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

[Rinslin Merwind]

The way how Larian acts makes me think that someone stupid in marketing department suggested that being silent about gameplay is a good method to build hype. However this silence only increased my fears that game will be shit show.
At first I was optimistic that BG 3 will be turn-based because Larian will trying to sell that they managed to sell in past, but now I not so sure.
Hell, maybe they went nuts and decided to make a live service game. For some reason I have Fallout 76 vibe from all of this.

 

[Lilura]

Appreciate the compliment.

Hah. And I appreciate your ruleset insights.

Are you going to cover BG3 regardless of how much decline it has? Where do you draw the line?

I don't know at this point. This is going to be nothing like BG and BG2, I know that. So for me, this is going to be a sequel only in name. Which means I'm not precious about it. They're not putting their mitts on BG and BG2 like Beamdog did (by modifying the games and then removing the originals as a separate sale), so nothing changes even if they explore some of its lore and extend or expand some aspects of its storyline.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

Yeah.

[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.

Still true though. It wouldn't have the same effect on me, on you, nor anybody. You know all of its tricks. As soon as you pick up a companion, or a quest, or anything in a BG-like, you can predict what may be going to happen from the start. Not necessarily in writing, characterization, or plotting. But in basic structure -- what the game is technically capable of actually doing with all of those things, as it never fundamentally challenged the formula of what a quest may be like, or a companion, or anything. The problem sofar is that indeed reviving old franchises, in particular on bigger budgets, has a history of changing the core of said franchises. Fallout has pretty much concluded ist transition from being a tactical, stats and open quest design driven experience to a shooter with some largely superficial dialogue/customization/character build options.

Games like these didn't actually deepen what the franchises stood for, nor expand on it. They took them and transformed them into wholly other experiences. Considering that Larian may be aware of this -- either they're indeed sneaky on purpose or they have a surprise up their belt which similar to the announcement they intitially wanted to keep a secret until they have something to actually show being real. And with that, I'm personally out. Rest assured that if they betray and fail me, I'm going to scream loud enough about it.

 

[Strange Fellow]

The way how Larian acts makes me think that someone stupid in marketing department suggested that being silent about gameplay is a good method to build hype.

It's clearly working.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

It's clearly working.

Sarcasm? Because the game went from "the buzz of the internet" few days before the E3 to not be even mentioned in anyone's "list of things to look forward for" few days later.

I get that they didn't got their precious spot during one of the major conferences (i.e. Microsoft) so maybe decided to not even try, but I wonder how they thought that appearing at the PC Gaming Shitfest without literally NOTHING to show and no info to offer would have served them well.
By the time the show ended no one seemed to even remember they were there, and for all intents and purposes it's practically like they weren't.

 

[Stella Brando]

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[pomenitul]

Kudos to Larian for inadvertently forcing me to finish my playthrough of D:OS2, which I'd abandoned before leaving Fort Joy. I still don't like it very much – the armour system will never make sense and I wish they hadn't nerfed Lone Wolf – but I don't entirely hate it either, so I suppose it's a slight step up. If they resist the temptation of tinkering with D&D and hire more competent writers (not to mention voice actors), the resulting game may just be tolerable. Except that's unlikely to happen.

 

[Lacrymas]

>Go to E3
>We don't have anything to show or to talk about.
>How come the only thing we are getting is rage and tears on the forums and we aren't basking in mainstream recognition and money?

If nothing else, this will be a very fun train-wreck to watch and Larian being absolutely surprised at how their blaspheming isn't working. I predict this to not be very successful in other words, or successful enough. Contrary the popular belief (?), Larian aren't a mainstream developer and any comparisons to Bethesda and Fallout 3 are inappropriate. Fallout 3 didn't become mainstream due to Fallout, but due to Bethesda. Sure, Larian sold 2M copies of D:OS2, but how many of those are hype or impulse purchases? How many of these copies were actually played? Do all these people know that it was Larian who made it? How many people actually liked this game? Did they manage to cultivate a large enough fanbase? Do they think they are going to get more fans? How is Baldur's Gate going to achieve that?

I think this thing is very risky, with a lot of unknowns. Sven is usually a good businessman, but I suspect he bit off more than he can chew with this one.

 

[Reinhardt]

not to mention voice actors

Yeah, that's exactly what bg 3 need most...

 

[pomenitul]

I think this thing is very risky, with a lot of unknowns. Sven is usually a good businessman, but I suspect he bit off more than he can chew with this one.

High risk, high reward is what he's telling himself. And he may well be right: a first-person, party-based D&D game with AAA graphics that builds upon the BG franchise is indeed likely to be commercially successful, which is why the chances of this being isometric or grognard-friendly are slim to none. That said, I'm hoping the D&D association will rein in Larian's penchant for shaky rulesets, although it will no doubt do very little to remedy the writing (or art direction, for that matter).

 

[pomenitul]

Yeah, that's exactly what bg 3 need most...

I can't stand the 'full VO or GTFO' mentality that has taken over in recent years, but you must live in a parallel universe if you believe this to be a marginal expectation in 2019.

 

[Lacrymas]

Bad voice acting (i.e. 99% of it) actually detracts from the game. You can read faster than they speak and you either skip it or listen to them talk about things you already know. It's annoying. I suppose you can turn off subtitles, but who has the patience to listen to muppets reciting a script to each other? Yes, GOOD voice acting adds a lot, but we won't get that.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

not to mention voice actors

Yeah, that's exactly what bg 3 need most...

He's not saying that's what BG3 needs. He's saying that since BG3 will most likely be fully voiced they need at least to be good.

I personally didn't have any issue with D:OS 2 voice acting (unpopular opinion here, I know) but what's the point of deliberately misrepresenting what he's saying?

Anyway, as we are on topic: for all the people wondering "Why voice acting is even needed?" the quick answer is "Streamers and consoles" (among the other things).
Like it or not, streamers these days are among the most influential factors in driving a lot of people to buy a game.

Well, did anyone here ever try to watch a streamer play one of these CRPGs without voice acting? They invariably start full of enthusiasm, claiming how they are loving the game, promising they will do "the full playthrough", start reading/acting any dialogue aloud for their audience and... Few minutes in the realization will dawn on them, the dread will paint all over their face and two days later they'll silently try to kill the playthrough replacing it with something more convenient and less cumbersome to play.

 

[Perkel]

Yeah, that's exactly what bg 3 need most...

I can't stand the 'full VO or GTFO' mentality that has taken over in recent years, but you must live in a parallel universe if you believe this to be a marginal expectation in 2019.

It is marginal expectation. DOS1 didn't have full VO and it never was any problem for players or reviewers.
This is literally how originally crpgs died. "Today people expect games on console with 3D graphics and full VO"

Fast forward few years later and suddenly games like DOS started to sell. which means it was wrong assumption and it is still now wrong assumption.

What truly they want to say is that they want to hit 10mln sales and they need to focus game more on garbage stuff to present nicely in trailers instead of gameplay.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

It is marginal expectation. DOS1 didn't have full VO and it never was any problem for players or reviewers.

They added full voice acting in the Enhanced edition for a reason.

 

[volklore]

Bad voice acting (i.e. 99% of it) actually detracts from the game. You can read faster than they speak and you either skip it or listen to them talk about things you already know. It's annoying. I suppose you can turn off subtitles, but who has the patience to listen to muppets reciting a script to each other? Yes, GOOD voice acting adds a lot, but we won't get that.

It's not about whether it's good or not. It's about being there. Read more mainstream boards, people will take shitty voice acting over no VA any day of the week.

 

[Lilura]

any comparisons to Bethesda and Fallout 3 are inappropriate.

Except for the fact that newfags will refer to Baldur's Gate 3 as Baldur's Gate just as the Fallout 3 newfags referred to Fallout 3 as Fallout, thereby ignoring the original game's existence.

 

[Nortar]

It's clearly working.

Sarcasm?

I wonder how they thought that appearing at the PC Gaming Shitfest without literally NOTHING to show and no info to offer would have served them well.

People will stay interested while they hope they will get what they want.
And the moment Larian let the cat out of the bag, whether it's going to be TB, RTwP or something else, those people who hoped differently will loose their interest.
So yeah, this "mystery mode" is the best thing Larian can do to not alienate a large number of their potential customers early, and I guess they'll try to hide the actual gameplay for as long as they can.

 

[pomenitul]

Google search for "baulder's gate" (in quotes):

About 26,100 results (0.45 seconds)

 

[turkishronin]

any comparisons to Bethesda and Fallout 3 are inappropriate.

Except for the fact that newfags will refer to Baldur's Gate 3 as Baldur's Gate just as the Fallout 3 newfags referred to Fallout 3 as Fallout, thereby ignoring the original game's existence.

They cannot diminish Beamdog's legacy!

 

[smaug]

any comparisons to Bethesda and Fallout 3 are inappropriate.

Except for the fact that newfags will refer to Baldur's Gate 3 as Baldur's Gate just as the Fallout 3 newfags referred to Fallout 3 as Fallout, thereby ignoring the original game's existence.

They cannot diminish Beamdog's legacy!

And the Beamdog’s meme is outdated.

 

[Roguey]

Sarcasm? Because the game went from "the buzz of the internet" few days before the E3 to not be even mentioned in anyone's "list of things to look forward for" few days later.

I get that they didn't got their precious spot during one of the major conferences (i.e. Microsoft) so maybe decided to not even try, but I wonder how they thought that appearing at the PC Gaming Shitfest without literally NOTHING to show and no info to offer would have served them well.
By the time the show ended no one seemed to even remember they were there, and for all intents and purposes it's practically like they weren't.

It should be reiterated that they could have spent all that time promoting Fallen Heroes (which is supposed to ship before the year's out) but didn't.

 

[Lacrymas]

Did they even mention Fallen Heroes in their 60+ interviews at E3? Way to shoot yourself in the foot.

 

[Black_Willow]

any comparisons to Bethesda and Fallout 3 are inappropriate.

Except for the fact that newfags will refer to Baldur's Gate 3 as Baldur's Gate just as the Fallout 3 newfags referred to Fallout 3 as Fallout, thereby ignoring the original game's existence.

I don't think so, Dark Alliance is an all-time classic!