Baldur’s Gate 3is reminding me of Taylor Swift. I don’t like to gatekeep, but chances are I heard of Taylor Swift before you did. I became a Swiftie back with I’m Only Me When I’m With You, a song that predates the word ‘Swiftie’. Whether you think Taylor became the huge, stadium-filling sensation she is with Shake It Off, Red, or Love Story, I was there before it happened. It’s been odd watching her grow from a weird country singer nobody else really liked into this phenomenon, and it’s the same sensation watching Baldur’s Gate 3 soar.
You might say I was with Taylor Swift in early access. As a fan who listened to her debut album when it came out, and not as a one-time curiosity after becoming obsessed with Blank Space, Folklore, or Anti-Hero, I’ve been there since the beginning. I was there when she still had the accent. The homophobic version of Picture to Burn is still the one I think of. All of the bugs she needed to work out, I played through them.
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It’s not quite the same with Baldur’s Gate 3, I admit. PC is not my preferred way to play, and thus there aren’t many games I play in early access. In fact, despite the game now being out, I still haven’t played a second of the full version of Baldur’s Gate 3, and won’t until September when it launches onPlayStation. But I’m also a classicDungeons & Dragonsfan, I remember Baldur’s Gate 2, I’ve explored the setting in The Rise of Tiamat, and I’ve had my eye on it all through early access.
It’s been strange watching Baldur’s Gate 3 balloon from a solid early access game that’s had me slowly crossing out days on my calendar into a phenomenon that seems to stand as Tears of the Kingdom’s strongest challenger. It’s like when I saw Taylor Swift and everyone around me was not only screaming out the words to Bad Blood, but also to Tolerate It.
This is obviously a good thing. I’m glad Baldur’s Gate 3 has become such a mammoth success, even if I need to wait a couple more weeks to play it, just as I enjoy fighting with millions in the bear pit for tickets over seeing Taylor play on a boardwalk with her name in block red capitals on a plastic sign. But it’s also odd to watch the distance between us grow.
To quote Taylor Swift’s Augustine, maybe Baldur’s Gate 3 was never mine to lose. There are ‘bigger’ BG3 fans than me, players who have explored meta builds or have early access playtimes into three, four, and five figures. But I never expected a game based on Dungeons & Dragons to be so universally beloved that it would take the world by storm. D&D has been around for decades and has always had a huge following, steadily growing in the past few years due to the popularity of actual play shows and a D&D movie. But Baldur’s Gate 3 is 1989, taking it into another stratosphere.
It’s heartwarming to see it swell in this way, just as it is moving to be part of the seven-minute ovation after Champagne Problems. But it also makes you feel distant. I’m no one special, just another wide-eyed girl who’s desperately in love with you. Seeing close to a million players enjoying Baldur’s Gate 3 at its concurrent peak reminds you of how big it is, how far away you are. Such massive popularity means we’re more likely to get expansion packs -Gunslingers?Playable Kalashtars? - as well as continued dev support, sequels, and more CRPGs rather than the same old action-adventure triple-As.
Likewise, while I like the feeling of being a ground-floor Swiftie, if it was just me and the country gang who were there at the start, she likely wouldn’t have a career now. She definitely wouldn’t be in the midst ofa 150 date international stadium touroff the back of an album whose tracks dominated the top ten, about tolaunch her campaign for her fourth Album Of The Year Grammyandready to direct a Searchlight movie.
I would much rather Baldur’s Gate 3 had this runaway popularity than it be my little hidden gem of a game. But it’s still an odd sensation watching, as its sudden growth spurt means I no longer have a grip on it. The game has dropped my hand while dancing ‘round the kitchen in the refrigerator light. From the shadows of ‘this is totally my jam’ to a GOTY contender, Baldur’s Gate 3 now feels almost too big to comprehend. It was the best thing that’s ever been mine. I’m glad everyone else has found it, but there is a small part of me that knows I loved it first, and deeper, but now it will never quite feel the same again. And I could wait patiently, but I really wish it would drop the console version now.
Next:Baldur’s Gate 3 Is Helping Me Learn My D&D Role Better
