Both games are currently on sale on Steam for about the same price ($59.99 CAD vs $58.49 CAD). I’ve never played either. I know they’re both supposed to be excellent games. My question is, for those who have played both, which do you prefer?
I don’t think I’ve got a ton of experience with similar games, though I don’t know for sure. I mostly play Souls games and Elder Scrolls games (Elden Ring and Skyrim are my two favourite games of all time). I don’t think there’s much carryover there but I could be wrong.
Hopefully this post could also help someone else who’s curious about the two games.
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I personally like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 more than Baldur‘s Gate 3. I didn’t play BG3 until like 10 minutes into chapter 2. It’s just not appealing to me. I also didn’t play Skyrim beyond exploring and the main quest.
They’re very different games, in my opinion. If “bang for your buck” is most important then BG3 has objectively more content. It’s way longer, has way more side content and can support many playthroughs.
I think BG3 is a very good game, but it is not perfect and it is somewhat overrated. It’s a great game, but not the best game ever. It has a fair share of flaws, and while the writing is fine it’s still very much videogamey.
Expedition 33 is more of a work of art. It still has its problems too, but at all the critical points it delivers in spades. It’s got a great cast of characters, beautiful art direction and a story with resonant themes that will hit home with most people. Plus one of the best soundtracks of all time. It’s got fantastic presentation, some incredible set pieces and moments and phenomenal voice acting, direction and facial expressions. Even though the game is turn-based, the implementation of active elements like Parry and Dodge will feel very familiar to you coming from Elden Ring. In fact, one of the gameplay designers used to be a Sekiro speedrunner, and it shows.
From your frame of reference BG3 is more like Skyrim I’d say, in that it can almost be your “forever-game”. People put thousands of hours into it over dozens of playthroughs and it has a very vivid modding scene. Expedition 33 is all about that one, cinematic impactful playthrough. Maybe you play it a second time to pick up on foreshadowing and stuff like that.
For me personally I had a great time playing BG3, but I will eventually forget about it. I spent fewer hours in Expedition 33, but the experience will stay with me way longer.
With the exception of the words “somewhat overrated”, I agree with this 100%. I have probably ~1000 hours in bg3 and just shy of 100 in expedition 33.
I wish I could play Expedition 33 for the first time again. It’s amazing. And it is very much a work of art.
With BG3 I can play it for the first time again by making different choices, adding mods, and choosing different classes. It’s a very fun video game with a lot of choices.
I’d highly recommend both. If someone is searching to fill between 40 and 100 hours (I like side quests, ok?) then Expedition 33 is absolutely amazing. If someone were looking to spend a couple of years before they have the money for another game then I can absolutely recommend BG3.
BG3 clearly has a lot of effort and polish put in, but overrated still resonates with me. I didn’t get out of act one because I find DnD mechanically tedious to play and the the gallery of rogues style characters more annoying than endearing.
You worded my reasoning for Clair Obscur much better than I could have.
OP: I loved Clair Obscur and highly recommend it. The story and gameplay is just so engaging, and it honestly might be the most beautiful game I’ve ever played in both art and soundtrack.
That makes me lean a bit more towards Clair Obscur. Though both sound awesome.
No wrong choice. Though if you like Skyrim so much I’d say you’d prefer BG3, ever so slightly
That’s where I was leaning at first too, but now I’m not so sure after reading some other comments. Tough decision.
What others have failed to mention is how Expedition 33 is much more of a linear story where BG3 is comprised of a multitude of non-linear branching paths where “save-scumming” is important for new players.
Skyrim has the non-linear branching paths, but Bethesda doesn’t like cutting you off from content based on the path you choose so usually you can still continue to pursue other paths. Baldur’s Gate 3 is much much less forgiving and makes your choices matter and impact the paths you can take deeply. This can be daunting for new players.
I personally love games in the style of BG3 with non-linear branching paths and decisions that force specific paths, but they can be tricky to get used to if you haven’t experienced them before.
If you are more comfortable with the more linear stories, Expedition 33 is probably closer to what you’ll be comfortable with. However they are both worthwhile in many differing regards.
What I would also note is that the story in BG3 is still very linear. The branching paths are small deviations along the main path and can affect the ending, but the story doesn’t really change a whole lot so it’s not as daunting as it sounds.
The differences in choices in BG3 are more like flavor so that the story doesn’t railroad you into a certain character archetype. Replaying BG3 and making different choices mainly just rewards you with different companions and cutscenes, new paths through the 3 main areas, and more or less different side quests or even parallel main quests.
Yeah, BG3 isn’t a truly branching path game in the way something like Witcher 2 for example is.
I appreciate this input, though I actually like both styles as long as it’s executed well, so unfortunately that doesn’t seal the deal for me. Thank you for the extra info though.
Baldurs Gate 3 only because it has numerous endings while Expedition 33 has 2. Otherwise difficult choice.
They’re very different, so you need to figure it out for yourself. Both are great, but we don’t know your tastes. I would recommend BG3 though, for what is worth.
However, if you’re strapped for cash, I would recommend playing indie games. They’re often more interesting than these larger budget games (though these two are exceptions to large budget games being shit), and they’re usually like $20 max. Most people can get more out of Factorio or Dwarf Fortress, for example, than they can out of these games, at a much lower price.
And tbh since OP said they’re generally more into Soulslikes and such, Silksong comes out in 2 days for $20
Yeah I read about that after posting. I’ll probably pick that up honestly, but these two games are both super tempting too.
I’d make it depend on the length. Expedition 33 is shorter. So if you want an experience that you can finish quickly you should choose that. If you want to spend weeks to months on a game choose BG3.
Both are great. Maybe play E33 first and go to BG3 after that.
BG III is significantly longer, so if that’s important to you 🤷♂️ Otherwise both are great games
You could get GamePass and play Expedition 33 at a cheaper price.
Also, three examples you quoted are both first person based, while BG3 is not.
Elden Ring is third person and Skyrim allows for both. I’m not picky on it though, I like both.
That’s a good point about GamePass though. I also learned that BG3 had a two hour demo on PS5 which I also own. So I might look into that too.
Expedition 33 is very good at what it does. It’s a great experience, well worth the money (though I found combat to be repetitive over time) and as others have already explained, a lot more artistic.
BG3 however was a mind-blowing game for me. The amount of choices you have at every point was something I’d always wanted, and I’d always been let down.
I still think about E33s story often after my ~20h playing it, but for BG3 I really wish I could play it again for the first time, after having played over 200 hours already.
my first walkthrough of E33 took 183 hours, there’s pretty huge world to explore and some optional bosses are quite challenging
Yes
If you spot me $60 I’ll happily buy both 😄
I played BG3 twice but I bounced off of E33. But I’m not as much of a fan of JRPGs so /shrug. I might go back to it at some point though.
For interesting game mechanics and replay value: Baldur’s Gate 3.
For beautiful music and scenery: Expedition 33.
If I had to choose, it would be BG3.
I like replay value, but music and atmosphere is very important to me.
Can you replay Clair Obscur?
How’s the soundtrack for BG3?
Clair Obscur does technically have an NG+, though I’d say it’s less of a focus than in Souls games. There is, however, quite a bit of foreshadowing and pieces of the story that you won’t understand on your first playthrough but that hits different the second time through. I personally opted to consume it by watching others play after I completed my own first playthrough, but I’d say there is grounds enough for a second playthrough if that’s important to you.
You can replay any game, of course, but Clair Obscur’s gameplay is mostly on rails with basic JRPG combat repeated over and over again, so I wouldn’t bother. (Honestly, I found the gameplay boring within a dozen hours or so.) Its music is where it really shines. You could buy the soundtrack alone for a fraction of the price.
BG3’s atmosphere is good. The soundtrack is IMHO less inspired than Larian’s previous soundtrack and not really outstanding like the one in Clair Obsucr, but still decent. And as a game, BG3 has a lot more to offer.
Less inspired soundtrack?
Lives, all mortal lives, expire
Souls go to their dooms
In flame, forevermoreThat song is fire.
I enjoyed Expedition 33 much, much more. BG3 just made me feel stressed and confused. But if you’re used to Souls games you probably wouldn’t have the same issue I did.
If you mostly play Souls games, I have to lean towards E33 due to the real-time parry mechanic. Both games are amazing and you won’t regret playing either.
