YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED to Compare Starfield & Baldur's Gate 3

[@FuncleChuck]

People have a very hard time separating “I had fun playing this game” and not taking it personally when you point out the flaws, because they were able to ignore or overlook them so they assume you’re just being a dick… who can say who’s right and wrong.

[@moose8337]

I swear it's because they end up feeling dumb for not seeing the obvious flaws right in front of them and that makes them feel inferior.

[@BillClinton228]

It's just a video game... you can live the rest of your life not playing this specific video game and you wouldn't have missed anything🤣🤣🤣

[@Battleneter]

All I know is, I was playing BG3 as Starfield launched and about 60 hrs in great game. I am now 170hrs deep into Starfield and have no desire to return to BG3 any time soon. Is BG3 a technically better game, I think so and I plan to get back to it, but I am simply finding Starfield more fun as I slowly chip away at it.

[@BrickDaniels-qu7bz]

@@Battleneter I think you're a liar.

[@hitman-mq1wk]

​@@BrickDaniels-qu7bzI think you've never played starfield

[@ItsShatter]

A voice actor wins an award for best performance of the year, and BG3 just gives you the opportunity to kill them off almost immediately. That is amazing freedom of choice.

[@ionicafardefrica]

though, in all fairness, I think Ketheric Thorme's actor did much better. As well as the guy who voiced Minsc. But hey, what do I know, I'm not a critic

[@ItsShatter]

@@ionicafardefrica you can kill both of them basically as soon as you meet them too! Though, yeah, Matthew Mercer did a great job voicing Minsc!

[@fepethepenguin8287]

Hoo won voice actor? Astarion??

[@ItsShatter]

@@fepethepenguin8287 yes Astarion

[@fepethepenguin8287]

@@ItsShatter oh cool.. I thot he did great.

[@danoeel3909]

For BG3, my 10 yr old walked in and saw me playing and pointed to astarion and asked “who’s that vampire?” And I asked what makes her think he’s a vampire, her response “because I have eyes” 😂😅

[@Stforv]

Well, he's pale, red eyes, fangs, and a bite on his neck, pretty obvious actually)))

[@Grummar]

Congrats on a genre-savvy 10-year old, heh!

[@crimsonstride5457]

Literally me too except it was who's that twink vampire

[@gerhardadler3418]

I thought he is gay, the vampire thing came only later into my mind.

[@Stforv]

@@gerhardadler3418 That was a first thought about every male companion)

[@braedenhaeck7030]

My baldurs gate moment was when my entire party failed a strength check on a statue, so I randomly decided to throw grease at it, and it suddenly moved. Maybe it’s kinda silly but that just felt so cool.

[@shadowwolfkan9358]

I... I feel dumb. I didn't even think of that.

[@nickhutton9216]

Because that's a real life experience

[@itsmenoname2247]

these little things make gaming fun.

[@kiwa_1]

Same for me, but in my case I just got angry that they all failed and decided to hit it. This also made it move. They thought of everything!

[@ChrisMorray]

I know the exact statue you're talking about too. One of the two statues in Lathander's monastery that hides the legendary weapon. I failed them all too and just whacked it out of anger with Karlach, and then it moved and I just went "Wait WHAT?!"

[@OuterRimPride]

I like that you’re comparing some of the most mild and unimportant interactions in BG3 to some of the most central quests in Starfield but they’re still more thought out

[@Molotov_Milkshake]

Doesn't take much with Bethesda's awful writing. Fact is that Larian's writing is fucking atrocious as well, just in a different way. Play Divinity OS1 or OS2 and you'll see what I mean.

[@JoeEver123]

⁠@@Molotov_MilkshakeI see what you mean but at the same time, they have great moment too. It really sucks to point only the weakness. At least Larian writing is eloquent and fun to read in comparaison with Bethesda

[@ProjectMalywix]

@@Molotov_Milkshake Oooh, so you're just kind of down here spreading L takes as a bait on every comment. Gotcha, keep at it bud.

[@christophstangl9706]

@@ProjectMalywix its not bait, hes just a narcissist who thinks that everyone but himself got bad taste

[@schwany6703]

​@@Molotov_Milkshakesure maybe larian writing isn't the greatest thing of all time, but "fucking atrocious" is ridiculous to say

[@GamerRMT]

There was a core difference in design philosophy in BG3 compared to most other games, including Starfield. Where other games ask, "how can we funnel the player into the outcome we need for the story", BG3 asks "how can we make the narrative work no matter how the player decides to approach it?"

[@haihuynh8337]

All depends on the writer. It's like reading books. There are books that send the reader to the outcome that the author want. There are books that narrate the story and let the reader fantasize. To be honest, BG3 is nothing special. It's just one of its kind. Many people got hyped because they like BG3's kind. And to be honest, there haven't been many games of such kind recently. That's what makes BG3 seem special.

[@Mikeyboy779]

@@haihuynh8337if it’s one of its kind that means it’s special dude and if the story your trying to lead the reader to is shit then that invalidates the whole thing

[@haihuynh8337]

@@Mikeyboy779 Everything relies on the author/writer, not the game itself. A game is not special, the story and universe it attempts to depict is. In term of game mechanism, BG3 is not special nor new. The mechanism of Star Citizen is special and new, not BG3. Baldur's Gate has been my favorite because of its universe and story. And it dated since Baldur's Gate 1, 2, Icewind Dale, etc. So BG3 is just another one with a more traditional table top turn-based combat - which I don't like because it breaks the immersion too much for me. Starfield is different than BG3 because it's a mix of fast pace 1st/3rd person ground and space combat and the traditional storytelling RPG (which is not really good due to the writer). Instead of BG3 that only focuses on the story and the safe approach of table-top turn-based combat (which is used by so many games recently due to its easiness to implement compared to real time combat), Starfield spreads across many gameplay mechanisms and ends up not being the best of many of them. But at least in Starfield, if I can't enjoy the deep and logical story like in Baldur's Gate series, I can still enjoy the fast paced combats, collecting and customizing gears, designing spaceships and having fun with them, or simply building an outpost on a weird planet and enjoying the view. I doubt that BG3 would bring such mechanisms on the table. For me, BG3 might be interesting for a few times but once the story is through, I'll get bored, especially by the turn-based combat.

[@SL4PSH0CK]

true, starting with the writing and environmental design, to notably its genre as its identity. heard BG3 as a crpg is even considered as an immersive sim.

[@suburbanindie]

The term you're looking for is "railroading"

[@andreaw2053]

Was playing Bg3 with my partner the other day. We came across a book on a pressure plate and I jokingly said we should try the Indiana Jones trick. Queue us giggling like 10 year olds as my partner moves as far away as possible while I carefully maneuver a pot onto the pressure plate and remove the book, expecting it to be like any other game where I'd instantly explode for trying something so silly... I did not, in fact, explode... The game actually allows you to do the Indiana Jones trick with no prompting, hinting, dialogue options, nothing. BG3 rewards players for thinking, whether it's pure ingenuity or a silly joke idea.

[@theblackoutexplorer2658]

Huh… dam I should of done that, I just used my magic hand too throw the book over the bars. Trap can’t kill Me if i don’t enter the room

[@SolarisKane]

@GodNotReal I wouldn't waste your money on Starfield, at least not for several more years. Wait for the complete edition to be on heavy sale. By then there should be plenty of mods to make the game a little more enjoyable. Baldur's Gate 3 though is worth full price right now. Shit man, I've got 200 hours in the game since full release and I've only barely touched act 2, because I keep making new characters to try new builds and do different stuff in act 1, there's so many things to do in different ways.

[@heftymagic4814]

hah gay

[@queengames8421]

It's funny you mention that, because I had almost the exact opposite experience with a different trap. It was the sarcophagus trap in the temple. In case you missed it, the set up is that when you open the sarcophagus to get a key, gargoyles on the wall start endlessly shooting fireballs, while vents on the floor spew grease. Now, I already knew that you could put objects on the vents to block the grease, but the fireballs were a problem. They exploded when they hit the sarcophagus, so there wasn't really a safe spot. So I backtracked out of the room, and picked up nearby chests (which have very high HP pools) to put in front of a few gargoyles so they'd be blocked on the side my character was picking up the key from. Except it didn't matter. Because the fireballs don't interact with environmental objects, even if they have health. They just *phased right through* the chest. As far as I can tell, there's no mechanical reason why this is the case, considering they did interact with the terrain. Baldur's Gate 3 has a lot of possibilities, but it seemingly only rewards player for thinking of the ideas that the developers also thought of. It's just that the developers DID think of a lot of these solutions. It's just a very weird issue to have, if you even consider it as such.

[@Vulken2000]

@@queengames8421 I thought I was the only one to try blocking fireballs. XD

[@Charsept]

Baldur's Gate 3 and Elden Ring have something in common. They both have a frick ton of content that they don't care whether you see or not. Even after a 100 hour playthrough. You know for a fact that there is another 100 hours of stuff that you missed.

[@marcpaulus6291]

i am 120 hours in Starfield and havent even done 50% of the Game. If you take your time like in all Bethesda games, exploring and doing side content (wich is always better than the main story line) and dont rush the main story and leaving the other 70% of the game aside like veritas did (and we are even not speaking here about the NG+) then yes, Starfiel has as much content as Elden Ring or Baldurs gate.

[@scrublord7922]

​@@marcpaulus6291doing the same procedural cave/outpost kills my immersion. Skyrim and fallout did exploration better.

[@nickrubin7312]

Exactly, one of the few games that don't really care, but reward players if they want to explore and see content, and don't treat player like a mindless drone who needs to be guided all the time

[@maze8974]

@@marcpaulus6291 I did most of side content I could find in starfield. It was fetch quest or kill the same pirates again and again. I found a few quests that was not one of these two options and they were very poorly written and bad....Player almost never have a choice to make. The only choice I remember was with the ship that travel hundreds of years and the choices given are all bad (while all the other guest make u a good guy). U can destroy the ship but u can't kill the CEO ? bullshit... Starfield is ugly and boring...no choice, bad writing, the world is bland and uninspired.

[@bobmcbobbington9220]

Content isn't impressive and never will be impressive. Something BGS and their fans don't understand. You fell into the same trap. Nobody cares how many hours you put into something.

[@bananaana1860]

I can't help but also mention, if you fail a dice roll, Larian actually has scenes of you failing. If you fail a deception check, enemies obviously aggro. But if you fail a strength or dex check, you see your character failing. If you fail an Intelligence or Arcana check, the narrator actually says it in a "dumb" way, where you as the player don't get further clues. If you fail an insight check, you don't notice other's lying to you. I have endless praise for this game, and I will not shutup about it

[@gageriddle1681]

Oh the best part eoth the insight thing. That reminds me about the emerald Grove kids. Forgot her name but she's the pink tiefling kid that Mattis was using to pick people's pockets. Well anyways I passed my insight check that told me her tears were real and she was actually stressed out. Bear in mind I would've actually smacked the shit out of her if I failed that check. That's something I can't say I've ever had in a game before and that's just a mundane example

[@flatline-timer]

Oh yes! I LOVE it when games 'reward' failures like this, making it a legitimate choice/option instead of just something to avoid.

[@VaellinTheBard]

Or legitimately having certain spells on that change interactions. Speak with Animals is obvious, but there's also Detect Thoughts and I am willing to bet others. I'm only on Act 2 atm but holy cow.

[@xuanathan]

Have you seen what happens when you fail the performance check to skip the queue in the house of healing? Genuinely hilarious

[@chicken4090]

Shut up

[@JoeNoshow27]

Starfield is pretty impressive looking for a 2010 game. I'd love to know what it would look like if it'd been released in 2023.

[@EstariaValens]

This is my thought exactly. Well except for the impressive part. It would be a good game in 2010. That's about it.

[@JohnnySkrimblo]

​@@EstariaValens I disagree, it pales in comparison to its peers, Fallout New Vegas, Halo Reach, BioShock 2 and Mass Effect 2... Star Wars Force Unleashed... Red Dead Redemption....

[@j85grim4]

This is no joke, the facial animations look worse than in Fallout 4. No one moves their eyebrows up and down constantly for no apparent reason when they talk like that and the lips moving look just strange, unnatural and spongy. How can more money result in worse animators being hired?

[@nocturnal101ravenous6]

Its a modders paradise game, I personally see it as a Tabla Rasa of sorts, Its a bunch of minigames put together and none of it particularly does anything above an average rating, its the most unremarkable game I have ever played. Its a game I would say wait 5 years before you touch it, You want all the patches expansions DLC and most of all the access to the Mods that would make the game into actually something.

[@Hellaluyeah]

Yeah, except like other have said, it actually looks worse. Compare that space bar at 19:23 to the bars in Mass Effect 2 (2010) and I would pick the Citadel every time. It is also so immersion breaking having the NPC models carrying bags and suit cases....in a bar. What were they thinking?

[@innocentsmith6091]

They made planets barren wastelands but still put the undiscovered macguffins 20 feet from the human settlements. Todd is an absolute madman.

[@Alic4444]

muahaha

[@Uncanny_Mountain]

They had no design document or even a writer Let alone a team. This is actually shocking, and should really be a bigger deal. By one source the budget should be around 400 million before advertising. Thats nearly twice the cost of Star Citizen, an MMO that does all the same stuff but without the loading screens Just seems like a really cynical deception, especially when you look at the language todd used It really feels like he's doing the whole "well its your fault for believing me" Its incredibly dubious ethically speaking, when you shit out a copy paste of previous games with a reskin and minimal effort Where the fuck did all the money go?????

[@TessaTickle]

Todd is not a madman, he's a corporate drone milking the user base.

[@barahng]

@@Uncanny_Mountain To be fair, if you take Todd at face value at this point, when "sweet little lies" has been a meme for over a decade, it kind of is your fault. In the BEST case, he's an overpromising exaggerater, in the worst case he's cynically lying to market the game. Either way anything Todd touches should be a day 1 pirate and then MAYBE buy if the game is fixed with mods a year later.

[@Gnarfendorf]

​@@Uncanny_Mountain im not sure where you get your numbers from, but im pretty sure star citizen has eaten more than 200 mil at this point. Also, while i find sc far superior when it comes to gameplay, i wouldnt compare them at any level currently, with sc being at least 10 years away from beta stage and them being different genres outside of the space setting.

[@l7986]

The backlash against BG3 from other developers is because it reminds companies of how games used to be made and makes players question why its not done any more.

[@localhearthian2387]

It's more like the execs will have no idea how BG3 works and tell the devs to do really stupid things to try and replicate it. Mark my words, most triple AAA studios will bankrupt themselves chasing quantity over quality.

[@l7986]

@@localhearthian2387 That's the EA way. Buy a company, take all the credit for games that were already being made and coast on the unearned reputation for a few years, shit out a few reskins of an older game while swearing its a completely new game and eventually throw the shriveled up corpse of a once great company onto the pile of your previous victims.

[@Mikx100]

​@@localhearthian2387bg3 is not quantity of quality, it's just quality. Every other developer is copy pasting content to make world bigger

[@BelimaiSykes]

@@Mikx100 Here Here. It's the best video game ever made. I'm getting older, my game sessions are getting shorter just from anxiety and chest pains. Baldurs Gate 3 kept me up for 48 hours straight. Not even exaggerating. This is my favorite hobby and nothing has ever had this effect on me. It made me realize I've never really played an RPG because everything I did actually mattered. I never got the appeal of DND and table top RPGs despite being table top games being one of my hobbies as well until I played BG3. I'm still no fan of real people, my husband and cat are plenty for me so won't be seeking a D&D group but I get it now.

[@simonsalgueiro6217]

"Used to be made". In that you are not wrong, as Larian released DoS 1 and 2 unfinished too. STOP bootlicking companies boots just because it's trendy in the gaming community. The gaming community is one of the sheepiest communities you can find. Everything is group thinking cause half of the "gamers" have the personality of a brick. Larian released an unfinished game. Yea, Act 1 and 2 are 10/10. Awesome. BUT, Act 3 is a completely different story. Many stories were unfinished in act 3, promised parts never to be seen (like the high city, Karlach's story, Cazador's hold over the rich...). Data miners found all of this, btw, I'm not making things up, and all the big patches we are getting are there to try to hide this, as most people will take a while to reach Act 3. The ending is totally rushed, it felt dissapointing as hell. 2-3 lines per companion, your character looking like an NPC, and one last scene, MCU style, with Withers. That was it. It was LAME. Act 3 is filled with bugs, glitches and confusing moments. Quests go nuts, people were reporting loses of over 40 hours in saves. I had to revert 2 hours cause Act 3 suddenly decided Dame Aylin was dead in the quest log. Many dialogues make no sense, as they speak to you about things you never did. Exactly what they did with DoS 1 and 2: they release finished act 1 and 2, knowing players will make reveiws based on those, then leave the rest to patches. DoS2 was never completed untill the definitive edition. No, Larian is not a good exmaple of "old style companies". Stop simping. They released the game before it was ready to get more sales in case Starfield was as good as some people thought (it wasn't, although I don't think it's as bad as some put it)

[@bananaana1860]

One thing I haven’t seen people mention about BG3, is the side quests are not all over the place. I don’t have to go back and forth between npc to complete the quest. If I do, it’s near a waypoint, it’s returning once. Or I actually get to meet them at another location, WITHOUT A QUEST MARKER in game world. It’s not a hassle to complete side quests in BG3. And at any moment you can antagonize or attack an npc. And just cast speak with dead. Picking up and completing quests felt natural, I could choose to ignore that quest line or “fail” it. I don’t have to run errands for NPCs, and sometimes you get to choose who you want to side with in a quest. The journey doesn’t have an illusion or choice with the dialogue, as your choices actually matter

[@Molotov_Milkshake]

Oh look, another BG3 fan who has never played Baldur's Gate 1/2 or even played a CRPG before.

[@Molotov_Milkshake]

Also BG3's predecessors ( Divinity OS1+OS2 ) were a cluttered mess. There were so many side quests on the tiny maps, that the questlog was an absolute clusterfuck. I gave up on even looking at it and decided to just go around killing everything instead because it was more fun. I kind of expect BG3 to end up the same way since BG3 is actually DOS3 in FR clothing.

[@benwilliams9016]

@@Molotov_Milkshake I mean I wouldn’t be too surprised a lot of people haven’t played 1 or 2, just like a lot of people haven’t played the original fallouts, doesn’t mean we have to gatekeep

[@jdksdj11]

@@benwilliams9016 Look at any random comment under this video praising BG3 and you will see his response. He is prime example of a gatekeeper telling people how their favourite new thing is worse in every way than his childhood memories.

[@cyruscrompton8221]

​@@Molotov_MilkshakeWhat? How is that even remotely relevant? If they praise bg3 why would you point out what bg1/2 does wrong? If you wanna shit on bg3 in the comments you should at least try shitting on bg3

[@qualifiedarmchaircritic]

I love how Larian exposed the lie so many game developers fall back on, being "sadly, that mechanic is impossible to implement 😢😢". It exposes that games being badly designed or shallow is not a technical limitation but a conscious decision by developers/shareholders for which consumers have a right to hold them accountable.

[@Cyb3rHusky]

I'll be honest, I was doubting some features that would be difficult for Larian to implement due to how the engine worked, like reactions and flight. And fuck me, they did it anyway. Shows how conditioned I've been by mainstream game development.

[@irrellevents]

Impossible for US to implement. They're unskilled. Also, their engine sucks, and it would be exceedingly difficult to implement that feature in that engine. Larian put years into making this engine actually work for this game, instead of either using a bandaided 20 year old engine, or trying to shoehorn an FPS engine into their game

[@Molotov_Milkshake]

Ironic, considering that Larian refuse to implement simple mechanics like drag+drop character selection and instead choose to keep using retarded mechanics like 'character chaining' instead. They refuse to implement day/night cycles too. Pathetic. Let's not pretend Larian are great. They are fucking terrible.

[@Molotov_Milkshake]

@@irrellevents Pure delusion. Larian are amateurs and can't even implement features that were present in BG1 and BG2 20+ years ago. They are comparatively more competent than Bethesda, but that doesn't take much. Larian's games are SHIT too. More fun than the cancer Bethesda produces, but still shit.

[@Molotov_Milkshake]

@@Cyb3rHusky are you kidding? Larian couldn't even implement the features that were in BG1 and BG2 over 20 years ago. No day/night cycle (wat) and no sensible character selection system like literally every other CRPG has. Larian are absolute shit. They only look good here because of how utterly inept Bethesda are. Objectively they are both terrible devs.

[@LSmallCatL]

I have to admit.. BG3 made me realize what a lazy/ stupid gamer I had become as 99% of games lead you by your nose to everywhere. I simply cannot remember the last time I’ve come across a game that rewards exploration/ curiosity the way BG3 does. BG3 would be the best current RPG with just a good/ bad ending but the fact that you can play a completely different game, time and time again is what makes this the very best game I’ve ever come across. It’s a part 3 in a series that is everything and much much more than its predecessors.

[@kaelinvoker8331]

play souls games

[@kaelinvoker8331]

play souls games

[@LSmallCatL]

@@kaelinvoker8331 it's better than most but not nearly up to that level

[@LarsaXL]

Oh hell yeah I agree. Was playing through Raft and got to the same conclusion. That game has a few easy puzzles that stumped me and made me consider looking up a walkthrough guide. Then I remembered that id exactly what I wanted out of a game and how they used to be. I had so much fun solving the puzzles after that, even brought out pen and paper for the Tangaroa one. The puzzles aren't even that hard, it's just that the game doesn't keep throwing additional clues at you or solve it for you. You either figure it out yourself or you're stuck. Don't think I've felt as smart or had as fun playing a game since Kerbal Space Program.

[@JesusistheonetrueGod]

Try Divinity original sin 2, the game Larian made before BG3

[@alphgeek]

The cats in BG3 have more personality than the Starfield NPCs.

[@vindicator879]

HISSS.... I say HISSS!!!

[@TheParagonIsDead]

Nahh

[@thekillingtomat]

what i find amazing about BG3 is that i have 350h in baldurs gate atm and almost every clip you've shown from the game you show me something that ive either entirely missed or did in a different way. its honestly insane how much depth this game has.

[@OrcBro]

919 hours. (granted 500 of them was in Early Access) but still... SAME lol

[@Kellethorn]

Agreed. 350 hours in between me and my wife and we just hit act 3. Neither of us feels like we're even past the "beginner" stage and we LOVE it. Game is an absolute masterpiece.

[@ChrisWebberN7]

200 hours over two playthroughs here and I STILL have at least 5 different playthroughs (minus origin playthroughs) before I've seen ALMOST everything. Not even different story decision combos, but I mean EVERYTHING. Durge playthroughs, race playthroughs, missed content, etc

[@blisterfingers8169]

That's not depth. It's breadth.

[@JohnDoe-ou7mq]

3 years of early access can do that it's quite surprising huh

[@CMDRunematti]

The single one time when Victor tells V that there's nothing anyone can do in the beginning of cp77 is more impactful than anything starfield

[@chloewebb5526]

Oh god I know. And the female voice actress reallly hits those emotional notes in parts like that. Hell, I cried my eyes out hearing her and johnny's talk in the new ending... Hell, Phantom Liberty had me crying like 6 times as I played through it for the different endings... great stuff

[@sydhamelin1265]

Yeah that was a really strong scene, scary, sad, crazy. Then the follow up with Misty, really made you feel the weight of the story.

[@NeonPixels81]

This is an interesting take because so many times during Starfield, I actually found myself wishing I was playing Cyberpunk 2077, oddly, which six months ago I would have thought was crazy. The story in CP2077 took a dive at the end, but there were some very, very good moments along the way that were extremely memorable. The only memorable quest I can think of in Starfield is the choice between the UC or The Fleet, and even then it was only memorable because it was so looooong. It actually made me nostalgic for Fallout 4 and how quirky and interesting a lot of the side quests were. Remember the one where the Ghoul kid was trapped in a fridge for like 100 years or something? Even that silly ass quest was more memorable than 90% of Starfield.

[@enitsu-142]

@@chloewebb5526God I cried so hard at the end of Phantom Liberty, I feel you so much

[@Malaclypse_the_Third]

I think it's because bits of Starfield feel like poor quality Cyberpunk? Neon City and the combat movement for example.@@NeonPixels81

[@dranek]

The voice acting done by a single Pigeon in BG3 is better than all of the voice acting in Starfield combined.

[@Aggrofool]

Starfield's VAs are mad talented. But the tepid writing and "my face is tired" blank stare faces just ruin everything.

[@UmVtCg]

Commander Lightfeather is one hell of a pigeon

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

@@Aggrofool I think the VAs are good, but I don't like the way Bethesda directs their VAs and never have since Oblivion. Their pacing is always off and their delivery way too dramatic to what their engine has ever been able to deliver. There were moments in BG3, on the other hand, where I was genuinely taken aback by line delivery. Every line, and the animation along with it, feels so... intentional.

[@youngwolf024]

​@@Crazy_Diamond_75lae'zel legit almost made me cry when the queen betrayed her, they did that scene so well.

[@munchkingod6]

@@Aggrofool^that^ The problem isn’t the VA. If you took the BG3 cast and made them deliver BGS dialogue over the Bethesda faced stares they’d sound like shit too. This is all bad writing.

[@TheSabataish]

One thing to add to the early bg3 shrine you were talking about. In a later run, i found a way into the deepest part first, worked my way through all of it, then came out where they are arguing. They noticed and i got the option to pretend to be a monster that they woke, and they took off terrified

[@syyneater]

That’s awesome! I love that there are still little details and tweaks that I haven’t discovered despite multiple play throughs.

[@TheSabataish]

@@syyneater honestly i was surprised they had that and loved it

[@Nikzzza]

I love it that I'm 800 hours into bg3 and haven't seen every interaction possible. Truly something else.

[@j0nnyism]

So cool

[@j0nnyism]

I was able to pretend I was one of them.

[@Hugo74390]

In BG3 you come across Necromancers slavers in the Underdark, if you run up to them and refuse to help it triggers a fight, they have the high ground and raise a group of undead that surrounds you turn 1. I wiped three or four times in this fight, then decided to try a different approach. Climed the structure undetected, and when the dialogue triggered as I was coming in the back of the boss he was basically saying "WTF how did you get here ??", as the fight started I just pushed him off and he died from fall damage. That's when I truly realized this game was a real masterpiece.

[@Molotov_Milkshake]

the combat is good. But the RP elements are trash and the story pacing and writing are pure cancer. If this was just a TB strategy game then maybe it would be a masterpiece, but as a CRPG it's a fuckin joke.

[@ivandankob7112]

It’s a true dilemma On one hand we love to see people into the chasm, but their loot flies with them :(

[@ProjectMalywix]

@@Molotov_Milkshake Kek, sure buddy.

[@cottoncandiez8872]

? What slavers in the understand? I've clearly missed them. The dark dwarves?

[@ProjectMalywix]

@@cottoncandiez8872 yep, the dark dwarves, or duergar, are a raiding and enslaving sort of kind

[@C.L.Stinnett]

My eye opener moment in BG3 was traveling through the UnderDark my friend and I came across a pile of skeletons and my character commented saying "looks like they fell" and we were both like huh thats interesting I wonder where from, fast forward 20 hours later and we backtracked to the Blighted Village to fight the spider mother for the necromancy book, when my character mentioned feeling a breeze, as my friend was attending to the book I misty stepped into the green glowing pit before going into a cutscene of her falling to her death and landing beside the skeletons 😅 suffice to say I was both impressed cause such a small detail became really important and upset cause she died thankfully my friend found me and resurrected my character. BG3 makes even small details stand out later on when you realize why they exist

[@kostiskarianakis5570]

Fun fact: if you use feather fall, you can use that pit to enter the underdark properly.

[@kittydaddy2023]

Fun fact: if you knock the spider queen down there you can use Glut to raise her as a spore zombie and fight for you.

[@cool2314]

@@kittydaddy2023 lol i did not know that, thanks for the tip

[@snwbrdr191]

Oh BG3 is polished AF! I hope it makes our gamer consumer bar so high that we expect that level of detail. Now we need Microsoft/Activision/Blizzard/ + Every one else! To jump on board....

[@SL4PSH0CK]

​@@kostiskarianakis5570 @kittydaddy2023 holy how dynamic and reactive the world is, no wonder its considered as an immersive sim. wild they've manage to anticipate players next move based from the amount of things offered on screen and even based on players decisions

[@SolarisKane]

28:00 Did you know you can go through the crypt backwards by picklocking the door on the beach? If you do and come out through the front before ever meeting these guys you get a unique encounter. You even have a dialogue option to pretend you're an undead spirit risen from the grave and scare them away! Not only that but if you approach them from the top left where the ranger guy is then still another unique dialogue situation occurs, and if you want to fight them that's a much more favorable position. I haven't yet tried to start the encounter from the right where the mage is to see if there's still another unique conversation starter. This game is so amazing!

[@SudoYETI]

Thats just one encounter in a game full of unique encounters. I understand TBS isn't for everyone or even RP heavy story but man if you are then BG3 is amazing.

[@TheLuftpolsterfolie]

I came from the left and when the fight started I pushed him from the barrel 😂

[@HappyLarry.]

Pretty sure you need a critical success to open the door near the beach.

[@SolarisKane]

@@HappyLarry. Nah. Just get Astarian, get the smuggler's ring, and go back to the door when you're level 3 and preferably with a full party. Remember you can avoid that whole section for as long as you want.

[@Dead_Goat]

Except there is no difference between going that way and any other. Everything is literal the same.

[@Larathen]

The one thing in BG3 has made me repeatedly do was literally think the implications of any choice or dialogue that made me question if I was making the right choice. Cause real actual consequences can happen depending on choices. Starfield was just a tourism guide that was like "hey look at this thing that happened, move onto the next." with no coherence.

[@vsr1994]

400 hours in CP77, 250 hours in BG3 and I still want to play. 56 hours in SF felt punishing.

[@akbblessed1415]

🧢

[@fluke7506]

@@akbblessed1415 Nah i played 2077 recently. blew me away. honestly its crazy. i love it. Cant wait for bg3 on xbox. starfield bores me

[@mugendono23]

It's almost like Bethesda put all their skill points into persuasion. 🤣

[@enlightendbel]

"But with mods it'll be great!"

[@Lyudo]

​@@mugendono23i wish i was able to persuade steam to refund my copy of the game :(((

[@jarjar2930]

Fun fact about the dialogue at 28:40 in bg3 - if u first arrive at the tomb on the upper floor with the archer (the path connects here to the grove* a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT dialogue scene will occur. And this has the same level of depth as the original. In a bethesda game you wouldnt even be able to access the upper floor without going through the first floor

[@sioandel6248]

The story of Starfield feels like it just tell you "You should feel sad" "You should be impressed" while trying nothing to make you feel so.

[@Dead_Goat]

So literally the same as bg3.

[@gownerjones]

@@Dead_Goat How old are you, 12? I reckon you've never read a book in your life.

[@87axal]

​@@Dead_GoatCope

[@CreativeUsernameEh]

@@Dead_Goat you have got to be kidding me

[@maddasher8471]

@@Dead_Goat cry some more

[@Fenrirthewolfking66]

So my first play through of Baldur's Gate was composed of me wandering around for hours trying to figure out how to get to the Goblin Camp. I found myself in battles that I was totally under leveled for, missing various story beats, and just losing myself in the game. I has been years since I have had so much gun in a video game.

[@j0nnyism]

Yea that’s what I love. U don’t even have to complete mainline quests if u don’t want to. Just do what u like and u still have fun

[@misterghoul9457]

As much as missing a questline sucks, I love it more when the option exists. Its such a weird thing to like that you can miss a quest or scene because of your actions

[@DovahTheHero]

I still haven't gotten past the beginning of the game after u crash the game is confusing as hell and even on the normal difficulty I lose a fight in a well I jumped into :/

[@ZeallustImmortal]

In my first playthrough I couldnt find the road to the goblin camp, eventually found a cliff overlooking it and just jumped down the cliff rather than using the giant open main entrance.

[@ozziethedivine]

I LOVED the Rapheal fight in bg3. Not only cause of the cool music, but cause he seems exactly like the kinda person to sing his own boss music, it was epic!

[@TheDimir]

Also if you silence Raphael in the fight, song would change, cause there wouldn't be Raphael's voice

[@Chumppi]

What's crazy is that I've played through BG3 twice and a lot of these scenes I haven't even seen yet I recognized every single one from Starfield!

[@kathrynck]

If you did bg3 in 80 hours, you missed half of it. And to be honest, even if you are meticulous about exploring every detail (down to and including reading all the books and notes) which would take at least 150 hours, you _cannot_ explore all of it in a single playthrough. Perhaps not even in two or three playthroughs. Because choices have consequences, and when you make one, hours of content disappears into the ether, so you can explore the content which does result from your choice. And some of the details are so subtle that it's possible to be the only non-dev to have figured some of the minor bits of storytelling out. There are expertly researched playthrough guides which missed details, story, dialogue options, possible solutions, surprising loot, etc.

[@holdeenyo8914]

there's like 17,000 endings for baldurs gate, its literally impossible to do everything in the game.@@kathrynck

[@fartloudYT]

I dread playing Starfield for 10 playthroughs as per devs intention. There isn't enough content and dynamic systems in it compared even to other bethesda games.

[@ikeduno7973]

I was waiting for somebody to show the starborn ships, landed and unscannable, even on the first play. I've seen five and I'm only lvl 37. Companions don't even react.

[@sethael1741]

yeah, and here is me. 200h into starfield and finding still something new.. and now?

[@autoingrement]

I love BG3 that all the companions also grow up as people along the story. Once you find out why they behave the way they do you can change them by your choices. You can also just kill them or never even meet them. They all have interesting back stories and feel like actual people with emotions and they can leave your camp if you mistreat them. No other game has made me truly care about the other characters as much as BG3.

[@brichess8227]

For me gale grew from horny and happy wizard to horny for power and not so happy wizard … wait am I a bad influence

[@bl8388]

@@brichess8227 Maybe you need to wear more makeup next time. 😉

[@lady_deaths_head]

You can completely miss them, for example I have no idea who the fuck Gale is lmao

[@Hollowtriangles]

I never met gale because the narrator said it was dangerous to reach into a weird void so I didn’t lol. Didn’t realise until after I beat the game that I missed a major companion

[@gownerjones]

On my first playthrough, I never even found Astarion. On my second playthrough, I cut Gale's hand off when he needed help out of that portal and never saw him again. This type of freedom doesn't exist in any other game.

[@floppyj.burger5402]

Turning down wyll was so heart breaking that. Even tho I planned on playing the game again anyways. My biggest motivation was to play it again just so I can dance with wyll and romance him. I am a straight married man. Baddies gate 3 is really something else

[@angelicastern2385]

My MC danced with Wyll but turned away at the kiss suggestion afterward. The pain in his face and voice broke me up, ngl

[@sniperwolfe0361]

I’m perplexed by the amount of times I’ve just stumbled across something in BG3 that I’ve found or unlocked by sheer accident or general curiosity that could have just as easily been missed without technically missing anything really important. Really Makes you wonder how many other things you just simply passed by without knowing your actually missing out on content. It’s astounding how much atmosphere and immersion that Larian created, fully knowing that most players actually won’t experience everything they made

[@bjorn-falkoandreas9472]

I was like, why should I bow to this godlike being? Or be polite? Let's be a bit snotty. What is the worst that could happen. The game did not elaborate on why pissing off a god is a bad idea. Everything else is always played out in great detail. In this case the game was really, really blunt and simply told you that you are dead. Didn't elaborate. Pissed off a god? You are dead. No tentacles. No generic messy explosion in gore and viscera. Just a pissed-off DM who tells you that insulting a god to their face can only go one way and if you want to reload.

[@SaveMeXenu]

@@bjorn-falkoandreas9472 Little bit of a correction, Vlaakith is not a god. She WANTS to be a god, but so far no luck. The way she kills you is by utilizing the Wish spell, which calls to an ACTUAL god to do the work.

[@kathrynck]

@@SaveMeXenu Yeah, she's technically a Demilich. Kinda like a lich which is nudging into demi-god territory.

[@V2ULTRAKill]

​@@bjorn-falkoandreas9472to be fair She isnt a god, and all she did was cast wish Not like the lady of pain

[@ewjiml]

Hahah I did the same thing and wasn’t shocked she turned me into a ton of giblets.

[@chasesmay7237]

BG3 is so good, and I will compare every rpg to it (as a customer) BG3 simply IS the bar, now (to me) I don’t mean that as a sleight, I mean that companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars on games I am not willing to sink my time into. I am Always happy to sit down and play BG3. BG3 is so special

[@zelestial1681]

Agreed. *Astarion approves* lol 🎉🎉🎉

[@Travolta12e]

Not sure if this is mentioned in the video, but one of the coolest moments in BG3 was in Act 3, when I killed the serial killer and then tried to speak with him using the Speak with the Dead spell. That triggered a special dialogue where the dead serial killer declines to speak with his murderers (in this case, my party). So I decided to try again, this time using the Disguise spell first and lol and behold, it worked! I could interrogate the dead serial killer and get some information out of him, that helped progress his quest. BG3 is the closest we ever got to a genuine tabletop experience, and makes games like Starfield feel archaic and outdated.

[@oachkatzlschwoaph]

Learned something new!

[@MegaVirus700]

It's a great interaction, but not unique to that NPC. For anyone who doesn't know, this works for anyone you've killed.

[@Em022]

It really does. It makes you realize that a lot of adventure games are more like amusement park rail rides than actual open world experiences.

[@xw0lfpack91x]

Have you ever stopped to think that it’s the closest we have got to a TTRPG because it IS a TTRPG? It’s even got the turn based combat and dice roll probably mechanics. It’s literally just a digital TTRPG in a setting that has existed for almost 40 years.

[@prettieboiswag6659]

@@xw0lfpack91xyou say that like there's an abundance of games that gives that much freedom in modern games

[@RafdyGonzalez]

My peak moment in bg3 was when I could not reach a goblin with a melee attack with karlack so I threw a rat that was next to her, RIP soldier, your sacrifice will be remembered forever 😢

[@Reece_Hart]

I was watching someone play some Cyberpunk recently and he pointed something out that's so little but once noticed stands out like a sore thumb and that's how the NPC's react to the character. In Cyberpunk a lot of the NPC's will be having conversations between each other or doing normal mundane stuff and for the most part will ignore the player unless directly interacted with, as you would expect people to do in reality. In Starfield you can't go any where without some NPC following your every move by staring at you the entire time. Or they outright stop you to lore dump some stupid exposition and it just causes your brain to go "No one talks or acts like this" which instantly breaks all immersion.

[@orbit1894]

I agree. Never played a more gamey game than SF lately. Does BGS even know what immersion is.

[@trogdor8764]

Different tastes, I guess. I get that it's not realistic, but as a player, I want to be able to hear everything, especially any unique conversations that are going on. It drives me nuts when npcs talk over each other. Mars was particularly 'bad' in this way, because you have npcs doing 1-off conversations, plus the constant announcements over the PA, plus screen-shaking explosions, plus chatter from npcs who wander into 'greeting range', plus your companion randomly commenting...

[@Synthia17]

I love how Cyberpunk had that same negotiation for a thing scene and the difference in execution is staggering.

[@ladykryo4592]

I mean, aint this just how bethesda games be?? Like, fallout 4, 3, skyrim?

[@Pomlithe]

@@ladykryo4592On the one hand, yes, absolutely, this is the same problem as it's always been. On the other hand, since Starfield presents us with futuristic, densely-populated settings, we would expect the people there to behave like anyone else in a busy city, right? If Nazeem stops us in the street square, or the people in Freeside stare at the new person in town, we know that's fine enough, because they're medieval or post-apocalyptic fantasies and someone new coming into town is likely a bit deal for some of those locales (maybe some Starfield locations count too). But despite acting in largely the same way they always have, because the context of Starfield is different, cities can feel _especially_ fake and hollow, because in real life, not everyone is watching and following you.

[@XH13]

Speaking of the crypt at the start of BG3's act 1. Last night, I tried to do that sequence backwards : entering the crypt by lock-picking one of the exits, killing the adventurers inside then getting out by the normal "entrance". The dialogue with the NPC outside is completely different, as they acknowledge you came from the crypt.

[@desdenova1]

Starfield is impressive in the way that it somehow manages to be less than the sum of its parts.

[@macccu]

Yeah no. People like Starfield because it's a "Bethesda game" and they are riding on Skyrim nostalgia. Calling it impressive in a slap in face of people who made games like BG3 or even Cyberpunk. Fallout 4 came out same year as Witcher 3. Yet when you play Cyberpunk you don't feel like its reskinned Witcher with graphic tweaks. Cyberpunk is completely different new thing. Meanwhile Starfield feels like Fallout 3 (which felt just like Skyrim with guns) in space.

[@EmperorDude1990]

@@macccu I wish Starfield felt like Fallout 4 in space to me. I'd have enjoyed playing it then.

[@desdenova1]

@@macccu I wasn't using the word "impressive" in a positive sense...

[@KillahMate]

@@macccuDid you stop reading three words in?

[@LinksRoyal]

as Angry Joe once said " As wide as an ocean, but has the depth of a puddle "

[@Aymungoos]

29:00 Another great thing about BG3 is that if you end an encounter peacefully you still get the same xp as if you killed them so you dont fall too far behind while being peaceful

[@0ptimuscrime]

It took me 3 play throughs of BG3 to realise the extent to which other modern games had taught me to turn off my brain. I think back to Elden Ring and how, at the time, I regarded the lack of direct information as a misstep. "I understand that they're trying to make me pay attention, but in reality I just sit with the wiki open on my phone." No, I had just learned to turn my brain off.

[@WhaleDisease]

In saying, "No, I had just learned to turn my brain off," the person suggests a self-realization: they had become accustomed to not thinking critically or actively engaging while gaming, instead relying on external resources like game guides or wikis to provide straightforward answers. The person does not explicitly take a "side" in the gaming debate, but their reflection seems to critique the trend in some modern games that guide players too explicitly, preventing them from fully engaging with or appreciating the gaming experience. They seem to favor a gaming experience that encourages or requires more active thought and engagement, as with the design of "Elden Ring" and "BG3". The person seems to advocate for a gaming experience where players need to think and engage more actively, which they believe enhances the overall experience.

[@thedoomslayer5863]

Same with me. I even did the no brain thing with BG3 in the beginning until little details like the Astarion no reflection thing came up among others and I was like "wait, me checking things out and getting information to predict future events is rewarded? The game lets me do stuff on my own?" And I felt like the cogs long filled with cobwebs not turning finally began to be used. It was at first even slightly annoying to think so much on every quest but over time I realized "wait this is how I used to enjoy media or anything really" and never looked back. Now when I play a brain dead game like starfield I have to just make up stories in my head just to keep the ol brain engine warm since the game isn't gonna let me figure things out on my own.

[@hah-vj7hc]

Same here. And I still shut it off by accident lol

[@0ptimuscrime]

@@thedoomslayer5863 It was Raphael in bg3 that woke me up. I had to really think about whether or not to take his deal because it also implied that I could have taken a drastically different path with regard to the guardian character. I had to ask myself what he knew, why he was asking at this point in time, and what this meant for the motives of the guardian.

[@EverythingWasGreat]

Try playing Tunic.

[@alexwtf80]

BG3 feels like it was playtested as a pen and paper campaign by multiple groups. If you want to give people freedom, you will never be able to do so by solving your own puzzle. You have to present the situation, the conflict, the problem to different people and see how they are going to tackle it in their own way.

[@TheKillaShow]

3 years worth of open playtesting by the audience will do that to a game. The open beta and Larians earnest effort to adapt the game to that feedback is how BG3 happened. Why more studios dont do this is beyond me. They form an echo chamber in the studio and just hope the audience will enjoy it. That is Starfield.

[@westenev]

It's funny how you can go into bg3 trying to break the game, only to find the dev's accounted for your mischief (like throwing away a plot mcguffin for a game over, or transmog the group into githyanki in the creche while turning lae'zel into a human). Starfield is very linear and frustrating if you don't play the way the dev's intend (the morally good paragon who has the opportunity to sometimes do evil things for the lols).

[@nickv1212]

@@TheKillaShow There was an interview with an ex-Bethesda dev who said what made Todd special is that he could put himself in the shoes of the average player while the rest of them can't. Is that why every other game on the market it is trouncing it in terms of quality and QOL features? He knows what the player wants but even he admits his favorite mods are the UI mods. Starfield requires completely different buttons to do the same thing in different parts of the many menus you'll shuffle through, is that what players want Todd? If you're unsure of what players want, how can you even be sure Todd knows?

[@nonyabisness6306]

They tested the first chapter. It quickly deteriorates after that.

[@alexwtf80]

@@nonyabisness6306not true

[@Secretsofsociety]

If you want to railroad conversations to have less branches because branches aren't what your game is about, do it the way cyberpunk does it. Have an orange one that moves the conversation forward and white options for when you want to hear more of the lore. That way you are never wasting your time because if you want to hear the lore you hear the lore.

[@CheekiTiki]

Honestly we'd be here all day if we broke down everything CP does better than SF.

[@HappyLarry.]

Previous games have done that years ago

[@AEWLEE]

How about dialogue that actually changes the outcome of the quest? Its not like its 2023 or anything

[@HierophanticRose]

Yes, Cyberpunk 2077 tried to be a full life sim RPG, couldn't in the end, but at least it doesnt hide its depth behind illusory texts that have same replies.

[@CheekiTiki]

@@HierophanticRose tbh I feel like only the marketing department made CP2077 to be some sort of SIM. The core design of the game itself seems to have very little trace of this notion.

[@hoboofserenity]

After some simple googling: Development on Starfield started in 2016. Larian obtained the license for BG3 in 2016, so it probably started then or early 2017. Budget for Starfield is estimated to be around $400M. BG3 was estimated to be $100M. The team size for BG3 was apparently around 150. Starfield apparently had around 250. So in the same amount of time as Larian, with 4 times the budget and 66% bigger dev team Bethesda made a much worse game, With bad storytelling, writing, game mechanics and world building, that feels like they phoned it in every single step of the way. From dialogues, to player agency, to the perk/skill system and complexity, to weapons and armor, to ship building.. to the exploration and base building mechanics. Every single one is objectivly worse than in their earlier titles that had similar systems. Both studios based the game on an existing engine, with similarities in the base systems from previous games. They had an extremely similar starting point for their games. And yet it's just so much worse. I have 176 hours in Starfield and over 300 in BG3. I played trough BG3 3 times back to back, and had a very different experience, character build and outcome every single time. I struggled against starfields game mechanics, levelling system and story every single step of the way. Having gone from BG3's writing and complex believeable characters to the characters in Starfield was just extremely disappointing. Even the powers you get are just a worse version of Dragon shouts from Skyrim. They could have given you an endless range of cool space powers, and instead the variety and usefulness of them is worse than the variety and range of shouts in Skyrim were. If you were to compare Starfield to Mass effect: Andromeda today, Andromeda is the better and more complex game with a better story and exploration elements. Andromeda was mocked for the facial animations, go and compare facial animations in Andromeda to the ones in Starfield. The facial animations and character design on NPC's in Andromeda is equal or better than those in Starfield. Andromeda has you exploring space, meeting people, factions, ALIENS, have a complex variety of character builds and skills that completely change how you approach combat. And yet Mass Effect: Andromeda was overwhelmingly negativly recieved and seen as a failed game when it released in 2017. The standard we judge games by has sunk since 2017. But no no, people in the industry say expecting more is unreasonable. The industry today is a disappointment, ruled by the marketing department rather than people with a vision.

[@StopItRyan]

The thing with BG3 is that I have played this every day since launch and logged 500 hours in Early Access during the pandemic. I still nightly say "wow I can't believe how great of an experience that was."

[@dsglogs]

I love how they've written what would be considered an evil character in BG3 (Shadowheart, Astarion, and Lae'zel). Shadowheart is particularly interesting, she is strategically evil (follows evil god, originally wants to kill a planar etc), but she does not know that she is evil, so on tactical level, she is approving of small good acts. Astarion on the other hand, had layers of PTSD over the years of being subjugated by Casador, he feels like doing evil acts, to avoid attention of his master, even when he is away.

[@BigSeth1090]

Also: depending on your choices, they can all change a lot. The one that got me was in Act 3, when Astarion approved when I fed a hungry orphan, and then approved when I let her stay at my camp. “Oh, huh, he’s changed.”

[@josenob1]

Nobody thinks they're evil, no matter how evil they are.

[@BigSeth1090]

@@josenob1 I think Orin might be the one big exception to the rule

[@westenev]

@@josenob1 people fall into malice and depravity, or just hate themselves. I'd say those people would consider themselves "evil".

[@Mayhzon]

"strategically evil" is utilitarian / machiavellian thinking. Unless it is done out of pure joy, rather than tactical advantage.

[@vikram5491]

People who rated Starfield 9 or 10 have totally disrespected games that legitimately deserved a 9.

[@fuzztsimmers3415]

Almost no games deserve even 7 out of 10. Most games at most are 4 or 5 out of 10.

[@ZaklnGritch]

Yeah anyone that rated it that high is really risking their legitimacy

[@KuraKekoa]

I feel it’s a solid 6.5, 7 tops. I enjoyed the game but it absolutely deserves every scrap of criticism it’s getting.

[@V2ULTRAKill]

Considering Starfield on par with Planescape Torment is actual sacrilege

[@codyvandal2860]

@@KuraKekoa My thoughts precisely.

[@LinweAifhyl]

I haven't finished BG3 yet but what I love about it is that even when you warned us about spoilers, my first thought was "As long as it's not the main quest I don't really care" because the game is so rich I may never encounter the same NPC as you or I'll meet them in a totally different stage of the game and the interaction will be different ! Then I'm not really getting spoiled.

[@thecheck968]

I couldn't tell you the last time I made an evil, even morally dubious, choice in a video game before Baldur's Gate. But Baldur's Gate makes it so easy. You have no idea how the characters around you will react, how even the character you're being awful to will react. Like you said, so many games just scold you for being mean. But in bg3, you can literally blow up a building full of people who potentially had a life saving cure to offer you. Then the only companions who approve are the ones who got crushed under the rubble and one whose people who you buried alive.

[@Molotov_Milkshake]

Sounds like you've never played a fucking CRPG. Typical BG3 fan.

[@Crundmama]

39:12 Fuck, that is so cool. Baldur's Gate 3 just continues to amaze me with stuff I didnt even know was possible in it.

[@jerichocruzado]

BG3 is the game that let me abandon all preconceived notions of how gameplay can be. Details so deep I know there will be articles on new things found in game three plus years from now.

[@oakmage]

BG3 game of the year.

[@trxsh_oc]

play Icewind Dale 2, Avernum 3, Arcanum and Planescape. they fought so baldurs 3 could jog safe at night.

[@thedoomslayer5863]

​@@trxsh_ocBaldurs gate 3 was going to jog whether it was safe or not. They went outside strapped so the gaming industry isn't gonna mug em

[@trxsh_oc]

@@thedoomslayer5863 i dont get the point of arguing anything. BG3 is BG3 im suggesting go play OG crpgs and feel a depth BG3 couldnt get to. yt has become an argumentative ces pit and vertias dude is a contributing factor of "right and wrong" when this is a medium about passion.

[@bdbgh]

My BG3 moment was when I cheesed the fight against the people looking for Karlach, my party was pretty under levelled, but I figured out that I could block all the doors but 1 and bait the enemy to come over to the precarious cliff next to the building, giving me a chance to push them down, over and over again.

[@garyburke6156]

pushing enemies off cliffs is the single best way to win battles in BG3, its hilarious every time

[@Spectral-Spiff]

my BG3 moment was when i killed the drow goblin leader by bitch slapping her with a salami

[@hypothalapotamus5293]

Like Odysseus slaughtering the suitors.

[@OneSpikeyGuy]

I did the EXACT same thing lol

[@Molotov_Milkshake]

Sounds like a really deep, challenging tactical experience.

[@j0nnyism]

A lift is the perfect place to hide a loading screen but they couldn’t even be bothered to do that. Such laziness yet they expected to be game of the year. I’m pleased Todd was stuck to his seat during the game awards

[@joseffus5432]

"If starfield is an open world game, then so is super mario." Damn that one hit hard

[@Krocxigor]

Is it bad I completely agreed with him on that?

[@shinybearevidra]

Some super Mario games are even more open world than this.

[@Krocxigor]

@@shinybearevidra Some? I thought most were after the 64 came out.

[@ritzkola2302]

Difference between open world and sandbox is the thing.

[@Dead_Goat]

That argument makes no sense whatsoever. Even more so when in the same breath people claim BG3 is an open world when it is the most linear crpg on the planet.

[@Motyogo]

BG3 is mind blowing, game of the year 100% imo.

[@gownerjones]

I'm almost 30 years old and have been a gamer since I was 3. For me, BG3 is the game of my lifetime, not just this year.

[@Dead_Goat]

BG3 is the most overrated garbage game of 2020 to release in 2023 propped up by youtubers and reddit morons.

[@StoriesByDighe]

BG3 changed my definition of a full featured game. It’s crazy well done.

[@Evanz111]

What’s infuriating to me about the Entangled quest is that it’s one of the longest in the game, with the most loot you’ll pick up throughout - and yet they stick you in an area without any vendor, ship storage access, and take away your companion from you. I get people will say “just don’t pick up loot then” but there is no indication of just how ridiculously long the quest is. I must have thought “this must be the last room” about five times, so I kept trucking on expecting any moment I’d be able to go back and sell my loot.

[@fnnsjsnnejejdndnxhxjna]

It's also ripped in it's entirety from the Titanfall 2 campaign, but done more poorly. I'm so glad I played Starfield first

[@llehsaderob]

Bethesda games are lootwhore addictive, but lootwhore punishing... I'm gonna use the unencumbered cheat just to finish it...

[@Dassick89]

Right click send to camp... Unless that's also unavailable at the time.

[@steel8231]

It still gets me that BG3 managed to get optimized so well that one build used 30% less ram than the initial release, and AAA devs were pissed because they couldn't figure out how they did it.

[@threestars2164]

6+ years of development + being the top 15 most expensive game by development cost helps.

[@steel8231]

@@threestars2164 Starfield had double BG3's budget and about 1.4x more time in development. Want to try a more valid excuse?

[@Markus-8Muireg]

​@@threestars2164 Where did you get that top 15 most expensive game by development cost from? I couldn't find any list of most expensive games with baldurs gate 3 on it, and the numbers I found were ~100 million Dollars for Baldurs gate 3 and ~200 million Dollars for Starfield.

[@crazebear]

Biggest point that showed they didn’t care: I picked the Serpent’s Embrace feat at the start of the game AKA I was a follower of the great Serpent. During Andreja’s romance she worries about our “difference in faith” even though we literally followed the same faith (which was something I was able to bring up earlier in the quests) and was given ZERO dialogue option to be like “dude we follow the same God.” Absolutely lazy.

[@kyberite]

******puts glasses on****** You simply got... Todd-Howered. *******puts glasses on****** YYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH also known as Toddied, or when it's really a spicy one you can say he/she/they got Toddsterd"

[@PanEtRosa]

lol meanwhile, over in BG3, giving Shadowheart an idol of Shar while romancing her as a cleric of Selune: SH, "Is this some kind of trick? Why would a Selunite do this?" Tav, "Cause I like you and your faith matters to you, so it matters to me. Now shut up and kiss me like you hate me." SH, still trying to figure out what your angle is but she can't back down when provoked, "Easily done."

[@goblingoddessgaming608]

Omg, are you kidding me?? Sorry for the late reply I only just got to the end of the game, was busy with BG3. I did her romance and was contemplating making a new character who worships the serpent to see how it affects the romance, expecting a different experience..... Jesus, Bethesda has become the laziest RPG dev out there. It's not funny anymore. Thank you for saving me from that disappointment.

[@nonyabisness6306]

That could easily be a bug, something BG3 has plenty of. Lot's of flags just don't get set/set wrongly. Heck there where a lot of ways to bug the game so where you could get the drow companion as well as halsin etc.

[@haihuynh8337]

You literally stated that "I was a follower of the Great Serpent". What about now - during the moment of your romance with Andreja? What did you do to show her that you're still a follower of the Great Serpent? Or rather, you are more of a follower of the artifacts and the Unity?

[@PicesQ]

Remember that there are at least 40 ways to escape from prison in BG3, and it all depends on which race, spell, or weapon you are playing. There is a video on KZbin that demonstrates all these different ways.

[@catbert7]

So much time wasted by Larian when they could have just learned from Bethesda that all you need is to have one conversation and the guards let you out to recruit you 🤡

[@PicesQ]

@@catbert7 i don't even know if this is sarcasm or not lol 🤣

[@Vekcrazah]

​@@PicesQlikely sarcasm. Considering that we all are in agreement Bethesda cut some corners a whole damn lot

[@justohird5685]

​@@VekcrazahBethesda cut so many corners they made a circle

[@MrMastrmonstr]

and that circle is very bad@@justohird5685

[@BrokenMessiah1]

People only want you to compare it to older Bethesda games but like that's not a conversation I think they really want to have lol

[@Mirthful_Midori]

The fact it's still worse than Bethesda's own previous titles does not bode well for TE6. Although I haven't expected much from Bethesda in a very long time.

[@BrokenMessiah1]

@@Mirthful_Midori they should just not even bother trying to get es6 out this gen and just use that time to switch to a completely different engine and make it a next gen title for like 2030

[@bigboyfinesse8310]

@@BrokenMessiah1i said this back when they announced they‘re working on starfield. It would have been way better from the beginning. But it’s all a money move, otherwise they would have started the work on an actual new engine back when people said that fallout 4 felt dated already.

[@SkintSNIPER262]

it's not@@Mirthful_Midori

[@Shosty]

​@@SkintSNIPER262it is.

[@sachi8483]

1:41:50 I have been debating on Outer Wilds for a while, you have, with this small clip, convinced me about buying it. My god that was beautiful.

[@panzer00]

This is the game that Bethesda has wanted to make for like 20 years and the industry FINALLY had the technology to make it... riiiight Todd.

[@Silentpoppy]

im pretty sure todd is a pathological liar at this point man spews so much BS you would think he ran a farm not a game studio.

[@colinmullally5747]

@@Silentpoppymakes you wonder why Todd is given free passes to this type of promotional deceit; any other figurehead known for consistent overpromising would be treated like Molyneux

[@panzer00]

@colinmullally5747 this is why I no longer buy games at launch. People do themselves a disservice to blindly buy a game based on deceptive, proven time and time again, marketing. No Mans Sky was gamers waking up - it actually red pilled me to the state of modern games development and marketing. Cyberpunk 2077 was gamers fighting back - having played RED, I refunded 2077 after trying to love it. (Which is funny because No Mans Sky is absurdly good now and 2077's 2.0 is how I imagined it could be) but those instances of developers making a come back can not become the trend that developers cling to; their end product must be what developers strive to launch. Bethesda's design philosophy is outdated. They refuse to innovate on their own unique systems that are falling a part - the quirky, janky AI isn't charming anymore. Starfield would've been acceptable 12 years ago, not today. People refuse to accept objective reality when their subjective opinions are affirmed by the developers, the "reviewers," and the echo chambers they call "communities." Subjective fun does not equal objective good.

[@trxsh_oc]

play Icewind Dale 2, Avernum 3, Arcanum and Planescape. they fought so baldurs 3 could jog safe at night.

[@panzer00]

@@Silentpoppy listening to the words he says and his opinion of his own games makes me wonder if he has some inflated understanding of what his games are even capable of achieving because half the shit he says his games can do, they can't. It's quite bizarre.

[@FargosGames]

Side note on the raphael boss music: Raphael actually sings it, if you make him loose control of his body he stops singing

[@Bokmoh]

No fucking way, I need to try this!!!

[@ivandankob7112]

@@Bokmohthere is a spell that can force people into an irresistible dance, so you can make him groove with his own song

[@Thyrfingrulez]

You can silence him to. same effect@@Bokmoh

[@chefren77]

@@Bokmoh He is a bard, so it makes perfect sense. He is also a Disney villain so it makes double sense :)

[@BoleDaPole]

Wow you guys are easily empressed.. baldurs gate doesn't even have 1/1000th of planets to visit. It also doesn't let you create custom space ship. Also no space piretes

[@wladib8770]

Seeing Cyberpunk after watching parts of Starfield for an entire hour, my mind was absolutely blown away. The difference in quality is astronomical.

[@UmbraWeiss]

People compare Cyberpunk to Starfield in the wrong ways you need to compare the release version to it... not the full paid Update after 3years that makes people pay 2x for the same game or the game they said it will be, and it's still only 50%there so you can expect the rest in another full paid Dlc and you can get the full game for 3x the price.

[@RazzocFTW]

@@UmbraWeiss I don't think you are being fair to the game. I played it at launch on PC and did not experience all the issues people mostly complain about. The story, voice acting, graphics, amazing world - they were there from the start. The broken cop system and glitches were there too, 100%, no argument there. But now the 2.0 release is FREE to owners of the game. Even if you do not buy the DLC and pick up the original game on sale you still get the full original story + revamped leveling and improved vehicle, cop, etc systems. You don't pay twice for it, you can literally have the vastly improved original for 50% or less. Whether you want to buy the DLC afterward is completely separate.

[@munchkingod6]

@@UmbraWeissI call BS. Played it on launch on PC. Certainly had problems but the day it released Cyberpunk was a better game than SF. No contest. Better looking, better written, better designed.

[@SolarisKane]

@@munchkingod6 Exactly. Even Cyberpunk at its worst is better than Starfield at its best.

[@whiskybob]

@@UmbraWeiss Sure, starfield has fewer technical difficulties. But Cyberpunk, even on release, had still better: music, side content, exploration, story, dialogues, characters, ambiance and combat. With all the technical buggy jank, Cyberpunk was still superior in almost every single aspect to this turd. Also, the fact that Cyberpunk 2077 became good after almost 3 years still says something. Bethesda never fixes their games, modders do. The only game Bethesda tried to fix was Fallout 76 because it is an online game with no mod support. Starfield in three years will be the same Starfield that we have now. Besides I doubt Bethesda can fix: terrible writing, terrible story, shitty characters, boring as fuck meaningless exploration, bland music and janky combat. Maybe somewhere in 2024 we'll get a DLC with exploration vehicles and 5-hour long side story and that's it. Core game will remain what it is - the midest of mid games 2023.

[@dylhas1]

Killing the owl bear mom while speaking to animals is active was one of the saddest things I’ve witnessed in a game. I genuinely felt horrible and had to reload a save and walk away. The voice acting for the cub was so perfect and sad, along with the superb animation of the eyes to really add to the sadness and desperation of the cub. BG3 is one of my favorite games ever and I haven’t passed act 1 yet. It’s an incredibly dynamic game in terms of both combat and story telling. An incredible feat of gaming and hopefully it will influence more games to have immersive sim mechanics. That dynamic type of gameplay is what can make a game infinitely replayable and starfield has zero of that. Starfield was fun but doesn’t compare to Skyrim, nevermind Baldurs Gate 3

[@scullyy]

Maybe you reloaded your save before the owl cub started eating his mom!

[@3XZDgg]

​@@scullyythe mom also ate the cub's older bro. nature is metal af.

[@BleakNote]

Threw the Spectator that was in that jar into the Gith patrol where you can meet Laezel (if you turned her away initially). Not even kidding, they killed it in TWO TURNS. Luckily I rolled a few crits and managed to finish them off by pushing them off the bridge (a few times) but Laezel, Astarion and my character all died and needed to be revived for it to actually work. Gith patrol is cracked man, I didn't know what else to do to get through it 😅

[@Tazazak]

The mom ate her own son, and the cub ate it’s mom after it died, if that helps lol. I felt the same until it started eating her 😯😳

[@Svoorhout85]

​​@@3XZDggGotta recycle those nutrients. Thats also why stressed out animals eat their young. If a predator threatens to eat your babies, you're better off eating them yourself and denying them the meal so you stay strong and start a new nest. Its brutal but strangely pragmatic.

[@Gl0Ck_Dookie]

I just finished my first bg3 play through, 205 hrs total, I explored every inch of the map it was amazing

[@Boss_Man1371]

My first one was about 200 hrs too and despite trying to be a completionist and doing everything I could that my choices would allow I am still shocked at the amount I missed.

[@NumnutSify]

Wait until you guys play the dark urge play through. Holy moly it’s a different game.

[@tj3603]

It's when you think you explored everything, you go to the forums to discuss your experience with other people, and find out you barely scratched the surface. Because you suddenly discover some dragon lady was able to talk to a demon in a cave beyond illusion, which you could not see, because you played as high elf, and you had to be dragon to have this conversation, and this particular demon gives you solution to some hard problem in third act! There's NPCs with entire questlines, that exist only for specific characters, there are lengthy cutscenes that may differ on your POV or even exist only if you play certain class or origin, or combination of both. And even if you do your runs exactly the same, sometimes generic lines get randomized. Like some NPC's pay attention in what order you talk to them in a camp, and ether have friendly conversation or tell you to f off. Seriously, in what other modern rpg NPC can get their feelings hurt and become grumpy, because they saw you chatting with everyone, but them? Level of detail is insane!

[@whiskybob]

205 hrs total and you are prolly at 40% of the content to see :D

[@fomorians]

I assure you, you have not explored every inch of the map in 205hrs. And that's a GOOD THING.

[@KiazaKadaj]

i do love the voice acting so much in BG3. The companions and other characters are also so well written. Ketheric will be a villain i think about for the rest of my life.

[@carlosvalentin7485]

Kethereic was good, but in my opinion he was the worst antagonist in bg3

[@TheCentralScrutinizerAgain]

just wait until you get to a certain * evil * fight later on, now that one i will truly remember for years.

[@drigzmo9419]

I feel like I've seen Ketheric in any fantasy story ever. Good guy loves his daughter, because corrupted and evil, but still good guy kind of.

[@KiazaKadaj]

@@TheCentralScrutinizerAgain yeah i liked the other bosses but something about the events of act 2 and reading the journals, exploring the mausoleum and the tower and going into the oubliette was just so cool to me. I loved that section of the game.

[@trxsh_oc]

play Icewind Dale 2, Avernum 3, Arcanum and Planescape. they fought so baldurs 3 could jog safe at night.

[@viniciusrodrigues1689]

On the roleplaying & meaningful choice bit, it would be totally fair to compare that starfield mission dialogue with the small dialogue on act 1 with astarion and the vampire hunter. On that dialogue you can have many decisions IF you already know that astarion is a vampire, but they also made a completely different route to that conversation in case you still don't know that astarion is a vamp

[@tamagogohann]

You also have different decisions if you leave Astarion in the camp, as well as slightly different dialogue if you decide to bring him to the hunter after you already talk to him.

[@SolarisKane]

My ONLY complaint about that conversation is that when you already know Astarian is a vampire then the gur has no problem telling you the name of who he is after. But if you don't yet know Astarian is a vampire then the gur will not tell you his prey's name and there's no option to ask. If you don't know Astarian's secret and make the right choices, Astarian will kill the gur in dialogue and you don't have to fight him. This game is so amazing. They went through the trouble to program in a unique encounter for a situation most players will never experience. Because most players are going to long rest (and thus learn Astarian's secret) long before they ever meet the gur.

[@SolarisKane]

@@tamagogohann You can tell the gur where your camp is then go talk to Astarian and reveal what you did. He's naturally mad, but you have the option to tell him you did it so you can ambush the gur when he comes for him. I didn't explore that option to see if you really get to fight the gur in your camp, but I expect you do.

[@viniciusrodrigues1689]

@@SolarisKane I like to play bg3 in a way that I can fully see its limits, I didn't think about speaking to gur without astarion and without know he is a vampire. Kudos to you for think about doing it. If it was still early access larian would have postponed launch so they could fix this bit. Unplayable as it is

[@tamagogohann]

@@viniciusrodrigues1689 tbf if you don't know he's a vampire you just need to pass a dice check to get the gur to tell you, I think you should have to go through the same check if you already know he's a vampire, but it hardly makes it unplayable lol

[@cheungyan9987]

Imagine going to a restaurant and ordering a dish, a dish that critics say its quite good. When it arrives you see it looks like shit and is quite smelly While being suspicious, critics wouldnt enjoy eating shit plus some people you know enjoyed the dish So you take the first bite, it tastes like shit In disbelief you ask the waiter to call the chef You say to the chef "It looks like shit, smells like shit and tastes like shit. You served me shit" In defense of the chef, your friend on the other side of the table reprimends you "You cant be certain its shit, you havent even finished the dish"

[@vindicator879]

I'm curious what kind of dishes would be considered that bad 😂😂😂

[@RevJR]

1:14:30 or so. I remember, one time, I was playing a warlock in a 3.5e Eberron campaign. The small settlement we had just come into was under fire from hostile archers, maybe goblins or something. My character was a chaotic neutral warlock, and we're pinned down in various places throughout the village, with the encroaching band of whatever hiding just far enough away to keep arrows flowing in. My character spots a house with an open door, blasts a few bolts at the edges of town, while the mage and ranger are doing their best to return fire as well. An arrow lands in the door right beside my character's head, and he retreats momentarily inside, closing the door. A barely coherent villager, getting drunk at what he sees as the likely end of the world, slumped over in front of his liquor cabinet, a small child hiding in the corner. My warlock, chaotic as he is, takes one look at the fool of a man in a drunken stupor on the floor, and given the nature of his patron, uses his intimidation check to try to drive sense into the coward. An 8th level warlock with massive shadow weave wings, noble's clothing, red eyes, and in the early stages of getting possessed by a sentient mace, must've been quite the shock for this maybe level 0 NPC. The npc pisses himself, begs for forgiveness, my character tells him to act like an adult when his kids and village are in danger, and to quit drinking or my character will personally escort him to hell. The NPC then goes pale, passes out, my character steals the key to the liquor cabinet, and asks the kid if he might like help not dying today. My character's alignment changed from neutral to good, the party saves the village narrowly, and the drunk guy who apparently met the devil went on to live a quite sober life. Can't do that in Starfield, but it sounds like it's a perfectly plausible sidequest in Baldurs Gate 3. How did Starfield burn 5x the money and produce 1/5 the game?

[@Mac_Omegaly]

First off fantastic story. The reason why Bethesda spent so much money is mostly tied up in Contracts. But it has been suggested that there's problems with the team size being too big, and far too much time wasted in meetings with lower support teams. Essentially they attempted to produce a game beyond the scope of what is effective and efficient, upscaling the AAA development team to the bloated AAAA team dynamic with multiple teams involved. At which point you must spend 4-6 times as much more time and money simply communicating goals and objectives across a massive group for a small to no advantage, outside of graphics presentation. This means longer more expensive development, a much higher percentage of lost or unusable assets or scenarios... and especially if there's no creative flexibility in scale management the end result is subpar but nice to look at. This info is from a GDC talk or two.

[@BoleDaPole]

Most games are literal money laundering

[@thelordofcow5639]

I didn't realize asterion was a vampire, but I did immediately notice the vangs, and the bite mark on his neck. it was daytime so I was like "well he's probably not a vampire, probably just a dhampir (half-vampire)." I only realized he was actually a vampire when the monster hunter said he was looking for a vampire spawn, and asterion started shitting bricks.

[@Sister_of_Indigo_Fontaineaux]

when i found the boar in BG3, i also noticed the bite marks on astarion's neck and started looking at his teeth every time i saw him in dialogue until he finally tried to bite me. let him feed and trusted him and he actually fucking killed me 😂

[@emackenzie]

Honestly I can't be _too_ mad when I fail my check like that, seeing how that was the first time he'd ever drank from a human (and therefore the first time he ever needed to stop before he killed whatever he's feeding on)

[@Bokmoh]

Wait he kills you if you let him just continue?!? I let him have a taste but pushed him off, didn't know he went full haam 😂

[@emackenzie]

@@Bokmoh He gets absolutely lost in the sauce

[@Sketchblopp]

@@Bokmoh Extra funny: Once you have someone else raise you, he is surprised but happy it didn't went as bad as he expected. And then he tries to be like "let's not make a big thing out of that, you are fine now" or something along these lines. Bro, you killed me, how is this not a big deal! xD

[@LadyAstarionAncunin]

It's obvious he's a vampire from the very first conversation (in which you can see his teeth), but I suspected as much from the marketing art. White hair, pale skin, and red eyes? Maybe it's anime that's prepared me, but 1+1+1=3. Plus, the bite marks were obvious. It didn't even occur to me that vampires in the game wouldn't be able to daywalk.

[@Scornfull]

You're partially right about the dialogue writers and quest designers, they don't know what each other are doing, but also nobody working on the game is ever up to date on what each other are doing due to Emil Pagliarulo the head writer not wanting to put in the work to keep design documents up to date and hasn't used them since he became head writer back when Fallout 3 was being worked on and it really shows

[@1percentjewish]

Honestly thank you! After playing this game about 50 hours, most reviews feel like they were talking about an entirely different game than I played. Kudos!!

[@Turret3030]

Starfield is wide as the ocean and deep as a puddle. Baldur's Gate 3 is wide as the ocean and, much to the chagrin of AAA studios also as deep as the ocean. The sheer amount of possibilities and variety of outcome in Baldur's Gate is mind boggling. Nothing you do has only one possible outcome, most have more than two. It is frankly amazing, and Larian should be lauded for what they have accomplished. It's a literal masterpiece. The difference between these two games isn't money, or time, or the size of the team. It's love. Larian put their all their heart and soul into every inch of Baldur's Gate 3 and you can tell. Bethesda made another Bethesda game. It's not that you shouldn't be allowed to compared these games, It's that they are not comparable. BG3 is in a completely different league than Starfield.

[@tommyb6611]

False. BG3 is wide as puddle and deep as a lake If you've played it you'd know and not write BS. The game has a normal (for a proper gamer, not genz low attention span simpletons) depth story, but has a small maps and is limited AF. Nor random encounters not anything interesting. All is scripted. You spend 100 hours to explore it throughly and pretty much that is it. There's very limited replayability. While with Starfield their problem is it's using their severely outdated engine and asking a premium for the title. Starfield would be fair if sold for $30-35.

[@drigzmo9419]

Bg3 is the most linear rpg ever. Theres a loit of awesome mechanics, creativity. But: Save Scumming is so painfully incentivized. Didn't make charisma your dumpstat on your fighter? Fail a bunch of speech checks that lead to unwinnable odds. Missed a small piece of content from act 1? You story changes dramatically because you didnt do X task. Go back in saves. Bugged companions, bugged conversations? Go back in saves. The feeling of newness in Act 1 was dead to me because I had to keep redoing content. I'm so tired of hearing the narrator talk about those fucking gnolls. Bg3 is entirely comprised of linear encouters. Well thought out, well designed encounters, all of them, but linear. There is a lot of variety and possibilities in Baldur's Gate, but be honest, bro. It's an extra line of dialogue, a slightly different scene. But there aspects of your game that will change deeply are very very minimal. Minthara is probably the biggest one. But between Tav and Durge, you have two playthroughs with slightly different shades. I realized, from the jump, when I could play origin characters in the main game that yes, this game is designed with so much linearity that all of these characters are interchangeable in any scene. THat's cool! But it's not as deep as you think - it's the illusion of depth jjust like any game. That very niche scene that accounts for your very niche decision -- that is awesome and I love bg3 for it. It doesn't change your game very much, your gameplay or anything. It's a different window in a great looking house. I've been playing Starfield since I was 7 years old. I know exactly how a Bethesda game is going to play since I played Morrowind. It's a sandbox with content for me to headcanon my own story with, just like I've done with: morrowind, oblivion, skyrim, f3, fnew vegas, fallout 4... I can make my own story and headcanon with what they give me. I've been doing this just fine in Starfield. Bg3 is a great game, but I think people bought into the hype a lot and ignored the flaws. Por ejemplo my performance with Bg3 was/is an actual nightmare. The same was true for starfield until i moved to my ssd, now it runs better than Bg3 runs now. Bg3 is good but I just feel like it was a lot of people's first in depth c/rpg.

[@TheClaysie]

​@@tommyb6611 Did you even play BG3? A scripted game is not a bad thing, and story RPGs rely on a strong script. Take a look at Dragon Age, Mass Effect, The Witcher, or any other CRPG. And it is not just RPGs. Look at shooters like Half-Life 2 or the Bioshock series. Many strategy games have scripted events in the campaign. The fact that there are so many options to play BG3 makes it a great game. You don't have to kill every enemy in the game. You have the option to either talk your way out or just befriend them. It's possible to sneak and steal and drive the story forward this way. It's easy to tell a linear story. But in an RPG you make choices, and depending on how big they are, they can change the story a lot. And scripting all those possibilities is a insane task. And you really think BG3 story is shallow and has a limited replayability?

[@StrengthScholar0]

​​@@TheClaysie No one said that a scripted game is a bad thing. The point that he was making is that the original comment doesn't make sense because baldur's gate 3 is not "as wide as an ocean" it is geographically a relatively small game with a massive amount of depth within that small world. Starfield is a gargantuan game with barely any depth. The reason why these games really aren't comparable is because they are trying to accomplish entirely different things and have a vastly different level design complexity that is feasible at their scale. Btw I'm not even a fan of starfield I just think this is a ridiculous video that completely ignores the realities of game development. We would have been waiting 20 years if every starfield quest had the same depth as BG3.

[@zackfair6791]

BG3 is overrated. A lot of the writing and characters are trash.

[@redelephantsdotnl]

I never paid any attention to Starfield's marketing in advance, I kind of trusted it to be something of a Fallout/Skyrim in Space and if it were, I'd be more than happy with it. Fallout 4, despite its many, many flaws [that I mod out] is among my favorite games ever. So, I got Starfield. I always like to play as 'a regular dude in a weird world', and even though the game made me a miner in the first few minutes, that specific mining thing I felt, was boring as shit, so I built my character as a Space Trucker. Space Trucker, mind you, was an actual background you could pick. The Game lets you make or buy ships especially designed for Space Trucking. Fun, I figured. Especially since, in Bethesda games you're always the Chosen One and I thought this might be differerent. No, says the game, you're going to be the Chosen One regardless and find Dragon Shouts and all that. Fuck that, I said, I want to be a Space Trucker. And off I went. Until I picked up my first actual trucking mission. I accepted it from a console, the cargo was immediately loaded - nowhere to pick it up or something, just, done in the background as I hit 'accept mission'. I didn't even have to return to my ship, just, fast travel to a planet and there you go. Mission completed. Not, some port official telling me as much - just 'mission completed' on my screen. Because I travelled someplace. There's no flying, or managing how you park so the front loaders can reach your cargo hold... Just... fast travel. Well, fine. But even if THAT is a given... There is no plotting a course through safe space or try a more dangerous route to conserve fuel, anything to make this a remotely interesting endeavour... Just... Fast travel there, no questions asked. Go into a menu, pick the destination. Done. I then fast travelled to my Steam Library System and visited the uninstall planet.

[@VORASTRA]

Was you given a choice to visit Refund Star System?

[@sssprejer2831]

Underrated comment

[@XieronDraxin]

I know it was just a showcase of how much freedom the player is given in BG3, but seeing Astarion get staked genuinely hurt my heart T_T

[@Svoorhout85]

Gotta admit though, its a perfectly reasonable reaction to a vampire attempting to feed on you. But I keep my party members alive to see their stories unfold for the sake of more content.

[@WalkerRileyMC]

hurt his, too.

[@SL4PSH0CK]

like OG rpg and crpg before, but reactivity and interactivity in this scale i havent seen before till BG3. also the voice work w/ the scale of dialogues of the game

[@vindicator879]

this... but for me it's that horrifying Gale/Dark urge interaction

[@thomashightower7881]

​@@Svoorhout85sick pfp.

[@cgathunder2]

BG3, i shoved a giant spider boss down a giant hole into the underdark. Was afraid there might be loot so i used a feather fall potion and jumped down the hole. The spider was crumpled at the bottom and lootable. That is the attention to detail that matters

[@handson4580]

god damn really? thats insane

[@cgathunder2]

@handson4580 100%. If you've fought it you know the boss I'm talking about in act 1.

[@CptVein]

Holy shit! That's dope! I also pushed the spider but into the abyss. Didnt think about pushing it in the underdark. First time, I just jumped into the underdark without feather fall and I just game overed lol.

[@cgathunder2]

@CptVein yeah the fact that it was lootable after a cinematic and a loading screen was insane. I pushed it into a new zone and the game knew.

[@ha-kh7ef]

you know whats crazy? i never met that boss

[@Kaylakaze]

That's interesting about Astarion. For me, I just talked to him at the camp one day and he was like "Look, I need to tell you something. I'm a vampire." and I responded with something along the lines of "Well, no shit. We all already knew that." (since I could tell from the moment we met) and he was like "Oh, okay then. As long as we're all on the same page."

[@pacattack2586]

So the thing is if you get your companions to approve of you enough times they will willingly tell you their woes before shit hits the fan - get shadowheart to like you? She'll open up, same with Lazeal, same with gale, same with asterion, same with will... the characters in BG3 ct like real people they aren't going to go "Hey player! I have this problem I need you to solve!" they make sure that they can trust you with their problem first (when at all possible)

[@nonyabisness6306]

@@pacattack2586 Well, that's mostly after they fixed the bug where all companions just wanted to hump you after a single positive interaction.

[@joshuakim5240]

What's hilarious is that if you play as Astarion for your Origin character, you have the option to continuously deny everyone's suspicions that you're a vampire. However, everyone knows it because Astarion does a comically bad job at hiding it, so upon reaching act 2 your companions sit you down to have an intervention to stop badly pretending not to be a vampire due how cringe the attempt is. And you can still deny it to mess with them.

[@nullpo2478]

If you barely long rest Astarion do that. I experience the same thing as the video, but after my first run where I don't need to long rest that often, I do get that event instead because astarion never really get to drain the pig since my first long rest is in the underdark.

[@RobbieForReal]

I've never agreed with a video so hard until today. It's so wild to me that I've been sharing a lot of the same arguments since day 1 of its release to my friends and family hopping on this game and saying how good it was. I was so confused because I heard them talk more often about how frustrated they were about things not working properly, at the lack of ship parts that allowed them to build the ship they wanted to build, interactions with NPCs being blander and more stale than goddamn hardtack. I'm happy that the people I know have been able to derive some fun from the experience. Hell, I don't feel you tackled the one element I was expecting to be a blast myself which was the whole outpost building. You touch on it briefly, but to me that was going to be the game. "Unparalleled freedom" meant I'd be able to go onto a random planet, get a ton of room and just be a farmer, start a small town, set up my own shops, and be self-sufficient. HAH, nope. You can't even grow plants until you've scanned 100% of the flora you want to grow - and it just so happens to have to be growable too, can't grow everything. Oh, also you need to have invested a shit load of skill points into that part of the tree to even be able to grow plants. Everything that is remotely fun is locked behind skill points with a level progression so bland, so tiring, I feel like I'm wasting weeks of my time to shoot a little better, to fly my ship a little faster, to learn how to make a potted plant for my damn colony that apparently can only consist of 500 storage containers because everything takes up omega amounts of space. Starfield taught me that there are a lot of people who like playing in piles of bullshit, and that's perfectly OK, happy your happy. Just don't convince me that it's actually just mud, because I can damn well smell it. I don't normally even take this kind of stance either. It's just the fact that there are so many people living in some other universe that genuinely believe this game is an industry shifter, a masterpiece, 10/10 Game of the Year nominee. To be honest, I'd be real pissed if I see this on a list of any Game Awards categories.

[@shibernyan2009]

You can smell the bs🤣🤣🤣 Gotta hand it to ya, that was a good line. But yeah, I totally agree.

[@KtfoMustang]

The "you reject my blood so I will reclaim it" has the same energy as "I brought you into this world I'll take you back out" KEKW

[@mrclean2022]

Been a gamer for probably 30+ years or so now and have to say that BG3 is my number 1 game of all time, all things considered. Absolute masterpiece :D

[@Molotov_Milkshake]

What CRPGs have you played?

[@Praenuntium]

People giving Starfield a 10 are completely insane. I can't even begin to comprehend that.

[@chrismichaelis7259]

I’ve talked to multiple who told me it was their favorite RPG, and even in their top 3 games. I’d put it in my top 5, below Elden Ring, but definitely better than fallout 3. I honestly have no clue what people are talking about. If you look for bugs, you find them, so stop trying to and actually play it normally

[@MrRizz1]

cool to know you missed the entire point of this and the other vids@@chrismichaelis7259

[@MrNoot39449]

​@@chrismichaelis7259 Pigs also think slop is good, does that mean that we should all eat slop instead of proper food? A boring uninspired game like this charging you 70$ has no business having a personal army of fanboys, but because it has the Bethesda name attached to it, this cash grab gets special treatment

[@ashamahee]

@@MrNoot39449 or perhaps entertain this crazy idea, I know its insane but perhaps there is a bunch of people who actually like it? I mean could it possibly be that Bethesda scratches an itch that others dont and a lot of people have?

[@robcampion9917]

I've been playing games for 30 plus years and I've never played a 10/10 game, I've played a few 8 or 9s, plenty of 7, but most fall in the 4-6 bracket, most games in my mind are just ok.

[@boris2581]

The one thing that struck with BG3 and that, I think, define the entirety of what Larian wanted to do is the first time we see Alfira. This doesn't serve any purpose in the story, probably the vast majority of players missed it, but we have a great scene and a wonderful song for what? Only the player to enjoy a moment of peace. This game is great because you feel you are part of something and all those things are what makes you feel that way.

[@swordofkhaine8464]

Alfira is important part of Dark Urge storyline, which i believe is the canon. But i get what you mean though. I recently am playing warlock and got a special interaction with the Absolute that i never got in my paladin playthrough. This level of detail didnt even exist in Dragon Age Origins.

[@mazerumaze]

@@swordofkhaine8464 It's almost like DAO was a game from over a decade ago with far more limited development possibilities.... wild (though on the other hand you had things like what you're wearing affecting your interactions with NPCs in Arcanum - on top of your race, sex, intelligence, picked specialties--- but that was largely permitted by the game utilising that all but text was relatively limited back in 2000)

[@gownerjones]

That encounter made me so happy. My first playthrough was a half-elven bard named Modra. I expected a game like most other where a bard type character is forgotten about, kind of pointless really. And I got this encounter with my Modra. She helped Alfira write her song and then we performed together afterwards. Every bard you meet in the game will play what you're playing if you use the perform action next to them. They wrote the songs in such a way where each instrument has their own part and the more bards with different instruments you get together, the more it harmonizes and fills out the performance. When Alfira sang her song to us, I cried a little. Then I played with her and it cheered me up. Like things were going to be okay. Playing as a bard for my first playthrough seemed like I'm setting myself a challenge, make the game as unenjoyable as possible. What I got was a game that respected my choice and gave me an abundance of things to do with my class. Absolutely mind-blowing.

[@87axal]

​@@gownerjonesAlso that stupid song cutscene that happens with a buildup of maybe a few minutes made me feel more than the entirety of Starfield.

[@jefferyscholl]

@@gownerjones I played a bard my first time through and I came across an interview with Sven from Larian and he said he does not like bards and would never be tempted to play one but they hired someone to do the bards story specifically and he said it ended up being one of his favourites. I loved my bard playthrough, but now I am playing a powerful wizard, totally different game, no less fun!

[@bananaana1860]

This video gave me my first impression of Starfield. After 300 hours on BG3, the dialogue is soulless. It felt like it was written by an AI just to hit the over 200,000 dialogues. Quality over quantity! The banter between BG3 companions make them feel alive, and it changes depending where your party is and who is in the party with you. It actually feels like you’re in a group of adventurers

[@threestars2164]

Dragon age origins did it before, why is it praiseworthy?

[@ProphetJigalo]

Only 70 hours? Sigh, seems someone didn’t pay attention to my last comment, I’m telling you another 10 hours and you’d have unravel the secrets to the greatness that is starefield. (99% of players quit before achieving true happiness😂)

[@drigzmo9419]

I just dont get how the fuck people play more than 20 hours of ANY game and say "yeah, it's not good" how did you get through like 2-shifts + some in a GAME, and you didn't find enjoyment for 20 hours? That's weird. I can't get through 2 hours of a game I'm not enjoying. So many people are like "yeah after 100 hours..." huh?? you played 100 hours of a video game in a month? No wonder you're tired of the fucking game lol you need to stop playing games in general

[@OmegaZyion]

Just wait, once they reach that 80 hour mark they can't criticize the game anymore because they obviously had fun with it. Otherwise why would they play for 80 hours?

[@drigzmo9419]

@@OmegaZyion They'll say after 80 hours, they were tired of the same content over and over. You don't say?"

[@tragc]

@@OmegaZyionbrain dead take. hope you’re joking

[@OmegaZyion]

@@tragc Sarcasm is a difficult thing on the internet.

I think BG3 broke something in me. After I was done with it for the first time and enjoyed it all the way through, I don't think I can ever play a different game without feeling unsated. Feeling that something is missing. I am burnt out.

[@gownerjones]

My friend, don't despair. Larian is out there still, diligently working on the next Best Game of All Time. Whether it's Divinity 3 or BG 4, whatever they touch next with their beautiful Belgian fingers will turn to gold, too. This studio consists of the most passionate role playing fans that could possibly exist. Instead of being sad, replay BG3 again. Do everything different this time. Then play as an origin character. Try the Dark Urge one. Take a different set of companions and the story will change so dramatically that it might as well be a new game. And once you're truly done and tired of the game, the next one will be around the corner.

[@87axal]

Maybe the right time to try Fallout NV and DiscoElysium. Some older CRPGs like Planetscape: Torment and Arkanum: Of Steelworks and Magic are also great games to get the BG3 fix. If you can bear (and run) really old games. A lot of people call BG3 the spiritual successor to Planetscape Torment, just so you know.

[@gownerjones]

​@@87axalI have a hard time getting into these older games. Even Divinity 2 feels like a clunky old mess to me after BG3.

[@Sirricardo6]

Play some Dungeons and |Dragons with real ppl. ;)

[@gownerjones]

@@Sirricardo6 Easier said than done. I've been looking for a group, but alas, I haven't found one yet.

[@moonie9000]

I've sunk roughly 100 hours into Starfield already, and Veritas is 100% on point here. Totally true. The ONLY reason I've continued playing is because having a ship you've built with crew you've assembled feels fun, in a large galaxy. But in terms of gameplay and narrative design, Starfield is close to just plain BAD.

[@orbit1894]

Whats the point of building a ship when her only use is being a fast travel point? The ship building seemed so meaningless to me since I only been to space fights a few times. Like its a completely useless mechanic.

[@cgkase6210]

I saw the Wyll dance scene and just I had to break his heart too and it devastated me I was already in a romance with Lae'zel, but it didnt make me feel any better to see how sad he looked.

[@themudpit621]

Right? HIs broken hearted face! Still haunts me!!! And bloody Asstarion dumped me anyway for being too much of a folk hero... what a fool I was to reject Wyll!

[@ИванКлименко-щ4с]

I didn’t really like Wyll until I encountered his dance scene. It was so on point. I danced for 15 years in folk group, it was my life for 2/3 of my years. The way he danced was so realistic and passionate. I was really sad that I had to broke his heart, because I already romanced Shadowheart

[@Tazazak]

I’ve been *hardcore* focused on romancing Gale since I got the game. I was so focused on it that I ended up getting Wyll in my party wayyyy later than I should have. Like way way later than I should have lol. (I did the entirety of Act 1 in painstaking detail, besides the creche, before I even went into the Druid area in the grove. So I recruited wyll after pretty much all of act one 😬) I had a total of 2 conversations with him, and knew absolutely nothing about him or his backstory. Somehow he still tried to jump my bones at the tiefling party, and he was so darn sweet and smooth I just about abandoned Gale right then and there! Which I never would have thought possible. Man’s got that gentleman rizz and his voice is like honey. 🫠

[@LadyAstarionAncunin]

His eyes when you turn him down are the saddest puppy dog eyes I've ever seen! 🥺

[@ambrosiogiovanni6952]

I didn't care... I mean the dude should have known better. My character was pretty much in the Shadowheart train from day one, so if he tried that thinking he had a shot, he already failed. I actually like Wyll as a character, but that just didn't move me.

[@Rico-nj3vl]

Have you guys heard about the dude who ended BG3 with all the characters turned into cats and dogs ? Apparently even that somehow worked really well as an ending

[@ieyasumei4339]

Gotta love wild magic XD

[@kujivuniakituo6121]

How to do it??

[@cesarkopp2]

Devs said you can become a wheel of cheese, go back to the past and fight dinosaurs.

[@The_Gravemind]

​@@cesarkopp2can confirm about the wheel of cheese 😂 You even have abilities as it too 🤣

[@kidd32888]

​@@The_Gravemindstinky!

[@Scorpius1122]

In relation to your story about the shell casings landing on the Starborn ship, I had a similar experience. As I was running up on one of the temples, the low res texture that you see when you're farther away made the temple look like it was painted a different color and I thought I had found a cool variation, until I got a little bit closer and the normal texture clicked and I realized it was just another generic temple like all the others. I do think the temples had a cool design, it just got really boring see it 200 times.

[@coleparker11]

I'm a tinfoil hat guy. I think the high praise for Stanfield was a calculated move by the industry to drown out the complete success of bg3

[@justlikeyourfathersaid]

What, that’s make zero sense. Dont cook again. The industry is happy with bg3 take your meds. People like starrield for the same reason they like fallout4 and 3, shallow ass mid games and both received praise

[@Ammy-q4w]

@@justlikeyourfathersaid Fans being happy with BG3 and the industry being happy with it are two different things. A lot of devs from other companies insulted BG3 but praised Starfield. They want games to be mid like the ones you described so they can get away with less effort while still profiting, but BG3 is essentially forcing them to raise their own standards and put in more time and effort to make money since gamers standards are raising which terrifies them.

[@colecaine.1]

I’m sorry but that’s idiotic lmao

[@zelohendricks51]

​@@justlikeyourfathersaidWe had many game devs come out saying BG3 shouldn't be the new standard

[@JudgeNicodemus]

​@@justlikeyourfathersaid pipe down. The industry hates bg3 because it's a great game and it hurts the image of every other studio.

[@sharlockshacolmes9381]

Starfield "No I'm not willing to kill someone over a business deal, it's not worth it, nothing is" BG3: "Yhea I know you're the one who gave me this super secret chest given to you by the fantasy mafia because I saved your life an threatened you afterward. But now I'm the one working for the fantasy mafia so no hard feeling over me killing you to prove they can trust me right?"

[@brownranger1797]

I love the aesthetic of CP2077 so much that i opt to not use the fast travel and just drive instead.

[@tmg7866]

forgot you could fast travel till i saw this comment tbh

[@remconoordermeer7015]

Wow. Never though I’d watch a 2 hour video like this. Well, done, sir. You hit the nail on the head. Subbed.

[@PsychoBlueDot]

This video was very well done and in-depth breakdown of what not to force yourself to love when you can and DO deserve better than D4 and Starfield. You got my Sub fellow gamer

[@rileyh5537]

My favorite part about this video containing legitimate criticism between the brilliance of Baldurs's Gate 3 and the sheer mediocrity of Starfield is the subliminal hints towards the absolute perfection that is Outer Wilds. Almost everyone that has played Outer Wilds, fully will agree that it is one of the best gaming experiences available to date and tries to spread it in a cult like fashion, much like I am doing now. Seriously, if you haven't yet play Outer Wilds, buy it and play through it blind, you will not regret it.

[@SeraphimFelis]

I refunded that game like 10 mins in. It wouldn’t let me bind space to jump and that soured my whole experience.

[@rentedshortbus]

You know you're doing something right when you manage to make an entire industry super defensive about their own products. BG3 has shown us that you don't need to cut corners and monetize everything to make a complete product, despite the fact that devs and pubs have spent years saying otherwise. Bear in the mind that the video game industry makes more money than the rest of the entertainment industry COMBINED. They managed to make something incredible with 0 monetization for a fraction of the cost that goes into developing games like GTA, TES, and so on.

[@voryndagothDL]

Discovering something in Baldur's Gate 3 actually feels like an accomplishment. Starfield, not so much.

[@87axal]

The thing is, there isn't really anything to discover in Starfield you nose isn't shoved into. ...Bugs maybe.

[@saigyl9149]

@@87axal encountering the "xenomorph" ship was nice, but the only value in that was that it referenced a movie i love and then it left me feeling disappointed and cheated when i found all the information you can find on the ship has absolutely no value, even the part signifying there is a planet that was the source of their problem but the planet doesn't really exist

[@styrfry]

"We've discovered the coordinates to this unknown Starborn temple located on XYZ" >go to XYZ through 6 loading screens >the 'unknown Starborn temple' with FLOATING ROCKS AROUND IT is literally 300m from an outpost with people This crap just pulls you out of immersion completely. The loading screens are by far the WORST!

[@westenev]

@@saigyl9149 I wonder how many people's favourite moments were references to other media. Finding Kryx's Legacy on the Normandy SR-3 was amazing, but I feel like self induced nostalgia was doing the heavy lifting.

[@threestars2164]

Only to those ignorant of video game history. There's nothing memorable in bg3.

[@TricIMightBe]

Starfield really comes around after 6,200 hours. I'll wait for your follow up video.

[@Krocxigor]

Gods if 6,200 hours for single player is the new 100 hours for an MMO to get good I may just give up on gaming in general and spend my money on more important things like a sex doll or a suicide girls sub as I would get my value of money/time in less than the first hour.

[@gownerjones]

By that time, it's Stockholm Syndrome doing all the work.

[@utopianemblem5271]

I love how in Baldur's Gate, there are a ton of different choices that are given to you based on your races and classes. It feels so funny that if I play a Barbarian, there are a surprising amount of encounters you can avoid by screaming really loud. There's an encounter with an extremely powerful group of Gith somewhat early on that I got through because I happened to play a Berserker Barbarian and was allowed to just roar really loud to get through.

[@Molotov_Milkshake]

wow lol, sounds like you've never played a CRPG before. Wait til you play a real one with some depth (unlike Larian's trash).

[@kelvinrichardson5324]

@@Molotov_Milkshakebro. I get you’re keen to improve engagement on this video, but you’re literally talking rubbish to do so.

[@Sketchblopp]

You can scream that group of Gith away?! Woah. I have to remember this for later... So far I talked my way out or had to fight with tooth and nail and the help of three helpful ogres. xD

[@utopianemblem5271]

@@Sketchblopp Yeah! With Barbarian, you can just pull your best Eustace Bags impression out and go "Ooga booga booga!!!" and they leave you alone.

[@ratticusthewinion]

@@Molotov_Milkshakey’know most people just leave a bad review and go, don’t have to go mocking other people for their opinions