Charlie Jacobson

15 hours in and it never clicked. It's certainly a game with a lot of effort put into it and I can see why people like it, but it's a tad bit overrated. I will only comment on what I experienced. 1. Combat feels slow and wonky. Turn-based is not a problem, but it just feels weird in this game. 2. The different ways of doing things and beating opponents are things people find fun, but I can't really appreciate it given how slow it all feels. 3. Some animations are funny at first but look really awkward the more I see it: the jump animation, the dash, the way characters pose when you select them to attack/use a skill/cast a spell. It's silly. 4. The UI is terrible. It's a cluttered mess, and it's not even shared stash. Much of your time is spent on inventory management among your characters, and it becomes an even bigger pain in the arse if you want to try switching things up. 5. The story is mediocre. Starts off on a spaceship with alien cthulhus and the super special tadpole in your brain. Then you suddenly gather and pick up these companions, and for some reason they join you in a quest to get rid of the tadpoles. That's just the start of it, and it doesn't really get better. 6. Not a single likeable companion. The most passable are Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and Astarion. But they all feel like caricatures. The humor is really stale and weird. 7. Great voice actors and actresses that sound awfully cringe because of the quality of the writing. 8. Can't use my companions for dialogue checks; they just stand still in the background and maybe make a "funny" comment or reaction now and then, but checks are based on the character that initiates dialogue. 9. The game is actually buggy, and not as polished as fans will tell you. I'm sure they're doing their best to send out the hotfixes though. 10. Music is really boring. There's simply no hook, and "Down by the river" as a leitmotif and theme is annoying to listen to. Pales in comparison to other CRPG soundtracks. BG1 and BG2 certainly had better soundtracks. Heck, even Larian's Divinity: Original Sin and D:OS2 had better music. It's a nice entry-level game for CRPGs, but this is not the masterpiece that people are claiming it to be. Some CRPGs that are much better than this off the top of my head: 1. BG1 and BG2 2. DOS and DOS2 (much better QoL / better mechanics because 5e is just bad as a video game / DOS combat feels way better than DOS2 and BG3 combined though) 3. Neverwinter Nights (nostalgia factor + amazing music) and Neverwinter Nights 2 4. Dragon Age: Origins (enough said) 5. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (even better experienced if you play Pathfinder: Kingmaker before it) 6. Planescape Torment 7. Disco Elysium (a different subgenre of CRPG, but a compelling story with a lot of depth)