oh baldurs gate . after 190 hours goddamn hours I have completed you .Although near the end I felt like a slave that had finally been set free . The time I spent with you was mostly great . The deep urge I have to play this game and to have a completely new story, with new companions at my side is something id love to do . Alas this game is minimum 120 hours and there are other titles I need to play . 1. The highlight of this game is without a doubt the characters . I sadly killed minthara but there isnt a companion here not worth talking to . Each have an interesting story and all are a joy to have by your side . 2. Combat - For my first game in this lane I did truly love it . After persona 5 I did truly begin to believe that I just wasnt made for turn based combat . And although bg and persona/games like persona arent all that comparable . I was incredibly impressed with the multiple build paths, stealth mechanics, and strategies you use during combat . Ur build being such a tool for your roleplay is a big driving force id love to play this game again, go a different class and explore the game all anew . There were things here I did dislike, mainly boss encounters not being all too engaging combat wise . My overall combat experience was overall positive . 3. Peeves - My main peeve of this game would be the feel of " we were overly ambitious, there are too many branches things to choose of . So we cant allocate all too many resources to something to make it feel as grand as we should " . Example like, wyll change of mind about karlach . I can understand why the man under the control of a devil would understand karlachs situation and hence change his mind . I just feel the scene with him going through the emotions is lacking . Just kinda a big "hmmmm well... Ok " . Hes damn near making his death bed by doing this I just with a bit more inner self wouldve made this moment pay off more . Another example is, I had initially probed karlach on the possibility of going back to avernus . She made it very clear that she simply didnt want to . The constant fighting, the loneliness, the deceit had all taken a serious toll on her . She had never once considered to going back to avernus under any circumstance for me . Yet while shes about to die, as shes said her goodbyes to me, the sun, the ocean . Wyll says hed go with her to avernus . I knowing all shes said before told her its her decision to make . And she simply chose avernus . Yet again, I dont hate her decision. I understand it although not 100% because why is wyll enough to persuade you . But because being alone was what truly made her hate her time in avernus . And when after you defeated gortash you could see her truly hate the fact the it meant nothing and that she would still ultimately die . I just feel like this ending falls on its face and well negatively impacted my ending . My story . Its just sort of a weakness of this genre in general . I feel like most scripts wouldve had karlach die at the end but you create your own story here . So be it . Other peeves include LOOT. Mainly necklaces and rings feeling mostly ass for the first 2 acts . Glitches are here and one I had was very annoying . Wasnt allowed to cross the bridge at wyrms crossing for whatever reason . Had to go to jail just to get across . The one tieflings girlfriend just disappeared from existence . Was just locked out of doing the water queens quest for the armor . Aylin not being at the epilogue was a little lame since she was in my camp for what felt like for ever. Atleast one of them shouldve came . The reading of books for lore became very tiresome especially around act 3 when I truly just wanted to finish this fucking game . The artist we knew throughout the entire damn game and saved on multiple occasions not being the artist at the epilogue was lame as hell . I tried to persuade minsc that the guild wasnt all bad. I failed and therefore was instantly on his side and hate to kill them all . Kinda lame . Obtaining items that was seemingly cut content was definitely lame. Item like mayrina's locket . Some of the customization is horrible . Just allow armor to be in ur camp clothes slot idgi . Had to walk around with that stupid fucking cats grace bullshit man I hated it . Gortash's final fantasy ass hair . Thats basically it ,. To wrap things up . This game is nothing more than an absolute feat in what it accomplishes . From the freedom in combat and how you can engage the world . To the character writing . To the classes . To the multiple ways in which you can play the game be it a tav / companion . Then you have the dark urge . For someone especially like me, to have this feeling of needing to play this entire 190 hour game again . It would be hard for me to give this anything lower than a 9 .

Not many great things to say about this game at all . From gameplay, traversing and storytelling . I feel they missed the mark heavily in all three of these . 1. Gameplay wise . The game feels less souls like than the first. It felt easier especially with the perks . So most of the time ur just breezing through the aimless enemies until the games decides to throw 10 of them at you at once which then makes it some what hard but also unfun . Since its unfun and the game is so easily exploitable . I found myself exploiting quite a bit just so I can go straight to the story . One of the beauties that I found in the first game. Is how many planets you explore . In this game that is dialed down but instead you have denser, bigger worlds . Although this is mainly the semi open saloon world . The traversal in this game is god fucking boring . The climbing/parkour . Its a slog to fucking get through. And once I looked up the cosmetics you can collect and realized I already had the best shit( because most of them fucking suck) I stopped doing it entirely . I just cant understand why they'd want to ruin a formula that was already working so well . Why try to add all these little side characters that add very little . That just sit in your saloon for a bit of talk every now and then . When you already have a great cast of main characters you couldve been spending your time making more for . Why not give us more of the crew that initially died at the beginning. Why not let us do more with dobe . I understand why they did this story wise . To give cal a home . What greeze was preaching to him . But with 95% OF THE PERFORMANCE ISSUES HAPPENING IN THIS AREA . THE CONSTANT STUTTERING COMBINED WITH ASSINE INTERACTIONS/SIDE QUESTS/TRAVERSAL/EASY COMBAT. That hub and those people are the last motherfuckers I want to ever be around . 2. To further expand on this games traversal and why its horrible . Is its the exact same as the first game except this time you have a grapple hook . Yet the grabble hook adds little in the way of movement . Respawn have done some fantastic things with grapple hooks in their other games but in this . There isnt any tech, its not difficult to use. U cant use it to slingshot your way anymore or have any fun with it . You just look in the direction . Shoot it in a destination the game made for you . And then your taken there . This is fucking mirrors edge . Its tomb raider with a grapple hook . The most traversal will ever give you in this game is maybe 2-3 fun interactions where they make it feel more arcadish and your jumping back and forth and using every movement option at your disposal . And give you a pretty vista to look at while your climbing . The first game did this and did it fucking well . This game loses that or adds to much and dilutes that feeling that was in the first . There is one less planet in this game because of the stupid fucking hub world . For the second installment in this series. They have less planets. For what I want from this game ( gorgeous creative sci-fi star wars scenery and interesting lore filled worlds to see. 2 a great story . ) Its insane to me that this game gives me less of both of those things . With what also feels less varied . 3. The story . I honestly do not give a good god damn fuck about the first 60% of this story . Until dogban bogdan one arm bitch dies this game was incredibly uninteresting to me . I didnt have a genuine moment where I was invested in anything until I met with merrin and cere . The second half of the story where everything starts to fold . Until bodes betrayal ( which was incredibly obvious) the story was not interesting in the slightest to me . The game also felt more " disney " to me this time around I dont know why . Maybe I should replay the first game but it felt darker/edgier . Where as this one seemed to make more kiddy jokes. Have kiddier moments . Just something weird I felt while playing it . To go over other things I didnt like . The performance was of course a major issue . The fact that it was mainly an issue in the saloon area and that even putting the game at low for my 6900xt just for it to still be a stuttering mess. When ive played the game so long after its initial release and they've said that they wont be further polishing this game . Its a kick in the fucking balls from ea . Fixing a game could be expensive . Cdproketred shouldve never release cyberp in the state it was in . But they sunk hundreds of millions into the game after release so it be a fun experience . For EA to stop after what half a year . Truly makes me despise them and furthers my distrust for the 3rd game that will eventually come out in this trilogy . The mixing of souls like and action game in this are so weird . With the cutscenes and stories being told during a boss fight . It feels so shitty to die and just have the momentum of a enticing story being told to just be ripped away from you . Especially on your third attempt for a boss . But it also feels shitty mowing down the overworld enemies with no consequences . I truly feel that the cutscenes and storytelling mid fight clash so hard with the difficulty and loop of dying . I wish they get rid of it completely for the next game .I hope we get less janky fighting animations for the next game. I pray they stop the hub world mess even though with how this game ended and with tanalor im sure that wont be the case . I do believe the story will bounce back for me in the next game . and although this prayer will 100% go unanswered . I hope we get a pc port that isnt utter dog shit and that this series get the justice it deserves . Crazy thing is, the first game still suffers from stuttering . Truly disgraceful . 5-5.5/ 10

Unfortunately, the hype was real .