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

[NecroLord]

Biggest issue of discussion in the larian forums:

"
This is probably something of an odd question, but I know it's something that some people care about. Myself included, obviously. As far as cutscenes or even general dynamics, do we know in the case of male/male pairings which companions force a top or bottom role, or even a dom or sub dynamic? It's something that's unfortunately fairly frequent in the case of LGBTQ+ pairings, that it's often sort of stereotyped based on body type. eg Zevran from Dragon Age: Origins, or Iron Bull from Inquisition. Being forced into a pairing or dynamic that's the complete antithesis of what you're comfortable with often results in being jarred out of the game, or just dropping it entirely. While I'm not expecting Larian to write/design cutscenes for both directions across each companion, it would be good to know ahead of time to avoid dissatisfaction sort of... which corresponds to which? And the answer might be 'wait until the game is out', as that's what I expect to need to do when it comes out to finding out who is okay with a poly relationship and such. Still, figured it couldn't hurt to ask!

"

This is the fandom that Larian actively cultivated.

 

[Drakortha]

But since Romance is such a small and inconsequential part of the overall game its not a big deal to me

 

[Kiste]

It was superior, yes. How can you think BG3's generic druids v generic goblins with some Teifling immigration allegory (complete with an orange-haired druid who wants to build a wall) mixed in is superior to quests like Firkraag, the beholder cult, or Durlag's Tower?

I think the "immigration allegory" mainly exists in your head. It's not an allegory, it's just straight up story. The Tieflings aren't even planning on sticking around, they just need protection until the goblin situation is dealt with, so they can move on. And war refugees do exist, right? They always have when there is war. This is not some novel thing inserted into a fantasy universe that has no place there.

Maybe we should stop suspecting political allegory everywhere. The druid lady is red-haired? So? That makes her automatically a Trump allegory? I think not, because everything else about her and her motivations is different. Last time I checked, Trump wasn't manipulated into wallbuilding by a secret cabal of evil Shadow Druids.

Also, you are free to resolve this situation in various ways, including kicking the Tieflings to the curb.

I think it's also completely futile to play that "I will compare a quest I really like the BG1 to one I don't like in BG3 and then claim that the latter has shitty writing" game.

Yes, there were a ton of silly side quests. So what? There are plenty in BG3 too. E.g., the child thieves in the druid village, or saving Volo. Compare apples to apples.

The child thieves weren't silly and I didn't have the impression that they were played for laughs. They're a bunch of kids and youths in a refugee camp that try to make some coin with minor scams and petty crime. I see no problem here. Certainly no "bad writing".

And yes, Volo is a comedic character, but he is in-universe. What exactly did you find wrong with Volo? He's seems to be true to the source material?

 

[Saravan]

Everything about this game is trash. Its animations, its saturated bright as fuck colors, the cast of characters, the dialogue, the choices, the promotion, the people making it, the fans, the character creation, the multiclassing, 5th edition ruleset, the voice acting, the diversity, the combat, the silly jumping, the exploding barrels, the lack of a day / night cycle. This game will have many broken promises, be filled with bugs, and people will still sing its praises. And it will win codex GotY, guaranteed.

I couldn't have said it better myself. And it will certainly win GotY (GARBAGE of the year)

But you can't reason with Larian sympathizers. They are the type of person who never stood up for their own convictions, because they never had any. They will jump on over to either side of the fence and bat for whichever team looks like it's winning. Even if winning only means netting more sales and attention. No dignity at all.

The way you two are sucking each others dicks should also be bannable due to extreme homosexuality.

As opposed to the way you Larian Fags suck each other off in such large groups? Like a extreme homosexual faggot orgy.

One person agrees with me in this entire shitshow of a thread and you get all butthurt about it. Go fuck yourself you faggot fuck!

I can almost hear you crying as you type these words.

 

[Drakortha]

As opposed to the way you Larian Fags suck each other off in such large groups? Like a extreme homosexual faggot orgy.

One person agrees with me in this entire shitshow of a thread and you get all butthurt about it. Go fuck yourself you faggot fuck!

I can almost hear you crying as you type these words.

That's your own internal voice you're hearing, not mine. Because you're a bitch.

It's every day with these faggots in here.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

I half expected Bg3 to sink Larian, especially for being in development so many years. Even if Bg3 is RPG of the decade, I don’t imagine that many normies playing a turn-based RPG.

This isn't 1999, dude.

https://www.pcgamer.com/sci-fi-trum...ail-surpasses-genshin-impacts-launch-numbers/

Turn-based RPGs are extremely popular. Japs (and now Chinese) kept it so even when Western devs gave up on it in the late 90s, early 2000s.

Drones keep repeating that TB is outdated and don't sell. I am still baffled at this western myth.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

sorry but the more degeneracy you insert into games, the more people are gonna talk about it

so u cant blame the people for commenting on it

Not sure why you responded to my post with this comment, since I had repeatedly poked fun at Larian for these design decisions; the content of the actual game is a perfectly appropriate topic for discussion, unlike some of the bizarre predilections of a few challenged Codexers. Though it's always better to discuss classic D&D/AD&D, of course.

 

[Kiste]

Drones keep repeating that TB is outdated and don't sell. I am still baffled at this western myth.

Let's not delude ourselves here. Not all TB is created equal. The mobile TB games may be TB but they practically play themselves, some of them literally play themselves. As do some modern weeb JRPGs. BG3's D&D TB combat is systemically deep and mechanically complex compared to most of the gook shit, where more often than not the best winning tactic is to swipe your credit card.

That's why I'd still argue that Western D&D-style TB is very niche.

 

[Reinhardt]

This is the fandom that Larian actively cultivated.

eg Zevran from Dragon Age: Origins, or Iron Bull from Inquisition.

yeah, larian cultivated this. suuuuuuuuure.

 

[scytheavatar]

Drones keep repeating that TB is outdated and don't sell. I am still baffled at this western myth.

Let's not delude ourselves here. Not all TB is created equal. The mobile TB games may be TB but they practically play themselves, some of them literally play themselves. As do some modern weeb JRPGs. BG3's D&D TB combat is systemically deep and mechanically complex compared to most of the gook shit, where more often than not the best winning tactic is to swipe your credit card.

That's why I'd still argue that Western D&D-style TB is very niche.

Niche compared to what? Cause BG3 still looks likely to sell 10M copies eventually and be the best selling non Bethesda, non CDPR CRPG. It will outsell any recent Square Enix game, probably more than FFXVI and FFVII-Rebirth combined. Yes reaching Witcher 3 or Skyrim level sales is probably not going to happen, but I am not sure why Larian needs to reach that for the game to be considered a success.

 

[Pizzashoes]

Let's say you're in Larian's marketing department. Either a contractor or you work for them directly. How would you advertise the game to the RPGcodex community?

Keep in mind you want to stay employed, so your first instinct of making an account and posting a video of killing Halsin while chanting, "Come home, white man" may not fly.

Montage of combat encounters with Limp Bizkit's Rollin' playing in the background.

Alright here you go.

 

[Reinhardt]

As do some modern weeb JRPGs. BG3's D&D TB combat is systemically deep and mechanically complex compared to most of the gook shit, where more often than not the best winning tactic is to swipe your credit card.

or just use your fucking brian. jootube is full of videos of clearing most challenging content in gacha games made to force whales to spend with lowest rarity units using synergy and proper skill rotation.

bg was never "deep" and even less "difficult" or "complex".

 

[Reinhardt]

to be honest i don't remember any really challenging content in western rpg games in years. you need to heavily mod game for this and "heavily modded" usually means "cheat power to enemies".

 

[jaekl]

Let's say you're in Larian's marketing department. Either a contractor or you work for them directly. How would you advertise the game to the RPGcodex community?

Keep in mind you want to stay employed, so your first instinct of making an account and posting a video of killing Halsin while chanting, "Come home, white man" may not fly.

Montage of combat encounters with Limp Bizkit's Rollin' playing in the background.

Alright here you go.

Fuck ya buddy

 

[turkishronin]

DOS2 already has become the gold standard of CRPGs

Look at my CRPGs dawg

 

[Elthosian]

Drones keep repeating that TB is outdated and don't sell. I am still baffled at this western myth.

Let's not delude ourselves here. Not all TB is created equal. The mobile TB games may be TB but they practically play themselves, some of them literally play themselves. As do some modern weeb JRPGs. BG3's D&D TB combat is systemically deep and mechanically complex compared to most of the gook shit, where more often than not the best winning tactic is to swipe your credit card.

That's why I'd still argue that Western D&D-style TB is very niche.

Didn’t the gacha FE Heroes get a lot of people into playing mainline Fire Emblem games? Three Houses sold 3.85 million units while Awakening (which was the first FE that had solid sales) did 1.9. That’s a huge boost.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Biggest issue of discussion in the larian forums:

"
This is probably something of an odd question, but I know it's something that some people care about. Myself included, obviously. As far as cutscenes or even general dynamics, do we know in the case of male/male pairings which companions force a top or bottom role, or even a dom or sub dynamic? It's something that's unfortunately fairly frequent in the case of LGBTQ+ pairings, that it's often sort of stereotyped based on body type. eg Zevran from Dragon Age: Origins, or Iron Bull from Inquisition. Being forced into a pairing or dynamic that's the complete antithesis of what you're comfortable with often results in being jarred out of the game, or just dropping it entirely. While I'm not expecting Larian to write/design cutscenes for both directions across each companion, it would be good to know ahead of time to avoid dissatisfaction sort of... which corresponds to which? And the answer might be 'wait until the game is out', as that's what I expect to need to do when it comes out to finding out who is okay with a poly relationship and such. Still, figured it couldn't hurt to ask!

"

This is the fandom that Larian actively cultivated.

Not really Larian, but WotC.

 

[Silverfish]

Let's say you're in Larian's marketing department. Either a contractor or you work for them directly. How would you advertise the game to the RPGcodex community?

Keep in mind you want to stay employed, so your first instinct of making an account and posting a video of killing Halsin while chanting, "Come home, white man" may not fly.

Montage of combat encounters with Limp Bizkit's Rollin' playing in the background.

Alright here you go.

Best game ad in 20 years at least.

 

[Yosharian]

Initial Paladin/Sorcerer build is up.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3004617792

I think this is probably the most optimal way to use a Vengeance Pally. The focus is on being a moderately-selfish striker gish with excellent saves. Obviously I can't really test if it works as planned yet.

Perhaps a build discussion thread is in order?

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Biggest issue of discussion in the larian forums:

"
This is probably something of an odd question, but I know it's something that some people care about. Myself included, obviously. As far as cutscenes or even general dynamics, do we know in the case of male/male pairings which companions force a top or bottom role, or even a dom or sub dynamic? It's something that's unfortunately fairly frequent in the case of LGBTQ+ pairings, that it's often sort of stereotyped based on body type. eg Zevran from Dragon Age: Origins, or Iron Bull from Inquisition. Being forced into a pairing or dynamic that's the complete antithesis of what you're comfortable with often results in being jarred out of the game, or just dropping it entirely. While I'm not expecting Larian to write/design cutscenes for both directions across each companion, it would be good to know ahead of time to avoid dissatisfaction sort of... which corresponds to which? And the answer might be 'wait until the game is out', as that's what I expect to need to do when it comes out to finding out who is okay with a poly relationship and such. Still, figured it couldn't hurt to ask!

"

This is the fandom that Larian actively cultivated.

Where is this?
I'm actively looking for it and I can't find it (which already makes more than a bit fishy your claim that is the "biggest issue", but nevermind).

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Can you play as a tiefling futa on this? Just asking, for a friend

 

[Kiste]

Biggest issue of discussion in the larian forums:

"
This is probably something of an odd question, but I know it's something that some people care about. Myself included, obviously. As far as cutscenes or even general dynamics, do we know in the case of male/male pairings which companions force a top or bottom role, or even a dom or sub dynamic? It's something that's unfortunately fairly frequent in the case of LGBTQ+ pairings, that it's often sort of stereotyped based on body type. eg Zevran from Dragon Age: Origins, or Iron Bull from Inquisition. Being forced into a pairing or dynamic that's the complete antithesis of what you're comfortable with often results in being jarred out of the game, or just dropping it entirely. While I'm not expecting Larian to write/design cutscenes for both directions across each companion, it would be good to know ahead of time to avoid dissatisfaction sort of... which corresponds to which? And the answer might be 'wait until the game is out', as that's what I expect to need to do when it comes out to finding out who is okay with a poly relationship and such. Still, figured it couldn't hurt to ask!

"

This is the fandom that Larian actively cultivated.

Where is this?
I'm actively looking for it and I can't find it (which already makes more than a bit fishy your claim that is the "biggest issue", but nevermind).

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=862725

It's somewhere in the middle of page 2 of the forum with some 450 views. Yeah, "biggest issue".

 

[Jermu]

Initial Paladin/Sorcerer build is up.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3004617792

I think this is probably the most optimal way to use a Vengeance Pally. The focus is on being a moderately-selfish striker gish with excellent saves. Obviously I can't really test if it works as planned yet.

Perhaps a build discussion thread is in order?

12 wis 12 con looks weird why not pump con higher and dump wis
also no feats which can be annoying but I dont know shit
initiative is king in most games so dumping dex might be nasty

 

[MasPingon]

Gay sex with a bear has been added, this is Codex GOTY material.

 

[Yosharian]

Initial Paladin/Sorcerer build is up.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3004617792

I think this is probably the most optimal way to use a Vengeance Pally. The focus is on being a moderately-selfish striker gish with excellent saves. Obviously I can't really test if it works as planned yet.

Perhaps a build discussion thread is in order?

12 wis 12 con looks weird why not pump con higher and dump wis
also no feats which can be annoying but I dont know shit
initiative is king in most games so dumping dex might be nasty

It's a game of tradeoffs here. Initiative is important but if I get charmed or dominated it's fucking bad news. I have fire resistance to help against reflex save fails. WIS also helps Perception although that's relatively less important.

CON is important too but it's expensive to raise it to 14.

But I don't disagree with your points, it's just a matter of finer details really. On these details it's really a case of playing the actual game a bit to determine exactly where the most valuable distribution lies.

Feats, mainly it's GWM but I'm not terribly interested in that feat for this build.