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

[Ontopoly]

I wish internet would stop fighting over Turn based vs RTWP. Can't people like different things? That's not the issue here.

I wish it would stop fighting over that since it is the LEAST problematic aspect of this non-sequel.

Instead we should be fighting about phase-based vs rtwp since that's what's actually happening.
The biggest reason I liked phase based is just how faithful it is to PNP. Being faithful to PNP is the most important thing which is why I'm sure they went with phase based.

Are you allowed to pray for a game to fail or is that a sin. Like taking his name in vain or something.

 

[Kaivokz]

Instead we should be fighting about phase-based vs rtwp since that's what's actually happening.
The biggest reason I liked phase based is just how faithful it is to PNP. Being faithful to PNP is the most important thing which is why I'm sure they went with phase based.

Phase based in the original PNP sense is simultaneous playing out of turns. BG3 isn't phase-based, it's turn based, or at most it's "asynchronous phase based" (as in, one side's actions happen, then the other side's, and so on), which is honestly worse than straight TB because your entire party has a full 6 seconds to beat up one dude while all of his friends sit there patiently.

Imagine how that would change the entire dynamic of an actual fight. 6 vs 6 dudes duking it out, but one side of 6 gets to do whatever they want for 6 seconds before the other side.

I think people saying RTwP/synchronous phase-based captures nothing TB doesn't, have never actual done any sort of physical competition.

 

[Ontopoly]

Instead we should be fighting about phase-based vs rtwp since that's what's actually happening.
The biggest reason I liked phase based is just how faithful it is to PNP. Being faithful to PNP is the most important thing which is why I'm sure they went with phase based.

Phase based in the original PNP sense is simultaneous playing out of turns. BG3 isn't phase-based, it's turn based, or at most it's "asynchronous phase based" (as in, one side's actions happen, then the other side's, and so on), which is honestly worse than straight TB because your entire party has a full 6 seconds to beat up one dude while all of his friends sit there patiently.

Imagine how that would change the entire dynamic of an actual fight. 6 vs 6 dudes duking it out, but one side of 6 gets to do whatever they want for 6 seconds before the other side.

I think people saying RTwP/synchronous phase-based captures nothing TB doesn't, have never actual done any sort of physical competition.

They somehow made it even more decline than DOS2. At least they weren't allowed to continue that absolute shit armor system.

 

[rhollis]

I wish internet would stop fighting over Turn based vs RTWP. Can't people like different things? That's not the issue here.

I wish it would stop fighting over that since it is the LEAST problematic aspect of this non-sequel.

Instead we should be fighting about phase-based vs rtwp since that's what's actually happening.
The biggest reason I liked phase based is just how faithful it is to PNP. Being faithful to PNP is the most important thing which is why I'm sure they went with phase based.

Are you allowed to pray for a game to fail or is that a sin. Like taking his name in vain or something.

If your god doesn't want this game to fail as much as you do then he's a false idol anyway.

I hate this game and Lazy Larian so fucking much that it's becoming unhealthy. I keep going to the other room to rage post from my phone so that my gf doesn't find out what a fucking obsessed nerd I am.

I was able to disguise my CRPG nerd tendencies a little bit by replaying entire BG series on my iPad in my misguided excitement for BG3. She was confused why a mobile game took so long to play, but I think I got away with it. Thank christ she's going on vacation tomorrow because I'm not sure how much longer I can keep up this lie after Lazy Larian took a steaming dump all over my all-time favorite IP.

Actually, WotC told Larian not to bother with alignments because in 5e they no longer mean anything. But of course, do go on and blame Swen for everything.

Have a hard time believing Lazy Larian fought them on alignment, given that almost every design decision seems to be motivated by reducing their workload. You might have noticed how the dialogue, combat, party size, systems, UI, art style, assets and every other fucking thing are straight from D:OS2, so why go through the effort of building out an alignment system?

I can't wait for BG3 to launch so we can finally watch Swen's announcement of their other active project that the 350 people are actually working on, which will be paid for by abusing the good faith engendered by the BG name.

 

[Ent]

I hate this game and Lazy Larian so fucking much that it's becoming unhealthy. I keep going to the other room to rage post from my phone so that my gf doesn't find out what a fucking obsessed nerd I am.

Its already become unhealthy for you my man. I suggest finding a way to wind down.

 

[Felix]

*I dropped in to inform the codex that I think those dialogue choices are retarded beyond redemption*

 

[Roguey]

they say bewildering things like "RTwP is faster" when a properly made TB lets you skip animations or executes all the enemies' turns at the same time depending on the combat system.

How often is it "properly made"? Practically never.

Numerous people complained about the slow animations of D:OS and D:OS 2. You can see the slow animations in BG3. Swen's seen the complaints; he's dismissed them. It's going to be slow.

 

[Valky]

It sounds like there is a desire for a gameplay option where all you do is select your actions in combat and the characters instantly teleport to their destination and math is done without any visual input. Like a text only gameplay mode so you could do everything fast?

 

[Quillon]

they say bewildering things like "RTwP is faster" when a properly made TB lets you skip animations or executes all the enemies' turns at the same time depending on the combat system.

How often is it "properly made"? Practically never.

Nice, thanks: Properly made RTwP is the best system and its never been properly made.

 

[Valky]

*I laughed heartily as I watched the false legacy of Bioware's introduction of a steep decline combat system to the CRPG genre get burned down and trampled upon.*

Don't know about you, but it's gotten us feeling pretty nostalgic for Beamdog's classics :D

 

[Decado]

Thanks to this thread I really did start another play through of BG 2. Vincent the Cavalier reporting for duty, ready to jam Carsomyr up a demon's ass.

Also yes, I plan on impregnating Aerie.

 

[Incendax]

Thanks to this thread I really did start another play through of BG 2. Vincent the Cavalier reporting for duty, ready to jam Carsomyr up a demon's ass.

Also yes, I plan on impregnating Aerie.

Download the mod that turns the baby into a ranged weapon.

 

[Contagium]

Late to the party here, but I finally caught the gameplay reveal on youtube, and echo everyone's dismay and sentiments...Baldurs Gate deserves more than a rebadge. This may be the biggest disappointment in my lifetime of gaming.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Fuck me, it's Divinity 3: Forgotten Realms Edition.

 

[mediocrepoet]

But the encounters seem more deadly. 5E encounters are usually only a minor threat to your characters, even those which are classified as highly dangerous.

That's not true. Have you even played it? 5E encounters are only a minor threat if that's what the DM wants. And even WotC has published modules that are filled with deadly encounters.

I was running Curse of Strahd (5E module) for some friends awhile back. There was a single vampire fledgling in a house that nearly TPK'd them. They ended up jumping out the windows in the daylight and then burning the house down.

Actually, that entire module was filled with brutal encounters. But some of it was also that they were new to tabletop.

 

[Tigranes]

Fuck me, it's Divinity 3: Forgotten Realms Edition.

It might be the only way to make the setting a little less a nonsensical Disneyland hodgepodge of random high fantasy ideas

Oh wait

 

[Ontopoly]

*I laughed heartily as I watched the false legacy of Bioware's introduction of a steep decline combat system to the CRPG genre get burned down and trampled upon.*

Don't know about you, but it's gotten us feeling pretty nostalgic for Beamdog's classics :D

Should we add gog to our shit list? I get there just trying to take advantage of it to sell some product but it's disgusting me.

 

[Ontopoly]

It's divinity original sin 3 if the sin part means making a trash game instead of being able to cast spooky source magic.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Man, finally caught up and only had to skip like 50 pages to do it.

Anyway, the reveal was weird for me. I love D&D, turn based, and Baldur's Gate series, so I should be primed to think this is the best thing ever. But what I got is that it looked like a potentially fun, interesting implementation of 5E, but it didn't feel like BG. At all. I grant that it's still early and hard to say out of what was shown but it didn't hit those boxes for me.

I actually rolled my eyes when the Divinity elemental environmental stuff and exploding barrels was in it. I was irritated when he set his bow on fire and it made it better instead of destroying it. And I thought the boot throwing was retarded. Some of the environmental interactivity that was possibly less gimmicky like feather fall was interesting.

So personally, I agree with people who think it'd be better if the project was named something different, unless it comes around more as you get into the game and ties together somehow. And I wish they'd left the elemental environmental jank in DOS, but I'm curious about other environmental interactions like feather fall and other movement aspects.

All in all, I think the 5E implementation looks promising and hope it'll be a fun game, even if it's never really a BG title.

 

[Valky]

I actually rolled my eyes when the Divinity elemental environmental stuff and exploding barrels was in it.

I had the same reaction. Don't get me wrong, on its own D:OS had a great system with elemental environmental interactions, but that was Larian's special flavor for a TB-Isometric rpg. There's a time and place, and it makes their original games less special as well as feeling out of place when they put it into D&D.
I'd have to have a 5E rule lawyer confirm but there were a lot of actions being performed each turn by his party characters. What was up with that? I'm used to the system of "move, attack, end", "move, cast 1 spell, end", "5-foot step, attack, end" and such. I'd almost think he had quicken spell metamagic applying to everything that was being done in the combat shown.

 

[LESS T_T]

Expectedly the opening cinematic was made by Unit Image, the same French studio that made the teaser trailer. Production took seven months apparently: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dOde6Q

Baldur's Gate 3 - Unit Image

The Baldur's Gate games hold a very special place in my heart, which is why I had a tremendous pleasure supervising the modeling and shading of the environments, as well as the lighting and compositing of this movie during that seven months adventure! I had a lot of fun, big props to my co-artists who never cease to amaze!

Below the video are screenshots of my direct contributions to the project.

Uploaded on their Vimeo channel, supposedly in better bitrate:

 

[prodigydancer]

The next 1000 pages ITT will consist mostly of long-winded haterants about how Larian is bad, how D:OS2 is terrible and how everyone on the Codex deems BG3 the worst game ever after playing it seven times.

 

[hell bovine]

Can anyone explain to me (a) how a modder has the manpower to add TB to Pathfinder: Kingmaker, (b) how Owlcat has the manpower to add TB as an on-the-fly toggle for WotR, and (c) how Obsidian has the manpower to add a fully-fledged TB mode to Deadfire, but Larian can’t leverage its 350-person team to balance a RTwP version?

Nice point. Amazing questoin. IMO ideally they should give options ie - rtwp or tb?

All of the examples cited above have glaring problems regarding their TB implementation. It turns out that when you change the fundamental way combat works, you find yourself redesigning every single encounter, provided you want to make a good game... Crazy huh? .
Giving the option for RTwP would result in PS:T tier combat, or would encroach on the development time/resources it takes to design good TB mechanics and encounters.

Deadfire’s TB mode has great reviews with many preferring it to RTwP and WotR’s TB mode obviously hasn’t been released. I tried Deadfire’s TB and was pleasantly surprised. I didn't try the Kingmaker mod, but that has good reviews on Nexus.

Pathfinder Kingmaker (and I like the game) has the same design issue as IE games, though: lots of boring trash mobs to fight through. The most interesting fights in BG are those against varied groups propped with scs-ai. And these would have been better in turn based, because to control high level spellcasters with vancian magic you pause left and right anyway.

Rwtp isn't 'balanced' for real time combat, it's 'balanced' for lazy game design, where the maps are filled with repetitive enemy groups best resolved in real time, but once you get to an actually interesting battle, you have to pause. Because neither the game mechanics, not the user interface are adjusted to real time controls of multiple units with different abilities.

Compare it to how 'full party control' works in real time strategies.

 

[MicoSelva]

MicoSelva Is The Codex ready?

Oh yes. As long as you can solo this game (not sure how that fits with the eye tadpoles plot). For extra challenge we might make him fight exclusively by throwing shoes. Whatever is the cruellest.

But paradoxically, turn based is for a screenshot-based let's play since RTWP with good autopause settings makes it easier to take those sweet "mwahahaha, slaughter!" screenshots.

I do prefer turn-based for the game itself, though.

 

[Riddler]

The more I think about it the more I become convinced that unless they change the initiative system the game will be an irredeemable pile of shit, unless you play without companions that is.