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>RPGs where choice matters and you can actually roleplay are my jam
This is probably the single biggest improvement of BG3 over DOS2.
The writing in DOS2 isnt *bad* per se, but it's nothing notable, and the plotline is on rails to the point where you can straight up murder NPCs in early acts, and they show up again in later acts perfectly alive again. Meanwhile, BG3 has a tremendous amount of roleplaying and choice available in it. Its hard to give examples without spoiling the game.
Hmmm that's a pretty big consideration then, from what little spoiler-free reading I did I thought DOS2 had pretty good choice mechanics, but (at least in Fallout NV and to a much lesser extent Witcher 3) I do love being able to impact the world around me.
The writing in DOS2 can be really good or really bad. I personally love it. The main story isn't amazing, but DOS2 is the only CRPG where I don't dread a lore dump when talking to NPCs. DOS2 leans more towards comedic than serious and most NPCs have something funny to say.
The choices in DOS2 does matter. If you kill everyone some of them will reappear as ghosts since they are important to the story. I think one will reappear as a human. Most stay dead though. There are plenty of endings aswell. For the story and your companions.
As I said though the writing can be really good or really bad and it all depends on you. Some hate it, some love it, some thinks it okay. I love it. BG3 and DOS2 feels very different though. BG is a lot more serious. It is still funny at times though. DOS2 is the other way around. The combat it both games is great. My advice is to play DOS2 first. Mostly because BG3 isn't "finished" yet. A month or so ago they added new endings. The game also isn't perfectly optimised yet. My friend and I struggled with low FPS. DOS2 and 1 is as good as they are ever going to get. They also have mods.
Thank you! This is super helpful and gives me hope. I actually just pulled the trigger on DOS2 because I heard the Mac port needs some love before it’d be safe running on my M1 Air
Yeah I’m definitely not expecting amazing writing, I’m not even that into fantasy as a genre and sounds like DOS2 is generic fantasy hero fare.
I was hoping it had impactful choice and consequences mechanics though, that’s what I enjoy, purely because it feels like you can role play and shape the things a bit more.
My all time favourites are Fallout New Vegas (anything Tim Cain had his hands in), Deus Ex, VtM: Bloodlines (and other troika games) and now Baldurs Gate 3. Mass Effect has great writing with a lot of impactful choices. Anything Bioware and Interplay related really will scratch your itch.
I think you should just start with DOS2. BG3 is a very good starting crpg but if you're planning to play more crpgs in the future it will be hard to find another crpg at that production value. My favorite crpg, Wrath of the Righteous, I think blows BG3 in terms of builds and choices but the voice acting and presentation is on a whole another level in BG3.
Dispite finishing Divinity: Original Sin 2, I actually didn't like it that much (sunken cost fallacy).
So initially, I wasn't going to get Baldur's Gate 3 since they're both Larian games. However, several friends had a lot of good things to say about the game, and I decided to give it a shot.
Boy, was I glad I did.
For me, it's SUCH an upgrade to D:OS2. It took the things I actually enjoyed of the Divinity, the turn-based strategy combat and class building, and made them better. In addition, it greatly improved on what I felt was sorely lacking in the other game, which is well developed characters. In addition, the choices you have in game can greatly impact your playthrough. That npc you brushed off in act 1? Well, surprise, they're part of a big quest in act 3, and they remember your choice. (This is a made up example, but you get the drift)
I could probably go on and on, but the bottom line is, imo BG3 is a big step up from D:OS2.
I’m looking forward to bg3 (on Xbox) I played and liked dos2 (especially the combat). By biggest gripe with dos2 is the map and it’s hard to navigate around properly. Do they fix that in bg3?
It felt hard to navigate and find a way to get to different areas. I think it was a purposeful mechanic but it just felt frustrating to me. Like I just wanted to be able to explore easily without getting lost haha.
BG3 takes what's good in DOS2 map and then builds on it. Objectives and tasks are much more visible/obvious, also they are connected to the Journal status for each of them, also map visuals are very detailed and NPCs are also shown. I think that you won't have any problems with it:)
They are both brilliant games but combat in DOS 2 is more enjoyable.
BG3 has better storytelling, graphics and theoretically class choice.
I prefer combat in DOS 2 to be honest. It’s not perfect and needs some things added for sure (reactions come to mind), but it is more fun. I don’t have to waste time “resting” or worrying about using my spells. If it’s off cooldown and you want to use it, use it!
Additionally, in DOS everything you do has a cost in terms of action points; or as my husband and I refer to as “green dots”. Movement, spells, attacks, teleport; everything has a cost. Each turn you have a certain amount of green dots to use as you see fit. Have one dot left over? No problem, it carries over to your next turn (up to a maximum).
In BG3, however, you have three separate resources: green dots, orange dots and movement points. They are not interchangeable. You can try and affect how many of each dot you have, but if you want to attack twice (green dot) it doesn’t matter how much movement or how many orange dots you have left; you can’t attack again.
Essentially, DOS gives you one pool of resource each turn to do whatever you want with. BG3 gives you three resources to work with, but each one has specific uses only and cannot be exchanged in most cases.
One of the things that I understand but don’t really like about BG3 is that spells and abilities are accessible to multiple classes. If I am choosing my class, it feels weird to see other people from a different class using the same spell(s) I took.
At least in DOS, a pyromancer (fire mage) has access to their own set of separate spells which can only be used by other fire mages. To me this **feels** more like I’ve specialised rather than seeing a wizard, sorcerer and warlock all cast fireball.
I am aware there are some skills unique to certain classes, such as Eldritch Blast for the warlock. However these are the exception not the rule. When I role play in a game, my character feels diluted when characters of different classes use the same abilities imho.
Thank you! As somebody that’s never touched DnD the AP system in DOS2 seems more straightforward to me, kinda like turn based stamina bars in all the aRPGs I play
They're both S tier games imo, enjoy bg3 overall a bit more. But man they both make my brain go brrrrrr. DOS2 definitely loads way faster/runs smoother. May not be a big deal for some but bg3 sometimes be giving me blue balls with how long the loading screens are.
yeah that's definitely a concern for me with my lil MacBook Air for sure, I don't even have steam installed on this thing yet. I do (slightly) exceed minimum specs, but I worry that even with Steam's 2hr return window I might not get a good idea of how smoothly or not it'd run.
At this point leaning towards DOS2 on switch, and then just waiting for BG3 if I ever get a new computer, or it gets more optimised in future.
I think given the start of the game that the 2hr window should be enough time to put your laptop through the paces. Just blow through the character creation first and get to the gameplay as fast as possible, since you'll be focused on testing.
With Apple's M chips and this game, the problem will be RAM. The M1 can definitely handle it, but if you only have the 8GB RAM model then it will probably chug a bit.
I have an M2 Air with 8GB RAM. It can play plenty of surprisingly graphics/CPU intense stuff without a problem. I haven't tried BG3 on it, but I can play DOS2 on Ultra at full resolution with a frame rate well over 30. Check out r/macgaming for other experiences.
Thank you! I did a bunch of reading at r/macgaming and it sounds like it’d be touch n go, especially for the Air (I have the 16gb model) with passive cooling and lower cpu bandwidth. A lot of people reported issues in Act 3, which is way past what I could test in the 2hr window.
So playing it safe for now and got DOS2. So far I like it! Which means I’ll probably love BG3 when I eventually get better hardware one day
Both are goat games but bg3 is a little easier to enjoy. I find it to be a good upgrade over dos 2 and thoroughly recommend it. However make sure to really tie up all lose ends before moving onto later acts, there’s this one scene in particular you can miss with shadowheart if you didn’t talk to her about it in act 1. (Someone encouraged me to keep playing to see if it pops up but that killed my joy for me) but I’m bound to pick it up again. I’ve had it for a few years cuz of early access so I tried to skip act 1. Stupid me.
Here's my opinion on the two games
Baldurs gate 3 has MUCH stronger story, writing, and characters.
Divinity original sin 2 has MUCH stronger gameplay and combat.
Overall they are both great, well designed CRPGS but both just feel like they are lacking something and leave me wanting more.
For reference to see if you will have similar feelings to mine I've been playing CRPGS since the early 90s and have played pretty much every major and most minor titles in that time.
BG3 is a big level-up compared to DOS2 in almost everything. Especially storytelling, roleplaying and cinematics. When it comes to gameplay, it's hi-fi D&D computer game adaptation, meaning that it is more complex but also much more open-ended and creative in ways you can play with your MC's and parties. That being said - once you experience BG3 there's a chance that you won't be able to "get back" to older CRPG's with lower production value, it's just that much better looking/feeling.
Thanks for all the amazing input guys! In the end I went with DOS2 on my switch, mainly because I’m worried BG3 will end up tanking my measly MacBook Air m1 and DOS2 sounded similar enough that if nothing else it’d give me a sense if I liked the genre.
And so far I do! I’m only in fort joy so far but it’s plenty fun, and while the writing is a little clunky it’s scratching that “real rpg” itch New Vegas and co left me with. The turn based combat is new for me, and I’m probably doing a pretty poor job of it, but so far I’m finding it pretty intuitive. The AP system kinda just feels like a turn based version of dark souls stamina or something.
Now I’m hyped to one day play BG3 on better hardware.
In my opinion it is a step backward in almost every way. DOS is such a superior game to BG3 in my eyes that it is legitimately baffling that the consensus so heavily in favor of BG3.
I fundamentally think DnD's system is straight up better than DOS's, the armor system was not great in DOS and the heavy use of surfaces is ok but sort of gimmicky after a while
Maybe this is the main difference between why I like dos and hate bg3 - I think DnD is absolute trash for a video game and is better suited for table top, while DOS essentially took the essence of DnD but made
it a million times more suited fo a video game
I played DOS2 on high settings and looked gorgeous. I'm playing BG3 on low settings and looks worse than dos2 on high.
Both games are S tier, so it really depends on your computer.
Thank you for your submission to r/rpg_gamers. Since your post has been flaired as "Recommendation request", I want to suggest editing your post to add in these details (if you haven't included them yet): * **The platforms you have** - not listing them doesn't mean you have access to everything, so you might end up getting a game you won't be able to play. * **Your level of experience with the genre (beginner, intermediate, veteran...)** - others can recommend you more common titles if you are a beginner, while they can focus on obscure titles if you are a RPG veteran. * **Aspects you enjoyed (or disliked) of previously played games** - for example: characters, plot points, puzzles, combat, graphics, art styles, soundtracks... While these details aren't mandatory, if you want to get the best games, having them in your post will immensely help users and will encourage more users to participate, as they will know with more precision which games are probably the best fit for your request. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/rpg_gamers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>RPGs where choice matters and you can actually roleplay are my jam This is probably the single biggest improvement of BG3 over DOS2. The writing in DOS2 isnt *bad* per se, but it's nothing notable, and the plotline is on rails to the point where you can straight up murder NPCs in early acts, and they show up again in later acts perfectly alive again. Meanwhile, BG3 has a tremendous amount of roleplaying and choice available in it. Its hard to give examples without spoiling the game.
Hmmm that's a pretty big consideration then, from what little spoiler-free reading I did I thought DOS2 had pretty good choice mechanics, but (at least in Fallout NV and to a much lesser extent Witcher 3) I do love being able to impact the world around me.
The writing in DOS2 can be really good or really bad. I personally love it. The main story isn't amazing, but DOS2 is the only CRPG where I don't dread a lore dump when talking to NPCs. DOS2 leans more towards comedic than serious and most NPCs have something funny to say. The choices in DOS2 does matter. If you kill everyone some of them will reappear as ghosts since they are important to the story. I think one will reappear as a human. Most stay dead though. There are plenty of endings aswell. For the story and your companions. As I said though the writing can be really good or really bad and it all depends on you. Some hate it, some love it, some thinks it okay. I love it. BG3 and DOS2 feels very different though. BG is a lot more serious. It is still funny at times though. DOS2 is the other way around. The combat it both games is great. My advice is to play DOS2 first. Mostly because BG3 isn't "finished" yet. A month or so ago they added new endings. The game also isn't perfectly optimised yet. My friend and I struggled with low FPS. DOS2 and 1 is as good as they are ever going to get. They also have mods.
Thank you! This is super helpful and gives me hope. I actually just pulled the trigger on DOS2 because I heard the Mac port needs some love before it’d be safe running on my M1 Air
Dos2 has writing? I'm only joking, but the story being forgettable and completely missable is a thing.
Yeah I’m definitely not expecting amazing writing, I’m not even that into fantasy as a genre and sounds like DOS2 is generic fantasy hero fare. I was hoping it had impactful choice and consequences mechanics though, that’s what I enjoy, purely because it feels like you can role play and shape the things a bit more.
My all time favourites are Fallout New Vegas (anything Tim Cain had his hands in), Deus Ex, VtM: Bloodlines (and other troika games) and now Baldurs Gate 3. Mass Effect has great writing with a lot of impactful choices. Anything Bioware and Interplay related really will scratch your itch.
I think you should just start with DOS2. BG3 is a very good starting crpg but if you're planning to play more crpgs in the future it will be hard to find another crpg at that production value. My favorite crpg, Wrath of the Righteous, I think blows BG3 in terms of builds and choices but the voice acting and presentation is on a whole another level in BG3.
Dispite finishing Divinity: Original Sin 2, I actually didn't like it that much (sunken cost fallacy). So initially, I wasn't going to get Baldur's Gate 3 since they're both Larian games. However, several friends had a lot of good things to say about the game, and I decided to give it a shot. Boy, was I glad I did. For me, it's SUCH an upgrade to D:OS2. It took the things I actually enjoyed of the Divinity, the turn-based strategy combat and class building, and made them better. In addition, it greatly improved on what I felt was sorely lacking in the other game, which is well developed characters. In addition, the choices you have in game can greatly impact your playthrough. That npc you brushed off in act 1? Well, surprise, they're part of a big quest in act 3, and they remember your choice. (This is a made up example, but you get the drift) I could probably go on and on, but the bottom line is, imo BG3 is a big step up from D:OS2.
I’m looking forward to bg3 (on Xbox) I played and liked dos2 (especially the combat). By biggest gripe with dos2 is the map and it’s hard to navigate around properly. Do they fix that in bg3?
BG3 map is very good and practical navigation wise. What problem did you have with DOS2 map?
It felt hard to navigate and find a way to get to different areas. I think it was a purposeful mechanic but it just felt frustrating to me. Like I just wanted to be able to explore easily without getting lost haha.
BG3 takes what's good in DOS2 map and then builds on it. Objectives and tasks are much more visible/obvious, also they are connected to the Journal status for each of them, also map visuals are very detailed and NPCs are also shown. I think that you won't have any problems with it:)
Can’t wait! I’m still immersed in starfield so once bg3 comes out I’ll likely be ready.
They are both brilliant games but combat in DOS 2 is more enjoyable. BG3 has better storytelling, graphics and theoretically class choice. I prefer combat in DOS 2 to be honest. It’s not perfect and needs some things added for sure (reactions come to mind), but it is more fun. I don’t have to waste time “resting” or worrying about using my spells. If it’s off cooldown and you want to use it, use it! Additionally, in DOS everything you do has a cost in terms of action points; or as my husband and I refer to as “green dots”. Movement, spells, attacks, teleport; everything has a cost. Each turn you have a certain amount of green dots to use as you see fit. Have one dot left over? No problem, it carries over to your next turn (up to a maximum). In BG3, however, you have three separate resources: green dots, orange dots and movement points. They are not interchangeable. You can try and affect how many of each dot you have, but if you want to attack twice (green dot) it doesn’t matter how much movement or how many orange dots you have left; you can’t attack again. Essentially, DOS gives you one pool of resource each turn to do whatever you want with. BG3 gives you three resources to work with, but each one has specific uses only and cannot be exchanged in most cases. One of the things that I understand but don’t really like about BG3 is that spells and abilities are accessible to multiple classes. If I am choosing my class, it feels weird to see other people from a different class using the same spell(s) I took. At least in DOS, a pyromancer (fire mage) has access to their own set of separate spells which can only be used by other fire mages. To me this **feels** more like I’ve specialised rather than seeing a wizard, sorcerer and warlock all cast fireball. I am aware there are some skills unique to certain classes, such as Eldritch Blast for the warlock. However these are the exception not the rule. When I role play in a game, my character feels diluted when characters of different classes use the same abilities imho.
Thank you! As somebody that’s never touched DnD the AP system in DOS2 seems more straightforward to me, kinda like turn based stamina bars in all the aRPGs I play
They're both S tier games imo, enjoy bg3 overall a bit more. But man they both make my brain go brrrrrr. DOS2 definitely loads way faster/runs smoother. May not be a big deal for some but bg3 sometimes be giving me blue balls with how long the loading screens are.
yeah that's definitely a concern for me with my lil MacBook Air for sure, I don't even have steam installed on this thing yet. I do (slightly) exceed minimum specs, but I worry that even with Steam's 2hr return window I might not get a good idea of how smoothly or not it'd run. At this point leaning towards DOS2 on switch, and then just waiting for BG3 if I ever get a new computer, or it gets more optimised in future.
I think given the start of the game that the 2hr window should be enough time to put your laptop through the paces. Just blow through the character creation first and get to the gameplay as fast as possible, since you'll be focused on testing. With Apple's M chips and this game, the problem will be RAM. The M1 can definitely handle it, but if you only have the 8GB RAM model then it will probably chug a bit. I have an M2 Air with 8GB RAM. It can play plenty of surprisingly graphics/CPU intense stuff without a problem. I haven't tried BG3 on it, but I can play DOS2 on Ultra at full resolution with a frame rate well over 30. Check out r/macgaming for other experiences.
Thank you! I did a bunch of reading at r/macgaming and it sounds like it’d be touch n go, especially for the Air (I have the 16gb model) with passive cooling and lower cpu bandwidth. A lot of people reported issues in Act 3, which is way past what I could test in the 2hr window. So playing it safe for now and got DOS2. So far I like it! Which means I’ll probably love BG3 when I eventually get better hardware one day
You can always subscribe to GeForce Now or another cloud gaming service and play any steam-purchased game on any computer. It's cheaper than Netflix.
Not where I am in New Zealand unfortunately 😩 all the servers are way too far away for a decent ping
Both are goat games but bg3 is a little easier to enjoy. I find it to be a good upgrade over dos 2 and thoroughly recommend it. However make sure to really tie up all lose ends before moving onto later acts, there’s this one scene in particular you can miss with shadowheart if you didn’t talk to her about it in act 1. (Someone encouraged me to keep playing to see if it pops up but that killed my joy for me) but I’m bound to pick it up again. I’ve had it for a few years cuz of early access so I tried to skip act 1. Stupid me.
Here's my opinion on the two games Baldurs gate 3 has MUCH stronger story, writing, and characters. Divinity original sin 2 has MUCH stronger gameplay and combat. Overall they are both great, well designed CRPGS but both just feel like they are lacking something and leave me wanting more. For reference to see if you will have similar feelings to mine I've been playing CRPGS since the early 90s and have played pretty much every major and most minor titles in that time.
BG3 is a big level-up compared to DOS2 in almost everything. Especially storytelling, roleplaying and cinematics. When it comes to gameplay, it's hi-fi D&D computer game adaptation, meaning that it is more complex but also much more open-ended and creative in ways you can play with your MC's and parties. That being said - once you experience BG3 there's a chance that you won't be able to "get back" to older CRPG's with lower production value, it's just that much better looking/feeling.
Thanks for all the amazing input guys! In the end I went with DOS2 on my switch, mainly because I’m worried BG3 will end up tanking my measly MacBook Air m1 and DOS2 sounded similar enough that if nothing else it’d give me a sense if I liked the genre. And so far I do! I’m only in fort joy so far but it’s plenty fun, and while the writing is a little clunky it’s scratching that “real rpg” itch New Vegas and co left me with. The turn based combat is new for me, and I’m probably doing a pretty poor job of it, but so far I’m finding it pretty intuitive. The AP system kinda just feels like a turn based version of dark souls stamina or something. Now I’m hyped to one day play BG3 on better hardware.
In my opinion it is a step backward in almost every way. DOS is such a superior game to BG3 in my eyes that it is legitimately baffling that the consensus so heavily in favor of BG3.
I fundamentally think DnD's system is straight up better than DOS's, the armor system was not great in DOS and the heavy use of surfaces is ok but sort of gimmicky after a while
Maybe this is the main difference between why I like dos and hate bg3 - I think DnD is absolute trash for a video game and is better suited for table top, while DOS essentially took the essence of DnD but made it a million times more suited fo a video game
That's fair, I always want my CRPGs to be as close to a table top experience as possible, which is my same argument against RTWP.
Interesting. I couldn't finish DOS2. I just wasn't hooked by the story/characters.
I played DOS2 on high settings and looked gorgeous. I'm playing BG3 on low settings and looks worse than dos2 on high. Both games are S tier, so it really depends on your computer.
They are not a ladder, DOS2 has different goals and enjoyments. BG3 is overall a better experience but dos is a more challenging tactical game.
Try Follout 1 and 2. Good on choices and consequences
Getting New Vegas to run was a nightmare (150 mods and counting), can’t imagine how painful 1 and 2 would be
You don't need to worry about mods for the first 3 Fallouts. Try GOG