There’s no other way to say it, Baldur’s Gate 3 took me by surprise and knocked me on my ass. Now one could ask: how the hell did it take you by surprise, this thing is everywhere (and it really, truly is, everywhere) and people are singing its virtue as if it was a Beatles song in 1965. But very much like the Beatles, I didn’t expect to like Baldur’s Gate 3 (yeah, I don’t like the Beatles, don’t know what to tell you). And just like the Beatles, I didn’t really have a reason to be unphased by Baldur’s Gate. I just wasn’t feeling it. It could have been my experience with Divinity Original Sin from Larian, the fact that gameplay footage rarely does justice to CRPGs, or simply the way it was marketed. But the fact remains, I was unphased. And then I played. For the first hour, I was still unconvinced. The second hour was enjoyable. The third hour was somehow 240 minutes long and it was suddenly 4am (funny how games can defy the laws of time and space isn’t it? I’m still looking for a couple of Saturdays I lost somewhere).

So now that I have played redacted hours, I’ve had the chance to figure out both what left me unphased about it and what makes this game so good. Because this game is far from perfect and my initial reaction was not unfounded, even if it was incredibly wrong (my surprising ability to be both right and wrong at the same time is a bit of a curse really).

A lack of varnish

From a purely technical point of view, Baldur’s Gate is good, at best. The camera control is a tad unintuitive and its limitations can be quite annoying. The camera frequently clips on walls, navigating multiple floors can be a hassle when the see through doesn’t kick in at the right time, pathing is approximative at best and the game has this very strange zone where you are out of melee reach but too close for range attacks, which is very annoying. Many times I have Eldritch Blasted an ally because of a bad camera angle or moved a character a quarter of an inch short of an enemy to stand there like an idiot. And when you look at these issues in an ensemble - camera clipping, suboptimal pathing and quality of life issues with the controls - it becomes obvious: Baldur’s Gate 3 plays and feels like a AA game. If given no context and only an hour to play, most people would suspect this game was made by a small studio who decided to throw all their budget in the amazing intro cinematic. Now there’s nothing wrong with an AA game, quite the opposite, but they don’t usually beat every single record in the history of video games (ok, I’m exaggerating, but barely) in their opening weekend. And yet Baldur’s Gate did, and rightfully so.

So how did they do it

By knowing exactly which nail to hit, and boy did they hit it. And this is the lesson of the day: know what your game is about. Do I wish Baldur’s Gate 3 was as polished as, let’s say, a Diablo 4? Oh damn right I do. But what would be the cost? Well to figure this out, we need to go over something first.

When it comes to game development, the last 10% of polish can be as expensive as the first 90% of development. Taking a game’s engine from good to great is very much cost ineffective. And that’s without talking about the time it takes (although in game development, time often is money, so maybe I did talk about it? Anyway, you get the point). So if your core gameplay loop is, let’s say, fast action combat against endless hordes of mobs, you need that extra 10%. Your game needs to have no point of friction in its gameplay (have you ever played a laggy ARPG, or a MOBA with bad controls? It’s like using a cactus as a sex toy). But if your game is a highly immersive storytelling experience focused on writing and voice acting with an endless world to explore, not only do you not need that last coat of varnish on your game, but you shouldn’t invest into it. The opportunity cost is simply too high.

And if I know this, you can be damn sure Larian knows this. Now is it to say that Larian didn’t attempt to make their game as bug free and as technically impressive as possible? Definitely not. I can’t imagine the number of hours spent on polishing this game. But between working off the code of an existing game (which saves time, but imports bugs and limitations), using a proprietary engine and attempting the largest CRPG ever made, there wasn’t a chance on earth this game would play and behave as smooth as a Lost Ark. 

Fish can’t climb trees

And here is the conclusion. I was underwhelmed by Baldur’s Gate because I hadn’t put my CRPG glasses on. I was looking at it with the same perspective as I would a standard AAA game. And to be perfectly honest, there was also a lack of trust. I thought “Your story and characters won’t make up for that lackluster gameplay experience” (which is a very cynical view coming from a writer when you think about it). I thought wrong. And so, as a TTRPG designer, a life-long RPG fan and a storyteller, I have been humbled by Baldur’s Gate, and reminded of the most fundamental game design rule: it’s not about perfection, it is about creating an experience.