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

[Grunker]

If I hated the original BG, should I avoid this

In terms of moment-to-moment gameplay the two games are almost nothing alike, so it depends a lot on exactly why you disliked BG

 

[Grunker]

Which is makes the whole system a lot more boring

But how does the restriction make it more exciting?

and the choice rather cosmetic if we put aside various non-combat race oriented interactions

I'd say "makes the choice an RP choice"

More of an RP choice maybe, but there are still a lot of meaningful racial abilities. Ironically the change probably means Half-Elf goes from 90% autopick to 95% never-pick

 

[Maculo]

If I hated the original BG, should I avoid this? Or is it different enough to warrant playing?

Is there a lot of non-combat spells, abilities and mechanical interactivity that actually makes for good exploring? Don’t mind meh D&D combat

As others have mentioned, it is turned-based rather that RtwP. Some fights allow you to climb up buildings or cliffs, jump across, take advantage of the environment, Etc. For example, I initiated a fight from the second level of a house, and as the enemies tried to climb up the ladder, I shoved them off the building and all the way down a cliff.

There is a lot of creativity in the EA so far with the non-combat spells, such as disguise self or read-thoughts. My favorite example is that you can disguise yourself as a female drow and the otherwise hostile goblins will worship you. There is also a treasure you can only reach if you have high enough strength or the spell that enhances your jump.

 

[Steezus]

Explain yourself.

 

[Saravan]

I've formed an opinion, and it is that unlocking racial ability score increases is better than locking them to the races.

Why? First, you can still stick to your race of choice's canonical ability score increases if you want to, but if you don't want to, no one is stopping you. I'd rather not have my race choice push me towards specific classes because of which of my ability scores are getting a racial bonus.

Now whine against it all you want.

I’m of the opposite opinion but if you are going to do this I would at least expect reasonable care for the indirect nerfs it causes to humans, half-elves and shield dwarfs. Instead these got shitty proficiencies as compensation that are irrelevant outside a few niche builds.

 

[smaug]

If I hated the original BG, should I avoid this

In terms of moment-to-moment gameplay the two games are almost nothing alike, so it depends a lot on exactly why you disliked BG

RTWP, shitty exploration with no interesting mechanics to make it worthwhile. Freedom was constrained compared to fallout for example and mechanical reactivity was nearly non-existent.

 

[Saravan]

If I hated the original BG, should I avoid this

In terms of moment-to-moment gameplay the two games are almost nothing alike, so it depends a lot on exactly why you disliked BG

RTWP, shitty exploration with no interesting mechanics to make it worthwhile. Freedom was constrained compared to fallout for example and mechanical reactivity was nearly non-existent.

These elements are vastly improved in BG3 but there is an obvious risk of shitty story, gay companions and too easy combat (not the mechanics but difficulty).

 

[Barbarian]

 

[Darth Valer]

Regarding difficulty at least in Early Access (where there's only default mode) one thing I've noticed is that, in a normal approach to combat (that is, one that avoids cheese builds that spam 4 fireballs on turn one and goes for spam resting, or that makes ample use of barrelmancy, shoving and other unfun and shitty cheese) the encounters' challenge has an extreme variance based on positioning.

If you go straightforward in a fight with your party grouped up without buffs or any kind of prep, even mid-tier battles can result in easy TPKs.

If you hide all your characters, give high ground and/or favorable terrain (like areas with plenty of cover) to casters/ranged attackers and try to get Surprise Rounds on everyone, which unfortunately is very easy in most cases due to the obscene stealth system, most fights become giga-trivialized.

At times it almost feels like you're getting punished for playing well considering how fucking easy the game becomes, but I'll suspend judgement until release when we'll know if there have been improvements to stealth, intelligent adjustments for Tactician Mode and a slow down on the exp curve.

 

[Tyranicon]

Maybe the DOS games were best played in Co-op so you sped forward through all the nauseating dialogue and it didn't kill your brain.



Perhaps I too will enjoy BG3 if I just spam the skip button and pretend the parasite is making me brain-damaged.

Perhaps if I pretend to be brain-damaged, I can enjoy modern games.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

I always turn my brain off during dialogue in rpgs. It's meaningless crap to me. Just give me the directions for the next quest please.

 

[Larianshill]

The "default Tav" in the picture is not a human fighter. He's a human cleric, the most popular race-class combination in the EA. Fighterfags, swerve.

 

[Shaki]

I always turn my brain off during dialogue in rpgs. It's meaningless crap to me. Just give me the directions for the next quest please.

That's why tacticools > RPGs, they're basically distilled good stuff from RPGs, with all the pointless annoying crap removed. I might have nostalgia for Arcanum or BG or Planescape, but I've played Battle Brothers more than all of them combined.

 

[Volourn]

That earlier interview. L0L More evidence that Larian doesn't know or like the BGs. He doesn't know the difference between Baldur's Gate and Athkatla. What a fukkface. He also admits he feels the need to dumb things down when players don't play the way he wants them to. But.. the game is supposed to be about choices... but they take choices away when players pick the 'wrong' choice. Pathetic.

And, the arogance? pretending they are the only ones making isometric/3rd person crpgs. Hellow, Pathfinder and Solasta. Idiots.


" First of all, it was the first adaptation of a Dungeons and Dragons game at that time. "

Why is he so fukkin' ignorant?


"Ironically bg2 is both linear and simplistic compared to this. No skill or even attribute checks, railroaded plot with barely any c&c, npcs barely acknowledge your class, race or even gender."

BG2 has lots of c&c. Stop lying. True about lack of skill/atrribute checks. Dude, gender has more affect in bg2 than bg3. FFS It determines who you can fuck. In BG3 you can fuck anything on 2 OR 4 legs no matter your race or gender. Talka bout gender not mattering.


"But BG2 does have a day-night cycle. That's all that matters. Apparently."

Makes sense. Adds a lot to the game even in the basic way BG series handled it. Imagine how vampires would have been in bg2 with no day/night cycle yet bg3 has a vampire party member. L0L

 

[jackofshadows]

But how does the restriction make it more exciting?

Like I said, in my mind that is the search of balance between cosmetic preferences and effectivenes both in and out of combat. Roleplay wise but in an old-school sense, meaning "I want to play a wizard" > "therefore I want a race with int/con ability bonuses" > "but this race has a free armor proficiency" (as was talking that nerd who took gith for an exellent wizard, it never occured to me before, I liked that simple reasoning a lot). In other words, you go back and forth with your preferences and that's why we I think all love spending inadequate amount of time in the character creation stage. When you can pick any bonuses for any race all of that goes out of the window. Alright, in case of BG3 I guess there're still some significant racial bonuses left like say extra spells for Sorcerer/Warlock or something similiar like resistances to think of but that's much less fundamental than the ability bonuses.

Two downsides of course - it's far easier to add exactly that kind of proper reactivity if race choice is nudging the player towards class via the means of ability score bonuses. I doubt a Half-Orc Paladin and a Githyanki Cleric would get proper reactivity to their race/class combinations. The second downside is that we don't know how much we can rely on race and class reactivity in the first place, even for the less exotic combinatons than those which are now possible. So you have to make a choice at the beginning of the game extending some trust to the game dev that your choice of race was not "meaningless" from RP point of view.

Nah, I'm pretty sure even with the old approach there wasn't any reactivity regarding race/class combination which makes sense simply because that's a too much of a number to process (55 currently I beleive) for designers writers etc. They're already taking a lot into account in pretty much every dialogue.

 

[Nerevar]

Well that wasn't too bad. I managed to beat it without anyone dropping.

I did summon 3 clay golems though. In retrospect I should have just played as a Berzerker it would have been so much better.

How do I become immune to hold anyway?

Now for BG2.

 

[Immortal]

If anyone is looking into absolutely broken builds in 5e, it'll probably be within the abhorrent CHA triangle of paladin, sorcerer and hexblade warlock.

CHA classes are so broken in 5e it's laughable.

Just like in real life, attractive people are better than everyone else.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

You literally left me speechless with this gameplay video. Will fit right in with the current times, next to Wrath of the Tranny and Dragon Age: Bullrider. Obviously the game doesn't take itself seriously but it surely destroys my immersion.

I am perfectly fine having this cringe stuff in certain type of movies where it is enjoyable but NOT in my beloved Baldur's Gate!

It isn't that bad. Just like promotion materials said the game is bending around player. In fact, some companions want to stop you before opening these doors and are displeased when you do that. Also, acting silly is only an option.

You literally left me speechless with this gameplay video. Will fit right in with the current times, next to Wrath of the Tranny and Dragon Age: Bullrider. Obviously the game doesn't take itself seriously but it surely destroys my immersion.

I admit I did laugh at this when I played EA, but I blame the IPA I was thoroughly enjoying at the time.

The humour is a bit puerile but I'd certainly try not to let it ruin what otherwise looks to like a solid game and a rewarding experience to play. I suppose stuff like this is an attempt to mirror the kind of ridiculous nonsense you end up dealing with round the table in a TTRPG, but videos like that in this context make it look a little deranged.

Cringe gameplay for cringe players. Simple as it.

 

[Volourn]

Why did TOEE's bugbears look better than BG3's? Weird.

Is that drow male or female? LMAO

Also, in that male vs female pic above, why are the females who are reasonably attractive, whya re they so flat chested with nno cleavage? :D In the real world, women aren't shy about showing their tits. lmao

 

[notpl]

If anyone is looking into absolutely broken builds in 5e, it'll probably be within the abhorrent CHA triangle of paladin, sorcerer and hexblade warlock.

CHA classes are so broken in 5e it's laughable.

Just like in real life, attractive people are better than everyone else.

Hexblade is not in the game, barring some last-minute surprise.

 

[Tyrr]

You literally left me speechless with this gameplay video. Will fit right in with the current times, next to Wrath of the Tranny and Dragon Age: Bullrider. Obviously the game doesn't take itself seriously but it surely destroys my immersion.

I am perfectly fine having this cringe stuff in certain type of movies where it is enjoyable but NOT in my beloved Baldur's Gate!

It isn't that bad. Just like promotion materials said the game is bending around player. In fact, some companions want to stop you before opening these doors and are displeased when you do that. Also, acting silly is only an option.

You literally left me speechless with this gameplay video. Will fit right in with the current times, next to Wrath of the Tranny and Dragon Age: Bullrider. Obviously the game doesn't take itself seriously but it surely destroys my immersion.

I admit I did laugh at this when I played EA, but I blame the IPA I was thoroughly enjoying at the time.

The humour is a bit puerile but I'd certainly try not to let it ruin what otherwise looks to like a solid game and a rewarding experience to play. I suppose stuff like this is an attempt to mirror the kind of ridiculous nonsense you end up dealing with round the table in a TTRPG, but videos like that in this context make it look a little deranged.

Cringe gameplay for cringe players. Simple as it.

These videos give me DA:I vibes.

 

[Grunker]

If anyone is looking into absolutely broken builds in 5e, it'll probably be within the abhorrent CHA triangle of paladin, sorcerer and hexblade warlock.

CHA classes are so broken in 5e it's laughable.

Just like in real life, attractive people are better than everyone else.

Hexblade is not in the game, barring some last-minute surprise.

It kind of is. Its most important ability has been moved into Pact of the Blade. So the pallylock stupidity is very much alive.

 

[notpl]

If anyone is looking into absolutely broken builds in 5e, it'll probably be within the abhorrent CHA triangle of paladin, sorcerer and hexblade warlock.

CHA classes are so broken in 5e it's laughable.

Just like in real life, attractive people are better than everyone else.

Hexblade is not in the game, barring some last-minute surprise.

It kind of is. Its most important ability has been moved into Pact of the Blade. So the pallylock stupidity is very much alive.

Ah, I didn't realize. RIP then, pure-class warlocks.

 

[Tyranicon]

If anyone is looking into absolutely broken builds in 5e, it'll probably be within the abhorrent CHA triangle of paladin, sorcerer and hexblade warlock.

CHA classes are so broken in 5e it's laughable.

Just like in real life, attractive people are better than everyone else.

Hexblade is not in the game, barring some last-minute surprise.

It kind of is. Its most important ability has been moved into Pact of the Blade. So the pallylock stupidity is very much alive.

Ah, I didn't realize. RIP then, pure-class warlocks.

To be fair, pure warlocks are just different flavors of being an Eldritch Blast bot.

It's a testament to how poor WoTC builds classes, and how overpowered EB is, that an entire class can still be considered a top-tier damage dealer just off one basic cantrip.

 

[mondblut]

I guess it comes down to nostalgia, aesthetics and hatred of faggotry basically(specially the latter)

As if it's not enough. Fucking rainbowhaired zoomers are about to plunge their dilation-stained grubby hands into Our Childhood. I'd rather see the world burn. And I'm not even a BG fan.