It has been quite a while since I’ve written a ‘First Impression’ about a video game, so let’s get started….
My favorite PC game, and one of my favorite all-around video games, was “Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn” plus the expansion “Throne of Bhaal”. I’ve waited 20+ years for a sequel to come out and on August 7th, I finally purchased said sequel: “Baldur’s Gate 3”. BG3, released by Lariat Studios on August 3rd (for the PC) has a lot to offer, and I just barely scratched the surface of it.
WARNING: there will be minor spoilers below. You can skip down to ‘Wrap Up’ or continue reading.
Intro
You first choose the game mode you want: Explorer (where there’s a lot more emphasis on story and exploration), Balanced (where battles and encounters are added to the game), and Tactician (where you better know how to not only play a turn-based game, but you can analyze a control a battlefield). Since I have very limited experience with turn-based video games, I chose the Balanced option.
The game starts on a Nautiloid – a Mind Flayer ship. Yes, the game starts with Mind Flayers.
Anyway, a Mind Flayer enters a chamber on the ship, where a few figures – including you – are in some holding pods or holding cells. It reaches into a pool, pulls out some tadpole-looking creatures, walks to one of the cells…
And lets the tadpole squirm into the eye of a prisoner.
It then walks to the pod/cell with you in it, holds up another tadpole creature – giving you a very close look at it’s mouth – and it launches at your face! You are then taken to the Character Creation screen.
Character Creation
Larian Studios apparently spared no expense with character creation, because this game is loaded with options for your character. To start, you given the choice to play your game with 7 different ‘origin’ characters or to create your own from scratch:
Astarion – a Half-Elf Vampire(!) who is looking for the person who captured and turned him. Also is looking for ‘a bit of fun’.
Wyll – a Human Warlock who protects the citizens of the frontier, while bidden by his ‘patron’ to hunt down a kill a devil.
Lae’zel – a female Gith Warrior, one of the first characters that you meet on the ship. She is looking for a way to get that tadpole out of your heads. Not entirely a pleasant person.
Karlach – a female Tiefling Barbarian who escaped the Blood War (the near-eternal war between Demons and Devils). She is looking to start anew; she is also being hunted by a certain Warlock. If you are squeamish about language or innuendo, Karlach may not be your best option. 😉
Gale – a Human Mage who has some kind of magic addiction/affliction.
Shadowheart – a female Half-Elf Cleric of Shar. Also met on the ship. She may or may be hiding a lot of information from you.
The Dark Urge – a Dragonborn. I’m not sure of the whole background but it sounds like there was a lot of bloodshed involved. Seems like an interesting option to choose but could possibly have some ‘interesting’ dialogue options.
If you go the ‘created character’ option, you have your basic options to choose from, such as Sex (Male, Female, and (as far as I know) for the first time, Neither; and Race (can choose from 9 different races). Most Races have Subraces, with different features; for example, Elves can choose between High Elves, Wood Elves, Half- Elves, and Drow. Once you’ve settled on a Race, you customize the look: face shape, ears and ear shapes/heights (depending on Race), hair, eyes, mouth, nose, skin color, skin markings, height, age, and much more are all available for customizations.
You can then pick your character’s Class (basically, their ‘job’):
Fighter – they beat things up with a variety of weapons, while wearing varieties of armor
Barbarian – they beat things up, and move, faster than Fighters with Rage and Frenzy, but can’t wear heavy Armor or use certain weapons(?)
Druid – protectors of Nature; can shape change and cast spells; can only wear light and medium armor, can only wield a very limited list of weapons
Rangers – generally, protectors of the denizens outside of cities and towns; can be master archers; can limited amount of spells; the ‘middle ground’ in armor, weapons, spells, and overall abilities
Rogues – go ‘stabby stabby’ from the shadows; only light armor, limited weapons – you don’t usually want your Rogue fighting toe-to-toe with things
Cleric – protectors and healers; can wear all armor types but are very limited with weapons; excellent healing, buffing, and enemy-controlling spells
Paladins – the ‘holy warriors’; can wear all armor types, can wield most (if not all) weapons; decent healing and ally-aiding spells; ‘Divine Strikes’ are game-changers; can lose your Paladin ‘Oath” if you’re not careful with actions and dialog choices
Sorcerers – born with the ability to cast spells; ‘blasty’ from the back lines; cannot wear armor, can only wield a few weapons
Wizards – spellcasters that study and learn magic via books and scrolls; also ‘blasty’ from the back lines
Warlocks – spellcasters and fighters that get their abilities from a pact with ‘patron’, such as a Devil, Deity, or an Archfey; some very unique spells but can’t cast nearly as many as the Wizard or Sorcerer
Once you have your Character and Class figured out, you can pick a Background that gives you boosts to Intelligence, Perception, Athletics, and other things (with some flavor text describing your life, pre-Nautiloid ship), plus adjust your stats for 6 categories: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution (controls your character’s Hit Points), Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.
*Whew!*
Once everything is where you want it, you can begin your adventure!
First Steps
I started my campaign as a Half-Drow Ranger. Everyone begins their campaign after the tadpole scene. There is a very cool cinematic scene where Gith warriors, on the backs of Red Dragons, attack the ship; you gain control of your character on the now-burning ship. You meet Lae’zel and she gives you your first mission: get off the ship.
Movement in Baldur’s Gate 3 (on the PC) is via point-and-click, not my favorite movement mechanic. By default, you use the arrow keys to move the camera left, right, forward, and back, while holding the mouse wheel down lets you move the camera 360 degrees.
On you journey, you can add up to 3 additional characters to your party. Any additional characters you may recruit, you can send them to your ‘camp’, an off-screen safe spot. I like this feature – you don’t have to track down characters every time you want to use them. Also, look for glowing glyphs (like the one in the above picture): those are Waypoints. Waypoints allow you to fast-travel to different areas, without physically walking there.
Once you get off the ship and crash on the beach, you are introduced to the excellent ‘exploration’ features of the game. BG3 encourages players to look under every rock, opening containers, and check anything looks out of the ordinary. On this beach, you’ll find crates, boxes, backpacks, and bodies (unfortunately – the results of the crash onto a fishing area), plus plants, herbs, and various foodstuffs. Everything from forks and spoons to boots and gloves to short swords and bows are here… if you look for them. The left ALT key will highlight nearby things to search. Oh, you might also find a character or two. 😉 Check early and often!
You will come across instances where you need to make a choice: do I persuade this guard to stand down, intimidate them, or fight them? With those choices, you might asked to “roll”: you are given a number from 1-20 to beat and you roll a 20-sided die. If you tie or beat the number, that guard might let you pass without incident; if you fail, you might get arrested. It’s an interesting feature that was brought over from the pen-and-paper D&D side.
Dialogue
You can talk – or try to talk – to most humanoids in BG3, as well as animals(!). In the above screenshot, my character (center), Shadowheart (left), and Karlach (right), are talking to –WON’T SPOIL WHO THAT IS– at camp. Most conversations will give you at least 3 choices to pick; I’ve seen 10 in one conversation menu. Your Race, previous actions, and previous dialogue choices can and will affect subsequent choices. For example, people reacted to me (Half-Drow) differently than Shadowheart; Karlach (Tiefling) got a couple of interesting early reactions from a group of Druids, solely based on her Race.
You can also talk to your party members by clicking the ‘chat’ button (usually in the lower-right corner). If they want to talk to you, an ‘!’ will appear above their heads. Talk to them, especially at camp – you can get some cool backstories, advance potential romances, and even swap party members in and out.
Wrap Up
I changed my main character from a Gloomstalker Ranger to an Oath of the Ancients Paladin (my Ranger campaign is still there, though). That is about the only thing I would change about this game. The Character Creation has so many options to choose from… if you want to use them. The story has been interesting, so far. The battles I’ve had have been hard but fun. The dialogue choices are great. I would highly recommend this game to anyone that is looking for a new game to add to their library!
The Nexus 