use the tadpole to influence others and grow in power.

During the character creator, the players are also asked to create who their character dreams about. The more you use the power of the tadpole, the character players created to dream about start appearing before the player character during their long rests at camp in their dreams, and the characters start growing in power.

Following the events of the tabletop module for D&D 5E, "Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus", Baldur's Gate 3 takes place shortly after that, and roughly 100 years after the events of Baldur's Gate 2 and one group the player runs into are survivors of that module, tieflings from the city of Elturel, which had been dragged temporarily into the first layer of the 9 hells called Avernus. There's also a conclave of druids, the Burning Fist, a Githyanke scouting party, and a tribe of goblins, all of which the player and their party can interact with, for good or evil.

The search for a cure, and for answers, facing an uncertain future, alongside the freedom to choose how we approach this problem, who we help and who we kill, are taken into account by Larian and the game, thus far, have made for a pretty gripping story for me personally.

However, as it is the third game in the Baldur's Gate franchise, there should definitely be tie-ins to the previous games in some fashion, and with the Bhaalspawn storyline finished from the first two game and their associated DLC, we shall see where the game moves forward from here and how Baldur's Gate 3 will tie into the previous entries. There has been ominous foreshadowing, but nothing concrete as of yet.

For story, personally, I have to give the game 5/5.



Music: In any good game, a good musical score can make or break a scene. The musical score in Baldur's Gate 3 is interesting, but not very memorable. I listened to the music in the title screen and it definitely fit the tone of the game so far, foreboding, ominous to a setting showing the mouth of a cave and a tranquil beach down below ground to a very large pile of skulls.

I listened to the music during battle, exploring the wilderness, in the nautaloid, and as I write this review, no matter how much I pick my brain, I can't remember any of the music outside of the title screen's.

I like the title screen music, but I honestly can't give this section a rating higher than a 3/5. It's just average and forgettable.



Companions: In D&D, a good, well-balanced party can make or break a game. Having a wide variety of personalities, classes and skills is important to maximizing success of a group. The companions, so far, are fairly interesting but also quite evil to neutral. Their personalities have caused quite a discussion in the steam forums, from people who love Lae'zel or Astarion to people who can't stand them. People who think Gale is the best companion to some and to others feel he is too full of himself without any real sense of remorse for how he got himself in his personal situation.

For people wanting to run an evil playthrough, there are companions aplenty for you to choose from. Be aware that some of them do hate each other, and if you displease them you may find yourself with a knife at your throat in your camp.

The companions are a mixed bag, especially since we don't have that many of them so far. They are very good at what they do, so from just pure utility to the party every single one of them can be very, very useful to the group. There's a fighter, a cleric, a warlock, a wizard and a rogue, so class-wise, there's enough there for players to put together a well-balanced party to suit their needs. Just watch out for the personality conflicts that may arise.

4/5.



Combat: Combat follows the D&D 5th Edition rules, with some minor adjustments and changes. It's a turn-based combat system where each character rolls initiative, partially influenced by their dexterity score, and that determines the turn-order for each and every combat round.

Every character in the battle has their movement, determined by their race, one action, one bonus action and one reaction, per turn in combat. An action would be things like casting a spell, swinging a sword, dashing to run twice the distance you normally could, throwing an object or helping a companion who had been downed. A bonus action would be class-specific things like a rogue's dash or a fighter's action surge or 2nd wind, but could also include things like hiding, shoving an enemy away from you (which is especially useful if they are on a ledge in a high place) and some spells that take bonus actions to cast.

If two or more members of the player's party are next to each other in the initiative order of combat, the player can use them all at the same time.

Something that has followed Larian into this game from their previous game, Divinity: Original Sin 2, is the use of the interactive environment. This could be barrels of oil from a crashed nautaloid, barrels of beer the goblins are drinking out of in their tribe, twisted vines, conjured grease from wizards, steam clouds from fire hitting small puddles, and other such aspects. Some people criticize this game for having such things in it but it doesn't bother me that much. It's not a large presence unless the player makes it one themselves. They are there as an option for players and can make the fights much, much easier, or much, much harder if the enemy uses them against the player and their party.

The enemy AI is also reasonably intelligent. They will target the weakest party members with the lowest health if they can, and more often than not, that party member is the wizard. There is no real taunt for fighters, so the real key is to try and get party members who have a high armor class up close with the enemy so if they try to leave then our party member gets a free attack as a reaction (if it's selected), and forces the enemy to focus on them rather than risk getting hit themselves by walking away.

I personally enjoy the combat. It's engaging, makes players think things through and requires some degree of tactical thinking to take advantage of situations and the environment, whether to get that sneak attack or just to survive a hard encounter.

5/5.



Overall: The game is a fun beginning of a much larger adventure that is not complete. It is a bit of a buggy mess that likes to crash on occasion, and the combat can be a hit or miss with people, depending on whether or not they enjoy turn-based combat. It starts off with a compelling story and interesting companions, with plenty of room to grow. The music is enjoyable while it's playing but ultimately forgettable.

Final score for this game, taking the average of all the previous segments, is a . . . . . .


4.2 out of 5.

[KingCrimson ゴ ゴ ゴ]

well im glad its a 4.2 out of 5 but....why post it here? I mean not to bring you down or anything but... who cares put it in the review page like everyone else. some one would want to see it in the one place reviews are found

[Dragon Master]

I did make a review, but I hoped people would discuss the various segments here, maybe make a compelling case one way or the other before I put this up for my official review on the Steam page.

I also hoped for a constructive discussion on the various elements of the game.

[KingCrimson ゴ ゴ ゴ]

Okay i see sorry for being a party pooper

[Dragon Master]

No worries. As far as internet party-poopers go, you're quite polite.

[Dragon Master]

Originally posted by Wes:

Originally posted by Dragon Master:

Music: In any good game, a good musical score can make or break a scene. The musical score in Baldur's Gate 3 is interesting, but not very memorable. I listened to the music in the title screen and it definitely fit the tone of the game so far, foreboding, ominous to a setting showing the mouth of a cave and a tranquil beach down below ground to a very large pile of skulls.

I listened to the music during battle, exploring the wilderness, in the nautaloid, and as I write this review, no matter how much I pick my brain, I can't remember any of the music outside of the title screen's. I like the title screen music, but I honestly can't give this section a rating higher than a 3/5. It's just average and forgettable.

Pretty much skimmed through & looked for this part of your review! 😎 What I hate is noticing some users never even mention music! This immediately makes me not want to reply or even take them seriously as BG fans! The music is the soul of everything, so it sucks that BG3 is lacking it for you!

I can't agree with the 3/5 though, yet it's pretty close to my 4/5 lol. I get that our ears criticize things differently, so your reasoning for a drop could be fair? At the moment it seems too cruel & harsh. If Borislav's BG soundtrack is a 3/5 so far, then I'm afraid what other good soundtracks are forgettable & average to you lol.

Now I did prepare few 1st rounds of criticism, yet something tells me you're going to ignore or say, "everything is subjective!" When in reality there's ways to determine universal truths even in music, but for your review I should know my place I guess. 😒

I'm predicting after BG3 truly releases, I'll rank the music 5/5! While you're the "SImon Cowell" of bg music & say 3/5 again lol. It's okay though, there's a slim chance he'll raise your approval to 4/5 at least! xD

Originally posted by Dragon Master:

Companions - 4/5.

Without not spoiling much can you give more details of Wyll & Laezel specifically? I'm going to main as Wyll, & Laezel is interesting to me! I don't like her looks, but her voice & personality makes Wyll very happy, (aka) me since I'll be role-playing as him lol.

I'll be wagering Wyll has a thing for her too story-wise, but from what little I know so far I'm only theorizing at this point! Any extra little review you can spare about them would be nice! Unless they're the secret reason the companion rating isn't 5/5 for for you lol. In which case, keep it to yourself!

It's clear then you might be bias for Shadowheart, Gale & Astarian! It would show you're not into the "heroic" (aka) Wyll, or those that remind me of Sebille (aka) Laezel. 😍

Originally posted by Dragon Master:

Story - 5/5.

I wish I can comment on this fully, but alas I'm waiting for the full release at the moment! I do think you're super bias though lol, since how the heck can it be a perfect score for an early access game?

The story isn't suppose to be delivered "perfectly", but here you are saying it's a 5/5? Is this common for early access games to reach masterpiece story-telling so soon? It's like you're putting BG3 on a shelf with the other greatest of all time from their "act 1" chapters? You're saying it's on par with the most beautiful, tearful, & action packed games that most majority can agree with!

Sorry this isn't a big attack, but rather shock, confusion, & even happiness because Larian may have FINALLY broken the cycle & stopped making B+ stories! They aren't known for their masterpiece story quality, unless they always were? Maybe my own past bias clouded me from the real truth, my mind's blown. 🤯

Originally posted by Dragon Master:

Combat. - 5/5.

You've got to be joking? For an early access game you gave the combat 5/5 too? That's just amazing! I'm not being sarcastic either, just assumed again with early access it would be a 4/5 at best, but damn that's quality Larian work right there!

Unless of course you're extremely bias about everything lol, except the music for some reason? No huge Larian stooge would give the music 3/5, you midas well be taking a dump in the composers backyard with such picky demands! And I thought I had high standards! Sorry won't let that part go, which would surprise if majority felt that way too.

Originally posted by Dragon Master:

Final score for this game, taking the average of all the previous segments, is a 4.2 out of 5.

😥 www.youtube.com/watch?v=TET-Y6zxFOU

Understand, that my reviews are subjective to my own personal opinion, and this is the scale I review under. Also, bear in mind, this is an early access review and the final review of the game may be different.

1 equals terrible. 2 is mediocre. 3 is average. 4 is good. 5 is great.

Combat, for me, is great. I honestly don't mind TB and find it enjoyable, and I'm having fun with it, and using my knowledge of D&D 5E and applying it here.

I also recognized in my review that combat can be hit or miss with people, depending on whether or not they enjoy turn based combat. I just happen to enjoy it.

So, my music score I put at a 3 simply because I just couldn't remember the music outside of the title screen music, but I do remember enjoying it, thus making it pretty average, at least for me.

As for the story, I focused on the hook, rather than the whole thing simply because we don't have the whole thing. That score may go down once we get more of the story, and I'll write a more comprehensive review with the whole thing in my mind, once we have the whole thing. All I've got is whether or not the story is sufficient to grab and hold my attention for the first act. In my case, it is a great hook.

[docson]

I can't agree with any official negative review on product under development posted here. The last update even addressed some of this stuff. Did you update your product before this post? Prolly not, so this current post represents old product? Then it is not accurate. Precise? Possibly, I just don't care since the premise is off-kilter.

[CynicalP]

Thanks for the review. Sounds very promising. I am looking forward to playing the completed version of the game.

[alanc9]

It's nice to see a serious, thoughtful review after all the garbage posts we've had lately.

[Dragon Master]

Without not spoiling much can you give more details of Wyll & Laezel specifically? I'm going to main as Wyll, & Laezel is interesting to me! I don't like her looks, but her voice & personality makes Wyll very happy, (aka) me since I'll be role-playing as him lol.

I'll be wagering Wyll has a thing for her too story-wise, but from what little I know so far I'm only theorizing at this point! Any extra little review you can spare about them would be nice! Unless they're the secret reason the companion rating isn't 5/5 for for you lol. In which case, keep it to yourself!

It's clear then you might be bias for Shadowheart, Gale & Astarian! It would show you're not into the "heroic" (aka) Wyll, or those that remind me of Sebille (aka) Laezel. 😍

Well, lorewise, the githyanke are not into committed relationships. They have a very low birth rate so they'll hook up with anyone they feel is worthy, or just because. I expect Wyll and Lae'zel would have a thing for each other, and I can see Lae'zel technically cheat on the player since the githyanke have no concept of committed relationships.

I personally like to use Lae'zel as a Battlemaster when she reaches level 3. She managed to get up to 30-50 damage done in a single turn against the minotaurs because of action surge and using menacing attack while my drow warlock was using dancing lights so she could see in the dark and remove the attack penalty for attacking in the dark. As a fighter, if you let her take defense when she reaches level 2, she can act as a solid tank. With the githyanke psychic abilities to triple her jump distance, while already having a considerable jump distance from having high strength, she's great for rushing into the fray and dealing damage and (hopefully) avoiding it.

Bless and Bane from a cleric can make her one of the best damage dealers or tanks in the entire game, so far.

Wyll is a fun one. As a pact of the fiend Warlock, he heals naturally every time he kills an enemy, so using hex and eldritch blast on weaker enemies, he's really, really good at clearing out enemies from a distance and keeping his health up, so he's a solid choice for a party member. He's also got great charisma so that affects shop prices to be cheaper to buy and more more gold if you sell, if he's the one doing the talking, if you're not playing a character with high charisma yourself.

My most recent playthrough had me playing a warlock so I've had him in my party the least since I didn't need two warlocks, but of all the companions Wyll likely has the strongest moral compass. So I highly recommend him as a high-damage dealer for the party who can also be the most persuasive when you need someone who can do the talking if your character doesn't have very high charisma.

He doesn't get criticals, I've noticed, because he has one eye.

[Jesus Christ]

Sweet Jesus that's more text than there is in game.

[Dragon Master]

Originally posted by Dargsy Wargon:

Sweet Jesus that's more text than there is in game.

lol. Hardly.

https://screenrant.com/baldurs-gate-3-size-early-access-divinity-comparison/

Amount of Combat: 22 instances in Divinity: Original Sin 2 Early Access vs. 80 instances in Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access

Amount of Dialogue Lines in English: 17,600 in Divinity: Original Sin 2 Early Access vs. 45, 980 in Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access

Amount of Characters: 142 in Divinity: Original Sin 2 Early Access vs. 596 in Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access

Amount of Spells/Actions Available: 69 in Divinity: Original Sin 2 Early Access vs. 146 in Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access

[Aldain]

Here's a short, unprompted, numberless second opinion from nobody of any import (me).

Story: I kind of don't really care...no really, overall I feel like the first act is kind of threadbare and mostly a mishmash of a bunch of unrelated plot threads that all don't really go anywhere.

I'll talk more about the cast plots in a later section, but despite me not really being invested in the outcome of what is technically the main plot, the side plots are decent enough and feel mostly reasonable...with one exception (God I hate Nettie). I'd say it is decent but not gripping for me.

Cast: My opinion on the cast range from "Eh I can take em or leave em" to "Good lord just shut the hell up" and if I could make a custom party I'd do so fast your head would spin.

They just range from boring to irritating in my eyes, they feel like the end result of somebody who wrote a backstory backwards, starting at the end and trying to go back to the start but utterly failing at it along the way.

Gameplay: Still very rough but has good potential, the A.I. is way to exploitable due to the one-trick-pony tactic of "RUSH THE SQUISHY" being literally all they can do, and AoE effects (fire in particular) are just kind of nuts.

This goes for both players and enemies, I personally hate how Goblins have an unhealthy amount of fire arrows and how easy it is to abuse fire damage as a player. There are some other gripes, mostly with how "Social engagements" are sometimes like the aforementioned "Nettie's House of Skillchecks" situation of "Succeed 3 times but don't fail once", but mostly I've enjoyed my time with the game by and large.

Graphics: Never cared about these one way or the other, they work for what they are and the only issue I can safely say is that the moss-hair issues on some lower graphics settings looks ugly as sin.

Summary: Fun game overall, but there's a ton of room for improvement. I look forward to the mercenary system and being able to make a custom party and having more classes to pick from.

[Dragon Master]

I’ll try and give you something about Wyll and Lae’zel soon. I’m currently involved in moving and I’m doing a lot of typing on my phone. I’ll give you more about my thoughts when I have access to a computer with internet.

[Aldain]

I didn't mention the music because my tastes in video game music are not quite the mainstream.

It kind of blends in well with everything though, perhaps a bit too well as while it accompanies the game well I couldn't see myself pulling up the OST for background music while doing other things.

It's one of those music tracks that works well with what it comes with but isn't especially distinctive, so the OP's 3/5 is likely where I'd stand on the opinion, good, but not likely to get stuck in my head for long periods.

The music does adapt slightly to the situation though, playing heroically when you kill a strong enemy and as far as I remember it does the opposite if you just get dumpstered by a enemy crit.

[Dragon Master]

This is for you Wes. ^_^

My review of Wyll and Lae'zel's personal stories....thus far. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as I can.

Wyll

Wyll is met first at the druid grove and can be one of the first places you visit in the early access. My very first playthrough he was first in the initiative order and jumped down and all the goblins and the worg targeted him so he died in that battle and I never had the opportunity that playthrough to recruit him, which made me quite intrigued to recruit him into my party later.

When Wyll is recruited, he seems like a good man, but thanks to the tadpole in our brain and his constantly shifting the subject around when we ask him about what we see, it's clear he's hiding information. One look at his class, Warlock, gives us a pretty good idea about what.

On our way to the goblin camp, if he's in the party, we can have a unique conversation with the goblins by the windmill and get a bit of backstory out of him about how he has only one eye.

Overall, the Blade of Frontiers, Wyll, strikes me as a case-study in contradictions. He freely admits in companion dialogue while walking around that he's not as strong as he used to be and has to readjust to a new reality, while also bragging about his accomplishments as a hero and the things we should do. He's one of the biggest advocates for wiping out the goblins leadership, seemingly to save the lives of the kids in the tiefling refugees.

However, if we get to know him personally, he's not up for being heroic because it's the right thing to do. He's up for doing heroic things because they sound heroic. He likes the praise of being a hero more than he actually cares about what happens to people.

He isn't heartless though. Side with Minthara and the goblins and he'll flat out leave the party.

Alignment wise, I'd say he's probably lawful neutral. He wants to do the right thing but for the wrong reasons and he honestly seems to care more about how people see him than actually helping them because it's right.

I also tend to get the feeling he's similar to Gilderoy Lockhart from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He tells grandiose stories of his accomplishments but his capabilities don't really match up to the legend. It's entirely possible he's making them up, or taking credit for things other people have done and there weren't witnesses for, but I can't confirm that.



Lae'zel.

Lae'zel is a very good githyanke, lore-wise. In other words, she's a stuck-up, arrogant, prideful being who feels anyone and everyone who isn't a githyanke has absolutely no value at all. She is desperate to prove herself to the Githyanke's Liche Queen, Vlakkith, and earn the right to wield a silver sword and ride atop a dragon and be a dragon-rider of her people.

She does, however, strike me as a child. Githyanke live in the Astral Plane, and no one ages there, and they only leave that plane to raid, pillage, hunt mind flayers or to lay their eggs and breed. Githyanke also have the life-span of elves so they can live a very, very long time and also have a very low birth rate.

Lae'zel truly believes in her people and following the edicts of Vlakkith, and is desperate to get to a creche for purification. She makes claims about her people and what they are and are not capable of, and that we as a party need to follow her lead so we don't die. I get the idea that she is basically a teenager saying all is well and you can't tell her otherwise.

When we meet up with the Githyanke patrol and she starts experiencing what the Githyanke do to others first-hand, and see what purification truly entails, I feel she is genuinely shocked and has no idea how to deal with the reality over the ideal.


****

Overall, I think they're both really well-written characters and are great foils to each other in the party. One would be willing to kill people just because they're in the party's way and the other honestly doesn't care if they live or die, only if they can tell everyone how heroic we are, or if we can use them to build our own reputation.