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

[Lawntoilet]

It's unfortunate because Paladins are mechanically very good in 5e. Of course there's nothing preventing you from playing a classic Paladin in the system, there's just nothing reinforcing that you should do so anymore either.

 

[smaug]

I thought alignment was intrinsic to D&D, what happened?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I thought alignment was intrinsic to D&D, what happened?

Faggots and casuals.

Read the alignment thread. It’s filled with people who just want to be the head of every guild in Skyrim and use moral relativism as an excuse for wanting alignments axed.

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/an-eulogy-for-alignment-in-crpgs.135251/

 

[d1r]

I thought alignment was intrinsic to D&D, what happened?

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/diversity-and-dnd

 

[Shinros]

It's unfortunate because Paladins are mechanically very good in 5e. Of course there's nothing preventing you from playing a classic Paladin in the system, there's just nothing reinforcing that you should do so anymore either.

Can't have proper consequences in this day and age. Don't forget about the people complaining in Kingmaker that most of the lawful good options were slaughtering evil. It seems people want to play a paladin character as a neutral good individual. I think the removal or the laxitude of alignments is the cause of this.

 

[Voids]

The removal of alignments means that we'll probably never get another Planescape. We'll never have to see it bastardized for a modern generation. Be thankful.

 

[smaug]

Does this mean Paladins will be able to smite anyone/anything??

Interesting..

 

[Dodo1610]

And the patch is gone again

 

[Nano]

BG1 intro: you are a child of the GOD OF MURDER

It took 6 chapters for that reveal to happen, smartass.

 

[Lawntoilet]

Does this mean Paladins will be able to smite anyone/anything??

Interesting..

Yes. You Smite by spending spell slots. There are also Paladin-specific spells that are different varieties of Smite.
They also get Channel Divinity/Turn X powers like a Cleric (where "X" = whatever creature type matches the Paladin oath you pick, since it's not necessarily Undead).

 

[Ol' Willy]

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/diversity-and-dnd

One of the explicit design goals of 5th edition D&D is to depict humanity in all its beautiful diversity by depicting characters who represent an array of ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, and beliefs.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/diversity-and-dnd

One of the explicit design goals of 5th edition D&D is to depict humanity in all its beautiful diversity by depicting characters who represent an array of ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, and beliefs.

"But how will this help us play RPGs?"

"RPGs?"

 

[ADULF HITLOR FAN KLUB]

I thought alignment was intrinsic to D&D, what happened?

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/diversity-and-dnd

Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is strength, for only a diverse group of adventurers can overcome the many challenges a D&D story presents.

There would probably be a bunch of black dudes on the cover of BG3 if it weren't for Asian markets.

 

[Ol' Willy]

There would probably be a bunch of black dudes on the cover of BG3 if it weren't for Asian markets.

One more remainder that nationalism and racial identity verboten only for the white people.

 

[Ramnozack]

BG1 intro: you are a child of the GOD OF MURDER, there are multiple attempts to assassinate you in the first few minutes, your powerful foster father gorion is assassinated, you are put in the care of two members of a super secret society and on the run
BG3 intro: you're some random person who got kidnapped by bodysnatchers

wow can you believe how ridiculous BG3 is compared to the old BG games?!

I think you getting jumped outside of your fortified home by a pack of niggers isn't that fantastical. Being abducted by Cthulhu aliens and taken aboard their giant living spaceship that is being attacking by 3 dragons where they then dimension hop to hell causing you to fight off devils and little brain monsters is a bit more fantastical, don't you agree?

 

[Gargaune]

And the BG intro doesn't do this? "I will be the last...and you will be first..." The BG2 intro explaining you're the spawn of a dead god of murder and having a cryptic wizard talk about unlocking your power?

Yes, there's massive shit going down. There usually is. And that's a bad thing because?

I'm pretty sure that 90% of the butthurt over the intro is simply a reaction to how flashy the cutscene is and not the actual story. You all got the feeling you were going to play "Michael Bay D&D" because there were graphics and explosions and you never dropped that judgement from the moment you made it.

Well, I wouldn't say so, BG's intro cinematic is just some asshole murdering another asshole and spouting ominous rubbish. The player makes the connection in the opening ambush, but murder's still quite mundane by D&D adventure standards. The cosmic scope of your struggle isn't revealed until you get back to Candlekeep, whereas in BG3 it's obvious from the get-go. BG2 isn't an appropriate comparison because it's a sequel building on your (level ~7) hero status, but I addressed it because even that one starts off more tamely in context.

As for Michael Bay, I made that exact joke back in the pre-EA thread, but the issue isn't the explosions, it's the fact that you're shown to be part of a plot featuring bombastic high-level campaign material right out the door even as you start a brand new story at level 1. I know a lot of games pull this, and I know why, but it's not my cup of tea and I prefer a more restrained pacing, where you gradually build up to the massive shit like in the other games I mentioned.

BG1 intro: you are a child of the GOD OF MURDER, there are multiple attempts to assassinate you in the first few minutes, your powerful foster father gorion is assassinated, you are put in the care of two members of a super secret society and on the run
BG3 intro: you're some random person who got kidnapped by bodysnatchers

wow can you believe how ridiculous BG3 is compared to the old BG games?!

I guess I missed the part where they give you all that in the first few minutes, rather than adding it in as the as the plot progresses. Cut the shit, the only thing you know in the beginning is that Gorion's worried about someone coming for you, and it turns out he was right.

Aren't they classified as Blackguards?

No, the Blackguard's gone in 5E, there's only the Paladin and they can be any alignment. Their ethos has been moved to an individual Oath they're supposed to abide by, but without a DM I don't see how Larian will be able to properly police that in the game.

Not Larian's fault though.

I know, I'm not blaming Swen, I linked his comment on the issue a few pages back.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

BG1 intro: you are a child of the GOD OF MURDER, there are multiple attempts to assassinate you in the first few minutes, your powerful foster father gorion is assassinated, you are put in the care of two members of a super secret society and on the run
BG3 intro: you're some random person who got kidnapped by bodysnatchers

wow can you believe how ridiculous BG3 is compared to the old BG games?!

I think you getting jumped outside of your fortified home by a pack of niggers isn't that fantastical. Being abducted by Cthulhu aliens and taken aboard their giant living spaceship that is being attacking by 3 dragons where they then dimension hop to hell causing you to fight off devils and little brain monsters is a bit more fantastical, don't you agree?

And if your home is a famous library fortress and your foster father is one of the greatest mages in Faerun? Or if assassins have already infiltrated your home and try to murder you?

Besides, the Illithids aren't a race most non-D&D normies really know about. An introduction to who and what they are and the scope of their power is needed. The same with the Githyanki.

I'd say the intro more than suffices and does so without exposition or boredom.

Again, you're free to feel butthurt that you didn't start the game cleaning rats from a cellar for a dwarf who pays you 3 gold, but try to understand that there are those of us that don't give a shit.

 

[Ramnozack]

BG1 intro: you are a child of the GOD OF MURDER, there are multiple attempts to assassinate you in the first few minutes, your powerful foster father gorion is assassinated, you are put in the care of two members of a super secret society and on the run
BG3 intro: you're some random person who got kidnapped by bodysnatchers

wow can you believe how ridiculous BG3 is compared to the old BG games?!

I think you getting jumped outside of your fortified home by a pack of niggers isn't that fantastical. Being abducted by Cthulhu aliens and taken aboard their giant living spaceship that is being attacking by 3 dragons where they then dimension hop to hell causing you to fight off devils and little brain monsters is a bit more fantastical, don't you agree?

And if your home is a famous library fortress and your foster father is one of the greatest mages in Faerun? Or if assassins have already infiltrated your home and try to murder you?

Besides, the Illithids aren't a race most non-D&D normies really know about. An introduction to who and what they are and the scope of their power is needed. The same with the Githyanki.

I'd say the intro more than suffices and does so without exposition or boredom.

Again, you're free to feel butthurt that you didn't start the game cleaning rats from a cellar for a dwarf who pays you 3 gold, but try to understand that there are those of us that don't give a shit.

I'm not trying to be butthurt, its just ridiculous that you guys are trying to argue that BG1 has some kind of big bombastic opening when that just isn't true. You were pretty much a kid living in a monastery, you leave the monastery with your dad, you and he are attacked by armed thugs and he is killed, the game then begins. How is that in anyway comparable to the intro to BG3? Your plane-hopping on an illithid spaceship at the get-go. If you like it, good for you, but don't try to make it sound like earlier BG games were just as ridiculous as if you were looking for a reason to justify BG3's intro

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Spoiler

If you side with the gobbos you can get the drow chick to ride your face

 

[Ninjerk]

BG1 intro: you are a child of the GOD OF MURDER, there are multiple attempts to assassinate you in the first few minutes, your powerful foster father gorion is assassinated, you are put in the care of two members of a super secret society and on the run
BG3 intro: you're some random person who got kidnapped by bodysnatchers

wow can you believe how ridiculous BG3 is compared to the old BG games?!

I think you getting jumped outside of your fortified home by a pack of niggers isn't that fantastical. Being abducted by Cthulhu aliens and taken aboard their giant living spaceship that is being attacking by 3 dragons where they then dimension hop to hell causing you to fight off devils and little brain monsters is a bit more fantastical, don't you agree?

And if your home is a famous library fortress and your foster father is one of the greatest mages in Faerun? Or if assassins have already infiltrated your home and try to murder you?

Besides, the Illithids aren't a race most non-D&D normies really know about. An introduction to who and what they are and the scope of their power is needed. The same with the Githyanki.

I'd say the intro more than suffices and does so without exposition or boredom.

Again, you're free to feel butthurt that you didn't start the game cleaning rats from a cellar for a dwarf who pays you 3 gold, but try to understand that there are those of us that don't give a shit.

I'm not trying to be butthurt, its just ridiculous that you guys are trying to argue that BG1 has some kind of big bombastic opening when that just isn't true. You were pretty much a kid living in a monastery, you leave the monastery with your dad, you and he are attacked by armed thugs and he is killed, the game then begins. How is that in anyway comparable to the intro to BG3? Your plane-hopping on an illithid spaceship at the get-go. If you like it, good for you, but don't try to make it sound like earlier BG games were just as ridiculous as if you were looking for a reason to justify BG3's intro

You're omitting the opening video.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Spoiler

If you side with the gobbos you can get the drow chick to ride your face

Spoiler

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I'm not trying to be butthurt, its just ridiculous that you guys are trying to argue that BG1 has some kind of big bombastic opening when that just isn't true.

"Bombastic" is your word and your opinion.

Is anything in the intro beyond what the Illithid or Githyanki can do? No. So what's wrong with showing it?

What I was saying is that BG1 didn't start off with you on a farm. If you think a violent murder with blood flowing into a symbol of Bhaal isn't meant to shock or excite the audience, you're just naive.

Yes, BG3 has a more exciting opening than BG1. No, it isn't strange for the fantasy genre. No, starting as a swamp farmer in NWN2 or a caravan guard with diarrhea in PoE wasn't better.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

my second playthrough was a ranger, you miss out on a lot of the world if you can't talk to animals btw

I like how the camp slowly gets built up during the first act. When you first go there it's just a campfire and logs, and it slowly gets tents and stuff. Nice touch. I love the effort they put into the details.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

my second playthrough was a ranger, you miss out on a lot of the world if you can't talk to animals btw

That's why you take the talk to animals potions from the druid grove.

Mind reading is the skill I really want to test out on this next playthrough.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

my second playthrough was a ranger, you miss out on a lot of the world if you can't talk to animals btw

That's why you take the talk to animals potions from the druid grove.

Mind reading is the skill I really want to test out on this next playthrough.

Detect Thoughts comes up a bit in convos, the problem is that it only lasts 10 turns.