Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 Pre-Release Thread [EARLY ACCESS RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[GreyViper]

Guys, I modernized my blog's Geocities layout for the current gen Baldur's Gate 3 fans and Larian 'tards that will be pouring into my blog en masse. The reader can customize the layout through several dynamic views. Let me know what you think.

Decline or incline?

Looks nice and robust. If indeed new blood is coming to seek info about Baldurs Gate, maybe add some links to BG2 popular mods. Who knows maybe will make them want to replay it before BG3 comes out.

 

[turkishronin]

I remember, a few months ago, when reading "Goblin Slayer" one of the characters asked a priestess "How many heals do you have left to cast?" or something along those lines. And then it dawned on me: never in my life, whether playing PnP or a video game, has one character asked such a thing to another, even though it should be absolutely logical and natural. Someone like Edwin would not boast "I am a powerful mage." but simply state "I can cast 9th level spells twice a day." HE HIMSELF knows that, so why not share such information, especially for someone so arrogant? Because it would feel too "gamey", too mechanical in nature.

I noticed a similar thing in Overlord. A character has to kill one of their Charmed party members and they just resurrect her in the next volume (although by spending a big sum of money)
Makes me think that game mechanics are not really meant to serve the story.

 

[Lilura]

Looks nice and robust. If indeed new blood is coming to seek info about Baldurs Gate, maybe add some links to BG2 pular mods. Who knows maybe will make them want to replay it before BG3 comes out.

Already I've got pages dedicated to BG + BG2 mods, with links to the proper channels. Blog looks bigger and better now. Looks more professional. I think many didn't read it in the past because "doesn't look good" and "not mobile friendly".

 

[hell bovine]

Guys, I modernized my blog's Geocities layout for the current gen Baldur's Gate 3 fans and Larian 'tards that will be pouring into my blog en masse. The reader can customize the layout through several dynamic views. Let me know what you think.

Decline or incline?

Looks clean & easy to read on my google spyware phone. The blog title gets cut off, though.

 

[Strange Fellow]

The thing about resurrection is that you'll either have a mechanic that breaks muh verisimilitude realism suspension of disbelief et cetera, or you'll have a game where players reload on character death every. single. time. The latter is much less interesting to play.

 

[LESS T_T]

Interview with Kieron Kelly (Larian producer), not Swen, for a change: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/baldurs-gate-iii-e3,news-30345.html

Either way, this interview won't fail in inspiring Codex's dark imagination of decline more.

Baldur’s Gate III — An RPG Whose Time Has (Finally) Come

LOS ANGELES - Eighteen years ago this month, Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal debuted on PC, bringing one of gaming’s greatest RPG sagas to a satisfying conclusion. And yet, it was hard to shake the feeling that there were still more adventures to be had in the city of Baldur’s Gate. The Dungeons & Dragons tabletop ruleset evolved, paving the way for even more intricate gameplay and deeper customization options. Video games got enough horsepower to convincingly create entire fantasy worlds. Baldur’s Gate III was never a sure thing — and yet it always seemed like a pretty good idea.

That good idea will soon come to fruition at long last. Baldur’s Gate III is finally in development, courtesy of Larian Studios, the masterminds behind the beloved Divinity series of RPGs. During E3, I met with representatives from both Larian and Wizards of the Coast (D&D’s parent company) to discuss why now is the right time to continue the saga of Baldur’s Gate, and what Larian might bring to the table to honor the legacy of the BioWare days.

Breaking the game
“Baldur’s Gate III will be the kind of big, meaty RPG you’d expect from Larian,” Kieron Kelly told me. Kelly is a producer and product manager at Larian, which has created deep, inventive, popular RPGs such as Divinity: Original Sin and its sequel, Original Sin 2. “If you can imagine the progression of Original Sin 1 to 2, we have been trying to create these immersive experiences. Let the player really explore the world, and enjoy that world.”

"It’s really about taking the legacy of Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, and bringing it to a new generation of players."—Mike Mearis, Creative Director for Dungeons & Dragons

Mike Mearls, the creative director behind Dungeons & Dragons, added what he called “The D&D Perspective.”

“It’s really about taking the legacy of Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, and bringing it to a new generation of players,” Mearls said. “They were revolutionary.” For Mearls, Baldur’s Gate was not the first excellent D&D video game, but it was the first D&D video game that really felt like a tabletop experience. He could create his own character, choose to be good or evil, recruit whichever party members he wanted, talk his way out of situations rather than fighting and so forth.

“Good RPGs give you a sense of, ‘I’m going to break the game,” he said. “As a designer, you say, ‘you can’t break it; you can do whatever you want.’ That’s the feel of a tabletop game. Where in other genres, you might feel like you’re breaking out of the game’s borders, that border area is where the play needs to be. That’s classic tabletop.”

The right time
I asked Kelly and Mearls why 2019 was the right time to announce a Baldur’s Gate sequel. After all, the series has been (mostly) dormant for almost 20 years. Tabletop D&D is more popular than it’s ever been, and Larian already has a series of respected RPGs under its belt.

“It’s Baldur’s Gate III,” Kelly replied matter-of-factly. “Do I need to give a bigger answer than that?”

I had to acknowledge, it was a good point.

“From the D&D standpoint, [Baldur’s Gate] is the game that’s loomed large over D&D video games,” Mearls explained. “It’s something that people have a lot of anticipation for. It had to be at the right time. Having the right partner, having the right narrative base, having the right audience.”

For Mearls, the perfect storm of D&D’s rising popularity, coupled with the overall accessibility of video games meant it was time to bring the Baldur’s Gate franchise to a whole new audience. At the same time, the developers wanted to reward longtime fans.

“Larian’s approach is really what we’re looking for in terms of getting that tabletop feel,” he continued. “[RPGs] need the right entry point. Gamers have the sense that RPGs are dense and difficult-to-master. Yes, we could make a Baldur’s Gate III that was filled with in-jokes and references and endless lore. But you want to be lore that’s ‘there’ – not required.”

Mearls compared continuing Baldur’s Gate to watching a well-made superhero movie.

“When you watch a well-made superhero movie … [you] can just see a great action/adventure movie. I can see that, plus I’m getting all the references and history. We’re giving you an extra layer to enjoy, rather than a requirement.”

The tabletop connection
Since it’s connected to the larger Forgotten Realms setting, Baldur’s Gate has never been a completely standalone series. The events in the Baldur’s Gate game have always reflected what was going on in the D&D tabletop game, to some extent. A recent pencil-and-paper adventure called Murder in Baldur’s Gate demonstrated that the fallout from Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 is still present in the Forgotten Realms. An adventure called Descent Into Avernus will come out on Sept. 17, and act as sort of a prequel to BGIII. Video games and tabletop games, as is often the case, can exist symbiotically

“RPGs are really interesting,” Mearls said. “As far as I know … tabletop RPGs and computer RPGs are the only genres where you keep so much of that identity across platforms.” He pointed out that there’s really no board game equivalent to a first-person shooter, for example, but we expect computer RPGs to faithfully recreate the experience of playing on a tabletop.

I mentioned that tabletop war games and computer strategy games also bear considerable similarity to each other. Mearls agreed, but pointed out that the duty of a Dungeon Master is much more open-ended than that of a wargame opponent. While a wargame player can be strategic and creative, a DM must make open-ended decisions as well.

“[BGIII] is a continuation of the lore of Baldur’s Gate as well,” Kelly said. “Go and play Descent Into Avernus. But there’s a difference between the story of the city itself, and the player’s individual story. When you join the game, you’re Level 1.

“Your world is enriched because there’s history there, and characters. If you know those characters, you’re going to get a lot out of it. If you’re just coming in as a new character to Baldur’s Gate, that’s OK, too.”

Looking forward
The Divinity: Original Sin titles take a lot of inspiration from classic BioWare games, but Larian doesn’t want to simply recreate the gameplay from the first two titles. For one thing, Dungeons & Dragons is currently on its 5th Edition; a far cry from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rule set that the first two games used. But Baldur’s Gate is also starting to show its age.

“We love those games, but they were made 20 years ago,” Kelly said. “I’d like to believe we’ve done our best to not just rely on older design choices. We’ve been able to expand the computer RPG genre to try to experiment with new ideas. A lot of innovations have come from different genres. We’re trying not to limit ourselves.”

“[Baldur’s Gate] was revolutionary for its time,” Mearls added. “But if you just copy what it did, it won’t have the same effect. What’s important to me is that it has the same effect on players. They look at this game and go, ‘Wow, this isn’t like any other RPG I’ve played before.’”

“I’m delighted, but don’t mess it up,” Kelly said.

“We’re delighted with Larian, and that this partnership is very much mutual,” Mearls concluded. “We’re glad that we’re working together.”

Baldur’s Gate III doesn’t have a release date yet – in fact, we haven’t seen any gameplay, or learned any salient story details. But it’s finally going to happen, and for a whole generation of D&D fans reared on the originals, that’s more than enough for now.

 

[Harry Easter]

The thing about resurrection is that you'll either have a mechanic that breaks muh verisimilitude realism suspension of disbelief et cetera, or you'll have a game where players reload on character death every. single. time. The latter is much less interesting to play.

True, that's a bother, especially if your Healer gets killed. That's why I found NWN2 system not bad, or what Pillars did. It was also okay in D:OS2, where the resuerrection scrolls could be used by everyone, but were a limited ressource. That stuff works.

 

[Mr. Hiver]

The thing about resurrection is that you'll either have a mechanic that breaks muh verisimilitude realism suspension of disbelief et cetera, or you'll have a game where players reload on character death every. single. time. The latter is much less interesting to play.

No... not being able to save in combat and while in the wild - dangerous places, would be more interesting to play. And or making character death permanent throughout any save.
Those features has nothing to do with "interesting" - only with easier.

 

[Shrimp]

Interview with Kieron Kelly (Larian producer), not Swen, for a change: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/baldurs-gate-iii-e3,news-30345.html

Either way, this interview won't fail in inspiring Codex's dark imagination of decline more.

Mearls compared continuing Baldur’s Gate to watching a well-made superhero movie.

He wants to make it an oxymoron?

 

[Mr. Hiver]

The most horrible potential sentence is this one:

“We love those games, but they were made 20 years ago,” Kelly said. “I’d like to believe we’ve done our best to not just rely on older design choices. We’ve been able to expand the computer RPG genre to try to experiment with new ideas. A lot of innovations have come from different genres. We’re trying not to limit ourselves.”"

 

[hexer]

That whole interview went from optimistic incline to a possible decline.
I'll be here stressing out until they release a gameplay video.

I think many didn't read it in the past because "doesn't look good" and "not mobile friendly".

Later might be the case.
Google has been culling search results for pages that aren't mobile-friendly ever since mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic.
Making the website mobile-friendly was a good move!

 

[Lilura]

Later might be the case.
Google has been culling search results for pages that aren't mobile-friendly ever since mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic.
Making the website mobile-friendly was a good move!

It's funny because I never was culled for not having a mobile version of the blog (I forced mobile view to default to desktop view because the images were completely fucked in mobile view). Also, people have complained (especially on 'Dex) that "blog looks like shit" but never "not mobile friendly". But yes, mobile view will certainly facilitate +traffic.

 

[pomenitul]

I'll be here stressing out until they release a gameplay video.

Stress betrays optimism. Do not linger in anxiety when there is naught but despondency.

 

[Lord Commissar Alexer]

I hope it wont be Epic Exclusive or contain Micro-transactions or Political Propaganda or be unplayable at launch or......

 

[smaug]

I hope it wont be Epic Exclusive or contain Micro-transactions or Political Propaganda or be unplayable at launch or......

Your shitposting sucks, 0/10.

 

[Turuko]

So what are the core races for FR 5E?

 

[Mr. Hiver]

- also, there is no main window, so whichever option i choose for the type of view, i always get some article open over the "main page" presentation so all options end up looking the same.

When you switch to, say, the Flipcard in the menu, click the header of the menu again and the BG3 "ad" should roll-fade away and stay gone for good. Flipcard mode is v. powerful.

Thats very hard to figure out on your own, so you should do something about it. Add another button that takes people back to "main page overview" or somethin. Otherwise there is no sense in having those options.

 

[Lilura]

Thats very hard to figure out on your own, so you should do something about it. Add another button that takes people back to "main page overview" or somethin. Otherwise there is no sense in having those options.

It's fixed now. Or should be.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Guys, I modernized my blog's Geocities layout for the current gen Baldur's Gate 3 fans and Larian 'tards that will be pouring into my blog en masse. The reader can customize the layout through several dynamic views. Let me know what you think.

Decline or incline?

I don't like it, but it's not as mind-rapingly bad as those "new" sites that have endless scrolling you see everywhere on game sites these days.

If we can keep the old style of navigation, it's fine since I can ignore the existence of it. But if it remains in this similar style, then FUCK THAT. I liked the old look more and the wealth of information > looking pretty to appeal to bulldykes and turbofags. I say keep the Renaissance-era RPGs looking Renaissance-era Internet and bring back the Geocities.

 

[Roguey]

Guys, I modernized my blog's Geocities layout for the current gen Baldur's Gate 3 fans and Larian 'tards that will be pouring into my blog en masse. The reader can customize the layout through several dynamic views. Let me know what you think.

Decline or incline?

Easier to navigate than the old version, but I miss the latest comments sidebar (there's a button for popular posts but that's not the same thing and there's no preview).

 

[Lilura]

I don't like it, but it's not as mind-rapingly bad as those "new" sites that have endless scrolling you see everywhere on game sites these days.

If we can keep the old style of navigation, it's fine since I can ignore the existence of it. But if it remains in this similar style, then FUCK THAT. I liked the old look more and the wealth of information > looking pretty to appeal to bulldykes and turbofags. I say keep the Renaissance-era RPGs looking Renaissance-era Internet and bring back the Geocities.

I would have agreed with you even just a few hours ago. But once I made some CSS modifications, current gen/streamlined mode seems superior not just visually but functionally as well. Got rid of the clutter.

It's loading write-ups 40% faster. There's easy-on-the-eye fading and scrolling, too.

And I like that "magazine" view mode. Readers can flick through the entire fucking blog in preview mode, complete with a pic and paragraph. Can't do that with Geocities format. That also highlights the sheer amount of write-ups I've published: almost 400 articles. I'll just link to /?view=magazine next time some 'tard tries taking me to task.

Also, I added scrolling to sidebar so it's easier to navigate in Classic mode. And why aren't transparent drop-down menus better than my shitty icons along the top?

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I don't like it, but it's not as mind-rapingly bad as those "new" sites that have endless scrolling you see everywhere on game sites these days.

If we can keep the old style of navigation, it's fine since I can ignore the existence of it. But if it remains in this similar style, then FUCK THAT. I liked the old look more and the wealth of information > looking pretty to appeal to bulldykes and turbofags. I say keep the Renaissance-era RPGs looking Renaissance-era Internet and bring back the Geocities.

I would have agreed with you even just a few hours ago. But once I made some CSS modifications, current gen/streamlined mode seems superior not just visually but functionally as well. Got rid of the clutter.

It's loading write-ups 40% faster. There's easy-on-the-eye fading and scrolling, too.

And I like that "magazine" view mode. Readers can flick through the entire fucking blog in preview mode, complete with a pic and paragraph. Can't do that with Geocities format. That also highlights the sheer amount of write-ups I've published: almost 400 articles. I'll just link to /?view=magazine next time some 'tard tries taking me to task.

Also, I added scrolling to sidebar so it's easier to navigate in Classic mode. And why aren't transparent drop-down menus better than my shitty icons along the top?

Look Lilura. I am resistant to change. I don't like change. It worries me. It makes me remember the time my papa said, "gotta change my clothes, be out in a second" and eight hours later I see the window wide open and him nowhere to be found. He never came back.

Can you stand to do this to me, Lilura? Will you escape out that window to avoid going ice skating with your buddy and pal Generic Giant Spider? This is what happens when you change things.

I liked you better as a C-cup, mom.

Edit: wait, what fake guilt trip story am I telling you again? I got lost halfway.

 

[Ulfhednar]

130 pages in and I find out BG3 is just a huge troll ad for Lilura's blog. God bless, 'dex!

 

[cloudropis]

Guys, I modernized my blog's Geocities layout for the current gen Baldur's Gate 3 fans and Larian 'tards that will be pouring into my blog en masse. The reader can customize the layout through several dynamic views. Let me know what you think.

Decline or incline?

Every page takes 10 times longer to load thanks to blogspot's spinning gear icon covering for whatever dumb GUI fruitery it's trying to load