After coming to the realisation that I won’t be replayingBaldur’s Gate 3any time soon, now I really want to replay Baldur’s Gate 3 again. It’s like there was a ball sitting in the corner of the playground, lonely and untouched, and now the teacher has taken it away, so I’m throwing a tantrum. I haveFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthto contend with right now, then the one-two-three punch ofDragon’s Dogma 2,Rise of the Ronin, andPrincess Peach Showtimeheaded over the horizon. I gotta lotta games. That’s the whole reason I can’t play Baldur’s Gate 3,tabaxi or not. But I’m still dreaming of going back.
I had a couple of different save slots for Baldur’s Gate 3. Not as many as our team of guiderinnos, who had to explore each option in depth to sufficiently point the way, but enough to bring a tear to a save scummer’s eye. I mostly stuck with my decisions in Baldur’s Gate, at least not to the point of backtracking hours if I didn’t like a certain outcome, but before I did or said something that could have dire consequences, I would save my game before progressing.
My favourite of this was the delicate books in Sorcerer’s Sundries, where you get an option to shout at these books the librarian is whispering near. Doing so causes them, the bookshelf, the librarian, and you to explode in a ball of flames. Worth it.
Maybe it’s the fact thatDragon’s Dogma 2 only has one save slotthat I’m even thinking about this. Of course, that should still allow me to save, do something stupid, and immediately repent - just spare a thought for those poor guiderinnos. I was thinking about a cheap way Baldur’s Gate 3 could let me play again without the full commitment, and I considered the idea of playing through scenarios I didn’t get to see. Like once you beat the game, you can play through the parts you missed.
Then I realised that was very stupid. Doing that would strip away the journey you take to get to these moments, and destroy the complex storytelling that goes into making the game so special. This was why misguided gamers felt Baldur’s Gate 3 beatingSpider-Man 2to Game of the Yearwas controversial, because its moment to moment gameplay looks (and sometimes feels) very slow. I don’t have the heart to tell them that not only did Spider-Man 2 not win, it likely placed fourth afterTears of the KingdomandAlan Wake 2as well.
In fact, if Baldur’s Gate 3 added an update that allowed you to play any potential skirmish or encounter with any possible party decked out in any weapon you choose, I’m sure I’d be highly critical of the idea of devaluing the journey in ways I already fear the kissing updates are currently doing. So I devised an equally unrealistic compromise - the highlight reel.
This would allow you to revisit encounters you already had, the exact way you had them, letting you try out new combat techniques or alternative endings. I know this would take up a colossal amount of storage space by adding multiple save files in a game that’s already too huge, but I also know this is a hypothetical bit of fun that will never happen. Hypothetical bits of fun that will never happen are not confined by hard drive space. They defy the laws of physics.
I last played Baldur’s Gate 3 when the epilogue was added, and that was a very tangible reason to return to the game. I had reached the ending, they added an extra piece after the ending, so I went back to it. Nice and easy. But now I’m left with either playing through a few random fragments of the game from leftover save files, or starting again. Naturally, the obvious choice is to start again and immerse myself in Faerun once more, but you saw that list of games I have to play, right? Another 100+ hours as a Baldurian will have to wait.
And really, that is the answer. Wait until I’m ready to play properly, then play properly. But I miss playing, and I can’t play properly yet, so in the meantime, I’m going to complain about it. Now give me my ball back.
Baldur’s Gate 3
WHERE TO PLAY
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.
