gamerdad I am glad I played Divinity Original Sin 2 before diving into the world of Baldur’s Gate. The heritage of the latter is evident in vibe of the game and having cut my proverbial teeth on DOS2, died a thousand pointless deaths trying to understand the mechanics of turn-based strategy, I have jumped into BG3 with a ton more confidence.

Having cleared what seems to be the prologue and jumped into the first act of the game, I have been partaking in a play style that has me feeling slightly as though I’m doing something wrong. See, my problem, and it really is a me-problem, is that I am not and have never been adverse to watching a video about a game here and there. I grew up in the era of sparse video gamer information, the trickle that there was coming from rare magazines or that one edge gamer show on cable tv. So, watching those ‘8 things I wish I knew…” clickbait videos to give myself a few nudges is not something I’ve ever shied away from. But all that said, many of those videos seem to subtly imply that there is a ‘right’ way to play BG3, a path I should be taking, a choice I should be making, and I’ve long since deviated and gone off on some other side quest that rarely jives with what those hinty videos are suggesting. So, while the truest metric of a good game is holding true for me (I’m having a good time) there is a little voice in my head going ‘that’s not what the video was doing’ and in a world like that of BG3 that leaves a lot of things on the table.

I’m only about six hours in, however, with about nine hours of play on my log. That right there should tell you how many times I’ve needed to reload and play a lost battle. Or, in what is probably my best head-slap story, I encountered the little goblin prisoner and immediately freed her and got attacked shortly thereafter. So I went and checked the wisdom of the internet and realized there was a back route out of the prison I was supposed to have taken. Duh. Retried that, and made it all the way through the maze of traps and battles to realize I didn’t have the prisoner. Did she die? Nope. In my hurry to follow what I’d read online, I’d skipped a step—actually talking to the prisoner after I freed her so that she would follow me. I went back to the prison and she was just standing there waiting to be led out through that same maze. Following a guide online might help you get ahead, but when you’re baking a chocolate chip cookie recipe from the internet, don’t forget to add the chocolate chips.

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