Arriving at a few of the more scenic locations in the game. The Rosymorn Monastery, The Underdark, Shadowfell, And the city itself all had me sitting back and admiring the art direction and level design
The end of the shadowheart questline was so sad. We almost could feel her pain. At my run she kill her parents and god she really suffer. The final battle against Raphael was a great moment too, specially because of the music.
Yeah if Orpheus actually DID refuse to work with a mind flayer, the Emperors betrayal would make a lot more sense, but basically you free Orpheus, and Orpheus has a 100% identical plan to the Emperor, namely a Mind Flayer is needed to subdue the brain with the Netherstones. Just seems silly when the Emperor leaves and Orpheus is like "shit! we needed him! alright who wants to be our Mind Flayer instead?"
Well, Doesn't help that the Emperor, should you let him control the crown just becomes an evil overlord. It was probably just to skip out on having to address that in the good ending.
My first playthrough ending was soooooo satisfying. So probably the ending is dependent on your decisions during your playthrough. Granted, I save-scummed for 200 hours to get all my favorite outcomes, but that only proves that decisions impact the ending.
Minthara isn't any more evil than Lae'zel or Astarion. She's who our players would be without the Astral Prism. She's my favorite character in the game. Emma Gregory should win awards for this performance that, unfortunately, 2/3rds of players won't see. Make sure you take her to the circus!
As a few have already said, the NPC's occasionally _"Taking 10 seconds to take their turn"_ ~loose quote... is not a hard drive issue. It is a combination of the game engine, what is going on at any given time, your CPU, GPU, and *INCREDIBLY* important in this game, your system memory (RAM). I played on a Ryzen 7 5800X system with 32GB DDR4 3200 cl 14-14-14-14-22...(wicked tight timings) HPV10 Samsung B-Die RAM with an RTX 3080 FE along with installing the game on a 2TB Crucial P5+ Gen 4 NVMe (about 350x faster than a SATA HDD as it was in a Gen 3 slot on my motherboard). There were still numerous times where the NPC's took 3-15 seconds to go. It was not common, but just like you said, when more than 1 do it in a round it can get a bit annoying. There is just so much going on in this game that regardless of the CPU and GPU, they both seem to be bottle-necked by sysRAM. The game is threaded really well, using all 16 cores/threads of my CPU but rarely coming close to maxing any out, while my GPU was never really maxed out either at 1440P with the settings cranked. With the game on _decent_ NVMe the only other bottleneck is the system memory. This appears to be a slight _hold up_ on every CPU and every RAM kit up to ddr5 7200 cl30 which is the fastest kit I saw tested. I still averaged 143 hz in the first two acts and 97 in the third with DLSS 2.0 quality on (I turned it on in Act One even though I was at my display's max refresh rate bc I liked the image quality better; the game ran so well in the first two acts max settings still didn't buckle my system at all w/o DLSS save for a few of those darn NPC's deciding it was time to think about their lives, bake some cookies for the kids, play a round of gold and maybe lay out in the sun for a bit before returning to the main attraction.). All that to just repeat myself. Nope. Not just you.
About your last point... a sequel is really what we need. Image a new threat to Faerun and you starting to get together the old team: going to Avernus, helping Karlach and Wyll with their business and bring them back, going to the astral plane helping Leazel in her war against Vlaakith and so on. The thing is that in order to do that Larian should define a kind of "canon" ending and I'm not sure all the players would be happy about it.
They wouldn't have to define a "canon" ending, though it would be an undertaking, if they introduced a kind of "Keep" functionality the same way Dragon Age did. It allows you to import a save for the game and it takes the data to change events in the game so that they align with your playthrough of the previous. Depending on how the new game functioned, I could definitely see Larian rising to the challenge and allowing you to continue while reflecting previous choices! Even if we just got an entirely new game using the same concepts and freedom of choice sometime in the future, I'd pick it up again in a heartbeat. Great experience overall
@@bulletsandbracelets4140 There are endings that simply don't offer an interesting sequel. I don't want to spoil to anyone, if you have finished the game, you know what I'm talking about. Same is for any companion. You can kill them all, so you can't create a sequel based on them, which is the interesting part of a sequel compared to have a new independent game. If you want to make a sequel instead of a new game in the brand, it's because you want the audience to be engaged by the characters of the previous game.
@@alexwtf80 Yeah, I don't think they could make a direct sequel! But they could optionally incorporate elements of the initial game and continue to show where companions are at depending on the previous endings. Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition were entirely new stories with entirely new characters, but previous ones popped up at random points within if you made certain decisions in the previous games. It was a cool way to make the decisions go further and increase replay value.
BG3 is a great achievement in story driven RPGs. Despite the few bugs (which are expected for the sheer size and complexity of the game) and the kinda anticlimactic ending, they created a real masterpiece. It has great characters, with what I consider some of the best voice acting in gaming, choices which have consequences and it offers several ways to solve a problem. Most importantly, it offered unique playthroughs. I talked with friends who played the game, to compare our playthroughs, and besides the key points of the story, we each had different experiences. This is a great achievement, especially nowadays that linear, railroad-ed stories have become the norm. Imo, any of its drawbacks come from the 5th edition of DnD, rather than something the devs did wrong. On the contrary, I believe that the stuff they added or changed from the tabletop rules, actually made the game better. I hope they create a full expansion for the game. BG3 feels like it needs a second adventure into the epic levels, maybe with Tav or maybe with a new character that took part in Tav's story. Neverwinter Nights did this, I don't see why BG3 can't try it. I just know that I want to see even more stuff from Larian, they have proven their abilities.
100% agree! I know it's early but I'm already looking forward to whatever they're going to make next. I'll be keeping a close eye on their channel and socials and hope they tease something at some point (x I'd either an expansion to BG3 or maybe another game in the D&D universe. I've already seen a bunch of people wanting a Neverwinter Nights 3 from Larian, or they could start their own series. There are so many possibilities tbh
Currently doing a playthrough with Minthara. I chickened out on killing the grove myself and just left for the cresh and met up with Minthara at moonrise. And can confirm she definitely isn’t evil, she is tough and decisive but she was brainwashed by the absolute. She’s no more evil than Astarion or Laz’el
I wish they would add an option to help Minthara but convince her to let one of the factions unharmed. Something like a deception to lie about one of the two groups having the artifact or a persuasion to let the Tieflings go on their way without harm if they agree on a body search, or something.
@@Seedmember if only there was a way to convince her to let the Tieflings leave or to convince them to leave before she attacks or something. They are the main thing you miss out on by having her around (happy with Minthara and Halsin being mutually exclusive it only makes sense really)
@@ducky36Fthere is a way with mod and only mod as of right now cause Larian want us to choose. Of course it's not a bad thing just the other choice is kinda difficult lol. The mod if you don't know and interested to try is minthara good recruitment available in nexusmods. It exacly as it says, the mod allows you to recruit minthara while still having wyll, karlach and yes even halsin with you till the end. The mod also allows you to experience minthara scene in moonrise
I appreciate them being mutually exclusive as well because it's just another consequence of your actions but, if I could have Minthara as well as save the Tieflings I definitely would. From everything that I've seen of Minthara I think she's a very interesting character and I think she might have more depth than Halsin.
@@yohanes2034 Technically there is a maneuver involving turning her into a sheep that lets you do more or less the same thing without mods, but it's complicated
I played a Drow Warlock with a Karlac romance choosing her volunteering to become a mind flayer and got a traveling together onto new adventures ending.
I have hundreds of hours in bg3 and I really enjoyed this review. My favorite moment involved Lady Esther and a line about how much I like the owlbear egg. It was so perfect in the moment that it had me laughing for a good long time.
Five Star review from me. Well written and presented and covering a lot of relevant stuff.👌👍👍👍 I'm hoping Larian will release a 'Definitive Edition', like they did with Divinity: Original Sin 2. That way we might get all the missing stuff and the Upper city, etc. I definitely want to see more adventures in The Forgotten Realms, though! Either way I'll be looking forward to whatever Larian releases next.....my money's ready and waiting!
Just finished the game today, the ending was definitely disappointing but I was prepared for that and I'm still deeply in love with it as a whole. Great video!
Your next playthrough is going to be so different with the change of saving Isobel - excited for you to experience it! I'm glad I played through it initially on Explorer and have a paranoid need to keep every NPC healed up that I can XD that's such an easy place to have your story completely derail. (Not a bad thing though! Love the consequences they roll with) Enjoyed the video, can't wait to see how my first playthrough ends! (Don't have a ton of time to play, so have been taking my time with it. Still in Act 3 trying to gather all the allies I can before popping off against one of the two remaining big bads)
I complete game 6 times. 3 times as good and 3 times as evil (4 times on tactician). It’s only my personal opinion: First playthrough was 10/10 but now when I tried every time to do different things I would give 8.5/10 because there is some things that will would do differently in game. Some examples: 1. One more difficulty that is harder than tactician. Where you don’t see enemy HP and like they have 4 times more HP. Missing long boss fights (10 rounds or more) where you barely defeat him with all recurs gone. 2. Allying with Goblins or Druids are not equally rewording like when you allied with Tieflings. They should give like unique chain side quests, vendors and item rewords if you pick one off them and lose quests and items from another 2. So you have even more replayability. If you allied with Tieflings you gain Ring of Protection, Potent Robe and extra Vendor. If you allied with goblins or druids you gain nothing! I am just not motivated to be ally with Goblins or Druids because of that. 3. No matter what I do combat with Ketheric Thorm is unavoidable… They should give us like 6 different options for evil playthrough. 1. Kill everyone 2. Conquer the world 3. Help Ketheric to conquer the world 4. Help Gortash to conquer the world 5. Help Orin to conquer the world 6. Help Sarevok to conquer the world. 4. Small disappointment was that there is no Upper City. Also hirelings… They should just make you go in character creation like for Main Character and they should also be able to have tadpole powers.
I loved the game but was sad about how Larian screwed over Viconia -- one of my favourite characters from BG2. I wish they'd left her out instead of making her so petty and bitter. :(
I haven't played BG2 so I don't know how viconia behave/ act there. I wonder if what she did in BG3 is a natural progression over her characterization or Larian did 180 on her
@@yohanes2034 They decided her canon is evil. It would be like if a hypothetical BG4 included an evil Shadowheart. Unnecessary and depressing, after seeing how much she can grow as a character with a good-aligned PC (which is most of us).
@@jeanette_voermanthey could have skipped her, and honestly all the old characters - they felt like fan fluff; but I and others that did play bg2 often have issues. Like Jaheira got over loss and romanced my character more than not, if she stayed in the party. Minsc I never kept, so he being a hero makes little sense in my canon etc. And most friends have similar stories. That said with Viconia she was common for evil parties too, and it would do her bad, and all those parties, if she turned neutral. But he highlights how problematic using them at all is. My own Viconia ending was either death (she always dies if you romance her) or evil, so any natural ending where she lived never happend to me; and I've wouldn't have enjoyed that. Evil or dead, that's my Viconia.
DOS 2 ending had a similar feeling for me. Feels like they just throw everything at you all at once and the mystery dissolves into something less satisfying than if there was just a cliffhanger
Excellent review, it's refreshing to see someone who loves the game ALSO be critical of its shortcomings because most reviewers give it a pass for damn near everything. I respect that. I think you spoiled more than you needed to, and there wasn't enough mentions and footage of Raphael, but an excellent review nonetheless.
thank you for such a thorough review. I loved what they did with Jaheira, she was kind of bossy and overbearing in the old games, but she has mellowed out a bit while still being pretty spicy. She reminds me of my grandmother when you call her on her bullshit.
I hope you've had a chance to go back and experience the epilogue. I didn't finish till after it came out so never experienced BG3 end without it. Hopefully its given you exactly what was lacking for your ending
I did! I finished my 2nd playthrough a few weeks ago. Yeah, the epilogue wrapped up the game really nicely and gave us the closure we needed! Plus, a few teases for potential future content 😄
One quick remark about Karlach: I was also disappointed about her only having 2 possible outcomes ... until I learned that there was a third! - You can actually have her live and not go to Avernus in the end ... but, of course, there is a catch ... (no full spoiler here - look it up, if you must)!
I just watched this even though I have beaten it twice (on my 3rd playthrough as Dark Urge now) and is one of my favorite reviews I have watched. You did a awesome job. This is probably my favorite game of all time now. You said it was your top 3, what are the other ones? Did you go back and play after they released the patch with more endgame content?
Thank you, that means a lot! The other two are Dragon Age and Mass Effect, but honestly I think BG3 is now either my number one, or tied with Dragon Age on the number one spot. This game is so good in so many ways, and you can really see how passionate the devs are about their projects. And I did! Absolutely love the epilogue. Now I'm just waiting for patch 7 to come out with official mod support, and eventually also the evil endings and photo mode 😄
I am going to cheat and do my favorite series. It’s Baldurs Gate in the first spot, Fallout in number 2 and Mass Effect in 3. The only thing keeping Dragon Age out is the Fade in the first. I still have nightmares about that! I am using a bunch of mods for BG3 now. My favorite is one that keeps you clean so no more blood and dirt and the other makes Phalar Aluve a legendary weapon for a wizard that lets you add your INT mod to your cantrip damage.
I'm on an NVME drive and a 5800X3D. Really the only time I've had to wait for more than a couple seconds is on the fights that have 10+ enemies. Even then it is only perhaps 5.
From what i can tell you might have missed a lot of content in act 3. there is a lot more to the Emperor then how you described it ( go to the dragon of the gate) if you save wyll's dad. The replay ability of this game is so good. i'm a 50+ D&D geek and Not knowing what happened to everyone is just a good way of allowing game lore for future games. I for one think this is just the start of a line of Forgotten realms adventures. And I'm just happy i have the BG trilogy i always wanted to see. :)
I did miss a bit of content in act 3 yeah but I did find the Emperor's secret hideout! 😄Don't get me wrong, I liked his part in the story and the twist of him turning out be Balduran, I just... felt like his decision to join the Elder Brain was a little odd after trying so hard to fight its control. I get that he might feel betrayed by us for wanting to free Orpheus, but at the same time he was using us as well, only helping us because our goals aligned. He's an interesting character for sure! Honestly I'm hoping for more D&D games by Larian. Even if they're not going to be as big as BG3 I'm sure they'll do a great job as they did with this game 😊
About enemies standing there doing noting for 10 seconds or so in their turn ... belive me is not just your NON SSD hard drive. It happens a lot expecially in Act 3 where the game still need a lot of tune up ... Very Buggy indeed, but ... Still a lot of fun to play with. I'm on my third playthrough and i'm steel being surprised by this game in lots of ways. Dark Urge story is SUPER but also other origin Characters ... i played Wyll, Dark Urge and Astarion in the current. Never did a Tav Run but i'm planning it as Githyanky for the future. Then reason i want to do it is to 1) Romance Lae'zel and see if the end is different for both (no spoilers please :) ) I did already romanced Lae'zel and she became 1 of my favourite companion quickly. The lenghts she goes and the grouth she make is simply amazing
Note 2: The endings are not super exept that with my dearest lae'zel but i can't wait to see others, and my Shadowheart had the same issue with the uncurable wound, even tho she "let go" her parents, she still had that weired wound related dialog from time to time
Note 3: dialogs in Act 3 are just fucked up ... I had a lot of lines with Wyll asking me to talk to his father about Ansur even tho i didn't rescue him yet. After the rescue he kept saying "Whe need to act fast and rescue my father" and i was "Can't you see him? he is letterally standing at your side man! If you turn around your head, be careful that you risk to impale him with your Hornes!"
I feel that there needed to be an option for fixed rolls based on the DC so each class you build will know a roll is too hard, but if you invested in it you could probably do it
I don't agree. If you invested in something you are already very likely to succeed and you can compensate bad rolls with inspiration points. Having known results just removes responsability. If you are sure that you're going to fail to deceive the guards, you already know that you should surrender if you don't want a fight.
oh no... just finished my second playthrough and only looking at this video makes me want to start another one. STOP BALDUR'S GATE SOME OF US HAVE TO LIVE!
Running on a SSD, yeah in A-3 sometimes it takes the enemy a little time to react. But considering where everyone is and how many moves the AI needs to make I am ok. It is much more difficult than a simple chess game and the AI needs to at least make an attempt to win, and it does make that attempt. You ca see it thinking when you are hiding behind a pillar or something and it has a few options to reach you as well as what else it is considering. In A-1 at the goblin camp, it did go rather quickly but then you know Gobbos, they remind me of WW2(and today's) Russians doing wave attacks. I let my favorite vampire ascend, yes it killed thousands of thralls and victims, but I had to think about this for a couple days before I did that encounter... was it better to let them all die and no longer live a life of pain or just end it? I had no idea if they would become normal again and then they would live with that pain forever, so I let them all die. I had to reign in Astarion but so far he has not been a dick. Time will tell. Shart, I let her go in A-2 after the Nightsong, I really didn't like her, but next time I might keep her. Karlach I will always keep her. Wyll and Gale have their uses at certain times and I swap them out. But since I did some multiclassing I use them less and less. Next time boyz? Lae'zel grew on me and I multi classed her with a Pally, oh yeah! I will keep her on my next play through also. That leaves my new Tav and ... I wish we could have a 5 party but I think that will screw up the game a bit. Sigh. A few more years of playing ! Lots to do, I missed so much it seems. SOOOOOOO many options!
Yeah the enemies taking their time was a bit annoying but definitely not the worst thing. I feel like with the choice of letting the vampire spawns go vs killing them... there probably isn't really a right answer here. Both options kinda suck. You either kill 7000 (mostly innocent) people, or you let them all go and risk them wreaking havoc on the surface. Killing them is probably the better choice in the long run, but again, that would mean killing 7000 people. It such a hard choice but that's also why I love it. Same with letting Astarion ascend. I personally prefer keeping him a spawn (especially in a romance) but there are so very good arguments for letting him ascend, too. And this is the case with most of the companion quests I think. Awh, poor Shart! xD I'd definitely recommend giving her a chance and trying to steer her away from Shar. You might grow to like her! I thought I did and saw everything and I explored thouroughly, but I still managed to miss a few things! I don't really mind though, that just means I have more excuses to start another playthrough 😊
Astarian is a great character, but he is definitely evil. Both in real world and fictional terms. He’s good looking with a sad back story and an “I can fix him” redemption arc, so people forget that he tried to bite them in their sleep (and a lot worse depending on how his story goes). Again, good character. Terrible person. Lae’zel similarly is a brutal person, at least to start with. She hates any kind of compassion or kindness, the only values your obedience and capacity for violence. Again, a good redemption arc, lots of fun lines, but definitely evil. Good review, thanks.
@@saltoftheegg you’re not having bad wrong fun if you like Astarian and Lae’zel. I like them. But Astarian is a vampire who tries to bite you without your consent, hates helping people or doing anything that is not in his immediate interests, and would gladly kill any number of people for his own benefit if you don’t talk him out of it. Lae’zel is a fanatic whose highest wish is endless conquest in the name of her queen, who sees nothing wrong in cruelty and despises compassion and mercy, unless you completely change her world view. Sad back stories and the ability to be redeemed don’t make them not evil; they just make them sympathetic.
12:45 I thought that there is too much content in act 3... I don't have time to find your letters old man, I got a city to save! Cant please them all I guess (although my Shadowheart killed her parents so maybe dont listen to me :D)
sorry to inform you, you may be screwed up on Isabel. Even you let her get kidnapped, she actually will appear again in the final Ketheric fight. What you need to do is to set non-lethal damage and knock her out. She will regain conscious and join your camp later (not as a companion tho).
Oh yeah I know, I definitely screwed up haha. I kept her alive during the Ketheric fight but sadly, after I had defeated Ketheric she was just dead on the ground 😅 Next time I'll definitely make sure to save her during the attack on the inn hahah
You're so brave when Isobel was taken and the entire last light inn became hostile and you had to kill them all. If it were me for sure I'll save scum to try save them all 😭 The end of act 3 is such a let down from the overall amazing game. Act 3 itself is very strong, a bit disorganized but still full of meaningful and interesting quests. Just after you start with the end mission and how Larian conclude origin characters can be further polished. If Larian want to develop DLCs I for sure will pay for them if we can sort out the end mission there
Pfff yeah that fight was... quite the challange 😂 I was tempted to save scum but decided not to and stuck with my mistakes haha. No worries though, next time I play my canon character I'll make sure to do everything right! Yep, I'd love a DLC/expansion. At least we can be sure of a Definitive Edition, I can't imagine them not doing that
The Emperor flips sides so quickly because SPOILERS. The Emperor manipulates you. You can confront him about this and he will admit it. He was mind-controlling Stelmane all the time. Asur was right all the time. You get hints for this in his underground lair. He works with you only because he want's to be free, and his goals coincide with yours. If you chose to control the Absolute together with him, he basically says, "Lol, okay." and enthralls your entire party.
I mean the game tries to teach non-racism, I think, because we have Omeluum, who is a pretty chill guy, so not all mind flayers will be evil, I guess.@@Silentpoppy
Dang so with all the choices in this game, I haven't been watching spoiler reviews because even though I've finished the game, I feel like the multiple endings means I could STILL get spoiled :(
Act 3 was HEAVILY cut and unfinished. Like the Upper City, which also means Karlach's quest is stuck in an unfinished state which dooms her, explorable Avernus (like the size of the Underdark), the full Hags story line, Minthara's entire story line, consequences for using tadpole powers... and much more.
act 3 and the ending turned this game from a 10/10 to a 7/10. the ending was literally the worst. after all the effort larian put into the story and the characters... having almost nothing but a quicky conversation and a roll credits was a slap to the face. like.... guys we just saved baldurs gate and probly faerun.... yeah cool, cool, cool, good job PC... aiiiight imma head out. peace.
This is to my opinion the main issue of this game, it is not finished and its clearly not acceptable after years of early access to not sell a complete game, the act 3 is full of bug and unfinished quest and the ending is the cherry on the top, people really need to stop saying to every good game its a masterpiece or we will never have FINISHED game, yeah the game is better than most of the game we had this past years but lets be honest we are missing area (high city, potentialy Avernus too) quest and plenty of dialogue in act 3 the list of the cut content is huge, exactly has Cyberpunk 2077 they didnt keep their promises and there is NOT 17 000 endings like they say its a lie. I hope we will have a definitive edition in a year because its so disapointing the game is great and deserve to be complet
I totally understand that, and I agree act 3 felt like it was missing a lot of things, and we do need to adress those issues as fans and consumers (and a lot of people have been adressing those). However, I also feel like we need to give credit in the places its deserved. The reason why so many people are so happy with Baldur's Gate 3 and Larian studios is because, while act 3 is lacking in certain areas, the rest of the game is really freaking good. This game was created with the intend of putting out a good product that fans will love and just have a great time with. Everyone is going to feel differently about it and that's totally fine. For me personally, the positives of this game outweigh the negatives by a long shot, so I had a really good time playing it and still do. Of course, as I mentioned in my video I did have some issues with the game and I think it's very important to celebrate the things that are good about this game while also being critical of the things that aren't. Larian have been listening to feedback and they've adressed some of the complaints fans had already, and I trust them to continue to do so!
What are some of your favourite moments in Baldur's gate 3?
astarion ascension😈
House of Hope was phenomenal
telling myself ill play till 11 and then next thing you know its 3am
Arriving at a few of the more scenic locations in the game. The Rosymorn Monastery, The Underdark, Shadowfell, And the city itself all had me sitting back and admiring the art direction and level design
The end of the shadowheart questline was so sad. We almost could feel her pain. At my run she kill her parents and god she really suffer.
The final battle against Raphael was a great moment too, specially because of the music.
Yeah if Orpheus actually DID refuse to work with a mind flayer, the Emperors betrayal would make a lot more sense, but basically you free Orpheus, and Orpheus has a 100% identical plan to the Emperor, namely a Mind Flayer is needed to subdue the brain with the Netherstones. Just seems silly when the Emperor leaves and Orpheus is like "shit! we needed him! alright who wants to be our Mind Flayer instead?"
Well, Doesn't help that the Emperor, should you let him control the crown just becomes an evil overlord.
It was probably just to skip out on having to address that in the good ending.
My first playthrough ending was soooooo satisfying. So probably the ending is dependent on your decisions during your playthrough.
Granted, I save-scummed for 200 hours to get all my favorite outcomes, but that only proves that decisions impact the ending.
I really, really hope Larian does about the endings eventually; the present state is woeful.
Same!
Minthara isn't any more evil than Lae'zel or Astarion. She's who our players would be without the Astral Prism.
She's my favorite character in the game. Emma Gregory should win awards for this performance that, unfortunately, 2/3rds of players won't see.
Make sure you take her to the circus!
As a few have already said, the NPC's occasionally _"Taking 10 seconds to take their turn"_ ~loose quote... is not a hard drive issue. It is a combination of the game engine, what is going on at any given time, your CPU, GPU, and *INCREDIBLY* important in this game, your system memory (RAM).
I played on a Ryzen 7 5800X system with 32GB DDR4 3200 cl 14-14-14-14-22...(wicked tight timings) HPV10 Samsung B-Die RAM with an RTX 3080 FE along with installing the game on a 2TB Crucial P5+ Gen 4 NVMe (about 350x faster than a SATA HDD as it was in a Gen 3 slot on my motherboard). There were still numerous times where the NPC's took 3-15 seconds to go. It was not common, but just like you said, when more than 1 do it in a round it can get a bit annoying. There is just so much going on in this game that regardless of the CPU and GPU, they both seem to be bottle-necked by sysRAM. The game is threaded really well, using all 16 cores/threads of my CPU but rarely coming close to maxing any out, while my GPU was never really maxed out either at 1440P with the settings cranked. With the game on _decent_ NVMe the only other bottleneck is the system memory. This appears to be a slight _hold up_ on every CPU and every RAM kit up to ddr5 7200 cl30 which is the fastest kit I saw tested. I still averaged 143 hz in the first two acts and 97 in the third with DLSS 2.0 quality on (I turned it on in Act One even though I was at my display's max refresh rate bc I liked the image quality better; the game ran so well in the first two acts max settings still didn't buckle my system at all w/o DLSS save for a few of those darn NPC's deciding it was time to think about their lives, bake some cookies for the kids, play a round of gold and maybe lay out in the sun for a bit before returning to the main attraction.).
All that to just repeat myself. Nope. Not just you.
About your last point... a sequel is really what we need. Image a new threat to Faerun and you starting to get together the old team: going to Avernus, helping Karlach and Wyll with their business and bring them back, going to the astral plane helping Leazel in her war against Vlaakith and so on.
The thing is that in order to do that Larian should define a kind of "canon" ending and I'm not sure all the players would be happy about it.
Yeah, I would love a sequel or an expansion but as you said, it might be hard to do without establishing a canon, and that's always a bit risky
"Ascent from Avernus." It writes itself.
They wouldn't have to define a "canon" ending, though it would be an undertaking, if they introduced a kind of "Keep" functionality the same way Dragon Age did. It allows you to import a save for the game and it takes the data to change events in the game so that they align with your playthrough of the previous. Depending on how the new game functioned, I could definitely see Larian rising to the challenge and allowing you to continue while reflecting previous choices!
Even if we just got an entirely new game using the same concepts and freedom of choice sometime in the future, I'd pick it up again in a heartbeat. Great experience overall
@@bulletsandbracelets4140 There are endings that simply don't offer an interesting sequel. I don't want to spoil to anyone, if you have finished the game, you know what I'm talking about. Same is for any companion. You can kill them all, so you can't create a sequel based on them, which is the interesting part of a sequel compared to have a new independent game.
If you want to make a sequel instead of a new game in the brand, it's because you want the audience to be engaged by the characters of the previous game.
@@alexwtf80 Yeah, I don't think they could make a direct sequel! But they could optionally incorporate elements of the initial game and continue to show where companions are at depending on the previous endings. Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition were entirely new stories with entirely new characters, but previous ones popped up at random points within if you made certain decisions in the previous games. It was a cool way to make the decisions go further and increase replay value.
BG3 is a great achievement in story driven RPGs. Despite the few bugs (which are expected for the sheer size and complexity of the game) and the kinda anticlimactic ending, they created a real masterpiece. It has great characters, with what I consider some of the best voice acting in gaming, choices which have consequences and it offers several ways to solve a problem. Most importantly, it offered unique playthroughs. I talked with friends who played the game, to compare our playthroughs, and besides the key points of the story, we each had different experiences. This is a great achievement, especially nowadays that linear, railroad-ed stories have become the norm.
Imo, any of its drawbacks come from the 5th edition of DnD, rather than something the devs did wrong. On the contrary, I believe that the stuff they added or changed from the tabletop rules, actually made the game better.
I hope they create a full expansion for the game. BG3 feels like it needs a second adventure into the epic levels, maybe with Tav or maybe with a new character that took part in Tav's story. Neverwinter Nights did this, I don't see why BG3 can't try it. I just know that I want to see even more stuff from Larian, they have proven their abilities.
100% agree! I know it's early but I'm already looking forward to whatever they're going to make next. I'll be keeping a close eye on their channel and socials and hope they tease something at some point (x I'd either an expansion to BG3 or maybe another game in the D&D universe. I've already seen a bunch of people wanting a Neverwinter Nights 3 from Larian, or they could start their own series. There are so many possibilities tbh
Neverwinter Nights 3 would be great. OR... Eye of the Beholder 4 !
Currently doing a playthrough with Minthara. I chickened out on killing the grove myself and just left for the cresh and met up with Minthara at moonrise.
And can confirm she definitely isn’t evil, she is tough and decisive but she was brainwashed by the absolute. She’s no more evil than Astarion or Laz’el
I wish they would add an option to help Minthara but convince her to let one of the factions unharmed. Something like a deception to lie about one of the two groups having the artifact or a persuasion to let the Tieflings go on their way without harm if they agree on a body search, or something.
@@Seedmember if only there was a way to convince her to let the Tieflings leave or to convince them to leave before she attacks or something. They are the main thing you miss out on by having her around (happy with Minthara and Halsin being mutually exclusive it only makes sense really)
@@ducky36Fthere is a way with mod and only mod as of right now cause Larian want us to choose. Of course it's not a bad thing just the other choice is kinda difficult lol.
The mod if you don't know and interested to try is minthara good recruitment available in nexusmods. It exacly as it says, the mod allows you to recruit minthara while still having wyll, karlach and yes even halsin with you till the end. The mod also allows you to experience minthara scene in moonrise
I appreciate them being mutually exclusive as well because it's just another consequence of your actions but, if I could have Minthara as well as save the Tieflings I definitely would. From everything that I've seen of Minthara I think she's a very interesting character and I think she might have more depth than Halsin.
@@yohanes2034 Technically there is a maneuver involving turning her into a sheep that lets you do more or less the same thing without mods, but it's complicated
I played a Drow Warlock with a Karlac romance choosing her volunteering to become a mind flayer and got a traveling together onto new adventures ending.
Just in case you didn't hear, there's now a final camp scene added for a last catch up with companions.
Yeah, I played through it recently! Loved it 😄
I have hundreds of hours in bg3 and I really enjoyed this review.
My favorite moment involved Lady Esther and a line about how much I like the owlbear egg. It was so perfect in the moment that it had me laughing for a good long time.
Five Star review from me. Well written and presented and covering a lot of relevant stuff.👌👍👍👍 I'm hoping Larian will release a 'Definitive Edition', like they did with Divinity: Original Sin 2. That way we might get all the missing stuff and the Upper city, etc. I definitely want to see more adventures in The Forgotten Realms, though! Either way I'll be looking forward to whatever Larian releases next.....my money's ready and waiting!
Just finished the game today, the ending was definitely disappointing but I was prepared for that and I'm still deeply in love with it as a whole. Great video!
Your next playthrough is going to be so different with the change of saving Isobel - excited for you to experience it! I'm glad I played through it initially on Explorer and have a paranoid need to keep every NPC healed up that I can XD that's such an easy place to have your story completely derail. (Not a bad thing though! Love the consequences they roll with)
Enjoyed the video, can't wait to see how my first playthrough ends! (Don't have a ton of time to play, so have been taking my time with it. Still in Act 3 trying to gather all the allies I can before popping off against one of the two remaining big bads)
I complete game 6 times. 3 times as good and 3 times as evil (4 times on tactician). It’s only my personal opinion: First playthrough was 10/10 but now when I tried every time to do different things I would give 8.5/10 because there is some things that will would do differently in game.
Some examples:
1. One more difficulty that is harder than tactician. Where you don’t see enemy HP and like they have 4 times more HP. Missing long boss fights (10 rounds or more) where you barely defeat him with all recurs gone.
2. Allying with Goblins or Druids are not equally rewording like when you allied with Tieflings. They should give like unique chain side quests, vendors and item rewords if you pick one off them and lose quests and items from another 2. So you have even more replayability. If you allied with Tieflings you gain Ring of Protection, Potent Robe and extra Vendor. If you allied with goblins or druids you gain nothing! I am just not motivated to be ally with Goblins or Druids because of that.
3. No matter what I do combat with Ketheric Thorm is unavoidable… They should give us like 6 different options for evil playthrough. 1. Kill everyone 2. Conquer the world 3. Help Ketheric to conquer the world 4. Help Gortash to conquer the world 5. Help Orin to conquer the world 6. Help Sarevok to conquer the world.
4. Small disappointment was that there is no Upper City. Also hirelings… They should just make you go in character creation like for Main Character and they should also be able to have tadpole powers.
Very good and detailed review, thank you.
Glad to hear that, thank you for watching!
If you never talk to Isabella when your promted too the Last Light will never get attacked. You can speak to her after you defeat Kethrack however.
Running BG3 on an M.2 and enemies still take their sweet time to take their turn.
Ah, I guess it's just the game then!
I loved the game but was sad about how Larian screwed over Viconia -- one of my favourite characters from BG2. I wish they'd left her out instead of making her so petty and bitter. :(
I haven't played BG2 so I don't know how viconia behave/ act there. I wonder if what she did in BG3 is a natural progression over her characterization or Larian did 180 on her
@@yohanes2034 They decided her canon is evil. It would be like if a hypothetical BG4 included an evil Shadowheart. Unnecessary and depressing, after seeing how much she can grow as a character with a good-aligned PC (which is most of us).
As a big Vicky fan I was overjoyed 😅
@@jeanette_voermanwell, my character inThrone of Bhaal wasn't a good benevolent human, but there you go, that's Wizards of the Coast canon.
@@jeanette_voermanthey could have skipped her, and honestly all the old characters - they felt like fan fluff; but I and others that did play bg2 often have issues. Like Jaheira got over loss and romanced my character more than not, if she stayed in the party.
Minsc I never kept, so he being a hero makes little sense in my canon etc.
And most friends have similar stories. That said with Viconia she was common for evil parties too, and it would do her bad, and all those parties, if she turned neutral.
But he highlights how problematic using them at all is.
My own Viconia ending was either death (she always dies if you romance her) or evil, so any natural ending where she lived never happend to me; and I've wouldn't have enjoyed that. Evil or dead, that's my Viconia.
DOS 2 ending had a similar feeling for me. Feels like they just throw everything at you all at once and the mystery dissolves into something less satisfying than if there was just a cliffhanger
Excellent review, it's refreshing to see someone who loves the game ALSO be critical of its shortcomings because most reviewers give it a pass for damn near everything. I respect that. I think you spoiled more than you needed to, and there wasn't enough mentions and footage of Raphael, but an excellent review nonetheless.
thank you for such a thorough review. I loved what they did with Jaheira, she was kind of bossy and overbearing in the old games, but she has mellowed out a bit while still being pretty spicy. She reminds me of my grandmother when you call her on her bullshit.
I hope you've had a chance to go back and experience the epilogue. I didn't finish till after it came out so never experienced BG3 end without it. Hopefully its given you exactly what was lacking for your ending
I did! I finished my 2nd playthrough a few weeks ago. Yeah, the epilogue wrapped up the game really nicely and gave us the closure we needed! Plus, a few teases for potential future content 😄
One quick remark about Karlach:
I was also disappointed about her only having 2 possible outcomes ... until I learned that there was a third! - You can actually have her live and not go to Avernus in the end ... but, of course, there is a catch ... (no full spoiler here - look it up, if you must)!
I just watched this even though I have beaten it twice (on my 3rd playthrough as Dark Urge now) and is one of my favorite reviews I have watched. You did a awesome job. This is probably my favorite game of all time now. You said it was your top 3, what are the other ones? Did you go back and play after they released the patch with more endgame content?
Thank you, that means a lot! The other two are Dragon Age and Mass Effect, but honestly I think BG3 is now either my number one, or tied with Dragon Age on the number one spot. This game is so good in so many ways, and you can really see how passionate the devs are about their projects. And I did! Absolutely love the epilogue. Now I'm just waiting for patch 7 to come out with official mod support, and eventually also the evil endings and photo mode 😄
I am going to cheat and do my favorite series. It’s Baldurs Gate in the first spot, Fallout in number 2 and Mass Effect in 3. The only thing keeping Dragon Age out is the Fade in the first. I still have nightmares about that! I am using a bunch of mods for BG3 now. My favorite is one that keeps you clean so no more blood and dirt and the other makes Phalar Aluve a legendary weapon for a wizard that lets you add your INT mod to your cantrip damage.
RIP Last light inn inhabitants
I'm on an NVME drive and a 5800X3D. Really the only time I've had to wait for more than a couple seconds is on the fights that have 10+ enemies. Even then it is only perhaps 5.
From what i can tell you might have missed a lot of content in act 3. there is a lot more to the Emperor then how you described it ( go to the dragon of the gate) if you save wyll's dad. The replay ability of this game is so good. i'm a 50+ D&D geek and Not knowing what happened to everyone is just a good way of allowing game lore for future games. I for one think this is just the start of a line of Forgotten realms adventures. And I'm just happy i have the BG trilogy i always wanted to see. :)
I did miss a bit of content in act 3 yeah but I did find the Emperor's secret hideout! 😄Don't get me wrong, I liked his part in the story and the twist of him turning out be Balduran, I just... felt like his decision to join the Elder Brain was a little odd after trying so hard to fight its control. I get that he might feel betrayed by us for wanting to free Orpheus, but at the same time he was using us as well, only helping us because our goals aligned. He's an interesting character for sure!
Honestly I'm hoping for more D&D games by Larian. Even if they're not going to be as big as BG3 I'm sure they'll do a great job as they did with this game 😊
I don't think they'll add slides at the end... I believe Larian wants you to play each origin character to get that closure.
About enemies standing there doing noting for 10 seconds or so in their turn ... belive me is not just your NON SSD hard drive. It happens a lot expecially in Act 3 where the game still need a lot of tune up ... Very Buggy indeed, but ... Still a lot of fun to play with. I'm on my third playthrough and i'm steel being surprised by this game in lots of ways. Dark Urge story is SUPER but also other origin Characters ... i played Wyll, Dark Urge and Astarion in the current. Never did a Tav Run but i'm planning it as Githyanky for the future. Then reason i want to do it is to 1) Romance Lae'zel and see if the end is different for both (no spoilers please :) ) I did already romanced Lae'zel and she became 1 of my favourite companion quickly. The lenghts she goes and the grouth she make is simply amazing
Note 1: You can also use all the tadpoles you get and still save the day :)
Note 2: The endings are not super exept that with my dearest lae'zel but i can't wait to see others, and my Shadowheart had the same issue with the uncurable wound, even tho she "let go" her parents, she still had that weired wound related dialog from time to time
Note 3: dialogs in Act 3 are just fucked up ... I had a lot of lines with Wyll asking me to talk to his father about Ansur even tho i didn't rescue him yet. After the rescue he kept saying "Whe need to act fast and rescue my father" and i was "Can't you see him? he is letterally standing at your side man! If you turn around your head, be careful that you risk to impale him with your Hornes!"
Note 4: I both hate and love the fact that even with speak with animals you can't understand what Boo says to Minsc
I feel that there needed to be an option for fixed rolls based on the DC so each class you build will know a roll is too hard, but if you invested in it you could probably do it
I don't agree. If you invested in something you are already very likely to succeed and you can compensate bad rolls with inspiration points. Having known results just removes responsability. If you are sure that you're going to fail to deceive the guards, you already know that you should surrender if you don't want a fight.
oh no... just finished my second playthrough and only looking at this video makes me want to start another one. STOP BALDUR'S GATE SOME OF US HAVE TO LIVE!
No more social life! Only Baldur's Gate 3 now!
Een uiterst grondige video, goed gedaan!
Dankje! 😄
Running on a SSD, yeah in A-3 sometimes it takes the enemy a little time to react. But considering where everyone is and how many moves the AI needs to make I am ok. It is much more difficult than a simple chess game and the AI needs to at least make an attempt to win, and it does make that attempt. You ca see it thinking when you are hiding behind a pillar or something and it has a few options to reach you as well as what else it is considering. In A-1 at the goblin camp, it did go rather quickly but then you know Gobbos, they remind me of WW2(and today's) Russians doing wave attacks.
I let my favorite vampire ascend, yes it killed thousands of thralls and victims, but I had to think about this for a couple days before I did that encounter... was it better to let them all die and no longer live a life of pain or just end it? I had no idea if they would become normal again and then they would live with that pain forever, so I let them all die. I had to reign in Astarion but so far he has not been a dick. Time will tell.
Shart, I let her go in A-2 after the Nightsong, I really didn't like her, but next time I might keep her.
Karlach I will always keep her.
Wyll and Gale have their uses at certain times and I swap them out. But since I did some multiclassing I use them less and less. Next time boyz?
Lae'zel grew on me and I multi classed her with a Pally, oh yeah! I will keep her on my next play through also. That leaves my new Tav and ... I wish we could have a 5 party but I think that will screw up the game a bit.
Sigh. A few more years of playing ! Lots to do, I missed so much it seems. SOOOOOOO many options!
Yeah the enemies taking their time was a bit annoying but definitely not the worst thing.
I feel like with the choice of letting the vampire spawns go vs killing them... there probably isn't really a right answer here. Both options kinda suck. You either kill 7000 (mostly innocent) people, or you let them all go and risk them wreaking havoc on the surface. Killing them is probably the better choice in the long run, but again, that would mean killing 7000 people. It such a hard choice but that's also why I love it. Same with letting Astarion ascend. I personally prefer keeping him a spawn (especially in a romance) but there are so very good arguments for letting him ascend, too. And this is the case with most of the companion quests I think.
Awh, poor Shart! xD I'd definitely recommend giving her a chance and trying to steer her away from Shar. You might grow to like her!
I thought I did and saw everything and I explored thouroughly, but I still managed to miss a few things! I don't really mind though, that just means I have more excuses to start another playthrough 😊
Great video. We thought almost the same. 😊
Astarian is a great character, but he is definitely evil. Both in real world and fictional terms. He’s good looking with a sad back story and an “I can fix him” redemption arc, so people forget that he tried to bite them in their sleep (and a lot worse depending on how his story goes).
Again, good character. Terrible person.
Lae’zel similarly is a brutal person, at least to start with. She hates any kind of compassion or kindness, the only values your obedience and capacity for violence.
Again, a good redemption arc, lots of fun lines, but definitely evil.
Good review, thanks.
That's such a simplistic view...
@@saltoftheegg you’re not having bad wrong fun if you like Astarian and Lae’zel. I like them.
But Astarian is a vampire who tries to bite you without your consent, hates helping people or doing anything that is not in his immediate interests, and would gladly kill any number of people for his own benefit if you don’t talk him out of it.
Lae’zel is a fanatic whose highest wish is endless conquest in the name of her queen, who sees nothing wrong in cruelty and despises compassion and mercy, unless you completely change her world view.
Sad back stories and the ability to be redeemed don’t make them not evil; they just make them sympathetic.
12:45 I thought that there is too much content in act 3... I don't have time to find your letters old man, I got a city to save!
Cant please them all I guess
(although my Shadowheart killed her parents so maybe dont listen to me :D)
sorry to inform you, you may be screwed up on Isabel. Even you let her get kidnapped, she actually will appear again in the final Ketheric fight. What you need to do is to set non-lethal damage and knock her out. She will regain conscious and join your camp later (not as a companion tho).
Oh yeah I know, I definitely screwed up haha. I kept her alive during the Ketheric fight but sadly, after I had defeated Ketheric she was just dead on the ground 😅 Next time I'll definitely make sure to save her during the attack on the inn hahah
You're so brave when Isobel was taken and the entire last light inn became hostile and you had to kill them all. If it were me for sure I'll save scum to try save them all 😭
The end of act 3 is such a let down from the overall amazing game. Act 3 itself is very strong, a bit disorganized but still full of meaningful and interesting quests. Just after you start with the end mission and how Larian conclude origin characters can be further polished.
If Larian want to develop DLCs I for sure will pay for them if we can sort out the end mission there
Pfff yeah that fight was... quite the challange 😂 I was tempted to save scum but decided not to and stuck with my mistakes haha. No worries though, next time I play my canon character I'll make sure to do everything right!
Yep, I'd love a DLC/expansion. At least we can be sure of a Definitive Edition, I can't imagine them not doing that
The Emperor flips sides so quickly because SPOILERS.
The Emperor manipulates you. You can confront him about this and he will admit it. He was mind-controlling Stelmane all the time. Asur was right all the time.
You get hints for this in his underground lair.
He works with you only because he want's to be free, and his goals coincide with yours. If you chose to control the Absolute together with him, he basically says, "Lol, okay." and enthralls your entire party.
yea i went with my gut, and maybe its meta gaming but trusting a mindflayer to have your best interests at heart is laughable.
I mean the game tries to teach non-racism, I think, because we have Omeluum, who is a pretty chill guy, so not all mind flayers will be evil, I guess.@@Silentpoppy
Dang so with all the choices in this game, I haven't been watching spoiler reviews because even though I've finished the game, I feel like the multiple endings means I could STILL get spoiled :(
Hey, just all the more reason to do another playthrough! 😄
Act 3 was HEAVILY cut and unfinished. Like the Upper City, which also means Karlach's quest is stuck in an unfinished state which dooms her, explorable Avernus (like the size of the Underdark), the full Hags story line, Minthara's entire story line, consequences for using tadpole powers... and much more.
Whats your current number 1 if not Baldur's gate 3?
The Dragon Age games 😄
act 3 and the ending turned this game from a 10/10 to a 7/10.
the ending was literally the worst. after all the effort larian put into the story and the characters... having almost nothing but a quicky conversation and a roll credits was a slap to the face.
like.... guys we just saved baldurs gate and probly faerun....
yeah cool, cool, cool, good job PC... aiiiight imma head out. peace.
BEST GAME EVER MADE!!!
This is to my opinion the main issue of this game, it is not finished and its clearly not acceptable after years of early access to not sell a complete game, the act 3 is full of bug and unfinished quest and the ending is the cherry on the top, people really need to stop saying to every good game its a masterpiece or we will never have FINISHED game, yeah the game is better than most of the game we had this past years but lets be honest we are missing area (high city, potentialy Avernus too) quest and plenty of dialogue in act 3 the list of the cut content is huge, exactly has Cyberpunk 2077 they didnt keep their promises and there is NOT 17 000 endings like they say its a lie. I hope we will have a definitive edition in a year because its so disapointing the game is great and deserve to be complet
I totally understand that, and I agree act 3 felt like it was missing a lot of things, and we do need to adress those issues as fans and consumers (and a lot of people have been adressing those). However, I also feel like we need to give credit in the places its deserved. The reason why so many people are so happy with Baldur's Gate 3 and Larian studios is because, while act 3 is lacking in certain areas, the rest of the game is really freaking good. This game was created with the intend of putting out a good product that fans will love and just have a great time with. Everyone is going to feel differently about it and that's totally fine. For me personally, the positives of this game outweigh the negatives by a long shot, so I had a really good time playing it and still do. Of course, as I mentioned in my video I did have some issues with the game and I think it's very important to celebrate the things that are good about this game while also being critical of the things that aren't. Larian have been listening to feedback and they've adressed some of the complaints fans had already, and I trust them to continue to do so!
yeah, typical larian fashion.
act 3 is a mess. just like Arx was.but the endings in dos 2 were good and wrapped stuff up. unlike here.
Let's hope a definitive edition will fix that!