Summary
- Baldur's Gate 3 offers an abundance of loot, allowing for nearly endless buildcrafting potential.
- Players can sell/trade unused loot for extra gold and find worthwhile alternatives, though there is a fair criticism that good loot feels less special when there is so much of it.
- Inventory management can also be a hassle with items constantly being given to players, but community mods can make the process more efficient.
It’s no secret that Baldur’s Gate 3 is a massive game, but one area where the RPG is arguably too big is its offering of magical loot items. Specifically, Baldur’s Gate 3 is overly generous with the amount of loot players can obtain, which is admittedly a nice problem to have, though there are still negative repercussions to this common balancing dilemma.
No matter whether players approach Baldur’s Gate 3 as a completionist, a speedrunner, or anywhere in between, the game will shower players with loot all the same. This ultimately proves to be highly useful for players to craft a diverse range of viable builds throughout each playthrough, but with how plentiful Baldur’s Gate 3’s rare loot is, its rarity quickly loses its luster.
The Pros and Cons of Baldur’s Gate 3’s Generous Loot Economy
Pros:
- Nearly endless buildcrafting potential.
- Players can sell/trade unused loot for extra gold or other useful items.
- Players can miss certain items and still find worthwhile alternatives.
Cons:
- ‘Rare’ loot generally loses its spectacle.
- Inventory management can become a hassle.
- Can require community mods to alleviate problems.
This issue is a longtime dilemma among video games, where the balance of loot can either take away from the spectacle of discovering loot or it can funnel players into utilizing limited builds just to get use out of extremely rare items. Consequently, proper balancing is key for any game’s loot economy. In the case of Baldur’s Gate 3, the game’s approach to loot leans on the extreme side of being overly generous to the point where players can earn more loot than they could ever realistically use in one playthrough.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s loot economy is especially abundant compared to tabletop games, where loot might be less abundant and/or more personally tailored to each player’s existing builds.
Inventory Management in Baldur’s Gate 3 is Key
There are ways to alleviate the repercussions of Baldur’s Gate 3’s loot economy, but outside of selling excess items to a merchant, any other methods typically rely on utilizing community mods. This ultimately makes Baldur’s Gate 3’s upcoming mod support feature a sweet treat for players, especially on console platforms. For example, inventory management mods can make organizing loot a much more organized and efficient process, hence why these kinds of mods remain some of the most popular mods for Baldur’s Gate 3, to date.
The Sky is the Limit for Character Builds in Baldur's Gate 3
Arguably, the biggest advantage of Baldur’s Gate 3’s overly generous loot economy is the buildcrafting potential that players have access to throughout the game. By the time players reach the final act of the game, there’s seemingly enough loot to have made any build into a viable endgame build, assuming players are using the best of the tools at their disposal. Not to mention, players can always respec their character in Baldur’s Gate 3 and create builds around whatever rare items they happen to find on each playthrough.
In general, the loot economy in Baldur’s Gate 3 is quite generous to the point where players can miss the majority of loot in Baldur’s Gate 3 and still be able to put together a surprisingly powerful build. This is ultimately great for replayability, as players might not find the same loot on consecutive playthroughs. At the same time, a new game + feature in Baldur’s Gate 3 could be a great way for players to spend more time with the builds that only become available after obtaining specific loot.
In hindsight, it might have been better for the rare and legendary loot in Baldur’s Gate 3 to have been more evenly balanced between the two extremes of abundance and scarcity. However, the benefits of Baldur’s Gate 3’s overly generous loot economy arguably outweigh the negatives.
Baldur's Gate 3
- Released
- August 3, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Larian Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Larian Studios
- Franchise
- Baldur's Gate
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical Only
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, macOS
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- How Long To Beat
- 100+ Hours
- Metascore
- 96
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-2 Players
