I'm finally getting around to finishing BG3 myself and I think I agree with every last word. "Mechanical decision fatigue" is an inspired turn of phrase for this game — I had about sixty hours of patience for it on my first attempt and just ran out of stamina partway into Act 3. Luckily, this new playthrough is going way more smoothly with my expectations pre-calibrated. Few games can overcome mechanical apathy when it's baked this deep into the systems, but I reckon BG3 is one of them.
Thank you for reading and for sharing, it helps a lot! I really love this game, and yeah, I also found I had much more fun after my first playthrough, probably largely due to adjusted expectations as you say. Also, I think your brain has a bit more RAM left over to actually enjoy the game once you're familiar with the mechanical stuff and no longer have to think so hard about everything.
I agree on the point about BG3's ability to let you miss stuff and still keep going (positive) - I do have to say you seem to have managed to miss stuff to a genuinely impressive degree.
Tbh I don't know how I managed to miss quite so much. Usually I'm quite completionist, but there's so much to process in this game. Also, because it's built quite like a real D&D campaign you can encounter quest hooks in multiple different ways and places, therefore it's not strictly required to e.g. talk to the druids when Zevlor (or whoever) has already told you that your best bet is to find Halsin in the goblin camp.
It's definitely a net positive in that there's so much more to discover while replaying and you are not forced to go through unskippable content, but you can miss out on valuable connective tissue on a first playthrough.
I'm finally getting around to finishing BG3 myself and I think I agree with every last word. "Mechanical decision fatigue" is an inspired turn of phrase for this game — I had about sixty hours of patience for it on my first attempt and just ran out of stamina partway into Act 3. Luckily, this new playthrough is going way more smoothly with my expectations pre-calibrated. Few games can overcome mechanical apathy when it's baked this deep into the systems, but I reckon BG3 is one of them.
Great read, looking forward to Part 2!
Thank you for reading and for sharing, it helps a lot! I really love this game, and yeah, I also found I had much more fun after my first playthrough, probably largely due to adjusted expectations as you say. Also, I think your brain has a bit more RAM left over to actually enjoy the game once you're familiar with the mechanical stuff and no longer have to think so hard about everything.
I agree on the point about BG3's ability to let you miss stuff and still keep going (positive) - I do have to say you seem to have managed to miss stuff to a genuinely impressive degree.
Tbh I don't know how I managed to miss quite so much. Usually I'm quite completionist, but there's so much to process in this game. Also, because it's built quite like a real D&D campaign you can encounter quest hooks in multiple different ways and places, therefore it's not strictly required to e.g. talk to the druids when Zevlor (or whoever) has already told you that your best bet is to find Halsin in the goblin camp.
It's definitely a net positive in that there's so much more to discover while replaying and you are not forced to go through unskippable content, but you can miss out on valuable connective tissue on a first playthrough.