Twitter thread: damn i feel like i could stream bg3 for 24 hours no prob
30.10.23
thinking about “i just streamed bg3 for 5/7 hours and don’t feel tired at all” experience. i wonder how much of this effect can be attributed to turn based nature of bg3. its combat can be super tense but arguably amount of cognitive load it puts on you is quite small.
1/5
encounters in bg3 can last for quite some time, but decision making part of it is relatively short (most of it is not even interactive but happens in your head), the rest is just observing consequences. the latter still feels quite engaging, but not mentally taxing.
2/5
here come comparisons. encounters in real time action games usually are shorter but demand you to make lots of decisions in that limited time.
also threats these games provide are immediate, but in bg3 threats are aniticipatory (less stessful)
3/5
(btw anticipatory part might be essential component that makes just watching enemy npcs do their moves quite engaging)
hense, playing real time action games for long amount time is quite exhausting.
4/5
and then bg3 has non-combat activities that’re equially attractive but not mentally taxing: exploration, conversations with npcs, reading notes about Gortash. they’re paced properly too. i wonder if this is what makes bg3 so good at creating prolonged state of perfect flow
5/5
