Another interesting game closing in for release, and unlike the years before, this year might actually turn out good for gamers! Like many others, I’m looking forward to Baldur’s Gate 3’s release, which will be on Aug 31, 2023, for PC users. However, from playing it (just a little), and reading about it, it does have some issues that I think might affect the general enjoyment. This is all highly subjective of course, what bothers me, might not bother you, yet, I think it could be worth an article.
Let’s start with putting my issues on a list, and the go into them with more detail later on.
- Way too EPIC start
- No day and night cycle
- No weather?
- Dungeon and Dragons 5th edition
- Theme park world
- Whimsical tone
- Fighting the camera
- No third-person control
Way too EPIC start
Baldur’s Gate 3 seems to try way too hard to start out epic, specifically for a level 1 character. It comes off a bit insecure to me like they were afraid that the audience would lose interest if it didn’t start as bombastic as possible. Remember, you are level 1, so everything involved in the introduction is way beyond you in level alone, and why would you be a target in the first place? There is no time to get a feel for your character, or anything else for that matter. Boom, kidnapped and already fighting for your life on a flying Nautiloid, filled with “exciting” cutscenes. However, as soon as this is over, the game starts properly, as it should for a level 1 character. But how do you go from epic to the more mundane without it feeling a bit awkward?
No day and night cycle
Bright sunny days, what’s not the like? Well, you know the saying – too much of a good thing. As it is, the Sword Coast has been cursed with eternal daylight, so good luck trying to get a good night’s sleep with the sun constantly shining in your eyes. To be fair, though, when you rest, the game simulates that as night, and that is good and all. However, by not having a day and night cycle, the whole aspect of night has been removed from the game, which means (beyond the world being static) that NPCs never go to bed, or anything else like that. By that removing a huge part of what makes RPGs fun, like sneaking through people’s belongings while they sweetly dream of jumping sheep. Maybe when the technology reaches Larian Studios, we will get proper night and day cycles for their next game.
No weather?
I’m not sure about this one since I have not played Baldur’s Gate 3 enough to be completely sure if the game has weather of any kind, dynamic or location-based. I have talked to a few people that have played it though, and they said that there seems to be no change in weather at all. If this is true, it truly cements the fact that the world will be fairly static when it comes to weather and light. Now, if there was true dynamic weather, it would have removed some of the concern of not having night and day cycles, but as I have been told, the world will be very sunny and very static.
Dungeon and Dragons 5th edition
While combat in D&D 5th edition is passable and can be fun, leveling is extremely casual. The system by itself has removed any interesting decision-making, and it doesn’t look like Larian Studios have expanded upon it in any way. So we are stuck with core rules, unfortunately. It’s just a disappointing system that was made for larping than crunching numbers, and while that might be better for playing in the real world around a table, it makes for a pretty boring experience on PC.
Theme park world
Instead of making the world feel like a real place, it seems Larian Studios went for the Divinity: Original Sin 2 approach by having the world be semi-open, but still remaining fairly small with clear environmental differentiation in each sector. Each area has a distinct specific theme, and while that is no problem per se – however, it happens every 20 meters or so, which makes the world seem like a carnival instead of something real. Beyond that, it just makes the world feel incredibly small when mortal enemies live a stone-throw from each other.
Whimsical tone
Larian Studios isn’t exactly known for their serious storytelling, so you got to wonder why they picked Baldur’s Gate for their new project since the form of the original games and their style of writing don’t precisely match. It’s not all bad, as it’s not as cringe-inducing as Divinity: Original Sin 2 in general, however, some of this writing remains. The main offender is the animal talking shtick, which seems to be some kind of main narrative event for “funnies” when it comes to Larian Studios. And much to my dismay, this aspect seems to be copied over – lord, show me strength.
Fighting the camera
If there is something Baldur’s Gate 3 reminds me of when it comes to the camera, it’s Neverwinter Nights 2. Instead of actually playing the game, prepare to fight the camera at every turn when moving about in the world. Endless spinning, and endless zooming, which is exactly the problem I had with Neverwinter Nights 2. It becomes extremely obnoxious after a while. Another game that suffers from almost the same kind of issue is Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, which ironically had its problem fixed in their former game Pathfinder: Kingmaker. They just had to make the world fully 3D in the sequel, as shown becomes a problem when the camera works against the player. Pathfinder: Kingmaker is also a top-down 3D game, but the difference from that title is that the camera was set at a fixed angle. It made it so the camera is much easier to control, and let you focus on the playing. This leads me to my next and final point…
No third-person control
With as great graphics as Baldur’s Gate 3 has, why won’t it let me roam the world in third-person mode? It’s been a while since I played it now, but back then, this wasn’t possible at all. I don’t understand why the game is forced to be played from a top-down view, as so many other things are changed already. Going by pure nostalgia doesn’t really work here. Just make it a choice. I remember watching a trailer for Baldur’s Gate 3 for consoles though, and there is looked like you could control your character this way – so why is this not implemented for PC? Now, this might be part of the full version, and I certainly hope so. I also hope it’s not only when you have a controller attached. I want to be able to move around my avatar with mouse and keyboard, but from a third-person view – to be able to fully take in the world, and reduce camera awkwardness.
These are my main issues with Baldur’s Gate 3, but I wouldn’t say that these problems I have with it will break or make the game. However, they are still issues that will affect my enjoyment somewhat. Yet, there is still time for some of these things to be changed, or added into the title. Time will tell, and I will get the game regardless since it feels that you can’t miss this one out, especially if you are a fan of the older Baldur’s Gate games in the series.
Thanks for reading.
/Thomas
PS. I wrote this piece before Larian Studios had their final Panel from Hell. However, after watching it, I have to add that the whole “gay sex with a bear” thing didn’t really have to be a thing (haha, oh boy). I understand that it’s a joke about druids, shape-shifting, and sex, but man, it makes me feel dirty looking forward to Baldur’s Gate 3. I would even argue it has tainted the experience a bit. Especially since throwaway text snippets are no longer a thing, you now have to watch the whole thing in great graphical detail. The degeneracy on display here is a bit much, and then you have to consider that someone modeled, wrote, and animated the process. This is such a trainwreck, but it seems it paid off for Larian, even if it’s hard to say if this triggered it, because they are slowly reached top-seller on Steam. I sure hope this is not the case, and it’s just because their final panel was a reminder for people that the game is coming out soon.
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