Recent reviews by Tubby

No Spoilers BTW - I'm not a great writer and I don't write reviews so please bear with me

First off, this game is WELL BEYOND worth the $60. For me at least, and anyone else who is a fan of this type of game play. My hype for this game was met and exceeded for most of the 80 hours it took for me to complete the first play through. As far as I can tell there is a lot of replay ability left with quests, events, characters, interactions, and locations that I either missed completely or locked myself out of because of story choices.

From the very beginning you are given so many story/dialogue/gameplay options it truly encompasses the feel of D&D for me (including the inevitable scheduling conflicts for multiplayer). There are so many ways you can approach a situation. I've talked my way out of trouble, taken alternate routes, ambushed enemies in such a way that a 10 round fight was over before it started, beat bosses easily with effort put into preparation for our encounter, while still being challenged by tough enemies that force you to rethink a tried and true strategy. Outside of combat, there's countless ways that your story choices can affect your game not just in the present but even up to and including the end of the game. Something so small as a side quest could come back to help you or make things harder in the future.

Nothing is without its problems however. I could praise the devs all day for everything they did right, but I should list a few issues I had ranging from minor bugs to the overall feel of certain parts of the game. There were a couple important cutscenes that were bugged and it took away from the impact it may have had on me. On more than one occasion a bug caused me to have to reload a save or I would become a permanent enemy of the state. Since the games release Larian has been patching out bugs regularly and making the game more stable, so my issues with bugs may be fixed by the time you get to them.

The story is separated into 3 acts. Act 1 was by far the most polished, and that makes sense because I believe that was all that was available in early access, so most issues were caught by the 2+ Million players in EA and ironed out before full release. I waited to play until full release. Act 2 was enjoyable as well but I felt as though the map could have used more things to explore and do. That's not to say that it feels empty, just not as littered with content as the first act. this is also where the main story picks up. Act 3 was fine as well, and exploring the areas now available was a nice change of pace from the first 2/3 of the game. The final act of the game felt, with aspects considered, not as fleshed out, but not necessarily incomplete. Without giving away any details, there were definitely some missed opportunities to make the world feel alive, vibrant, and generally more content rich. Once again, I still enjoyed my experience despite this.

Overall this game was amazing and worth the wait. It's crazy to think that other game studios are releasing games with 20% of the content and charging $10 more. I look forward to playing again and again!

Bravo Larian!

30+ hours and 2-3 acts in, this game is amazing. If you ever wanted to play D&D with friends but couldn't find a DM, this is the next best thing. Almost completely voice acted, lots of unique items and characters, and a very open character building system to allow for many different play styles. You can tell this game had a lot of heart and soul poured into its development. I completely recommend this game even at full price.