Roll Initiative – ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’

Dungeons and Dragons aka DnD is now a very familiar term in today’s world, it is no longer a game that is associated with the basement-dwelling geeks. I played DnD in person very regularly while at university. There were seven of us (including our Dungeon Master) and we would be huddled around a table moving around figures which served as placeholders for our characters around the table, rolling the dice and furiously wishing that the dice gods were smiling down upon us.

Most of the time they didn’t.

Then the pandemic hit, and we were scattered around the globe which meant that in-person DnD was a no-go. That’s when we turned to Roll20 and started playing DnD online. Now instead of tables, we huddled individually in front of our computers. It made a big difference, now we had character tokens with our characters’ faces on them (no longer using the various anime figures our DM so graciously brought to the table). We could see the terrain and get a better idea of where to go, and what to do and actually take cover behind the debris when a giant guard scorpion is thrashing around violently. And also vandalize our maps, much to our DMs’ displeasure.

More importantly, playing online allowed us to continue our adventure uninterrupted. But sometimes life gets in the way, campaigns get put on hold and your party doesn’t have the time to meet regularly for a session. One begins to think, ‘If only there was a way to play a campaign to satisfy the sense of a DnD adventure whenever it is convenient for the entire party.’

Baldur’s Gate 3 is the solution to your problem.

It’s a DnD epic that you can play by yourself. It has no microtransactions, no season passes, and no subscriptions. You don’t even need the internet if you’re playing single-player. And it is a huge game — Act One alone will take you anywhere between 50 to 60 hours if you plan on exploring the intricacies of the world.

What Larian Studios has done is take the Dungeons and Dragons‘ 5th edition and translate it for ease of play on the computer and console. What you can do in DnD, you can do here. Start a civil war, pick a fight with a squirrel, pile up boxes to create a tower to gain access to places (alternatively you could just use a teleportation spell), and be as weird as you want. Every interaction is unique as per how the player approaches it.

Of course, every choice’s execution boils down to the throw of the dice.

The map fills out as you explore with convenient fast travel points, you have custom markers at your disposal to get back to a place you might have left halfway through. Larian maximizes the use of the Z axis, the terrain is not flat, even outside of battle. One also has to exercise caution while walking around. There might be traps strewn about and you might not always have a successful saving throw. You might notice it, you might not. Sometimes it’s just there on the ground fully visible but you end up getting stuck there anyway since you didn’t watch where you’re going. If you want a more classic tabletop view, you can just switch to tactical view to give you a top-down perspective. It definitely helps while in combat, at the same time evoking a sense of the whole tabletop perspective that you see while playing DnD online. 

The environment is massive, highly detailed and fully interactable. The game encourages you to do exactly that. There are multiple ways to get to the same destination, if you can think it, do it. It is just so dense that you will take hours combing through an area leaving no stone unturned. Sometimes a hidden note gives you better insight into a situation, or even casting a spell at a specific location. There are no barren areas to traverse through. It is packed with content. 

This is a highly immersive sim. You can interact with anything and everything and your sphere of influence is limitless. You interact with the world how you want to. There’s no right or wrong way to approach anything in this game.

Want to access a hidden vault? You could steal the rune you need in order to unlock it or you could earn it as a reward from a side quest. You could also just kill the druid who has it and loot it from his body.

Do you want to ambush the enemy via the front door guns blazing? Or perhaps surround them with explosives so that the fight gets over much faster? Avoid the fight entirely by befriending the foe?

The choice is yours. Chaotic Evil? Lawful Good? True Neutral? You won’t be punished for picking your alignment.

The world is also fully fleshed out with small stories and factoids of information you pick up by exploring. Secrets are everywhere. Every NPC in this game is voiced and can be interacted with; this holds for the wildlife as well. There are plenty of side quests that feel more like the main quest. You’ll be tempted to replay the scenario, because of the various way to go about it.

Your opinions on characters change based on what you see, hear and learn about them. One moment you empathize with them, the next you just want to detach their head from their shoulders, swiftly. 

When it comes to story, it’s hard not to discuss it without spoilers. Like any DnD campaign, it is best to go in completely blind and experience the story as it unfolds around you. Even the premise, it’s best to be as bamboozled and befuddled as your character, so best not to look anything up.

You have an interesting group of companions accompanying you on your journey and there’s plenty to learn about them. You unravel their stories along with your own. From time to time after difficult fights, it’s best to take a long rest at your camp to replenish your spell slots and tend to your wounds. It simultaneously helps pace the game as well as sets the stage for the cutscenes where you are enlightened about your companions’ past. Your companions also react to the events and happenings taking place around the world. 

Remember that you can’t make everyone happy with your decisions, while some may see where you’re coming from, others will meet you with disapproval. But that’s what being in a party is all about. Not all of you see eye to eye, that’s what gives you perspective.

The game also allows you to have a party with a maximum strength of four. That includes you, which leaves only three spots open. You will need to pick who you want on a specific mission depending on their strengths. Though I think the Cleric is necessary for any mission. Again, it is all about your play style.

Speaking of party, Baldur’s Gate 3 also has the multiplayer option, so you can enjoy the campaign with your friends. While fun, it again brings about the initial problem of finishing the campaign. If your party isn’t free, then you’re stuck. If you aren’t free, you’re holding back your party.

Unfortunately, it isn’t cross-platform, so if there are both PC and PS5 players in your party, you can’t all play together. If you are planning on playing a campaign with a group, pick your platform accordingly.

You can also multiclass if you want. Your character can attain a maximum level of twelve. Multiclassing doesn’t change this. Say you begin as a fighter and progress to level seven, you can multiclass into a bard for the five levels you have left. It also gives you time to familiarize yourself with classes and see what suits you. Baldur’s Gate 3 gives you an opportunity to pick a class you wouldn’t normally go for in a real-life campaign. I’ve routinely played a fighter, a bard or a homebrewed class that prefers the front lines and tank attacks. I took a chance and went with a sorcerer to see what exactly our sorcerer was screaming about while we play. 

An advantage in Baldur’s Gate 3 compared to real-life DnD is the dice rolls. Normally in DnD you roll the dice and your fate is sealed. Suppose you fall in battle and your cleric is not present to cast revivify on you, if you fail a death save three times you are dead, unless of course, you make a compelling case to your DM.

Aside from this, for less devastating consequences you are permanently locked out of an interesting plotline or choice depending on your roll. There have been many a time in campaigns where we’ve missed things for rolling too low.

There are no do-overs.

In a way, that’s life and part of the fun in a campaign. However, in Baldur’s Gate 3 you can technically cheat. Rolled a crit fail? Don’t worry, simply reload the save file you created before rolling the dice and do it again until you succeed. Is it worth it? Maybe. Should you instead sigh and say it’s not my day today on a crit fail? Probably. Either way, you are always a save file away from a nat 20 or a nat 1. 

Controls on the console definitely take a while to get used to as compared to the PC. It’s way easier to point and click to cast a spell on the PC than it is to maneuver on the controller. The same goes for looking through things, you try to grab a chest to block a vent and prevent a trap from being triggered, you might end up placing a vase on a candlestand resulting in an odd piece of furniture. It just boils down to a matter of time getting used to the swing of things.

The game also serves as a good introduction to DnD for those who haven’t played or have never found a group to play with. Will it kickstart the crippling dice addiction most DnD players suffer? Only time will tell.

In the end Baldur’s Gate 3 is a must-play, for the experience alone, whether you’re a veteran adventurer or a novice DnD player.

Roll initiative and see where that takes you.

Watch the trailer below: