HOT TAKE: I feel Baldurs Gate 3 is a step down from Divinity Original Sin II.

...a few steps down If I'm being completely honest.

from it's the story lay out or the voice actors, it just didn't click like DOS II. Even the gameplay map out on controls (console/PS4/PS5) was better in Divinity II. Even graphically I'm not as impressed as I was with Divinity.

Anyone else feel that way?

I was only really excited about BG3 because of how amazing DOS II was, but after playing a while, and maybe because I am directly comparing BG3 to DOS II, I was left feeling underwhelmed.

I'm not trying to take anything away from the BG3, but comparing it directly with DOS II, do you feel it surpasses it or falls short?

You've finally made a good thread. I will agree and also let me add, starfield blows bg3 out of the water

I loved Divinity 2, barely played the first.

I think BG3 is better in every way. It's definitely different due to it being a true D&D game but I enjoy it FAR more than DoS2 just due to all of the choices and consequences, and not just dialogue options.

lol like I said, I was saying all that while comparing BG3 to the flawless award winning 10/10 Divinity Original Sin II.

I wouldn't even compare Starfield to BG3 much less something like Divinity lol

I don't know about the controls since i've played them all on pc, but story wise and characters, BG3 is on another level. I don't even recall what the story was is either Divinity games. I just can't get into the story when all the conversations are from a top down perpective like it was an mmo. Its dogshit.

The higher you go the bigger your crosshair.

BG3 is just too loved.

There is that.

I guess I'm looking at this from more of a holistic viewpoint. Music, glitches (or lack there of), pace, story setup, voice actors....all of it together to draw me in, and it just didn't do what Divinity did.

I was eager AF to play BG3 so I didn't come to this conclusion willfully

Maybe this will be one of those games that didn't hook me at first but I come back later and fall in love IDK, but that happens less often than me retaining my original impressions

It could be because it runs so badly on PS5's piss poor hardware, so you innately feel it's a worse game.

What do you mean by that exactly?

BG3 didn't feel like an advancement in gameplay but more like a regression. The weave of the story was well done.

BG3 has a better story, characters, writing, and roleplaying options.

Music could go either way (I do love the way your characters have their own leitmotifs in DOS2), but BG3 obviously has higher production values and better all-round presentation.

Pacing...honestly I'd say BG3 is better. I've played DOS2 heaps of times, but never finished it because the later acts run out of steam and feel like a massive slog.

And gameplay, DOS2 certainly has better gameplay outside of combat, but I maybe prefer BG3's more structured gamwplay in-combat?

Yeah, hot take. As well as an incredibly dense one, lol.

And that's coming from a huge D:OS fan.

I've got an even hotter take. I hate both Divinity OS games and Baldurs Gate 3.

Only one problem with all these games that I can't get past and thats the combat. I easily get rolled in enemy encounters and the elemental stuff + the dice rolls just takes the fun out of it all for me. Everything else is great, the music, characters, dialogue choices, story. Its all great but I hate the combat so much. Ruins it all.

Yeah I know, git gud scrub and all that shit. Whatever. I tried both divinity games 30 hours each. I gave up. I suck at these games and I dont care about trying anymore.

It is fairly complex stuff. There're no two reasons why you'd get rolled over, and it can all get pretty overwhelming. But the community out there can easily make a build for you, or just use one of the calculators. No shame in asking for help on a build, and it'll make the game MUCH more enjoyable.

I did not like the armor system in DOS2.

It was so bad.

The combat was way better in Divinity 2. My Death Knight would leave green puddles of ooze where ever she went. Gotta love a poison bulid knight.

The combat is mediocre at best. So, it is totally understandable.

BG3 is better in almost every single way. I think maybe (maybe!) they had their hands just a little bit tied by the D&D ruleset, but honestly I wouldn't call that hand-tying, just a creative choice.

If you wanted to make the argument that Divinity: OS1/OS2 was a better game because it was 100% Larian's vision, then I could get behind that. They used their own game engine, their own game world, class structure, ruleset, etc.

But I wouldn't say BG3 is a worse game for any of the reasons you listed. The story is amazing, the voice acting is impeccable, the visuals are top-notch and beautiful, the music is incredible, the gameplay and mechanics are solid.

The only real objective criticism you can make against it is that it has some bugs and sometimes, when all the various mechanics are at play, things don't exactly work out right (it's almost like it get's overwhelmed). Small grievance, though, in my opinion.

It is for the most part a perfect game, and one of the best in recent memory (if not one of the best ever).

*Some people saying the combat in Divinity OS1/OS2 is better, yeah, I can maybe agree with that. You could get really creative with OS1 and OS2 and while you can get creative with BG3, it's more exploitive than creative (i.e. pushing people off ledges).

What was wrong with it? I remember hearing this complaint but I forgot what the issue was.

It's all opinion. It's okay to have a discussion about it.

@mrbojangles25: encourages either stacking physical or magical DMG, magic cc was kinda useless cause Phys stacking was just way more efficient, being unable to cause effects on enemies without going through armour first was zz

Ahh I remember now. The infamous "blue bar" you had to whittle down before you could really do anything.

Hmmmm I wonder if there were mods to remedy this.

*There is! Steam Workshop has something called "Divinity Unleashed" and one of the first fixes they list is:

Armour Overhaul: armour no loger resists statuses or blocks all incoming damage, instead serving as static damage reduction

Noice!

BG3 has a much better first act than DOS 2

Please elaborate on how you think D:OS2 was more impressive graphically. Like, it wasn't for the time, and certainly isn't in a head to head comparison. I really liked OS2 and even some of the art and such, but it has some assets that are totally shit, such as character models and animations. And BG3 has actual camerawork and cinematography for the story.

This point alone makes me think this is bait.

Sometimes you just really love a game and it's successor just won't ever match up.

The gameplay is the weakest part of the game. I played DOSII and I am currently playing BG3. I am not in agreement that it is better in almost every single way. The praise for this game has surpassed what is being offered which was surprising.

@Pedro: Divinity: Original Sin has good core gameplay.

Problem with the gameplay is the encounter design and tuning. The whole elemental stuff is brilliant. Problem is that, the balance, tuning and encounter design makes the optimal way to play these games to ignore the mechanics that would actually have made these games good. Couple that with a forgettable story and you get a bunch of mediocre RPGs.

Sadly, by the time I got to level 6 in BG3, it was clear Larian did not learn their lesson when my monk was doing about 70 damage per round. And I hear Sorcerers are just as broken.

Edit: Now that I think about it, the only thing I even remember from BG3, aside from how busted the balance was and how awful the encounters were, was Karlach and her enthusiastic attitude.

I want more Karlachs in gaming. Less brooding.

I have been saying it ever since I signed here at GameSpot. BG3 is a highly overrated average game. The game certainly doesn't deserve all the accolades.

The game play and characters are nowhere as memorable and fun as the original BG1 and BG2.

I believe supporters of this game are mostly Gen Alpha who haven't experienced quality gaming. Also, I think the exaggerated acclaim at the awards involves some shady behind-the-scene business involving $$$ to win it all.

@Maroxad: I like Karlach 😁

Lol, and let me guess, Larian sucks too, right?

I definitely feel where you are coming from. I like both games, and it would be hard for me to pick, but I think I'd lean towards Divinity 2 very slightly as well perhaps.

I love Divinity 2 but the terrible armor system and how boring the last couple of acts are make any comparison falls out in bg3s favor!

But I guess these kind threads was bound to happen, whenever something is to popular, kids will always try and be edgy by shitting on it! Same thing happened with TW3!

Surpasses

I can respect your hot take, but i will disagree with it.

I loved both games massively but BG3 is just a straight up improvement in literally every single way.

Its like Larian looked at DOS2 and asked themselves how can we crank all of this up to 11.

The writing is more reactive, the story has higher stakes, the presentation is better, the production values are higher, characters are more varied and interesting, RPG mechanics are richer, Combat is more intricate, thoughtful and tactical (though its close since DOS2 combat system is amazing) World design is better, exploration is better, side quests are better, choice and consequence system is better, boss fights are better, enemy variety is better, itemization is better.

Yeah Baldur's Gate 3 smashes, but again i love Divinity Original Sin 2 and without it Baldur's Gate 3 will not be what it is, so massive respect for DOS2, its still one of my 10/10 games.