Baldur’s Gate 3 vs. Elden Ring | What Is the Best GOTY?
Baldur's Gate III and Elden Ring are two of the most important video games of recent years, having an immense impact on the industry, each in its own way. Both titles won the Game of the Year prize in 2023 and 2022, respectively.
However, many people tend to compare them since both happen in similar worlds with plenty of magic, monsters, legends, and powerful warriors. Although Baldurs Gate 3 is an RPG based on Dungeons and Dragons, while Elden Ring is a classic Souls game, both titles share multiple aspects that are worth facing.
In this article, we'll delve into a hypothetical scenario comparing Baldur's Gate 3 and Elden Ring, not to determine which is superior but to help you decide which one might be the best fit for you. So, sit back, relax, and let's dive into these two incredible masterpieces.
Baldur’s Gate 3 vs. Elden Ring | What Is the Best GOTY?
What Is Baldur’s Gate 3
Release Date : August 3, 2023
Developer : Larian Studios
Publisher: Larian Studios
Platforms : Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, macOS, Xbox Series X|S, Steam
Metascore : 96
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a full-fledged role-playing game based on the tabletop role-playing system of Dungeons & Dragons. As such, BG3 features turn-based combat and mechanics extracted from the rules of the 5th edition of the laureled tabletop game, through which players, solo or with a team of friends, must explore the open world, looking for quests and their destiny.
Baldur's Gate 3 stands out for its narrative, richness of characters, and total freedom in terms of decisions and paths to follow. The possibilities are almost endless from the beginning and unfold throughout the three acts that make up the game.
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What Is Elden Ring
Release Date : February 25, 2022
Developer : FromSoftware
Publishers: Bandai Namco Entertainment | FromSoftware
Platforms : PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Metascore : 96
Elden Ring is a total marvel and the pinnacle of the Souls genre, the same one that FromSoftware, the same developer, started a decade ago with the acclaimed title Demon Souls. Elden Ring takes the best of games like Dark Souls and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice to build an open world as never seen before. One full of life and death.
As one of the best Souls games – if not the best, according to me – Elden Ring elevated the standards of further titles of the same genre and others. Not for nothing, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, released one year later, in 2023, incorporated a giant underground world very similar to the one you find in Elden Ring.
In any list that discusses the best Soulsborne games, Elden Ring cannot be missed. Hence, in the subsequent sections, I will describe some relevant aspects of the best game of 2022.
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Baldur’s Gate 3 vs Elden Ring
Let’s continue with this article and compare the seven main aspects of both titles to find the next game that’s worth your money and time!
Gameplay
Since you know that both Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3 are excellent video games, you cannot expect anything else than magnificent gameplay. Yet, the playthrough in both titles is totally different and impressive in their ways.
In Baldur’s Gate 3, the walkthrough and link between mechanics and the world experience is more static and steady than in the FromSoftware title. It is due to the fact that it’s a classic RPG with turn-based movements, hundreds and hundreds of conversations, deep lore, and slow-paced mechanics. It is not something bad, from any point of view, but it can discourage players looking for a more actionable edge. Anyway, all the aspects of the gameplay in Baldur’s Gate 3 work incredibly well and fit its purpose: to tell a good story with rich characters that most people can enjoy.
Elden Right, on the other hand, features faster, more dynamic gameplay that directly ties exploration, combat, and overall mechanics to how you approach the world. Elden Ring has simpler gameplay in terms of the decisions you make in real-time, but that does not mean it has fewer elements that determine the overall gaming experience. In this way, Elden Ring feels with plenty of life even though most of the options you get in the long run have no palpable effect. Still, the gameplay takes place on an underground level.
Verdict . Since Elden Ring boasts amazing and massive gameplay in all ways, I must lean for the FromSoftware masterpiece.
Graphics, Aesthetics, and Visual Section
Elder Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3 have outstanding graphics and visual style. Both also boast some of the best graphic sections of the current generation.
Baldur’s Gate 3 stands out due to its successful models, surroundings, and maps where the storyline takes place. Characters, nature, creatures, NPCs, and even the flora look very realistic, with well-achieved expressions that nurture their personalities and roles in the game.
However, since Baldur’s Gate 3 is played from a top-down perspective, the environments always feel like a diorama or an architectural model where the characters unfold and fulfill their destiny. Still, aesthetically, Baldur’s Gate 3 sticks out due to differentiated zones and unique standpoints that reflect the particularities of areas and environments.
Yet, Elden Ring has a knockout world that looms for its colors, illumination effect, ambiance, atmosphere, textures, and models. The giant Erdtree located in the center of the map is a lighthouse that covers the entire map with a diaphanous light that makes you feel you’re in an immanent and mystical world.
The PC and PlayStation 5 versions of Elden Ring look incredible in high definition. In both editions, you will be able to enjoy this gigantic adventure in the best possible way. You will spend a lot of time captivated by the incredible scenarios that will leave you speechless.
Verdict . Elden Ring boasts an unbeatable graphic section and aesthetics that will remain in the gaming world over the years.
Plot and Storyline
Elden Ring, like every Souls video game, is a bit cryptic, not giving you important information about the events or the final goal of the adventure. It makes it very difficult to follow the journey and know if your actions have a relevant impact on the events of the world's destiny.
Okay, Elden Ring provides you with small –very small– fragments of information about the game's lore, but this data is hard to understand or connect with other pieces of information you get throughout the game. You need to pay extra attention to all the items, weapons, signs, and conversations to find out anything about the reality of that universe. Yet, if you’re not interested in following the story behind characters and enemies, you can equally enjoy the journey, and things won't change significantly.
Baldur’s Gate 3, the best RPG of the past year, depicts one of the most interesting and profound storylines of recent times. Everything happening in Baldur’s Gate 3 has a majestic reverb in the events that surround actions and stories. Characters, stories, relationships, personalities, attitudes, feuds, and more are straightforwardly related, building a plot that glooms due to its thrive.
Verdict . Baldur’s Gate 3 beats Elden Ring regarding its plot despite J. R. R. Martin writing the FromSoftware adventure.
Characters and Relationships
This section is directly related to the above point since characters and relationships are what keep a world cohesive, logical, with sense, and alive. In this regard, since Baldur’s Gate 3 is a profound RPG, it is based on the interrelationship between characters, friends, and foes and how the story unfolds by starting from these.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has seven playable origin characters and you can recruit ten more over the game. Through developing and following the paths of these main protagonists, you can practically build the thread you desire by making decisions that can be really controversial or acclaimed for different characters. As such, you can kill NPCs or even allow your main characters to die at some point in the story. All these resolutions will affect the storyline directly! Impressive!
Elden Ring, on the opposite side, and as I mentioned earlier, is a cryptic title that gives you zero or just a few pieces of data about the lore and characters. In the first place, the character you control, the Tarnished, is just that, a tarnished. Of course, I applaud the design of the nine demigods – Miquella is incredible! – and even their lore, but, again, they are hard to understand.
Besides, throughout the entire game, you’ll find a lot of characters with a unique story with which to talk and even complete missions. But they do not feel alive, which is a little sad. Yet, Elden Ring is a game that glooms by its colors and is a glory within its genre.
Verdict . Baldur’s Gate 3 is a complete divinity regarding characters and relationships, Simple!
Worldbuilding
This section presents a bit of a challenge, as both titles boast some of the best maps and worlds in recent gaming history, alongside The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. However, the world of Baldur's Gate 3, despite being made up of several distinctive zones, is no comparison to the world of Elden Ring. In fact, the Elden Ring map has the best gameplay progression in the entire history of video games, perhaps second only to the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom map.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is undoubtedly one of the best RPGs of the last five years, but Elden Ring has a map and world that is enjoyable and encourages you to explore. The Elden Ring’s worldbuilding is so fantastic that the characters' emptiness doesn’t bother me. Moreover, the Elden Ring’s world is full of content and personality, with outstanding visuals and landscapes in which the view is lost on the horizon.
Verdict . No more to say! Elden Ring has a world that every gamer should experience.
Weapons, Spells, and Combat
Like any good RPG, Baldur’s Gate 3 has several types of weapons, each with dozens and dozens of units. You can find everything from daggers to swords through axes and crossbows. Besides, each type of weapon has its tier list and category that goes from common to rare. It has two sides: you have hundreds of possibilities, but you can also feel a bit overwhelmed due to the quantity of options available. Personally, I believe that the more alternatives there are, the better.
Elden Ring has fewer weapons and spells, but all of them have a magnificent design and are truly unique. You get most weapons from enemies you kill. If you’re lucky, you can find incredible weapons in random enemies around the map. You can also buy some and upgrade them with special items and stuff.
As for the battle, both are totally different. Baldur's Gate 3 features turn-based combat, while Elden Ring encompasses a real-time battle system. I prefer the second one since it is more unpredictable and will fill your heart with adrenaline.
Verdict . Elden Ring has a truly actionable real-time battle system that ensures you a lot of fun and challenges.
Enemies and Bosses
As you play Elden Ring, you will soon notice that enemies, and especially bosses, are really tough to defeat. Sure, it’s a Souls game. How could it be any other way? Moreover, all of them, the main and the secondary, have a great design and personality. How do you forget Margit, the Fallen Omen, with his six arms trying to crash you? Impossible! Elden Ring stands out for its incredible bosses and regular enemies, their combat abilities, and their strength.
Baldur's Gate 3, on the other hand, also has well-designed bosses with unique charisma and charm. However, they are not as magnificent as those found in Elden Ring. Bosses and enemies in the FromSoftware's title are full of expressions and effects, and most battles feel like they're in the middle of Armageddon.
Verdict. Despite being quite balanced, I lean toward Elden Ring due to the fact that its bosses touched my heart and made me crazy!
The RPG vs the Souls Game - Which Is Better?
Both titles, Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3, are unique titles within their genres. If it’s possible, try both and make your own conclusions. Still, if I had to choose one, I would choose Elden Ring because of what it meant to the genre and video game history.
Remember, you can acquire these two tiles on RoyalCDKeys at the best price on the market!