Baldur's Gate 3

1. it is definitely different in the sense that different characters (race, class, skills, and abilities) play a major role in dialogue choices, so it is important to pay attention to conversational choices because they will influence the nature of your game. Whereas most RPGs I've played before, you might have dialogue options, but you essentially get to the same outcomes.

2. The in-game tutorials are mostly for UI/functional options. As another community member suggested, might want to watch a quick tutorial video. There are a bunch out there.

3. There are 3 difficulty levels. Default is normal. I would suggest drop it to he story level to start out. The biggest differences between story and normal I know of or have experienced are 1) no multiclassing in story 2) mobs hit a bit harder/your spells don't hit as hard in normal mode 3) finding random things with perception checks occur way more on story mode.

4. like any new games, trial and error. Quick save often!

5. The only real rules deal with combat. You can sneak into an area and as long as enemies don't see you (noted by the red on the ground while in sneak mode) you can do anything until enemy sees you or you hit them with something from range. After that, it is turn-based and will use the D&D rules. Each turn has 3 things you can do 1) movement, 2) action, 3) bonus action and you can generally use them in any order. Once all those are done, end your turn and it's the next enemy or players turn. It would probably be beneficial to watch a quick video guide on basic combat rules. Each class has different advantages and limitations, so might want to watch a guide on whichever class you choose to play. You will learn as you go along. Again, remember to save frequently! Even as semi-experienced players, my husband and I are always trying new things and reloading the game to redo when we mess something up.

6. The game is very casual friendly. It will take a long time to finish it, but you won't need to remember all the details. There's a journal to remind you of new and completed quests.

Honestly we are having the most fun exploring things and trying different dialogue options. If we feel we don't like the outcome, we just reload a previous save and try again until we are happy to move on.

There is no right way to play the game. Just enjoy the story and exploring. Happy adventuring!

PS - save frequently!

I’m not going to lie, this game is pretty tough at first when you don’t understand the systems. I played all of their previous game Dos2 and I used to play a bit of 5e and I still found it surprisingly difficult. There’s also a lot going on on screen with passive checks rolling all the time. It’s just a lot. That being said it is absolutely worth it to slog through and learn everything there is to know. This is absolutely a game worth knowing if it seems up your alley. I highly recommend checking out videos from Fextralife, WolfheartFPS and Mortismal on YouTube. They all have great coverage of the game and you will learn a ton.

I’ll leave you with one video I would recommend to beginners that covers the combat system in BG3. https://youtu.be/EjGMn3e3NVo

I'd recommend starting as a fighter or barbarian. They are simpler to play from a mechanics perspective. I'd probably watch a "dnd 5e for beginners" video.

There is a difficulty slider but it doesn't affect how many mechanics. I'd recommend starting on exploration mode because even normal difficulty can be tough

Coming from the MMORPG and action/clicky games like WoW or Diablo, the biggest tick for me was new camera controls. I felt similarly starting with Divinity Original Sun 2 (another Larian title)— but I think jumping into skills/abilities etc is ripe for fun experimentation (my perspective from Mac early access at least)

As a non-D&D player I’m still struggling trying to remember what things like Advantage, Proficiency, Expertise, and stuff like that mean exactly from memory. When you’re in the game if you see any highlighted word in a tooltip you can press T and it will keep the tooltip open and you can hover over a lot of the words/elements to get a definition of what it means. Very helpful for those of us that don’t play D&D.

Also, check out this interface/mechanics video if you do pick up the game. It explains A LOT of things that will help you have a more enjoyable experience. I thought I had a solid understanding of the mechanics and interface and this video alone probably double my knowledge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN0ZDPoS5y4