I am loving the depth and richness of Baldur's Gate so far, but I will be honest. The storytelling, as creative as it is, feels very flat due to how it seems to be presented. I almost feel like a sociopath while playing the game, due to how little I feel invested in the overall plot and its characters.

For example, there is a high degree of ludonarrative dissonance, and quite regularly an emotional or otherwise important event will take place, to absolutely zero fanfare or reaction from the party. You just get dropped back into the game.

I know it is a matter of scope and available resources, but it reminds me a lot of how one might compare the narratives of GTA: San Andreas vs GTAV. Many prefer the overall plot, scope and worldbuilding of GTA: San Andreas vs GTAV. But due to time crunch and constrained resources, parts of the game had to be cut and it really shows.

More typically of games of its time, San Andreas can very abruptly take you in and out of the narrative experience, to the point that some emotional cues are lost. Red Dead Redemption 2 on the other hand excellently bridges this gap, possibly in the most organic fashion to date from any video game.

I hope Larian can look toward recent games such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk for guidance on how to handle a narrative-heavy experience more organically and holistically.