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Game News Baldur's Gate 3 Community Update #3: Early Access coming August (maybe), new gameplay on June 18th

Infinitron

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Tags: Baldur's Gate 3; Larian Studios; Swen Vincke

Today was the first day of the Guerrilla Collective, another online gaming event formed in response to the cancellation of E3 in association with Larian Studios, Paradox Interactive and many others. Among the countless indie games, including a ludicrous number of "card RPGs", there was the long-awaited Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access release date announcement. It begins with a new trailer, featuring a devil whom the protagonists will have apparently have to deal with to get that pesky illithid tadpole out of their head. That's followed by a message from Swen announcing that the game will probably be out on Early Access in August. He's not sure because of coronavirus-related delays, which have been a particular problem when it comes to motion capture. According to Swen, the game has come a long way since we last saw it. The graphics have been improved, the combat initiative system has been changed, and the much-criticized narration has been overhauled. There are more details in the new community update that was published shortly after the broadcast. Here's the announcement and an excerpt:



We’re really excited to show you how the game is continuing to shape up. There are many improvements between what you saw at PAX and what you’ll see later in June. The narration in BG3 has been totally overhauled, the impact of your choices is becoming impressive, Origin characters have been adjusted, many visual improvements are already implemented, and the game’s UI continues to be tweaked and shifted around with a new UI style in development (But not ready for prime time yet). We started refining how the DnD fifth edition ruleset is integrated and are having loads of fun seeing the emerging gameplay that comes from so many systems working together. Combat is starting to be really fun with many tweaks getting implemented and we have a new initiative system which adds a lot of depth to the gameplay. We also have the new, official key-art nearly ready to be revealed. And we haven’t even started Early Access yet!

That pretty much covers where we’ve been, but where are we going? SO MANY PLACES. Today we’ve released the first official trailer for BG3 featuring the latest up-to-date visuals and mood we’re targeting. This trailer, functionally to announce the release window, comes with the caveat of a MAYBE. MAYBE is a real thing, because the world of development is a complex one with a lot of challenges, especially in the face of a global pandemic, and we wanted to be 100% honest with you. Secretly, all release dates are targets. Games are ready to be released when they’re ready to be played, and that’s true for Early Access games too. Though we’re back in the office, equipped with hand sanitizer and face-masks, and performance capture can continue with a two meter distance, we’re still playing catchup on the last three months. But that’s okay, because on June 18 we’ll be kicking off D&D Live with another massive chunk of live Baldur’s Gate 3 gameplay, and we’re incorporating that community spirit that’s inspired us ever since that initial press tour.

We’ve never created vertical slices or “press builds” of the game, it’s always been the latest we had. While we have a good idea of what we want to show you, we’ll try to let the game do the talking and that probably means we’ll go off script. It instills horror into the hearts of our QA team but we like doing it because it’s super fun when people shout out directions, laugh at our mistakes, and cheer on our successes. That’s the way of the dice, right? So during D&D Live you’ll be able to choose - live - if we delve deep into The Underdark, or take on the nefarious Dror Ragzlin. Maybe.

Between the initial announcement and today, we’ve had an ongoing game of spot-the-difference, and that’ll continue towards August as we roll into Early Access. We can’t wait to start getting that feedback when you start playing the game for yourselves. It’s a huge game, much deeper than anything we’ve ever done before. The visual and systemic target is also much higher than anything we’ve done before.

We hope that today’s Announcement Trailer gives you strong mood-vibes, and sets the tone for the live session we’re hosting with our friends at Wizards of the Coast on June 18th. We haven’t gone into a huge amount of detail on what’s changed in BG3 over the course of the year, because it’s fun when you find it. We enjoy that engagement. Expect many more changes, improvements, and announcements of content the closer we get to August. And after.

The road to Baldur’s Gate is paved in friendship, and the adventure defined by the party. 2020 is a weird year. We’re used to seeing you in person at PAX and elsewhere, and we hope that at least this live-stream and today’s announcement will bring us a little closer. We’re very eager to see you again, and to share some more memories and talk about Baldur’s Gate 3 before we really start the journey together in August.

As the update says, we'll get to see Baldur's Gate 3 in action next week on June 18th as part of Wizards of the Coast's D&D Live 2020 event. Looks like it's going to be at 10:00 AM PST.
 

karnak

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Strap Yourselves In I helped put crap in Monomyth
So, judging by the graphics, Larian decided to make a "5E Witcher", huh? Minus the boobs.
I'm quite suspect since I've grown extremely tired of Heroic Fantasy settings, but there are indie stuff out there who clearly interests me more than this.
Since I loved the previous "B.G."s I hope it turns out OK, but I'm not expecting much, really.
 

deuxhero

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Starting Early Access with all the options for character creation missing (no feats, no multiclassing, several classes missing ect) is a mistake. Half the reason people talk about D&D games is character options.

I'm quite suspect since I've grown extremely tired of Heroic Fantasy settings, but there are indie stuff out there who clearly interests me more than this.

I maintain the opinion that Larian should make the expansion pack a full on Spelljammer adventure. They already included a Mind Flayer jammer prominently in the opening, and Spelljammer would be a far better match for their writing style.
 

Morpheus Kitami

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What a world. If you told me ten years ago that there would be a Baldur's Gate 3 and it would be early access, I'd tell you to stop whatever it is you're taking, because its doing bad things to your mind.
 

elverkongen

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I get that D&D is technically turn-based, but I think that's really just due to the limitations of the medium. If you have more then one player, you can't have them all shouting out at one DM what they are going to do and simultaneously roll for all of those actions. So you have the players take turns. If you are playing a single-player game however, there's no need for turns. The DM, the computer in this case, is able to take and process multiple actions at once and execute them in real time. Tactical decisions by the player occur either in real time or during a pause in the action.

I hope this game turns out well but I agree with the folks saying this still feels far too much like Divinity III.
 

Aegidius

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I guess we'll be able to judge for ourselves soon, but it seems to me that Larian is really trying to convey they heard and made changes based on a lot of the earlier feedback. To wit, mentioning tone, which I felt was good in the previous intro (on the ship), but too light and cheerful in the open world ... I hope this means a more gritty tone, more consistent with BG than DOS. Also, sounds like they made changes to the narrator, which many people felt was weird.
 

luj1

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I'm hearing you are getting crippled story wise if you dont use the premade characters with origin stories, this true?
 

Shin

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There's something about Larian modelling and animation that is utterly repulsive.
It just looks like DAI. I never liked the cinematic dialogue w/ facial expressions pioneered by SWKotOR

This,.

It looks a -lot- like a modern Dragon Age game (which don't look good imho). To be honest, I have no idea how'd they'd translate the atmosphere of BG faithfully while also using a 3D engine, I don't think it can be done.
 

NJClaw

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I'm hearing you are getting crippled story wise if you dont use the premade characters with origin stories, this true?
If they stay true to what they already did with D:OS 2, yes. However, premade origin characters are also available as companions and you just have to bring them with you to experience their content.
 

Dr Schultz

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I'm hearing you are getting crippled story wise if you dont use the premade characters with origin stories, this true?

They're swearing "not this time". On the other hand, this is exactly what happened in D:OS 2.
 

Dr Schultz

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There's something about Larian modelling and animation that is utterly repulsive.
It just looks like DAI. I never liked the cinematic dialogue w/ facial expressions pioneered by SWKotOR

This,.

It looks a -lot- like a modern Dragon Age game (which don't look good imho). To be honest, I have no idea how'd they'd translate the atmosphere of BG faithfully while also using a 3D engine, I don't think it can be done.

I don't think you can. Prospective had a major role in creating the atmosphere of the infinity engine games.

On the other hand, boosting the saturation and the contrastat helped a little.
 

Vapid

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Everything concerning BG3 I've seen so far reeks of mediocrity. The art direction is generic as fuck, there’s absolutely nothing that would make me even remotely interested in the game. Granted, I’ve never been a huge BG fan to begin with, but at least the classic entries were distinctive enough to tell them apart from other isometric RPGs. Hell, even though BG and IWD were based on the same engine and set in the same world, they had a completely different feel. And you could tell it right off the bat. BG3 is fucking nothing.
 

commie

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So, judging by the graphics, Larian decided to make a "5E Witcher", huh? Minus the boobs.
I'm quite suspect since I've grown extremely tired of Heroic Fantasy settings, but there are indie stuff out there who clearly interests me more than this.
Since I loved the previous "B.G."s I hope it turns out OK, but I'm not expecting much, really.

WTF? Witcher actually looks good and graphics are proportional in style and feel across the series(Even W1 which was on a bastardised Aurora engine). This here looks like generic WOW style, with better textures but the same feel of weirdly disproportioned limbs. Shit, DA:O characters looked better.
 

Dr Schultz

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This topic could be renamed: "People discover that 5th Ed Forgotten Realms are the epitome of the generic high-fantasy and blame Larian for being faithful to the source material" XD
 

karnak

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Grab the Codex by the pussy Strap Yourselves In I helped put crap in Monomyth
So, judging by the graphics, Larian decided to make a "5E Witcher", huh? Minus the boobs.
I'm quite suspect since I've grown extremely tired of Heroic Fantasy settings, but there are indie stuff out there who clearly interests me more than this.
Since I loved the previous "B.G."s I hope it turns out OK, but I'm not expecting much, really.

WTF? Witcher actually looks good and graphics are proportional in style and feel across the series(Even W1 which was on a bastardised Aurora engine). This here looks like generic WOW style, with better textures but the same feel of weirdly disproportioned limbs. Shit, DA:O characters looked better.
I get your point. But I meant the "Renaissance Fair" aesthetics, with its late 15th century clothes and ornate swords and armor useless in a real fight.
At least the original (early) FR setting tried to create a "Dark Ages" feeling somewhat. But Dr Schultz is right: it's 21st century D&D. What's to expect?

ELlVeGpUcAAzI3j.jpg
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Ironically, it was the first Divinity: Original Sin, the one everybody loved before widespread Codex LarianHate began, that actually had the most WoW-like visual style.

I don't think "turn-based Dragon Age: Inquisition" is that bad a look. You could do a lot worse.
 

Ol'man

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This topic could be renamed: "People discover that 5th Ed Forgotten Realms are the epitome of the generic high-fantasy and blame Larian for being faithful to the source material" XD

Yep. In 5e:

Feats are a variant option.

Multiclassing is a variant option.

There are no character options unless you count subclasses (I certainly don't, you're on rails with this). The only "real" character options are in a UA that might be official in a few years.

The designers don't test or balance adventures with feats (or magic items) because they're optional features.

We've been mostly stuck in the same corner of generic Forgotten Realms of 7 years.

Intentionally (or not) Larian is actually accurately mirroring the system.
 

deuxhero

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There are no character options unless you count subclasses (I certainly don't, you're on rails with this). The only "real" character options are in a UA that might be official in a few years.

Unless you're a Warlock, then you get subclass, choice of pact boon, and a bunch of Invocations to pick from. How they got that one as well as it did is anyone's guess, since the only class to come close (Artificer) went through half a dozen iterations before publication. Not that it matters here since I recall Warlock isn't even in EA.
 
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Yep. In 5e:

Feats are a variant option.

Multiclassing is a variant option.

There are no character options unless you count subclasses (I certainly don't, you're on rails with this). The only "real" character options are in a UA that might be official in a few years.

The designers don't test or balance adventures with feats (or magic items) because they're optional features.

We've been mostly stuck in the same corner of generic Forgotten Realms of 7 years.

Intentionally (or not) Larian is actually accurately mirroring the system.

Do not believe his lies. Outside of multi-classing being "variant", none of this is true.
 

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