izigame.me

I had no intention of playing Baldur's Gate 3; I barely played 1 and missed 2. And I just don't have 200 hours to sink into an 80 GB RPG at my age. I enjoyed Divinity: Original Sin and couch co-op'd with my wife in D:OS 2, but we have a mortgage and a dog and no time.
Then I read the Tweet. You know the one: the prominent game developer who said that we cannot allow Larian to define our expectations of RPGs. Oh, really? I immediately bought the game and spent hours downloading it out of pure, unadulterated spite.
I am 3 hours in. Three. I am blown away. I spent the first hour creating my character. I pulled out my Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Player's Handbook and marveled at what BG3 had enabled me to do - this is the full blown 5E character creation. The maniacs at Larian took Divinity: Original Sin and made it into D&D 5E, full stop. Amazing.
And then I played for a couple of hours.
I haven't fallen in love with a game like this since Dragon Age: Origins and there is so much more depth to BG3 in the short time I've played. Case in point: I found a lockpick, broke into a crypt, looted a burial site and was promptly incinerated by a flame trap over a greased floor. Thank you, Larian, for reminding me of the F5 key.
The graphics are amazing. The voice work is the best. The cut scenes are riveting and that's usually when I go make another whisky! The sound design is unbelievable. Why am I noticing sound design? I don't care about sound design!
I've misclicked so many times. There's so much to click! I've died in so many ways. There are so many ways to die! There are so many bugs, but I don't even care because in a game as complex and deep as this, you're going to experience lots and lots of FUN.
Larian, you've done it. You've made a game so incredible that other developers are banding together to warn us not to play your magnum opus or we won't enjoy the next Stranger Things Click Quest game or whatever garbage they're shoveling out.
I cannot wait to spend days in Baldur's Gate 3.

* Edit 8/1/2023 after ~60 hours *
Since this review got some attention, let me give you an update after about 60 hours of Early Access. My initial review is, obviously, hyperbolic, but that was my real-time reaction to finding a truly great game in a genre and style that I thought had been abandoned by game producers who are more interested in games as service, micro-transactions and shooters.
The best review of BG3 I could give is that this is the game I've been hoping for since Dragon Age: Origins. I play games for systems, not so much story, and I really like both the systems and the story of this game. If I really like a game, I look forward to starting over and trying something new (I play XCOM 2 and Dwarf Fortress a little bit.) This game also scratches that itch, which seems strange to say about a story-driven RPG, but it really is a game that encourages you to experiment.
As it stands, on the verge of release, this game is a 10/10 for me and in my pantheon of favorites.
(I don't work for Larian or have anything to do with them other than playing D:OS.)