Baldur's Gate 3 - Jeff Vogel Analysis

Jeff Vogel likes to learn from Baldur's Gate 3:

Picking Apart Baldur's Gate 3, Part 1 (The Story)

Telling a complex story without too much annoying reading.

To show I am a serious game writer, I have made OC self-insert fan art of my head canon.
It took far longer than I wanted, because I was really busy finishing my own weird RPG (out March 27!), but I finally finished Baldur's Gate 3.

If you make video games, it's really important to pick apart notable games and find out what does and doesn't work. 90% of creating video games is finding the right ideas to steal. We all stand on the shoulders of giants, after all.

I'll end the suspense. Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3 for short) is brilliant, easily one of the best computer RPGs ever made. There is a LOT to learn here. I want to spend a couple posts picking the fibers apart and seeing the good things to learn (a bunch) and a few nitpicky problems.

(There are very, very minimal spoilers in this.)

This Is Great News For My Business

Flatteringly, PC Gamer asked for my opinions about Baldur's Gate 3. Being me, I focused on the business aspect of it.

I am always thrilled when a turn-based, story-heavy RPG makes it big. It makes fans of the genre, which, in turn, makes customers for me. The timing was perfect. Most people are done with Baldur's Gate 3 now, and those who still have a taste for the genre might try Geneforge 2 - Infestation. (Out March 27. Did I mention?)

Being old, I've now see the RPG genre be revolutionized by three different Baldur's Gate games. The first one came out in 1998 after a huge drought of RPGs and brought the genre back to life.

The second one came out in 2000 and combined cool gameplay, depth of story, and fully fleshed-out party members in a way never done before. (At the time, I publicly said that, if you haven't played Baldur's Gate 2, do so before you bother with any of my games. I am TERRIBLE at business.)

Honestly, Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't do anything truly new. It's a game where quantity has a quality all its own. This game does what has been done before at an unprecedented scale, level of detail, quality, fun, and just plain style. It's good, it's BIG, and the quality continues the whole way through.

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Thanks Couchpotato!