The fashion! Well it's not quite Vogue Italia in my view, but it ain't too shabby either. I would say it's somewhat better than BG2 on this count hehe. It really depends on your Class choice though and whether you want to wear the camp clothing when you're running around in-world or just at night when you're going to sleep, or never. You can have your PC and Companions dressed in their armor and adventuring kit the whole time, or you can click a button and they'll wear whatever regular camp duds. Or you can play in your underwear or buck naked if you want, but that's a bit much for my tastes. I'm not going to pretend like I haven't streaked into the Goblin camp hurling smoke powder barrels around for a good time, but that's highly elective. Like there's nothing forcing those antics. There are some sleeveless getups sure, and barbarians are predictably showing skin. The better monks robes are doing that crop top midriff thing. Some getups looks better on some phenotypes than others. I guess it comes down to whether you really want that +2 to AC or whatever, though it's totally possible to make do with unenchanted equipment.
On the whole I think it's oversold a bit as being somehow particularly racy, whereas to me this sorta still just feels like PG-13 for the modern era. I think the romances are pretty tasteful and fairly tame. The smut factor is totally overblown in my view, either that or I'm some kinda lecherous cad I guess, that this stuff wouldn't phase me in the least. BG3 romances seem somehow very quaint to me already. I think much of the story delivery and the campaign in the later acts is more enjoyable and somewhat more coherent with the companions around, but you really don't have to dive in bed with anyone in particular to get the goods there. Each companion will have an early dialogue where you can basically flirt and push that direction, or string them along, or just shut them down entirely. If you choose that last option they back off and it'll probably be the last you hear of it. Most companions can do the lets just be friends thing, and I find that's usually pretty satisfying, like no hard feelings.
Tactically I think it's a lot of fun, or it can be, depending on what one is looking to get out of the experience. BG3 does the emergent gameplay thing pretty well, like where it usually feels like there are multiple ways to deal with any given encounter, or some surprise factor there. Again though I think it's up to the player to decide how cheesy they want to get or how far they want to take the meta. Just like BG1 there are ways to flatten any encounter using certain tactics that might lean towards exploit or feel totally above board, depending on one's sensibility. Like I don't know that there's all that much difference between say Fire shields and Otiluke's to kill Drizzt in BG1, vs some similar combo in BG3 to even the odds in a puzzler fight with a well placed firewine barrel. A scroll of Misty Step or Knock can get the job done, similar to maybe a Spike trap or an edge panned fireball to make a BG2 fight easier. There are potions that can make or break, but half the time I forget to drink them anyway. I have like zero restraint sometimes, other times I'm the picture of moderation, so usually the game can meet me where I'm at. Or vice verse I guess, probably more accurate honestly, but it was the same for me in BG1. I think the hardest thing to get used to is the janky party movement, which if you're coming to it from BG1/2 or Pathfinder or Pillars or any of those games in the BG lineage with RTS style controls for party movement then I think BG3 can be mildly infuriating. It really does take some getting used to, as you will only ever be in control of a single character at a time and the default group/chain or ungroup and go 1 at a time is pretty rough. I mean mainly outside of combat, since within combat it all feels pretty natural. Camera management can be a chore, but the Native Camera Tweaks and WASD mods can help with that. I haven't played the game with any mods since the patch where Honour Mode was added so can't speak to the latest and greatest. I figure I'll just be waiting on the sidelines till Sept for that. But who knows. I threw my hat in for the testing lotto, but given my luck with scratchers I'll probably have to wait lol.
I think for the specs it runs alright on an older rig, just that it's like 150 GB and needs the SSD now since the full release. It plays pretty well on lower settings with older graphics cards, but visually it's very impressive with the settings cranked so I keep trying to push the limits there. I think it's more CPU and hard drive than GPU really, so might work on your setup. Hard to know, I'm always jostling the settings around seemed like pretty much the entire time. I've been playing directX and 40 series Nvidia card with the DLSS enabled. I can either make my laptop sound like a jet engine and work like a heating pad - just ultra buttery, or I can just run it in 1080p with no real issues, but somehow I'm always trying to for the best in show. Like even if it's a bit beyond my means here hehe. Buying new hardware is always annoying cause it's instantly obsolete. Like damn, should have waited for Prime day a year later and I could get the same setup for like a thousand dollars less now, but I was pretty happy. It felt like a pretty big upgrade at the time just cause the textures and the bloom and such. I think it's worth checking out, if only for the Goblins! Also they did that thing with the soundscape that feels very BG to me. Like I don't know how to describe it exactly, but just the same way I used to feel in BG1 when certain music would start playing and I instantly vibe. Also all the minor characters are very memorable here. Like I'd probably struggle to recall a lot of NPCs from most games, but here they all seem like the genuine article, which is pretty cool. I went from luke warm on it during EA to comfortably warm after the release, like some kind of slow heating jacuzzi. Just like that, I feel like the swimming is probably better at night. Like no sunscreen, no problem, just as long as we're dipping at 3am lol.
