Baldur’s Gate 3: The best role of all time

Baldur’s Gate 3, arrived on Xbox after a short wait. A wait that was worth seeing the final result of this adventure that brings us Racing Studios. The Belgian studio produces since 1996 in business, but only in recent years has he started to gain prominence in the industry. Titles like the saga Original Sin of Divinity, are the reasons why the company has gained fame in this world. However, being more than just standout titles, they remain niche games that very rarely manage to reach the mainstream.

The studio demonstrated its good work with the classic role and was presented with a golden opportunity to reach this audience that had resisted it so much. The team of Wizards of the Coast I had something for them: Baldur’s Gate 3. A title with enough notoriety to get the company off the ground. The process of creating this adventure of epic proportions was not easy at all and, We cannot ignore that this title has been in early access since 2020. Now, three long years later, it has become GOTY. Today I come to talk to you about how Larian Studios convinced me that Baldur’s Gate 3 It’s one of the best games in history.

Lifetime role

As a fan of classic or pencil and paper role-playing games, Baldur’s Gate 3, was one of my most anticipated releases. However, I always had some reservations about this third opus. I don’t hide when I say that even if the saga Divinity It’s of remarkable quality, they’ve never managed to get me hooked. Perhaps its story, or its extremely harsh mechanics, had always made me cringe. This is why, when I took charge Baldur’s Gate 3, He maintained moderate expectations. I had read the opinions of many colleagues who already called it one of the best games of the year, but the truth is that I still had doubts. It did not take long for these doubts to dissipate.

Larian Studios is a clear example of how a studio can grow with every title, with every release. And that’s it, Baldur’s Gate 3does a lot of things we’ve already seen in the studio’s previous games, however, everything, absolutely everything, it makes things better. From its narration, to its gameplay and its staging, including its technical part, everything is infinitely better than what we found in previous games.

Leaving that aside, Baldur’s Gate 3 This is pure role-playing, something that has been demonstrated since we started creating our character. The game has a total of 12 classes, which in turn include subclasses, in addition to races and subraces. As you can see, the depth is immense, so we can tackle adventure in virtually endless ways. The magic that classic adventures had like the previous parts of the saga or the mythical saga Neverwinter Nights he is back.

Start of the adventure

Once we take control and after a good time creating our adventurer, our journey along the Sword Coast begins. Our adventurer must head towards the mythical Baldur’s Gate because we were infected by a mind flayer parasite. If we don’t want to become a tentacle creature, we’ll have to go there as soon as possible. Thus, our epic campaign begins.

From the first moment, it is clear that the dialogues developed by the team They are simply sublime. We are facing perhaps one of the best-written games in history. Each of the characters we engage in conversation with makes their personality very evident. This is something commonly found in RPGs when it comes to main characters, however, Baldur’s Gate 3, He achieves this with each of his characters. Even the animals we can interact with are interesting!

The dialogues are not only well written, but offer almost absolute freedom to the player. Depending on our character’s class and race, we will unlock unique dialogue options. The Barbarian Berserker, for example, has unique conversation options that make intimidation easier, leading to some very fun encounters. While the elf has more options linked to the wisdom of this long-lived race. In Baldur’s Gate 3, everything influences and everything adds up to create a unique story. With this variety of options, it is virtually impossible to have two identical games. I was pleasantly surprised to see all the dialogue and action options the game offered when participating in multiplayer sessions.

It is at this moment that we begin to realize the greatness of the work of Larian Studios. And the fact is that if we were to define Baldur’s Gate 3 With just one word, it would be freedom. The game offers us a large number of options, so many that they can overwhelm the player. Not only in its dialogues, but in the way it explores its world, faces its struggles and ultimately experiences the adventure. The freedom of action is such that there are many fights that can be avoided by performing such absurd actions as dressing up.

Let the dice roll

This freedom of action is limited to a system of dice rolling. In fact, this third opus takes up the rules of the fifth edition of the legendary D&D. In this way, when we try to persuade or intimidate an enemy, we will have to succeed in a dice roll with some difficulty.. Dice rolls add that element of chance that will make each game unique. This system is extrapolated to all game systems, for example, while we explore, the game will make rolls for abilities like survival or perception to determine if we detect traps or hidden objects. These rolls will be made automatically, just like damage and attack rolls during combat. A way to simplify its action so that it does not overwhelm the player.

This system may not appeal to every player, but the reality is that it is very well implemented and with a little patience, even the most novice will feel comfortable with it. Plus, if we’ve played D&D, we’ll feel at home. In fact, in the end, Baldur’s Gate 3, it offers the player everything that a good role-playing campaign can offer us; fun, drama, adventure and epic.

To achieve excellence, the studio offers us a total of 3 acts, which can easily take us more than 50 hours if we only focus on its main story. Although to be honest, it would be a real shame not to enjoy the fantastic universe created by the studio. Note that we will (of course) have total freedom to decide which missions to do and when to do them. The development of the adventure is not at all linear.

To arms

Even if the story of Baldur’s Gate 3, Combat is also a big part of the adventure. Whether it’s necessary fighting or the consequences of a stupid act, we will often need to draw our weapons and prepare to fight. The combat system used in this title is very similar to that of the saga. Divinityeven though the truth is that feels much more player friendly. At first, especially if we are spellcasters, it can be a bit dense, although like everything, after a while you will feel quite comfortable with it.

Its turn-based system offers us slow action full of strategies and decisions. In Baldur’s Gate 3A large part of success lies in the placement of our heroes. Gaining height with the explorer, jumping with our warrior to position yourself near enemy archers or breaking the concentration of a magician with our paladin, are just a few examples. Another of his great successes Baldur’s Gate 3 lies in the use of the environment. We have many options to leverage the scenario to our advantage. Some are really simple and intuitive, like pushing an enemy off a cliff, and others are more complex, like throwing gunpowder so our explorer can then detonate it with a fire arrow. The elementary actions so characteristic of Divinity They are very present.

Once you overcome the initial barrier that the turn-based system represents for many players, you come across an accessible but extremely deep combat system.. Where beginner players will feel relatively comfortable after a few rounds and the expert player will feel satisfied, thanks to the endless possibilities. The only drawback that can be made to the game in this sense is its camera, which sometimes breaks down, mainly on consoles. Despite this, I was surprised by how well it adapted to the controls for such a dense game.

A wonderful surprise

With everything I’ve told you so far, you will have an idea of ​​the atrocity created by Larian Studios. Without a doubt, Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s one of the best games I’ve ever played. Being a fan of tabletop role-playing games, I found a game that managed to recreate what you feel during a role-playing party with friends, the nervousness of each attack roll, the excitement of each level up and the thrill of experiencing your own history. It is in this last place that the magic of Baldur’s Gate 3there is no premise on how to play or do things, each game is unique.

In the hours I spent venturing along the Sword Coast, I enjoyed roleplaying like never before. Especially since when I was able to play it with friends, I really felt at home. Experiencing an adventure as epic as the one created by the Belgian studio is simply wonderful. Making decisions together, seeing how a team member gets us into trouble due to a failed dice roll or a bad decision, inevitably takes you back to those afternoons enjoying a good game of role. If you’ve ever started in these worlds, you’ll realize that there are few greater compliments to a classic role-playing title than feeling like you’re sharing a table with friends. Eventually, Baldur’s Gate 3is a superb game that is difficult to find fault with. From there, I can only encourage you to try it.