Some BG3 Critique

[Dr. Raven]

No game is perfect. Good or bad there will always be flaws and design choices that not everyone will like.

Examples:

BG3 has no day/night cycle

No sense of urgency or existence of time.

No random events/encounters.
Things only happen if the player goes to that spot and interacts with it. Very theme park-like, this makes for a very static world and it can be immersion breaking for many people.

Party control/management.
Probably the biggest flaw imo with Larian's rpgs. The chaining system, the fact that you can *only* control 1 party member at a time. Formations are useless, there's no way to select multiple characters at a time and for a CRPG this is very disappointing.

Pathfinding issues. Members constantly stepping on traps or environmental hazards etc.

No dedicated PAUSE button.
The TB mode is not the same thing. There's no way to literally *PAUSE* the game. In pretty much every single CRPG, whenever you spot a trap for example, the game will freeze for you. All characters stop moving and you can safely try and disarm the trap without worrying you or your party members will trigger it.
In BG3 this doesn't exist. The game doesn't freeze, characters won't stop moving, and this COMBINED WITH PATHFINDING ISSUES, can be very frustrating.

Terrible camera.
If you compare BG3's camera to that of Neverwinter Nights you can see how bad it is here. In NWN you have full 360 degree control over your vision. Hell, even Dragon Age: Origins had a better camera.
There's no reason for it to be this bad.

Lack of companion diversity.
Where are all of the short companions? Dwarves, gnomes, halflings? What about a Half-Orc or Dragonborn? We only have 2 'unique race' companions. Lae'zel (githyanki) and Karlach (tiefling), the rest are just humans and elves.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a good D&D game but not a good Baldur's Gate game.
Whilst BG3 is a fantastic RPG D&D game, to call this Baldur's Gate 3 can feel like a slap in the face for old fans. I think it's pretty obvious the name was used for marketing purposes. There was no intention of actually continuing the story after BG2.
It would make a lot more sense if it was called something like;
Forgotten Realms: Invasion of the Mind Flayers. Or something similar.
Just advertised in a way where it's obvious it's not meant to be a direct sequel to the old BG games.

The spirit of BG is more prevalent in that of Pillars of Eternity or Pathfinder. RTWP, similar game mechanics, visuals etc.
This is similar to how Fallout 3 removed itself from Fallout 1 & 2.


EDIT: Might as well add some more here;

No character switching in dialogue/party members' stats not being used to help with checks.
VERY disappointing for a party-based RPG. Considering every other CRPG solves this by using your companions' skills instead of your MC's.

Act 3 being unfinished and unpolished.
This just speaks for itself really.

Hotbar and inventory still feels cluttery.
There should be more categories. Better sorting options overall. It's a pain right now.

Summons making NPCs hostile. Apparently this goes for Beast Master Rangers too.
This is extremely annoying. Why is this a thing?

Using tadpoles has no negative impact.
Wasn't the whole point of having tadpole powers becoming more powerful at the cost of losing allies and companions?
People are reporting now that there's no reason to NOT consume tadpoles since there's no downside to it. Your companions seemingly won't care. NPCs still treat you like normal.
And, there's no upside to be 'tadpole-free' either. You're essentially just nerfing yourself.

There's no way to preview future levels.
Want to plan a build but you don't know or don't remember what abilities and special class actions you get? Tough luck.

[Nats]

You can find flaws with anything if you look hard enough. You didnt even mention about the edge screen panning.

[Robineus]

And here comes the fan base to let you know that you're not allowed to criticise the game because they like it so it's perfect.

[busabudapest]

Dear Lari and modders, please give us an option to disable the camera snapping and auto zooming out when making a ranged action in combat, and to disable the camera jumping to a character when I press F1 - F4. It should only jump to them when I double press it. Thank you!

[zpc]

Crafting items is something I really miss in this game - or at the very least the possiblity to enhance existing items. Along with that I'd like to have background professions which the characters are skilled in before adventuring. Like being a smith / tailor / scribe.

[Robineus]

You know what I miss the most? There's nothing like the adventurers mart in BG2 a store filled with wonderous items most of which you can't afford when you first arrive but fully intend to save up for and go back and buy. No you've got levelled gear in every merchant. There's also no pleasant stroll around areas, everything is so stressed, most of the inns are burned down/cursed, there's a constant worry of the mindflayer thing, your companions hate each other and not in a fun way like in BG2 when you put the murderous mercenary dwarf along side the lawful good ranger and just enjoyed their banter.

[Broan]

I agree on some Points, but not all
for me the missing day/night cycle is no big deal and "immersion" is imo not the focus in this game. It wouldn't hurt the game having it either, but it's not important - And Larians Decicion to leave it out was probably due to simplicity to the Resting Mechanic in Dnd i would assume.

Theme Park vibe? Yea maybe. You are an Adventurer doing Adventures. It's like the main premise. Would be kinda frustrating when things would just happen all the time without you because you are "late".

Would be cool to have more random events along the way, i agree.

Party Control - Agree. I miss the "hold action" for example... Would be fantastic to be able to combo Things. Especially because.. In Coop you can actually do that... When you get same Initiative, you can do actions at the same time, which feels amazing, and knowing that playing singleplayer not being able to do that... is pretty bad.

Idk bout the Pause button, im fine with TB Mode as it is.

Camera is unnecessary annoying in some places, absolutely... Not being able to freely zoom out in spaces because you collide with a wall/ceiling or something... or having trouble to actually hit a spot in a different elevation to yours is a pain sometimes.

Absolutely no idea why the companions are mostly Human/Half elves. Weird decision.
Maybe to inspire Players to play other Races because there are enough Half Elves/Humans as companions? If so - didn't work well according to the Data.

Idk about the BG3 is no Baldurs Gate Part. Just feels like stupid gatekeeping. It is in the same world, you get to explore and see Baldurs Gate as never before, i feel it's absolutely named correct, of course it is not the same as BG1 and BG2. It's been 20 Years, Things change. And in my opinion it was the right Thing to move a bit forward.

[Dr. Raven]

Also want to mention, there's no sense of scale either. The world feels VERY small.
Take the Crash Region for example.
You have the Druid Grove and the Goblin Camp barely a 5 minute walk away from each other and yet the goblins act like the Grove is miles away and they can't find it?

I mean, just look at the official BG3 map. You would assume the game would portray it like that. Obviously they can't make the whole map be playable, that'd be ridiculous and literally impossible.
Instead what they should have done is have it made into different, smaller zones instead of one huge, compact area.
So, if you wanted to go to the Blighted Village or Waukeen's Rest for example you have to go the map screen and see your party traveling there. Maybe throw in a few random encounters during travel. Party getting attacked on the road, stumbling upon wandering merchants, people in need of saving or something else.

I would much prefer this over what we have now.

[Broan]

Originally posted by Dr. Raven:

Also want to mention, there's no sense of scale either. The world feels VERY small.
Take the Crash Region for example.
You have the Druid Grove and the Goblin Camp barely a 5 minute walk away from each other and yet the goblins act like the Grove is miles away and they can't find it?

I mean, just look at the official BG3 map. You would assume the game would portray it like that. Obviously they can't make the whole map be playable, that'd be ridiculous and literally impossible.
Instead what they should have done is have it made into different, smaller zones instead of one huge, compact area.
So, if you wanted to go to the Blighted Village or Waukeen's Rest for example you have to go the map screen and see your party traveling there. Maybe throw in a few random encounters during travel. Party getting attacked on the road, stumbling upon wandering merchants, people in need of saving or something else.

I would much prefer this over what we have now.

Agree.
I mean we have like what - 30? or something different areas where you camp.
And i do like that tbh.Feels pretty ambient.
I would assume there would be room for more in-between areas.

I do like the big Maps, feels really Grand. But it would have been good to seperate some areas from others more, like you said, the grove from the goblin camp and i would say same thing with the moonrise towers and the Last Light Inn. Feels a bit too close together to make sense, maybe making the Camp and the Moonrise Towers a seperate area with a filler in between to give it more distance.

[Dr. Raven]

Oh, and no way to switch companions during dialogue or have your party members assist with skill checks if their stats are better.

Pretty much every other CRPG uses your party members' skills in dialogue. Your MC got low charisma? No problem, the game will use your sorcerer's charisma for the check instead. Low strength? Have no fear, your barbarian will save you.

Now BG3. A party-based D&D RPG that doesn't have this is.. pretty bad.

Also, the entirety of Act 3 being unfinished and unpolished with FPS issues isn't painting a good look imo. Same thing happened with DOS2's last act.. Is there some sort of "Final Act Curse" at Larian or something?

[raμza84]

Honest and fair critiques

[Chroniver]

I agree with some points but (stongly) disagree with some other points. Though I'm happy to read a non-political thread for once.

I would have loved to see a day/night cycle but I get that it is not so easy to implement as they took a lot of time optimizing lighting.

Pathfinding for companions is improved over DOS2 but still an issue.

Inventory management is an issue.

The chain system could be better (just take a note from rts games Larian).

Camera can be an issue yes, but remember there is a TON more verticality rhan in DAO. Still there are other games that handle it better like xcom2.

Strongly disagree that it is a slap in the face or not worthy of BG title. The story is more of a continuation than even BG2 in many aspects. Combat is much improved by focusing on turn based instead of rtwp chaos.

[RoboSauce]

I agree with most of the OP, but I personally don't want to deal with timed quests, and I don't know what it means to be a "Baldur's Gate" game but I'd argue it's barely a DnD game as there are so many house rules it no longer feels like the 5e tabletop version. Big agree on the day/night cycle and short races, as well as the lack of random encounters/theme park feel.

[nanonull]

Originally posted by Dr. Raven:

The world feels VERY small.
...
You have the Druid Grove and the Goblin Camp barely a 5 minute walk away from each other and yet the goblins act like the Grove is miles away and they can't find it?
...

It takes around 5-10 minutes of running from Grove to Goblins' camp if you explored map and cleared the way from enemies. So your estimation is unrealistic, players will not travel on legs when this map part is explored.

In reality it takes around 5-10 hours to get to Camp on 1st walkthrough due to exploration and side activities. And goblins already advanced to the village btw Camp and Grove...

It is better to have quality packed map than huge, empty fallout/skyrim map...

[Dr. Raven]

Originally posted by JNorris:

Originally posted by Dr. Raven:

The world feels VERY small.
...
You have the Druid Grove and the Goblin Camp barely a 5 minute walk away from each other and yet the goblins act like the Grove is miles away and they can't find it?
...

It takes around 5-10 minutes of running from Grove to Goblins' camp if you explored map and cleared the way from enemies. So your estimation is unrealistic, players will not travel on legs when this map part is explored. In reality it takes around 5-10 hours to get to Camp on 1st walkthrough due to exploration and side activities.

What you are asking for is huge, empty fallout or skyrim map...

Read my comment again. I specifically said that it would be ridiculous and impossible if they made the whole map be playable. That's why I would prefer it if the playable map be made into different, smaller zones instead of one huge area.

*Simulate* a sense of scale by having the player travel through the map screen. Show a passage of time when traveling from the Grove to Waukeen's Rest for example.
Because right now it destroys the world's size by having everything lumped together in area. It's unrealistic as well as lore breaking.

[nanonull]

Originally posted by Dr. Raven:

Originally posted by JNorris:

It takes around 5-10 minutes of running from Grove to Goblins' camp if you explored map and cleared the way from enemies. So your estimation is unrealistic, players will not travel on legs when this map part is explored. In reality it takes around 5-10 hours to get to Camp on 1st walkthrough due to exploration and side activities.

What you are asking for is huge, empty fallout or skyrim map...

Read my comment again. I specifically said that it would be ridiculous and impossible if they made the whole map be playable. That's why I would prefer it if the playable map be made into different, smaller zones instead of one huge area.

*Simulate* a sense of scale by having the player travel through the map screen. Show a passage of time when traveling from the Grove to Waukeen's Rest for example.
Because right now it destroys the world's size by having everything lumped together in area. It's unrealistic as well as lore breaking.

I love first huge map and its exploration and smaller maps later with transitions break immersion and just feel cheap.