Third quest's the charm

Given I couldn't get into Baldur's Gate or Divinity: Original Sin - I was years late in both cases, but, still - I was initially skeptical of Baldur's Gate 3, even despite the "universal acclaim." Now, after dozens of hours of magic missiles and reckless attacks, chatting up goblins and demigods and livestock, searching abandoned temples and haunted houses and random corpses for quest clues -- after I realized, more than 30 hours deep, I was still in the game's first act; I couldn't be more glad I was wrong.

There are, I have to say, some parts of this game I still don't care for. Things I'd call legacy genre baggage, like an overabundance of options with unclear consequences; from the character creator's enormous menus and lengthy list of abilities at level 1, through to mid-level upgrade selections and sub-selections -- just as an example, I reset and re-leveled my barbarian after using a feat to unlock heavy armor, then finding out that heavy armor disables raging.

And of course I have to complain about narrative dice rolls, which can hide interesting content just 'cause of bad luck. You'd better believe I'm save-scumming just like I did in Disco Elysium. (Heck, sometimes just to get a better combat outcome, too.)

But! Those gripes are easy to get over because of how enthralling Baldur's Gate 3 is, in its storytelling and worldbuilding.

The game opens strong with grandiose cinematics and a straight-into-the-deep-end intro scene -- and rapidly starts weaving in compelling characters, particularly the sparkling personalities who join your party. Then as events progress, plot mysteries deepening and companions' backstories accumulating, NPCs and sidequests are all-the-while tossing out more and more plot threads to pull on.

There's so much writing in this game's conversations, scripted scenes, and notes, not to mention ambient storytelling in the environment; the world feels alive, and huge to boot. And it blends dire, epic themes like the main storyline with fun and silly shit like bribing entrepreneurial ogres.

Plus, as a role-playing sandbox, there are tons of opportunities for your own choices to impact that world and its stories. Often with even more significance than my choice to give Gale magic gloves which increase armor "when unarmored."

The world of Baldur's Gate 3 is so, so full of content to explore and lore to find, and I can't wait for my bumbling party of wackos to discover more of it.

Progress: Exploring the Shadow-Cursed Lands.