Baldur's Gate 3 Community Update #5: Digging into Early Access
Baldur's Gate 3 Community Update #5: Digging into Early Access
Game News - posted by Infinitron on Tue 25 August 2020, 19:10:40
Tags: Baldur's Gate 3; Larian StudiosLarian continue their tradition of publishing Baldur's Gate 3 community updates that are just recaps of previously broadcast live events. In this case, last week's Panel From Hell. There's nothing really new here if you watched the stream, but it's nice to have all the details in text. Here's an excerpt:
According to Larian, there will be another update closer to Early Access launch that will offer a more extensive look at its content.
Early Access will feature around 20-25 hours of gameplay in a single play-through, with performance captured dialogues and cut-scenes, voice overs for most dialogs, multiplayer (but no split-screen for now), several translations available (but not all) and an Act 1 story that should feel fulfilling to play through many multiple times, with multiple characters. At the start of Early Access, support for custom characters will consist of 6 classes and 9 races, with several subclasses and subraces included. You won’t be able to play as an origin character yet but you will be able to recruit 5 of them as companions when your journey commences.
Here’s a little about who you’re likely to meet on the road to Baldur’s Gate:
Shadowheart
A loyal cleric of Shar, Shadowheart is the sole survivor of a holy mission undertaken for the Mistress of the Night. She alone must deliver a relic of immense power while threatened by foes on all sides, and a strange, untamed magic burgeoning from within.
Wyll
Noble by birth, Wyll made his name as the heroic 'Blade of Frontiers'. But to become a living legend, he made a bargain with a devil - and he now longs to break free before it consumes him for good.
Lae'zel
Lae'zel is a ferocious warrior, mighty even by the standards of a githyanki crèche. Faced with transforming into the very monster she's sworn to destroy, Lae'zel must prove herself worthy of rejoining her people - if they don't execute her first.
Astarion
Astarion prowled the night as a vampire spawn for centuries, serving a sadistic master until he was snatched away. Now he can walk in the light and has the chance at a new life, but how long can he keep his past buried?
Gale
Gale is a Waterdhavian wizard prodigy whose love for a goddess made him attempt something no mortal should. Blighted by the forbidden magic of ancient Netheril, Gale needs to undo the corruption that is overtaking him, a corruption that threatens to destroy the lives of thousands.
We’ll go into the exact available classes, sub-classes, and races a little closer to launch as we iron out some last-minute content planning, but for now I think the easiest way to open your eyes to just how huge BG3’s EA content is, we’ll compare that content to our previous game’s Early Access, Divinity: Original Sin 2.
An example of content coming in hot is an Intellect Devourer named ‘us’. The story of how ‘Us’ made it into the game was introduced during the Panel and showcases what’s possible when multiple disciplines at Larian come together. And this is still early footage! It’s only going to get better, and bigger, from here.
You could accurately state that BG3’s EA is 3x larger than DOS2’s EA, but that requires further context. The 3x multiplier essentially translates to density. More permutations. Many more permutations. It’s the deepest game we’ve ever made, and if you’re the type of player who played 100 hours in DOS2, you’ll see entirely different content on your second or third playthrough compared to your first, depending on the decisions you make. We wanted to create real, tangible storylines that permeate throughout happenstance and decision and so if you try out early access, it may be a good idea to try out what happens on an ‘evil’ playthrough and compare that to a ‘good’ playthrough.
Here’s a little about who you’re likely to meet on the road to Baldur’s Gate:
Shadowheart
A loyal cleric of Shar, Shadowheart is the sole survivor of a holy mission undertaken for the Mistress of the Night. She alone must deliver a relic of immense power while threatened by foes on all sides, and a strange, untamed magic burgeoning from within.
Wyll
Noble by birth, Wyll made his name as the heroic 'Blade of Frontiers'. But to become a living legend, he made a bargain with a devil - and he now longs to break free before it consumes him for good.
Lae'zel
Lae'zel is a ferocious warrior, mighty even by the standards of a githyanki crèche. Faced with transforming into the very monster she's sworn to destroy, Lae'zel must prove herself worthy of rejoining her people - if they don't execute her first.
Astarion
Astarion prowled the night as a vampire spawn for centuries, serving a sadistic master until he was snatched away. Now he can walk in the light and has the chance at a new life, but how long can he keep his past buried?
Gale
Gale is a Waterdhavian wizard prodigy whose love for a goddess made him attempt something no mortal should. Blighted by the forbidden magic of ancient Netheril, Gale needs to undo the corruption that is overtaking him, a corruption that threatens to destroy the lives of thousands.
We’ll go into the exact available classes, sub-classes, and races a little closer to launch as we iron out some last-minute content planning, but for now I think the easiest way to open your eyes to just how huge BG3’s EA content is, we’ll compare that content to our previous game’s Early Access, Divinity: Original Sin 2.
- Amount of combats: 22 in DOS2 EA vs 80 in BG3 EA
- Amount of dialogue lines in english: 17.600 in DOS2 EA vs. 45.980 in BG3 EA
- Amount of characters: 142 in DOS2 EA vs. 596 in BG3 EA
- Amount of spells/actons: 69 in DOS2 EA vs. 146 in BG3 EA
An example of content coming in hot is an Intellect Devourer named ‘us’. The story of how ‘Us’ made it into the game was introduced during the Panel and showcases what’s possible when multiple disciplines at Larian come together. And this is still early footage! It’s only going to get better, and bigger, from here.
You could accurately state that BG3’s EA is 3x larger than DOS2’s EA, but that requires further context. The 3x multiplier essentially translates to density. More permutations. Many more permutations. It’s the deepest game we’ve ever made, and if you’re the type of player who played 100 hours in DOS2, you’ll see entirely different content on your second or third playthrough compared to your first, depending on the decisions you make. We wanted to create real, tangible storylines that permeate throughout happenstance and decision and so if you try out early access, it may be a good idea to try out what happens on an ‘evil’ playthrough and compare that to a ‘good’ playthrough.
According to Larian, there will be another update closer to Early Access launch that will offer a more extensive look at its content.
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