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

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Performance is real bad, but at least this EA has less bugs than Bethesda's releases.

What's your PC like? Would never call mine great (R1600+1660S+8GB), but the performance really is great (on Vulcan). I was very surprised by that.

mine's a laptop with an old gforce in it. 3 or 4 years old. 16gb ram. i7.

it lags quite a bit at times.

 

[Lacrymas]

D:OS 1 and 2 are one of the most well-optimized games I've ever played tbh, rivaling Blizzard games, so I don't see why BG3 won't be the same. That said, I am upgrading my rig (not solely because of BG3, but it's a factor), it's starting to show its age.

 

[Gargaune]

but joining the goblins was the side that needed more persuasion checks, and is way more interesting...

Greenskins are only good for one thing. Dying.

As opposed to hellspawn and druids? Hoo boy, I'll give it to Larian, they know how to write a Tough Choice™.

 

[jackofshadows]

The point is, Larian is using the name of games they don't care about for a soulless cashgrab that is no different in principal than Fallout3.

F3 comparison simply is not fair. Lore wise we don't know yet about major retcons if there're any. So far it doesn't look like complete and crazy revamp from Bethpizda back there either way.

But more importantly, F3 is just a very, very bad game. I'm aware that many people don't think so (not here) but they're just don't know shit about games, nothing new. BG3, on the other hand, so far looks solid, with pros and cons and many changes up ahead even if it feels nothing like its predecessors.

I'd say a better comparison would be Nu XCOM (2012): it also feels nothing like classic games and yet it's a solid game at the very least.

 

[Perkel]

D:OS 1 and 2 are one of the most well-optimized games I've ever played tbh, rivaling Blizzard games, so I don't see why BG3 won't be the same

Drop the pot. It is not good for your health. DOS1 especially release version run like shit they improved their engine over time but i wouldn't say they got "blizzard" level optimized, just normal.

 

[Lacrymas]

I don't remember what D:OS1 release version ran like, but 1 and 2 at the moment run incredibly well (incl. D:OS2 on ultra) for me and the loading times are lightning fast combined with the fact there are no loading screens in a single map. I have an RX 460 with 4GB RAM and a motherboard + processor that are at least 10 years old. I do know how to squeeze the most performance out of my hardware, though, but still. I'm also comparing them to other games like Pathfinder and PoE2, which are very un-optimized.

 

[vortex]

PoE1 is better optimized than PoE2 which is baffling.

 

[Lacrymas]

PoE1 is better optimized than PoE2 which is baffling.

That only happened with the DLCs. It was better at launch. But the frequent loading screens are omnipresent anyway, and they don't seem to be able to squeeze big maps without loading screens from the Unity engine. Both Pathfinder and PoE1/2 have small maps compared to the gigantic ones in D:OS1 and 2.

 

[Yosharian]

I have a 3080 with a Ryzen 3700X, 3600MHz CL16 RAM, etc. I get frame drops down to 40 FPS in POE2.

 

[vortex]

That only happened with the DLCs. It was better at launch. But the frequent loading screens are omnipresent anyway, and they don't seem to be able to squeeze big maps without loading screens from the Unity engine. Both Pathfinder and PoE1/2 have small maps compared to the gigantic ones in D:OS1 and 2.

They should have make DLCs as separate expansion.
Hypothetically, can PoE3 have big maps like Dos2 with beautiful 2D backgrounds?

 

[ADULF HITLOR FAN KLUB]

Again with RTWP and TB.... I can design you 20 TB's that's going to suck ass and 20 RTWPs. Turn based does not make game good by default.

We're on the Codex, half the local fauna would line up with their pants around their ankles if only Bobo and Cletus promised to take them in turns.

Certainly strange, because the pseudo turn-based mode in Kingmaker is pure trash in comparison to a CRPG that has been designed to be turn-based from the ground up. Even BG3 puts it to shame.

As said, all turn-based mode in Kingmaker does is slow down combat to a crawl, so encounters take about five times as long to finish. How someone with even mildly decent gaming skills could think that is actually an improvement is beyond me.

 

[Lacrymas]

They should have make DLCs as separate expansion.
Hypothetically, can PoE3 have big maps like Dos2 with beautiful 2D backgrounds?

With the Unity engine? If it's at all possible, it won't be without a lot of elbow grease and I'm not sure if devs have the motivation to optimize it that much anyway. Not being able to render more than 1 map segment at a time seems like a perpetual feature of the Unity engine. That, coupled with the small maps, make it very tedious to play PoE2 and PF:KM without an SSD, and even then less frequent loading would've been preferred.

Certainly strange, because the pseudo turn-based mode in Kingmaker is pure trash in comparison to a CRPG that has been designed to be turn-based from the ground up. Even BG3 puts it to shame.

As said, all turn-based mode in Kingmaker does is slow down combat to a crawl, so encounters take about five times as long to finish. How someone with even mildly decent gaming skills could think that is actually an improvement is beyond me.

Two things wrong with this. 1) It is a CRPG designed as turn-based, i.e. the Pathfinder tabletop ruleset, that's why it makes more sense in TB. 2) Like I said, it's not about slow vs fast, it's about elegance and structure. The RTwP in Kingmaker is the worst I have ever seen, it's incredibly clunky and ghetto, which is exacerbated by the humongous lists of abilities most classes have.

 

[NJClaw]

Not being able to render more than 1 map segment at a time seems like a perpetual feature of the Unity engine.

It behaves like that only if you load each map as a separate scene. I can see why it's simpler to do it that way, but holy fuck it's your job find a solution.

Hire one less seashells-expert and use that money to hire at least a single competent developer.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

From the larian writer who was streaming:
there will be at least eight companions, possibly some who aren't origin characters.
evil route definitely needs more work, currently feels too much like a cartoon villain
playing as a custom character felt underwhelming in DoS2, don't want it to happen again in BG3
Kagha is going to see heavy rewriting(in line in with the above evil route rewrite, I assume), feels too one dimensional.
EA is definitely not all of act 1, moonrise towers are part of act 1 <- this one is kind of interesting, the EA is already pretty big.
if lae'zal dies on the ship you find her corpse on the beach, you're meant to be able to resurrect her but it's currently not in

I can already list two of them - Minsc (obviously) and either Coran or his bastard son (he's already with Minsc and made a secret deal with a Devil, so even his story arc fits the game).

I already know who the planned 3 are

Spoiler

give me a bit and I'll see if I can get them spawned ingame

did you guys think I'd just leave you hanging?

Spoiler

it's ya boy minsc

Notice the dialogue is still the first person format

it's boo

 

[NJClaw]

You didn't need to say anything more.

Oh boy!

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Spoiler

He appears to have amnesia btw

 

[Storyfag]

Spoiler

He appears to have amnesia btw

<palps> Everything is proceeding exactly as I have foreseen! </palps>

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Spoiler

He appears to have amnesia btw

Spoiler

He appears to have amnesia btw

<palps> Everything is proceeding exactly as I have foreseen! </palps>

You people don't read my posts, do you? I've been saying it for months. The game is a direct continuation of the events in his comic series. Which will bear the question of "where the fuck is his party"? Unless some of them are the remaining non-origin companions.

rusty_shackleford Show us the other two. I'll know just by appearance alone.

 

[Obsequious Approbation]

You people don't read my posts, do you?

No.

 

[Lacrymas]

We've basically known we won't be able to avoid Minsc in this game since it was announced. Here's a post of mine a year and a half old -

Yes, the whole "3" part is suspect. I hope it's simply to cash in on the name, and not to imply some kind of continuation. Since Bhaal has indeed returned in 5E, they might do something with that, like you are a new batch of Bhaalspawn or you are his agent (that's gonna be cool). I know we won't be able to avoid Minsc, so I hope it's a cameo or something, and not a full-fledged companion.

How naive and rosy cheeked I was back then to hope that he isn't a companion. He's not only a companion, though, he can be a PC, so I couldn't even imagine the horrors we are going to bare witness to. I did refer to him with his proper pronoun of "it", though.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Here's that letter referencing Sarevok I mentioned earlier

There came to me a woman (whom I shall henceforth call 'R'), greatly distraught at the unusual tempers of her husband (whom I shall henceforth call 'B'). Three months prior, he'd suffered night sweats, crying out from sleep that he bore the 'mark of chaos'. Two months prior, he'd taken to calling himself by the name 'Sarevok'. One month ago, he'd speak of little else but 'the throne for which he is destined'. I attended to B at the couple's farmhouse. He sat calmly at the table, an unknown book clutched to his chest. I detected no curse nor loathsome spirit upon him, nor the presence of magic. Yet upon shining the light of candleflame upon him, he raised the book high and exclaimed, 'The deaths they bring shall awaken the father, and through them he will rise! I snatched the book from his hand and flung it into the hearth, where it burned not in red or yellow flame, but pure black. It left but a single scrap, reading: 'He foresaw his coming death, and seeded his essence across the land.' B shivered and sighed, as if waking from nightmare. He had no memory of the book, nor the words he had spoken.Diagnosis: Unspecified Neurotic Enthrallment Treatment: Herbal tincture of garlic and drace, sipped thrice daily until exhaustion lifts.

Doesn't seem like it's foreshadowing anything, it's just referencing what already happened I guess.

 

[Hace El Oso]

He's not only a companion, though, he can be a PC, so I couldn't even imagine the horrors we are going to bare witness to.

 

[Gargaune]

Gents, anyone playing on GOG without Galaxy? How are the updates handled, does the EA launcher automatically fetch them or do you download patches manually from GOG?

 

[jackofshadows]

he can be a PC,

Playing as a literal retard. Now with an amnesia on top of it. Arcanum vibes, anyone, eh, eh? Eh?

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.polygon.com/2020/10/16/...per-gamer-larian-studios-development-pc-steam

Baldur’s Gate 3 devs built a testing AI. Then, they tried to defeat it.
Inside the bot that helps build the next generation of RPGs

I


It does not eat, it does not sleep. But unlike the Terminator, the quality assurance AI that Larian Studios uses to help test old-school RPG throwback Baldur’s Gate 3 is meant to help people build the most solid video game possible, at a pace much faster than a human could achieve alone.

Quality assurance jobs in video games are some of the most misunderstood positions in the industry. Where the average player imagines that QA testers get paid to play games for a living, the reality is more tedious. Often, testers will spend hours doing things like walking into walls just to make sure the game is solid all the way through, or opening different menus at different points in the game to double-check that it keeps running smoothly. Once a bug is found, QA testers have to find ways to reproduce it so that the development team can fix the issue — at least, if it’s considered an important enough hindrance.

Humans have been doing exactly that for decades, but advances in technology are allowing developers to outsource some of the work to machines that are perfectly suited for endless repetitive tasks. Mossmouth used a Spelunky 2 AI, for example, to help generate random levels that could actually be completed by real players.

Larian Studios started going down this path during the development of 2014’s Divinity: Original Sin, when the company started building a proprietary AI that it now dubs the World Tester.

“In the early years, it was just teleporting an NPC across regions, testing performance markers and looking for basic crashes,” a Larian representative told Polygon over email.

The “super gamer,” as Larian sometimes calls the AI, works with QA teams to help stress-test player actions and combat, among other things. The second that a new game build is put together, the World Tester digs in before any human lays a finger on it. Sometimes, the Tester will juggle more than one build at the same time, apparently capable of simulating multiple hours of gameplay at once. The QA team will only get involved if the game is stable enough to not fail during its session with the World Tester, which helps save everyone time. The aim isn’t to replace humans. It’s to help humans become more efficient at what they do, Larian said.

Nowhere did this become more apparent than during a showdown that transpired right before the release of the Enhanced Edition of Original Sin. While the Tester was still rudimentary, it could still open and close interfaces extremely quickly — leagues ahead of a living, breathing human being. The programmers who helped shape the AI felt confident that it could get rid of corruption and crashing issues. Notably, the code they had built did not use controller inputs, so the team could hook up a gamepad to meddle with the AI’s affairs.

Hilariously, someone on the team was actually able to start up combat against the AI, eventually defeating it in a one-on-one battle. When it happened, the Larian chief technology officer started screaming that it was “impossible.” Except, it wasn’t. To celebrate the unexpected victory against a superhuman opponent, the dueling developer was promoted to become a principal tester at Larian’s studio in Belgium.

Since then, the AI has only gotten stronger — Larian has expanded its abilities for more sophisticated manipulation of UI, and for sifting through dialogue at “lightning speed,” the studio said. With Baldur’s Gate 3 now available in early access, the World Tester is still being put to good use in 2020. Everything the AI does gets tracked, of course, and at the end of the process, the team parses that data. In the end, the humans still call the shots.

“Our QA teams across the world are extremely important, and the world-tester is really not as smart as it thinks it is,” Larian said.