Baldur’s Gate 3 – If Michael Bay made an RPG

It’s time to finally review this mastodon of a game after giving it around 150 hours on one-and-a-half playthroughs. For the most part, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a fine addition to the CRPG genre, and Dungeons & Dragons games overall. However, it’s not without issues, and issues it has aplenty. This rest on more than just gameplay and story, unfortunately, since there is a lot of polarizing content in it that takes the form of the current progressive zeitgeist. Your level of tolerance will affect your enjoyment of Baldur’s Gate 3, unless you are a firm believer, and sees this game as some kind of triumph furthering the cause – like mainstream gaming journalists. More on that later.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 – Further Impressions

Baldur’s Gate 3 is if nothing else a roller coaster ride. After almost 60 hours of playtime now it does still hold up in many ways, but some of the writing is just terrible, and then I mean the focus on everything having to be sexual. Also, one or two of the companion characters seems to be written in the school of Joss Whedon – constantly ironic and pixie-esque stooped in post-modernism with a modern way of talking (swearing included), which has a way of taking you out of the setting.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 – Very Early Impressions

Like many others, I sat ready to play on release day with two main differences. I never really got caught up in the hype even if I was now eager to try it out, and I won my copy of Baldur’s Gate 3 (by luck), which removes the monetary investment from the equation. I think the money transfer clouds our judgment, I know it does for me sometimes. AAA games are expensive, especially nowadays. Can a game that cost this much and has been this hyped by bad? I must be playing it wrong – type of deal.

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Xenonauts 2 [Early Access] – Round Two

I just finished the Early Access 180-day romp of Xenonauts 2 once again, and I got to say, I’m much more favorable to it this time. All in all, I just had a really swell time battling the aliens. The story is shaping up to be something more interesting beyond “the aliens are coming”. The battles are fun, and so are all the research and upgrades you can get for your men and vehicles (air fleet included).

Just going by that, I highly recommend the game, it is an improvement over Xenonauts, and you can’t be too picky when you are a lover of the X-com-like genre in the first place. However, Xenonauts 2 suffers currently from one major issue, and I’m afraid if this is not remedied it will make the whole alien-blasting adventure feel utterly lackluster. 

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Jagged Alliance 3 – Mercenaries Unite

One of the most abused, but beloved turn-based tactical PC franchises is back with another game. Earlier attempts go from abysmal to somewhat playable but often lacking soul. Through some fantastic luck (and skill?) this time it actually captures the classic feeling and is fun to boot. Jagged Alliance 3 has the essence of what once was, which is a rare instance of something old being updated to modern times and still manages to retain an old-school gaming feeling. It’s not without faults though. For example, the laptop shenanigans from Jagged Alliance 2 have been transferred over, but it has not been fully explored, which makes it feel like a cheap copy of the original. The basics are there, yet, all the fun flair, or at least most of it, is gone. The A.I.M mercenary recruitment page no longer comes off as a normal website either. Luckily other parts have much more effort put into it – like the combat, and story, which in turn makes this a worthwhile sequel to a fabled game.

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