Picked up Baldur's Gate 3 not typically a fan of CRPGs it's really the only genre I typically avoid and this has been no different for me so far. I'll stick with it for a bit longer but so far I find it pretty meh.
Its a CRPG, for sure
The point is to get invested in your character/party/the story, in whichever order of preference. Then you'll keep going back to get even more invested, and suddenly every number in every fight matters. One thing really leads to another here, the initial investment will make it or break it. CRPG's aren't kind on your time either, the more you read dialogue the better the whole thing works, if you just run through everything you'll miss out on all the pivotal choices to make.
I find these types of games work fantastically well if you have no other bucket list things to escape to. Its not the 'dopamine cycle' styled gameplay with constant injections to keep you hooked. It's timid, but interesting, like a book versus a hollywood movie, the book's probably better even if the cover is boring and there are no pictures.
'Stay a while, and listen' really
The dice rolls are fine. I like a lot of CRPG's (Knights of the Old Republic and Disco Elysium comes to mind, both based on DnD). It's how the dice rolls are done. The game is literally paused and I have to click on a literal D20. It's like I have to complete a very simple mini-game for every skill check I do. It's like the game grabs me by the shoulders and screams in my face "HEY, YOU'RE PLAYING A GAME, DON'T FORGET YOU'RE PLAYING A GAME". Which is the opposite from what I want when playing a game. I'll keep on playing though, maybe I'll stop hating it.
I feel the same about the narrator btw.
The narrator... hit / miss to me. Sometimes she gives a great bit of info, sometimes its confusing as fck, other times its a sense of direction I wasn't looking for. The D20 rolls, I kinda like them, especially given the fact they use Advantage/Disadvantage which brings them really close to the tabletop experience. I do like the voice they used there, she does it well imho.
Check out Inspiration as well, if you haven't found that, it explains more about it. Do roleplay-ey things and you get more inspiration which means more Advantage rolls or re-rolls.
The main gripe I have with the D20 rolls is you can't speed them up enough. Animation should be cut short. Just show me the result in red or green, really, I don't need 'Success' to appear slowly after clearly rolling higher than a DC... Give me instant results, not the slow on-screen math being done, geezus.
I also (think I) get what you're saying about the proper DnD games being annoying to play. They are, aren't they. Its like the rules are always in the way of a good game with a nice flow, to me. Neverwinter Nights had that dubious quality in spades, as did Baldurs Gate 1/2. Pillars of Eternity suffers a similar fate. Its the immersion that keeps it going at that point... BG3 is definitely a lot smoother, more game and less rulebook.
The Ingame graphics are ways better than any Nickelodeon anime !
Luckily the wheel has enough buttons to make everything work, so I won't buy any accessories.
