This game is so short and linear compared to BG 1&2

[Thoramyr]

I just got back into the classics after 10+ years away and something that really stood out to me right away was how small, static, and linear the world feels compared to BG 1&2. The scale is vastly different, as BG 1 takes place across the entire sword coast, (south of Baldurs Gate) where as BG3 takes place in what would be maybe 3 or 4 maps in BG 1. BG2 is even bigger than BG 1! I know, the macro details and complexity of the world is so much higher in BG3 but personally, the feeling of traveling along the coast and discovering all the different people and all the little quests and secrets from the classics is more important to me than having every little detail rendered in HD.

Personally, BG3 feels more like a dlc to me, like SoD, than a full game.

[Metallicus]

This take has fleas.

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

Originally posted by Thoramyr:

as BG 1 takes place across the entire sword coast,

I wasn't aware you visited Waterdeep, Neverwinter and Icewind Dale in BG1...wow, the scope is really gigantic...

[Vox Maximus]

Originally posted by Thoramyr:

I just got back into the classics after 10+ years away and something that really stood out to me right away was how small, static, and linear the world feels compared to BG 1&2. The scale is vastly different, as BG 1 takes place across the entire sword coast, where as BG3 takes place in what would be maybe 3 or 4 maps in BG 1. BG2 is even bigger than BG 1! I know, the macro details and complexity of the world is so much higher in BG3 but personally, the feeling of traveling along the coast and discovering all the different people and all the little quests and secrets from the classics is more important to me than having every little detail rendered in HD.

Personally, BG3 feels more like a dlc to me, like SoD, than a full game.

Short? oO
It's anything but short.

Definitely longer than Shadows of Amn.

[Vox Maximus]

Originally posted by nurani4wiw:

Fallout 2 is vastly bigger than fallout 3, NV and fallout 4 combined, so what? :Miranda1:

Define "bigger".

[Thoramyr]

Originally posted by 1337_h4x0r_xXx_deathlord666_xXx:

Originally posted by Thoramyr:

as BG 1 takes place across the entire sword coast,

I wasn't aware you visited Waterdeep, Neverwinter and Icewind Dale in BG1...wow, the scope is really gigantic...

🙄 You know what I meant. Fine, the entire sword coast, south of Baldurs Gate and north of Amn. Happy? The point remains the same. BG3 doesn't even cover a quarter of that.

[Koala 4peace]

Originally posted by 1337_h4x0r_xXx_deathlord666_xXx:

Originally posted by Thoramyr:

as BG 1 takes place across the entire sword coast,

I wasn't aware you visited Waterdeep, Neverwinter and Icewind Dale in BG1...wow, the scope is really gigantic...

I'm not sure about the Icewind Dale being part of the Sword Coast.

I know that this is not the point, but i'm bored.

Anyway, the top north part of BG1 map is Baldur's Gate per se, if i remember correctly. And that city is like centre-south of the Sword Coast? So, yes. BG1 taking place "across the entire Sword Coast" is a big exaggeration.

[Thoramyr]

Originally posted by nurani4wiw:

Fallout 2 is vastly bigger than fallout 3, NV and fallout 4 combined, so what? :Miranda1:

I'd say the same thing about Fallout. Especially in regards to 4.

[Thoramyr]

Originally posted by Vox Maximus:

Originally posted by Thoramyr:

I just got back into the classics after 10+ years away and something that really stood out to me right away was how small, static, and linear the world feels compared to BG 1&2. The scale is vastly different, as BG 1 takes place across the entire sword coast, where as BG3 takes place in what would be maybe 3 or 4 maps in BG 1. BG2 is even bigger than BG 1! I know, the macro details and complexity of the world is so much higher in BG3 but personally, the feeling of traveling along the coast and discovering all the different people and all the little quests and secrets from the classics is more important to me than having every little detail rendered in HD.

Personally, BG3 feels more like a dlc to me, like SoD, than a full game.

Short? oO
It's anything but short.

Definitely longer than Shadows of Amn.

I'm playing SoA right now. BG3 is not longer by far, unless you're just talking about the main story? But even then I don't think it's longer.

[Vox Maximus]

Originally posted by Thoramyr:

Originally posted by nurani4wiw:

Fallout 2 is vastly bigger than fallout 3, NV and fallout 4 combined, so what? :Miranda1:

I'd say the same thing about Fallout. Especially in regards to 4.

BG3 is designed differently. It's not open world in the sense BG2 was, it's much more condensed and Act 3 is semi-open world. So yeah, it's more linear. Is it bad? I don't think so. In BG2 I rarely revisited maps that I already completed and most of them were just big wilderness maps. BG2 had for sure better pacing and IWD was even better in this regard. IWD was also more similar to BG3 in the mean of how linear it felt. Linear isn't necessarily bad.

[Vox Maximus]

Originally posted by Thoramyr:

Originally posted by Vox Maximus:

Short? oO
It's anything but short.

Definitely longer than Shadows of Amn.

I'm playing SoA right now. BG3 is not longer by far, unless you're just talking about the main story? But even then I don't think it's longer.

I cleared SOA in about 60 hours on my last playthrough (did everything close to 100%). BG3 took twice as long.

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

Originally posted by Koala 4peace:

Originally posted by 1337_h4x0r_xXx_deathlord666_xXx:

I wasn't aware you visited Waterdeep, Neverwinter and Icewind Dale in BG1...wow, the scope is really gigantic...

I'm not sure about the Icewind Dale being part of the Sword Coast.

I know that this is not the point, but i'm bored.

Anyway, the top north part of BG1 map is Baldur's Gate per se, if i remember correctly. And that city is like centre-south of the Sword Coast? So, yes. BG1 taking place "across the entire Sword Coast" is a big exaggeration.

It's not 100% clear, the maps are inconclusive, so are the different sources...sometimes icewind dale is part of the sword coast, sometimes it isn't.
Baldurs Gate however is at the southern end of the sword coast. maybe 120 miles north of candlekeep, which some count as the southern end of what's generally counted as the sword coast, while it's around 1100 or so miles north to luskan, which would be the northernmost part of the sword coast, if I give you Icewind Dale.

Inofficial map of the sword coast:
https://www.reddit.com/r/inkarnate/comments/lxjxgc/forgotten_realms_sword_coast_map/#lightbox
Official 5e map of "a bit" more then just the sword coast, despite the url:
https://media.wizards.com/2015/images/dnd/resources/Sword-Coast-Map_HighRes.jpg

[Thoramyr]

Originally posted by Vox Maximus:

Originally posted by Thoramyr:

I'd say the same thing about Fallout. Especially in regards to 4.

BG3 is designed differently. It's not open world in the sense BG2 was, it's much more condensed and Act 3 is semi-open world. So yeah, it's more linear. Is it bad? I don't think so. In BG2 I rarely revisited maps that I already completed and most of them were just big wilderness maps. BG2 had for sure better pacing and IWD was even better in this regard. IWD was also more similar to BG3 in the mean of how linear it felt. Linear isn't necessarily bad.

It just feels hollow and not really a grand adventure imo, but tbh most modern RPGs feel that way.

I much prefer Obsidian's style though. I think they would have put much more emphasis on talking to NPCs and actually seeing the world change around you than seeing it in a cutscene. (Like act 2, wtf?)

[Thoramyr]

Oh and I'm sorry but the nether brain is a terrible antagonist. You don't even really see it talk until almost the end of the game. And when it does talk, it has nothing interesting to say. No real ambition or backstory. No real point to anything it's doing. It's just there because. So boring.

[Vox Maximus]

Originally posted by Thoramyr:

Originally posted by Vox Maximus:

BG3 is designed differently. It's not open world in the sense BG2 was, it's much more condensed and Act 3 is semi-open world. So yeah, it's more linear. Is it bad? I don't think so. In BG2 I rarely revisited maps that I already completed and most of them were just big wilderness maps. BG2 had for sure better pacing and IWD was even better in this regard. IWD was also more similar to BG3 in the mean of how linear it felt. Linear isn't necessarily bad.

It just feels hollow and not really a grand adventure imo, but tbh most modern RPGs feel that way.

I much prefer Obsidian's style though. I think they would have put much more emphasis on talking to NPCs and actually seeing the world change around you than seeing it in a cutscene.

Both BG2 and IWD sure excel in the sense of the great adventure. Here I will agree. BG3 is not that far behind, though, and I liked companion story arcs in BG3 more than BG2 ones... IWD had obviously none of that.

BG3 combat is unrivaled, IMO, as well as music and cutscenes. That's why I still rate BG3 above everything else. Illithids and Elder Brain were just a minor but cool episode in BG2. I think Larian made a right choice expanding on that. Love lovecraftian stuff...

And as for Obsidian I firmly believe PoE 1 and 2 are one of the best CRPGs ever made.

[yaerav]

It's not about the size of the areas but about how well filled they are. And, without dissing BG1, which is and will probably forever be my favourite CRPG: one striking thing about several of the areas- maybe even most of them, is how sparcely populated they are with significant encounters. Also, most overland maps fit together as one big map, and in essence, the maps of act 1 and 2 (don't know about act 3 yet) would easily be 9 BG1/2-sized maps, maybe even 16.

And the replayability is... ok, I don't know if BG3 is even more replayable than BG1/2 or maybe not quite as much. I am itching to start over in Candlekeep with a character that could in my head canon have a descendant that could end up in that Nautiloid. Maybe a gnome girl could be fun, even if Jan Jansen is not a romancable companion. But maybe there could be some things that even Jan would not be inclined to tell tall tales abou... ah, hells, the sun would fall down from the sky before that. Which reminds me of a story he told about how he and Uncle Scratchy made a wager with Lathander...