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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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.
I’m not usually a fan of turn based games.
Baldur’s Gate 3 hooked me. It was one of my favorite gaming experiences ever. I played through it two and a half times, consecutively.
I couldn’t get through Expedition 33. It’s very well done, but the story itself never hooked me. It just felt too abstract, like it never got me emotionally invested.
And the gameplay was too narrow. I’m sure it opened up after a while, but it would still be the same kind of turn based combat the whole time.
BG3 is a master class in RPG fwiw.
BG3 never goes much below it’s current sale. It’s slowly going lower, but it’s going to stay that prices for a while because it’s worth the money and it’s in high demand.
Both games are on sale on resellers as well which might get you some better prices:
https://isthereanydeal.com/game/baldurs-gate-3/info/
https://isthereanydeal.com/game/clair-obscur-expedition-33/info/
BG3 is the only game I can think of that’s worth an $80 price tag and the moniker of “AAAA.” There is a frankly ludicrous amount of stuff in this game. The amount of effort it just have taken, let alone to ship 8 fully featured patches, borders on lunacy.
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.
If you’re worried about it, bg3 will give you more bang for your buck. Easy to get near 100 hours in the first playthrough and it has a ton of replay value. 33 you’ll prob get 20-40 hours depending on side content you do and it doesn’t have much replay value.
Speaking as someone who loved both and got 100% achievements in 33. Should do both though.
Baldurs Gate 3 only because it has numerous endings while Expedition 33 has 2. Otherwise difficult choice.
For interesting game mechanics and replay value: Baldur’s Gate 3.
For beautiful music and nice 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?
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.
No wrong choice. Though if you like Skyrim so much I’d say you’d prefer BG3, ever so slightly
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.
I’m playing Baldur’s Gate III right now and I’m having a blast. Great game so far! Play with friends if you can and adopt roles, even funnier that way! (I’m a bard who is always trolling)
If you’re strictly speaking about how many hours of playtime you will get out of it, than BG3. Both games are awesome though (in totally different ways).
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.
What makes you say BG3 is overrated? I totally understand it’s not necessarily for everyone, but it’s basically without peer in the genre if you’re huge into that style of game like I am. Now admittedly a component of why people say it’s so good is that Larian has had amazing community engagement so I guess that could be an argument. I do wish that Act 3 had gotten the more content they were thinking of but it’s better that they’ve had so much attention to detail I mean I’m not sure there’s a game that comes close in terms of how many choices you get to make.
They’re both amazing games so I don’t think there’s a wrong choice here. I’d say art, music, and story go to Clair Obscur while gameplay, replayability, and sex scenes go to Baldur’s Gate 3.
BG III is significantly longer, so if that’s important to you 🤷♂️ Otherwise both are great games
do you have access to a console? can you rent games from the library? put in a hold for clair obscur at the library now, buy baldurs gate now. buy clair obscur later. I have been listening to the music from clair obscur even when not playing it’s so good. bg3 is good, but i’ve gotten distracted from it more than a few times. it has more replay value, but clair obscur is going up there in my top 5 of all time. bg3 is top 10, but not top 5.
