Baldur's Gate 3 is Everything a Great RPG Should Be

I spent over 60 hours now in the Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access and I think it has the Patrol to be one of the best RPGs I've ever played and that's because this game is everything that a great RPG should be from the in-depth role playing and story with impactful decisions to the interesting world and reactive gameplay systems so today I'm going to break down every little thing that makes this experience so memorable and explain the core things it does that more RPGs should pay attention to because even with only the First Act in Early Access Baldur's Gate 3 is shaping up to be one of the best games of the past decade and maybe even of all time [Music] thank you foreign I want to start with something that I think is crucial to any good RPG and that's the world story and characters you see I've always been the type of person who's okay with games that are boring and frustrating to play as long as the narrative and the Mystery surrounding it are awesome most people nowadays argue things like gameplay is always King but as much as I wish I could agree in truth a lot of my favorite experiences of all time in games don't come from that department and that's because a big part of what makes games and especially RPGs so great to me is the fantasy of getting truly lost in another world without a setting that can interest you all the other stuff just becomes a waste of time in a world not worth any of yours if all I wanted was good gameplay there's already a lot of multiplayer and action games I could go check out instead for me RPGs are about something much more profound than that for example Mass Effect 1 isn't my favorite game in the series because of its deep and fun combat if anything it's just plain bad even for the time it was originally released but what that game had in Spades was a world that you couldn't help but get lost in and a narrative that begged to be explored future iterations in that series were more fun to play but there's a reason the first one is the one I always talk about in videos like this and it's because there was a universe in that game that was amazing something Baldur's Gate 3 has too for those of you who don't know Baldur's Gate is actually set in the Dungeons and Dragons universe and its most popular campaign setting the Forgotten Realms this specific setting has gone through Decades of History iteration and Imagination from some of the best writers in the business and this means that everything in the world is so well thought out provoking and deep their entire systems of religion cities with thousands of years of History spread across the world a nature of alignment that alters the heavens and Hells of the universe alike and multiple Dimensions with interesting creatures like the Mind flares and get the Yankee and speaking of gethianki it's in this fascinating setting that Baldur's Gate 3 has also excelled at creating characters that at least in the First Act have a lot of promise I think back to moments where I just wanted to throw Lazelle off of a cliff for being stubborn or slowly peeling back the layers to Shadow heart as she went from a standoffish and angsty woman to someone who was sweet and caring beneath it all what about the tragic story of a sterion being held captive against his will by his master for years the homie Gail who seems to have your back at almost every turn with funny quips to boot but also as someone who is hiding potentially a very Sinister thing in his past these characters all have deep and interesting backstories all of which we only scratch the surface of in this First Act but you can tell there's going to be so many twists and turns for each of them and that's a key aspect of what makes RPGs so special as a genre for these types of games to truly be great you need a world and people in it that give you a deeper meaning to dive into it things that make you want to go out and explore to learn as much as you can about this new and strange place as possible for example if you go to The Druids Grove in the First Act there are countless NPCs that you can just sit and talk to and from each of them you learn so much information about the world that the game takes place in you learn about the tiefling refugees and their struggle to escape a city that was quite literally sent to the depths of hell you learn about a powerful Mage in the city of Baldur's Gate studying something strange that will likely get to travel to and talk to later in the game and you also become intimately aware of all the lore and history in this truly Grand setting if you're that type of player like me you can spend literally hundreds of hours just talking to people and getting yourself immersed in a world worth getting dedicated to and hell like I've said I've spent over 60 hours now in just this first act alone honestly the only reason I stopped is so I didn't burn myself out on the full game and each of these conversations is fully voice acted with their own cut scenes and cinematics and it's the type of production we've only seen from AAA Studios and to see this amount of love and care coming from a studio like larian who are technically still independent it's just so awesome to see the writing here as well is also overall very good and there's endless amounts of quests that take you down unexpected paths or interesting situations like one Quest where you can unlock a monster trapped inside a box and get yourself killed or instead Unleash the Beast on an entire Goblin camp and watch it Slaughter everything or if you're on your evil playthrough maybe even the children at the refugee camp yeah it can get dark on top of this two Baldur's Gate 3 as implied by the name is a game that has a rich set of previous titles to pull from with potential stories and places to go drenched in Rich Nostalgia but also the game can easily be played as your first in the series as a jumping off point and it makes complete sense even if you do choose to play This Way Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 are widely regarded by many as some of the greatest RPGs of all time and it seems like Baldur's Gate 3 might just be able to live up to and even surpass their legacy and a big part of of that is the Forgotten realm setting I've mentioned how I do like sci-fi more than fantasy in general but in terms of fantasy the world at Baldur's Gate takes place in is very fascinating there's so many stories and narratives from books on the Forgotten Realms and so many interesting characters and places to go that the potential is just awesome to even think about and I think settings like this are the best for RPGs because it makes you feel like you're just one small part of a bigger World which makes actually spending time to get involved in and reading more of the lore and stories that much more fun but while an Immaculate setting in world is a must for any great RPG in my opinion we've had a lot of epic games with worlds that you can get lost in over the years what truly takes Baldur's Gate 3 to the next level is how it handles everything else too it feels like recently a lot of RPGs have almost forgotten the role-playing part of role-playing games even though cyberpunk 2077 is my favorite game of all time I definitely agree that some of its design in terms of role playing specifically is sorely lacking however in Baldur's Gate 3 this is the complete opposite at the start of the game you get to choose between a big list of classes and races all from Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition and these choices are more than just set dressing throughout your entire play through the decisions you make here and character creation drastically affect your experience for the hours to come each stat every spell and who you decide to make your character in terms of look and personality drastically affect every part of the game I remember on one of my playthroughs as a gnome I discovered that children had created a secret hideout underground and one of the entrances was so small only my gnome could fit through meaning that I had to go in alone without the rest of my party I can't fit through here wonder if there's another way in so that's progress [Music] but it's moments like that that make Boulder's Gate so special most games don't put this amount of effort into making your playthrough feel unique because well it's hard it's hard to make content that is this diverse and interesting and even more so it sucks working so hard on different things that most players won't ever even see the majority of races you can play as in Baldur's Gate are much taller than my gnome was meaning you wouldn't have been able to even do this on most playthroughs and instead you would have had to have found another way in but it's that extra effort that larion Studios is putting in here that really separates Baldur's Gate 3 from a lot of other RPGs it truly feels like it's one of those games where you have genuine freedom to create any type of character you want even choosing different subclasses within each class will open up tons of new dialogue options and situations that otherwise would have never shown themselves in other playthroughs after playing over 8 different characters now experimenting and seeing how the game changes it's almost unbelievable how different one playthrough can be from another based on the the character you're playing and the decisions you make in one playthrough you might kill literally hundreds of goblins and rid the entire region of their presence and in another you might be found partying and drinking with those same goblins after helping them out whoever you want to be whatever character you want to make the game allows it to happen want to be a badass villain who screams and pisses everyone off you can do that want to be a goody two shoes who tries to be the hero in every moment and save the day sure go ahead want to be a sneaky Rogue who steals from all the townsfolk and hides in the shadows while they complain to guards only to then use that stolen money to pay bribes the game lets you do all of it you know there's another Super memorable moment on one of my playthroughs where I realized that because I was playing as a drow the Goblins in the camp who usually were very hostile to me on my other playthroughs were now extremely scared of me and would simply Mumble and stutter as they let me buy or another time when I first tried playing as a druid and realized I could transform into a massive and creepy spider but even more more than that I could then go up and talk to other people in dialogue scenes as the spider and people would react to it along with me being able to now talk to other arachnids too in almost every other game I've played where you can transform the mechanic only carries over into new combat abilities not a completely new experience in the game at every step it feels like the game just gives you infinite possibilities to play exactly as you want and more than anything I've ever played before Baldur's Gate 3 fulfills that fantasy and freedom you would actually feel in person at a d d table story moments aren't simply just a choice between a couple of dialogue prompts that nudge the story one way or another the combat sections are more than just endless corridors of action everything in this game is meticulously designed around the idea of giving players complete and total control over their own experience you can do things like distract enemies as The Bard class by playing your instrument in another room sneaking across the rooftops and avoiding confrontation altogether or just talking your way way through everything while making witty banter your character's class background and choices are reflected in such interesting ways in the game and it truly does feel like no matter what you do the game is going to have a believable reaction to it and this has another benefit I didn't realize at first either when a game is structured like this in the sense that the more and more you give to it the more it gives back to you it convinces you so much more to get wrapped up in it all things that I usually skip in other RPGs like filler dialogue with vendor characters now became a joy in and of itself because I knew how high quality the rest of the game was too more than maybe any other game I've played Baldur's Gate 3 focuses on putting more and more power into the hands of the player and crafts an experience that truly rewards you taking your time and just role playing creating an entirely new person and adventure in your head with a game that lets you do all of it but one of the most important parts of this formula is that Baldur's Gate 3 is a lot less rigid than other RPGs because no matter how many options a game gives you it's how a game reacts to what you do with these options that separates games from all other mediums for those of you who have been watching my channel for a while now you know that immersive Sims are my favorite genre along with RPGs and there's a specific reason for that games like prey Dishonored and Deus Ex all revolve around that core idea that more freedom is more better when a game can radically realize you that is react to anything and everything you can throw at it it becomes infinitely more memorable if you flirt with one character behind another character's back and they find out and confront you that's an example of a game giving you consequences for your actions and in both narrative and combat this is so important especially for RPGs something immersive Sims figured out a long time ago and in Baldur's Gate 3's case it Nails both in combat it feels like you have almost Limitless possibilities on how to tackle different situations and because of how systems driven each encounter is you can wind up in very Unforgettable moments I distinctly remember at one point in the game at a low level I accidentally stumbled upon a hidden underground Den that was home to a Spider Queen and over and over I kept trying to figure out how to best her and her spider babies in battle but each time I was slaughtered and had to reload a save I wasn't nearly powerful enough to take on the challenge at the time but on my last attempt I threw a fireball at the queen and accidentally missed instead hitting a web beneath her feet and when the fireball collided with this surface it lit the entire thing on fire and caused it to disappear sending the Spider Queen Falling Towards the ground and just to my luck right towards a massive hole in the cave which she then disappeared into forever it's moments like this that make Baldur's Gate 3 so special this wasn't a planned bit you aren't supposed to kill the Spider Queen this way and in fact if you do you aren't even able to loot her body for some special surprises but it's the fact that the game even allowed for this possibility on the off chance that the queen did stand over the hole that makes this game so exciting and it's not even close to the only example of this the entirety of Baldur's Gates combat relies on instances like this where you can pull off Phantom fantastic and impressive Feats all by just using your own mind and it's when an RPG gives you Freedom like this that it makes all those intricate builds and decisions you make outside of the core experience that much more impactful picking the Firebolt spell for my build isn't just a Mindless damage buff in case I'm out of spell slots fire can remove webs ignite certain surfaces or even be used to solve specific puzzles each and every spell in Your Arsenal is not good only for direct damage or support in combat but also for just coming up with interesting ways to solve problems for instance Shadow heart as a cleric has a water spell when you first find her and this can be used to extinguish fire or remove other things like grease on the floor meaning you can often use this spell ingenious ways to find new entrances or exits to places or maybe you could just cast water on the ground and then cast a lightning spell to obliterate enemy forces by electrocuting them you could use the feather fall spell to be able to jump from Great Heights and survive or you could use it on an enemy that is trying to jump to their deaths when they're running from you and force them to survive so that you can then talk to them about your quest and the most important part of it all is no matter what you do the game reacts appropriately when you play a game like Baldur's Gate 3 it almost retroactively makes you look back at other games and realize all of their limitations even in games where you can sneak fight or talk your way past every encounter that's just the issue it's all predetermined each path was constructed before you got there an every way to solve issues is already laid out the truly amazing part of an RPG like Baldur's Gate 3 is that it feels more like a theme park where you simply walk into each encounter realize your goals and set out on a way to solve it literally any way you want and no matter what you do no matter how weird outside the box or unexpected the game is expected to react and Tow to me this is the true dream that we were originally promised by RPGs a role player's Paradise where you can be whoever you want and do whatever you feel like just like the experience you would have at a dungeon Masters table in the real world because even though writing story world and characters are all massively important as I touched on these are all things we see great examples of in movies books and television it's only in games like this where we can find something even more special the ability for a game to radically realize you and your actions and it's not just in the combat where this is apparent even in the story of Baldur's Gate 3 and the quest it feels like there are just Endless Possibilities in how things could play out in just one example in the game you discover that The Druids are being led by a new and evil dictator who has taken control of the power vacuum with their original Leader's absence and the amount of ways this entire encounter can play out is almost dizzying you can kill her the second you find her and cause an uprising you can trick her into being so ruthless for people turn against her you can discover a no inner hidden layer that will lead you to discover a secret that can turn her servants on her you can find the original leader of the tribe and bring him back to stop her or you can convince him that she was actually good for The Druids all along you can trick The Druids into being distracted while you push her down a mountain or you could simply try and talk everyone into helping you find the original leader instead there are so many different options and potential game States for each and every Quest and Mission you go on and the decisions you make in all of your previous encounters can drastically affect how everything plays out remember how earlier I mentioned I was able to break into the kids Hideout because I was a gnome well when I got there I was also able to convince the kids to trust me and the reason I was able to do that was because I had previously saved a tiefling child who is being lured by a siren on the beach and he vouched for me to the group which gained me trust with them and after they showed me the entrance to the lair where I could get the rest of my party members in its subtle changes to how the game plays out like this that make the world feel so much more immersive so reactive and the reason this is so important in games like RPGs is because it pulls you into the world and its mechanics more than anything else possibly could when you've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 for long across multiple different playthroughs you you begin to see just how differently situations and encounters can play out you start to realize just how important every decision you make in creating your character and party really is bringing certain party members to certain quests can completely change How The Story Goes and even just having one spell that you originally thought sucked in a crucial moment can save entire main story characters and this level or reactivity in the world makes everything in the game so much better when I know just how important any spell or decision I make is it makes those decisions and character build choices extremely engaging because instead of just thinking about how I need a new AOE spell to fight lots of mobs because my damage output is low I'm thinking about how my decisions might affect who my character is what they stand for and how they'll interact with the game world and what cool new ways I can solve problems with what I'm getting maybe more than any RPG I've played Baldur's Gate 3 shows that this is what the genre should be like don't get me wrong I love a bunch of other styles of RPG these two as I've already touched on but this level of choice and decision making is so crucial to pulling the player into a world fully and to be more precise it's not just that this game has a lot of choice and consequence that can be seen in other games too is that the choices and consequences feel like they have so much Freedom attached to them for example when I'm playing a game like Fallout New Vegas for many people one of the greatest RPGs of all time there is a lot of awesome decisions to be made and depending on your character build and stats you may or may not be able to pass dialogue checks at important moments to cause changes in the story but there's a level beyond that that Baldur's Gate 3 reaches for instead of making those decisions so telegraphed and obvious instead they can literally just happen by trying out something unexpected in the game like deciding to use featherfall down that hole that the spider fell into and discovering an entirely new Zone moments like this in Baldur's Gate don't happen because they were just one branch of a massive network of decision trees that make make up a game they happen because you the player made a choice that even the developers might not have expected to ever happen and the game accounts for it this is what RPG should be all about this is what the promise of real role playing has always been the whole time great stories and choice and consequence will always be fun and games but that sense of true and unrelenting Freedom has always been missing up until recently and while we still have a ways to go before we reach the true Pinnacle a fully voiced AI NPCs that never get stale for now Baldur's Gate 3. to me at least is exactly what RPGs should be aiming to be worlds full of interesting lore characters and story along with impactful choice and consequence but over all of that are systems constructed around full freedom and autonomy around creating a game that radically realizes the player and their actions and creates believable consequences for every action for as great as all this is though none of it would matter at the end of the day if the game wasn't actually fun to play and once again it's here where in my opinion Baldur's Gate 3 shows how it's done for most people playing games it's all about the gameplay as much as I personally love to Rave about stories and the philosophies of different games narratives and my videos let's be honest for most people they're just here to have fun not to be emotionally moved luckily for Baldur's Gate though it's moment-to-moment action and pacing is fantastic and it's held up by an apparatus of great build diversity and replayability the game's combat takes place in a turn-based system where at the start of every battle everyone rolls initiative and determines what order they will go in taking turns between your team allies and enemies alike the reason I think this style of combat works so great in RPGs specifically is because of how tactical it is instead of just pointing your gun at enemies and endlessly shooting or having a full party you have to manage on the Fly turn-based systems allow you to really take your time and think about every decision you make just like how you do in dialogue sections you get to plan out each engagement and how you want to tackle it and while it can be slower than some players might be used to it first once you get an understanding of how to play around the combat more it begins to show its strengths but the real thing that makes a combat and builds in this game so great is once again the variety and diversity your class and race choices have massive reverberations on how combat will play throughout the game and drastically affect how you tackle engagements one great example of this from one of my playthroughs is that if you use your tadpole mind control Powers too much you start to gain abilities of Pure Evil and for one of the classes that power is a massive demonic whip that you can use to pull enemies towards you in one encounter I actually use this new skill to pull a goblin that was shooting at me from a roof nearby to the ground I was standing on but as he was flying through the air he actually came crashing onto my character who is already at low health and this Goblin splattered me into a bloody mess and downed my hero it's situations like this where once again Baldur's Gate 3 simply flexes its muscles on the player and shows you you just how free and open-ended the game can really be because of all the interesting interactions each spell and ability has in the world your builds and decisions you make with each character vastly differ and This lends itself to a ton of replayability because every playthrough you have in the game changes a ton based not only on the decisions you make but also on the builds you go for leveling up in this game isn't something that happens all the time like we often see in other RPGs instead every time you level up in the game is a huge moment you get to pick entirely new spells new class Feats maybe even a new subclass and the sheer number and complexity of these options is a testament to how deep and interesting Baldur's Gate 3 really is even playing the same class over and over can be a completely new experience if you decide to go down different build paths and having options like this to create the character you want in and outside of combat is such an important part of any RPG not only is the actual game and its interactions complex but the actual stat sheets and hundreds of spells are R2 I spent probably countless hours now in Baldur's Gate 3 literally just looking at my stat and upgrade screens not because I had to but because the game was so fun and in-depth that I wanted to see everything it had to offer and figure out the perfect builds for each of my playthroughs you see I've always loved games that give you hundreds of options on how to build your character because it makes you want to try new things on new playthroughs but because of how deep all the decisions in Baldur's Gate 3 are too it almost became this daunting complex web of choices consequences and builds that all come together to really make you feel like you're on your own playthrough a role player's paradise and at the end of the day isn't that what RPG should be all about creating new and interesting characters and taking them on an adventure that they can call all their own in some ways it actually reminds me of a Bethesda game where it feels like you have full freedom in a world worth getting lost in and tons of different builds or ways to play that make it interesting but in Baldur's Gate it also has that amazing narrative band of characters and a world that just brings it all together into one coherent piece honestly it feels like Baldur's Gate 3 might just be shaping up to quite literally be the perfect RPG the openness and freedom of expression from games like Skyrim and prey and the Deep character building mechanics of things like Pathfinder and Fallout all with the riveting story and world of games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age from almost every single angle for me at least Baldur's Gate 3 is shaping up to be everything that a great RPG should be in fact my only complaint is that it isn't sci-fi but that's just a personal gripe however maybe the thing that gives me the most hope that Baldur's Gate 3 can truly live up to these insane expectations I now have for it is the team and the community behind it it's one of those things we tend to focus on less when analyzing a game in its future but in a lot of ways it might also be the most important games even single player ones live and die based on the communities and teams supporting them there's a reason games like sky Skyrim Mass Effect and Fallout all have huge love even to this day you see Baldur's Gate 3 is being made by larian Studios one of the most beloved teams making RPGs right now they're the guys that created Divinity original sin 2 which many regard as the greatest RPG ever made and even more than that in this now over two years of Early Access period for bulger's Gate 3 the love sweat and tears that this team has been putting in is amazing so many changes have happened over this period that the game we are playing now almost feels like a completely different and better product and the love and support too from the community is astounding both the players and creators want nothing more than for this game to flourish and it shows in the community events like the panel from hells and the stream updates it's a hard thing to explain but sometimes there really just is an Essence to something where you can tell it will be great whether it's a team in leadership that truly believe in a product or fans that feel heard and respected while also being understanding Baldur's Gate 3's Community is amazing kind respectful and more than anything exciting and that kind of energy is something you need to be a great RPG because even in those single player playthroughs without friends it's those stories you get to tell at the water cooler those moments you get to explain on Reddit and the people you get to share your love with that can make these memories last a lifetime behind every great game is a great set of people too and by my calculations it's looking like Baldur's Gate 3 is going to have both and hopefully this video can just be one of many that I get to do on this game and its meaning Post Release Baldur's Gate 3 is by no means a perfect game I do have a handful of gripes with it for sure most notably the ease at which you can save scum lots of bugs and funny glitches a concern that the story might not be as great as it could be by the end and a worry that the environments will become too samey and old over time but as to whether or not these issues will be alleviated in the full release your guess is as good as mine the reason I made this video though is because regardless of all of that Baldur's Gate 3 has already done something so special it showed me just how great an RPG can be and it gets me excited for the entire future of this genre stories and worlds filled with characters and moments I love game systems that radically react to the player and their agency build diversity and gameplay that begs for multiple playthroughs and decision making that feels actually impactful in a lot of ways this is my dream game minus the whole not being in space part but even just getting to have played over 60 hours now in an experience that moved me so much is something I'm thankful for and if this game can live up to everything this small taste gave me well then 2023 really is shaping up to be one of the greatest years in gaming history isn't it especially with Starfield and cyberpunk Phantom Liberty coming soon too I can't tell you whether you will love Baldur's Gate 3 when it releases but I can tell you for me from the small taste I have seen this is everything that a great RPG should be and let me know down below what you guys think of Baldur's Gate for 3 and my thoughts on it as you can tell I adore the game but I love hearing from you guys too and what your favorite RPGs are and discussions about it all in the comments it's something I love reading and this is why I reply to so many of them on most of my videos also if you want to support me further check out the membership program and Gog affiliate link Down Below in the description if you want to support me financially and help me grow the channel to hopefully make better and better videos for you guys something I strive to do every week day in and day out as always thank you so much for watching and supporting what I do here and I hope you all have a fantastic day until next time

Channel: FranklyGaming

Views: 105,598

Keywords: franklygaming, baldurs gate 3, baldurs gate 3 best rpg, best rpgs, best games, gaming

Id: Ps0KJL1Mmio

Length: 29min 28sec (1768 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 20 2023