Preview Baldur's Gate 3 Gameplay Reveal, Previews and Interviews

[Black]

will probably be good. But sure as hell this is not baldur's gate.

Well yes, those two things are exclusive to each other.

 

[Morality Games]

Feels a bit weird that dialogue options are written as if a player were describing what their character has done.

This style has the advantage of not putting exact words in the players' mouth; to be honest, Baldur's Gate dialogue options, although effective and utilitarian, always made me think the Bhaalspawn was a bit of a simpleton.

 

[Sezneg]

Here's also hoping that they implement a lot more classes for release. Half the fun in BG(2) was building a (custom) party using all the crazy kits, dual-classes and stuff like that. I'm not familiar at all with D&D5; does it feature prestige classes/multi-diual classing or something similar to make the base classes less bland?

5e frontloads that sort of customization as a subclass. Most classes pick this at level 3, Sorcerers pick theirs at level 1 and wizards specialize at level 2. You might end with a druid from the circle of spores, which is basically a necromancer druid, focusing on natural decay themes. Or you might get a Druid of the Moon, focused on using wildshape in combat (changing shape as a bonus action instead of a full action being an immediate benefit). You can multi-class, and if you take enough levels of the second (and third) class, you can add their sub-classes as well.

Magic users are well differentiated in 5e.

• Sorcerers are the only ones with metamagics, and a resource called "sorcery points" used to power these chosen metamagics. They can also swap spell slots for more sorcery points or buy spell slots with sorcery points, giving them a unique management resource between long rests. They get very few spells known overall, but generally cast more often than the other arcane casters.
  
• Specialist wizards get bonuses and no drawbacks, and do not lose spell school access. Specializing no longer makes spells of your school more likely to land, but instead grants unique abilities - divination rolls extra dice on long rest that they can swap out with later dice rolls by the party or DM. Enchanters get a strong but short ranged crowd control, evocation wizards can choose to make characters immune to AOE spells (automatically save, and no damage if save would have dropped damage in half). They're all powerful and different and more features are added at later levels. Wizards still get the most spells known, and flexibility in which spells to prepare. They now also regain some spell casts on short rest.
• Warlocks only get to cast twice each short rest, but always cast at the highest level spell slot they have, so spells that have additional effects when cast at a higher spell level are great for them. They also have a lot of options for free to cast spells in their eldritch invocations, and their cantrip Eldritch Blast is a meme (it's what a warlock will do most turns, just like in previous editions).
• Bards flexibility works very well in 5e, because specialization is about adding features rather than higher success rates. This means a lot for comparative effectiveness. Your DCs scale with your proficiency bonus and your casting ability score. A 20 charisma bard of the same level as a 20 intelligence wizard both casting an illusion spell have the same DC, even if the wizard is an illusionist specialization. Not having a DC score arms race just makes the casting side of bard better. And the ability to take 1 (2 if bard college of lore is selected at level 3) spells from any classes spell list is gravy.

In terms of party flexibility - numerous classes can access healing. There's even a sorcerer variant that gains some cleric spells. Everyone can roll dice to heal on a short rest, and some easily gotten spells and class abilities make healing on a short rest very efficient. As always when dealing with a CRPG, a lot depends on how many of the subclasses make it into the game. For skills, things like traps and locks are not always class locked. Feats and backgrounds unlock a lot of options, so how much we get to customize companions looms large in terms of how much party freedom we get. Skills are not raised or tracked beyond having proficiency (or expertise, which is extra proficiency). You pick some skills from a class list at creation, add some through your background choice or later feat selection and as you level you have a "proficiency" bonus that raises. You add this proficiency bonus to dice rolls to use skills you are proficient with. Bards get jack of all trades, so they add half their proficiency bonus to any skill.

5e is a strong edition. It's more of a game than a simulation, and plays better for that at the cost of some interactions not always making sense if thought through logically. Because of the edition being solid, and the advent of videochat play, DND is having something of resurgence in relevance. BG3, for good or ill will be the first time we see it translated to a CRPG. In theory, the game rather than simulation bent of the rules will help. At the very least, the combat should be good. Short rest is also an important feature in 5e, and could be a way to limit "rest spam" if put into the game intelligently (always a big if).

I am not a fan of Larian in terms of writing/world building. But at least the world building is sort of done for them here.

 

[CappenVarra]

turn-based is the only good news (well, for a 5E game at least), everything else looks like shit D:OS games Larian games Dragon Age NWN2 ok, shit it is

 

[MrMarbles]

What an atrocity!
We went from this in 2000:

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HUi-ez4ubOc/WQ23NKlQwmI/AAAAAAAANB0/TghJNV4n7pc39jzmDFsC39UhXDDXjUCFQCLcB/s1600/upload+AR0700+waukeens+promenade.jpg

to this abominable 3d shit with rotatable camera 20 years later.

No 2d, no paper dolls, no prerendered gfx, no fixed camera, no rtwp

Hideous 3d gfx and hideous UI
And fucking rotatable camera

Amen brother, it's depressing

 

[MrMarbles]

Anyway, this looks like a rather straightforward mix between DA production values and DOS gameplay. Targeting disgruntled DA:O fans that didn't like the direction Bioware taken with the rest of the series actually seems pretty smart. I don't think they look to attract a lot of BG fans with this. The title is only there to message the potential customers that this game is a throwback to 'good old times' of pre-EA Bioware.

I'm pretty sure the "old BG fans" audience is pretty damn narrow, so a smart move on their part.

I don't get this logic. It's not like old fans of BG like it because it was BG, they like it because it was good. Unless the human species has fundamentally changed in the last 20 years, people will still appreciate authenticity and originality in a game. Making DA clones forever because those games sold reasonably well is lazy, short-sighted and cancer for any gaming studio that wants to encourage real talent.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

At this point I find it a complete waste of time to stay in a corner bitching and whining about what BG3 will NOT be.

So. here's a random list of minor points about how it could be better at what is attempting to be.

- Since they are going for highly detailed, almost-photorealistic character models, there should be more effort in having animations/effects that MATCH that art style.
In the public gameplay I already noticed a bunch of minor detail where they went for the "cartoony" side of things instead, which is not a particularly good fit.
Examples include arrows that "curve" down massively at a three meters distance, characters that fall down almost floating horizontally like in a roadrunner clip rather than having a proper animation for it, jumping up and down that looks almost comedic in its cartoonish nature rather than a display of athleticism, etc.

- I'm not really feeling this choice to go for party-based initiative rather than having the queue fragmented on individual characters.Is there a significant reason for it?

- I've never been a fan of the "Move one character, the other will follow automatically" approach OS 1 and 2 had with party control. And that "pseudo-third person camera" shown live looked downright terrible, so I'd definitely stick with the distanced camera. I'd prefer if they gave us at least the option to have a more traditional "click and drag" control for selecting one or multiple party members at once as it used to be with BG and let us control their individual positions precisely, without having to resort to convoluted "chain and unchain" mechanics.

- I'm not sure if video compression played a part or what, but... Aren't some of these close-up animations surprisingly choppy? I know it's a work in progress and all, but at time they feel like they were literally skipping any attempt at interpolation, with some jarring effect on the viewer.

- Hoping the loot system doesn't become something unreasonably busy like it was in OS 1 and 2. You know, you can improve your inventory all you want, but there's no UI update that will ever be more effective to make inventory management a bit leaner than simply NOT burying your players in a mountain of trash items to begin with.

- I don't necessarily think the UI should match the old games too closely, but I do think that if it's mostly placeholder as I'm guessing they should put some work on giving it a more distinctive feeling compared to D: OS 2.

 

[Jinn]

I'm not really feeling this choice to go for party-based initiative rather than having the queue fragmented on individual characters.Is there a significant reason for it?

Larian is apparently terrified of having a proper, stat dependent, and tactically logical initiative system these days. My guess is it's too overwhelming for them from a balance perspective in a large game - IE laziness.

 

[Dr Schultz]

- Since they are going for highly detailed, almost-photorealistic character models, there should be more effort in having animations/effects that MATCH that art style.
In the public gameplay I already noticed a bunch of minor detail where they went for the "cartoony" side of things instead, which is not a particularly good fit.
Examples include arrows that "curve" down massively at a three meters distance, characters that fall down almost floating horizontally like in a roadrunner clip rather than having a proper animation for it, jumping up and down that looks almost comedic in its cartoonish nature rather than a display of athleticism, etc.

Agreed, but - as per the UI - I think most of the animations/visual effects shown during the presentation are placeholders recycled form D:OS.

- I'm not really feeling this choice to go for party-based initiative rather than having the queue fragmented on individual characters.Is there a significant reason for it?

If you ask me, it's because this is an overall better solution for a tactical combat system. But it appears their main reason is because team initiative will allow up to 4 players to act simultaneously in multiplayer.

- I've never been a fan of the "Move one character, the other will follow automatically" approach OS 1 and 2 had with party control. And that "pseudo-third person camera" shown live looked downright terrible, so I'd definitely stick with the distanced camera. I'd prefer if they gave us at least the option to have a more traditional "click and drag" control for selecting one or multiple party members at once as it used to be with BG and let us control their individual positions precisely, without having to resort to convoluted "chain and unchain" mechanics.

Not a big fan either. But - again - I think this has to do with the multiplayer where you need to know who leads and who follows.

- Hoping the loot system doesn't become something unreasonably busy like it was in OS 1 and 2. You know, you can improve your inventory all you want, but there's no UI update that will ever be more effective to make inventory management a bit leaner than simply NOT burying your players in a mountain of trash items to begin with.

Thanks god they've already confirmed that the loot will be handcrafted and handplaced. Also, because of D&D, we'll hardy have an awful power curve like in D:OS2

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Thanks god they've already confirmed that the loot will be handcrafted and handplaced. Also, because of D&D, we'll hardy have an awful power curve like in the D:OS2

Did they, now? When and where?
Good to hear, anyway. To be honest I was mostly relying on the "this is D&D" factor to limit the problems, because I had very little faith on how Larian would handle this.
I still expected them to come up with some shitty system that generated +1 and +2 swords with some bonus stat on top all over the place.

 

[Dr Schultz]

Thanks god they've already confirmed that the loot will be handcrafted and handplaced. Also, because of D&D, we'll hardy have an awful power curve like in the D:OS2

Did they, now? When and where?
Good to hear, anyway. To be honest I was mostly relying on the "this is D&D" factor to limit the problems, because I had very little faith on how Larian would handle this.
I still expected them to come up with some shitty system that generated +1 and +2 swords with some bonus stat on top all over the place.

Look here, for instance: https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-iii-everything-we-know-so-far-gameplay-mechanics/

It's a fairly reliable source of information about PC and console RPGs

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Are the divinity games FUN to play? Apparently they have fun making these games but I really didn't get to play their first one much (divine divinity) before my xp gave up the ghost. I haven't bothered to restart as i went to play Diablo 1 HD MOD.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Are the divinity games FUN to play? Apparently they have fun making these games but I really didn't get to play their first one much (divine divinity) before my xp gave up the ghost. I haven't bothered to restart as i went to play Diablo 1 HD MOD.

The combat in general has a very good flow (assuming you aren't undergeared at any given point, which can make it frustrating, or overgeared/overleveled in the late game, that can make it trivial).
There are also a bunch of fairly well written/designed characters, if you can get over the fact that the overall feeling is more of a "grim fable setting" rather than some "Epic fantasy".

Too bad they completely botched the progression system (numbers escalate at an absurd pace and you are constantly chasing the next upgrade) and the loot system/itemization is some nonsensical randomized Diablo-like trash.
Which I don't like in general, even in hack'n slash games, but becomes especially jarring and particularly poorly suited in a party based game with a finite number of encounters.

 

[luj1]

Okay so here are my (detailed) impressions,

• The intro being long and actually good reminds me of the old Blizzard intros... until the ending. What the fook was that?
• So apparently you can play this in isometric perspective or third person. Good I guess?
• Jogging (?) animation is janky and makes the character look like a homosexual. The camera is a little messy, but looks very powerful.
• DA-like cinematic dialogue is for people who have no imagination, miss me with that shit.
• Not a biggie, but visibly hitting the devourer while that registers as a 'miss' is somewhat disappointing considering NwN had proper parry anims 20 years ago.
• Verticality playing an important role in combat seems pretty cool. Can't say I saw that before. RIP Solasta.
• They went over the board with spells and it almost looks like Wolcen, but whatever. Doesn't negatively impact gameplay I suppose.
• I noticed that every motion of a character or monster is accompanied by anime-like particle effects. Didn't really need that, but whatever. Have to earn those shekels.
• The mage hand (?) is a nifty little mechanic. Not sure if it's a summon or what. Literally adds a Worms-like layer to combat (baseball bat anyone?).
• Not sure if combat is legit challenging or it's the devil Swen making it look that way.
• Healing potions don't invoke AoOs?
• So he throws his boots at the devourer and kills it? Huh, okay Swen.
• The environments look detailed and hand-crafted.
• Seeing a bunch of resistance stats, not sure if part of 5ED, but it's good.
• Map markers. Boo. Hopefully mods can fix it.
• No strong opinions about the music, maybe ripped off Witcher a lil' bit.
• Disco-like introspective checks, okay cool.
• Weapon skills, been there, done that. Guess it won't hurt.
• The UI reminds me of NwN, but it's not devoid of style. Very happy with it, it's functional and stylish.
• Like that you can display related skills by clicking on an attribute.
• Party interface is very good, very good visibility.
• Item context menu is very good. I also like how UI art changes depending on the container.
• Interesting sneaking system.
• Good that they kept environmental interactions, just don't overdo it with the barrels.
• Stacking crates on top of one another is... weird. Feels like Rust or some shit. Doesn't have to be bad though.
• Getting Arcanum vibes from the crash site.
• Yeah its nothing like BG, who gives a shit.
• The art direction may be indistinctive - you could easily mistake it for TW3 or DAI - but at least it's not cartoony.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the overall impression is very good. Not gonna lie, I expected way worse. Larian has always been a meh developer, this is their chance to do something big. I am slightly (positively) shocked by how ambitious this turned out - particularly verticality, sneaking, mage hand and box sorting (?) subsystems. All that with Wolcen production standard. Very interesting.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the overall impression is very good.

You are a shill. How much are they paying you? Swen doesn't fuck around.

 

[luj1]

I'm just going by what I saw. Who knows how the game will turn out in the end. Most of what I saw is either good or neutral, in the 'guess it won't hurt' category. The only things which are legit decline are map markers and dialogue, amazingly.

 

[Alpan]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the overall impression is very good.

It's particularly surprising given your distaste for most everything, luj1. Also, about half of the points you mention already feature in Divinity: Original Sin II.

With respect to the combat, I'm pretty sure it's Swen making it look that way -- too many of the written coverage newsposts refer to the same ridiculous misses and close calls, it's a little too suspect for them all to be coincidences, and it all too conveniently works out to showcase the options provided by the combat system. Swen probably practiced the fixed-RNG demo until he became capable of faking incompetence like a psychopath.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Ausdoerrt]

I don't get this logic. It's not like old fans of BG like it because it was BG, they like it because it was good. Unless the human species has fundamentally changed in the last 20 years, people will still appreciate authenticity and originality in a game. Making DA clones forever because those games sold reasonably well is lazy, short-sighted and cancer for any gaming studio that wants to encourage real talent.

Judging from the complaints I'm reading both here and on Facebook, it's predominantly opposite. People whining about RtwP, 2D art, and even inane things like 6-man party make it seem like most BG fans just want a BG2 clone. I'm sure there are some out there who are less autistic, but they sure as hell aren't as vocal.

Also note how DA-style camp is about the only thing from the presentation that didn't receive overwhelming criticism from the 'fans'. Cause that's exactly what they want to see.

 

[jackofshadows]

So far, I can point out only a few positive things:

- stealth is very promising due to possible control over the shadows and potentially good overall exploration (the only one genuinely exiting aspect for me, unfortunately)
- the loot system
- it can be expected to decent combat tuning thanks to early access
- potential threesome with dat gith gurl thanks to her sluttiness

Everything else looks like shit[s/]questionable at best. It still possible for combat to end up enjoyable so I'm not giving up hope yet.

 

[vortex]

• So he throws his boots at the devourer and kills it? Huh, okay Swen.

Should have rename it with Bigby's crushing boot.

 

[Gwendo]

Looks great. And with the typical Larian polish, it will be very good at release and great with an enhanced edition.

Personally, I would prefer face animations to be better than Nicholas Cage's acting skills. But that's minor. (The guy shouting to open the gate really has Nicholas Cage's face).

Couldn't care less about D&D rules, but if doesn't get in the way of the pleasant turn-based combat that Larian gave us with DOS and DOS2, I won't mind.

It look like it will be the first Baldur's Game I will finish (couldn't stomach for long the RTwP combat system of the originals, many years ago).

 

[Volrath]

Okay so here are my (detailed) impressions,

• The intro being long and actually good reminds me of the old Blizzard intros... until the ending. What the fook was that?
• So apparently you can play this in isometric perspective or third person. Good I guess?
• Jogging (?) animation is janky and makes the character look like a homosexual. The camera is a little messy, but looks very powerful.
• DA-like cinematic dialogue is for people who have no imagination, miss me with that shit.
• Not a biggie, but visibly hitting the devourer while that registers as a 'miss' is somewhat disappointing considering NwN had proper parry anims 20 years ago.
• Verticality playing an important role in combat seems pretty cool. Can't say I saw that before. RIP Solasta.
• They went over the board with spells and it almost looks like Wolcen, but whatever. Doesn't negatively impact gameplay I suppose.
• I noticed that every motion of a character or monster is accompanied by anime-like particle effects. Didn't really need that, but whatever. Have to earn those shekels.
• The mage hand (?) is a nifty little mechanic. Not sure if it's a summon or what. Literally adds a Worms-like layer to combat (baseball bat anyone?).
• Not sure if combat is legit challenging or it's the devil Swen making it look that way.
• Healing potions don't invoke AoOs?
• So he throws his boots at the devourer and kills it? Huh, okay Swen.
• The environments look detailed and hand-crafted.
• Seeing a bunch of resistance stats, not sure if part of 5ED, but it's good.
• Map markers. Boo. Hopefully mods can fix it.
• No strong opinions about the music, maybe ripped off Witcher a lil' bit.
• Disco-like introspective checks, okay cool.
• Weapon skills, been there, done that. Guess it won't hurt.
• The UI reminds me of NwN, but it's not devoid of style. Very happy with it, it's functional and stylish.
• Like that you can display related skills by clicking on an attribute.
• Party interface is very good, very good visibility.
• Item context menu is very good. I also like how UI art changes depending on the container.
• Interesting sneaking system.
• Good that they kept environmental interactions, just don't overdo it with the barrels.
• Stacking crates on top of one another is... weird. Feels like Rust or some shit. Doesn't have to be bad though.
• Getting Arcanum vibes from the crash site.
• Yeah its nothing like BG, who gives a shit.
• The art direction may be indistinctive - you could easily mistake it for TW3 or DAI - but at least it's not cartoony.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the overall impression is very good. Not gonna lie, I expected way worse. Larian has always been a meh developer, this is their chance to do something big. I am slightly (positively) shocked by how ambitious this turned out - particularly verticality, sneaking, mage hand and box sorting (?) subsystems. All that with Wolcen production standard. Very interesting.

Who the fuck are you and what the fuck did you do to luj1?

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Are the divinity games FUN to play?

Yes.

 

[MRY]

Kind of disappointing that Minsc wasn't one of the dragonriders and his dragon could've been named Boo and he could've said "Go for the eyes, Boo!" and then the dragon would rip out one of the nautilus's eyes, and the audience would've gone absolutely wild.