Disco Elysium The Final Cut

This is how I feel about BG3 sometimes

I dont think a game necessarily needs to have replay value to be considered exceptional.
If it sustained an illusion the first time through, that may be exactly what it was going for.
Although, thats different from retrospective criticsm of the game you may have. I agree the realization of the illusion of choice among other things soured me on the game somewhat.

I think the game is one of the best examples why roleplaying and branching story can be completely different things. Sure, the game is not like The Witcher 2, in which more than a third of the game is completely different depending on your choices... But to say that the roleplaying is nonexistent? Sure, upon replaying, most of the time you're talking to the same people about the same problems in the same places. But depending on your skills, responses and actions, these conversations will feel very different, and the problems will be solved in different ways. It doesn't matter that often (although far from always) the conclusions will be the same.

I mean, albums and movies on RYM also have like, 10 times the ratings

albums definitely have way more ratings than games, but this game and other highly rated games are about on par with the amount of ratings as some of the highest rated movies. (the #2 and #3 films on rym only have 6k and 4k ratings).

i think you're right but i do wonder if there is more to it than that

I get where you're coming from with this, I have certainly experienced a similar dissonance in many games. I also agree that branching dialogue trees can sometimes be the laziest way to do roleplaying/choice and at least the mainstream could use less of it. Still, like always in art, anything can be good if you make it good. A good branching dialogue focused game will (besides making every available choice awesome to experience) quickly establish a convention regarding the types of things you can choose from, so that even when faced with an admittedly limited choice, you will not feel limited at the time you make it. For me DE is a great example of such a game, but it's of course subjective, and I am surely biased having spent half my life playing classic RPGs.

Yeah you’re right, the best dialogue tree systems won’t feel limiting in the moment you make the decision. Ultimately I guess it’s subjective for each player whether the game is successful at disguising the limits of the dialogue system, and I’m willing to admit I’m in the minority on this one.

Hipster site has hipster opinions. More at 11 [2]

Hipster site has hipster opinions. More at 11 [3]

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have a feeling you based your opinion off the description alone and didnt play a single second of the game

been dying to play this for ages now, really hope it lives up to the hype