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

[Sunri]

Wow barb can throw trash at people, exciting!

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Why can't they have a normal character control+selection like every game prior to DOS2? The character selection mobile phone minigame they have instead is disgusting.

Eh, preaching to the choir. That's precisely what the overwhelming majority of their own community (that expressed an opinion on the matter, at least) has been asking since the beginning of EA. You probably weren't hanging around this thread few months back but it was discussed at length even here (and yes, YES, I know, I was often the one who brought that up because it annoys me to no end).
On their official forum I started a thread highlighting why their current system sucks. It got something like 230+ unique users posting in it, the almost totality of them think the system is bad. Many even went as far to describe it as the single thing they hate the most about the current build. I should probably count myself in that group.

But Larian seems hellbent to find more and more improbable ways to salvage their shitty system rather than just replace it with what everyone want, for some unholy reason.

 

[Infinitron]

Ah, there were previews: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...unlikely-to-be-released-this-year-says-larian

Baldur's Gate 3 "unlikely" to be released this year says Larian
Plus the details on today's Barbarian Patch 7.

I hate to break it to you but Baldur's Gate 3 probably isn't going to be fully released in 2022. Remember, a part of the game has been available in early access on Steam and Stadia since autumn 2020.

"We think we're in our last year of development," Swen Vincke, founder of Larian and creative director of BG3, told me in an interview last week.

"We do still think we have a year of development ahead of us, so it's unlikely it will be this year [2022]. But we are at the end, so we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now. We have a pretty concrete plan."

In an adjoining press release, received today, Larian added: "Our internal goal post for release is a quality bar rather than a date. A ton of progress has been made towards that quality bar over the past year in Early Access, but we know many players are waiting for an actual date. That date will come when we're even closer to meeting our goal, but right now our expectation is that Baldur's Gate 3 will be released out of Early Access in 2023."

In terms of what's left to do: Larian is on the last part of the game so the other parts are relatively complete. After that, it's polishing and bug fixing, which is obviously going to take some time. But the "burndown chart", as Vincke calls it, is actually "burning down".
That's the bad news. The good news is that "yes", there'll be more big updates for the early access version this year. This continues with the 32GB Patch 7 that's being released today - the patch Vincke previewed to me.

BG3 Patch 7 most notably adds the Barbarian class to the game. It also overhauls the user interface, adds thrown weapons (and many kinds of them), introduces improvised weapons (you can pick up chairs and things from the environment and smash them on people - you can even pick up smaller enemies and swing them or throw them around) and reworks the light and dark system in the game. I'll explain in more detail below.

But first, more good news, especially for people wobbled by the mega-money acquisitions of recent weeks. Larian doesn't sound like it's for sale.

"No, not - at this moment, we're fiercely going to stay our own course and continue doing our thing," Vincke said. "We have a lot of plans, we have a lot of things that we're working on actually, which will be announced at another date, so for the moment, you're not going to see us move in any direction."

Oh, and Larian has no interest in NFTs. "It's not really a take," Vincke said. "We're not doing it, so that's basically it."

Spoiler

Now, a closer look at what's in the patch. Let's take the Barbarian first. In Baldur's Gate 3, it comes with two specialisation or sub-class paths. These are Wildheart and Berserker, and you select one at level three.

Going Berserker evolves your Rage ability into a Frenzy, which is more powerful, and also unlocks Frenzied Strike and Enraged Throw. It makes your Improvised Weapon Attack a bonus action, too, which means if you work it right, you can do two attacks every round even from level three, which is great.

Don't kill the goblins - throw them!

The Wildheart sub-class, on the other hand, is all about attuning with an animal. Because of this, you get the Speak with Animals spell for free, and then you choose which kind of animal to attune to: Bear, Eagle, Elk, Tiger or Wolf - and, brilliantly, you get special piercings for each, like tooth earrings.

Briefly, the Bear Heart is about tanking. It unlocks Unrelenting Ferocity, which is a kind of heal, and gives you resistance to all kinds of damage (you can basically halve the damage being inflicted).

Eagle Heart, meanwhile, is about manoeuvrability. It unlocks Diving Strike, which lets you slam down into enemies from above without taking fall damage, and it gives enemies disadvantage on attacks of opportunity against you, and makes Dash a bonus action, meaning you've got a lot of scope for moving through a battlefield to the squishier enemies at the back.

Elk is about being fast. It increases your movement speed by 50 percent, which can be combined with Dash for really large results, and gives you Primal Stampede, a rush-attack that knocks enemies prone.

Tiger is about offence. You get a jump which goes 4.5m farther, which is a lot, and Tiger's Bloodlust, which lets you attack three enemies for half-damage and bleed them.

Wolf, finally, is about buffing. You give allies within 2 metres advantage on melee attack rolls, so they'll hit much more reliably, and you get Inciting Howl, which gives allies around you more movement.

This shows the new user interface in the game. The portrait icon and End Turn button have been pushed out to either side of the bar. But arguably the most important new feature is the filters at the bottom of the hotbar.

The user interface overhaul has been done to improve organisation and clarity. Filters have now been added to the hotbars and inventory menus so you can organise and customise what you want to see. This has allowed the character panel to shrink and no longer obscure the whole screen but only about a quarter of it. It means you're able to bring up all of your party's character panels at once, tabbing around independently in them to compare whatever you like.

Tooltips have been improved too, and now focus on the actual damage they'll do rather than the dice roll equations. It's a legibility thing - it's easier to see at a glance what's going on.

The light and dark system has changed to place a greater emphasis on scouting and abilities that interact with the dark. Areas will feel dark if you have no abilities to mitigate it until you light a torch, at which point they'll obviously be lit. But throwing light around like that will hinder any stealthing. Darkvision will be enormously useful here, throwing a kind of dim headlamp light in front of characters and keeping them 'heavily obscured' in dark areas, which means they don't have to do stealth rolls to stay hidden - which is very useful.

Related to this is a new room portal system where unexplored spaces beyond doorways are now presented as if you were facing a black portal - you cannot see past. This brings with it the opportunities for ambushes if you don't have the means - magically or stealthily - to scout ahead. "Secrets remain secret," as Vincke said. In other words, make sure you can.

Kerbam!

These are the top-line features of Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 7, but there are many more additions besides. There are lots more magic items with new effects to consider while building your characters. There are hundreds of new animations coming to the game - something like 400. It means all classes should now have class-appropriate animations for casting spells, so Rangers will use a kind of sign language because they don't use verbal components like other casters do. It speaks to the level of detail Larian is going for in Baldur's Gate 3 and, perhaps, why it's taking so long to make. I spoke to Swen Vincke in much more detail about this back in October, where we also talked about likely BG3 console releases, split-screen play and much more besides.

To get a more in-depth look at Patch 7 - Absolute Frenzy, hop on over to Larian's YouTube channel to catch the Panel from Hell stream.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/baldurs-gate-3s-new-barbarian-makes-anger-an-art-form

Baldur's Gate 3's new barbarian makes anger an art form
Goblins become improvised weapons in Larian’s new Patch 7



Baldur’s Gate’s most famous barbarian wasn’t actually a barbarian at all. Technically speaking, Minsc was a ranger - a man of the woods who just happened to spin into a rage during battle, hitting friend or foe for extra damage, while ignoring blows that would fell a tree. It was a classification that came with its benefits: since every ranger was entitled to an animal companion, Minsc had justification for his connection to Boo, the “miniature giant space hamster” that lived in his inventory. But the primary reason for the misnomer was a gap in the rules of Dungeons & Dragons.

“Second edition didn’t have the barbarian class,” remembers lead designer James Ohlen. “Baldur’s Gate 2 used third edition classes, but by then, it was too late.”

Larian Studios, the current custodians of the series, don’t have any such issues. Working with D&D’s fifth edition, which has full and flavoursome rules that allow players to embody barbarians, the developers have adapted the class for use in Baldur’s Gate III. It’s a typically meticulous transposition that holds true to the tabletop game’s definition of what makes a barbarian boil: “More than a mere emotion, their anger is the ferocity of a cornered predator, the unrelenting assault of a storm, the churning turmoil of the sea.”

Raging is a way of life for barbarians, and a signature ability you can activate in combat using Rage Charges. Since you only get a handful of those per rest, the smart play is to sustain that rage for as long as possible, either by hitting something during your turn, or being hit by something. “That means that if you’re not going to manage to reach an enemy for whatever reason, your best tactic is having somebody else from your party hit you,” explains Larian CEO Swen Vincke. “Just so that you can keep raging. It’s very, very, very powerful.”

Sustained rage might be more easily achieved by setting up a Twitter account, but there’s something evocative about the idea of a barbarian as an old boxer, imploring their coach to slap them across the face before the next bout - anything to get the blood up. While raging, barbarians do more damage, and halve the damage they sustain.

During a demo of what’s coming later today in Patch 7, Vincke gets into a scrape with two goblins - one of whom, a ranger, immediately summons a spider. What did we say about that class coming with benefits? In response, Vincke makes use of the barbarian proclivity for improvised weaponry. “Improvised Weapons basically means that if you’re strong enough to pick it up, you can use it to hit something,” he explains. The CEO directs his githyanki main to grab the other goblin and swing it like a club, damaging both spider and goblin in the process.

The enemy ranger has, rather wisely, kept their distance, so Vincke asks a second barbarian to hurl the summoner into the fray. No dice; at 120 kilograms the target is too heavy. If only they were an undead goblin. Less meat on the bones. No matter, though. Vincke commands the barbarian to down a Potion Of Hill Giant Strength, like Popeye. This is Baldur’s Gate 3’s design philosophy: no system existing in a vacuum, instead open to the influence of whatever tool you might have rattling around in your pack. With newly bulging muscles, the barbarian hurls the hapless gobbo, which lands atop the spider, flattening it. “I killed the summon with the summoner,” declares Vincke, proudly.

As the dust settles, Vincke’s two barbarians level up, which means it’s subclass time. The githyanki main becomes a berserker, which transforms Rage into Frenzy. “In addition to all the normal bonuses that you get with Rage, you’re also going to get extra actions - in this particular case, Frenzied Strike, Enraged Throw, and Improvised Weapon attack,” says Vincke. “I get to double the damage, essentially, as a barbarian.” It seems no coincidence that these bonus actions encourage you to weaponise the world around you, lifting objects and enemies off the ground like an incensed litter-picker.

Spoiler

For the backup barbarian, Vincke picks out the Wildheart subclass. That allows you to speak to animals, and double-down on your connection to a specific species. Select Bear Heart, and you’ll become tougher and tankier; Elk Heart, and you’ll gain the Primal Stampede ability, trampling straight through the enemy. With a Tiger Heart, you’ll jump higher and enter a bloodlust, lashing out and lacerating multiple enemies; with a Wolf Heart, you’ll start a new career as a motivational howler, buffing the movement speed and attack rolls of your allies. Wolves are the after-dinner speakers of the animal kingdom.

This time, though, Vincke goes with Eagle Heart, specialising in dodging and dashes. “What’s the net result of this? I can basically move through the battlefield without risking too many opportunity attacks and get where I want to be, changing the battlefield by repositioning my character,” he says. Most entertainingly, the Eagle Heart barbarian channels Assassin’s Creed with an ability called Diving Strike, best exploited by finding a high vantage point and jumping onto an enemy, knocking them down, “which is pretty good as an opening move.”

Vincke attempts to demonstrate this by staging an ambush. His victims are a trio of ogres, led by an unusually eloquent fellow wearing a Warped Headband Of Intellect, named Lump the Enlightened. As the three monsters discuss dinner in a dilapidated house, Vincke positions his Eagle Heart barbarian up in the rafters, along with a druid masquerading as a big, brown bear. “I just like my bear-sneaking,” he protests. He leaves the bear lounging nonchalantly on an exposed beam, though not necessarily for tactical reasons: “It makes me think of my dog.”

Down below, the githyanki berserker strolls in to engage the ogres in conversation, albeit briefly. Vincke soon plumps for a barbarian-specific intimidation roll. If you like your dialogue reduced to growls and roars, you’re going to be happy with the options on show. Lump is a world-class debater by comparison. The githyanki says what he means to, however, when he picks up a chair and lobs it at Lump, like a cowboy in a saloon fight.

In the roofspace, despite the planning, things soon go awry. A pre-release bug robs the Wildheart barbarian of her Diving Strike. Then an ogre smashes through a pillar, collapsing the floor above and bringing the bear down with it. At this point, the demo devolves into laughter. “I’ve never seen that before,” Vincke says. “Unbelievable. I didn’t know that was in there. Oh my god, that’s great.”



Nevertheless, Vincke’s barbarians come out on top, helped behind the scenes by complementary sets of gear. One is kitted out head to toe in armour that bestows a new ability, Wrath. “It basically means that if you get hit, you’re going to do extra bonus damage,” Vincke says. The Wrath triggers in different contexts, depending on the item: after dashing, for instance, or when you’re reduced to less than half health. Worn together, these items mean you’re “wrathing a lot”.

You’ll find sets of matching magical equipment scattered across the world of Baldur’s Gate 3, and they’re the only way you’ll get access to Wrath in particular. “They’re all very hand-tailored,” Vincke says. “By the time this game is gonna ship, there are gonna be a lot of magic items for each class.” Noticeably, the Wrath-specific items reward the taking of risks. It’s a subtle way in which Larian train players to use barbarians, courting damage to maintain that rage.


While we’re taking inventory, so to speak, it’s worth exploring Larian’s newly powerful UI. The developers have installed filters in the menus that allow you to chase down weapons your character is proficient in, or every helmet you own, or potions that improve strength. They have compacted screens like the character sheet, and introduced the ability to “mix and match” screens so that you can, for example, show one character’s equipment alongside another’s stats. “When you play with it,” Vincke says, “it feels less claustrophobic.” These are quality-of-life touches rather than a headline features that sell games, but given just how many hours players burn scrutinising inventories in Larian games, these strike me as development hours well spent.

The new UI is indicative, too, of what makes Larian stand out: a commitment to maximalism. Another studio might see a cavernous inventory - one that takes a search bar to navigate, no less - as a sign that their game has too much going on. They might take it as a cue to cut back and focus. But Baldur’s Gate 3 is not that game. Its mission is to offer the wide sprawl of fifth edition D&D and let players have at it, tackling Faerûn’s problems with whatever tool they see fit. The barbarian, to whom I have devoted hundreds of words? They may never join your party, in hundreds of hours of play. Larian is aiming for a game that is endlessly malleable, a radiant pool of options you cannot possibly see the bottom of. And that, surely, is the beauty of this daft, breathtaking project.

Disclosure: Adam Smith (RPS in peace) used to work here but left RPS to be a word goblin at Larian. It is possible that some of the barbarian yelling was written by him.

 

[Infinitron]

More previews:

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/02/baldurs-gate-3-patch-7-interview
https://gamingtrend.com/feature/pre...ess-patch-7-early-preview-its-barbarian-time/
https://www.fanbyte.com/news/baldurs-gate-3-has-about-a-year-left-in-early-access/ https://www.fanbyte.com/news/baldur...import-options-until-its-out-of-early-access/
https://www.destructoid.com/baldurs...-barbarian-user-interface-early-access-steam/

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Pro-tip: Low INT Barbarians probably shouldn't try to read the Necronomicon

Barbarians should be inoculated against adverse effects from the Necronomicon and any similar books, since they can't read in the first place.

 

[Larianshill]

Finally.

 

[Cryomancer]

I'm so hyped - what new class will we get this year?

A low effort to put class. Do you really think that Larian will put a complex class like pf1e psion or kineticist after one year of development?

------------------

Anyway, not only we had ultra low level chars adventuring into the underdark, using barrelmancy to kill a fire dragon fleeing a mindflayer spelljammer ship, carrying ancient Netherese magical nukes, meeting archdruids and helping then with dangerous enemies, but also this lv 1~4 chars will find the Necronomicon. A book which every high level necromancer or evil cleric wanna have. There are more epic artifacts in this game's chapter 1 than in WoTR, a game where you can reach lv 40.

 

[HeyCheckOutHowHardICanPee]

I was thinking about not making a post in the thread, but Meredoth complaining about inane unrelated babble the sheer second I was about to close the tab itself was a divine message that I too should without hesitation vomit out my takes without any remorse.

I have never played a game that wasn't massively improved by the ability to throw allies/enemies at other allies/enemies.
Anyone complaining about the addition of this fine feature either wears long dresses or is being manhandled by a caveman with 1 INT as they post.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Cringe. Releasing Barbarians before Paladins is a mistake. Unlike Barbarians, Paladins are worth playing.

Crom laughs at you from his mountain

 

[Larianshill]

Karlach then

Karlach now

 

[Larianshill]

Astarion gets what he fucking deserves

Spoiler

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

First thing that comes to mind after hearing about this barbarian is teaming up with a halfling/gnome druid so you can chuck the light manlet with maximum range behind enemy lines and then he can immediately shapeshift into a bear to go maul enemy wizards.

 

[Harthwain]

First thing that comes to mind after hearing about this barbarian is teaming up with a halfling/gnome druid so you can chuck the light manlet with maximum range behind enemy lines and then he can immediately shapeshift into a bear to go maul enemy wizards.

Doesn't have to be a druid:

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

First thing that comes to mind after hearing about this barbarian is teaming up with a halfling/gnome druid so you can chuck the light manlet with maximum range behind enemy lines and then he can immediately shapeshift into a bear to go maul enemy wizards.

Doesn't have to be a druid:

Sure, but that's the beauty of the druid! A fat ass dwarf wearing plate armor is heavy, and even the burliest of barbarians will only get mediocre range with one. A gnome in leather armor is no different from a football that suddenly explodes into a bear at the end!

 

[Harthwain]

Sure, but that's the beauty of the druid! A fat ass dwarf wearing plate armor is heavy, and even the burliest of barbarians will only get mediocre range with one. A gnome in leather armor is no different from a football that suddenly explodes into a bear at the end!

I... see your point.

 

[Mud']

Anyway, not only we had ultra low level chars adventuring into the underdark, using barrelmancy to kill a fire dragon fleeing a mindflayer spelljammer ship, carrying ancient Netherese magical nukes, meeting archdruids and helping then with dangerous enemies, but also this lv 1~4 chars will find the Necronomicon. A book which every high level necromancer or evil cleric wanna have. There are more epic artifacts in this game's chapter 1 than in WoTR, a game where you can reach lv 40.

It feels like the saturday morning D&D Cartoon where on the first episode they go against fucking Tiamat or some shit.

I would kill for a low level D&D adventure where the stakes starts low but goes higher and higher into level 6-7, this feels like you are landing on a full speed treadmill.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I would kill for a low level D&D adventure where the stakes starts low but goes higher and higher into level 6-7, this feels like you are landing on a full speed treadmill.

You might be interested in a company called SSI, which has recently obtained the license to make official AD&D computer games.

 

[Riddler]

Karlach then

Karlach now

Absolutely disgusting Asian erasure from the bigots at Larian!

 

[AwesomeButton]

psion or kineticist

These abominations are better not included at all. With Fighter, Mage, Cleric and Thief, the game already has what D&D needs.

 

[Nano]

Why is Dragon Age still the only game to get spell slots right? I don't want to keep scrolling to find the spell I want to use, I want all the slots to be in front of me like this:

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I don't want to keep scrolling to find the spell I want to use

Caster problems

 

[Swen]

I'm so hyped - what new class will we get this year?

Anyway, not only we had ultra low level chars adventuring into the underdark, using barrelmancy to kill a fire dragon fleeing a mindflayer spelljammer ship, carrying ancient Netherese magical nukes, meeting archdruids and helping then with dangerous enemies, but also this lv 1~4 chars will find the Necronomicon. A book which every high level necromancer or evil cleric wanna have. There are more epic artifacts in this game's chapter 1 than in WoTR, a game where you can reach lv 40.

"Noooo, you can't have cool magical objects in a low level D&D campaign"

 

[Salvo]

I'm so hyped - what new class will we get this year?

Anyway, not only we had ultra low level chars adventuring into the underdark, using barrelmancy to kill a fire dragon fleeing a mindflayer spelljammer ship, carrying ancient Netherese magical nukes, meeting archdruids and helping then with dangerous enemies, but also this lv 1~4 chars will find the Necronomicon. A book which every high level necromancer or evil cleric wanna have. There are more epic artifacts in this game's chapter 1 than in WoTR, a game where you can reach lv 40.

"Noooo, you can't have cool magical objects in a low level D&D campaign"

monty haul style campaigns ruin the sense of progression but maybe that's just me

 

[AwesomeButton]

I'm so hyped - what new class will we get this year?

Anyway, not only we had ultra low level chars adventuring into the underdark, using barrelmancy to kill a fire dragon fleeing a mindflayer spelljammer ship, carrying ancient Netherese magical nukes, meeting archdruids and helping then with dangerous enemies, but also this lv 1~4 chars will find the Necronomicon. A book which every high level necromancer or evil cleric wanna have. There are more epic artifacts in this game's chapter 1 than in WoTR, a game where you can reach lv 40.

"Noooo, you can't have cool magical objects in a low level D&D campaign"

Hey Swen, quit making a fool of yourself, where is my Paladin class? :D

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I'm so hyped - what new class will we get this year?

Anyway, not only we had ultra low level chars adventuring into the underdark, using barrelmancy to kill a fire dragon fleeing a mindflayer spelljammer ship, carrying ancient Netherese magical nukes, meeting archdruids and helping then with dangerous enemies, but also this lv 1~4 chars will find the Necronomicon. A book which every high level necromancer or evil cleric wanna have. There are more epic artifacts in this game's chapter 1 than in WoTR, a game where you can reach lv 40.

"Noooo, you can't have cool magical objects in a low level D&D campaign"

Hey Swen, quit making a fool of yourself, where is my Paladin class? :D

The Paladin, more than any other class, shall arrive when it's most needed.