This is not a criticism - I love how much attention this game has been getting. I’m just not understanding why BG3 has been blowing up so much. It seems like BG3 is getting more attention than all of Larian’s previous games combined (and maybe all of Obsidian’s recent crpgs as well). Traditionally crpgs have not lit the world on fire in this way. Is it just timing of the release? Is it a combo of Divinity fans and new D&D fans and Baldur’s Gate oldheads all being stoked about this release for their own reasons? Or something else?
Note:I have not played it yet myself, just curious what folks think?
Do you think the game has appeal for people who aren’t into DnD? I keep wanting to try it but every time someone calls it “DnD The Game” I get a bit turned off again. Might just be because I’ve had awful experiences in RL with DnD though.
What you gotta keep in mind is that this game is effectively “D&D as intended”, not “D&D as played by people who only care about number crunching” or “D&D, but really just 5 friends memeing while one dude kills literally everything no questions asked” or whatever else may have happened in groups you played with.
This is a deeply strategic roleplaying game with some difficult conversations and impressively hard combat. The game doesn’t put up invisible walls and say “if you tried that you’d die, so instead you can’t”, it lets you try and fail. Or if by some miracle you win and get some items way above your current power level, you can use them immediately unlike other RPGs that say “you have to be lvl 5 to hold this sword”. You wanna jump off a cliff? Game says “Okay… you died. Wanna reload?”
D&D 5e rules are there, but they’re operating sort of like the laws of physics. The heart of this game is its phenomenal writing and the sheer openness of the world it sets up for you to explore. You could argue this game is a full-blown immersive sim just because of how it sort of hands you a pile of problems and you build tools and skills along the way to overcome them.
Yeah, it holds overall mass appeal. It’s a good roleplaying game that happens to be in an established universe with known mechanics. If you play by yourself you have more than an entire party’s worth of companions to learn the stories of, and you don’t have to worry about playing with degenerates or weirdos. Unless you consider the NPC a degen or weirdo, but thems the brakes.