Baldur's Gate 3 : A Modern Masterpiece

I'm not exaggerating when I say that balers Skate 3 has completely taken over my life the grind has been real trying to finish the game over the last 2 months and after finally finally beating it for the first time I can now say with full confidence that every single hour I spent playing has been more than worth it to me Baler Skate 3 is a 10 out of 10 it's absolutely my game of the year and that's because it feels like a game that is perfectly made for me for the longest time I've always wanted to play a video game exactly like balers Skate 3 although I never expected to play such a game because it just seemed way too idealistic too good to be true almost however the mad lats at laran Were Somehow able to take everything I like in a video game and make it a reality my name is Andre and let's talk about how much I love Shadow heart I mean Ballers Gate [Music] 3 [Music] before I continue spoiler warning I'll be showing footage as well as talking about acts 1 and 2 it's mostly out of context or very generalized but it's still mild spoilers so proceed at your own risk if you didn't know balers Gate 3 is a crpg developed and published by laran Studios it's an isometric strategy game that focuses on turn-based combat exploration and most importantly role playing Exquisite that that's because balers Skate 3 is a continuation to a video game series based on Dungeons and Dragons or DND D for short if you're not familiar with DND D it's essentially the first ever role-playing game it's a tabletop pen and paper RPG that mixes aspects of War gaming role playing and dice rolling so that you can become a dungeon delving dragon slaying hero in fact the genre of video game RPGs that we know and love today are almost entirely rooted in the game systems that D and D invented all the way back in 1974 now the reason I'm giving you a quick history lesson on RPGs is that balers Skate 3 reemphasizes the role playing aspect of role playing games which for the most part seems to be lost in our modern conception of video game RPGs but unlike many other RPGs balers Gate 3 is able to give you the freedom in game to role play as the character you've created for example the dialog choices that you can make throughout the game changes depending on your class race abilities skill proficiencies and it even tracks the past decisions you've made within your campaign the NPCs that you get to interact with can change depending on the things your character has done and said and often times these NPCs will treat and react to you differently depending on a multitude of these factors in my own campaign I decided to create a half elf Druid named floran for the most part he's chaotic good a generally morally good character who tries to do the right thing and helps those in need but he's also a little bit of a bad boy and isn't afraid to stand up for himself not to mention that he alsoo happens to rise up every single one of his companions unintentionally of course I want to taste you oh my God after all my man Florian only has space for one person in his heart and that is for his one true love the daughter of Darkness herself so then did I ever break character and do some really heinous during some parts of the game absolutely there are definitely a few times when I let the intrusive thoughts win and I wasn't even playing as the dark urge I may have stolen a lot of coin more than I needed I may have shall we say silenced a few NPCs who are being a little too annoying and I may have murdered my way out of certain situations that didn't need any murdering however it's nice that balers Gate 3 doesn't systematically punish you for going against your character's supposed morality what I mean by that is that there are certain RPGs where you feel pressured to always choose either the Obviously good or obviously bad dialog options and picking anything else in between is pretty much just a waste from a gameplay perspective either because you'd lose favor towards certain characters or you'd be missing out on points to level up your skills based on a morality meter what's brilliant about balers skate 3's dialogue system is instead of clearly highlighting the good option in blue the bad option in red and the rest being totally useless neutral options often times it'll present you with a series of morally great options where you don't quite know what the alome will be depending on your choice it has intri to your decision- making as the consequences of your words and actions can sometimes be surprising and unpredictable that's the game's way of pushing you to stop metagaming for a second and to just truly roleplay as your character eliciting the question what would I or my character actually say in this current moment now balers Skate 3 does punish you for certain actions but it almost always fits in the context of the narrative and it also entirely depends on the situation you fail a persuasion check against some goblins time to initiative you get caught lockpicking a door to a restricted area off to jail you go you murder an entire Village then you'll miss out on NPCs to talk to receive quests from and trade goods with you decide to cheat on shadowart with Lazelle first of all hoing dare you to even consider such a thing second of all she'll find out and break up with you and you'll forever live with the guilt of knowing that the baddest girl in all of pyun gave you her heart and you broke it to pieces you piece of sorry I got a little passionate there for a second but any anyway my point is never have I played a game that gives you so much freedom in how you want to approach quests scenarios and even combat Encounters in an interview with swen vinka the CEO of laran he was asked what the most important thing is to consider when trying to tell an interactive story and vinka simply responded with respect player choice and don't say no fundamentally speaking you could try to do a pacifist run persuading your way out of every single combat encounter and killing no one even when you're forced to fight on the other side of the spectrum you could certainly try killing everyone and everything that moves even your main Companions and other plot relevant NPCs are not safe from you if you decide to become a true murder hobo and while I haven't tried such extreme role playing options myself the most important takeaway here is that you can try to do anything you want as long as it's written in the game's code ball gate 3's world is your oyster and you're free to do whatever you want to do it's such an eye opening experience finally being able to play a game where every single decision you make even the tiniest ones impacts the world in some way shape or form the choices you make in balers Gate 3 actually matter by investing so much on the role-playing aspect of the game larion is starting to redefine the RPG genre once more and that's why to me Ballers Skate 3 is the Pinnacle of modern RPGs it amazes me that the game which can takeen upwards of 100 hours to complete features hundreds of fully voiced NPCs with voice actors almost always delivering a stellar performance I have nothing but praise for all the voice actors who did a wonderful job voicing the main companions especially shadowart my queen they're deadly poisonous joking they're safe and there are also standout performances from some of the side characters that you'll eventually meet throughout your journey what's better than a devil you don't know a devil you do even the narrator who dubs over literally everything else in the game is an absolute Delight to listen to I never once got tired of Amelia Tyler's voice despite the sheer volume of lines she had to narrate in this incredibly massive game I love that the narrator gives a about the animals more than she does the players just like oh aren't they having a nice time but you're going to die a lot when Lar said that there's about 174 hours worth of cut scenes in the game they didn't mean that you're going to be forced to sit down and watch the longest movie ever made what they meant is they've accounted for all the different branching possibilities that a player can conceivably make and they've prepared animated cut scenes that are entirely voiced and motion captured in order to be able to react to your decisions whatever they may be this is the lengths you have to go to in order to fully immerse your players into the huge PSE suda open world you've created larion knows this this and ever since it went into production came into Early Access in 2020 and finally until its full release now they've invested a lot of time money resources and talent in order to make sure that the players can get the best immersive experience that balers Skate 3 can possibly offer furthermore it's important to note that there's no possible way you'll be able to experience every single cutscene in one playthrough this means that the game is highly replayable solely from a narrative and role playing perspective not not even taking gameplay and all the different kinds of fun builds you can make into consideration whether you decide to play single player or Co-op or if you choose a different race class background moral alignment or party composition balers Skate 3 encourages you to experiment with several playthroughs ensuring that no one playthrough will ever be exactly the same while there are many ways to approach the game's overarching narrative for the most part its story Hooks and calls to action stays the same B Skate 3 starts when you as well as your main companions get abducted and taken on a mind flare ship called a naid see mind flares are basically space aliens who eat brains and enslave every other race they come across so they're pretty much bad news across all of D and D lore those that get abducted are infected with a mind flare tadpole that will eventually turn them into mind flares destroying and erasing the person that once was the main conflict centers around your quest to remove the tadpole that is stuck in your brain but as the story progresses you realize that there is something different maybe even something special about the tadpole that you're infected with instead of violently turning you into a mind flare the tadpole seems to be protecting you and giving you some crazy Powers the rest of the story revolves around unraveling the Mysteries behind this infection and to do so you and your companions must Journey to the city of balder's gate where all the answers to your questions seem to lie throughout this journey you'll encounter a bunch of different factions and political forces that will either help or impede you in your journey to balder's gate more importantly you'll also get to know more about your companions some better than others and who knows if you get that approval high enough maybe you'll even find your true soulmate now I'm no balers gate expert in fact balers Gate 3 like many others is my introduction to the franchise I wasn't even born yet when the first game came out however what's great about balers Gate 3 is that you don't need to have played the first two games in order to get the full Ballers gate experience that's because larion understands that their player base will likely consist of players entirely new to the franchise considering the 20 plus year difference between the second and third game's release that's why Ballers Gate 3 takes place over 100 years after the events of the second game it features an all new cast of characters with a main conflict that is unique to the series thus far this has done all the while staying true to what was already established weaving in plot threads from the older games and reintroducing fan favorite characters from the franchise in other words playing the first two games is more of an added bonus and not a necessity for you to have experience in order to play Ballers Skate 3 likewise the beauty of Ballers Skate 3 is that you don't really need to know anything about DND in order to play and enjoy the game I myself am relatively new to DN D starting with fifth edition which is what Ballers Gate 3 is based on I discovered D and D back in 2021 and I eventually got my friend group to play with me for the past 2 years I've been dming for my friends and we're currently on our Third campaign but even then there's still so much more to learn about DND not only in terms of lore but also in terms of mechanics as someone who went into balers Gate 3 with a decent amount of D and knowledge I found that the game actually helped me understand certain game mechanics and rulings that I found confusing in the ttrpg I even Incorporated a bunch of the house rules that has into my own campaign because I found it more fun to use than the vanilla 5e rules and while I can't fully speak for those playing the game who have no idea what D and D is at all I'm confident that the game while it may seem really intimidating at first does an all right job with its tutorials and countless menus at explaining the basics of how to play in Ballers Skate 3 every decision you make in and out of combat is tied to the outcome of a dice roll while there are many types of dice in DND D the one you'll be most familiar with is the D20 whether you're making an attack roll saving throw or you're doing a skill check its success or failure depends on how high or low you roll there are many different ways to alter your odds of rolling a success whether it's because you have a bonus your attack roles or saving throws due to an item or racial feature or you have Proficiency in certain skills due to your class or background but at the end of the day every single role you make will be determined by the will of RNG and that is especially true if you turned off karmic dice in the settings which I personally recommend in order to get that authentic D and experience of course there are things in the game that gives you advantage on your roles meaning you get to roll two dice for one check and pick the higher number it also rewards you with inspiration which as far as I know is one of the very few mechanics in the game that lets you roll a failed check making inspiration an incredibly powerful resource to have but on the other hand there are also things in the game that will grant disadvantage and subtract from your roles as such there is a constant Balancing Act between trying to give yourself the best odds sub success all the while trying to avoid the things that will sabotage your odds RNG is a contentious Topic in gaming and while a lot of people hate the idea of leaving their fate to RNG I personally like its inclusion in balers Gate 3 not only does the game stay true to its D andd identity of rolling dice I also just think it's more fun not knowing the outcome of your decisions until the dice finishes rolling there is a level of suspense and thrill behind the fact that everything you do is uncertain and that's really where RNG in video games appeals to me as there's something special about not knowing the unknown from experiencing the euphoric Joy of rolling in that 20 to feeling heartbreak and disappointment from getting in that one whether you like it or not you'll be taken on a roller coaster of emotions while playing balers Gate 3 despite me singing all my Praises I understand that there will be barriers for some people that will keep them from enjoying the game balers Skate 3 may be the perfect game for me but it doesn't mean that it's a perfect game in and of it itself there's a lot to love about Ballers Gate 3 but for sure there's also a lot to hate about it too for some others whether it's the termbase combat the inventory management system or the incorporation of DnD there will always be existing preconceptions that will prevent certain players from even trying the game I'd rather die and that's completely fine at the end of the day everyone has their own preferences their likes and dislikes I may think a certain way about balers Gate 3 but it doesn't mean you have to agree or think like me too we're all entitled to our own opinions and we should do our best to respect each other and have an open discussion about the game after all that's why I started this YouTube channel to talk to you guys about the games I like and right now I'm really liking Ballers Gate 3 although I do have a confession to make before I even learned what DN D was I was already a laran Studios fan shocker I know Divinity original sin 2 is one of my favorite games of all time I still owe it to my friend from college who introduced me to Divinity back in like my freshman year since then I've made so many wonderful memories playing Divinity with my friends even in the alternate universe where I never got into DND I'd bet that there's a high chance I'd play Ballers Skate 3 anyway just because it's made by laran despite being in different franchises Ballers Skate 3 is 100% divinity's spiritual successor it incorporates much of what made Divinity so good in the first place as a result balers Gate 3 managed to not only match the quality level Divinity set as a crpg but it even exceeded them improving every aspect of combat exploration and role playing of the previous game it's basically the same game that was already really good by the way but somehow they found a way to make it even better all the while incorporating 5e D and into its story World building and gameplay larion could have played it safe and just made original sin 3 especially considering that the Divinity series is already critically acclaimed in its own right but instead they took the huge risk of ad adapting their style of games into one of the biggest IPS in all of gaming history working with Wizards to the coast to revive an old franchise and finally making the game that we all know and love today the truth is that they don't make RPGs anymore like larion does Banger after Banger Len just doesn't miss balers Skate 3 has cemented itself as the most popular crpg that has ever existed breaking steam records of PE concurrent players even weeks after its release you know you've made a good ass game when other developers in the industry are criticizing your game out of jealousy calling your game an anomaly instead of celebrating the Milestones it has reached since it released it's sad that there's even an argument that Ballers Gate 3 for some reason shouldn't be used to quote unquote raise the standards to RPGs moving forward and why shouldn't we exactly is there something inherently wrong to want to play RPGs as good if not better than Ballers Gate 3 sure we shouldn't expect Indie developers especially you know the smaller Studios to create a game on the same scale however the standards that balers Gate 3 are supposedly raising strikes fear in some game companies especially tripa Studios with way more money and resources than laran baldder gate 3's mainstream success proves that Gamers shouldn't have to put up with AAA Studios anymore that don't seem to make games out of passion but instead for the sake of profit ultimately it's valuable not only in the industry but also for consumers for a game like Ballers Skate 3 to exist reminding both developers and players what genuinely good RPG is actually like there's a reason why the game is so universally acclaimed from a wide range of people it's not a life service nor does it have any in-game microtransactions because the people working at laran have standards balers Gate 3 has been such a Monumental genre defining game and I'm sure that over time it'll help inspire a new wave of RPGs in the near future so I say the haters and let it raise standards for RPGs moving forward because Baler Skate 3 really is is a modern Masterpiece thank you for watching the tee sling was clear if there are a githyanki west of here that must be our objective purification cannot wait

Channel: ArdentGold

Views: 79,058

Keywords: ArdentGold, Video Essay, Review, Baldur's Gate 3, A Modern Masterpiece

Id: YfbQriUP5Ao

Length: 19min 17sec (1157 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 07 2023