Recent reviews by ianthetechie

If you like RPGs, you'll probably like BG3. I have a fairly long history with RPGs, and have played the original (enhanced) as well as tabletop D&D. The game is BEAUTIFUL and very well thought-out overall. And, unlike the originals, you can play it a bit more focused on the story than just combat. And omg I LOVE the dialog and the way you roll checks throughout!! It also runs great on a new-ish Mac; forget the PC supremacy bit... Larian clearly wrote the game properly with Metal etc., and you can play this game on Ultra settings and it's smooth on a MacBook Pro.

Now is the point where I say less nice things ;)

First, if you're a newbie to RPGs or haven't played tabletop D&D, there is going to be a pretty steep learning curve. This game isn't what I'd call easy, even on the easiest difficulty, and there isn't much in the way of handholding or tutorials (like the tutorials that are there are actually good, but it's rather incomplete so you need to have played similar games before).

I also find the camera controls mildly frustrating. It's hard to find a view I like TBH. And, this criticism applies to nearly every game of its type, I FREQUENTLY make serious blunders, overlook important environmental features like doors and openings, and similar things simply because I couldn't tell that the thing was there; the game hides stuff too well. This is really annoying.

Finally, most annoying of all: no 'undo'. This sounds silly, but it's REALLY easy to mis-click to make your character move, fat finger to end your turn early, click the wrong item (brake lever / release brake lever??) when multiple are maddeningly close together, or any number of other stupid things. Especially in combat. I'm only 9h in and I've done this half a dozen times already. Yeah, quicksave is a thing, but I find myself extremely frustrated by having to break out of the game and replay sections because the controls / game UI made my character do something I never intended. This is a flaw in many RPGs of its class too btw, including my favorites. But I really wish someone would do something about it.

Super fun coffee break game.

Absolutely fantastic game!

A bit of background... I always loved RPGs, but had a very hard time playing some of the older ones like Baldur's Gate. I assumed I just sucked at party-based RPGs. I don't play video games often due to my work demands, but every once in a while I need to kick back and I prefer something with a deep story. I have also played a fair bit of tabletop RPGs (numerous D&D campaigns in 3.5 and 5e + Pathfinder + SWRPG).

This game blew my mind. Incredibly deep story, and it is told very well. The voice acting, high quality music, world building, etc. were all great. I've seen some people say the game was too easy, but I think it was just about right. PoE is an approachable party-based RPG and I'd highly recommend it to those new to the genre over and infinity engine game.

That said, beating this game has given me confidence to revisit some of the classics, now that I understand how it's all supposed to work more or less. I will also definitely be playing the expansion content, the sequel, and going for a more completionist playthrough haha. My time was 45hrs for base game. I didn't ignore side quests, but I certainly wasn't a completionist. I only did about half of Od Nua, and skipped a fair number of side quests.

A few hours in, I can certainly understand why people felt mislead by the hype. I can also see that it's not nearly as strict of a D&D game as most previous ones. However, it's still a very enjoyable game. No, you don't level your character in the same way as you do on paper, you don't have access to the same spell library, etc., but all in all, I think that this is a pretty decent adaptation of D&D 5 to the PC.

However, if I could "fix" one thing, it would be the combat. The cooldown idea is actually pretty cool, and adeptly blurs the line between real time and a game turn. That said, I still don't understand why auto-pause after each round isn't the default, and I find that it's tricky to make my player stay put in ranged combat (I tend to play casters, so this is a bit of problem; I don't want to go rushing into the fray, but rather fire off stuff from a distance).

Minor annoyances aside, I think this is looking like a very enjoyable game. Just don't expect it to be another Baldur's Gate and you won't be disappointed.

This is a wonderful concept; preserving culture through games! I really hope to see more "games" like this in the future (hint hint, developers :D). Also, disclaimer: I grew up in Michigan and PA and love snowy environments that look pretty. That may or may not have been at least half of the reason I originally purchased this game ;)

What's awesome:
* Beautiful storytelling in the native language. For a while (until you hit some of the more difficult puzzles), it feels like a movie that you're loosely controlling. Really good job on the storytelling aspect.
* Amazing art!
* Well-produced videos with a bunch of interesting cultural knowledge.
* The environments... wow. I know I already mentioned art, but the environment design and appearance is just stellar!
* Beautiful soundtrack that moves with the game.
* While I can't say from expeirence (yet), it looks like they did a good job with the co-op aspect.

What's not:
* In solo mode, the alternate player is a lot like Tails from the Sonic games in terms of AI. Some reviews really bash the AI. I don't think it was that bad TBH, and I know firsthand how hard it is to code good AI (and they got a number of stupid "death avoidance" things spot on, which I know are very hard to do). This game is like 98% there. That last 2% would make the difference between great and awesome though.
* There are a few puzzles that you have to switch back and forth between characters to solve. This is brilliant. However, in solo mode, 2 or 3 puzzles require some speed, and are rather irritating when trying to solve it yourself on your first playthrough.
* Movement could use a bit of improvement. Don't get me wrong, I *love* how Nuna will be all like "whoa" when you almost walk off an edge, but sometimes I actually intend to ;)
* The resurrected fox spirit interaction is a bit tedious. I feel like this should be a bit more automatic.

Overall, I definitely recommend this game. I think it would be better with an Xbox controller than keyboard+mouse, but haven't gotten the chance to try it that way yet. Beautiful storytelling, immersive world, and a few good hours of fun ;) I'm a generally slow gamer and it too me 5 hours from start to 100% completion.

I've been playing this game since very early on in the Early Access process, and am very eagerly anticipating the 1.0 release. I've been waiting for a good skiing/snowboarding game for PC for YEARS, and this is looking very much like it will be that game. Absolutely beautiful environments! Controls and physics are still definitely beta, but that's what the play testing cycle is for.

Highly recommend!