Everitt Waldron

Baldur's Gate 3 has quickly become one of my favorite RPGs of all time. There is so much to see and do in the early access version that I've put in well over 100 hours into various play-throughs trying to see all the possible outcomes of the choices the player can make... and I still keep finding more. Choices that lead to entirely different cut scenes and story branches! This can be best illustrated by comments in YouTube videos of a certain large battle in which the commenter says something to the effect of "Wait... you can do that?!?!" And the answer is "YES!" If you make certain choices, you can indeed end up in said large battle... and it's glorious. The choice of engine for the game perfectly fits the D&D feel as it allows you to approach encounters in creative ways that non pen-and-paper RPGs normally wouldn't allow. Most of what makes Dungeons & Dragons fun is the freedom you have in how to navigate the situations you find yourself in, and I find the heavily updated Divinity engine is as close as you're going to get to that in a video game. Having one character throw a nearby barrel of water at a group of enemies and then casting an ice spell on the puddle with your wizard, causing all the enemies to slip on the now frozen ground making them "prone" and open to more successful attacks... this is the kind of creative gameplay that usually is only found around a table with a group of friends and a Dungeon Master. Overall, playing the game feels like what Dragon Age Origins would have felt like if it had been in the D&D setting, and had been fully turn-based in it's combat. Knowing the history of Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate, this really does feel like a natural evolution. My only complaints are purely based on the fact that the game isn't finished yet. The host of bugs it has come with the territory of an early access title. And really, just like Bethesda games, some of the bugs just add hilarious charm to it. My biggest complaint is that I just want more! And knowing that there is MUCH MORE to come in the finished game, that leaves me excited for it!