- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
- Messages
- 99,651
Tags: Baldur's Gate 3; Larian Studios; Swen Vincke
In last month's interview with GameSpot, Swen Vincke revealed that Larian were planning a third Baldur's Gate 3 Panel From Hell event. What they announced a couple of weeks later was really no panel at all, but rather an elaborate livestreamed "LarPG" in which viewers got to direct the actions of a party of costumed Larian employees tasked with locating a mystic artifact in a Belgian castle. In between segments in which he inevitably got members of the party brutally killed, Swen revealed details about the next patch for Baldur's Gate 3. However, that information was much more effectively summarized in the community update video that was showed at the end.
As promised in the interview, Patch 5 is focused on features rather than new content. There's actually some pretty cool stuff here, such as a new skill check interface that allows you to apply bonuses during dice rolls. You can now select a background for your character, with associated side quests which in turn allow you to earn inspiration points that grant said bonuses. Instead of your party always returning to the same generic forested area to camp as in Dragon Age: Origins, Larian have created a whole bunch of mini-camp areas that match the location the party is currently in. Furthermore, you now require food in order to replenish your health and spells fully when resting in camp.
Active Roll: A new way to die (as in dice, it’s a dice pun)
One of the biggest improvements coming in Patch 5 are Active Rolls, our new dice mechanic. In addition to a full upgrade of the old UI, the biggest change here is in how you can influence dice: While previously, the accepted method for attempting a skill check was to tightly cross your fingers ahead of a roll, now you have the option to apply spells and bonuses to these checks to help increase your odds.
So what does that mean exactly? Well, let's say the chances of you passing a certain check seem pretty slim. Rather than leaving you at the mercy of the RNG gods, you now have more agency in the outcome of those rolls. For example, cast Enhance Ability to add an Advantage bonus to the skill check in order to roll twice, or you can cast Guidance to bump that number up for good measure. You can also cast spells from your other party members, although in multiplayer your teammates will have to decide for themselves whether they'll let you use their spells during these rolls. You’ll be spending a spell slot any time you do this, so use them wisely. That is, unless the skill check relates to recruiting the Owlbear cub, in which case we’d recommend you let your heart guide you.
Get rewarded for roleplaying
In this patch we also wanted to find new ways to really celebrate roleplaying. Enter, Background Goals.
You know how the character creator includes an option to choose your character's background? Folk Hero, Acolyte, Urchin, and so on. Now every character will have their own series of secret miniquests based on these roles. Finding out how to complete them is part of fun, but for each you complete you’ll receive an Inspiration Point. Players will get a maximum of four Inspiration Points which can be put toward rerolling dice whenever they wish. Or alternatively, if you’ve already reached your IP cap for the moment then any further point becomes XP.
Camping 2.0
One of the main comments we've received about our resting system has been that it's far too lenient. Before Patch 5, you could initiate a Long Rest and recharge all your spells and HP between every fight without penalty. A lot of players felt this just didn't feel right, and we couldn't agree more. So we've fully revamped how camping works.
Camp Resources are a new feature that will make you think a little more strategically about when to activate a Long Rest. Now in order to make camp, you first need supplies. You know all the food and scraps you find around Baldur's Gate 3? Starting this patch, those can be used to unlock camp for the night. So if you ever wondered to yourself “how much Waterdhavian cheese wheels could one person possibly need?” the answer is as many as you can physically carry, for cheese is now one of the sacred doorways to sleep. Alternatively, you can still initiate a Partial Rest without using any resources but this won't recharge you fully.
Another new addition are Mini Camps. Previously, any time you camped for the night, you would return to your HQ down by the river regardless of how far away it was from the area you were exploring throughout your day. This made us feel sorry for all the characters who were being forced to partake in marathon hikes just to go to bed. So we’ve now introduced smaller localized camps. From the Chapel near the Ravaged Beach to the Underdark, we've recreated every landmark as its own isolated location that can be accessed when you’re ready to hunker down for your Long Rest.
Those are the highlights, but there's plenty more stuff in Patch 5 including improved enemy AI, a dedicated jump ability, and the option to inflict non-lethal attacks. Plus there is some new content as well featuring the companion Shadowheart. The new patch is releasing on July 13th. According to Swen, Patch 6 is already in the works and will be out sooner than people expect.
In last month's interview with GameSpot, Swen Vincke revealed that Larian were planning a third Baldur's Gate 3 Panel From Hell event. What they announced a couple of weeks later was really no panel at all, but rather an elaborate livestreamed "LarPG" in which viewers got to direct the actions of a party of costumed Larian employees tasked with locating a mystic artifact in a Belgian castle. In between segments in which he inevitably got members of the party brutally killed, Swen revealed details about the next patch for Baldur's Gate 3. However, that information was much more effectively summarized in the community update video that was showed at the end.
As promised in the interview, Patch 5 is focused on features rather than new content. There's actually some pretty cool stuff here, such as a new skill check interface that allows you to apply bonuses during dice rolls. You can now select a background for your character, with associated side quests which in turn allow you to earn inspiration points that grant said bonuses. Instead of your party always returning to the same generic forested area to camp as in Dragon Age: Origins, Larian have created a whole bunch of mini-camp areas that match the location the party is currently in. Furthermore, you now require food in order to replenish your health and spells fully when resting in camp.
Active Roll: A new way to die (as in dice, it’s a dice pun)
One of the biggest improvements coming in Patch 5 are Active Rolls, our new dice mechanic. In addition to a full upgrade of the old UI, the biggest change here is in how you can influence dice: While previously, the accepted method for attempting a skill check was to tightly cross your fingers ahead of a roll, now you have the option to apply spells and bonuses to these checks to help increase your odds.
So what does that mean exactly? Well, let's say the chances of you passing a certain check seem pretty slim. Rather than leaving you at the mercy of the RNG gods, you now have more agency in the outcome of those rolls. For example, cast Enhance Ability to add an Advantage bonus to the skill check in order to roll twice, or you can cast Guidance to bump that number up for good measure. You can also cast spells from your other party members, although in multiplayer your teammates will have to decide for themselves whether they'll let you use their spells during these rolls. You’ll be spending a spell slot any time you do this, so use them wisely. That is, unless the skill check relates to recruiting the Owlbear cub, in which case we’d recommend you let your heart guide you.
Get rewarded for roleplaying
In this patch we also wanted to find new ways to really celebrate roleplaying. Enter, Background Goals.
You know how the character creator includes an option to choose your character's background? Folk Hero, Acolyte, Urchin, and so on. Now every character will have their own series of secret miniquests based on these roles. Finding out how to complete them is part of fun, but for each you complete you’ll receive an Inspiration Point. Players will get a maximum of four Inspiration Points which can be put toward rerolling dice whenever they wish. Or alternatively, if you’ve already reached your IP cap for the moment then any further point becomes XP.
Camping 2.0
One of the main comments we've received about our resting system has been that it's far too lenient. Before Patch 5, you could initiate a Long Rest and recharge all your spells and HP between every fight without penalty. A lot of players felt this just didn't feel right, and we couldn't agree more. So we've fully revamped how camping works.
Camp Resources are a new feature that will make you think a little more strategically about when to activate a Long Rest. Now in order to make camp, you first need supplies. You know all the food and scraps you find around Baldur's Gate 3? Starting this patch, those can be used to unlock camp for the night. So if you ever wondered to yourself “how much Waterdhavian cheese wheels could one person possibly need?” the answer is as many as you can physically carry, for cheese is now one of the sacred doorways to sleep. Alternatively, you can still initiate a Partial Rest without using any resources but this won't recharge you fully.
Another new addition are Mini Camps. Previously, any time you camped for the night, you would return to your HQ down by the river regardless of how far away it was from the area you were exploring throughout your day. This made us feel sorry for all the characters who were being forced to partake in marathon hikes just to go to bed. So we’ve now introduced smaller localized camps. From the Chapel near the Ravaged Beach to the Underdark, we've recreated every landmark as its own isolated location that can be accessed when you’re ready to hunker down for your Long Rest.
Those are the highlights, but there's plenty more stuff in Patch 5 including improved enemy AI, a dedicated jump ability, and the option to inflict non-lethal attacks. Plus there is some new content as well featuring the companion Shadowheart. The new patch is releasing on July 13th. According to Swen, Patch 6 is already in the works and will be out sooner than people expect.
