Highlights
- Baldur's Gate 3 offers players immense control over its world, allowing them to create characters, make impactful decisions, and cause mayhem. This freedom has made it a top RPG.
- Players can meet and interact with unique and engaging characters in Baldur's Gate 3, even forming romantic relationships. Building these relationships adds depth and realism to the game.
- Baldur's Gate 3's robust romance options already eclipse those in Bethesda's upcoming Starfield, with more choices and lifelike dynamics. This gives Baldur's Gate 3 an advantage in terms of romantic immersion and world-building.
Baldur's Gate 3 is not only one of the most advanced fantasy games around, but Larian Studios has also given players immense control over everything they do in its world. They can create whoever they want, make decisions that can alter the story immensely, and cause any shenanigans that they set their mind to. This freedom has helped make Baldur's Gate 3 one of the greatest RPGs on the market, and it is made even better by the charismatic cast of characters that tag along for the ride.
Throughout Baldur's Gate 3, players will be able to meet and group up with all sorts of different characters. These characters are all incredibly unique and can be a lot of fun to talk to. As players progress through the game, they will grow closer to these allies and may even end up falling in love with a couple of them. While this mechanic is not integral to the plot, it does help make Baldur's Gate 3 feel more alive and may even put it leagues ahead of Bethesda's own Starfield.
Baldur's Gate 3 is Winning in the Romance Department
Baldur's Gate 3 gives players the freedom to choose how they want to go about its world, and those choices can often result in various romantic encounters. The game currently offers around eight different romance options that players can pursue. Once players recruit these companions to the camp, they must build up that specific character's approval of the protagonist before they can engage in any sort of romantic encounter. Each character likes and dislikes different things, and it is up to the player to ensure they can juggle all of that in their pursuit of love.
As of now, almost every single romance option is relegated to one of Baldur's Gate 3's many companions, and these relationships are supposed to feel real. There is only one romance option with an outside NPC named Minthara, and that requires players to be a bit nefarious. While some players may have no problem attacking the Emerald Grove for love, others will likely want to keep their love life within the confines of their party instead.
Baldur's Gate 3's romance options are not the focus of the game, but they do add a fun extra element to the story. Some of the trailers and developer updates have put this feature front and center, and most players will likely try to romance at least one of their companions. It helps make the entire world feel more real and lived in, and more RPGs may want to take some notes.
Bethesda's Starfield is set to be the next major RPG of 2023, and it looks like it should be worth the wait. The galaxy that Bethesda built looks impressive, the customizability looks top-notch, the gameplay seems exhilarating, and everything about the game has that classic Bethesda charm. It sounds like it will be the perfect sci-fi RPG, but the studio seems to have limited its romantic options a bit.
While Starfield's core gameplay should come before anything else, the lack of romance options feels a bit disappointing after Baldur's Gate 3. The game will allegedly only have around four different romantic options at launch, which seems like a ridiculously small number within its massive galaxy. Right now it feels like Baldur's Gate 3 is leagues ahead of Starfield when it comes to romance. Larian not only included more than double the options, but it also made them actually feel lifelike. Starfield could be hiding an advanced romantic system up its sleeve, but that remains to be seen.
Baldur's Gate 3 is available now on PC, with a PS5 release on September 6 and an Xbox launch to follow.
