There have been a few gateways intoDungeons & Dragonsover the last few years, but there could be an argument thatBaldur’s Gate 3is the best of the bunch. UnlikeStranger ThingsandCritical Role,BG3is set in the world of Faerûn (DnD’s world), much like the priorBaldur’s Gategames and other CRPGs in the late 90s and early 2000s, such asNeverwinter Nights. WithDnDstill being a massive name andBG3benefiting from gaming being bigger than ever, it’s no wonder that2023’s Game of the Yearhas turned many onto the tabletop RPG.
Baldur’s Gate 3has also proven to be the perfect game for veteranDnDplayers, especially for forever DMs who haven’t had the opportunity to play many characters and classes throughout their sessions.The game is a masterclass in usingDnDlore to tell a compelling story with wacky yet complex characters, and whileBG3has produced its own version of the “Matt Mercer Effect,” the co-op features replicate theDnDexperience quite well. It gets people to care about the world ofDnDtoo, in a way that many other popular products have been unable to.
BG3 Uses Concentrates On What Makes D&D Lore Interesting
It Avoids D&D’s Haphazard Lore Rewrites
DnDhas suffered from wanting to add everything, and as a result, some of its lore can feel tacked on and haphazard.Baldur’s Gate 3benefits from its three-act structure, keeping things open yet concentrating on what makes the world of Faerûn interesting, particularly the mind flayers and gith. Their conflict and lore are unique toDnDand provide the main narrative, alongside the Dead Three, and this proves thatBaldur’s Gate 3is determined to focus on whatDnDbrings to the table from a world-building perspective, rather than the more generic elements.
This broughtDnDlore to my attention for the first time, despite playing the TTRPG since 2018. Back then,Critical Rolewas the major window intoDnD, but that series usesMatt Mercer’s world of Exandria, and I began playing the TTRPG through homebrew worlds. I also began DMing with a homebrew world, andmy group had largely ignoredDnD’s world of Faerûn, treating what had been written by Wizards of the Coasts as set dressing, rather than an actual world. Very little beforeBG3gave me the sense thatDnDlore was interesting enough to invest in.
Homebrew refers to anything made by players and not the official or third party publishers. A homebrew world would be a setting made by players for a campaign.
It felt to me likeDnDwas represented by its rules and monsters, rather than its world beforeBG3,when it started to get popular with 5e, which is when I got into the TTRPG.Critical Roleis a good example of this, as isStranger Things, which uses the names ofDnD’s monsters, such as the mind flayers, and has the cast play the game, but it isn’t set in Faerûn. Many from my group ofDnDplayers (who joined during theCritical Rolecraze) saw the tabletop through another world and began to play outside Faerûn as a result.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Is True To The Gith And The Drow
It Keeps The Lore From Feeling Generic
DnDhas begun to backpedel with some of its lore, making everything more homogeneous for gameplay and inclusivity reasons, although it feels like Wizards of the Coast has gone a little too far here.Baldur’s Gate 3kept true to thelore of gith and drow,ensuring that their brutal cultures came across through Lae’zel and Minthara, yet these characters remained complex, rather than overtly evil. This made both races incredibly interesting, yetBaldur’s Gate 3remains incredibly inclusive and has been praised as such since its release.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Honour Mode Ironically Taught Me To Fight Dirty
Baldur’s Gate 3 may call its hardest difficulty Honour Mode, but in my experience the best way to get through the campaign is by fighting dirty.
It would have been easy to make the gith and drow feel like everyone else (as it sort of is in the current version ofDnD, in my opinion) or to make them generically evil, butBG3remained true to Faerûn’s lore. By doing this,Larian was able to present these races and cultures as alien without feeling like their representation was surface level. As a result, it becomes something that players want to explore through Lae’zel and Minthara, who Tav is likely to become attached to throughout the game’s story.
Lae’zel is a githyanki, a subrace of the gith, who fought the githzerai (another subrace) after earning their freedom from the mind flayers.
This rings true for me, especially, since I usually play the role of someone explaining an alien culture to friends, due to being Chinese and from somewhere with a vastly different mindset from most people in the west.That same level of curiosity feels like it is given to the player concerning drow, gith, and the latter’s war with thedeadly mind flayers. These races feel like they are real and worth learning about, which I never felt could be said when they were presented inDnDthrough its books due to NPCs not being there to talk about their culture.
BG3 Got Me To Play Curse Of Strahd
Durge Opened My Eyes To Storytelling In Faerûn
Although the drow and gith got me interested in the lore ofDnD, my firstDark UrgeBG3playthroughopened my eyes to the darker side of its storytelling possibilities.DnD’s world had always been more whimsical and goofy in my mind, yetDurge played into the dark fantasy part of the lore through their struggles with Bhaal. It’s not something often associated withDnD, yet this clearly proved intriguing for most, since the complex, layered approach toBG3proved more successful than the goofy, pure fun representation of the world seen in theDungeons & Dragonsfilm,Honor Among Thieves.
All 10 Baldur’s Gate 3 Companions Ranked By Their Canonical Power
The BG3 companions had many adventures before meeting the player - some suggest they’re a lot more powerful than what players see in the game.
While theDnDfilm was fun, it presented everything that I found generic aboutDnD, butBG3allowed for an exploration of complex characters and rich cultures, something that I like from fantasy worlds. It seems that general audiences agree, since theDnDfilm under performed whileBaldur’s Gate 3is continuing its success with Patch 8more than a year on. It helped me take Faerûn seriously as a fantasy world alongside Tolkien’s Arda andElder Scroll’s Nirn (which has strangely deep lore that isn’t presented very well in Bethesda’s titles).
This eventually culminated in me joining aCurse of Strahdcampaign, trying to find the same level of dark yet engrossing storytelling found in a Dark Urge playthrough. Although I have tempered my expectations and won’t suffer from the Matt Mercer effect again,Baldur’s Gate 3has made me excited to not only get into the world of Faerûn, but playDnDagain. It has done the TTRPG a world of favors in a way that not even the widely popularCritical Rolehas been able to, and it is a shame that Larian won’t be making a sequel.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an upcoming role-playing game set to release in August of 2023. Players will create a character to embark on a large-scale journey and can do so solo or cooperatively with a friend. Combat is a turn-based style this time around.
