Which is better: Baldur’s Gate 3 or Divinity: Original Sin 2? As someone who has put 40+ hours into Divinity: Original Sin 2 and loved every minute of it and someone who wrote positive early impressions piece of Baldur’s Gate 3, this is a tricky one. Let’s break it down and decide which one is better, Baldur’s Gate 3 or Divinity: Original Sin 2.
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Which is Better? Baldur’s Gate 3 or Divinity Original Sin 2?
Baldur’s Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin 2 are easily comparable games because they are both critically acclaimed RPGs made by Larian Studios. They do have their differences, but there is a lot of crossover. But there must be a winner.
As a little reminder, Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a grand-scale RPG that came out in 2017 and features gameplay, classes, and storytelling similar to D&D but it’s distinctly its own thing built from the ground up. As such, Divinity: Original Sin 2 has classes like Conjurer, Battlemage, Metamorph, Wayfarer, and more abnormal classes which is fun.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is also a grand-scale RPG, but it officially launched its full version in 2023. What makes Baldur’s Gate 3 different is that everything is an exact replica (as exact as it can be) of D&D fifth edition.
Combat
Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 both feature turn-based combat. However, Divinity: Original Sin 2 is different in that you have a lot more action points to spend during a given turn. While certain classes can level up and gain more actions, generally, every class in Baldur’s Gate 3 has one action and one bonus action. There are real pros and cons to both — more actions allow for more chaos in Divinity: Original Sin 2 but the limited approach in Baldur’s Gate 3 really makes you consider the consequences; what’s the most strategic play here?
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Divinity: Original Sin 2’s combat has a lot more emphasis on element interactions. If a player casts a fireball on oil, the ground will erupt in flames. Then, a character can cast a rain storm to dowse the flames, but a fog cloud remains which lowers the visibility of the characters inside it. And, a character can cast a lightning spell and electrocute the entire fog cloud and everyone inside it.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has elemental interactions as well, but they’re not the spotlight. Instead, you get a really healthy balance of melee, range, magic, and situational moments.
Stories
The storytelling in Baldur’s Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin 2 are really similar, surprise, surprise. You go on adventures in an open world, talk to people, try to choose the outcomes you want, take on side quests, and work toward figuring out the big overarching narrative.
It’s been about three years since I’ve played Divinity: Original Sin 2, but I couldn’t tell you the names of the Origin characters or what their original stories are. I remember the overarching plot, and it’s really good, but the rest wasn’t that sticky.
On the other hand, Baldur’s Gate 3’s storytelling capacity feels more limitless and memorable. Time will tell if I remember the companions and their backgrounds, but I’ve already experienced stories between companion relationships that really impressed me, and I think I’ll remember that for a long time.
My Final Thoughts
If you love Baldur’s Gate 3 and want a bit more chaos and variety when it comes to combat, particularly if you’re looking for more elemental interactions, you’ll love Divinity: Original Sin 2. If you love Divinity: Original Sin 2 and are looking for a deeper story found in relationships and complex characters, you’ll love Baldur’s Gate 3.
Recency bias probably affects this, but I think Baldur’s Gate 3 is better than Divinity: Original Sin 2. I love the consequences in and out of battle that Baldur’s Gate 3 captures, I love the dice rolls and ability checks pulled straight from D&D, and I love the wild variety of stories you get to write in Baldur’s Gate 3.
But, honestly, I love both games and would highly recommend them both. It’s just, since they are both super long games, I’d recommend Baldur’s Gate 3 first.
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