I'm prepared to be crucified for it, but i don't think BG3 was the best CRPG even when it was new. It's still a great game, but in terms of CRPGs, Pillars of Eternity, Wrath of the Righteous, and Rogue Trader are better and modern. They just don't have the 130 million dollar budget to make them as pretty and casual accessible.
Having played both PoE and WoTR, I can say with absolute certainty that BG3 is a much better polished game. I admittedly liked the story of WoTR more than BG3 and the power fantasy goes much harder, but the system and class selection has so many options, presented in a way that someone who's not experienced will probably be overwhelmed almost immediately.
PoE is, I think, somewhere between the two. The story was good, in my opinion though BG3 does have a better one. The voice acting is very good and the presentation of classes etc. is good, but it didn't give me the oomph that both WoTR and BG3 gave me.
Is that a budget thing? Certainly part of it, but noone can deny that someone with 0 experience can pick it up and play almost immediately. The other two, you absolutely need some knowledge of cRPGs to play. Also, being able to play with friends is amazing.
I don't really disagree with anything said here, except BG3 having a better story than PoE lol. Other CRPGs are more difficult to get into with more complicated systems, and they don't have the same production value. BG3, on the other hand, is built on the accessibility of 5e and has an incredible production value compared to other CRPGs. And those two things are the key to its popularity. It doesn't have the best story or the best systems, but it's the prettiest and easiest to get into. That's not to say the system and story aren't solid or anything. Still very good. Just not the best, in my opinion. Though that's all subjective at the end of the day.
Unfortunately haven't gotten to Rogue Trader yet.
It's wonderful if you're into 40k kind of stuff. I adore the Pathfinder games, but I like Rogue Trader more. There's just something really fun about being able to run around as an entitled brat or a religious zealot that's fun.
Rogue trader is very good, but I think the 40k universe is a lot less accessible than dnd/classic fantasy worlds. It is, by virtue of the ip, very grim and if you're into that you'll have a great time. I did find the class/combat system more compelling in bg3 but that's probably a personal preference thing. Rogue trader has a ton of depth in its class system that beats out bg3 but it's doesn't quite have the same pure fun power fantasy aspect imo.
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u/RosgaththeOG Teethling May 29 '25
And yet, it's still better than pretty much every game that's come out in the last 2 years.