Early August, Baldur’s Gate 3 released and it felt like the corner of the gaming world dedicated to anything that involves swords, sorcery and the ability to make your own character erupted. Even degenerate skillers in the far corners of Old School RuneScape were gushing about this immaculate gift from the spirit of RPGs themselves.
I thought it was neat, but from the start I never had any real draw to the game. It looks excellent, visually speaking. The graphics are on par with your average modern game–which speaks volumes as most of the time you see the game world from an isometric perspective. The dialogue from what I’ve seen is well-written and well-voiced, and it’s a game that lets you do just about anything you might care to for better or worse.
I’ve probably poured over five hundred hours into Dragon Age: Origins alone. Skyrim? Over two thousand, and almost every character in that game has an in-character journal I’ve kept the entire time. I do the same for some of my more personal World of Warcraft characters, and have even dabbled in making my own text-based RPG (along with a plethora of scatterbrained worldbuilding for a setting I write in from time to time). I am the guy who should be doing front flips for Baldur’s Gate 3 but I can’t muster more than a ‘neat’ when it comes to my personal feelings for it.
It’s not that I just don’t care about new games; Starfield came out days later and I lost my ass in that game for over a month. It reignited my passion for sci-fi games, and I think had a hand in my recent rekindling of interest in Warcraft lore (such as it is). When other people talk about Baldur’s Gate 3 I love hearing their energy and passion for it, but it’s a type of game that is just not made for me. Hell, the only black mark I can say is that it’s turn-based (I’m the one guy who keeps real-time-with-pause alive) but I even enjoyed Larian’s Divinity: Original Sin series.
It’s not like all the talk about relationships and very bed-happy romance options in Baldur’s Gate 3 put me off; I write erotica in my spare time and am that weird friend who shamelessly fires up porn games while visible in my Steam Friend’s List. I’d like to figure out just what it is about Baldur’s Gate 3 that has me thoroughly ‘whelmed’ because it’d help me fine-tune just what it is I like about these other games that come so close to it, but not quite all the way. Maybe it’s the simple fact that I’m a hipster no matter how hard I try to rise above that.
Man, having a place where I can talk about things that just do not matter at all is awesome.
