Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Mazisky]

Solasta's characters are a bit jank in the closeups, but the game looks fine in in top down view, the way you're playing it most of the time. The environments have nice art design.

Solasta is not ugly, but the low budget 3d make it look like too much mid 2000 games like Neverwinter Nights.

 

[J_C]

How can somebody neglect visual appearance this much?

Play a game for the graphics is like watch a porno for the story

Videogames, just like porn are visual medium, so good artstyle is always a bonus. Sure, I can play a game with bad graphics if the gameplay is good, just like I can jerk off to porn with an ugly pornstar. But in both cases it is better to have good visuals, it improves the experience.

 

[Mazisky]

-Half of budget on games development is spent on graphics and technical stuff

-Half of development team in games is composed by graphic-related people (3d artists, animators, etc.)

-Huge and relevant companies are built and focused on PC-gaming graphics components (Nvidia, AMD)

-In games modding scene, graphics related MODS are always among the most downloaded

-Consoles evolution and next versions (E.G. PS4 to PS5) is done almost exclusively to support games graphics and techincal improvements. That's why we have PS5 and not SNES in 2021.


But ehy, graphics are not important, it's clearly a minor and useless thing with no relevance in games.

It reminds me a friend of mine who claimed that "cars are useless, you can move by foot if you are trained enough"

We are no friends anymore.

 

[Lacrymas]

Nobody is arguing graphics aren't a huge business strategy and basically the entire AAA gaming industry revolves around them. What is debatable is whether those graphics matter for the consumer in the first place. Obviously, everyone has different tastes, but when we get down to it, we aren't playing games for the "good" graphics.

 

[Anonona]

But ehy, graphics are not important, it's clearly a minor and useless thing with no relevance in games.

I think we cannot denied the importance of graphics in todays market. Good looking games sell to the masses. But it is not the end-all of games. Just look to successful games like Minecraft and Valheim. Both are low poly games, one with an non-existant art direction (like literally, Minecraft's designs were unfinished before it got big) and another with a decent art direction but graphics that evoke the early era of 3D gaming. Furthermore, I think most Codexes are more interested in the game being good rather than looking good.

Also, technical quality does not equal good "graphics". You can recreate a beautiful realistic environment and it would still be less memorable and beautiful that a well crafted game with worse graphics but better art direction. Look to games lie PoE 2 with is gorgerous pre-rendered backgrounds. Or Arc-Sys' games which imitates japanese animation to an impressive degree, using very sophisticated technics to do so. Old KoF games that had amazing sprites. DMC 5 may be the most impressive technically, but its environments look boring and forgetable compared to 1 and 3 Gothic style or 4 gorgeous levels. Skyrim looks better than Oblivion and Morrowind, but those two had far more memorable locations thanks to a more interesting art direction.

What I want to say is, that while a do not disagree with you in that graphics matter, just technical power and fidelity are less important than an actual solid art direction and programmers that know how to work around the hardware limitations, instead of throwing all kind of shit to the game without any kind of optimization hoping to "wow" the audience. And usually, if a game has good art direction, it means the developers cared about the end product and usually it follows suit that the other components of the game, like gameplay, would be taken good care of.

 

[Mazisky]

But ehy, graphics are not important, it's clearly a minor and useless thing with no relevance in games.

I think we cannot denied the importance of graphics in todays market. Good looking games sell to the masses. But it is not the end-all of games. Just look to successful games like Minecraft and Valheim. Both are low poly games, one with an non-existant art direction (like literally, Minecraft's designs were unfinished before it got big) and another with a decent art direction but graphics that evoke the early era of 3D gaming. Furthermore, I think most Codexes are more interested in the game being good rather than looking good.

Also, technical quality does not equal good "graphics". You can recreate a beautiful realistic environment and it would still be less memorable and beautiful that a well crafted game with worse graphics but better art direction. Look to games lie PoE 2 with is gorgerous pre-rendered backgrounds. Or Arc-Sys' games which imitates japanese animation to an impressive degree, using very sophisticated technics to do so. Old KoF games that had amazing sprites. DMC 5 may be the most impressive technically, but its environments look boring and forgetable compared to 1 and 3 Gothic style or 4 gorgeous levels. Skyrim looks better than Oblivion and Morrowind, but those two had far more memorable locations thanks to a more interesting art direction.

What I want to say is, that while a do not disagree with you in that graphics matter, just technical power and fidelity are less important than an actual solid art direction and programmers that know how to work around the hardware limitations, instead of throwing all kind of shit to the game without any kind of optimization hoping to "wow" the audience. And usually, if a game has good art direction, it means the developers cared about the end product and usually it follows suit that the other components of the game, like gameplay, would be taken good care of.

I agree with everything you said, but the discussion started when someone quoted Solasta, which has no good graphics and no good art style either, so the "as long as there is good art" argument doesn't apply there.

 

[Anonona]

no good art

Uh, I would say it isn't that bad, but is very uneven. In my opinion the characters themselves look awful, environments and effects look good. It just doesn't help that the game insist on putting the camera right up to their faces. I hope they improve them before release, not a deal breaker to me but I would like it.

Though I can sympathize with you. There are some games I had reservations of playing because I found their aesthetics to be appalling. Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark looks to be a good game but I find the art direction to be trash enough to curb my willingness to play it, will have to get around it sooner of later. And recently i finished Salt and Sanctuary, which I had put off because of the ugly as sin characters, and I actually enjoyed it. So I can understand where you are coming from.

 

[Reinhardt]

Just fucking allow to use custom portraits for characters! Why every computer role-playing crpg game developer thinks their ugly 3d abominations are something to be proud and deserve to be present on the screen 100% of time!
Low quality model+drawn portrait > mid quality model+close up of same model as portrait. No exceptions.

 

[Harthwain]

Uh, I would say it isn't that bad, but is very uneven. In my opinion the characters themselves look awful, environments and effects look good. It just doesn't help that the game insist on putting the camera right up to their faces. I hope they improve them before release, not a deal breaker to me but I would like it.

It would probably be for the best to have a "text box" in the bottom of the screen, with a character's portrait in the corner. Either that or the classic subtitles appearing over them (maybe white letters in black dialogue boxes).

Examples:

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Fedora Master]

Just close this hive of faggotry and autism until the next big patch.

 

[Delterius]

Graphics are important and 2/3rds of the reason I couldn't get into Original Sin.

I dunno, saying 'im here for the gameplay not the grafixx' is just unnecessary pretense. If a game has one very good set of ideas and a ton of bad, I might still enjoy it. That applies to everything though. Not just graphics.

 

[Reinhardt]

Examples:

Why party even fight orkz? Judging from hearts on ork portraits they just want hugs.

 

[Cryomancer]

Solasta doesn't have gorgeous graphics. But is the unique modern game trying to make verticality and light important which is a

BG3 verticality fells like a gimmicky.

 

[Lacrymas]

^ rofl, literally the other way around. Verticality and light are gimmicks in Solasta.

 

[Mud']

We introduced loaded dice in Patch 4 to try to smooth out the extremes of the dice-rolling bell curve. Even with this change, we noticed in your feedback that the RNG wasn't feeling fun for you. We've seen the dice described as being harsh, cursed, rigged and someone said the RNG was downright evil. We want you to have the best experience possible when playing the game and so the changes in today’s hotfix are here to help with your hit chance, if you’re playing with loaded dice.

From now on, loaded dice will only bend RNG in the rolling character's favour. That means you will not be made to miss to make up for a lucky streak of hits. This change also applies to NPC's and enemies, so the effects on the relative challenge of combat should be minima l.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/view/3088881558143814476

Hotfix #10 Now Live!

Hello everyone,

We’ve just rolled out a new hotfix for you!

This one goes out to all of you (and us) who have clearly angered the RNG Gods in a former life and been cursed to fail dice rolls at every turn.

We introduced loaded dice in Patch 4 to try to smooth out the extremes of the dice-rolling bell curve. Even with this change, we noticed in your feedback that the RNG wasn't feeling fun for you. We've seen the dice described as being harsh, cursed, rigged and someone said the RNG was downright evil. We want you to have the best experience possible when playing the game and so the changes in today’s hotfix are here to help with your hit chance, if you’re playing with loaded dice.

From now on, loaded dice will only bend RNG in the rolling character's favour. That means you will not be made to miss to make up for a lucky streak of hits. This change also applies to NPC's and enemies, so the effects on the relative challenge of combat should be minimal.

As always, playing with loaded dice is an optional feature that can be toggled on and off in the gameplay settings.

Please keep posting your thoughts about the game on Steam, our Forums, Discord, Reddit, or submit your feedback to us by clicking the Feedback button in the game launcher, so we can monitor how these changes are affecting you.

And thank you for continuing to post your Wildshape screenshots. We love them very much.

Big thanks to @surelyanne for posting the most polite dinner party we’ve ever seen.

Again, thank you for your support during Early Access, we appreciate you being on this journey with us!

Changelist:

RNG:

• Disable the failure RNG debt for combat rolls

Stability:

• Fixed crash when examining a deactivated entity (like the Bulette disappearing).

Larian Launcher:

• Added game pages for D:OS and D:OS2
  
• Added a button for players to verify game files after a crash
  
• Double clicking via LMB on the game selection section (Top left) no longer makes the launcher details disappear.
  
• Update the bottom logo to add interactivity + make it clear it leads to larian.com
  
• Selecting a game using RMB no longer causes the player to be stuck on one game
  
• Added continue button so you can load your most recent save directly from the launcher

So they just said fuck it and just "remove" dice rolls hit chance from combat, so you probably always hit and get hit.

I dont know what to think of this, still, this is a optional feature.

 

[Yosharian]

At least it's optional *inhales another huge dose of copium*

 

[Cryomancer]

optional

Why they don't make play without HP bloat optional?

 

[Thonius]

HOTFIX HOTFIX HOTFIX HOTFIX NEW CONTENT? SUCK MY DICK! HOTFIX HOTFIX HOTFIX

 

[Lacrymas]

RNG *is* a huge problem in 5E, but outright removing it isn't the solution.

 

[Ontopoly]

You all know what else is optional? Playing the game. Please don't support this kind of stuff. At the very least, pirate. Giving players a bunch of options to remove and strip the game is pathetic. Hold your players accountable, make them improve, intellectually challenge them. Who's the developers here? you have to make decisions for your players all the time and to strip one of the core parts of the dnd system because it may inconvenience your player is pathetic. Adversity is the spice of life, and players don't know what's good for them.

 

[Lacrymas]

To be fair, when your rolls are shit no amount of intelligence is going to help you out. The rolling of dice isn't intellectual, it's emotional, you want that RNG because it's exciting to pass checks that can realistically be failed. However, too swingy of an RNG makes you think you have no control over your character and the game, so constantly getting bad rolls gets tedious and draining. This is the number 1 biggest problem of 5E. I'd say changing the 1d20 to 2d10 and rebalancing ACs and DCs would be a good step forward to alleviating this problem.

 

[Delterius]

lukaszek you won, are you happy now?

 

[SoupNazi]

You all know what else is optional? Playing the game. Please don't support this kind of stuff. At the very least, pirate. Giving players a bunch of options to remove and strip the game is pathetic. Hold your players accountable, make them improve, intellectually challenge them. Who's the developers here? you have to make decisions for your players all the time and to strip one of the core parts of the dnd system because it may inconvenience your player is pathetic. Adversity is the spice of life, and players don't know what's good for them.

Why would I give a damn? I want a good game I can enjoy, which this is meeting so far especially since it's optional. Make it a part of the game and I won't buy because I won't enjoy it, but keep it optional and I'm happy. I'll let them make the money by pandering to people who need an easier game, or more instant gratification, as long as I get to choose how I experience the game and I enjoy it.

It's a bit like asking for a boycott of a game that introduces difficulty levels, isn't it? Did someone protest the fact that Doom had

Optional difficulties?

Why do you care about other people? Do you think games with RNG will ultimately fix today's society and result in fewer SJWs, trannies, furries, or whatever your hateful FOTM is?

 

[Larianshill]

I Am Ontopoly. Master of Sword and Sorcery

Only a master of evil, Darth.

 

[lukaszek]

lukaszek you won, are you happy now?

its not about winning but about others losing

Spoiler

what happened, bg3 is bundled with gorasul?