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

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Seems like 5th edition is a COLOSSAL pile of shit. Everybody keeps telling me it's good but every time somebody mentions specifics it's all shit.

The rules in 5E are less strict and more open to interpretation which is either positive or negative depending how you look at it and it tries to be more streamlined yet provide flexibility but not to the same vastness that 3.5 has (nowhere close, actually). 5E isn't a bad system, it has this appeal to it that just about anyone can make a character and have it do well while in 3.5 if your character is trash then you'll definitely know it very soon. A lot of 3.5's appeal is that it rewards knowledge of the system, the more you know the better you become and that spans from players to DMs. The better versed everyone is in 3.5, then it becomes exponentially more enjoyable. 5E is something you bust out and engage anyone with because the rules take a backseat, combat is fast, and you can focus a lot more on the storytelling and interactions.

It's not bad if you're into dumb fun, but if you're a hardcore PnP player you'll crave something deeper eventually. If 4E never existed, I'd definitely rank 5E on the bottom though.

 

[Valky]

5E is something you bust out and engage anyone with because the rules take a backseat, combat is fast, and you can focus a lot more on the storytelling and interactions.

That sounds.. eerily formatted for Baldur's Gate.

 

[fantadomat]

this shit is beyond lazy.

I really don't know what those supposed 300 people are working on this reskin. Everything is a fucking copy pasted shit,they didn't even bother to change the colour theme.

Wouldn't be surprised if they had already started working on this game as D:OS 3 before they had acquired the license from Wizards and then just changed the name and started tweaking the characters and lore as to fit the Forgotten Realms setting.

I do agree with this hypothesis. It does seem logical that they were working on to something for the last two years. The game does seem finished looking at the gameplay reveal,they could be just pretending and stalling. After all you can't just come out and say that you have BG3 finished a few months after getting the rights lol. The game will come out by the end of the year,most likely September.

 

[Riddler]

Seems like 5th edition is a COLOSSAL pile of shit. Everybody keeps telling me it's good but every time somebody mentions specifics it's all shit.

The rules in 5E are less strict and more open to interpretation which is either positive or negative depending how you look at it and it tries to be more streamlined yet provide flexibility but not to the same vastness that 3.5 has (nowhere close, actually). 5E isn't a bad system, it has this appeal to it that just about anyone can make a character and have it do well while in 3.5 if your character is trash then you'll definitely know it very soon. A lot of 3.5's appeal is that it rewards knowledge of the system, the more you know the better you become and that spans from players to DMs. The better versed everyone is in 3.5, then it becomes exponentially more enjoyable. 5E is something you bust out and engage anyone with because the rules take a backseat, combat is fast, and you can focus a lot more on the storytelling and interactions.

It's not bad if you're into dumb fun, but if you're a hardcore PnP player you'll crave something deeper eventually. If 4E never existed, I'd definitely rank 5E on the bottom though.

Or if you are making a computer game where people are expected to engage with the game at a pace of more than 2-3 encounters a month. Issues you don't notice because of the snail's pace that is PnP(and because the DM is covering them up) become painfully apparent in like one gaming session with a digital game.

 

[Elex]

Reviewing the presentation I see action economy has been mangled beyond recognition and in favor of the player: clerics casting two spells in a turn, free disengagement with anime jumps, free attacks with improvised weapons...

You can cast 2 spell.
Shield of faith is bonus action so you can also cast a cantrip.

 

[Curratum]

Seems like 5th edition is a COLOSSAL pile of shit. Everybody keeps telling me it's good but every time somebody mentions specifics it's all shit.

Dig yourself out of the dung-heap that is 3.5 and you may begin to understand why 5E is great.

 

[underground nymph]

What I am not a fan of is throwing boots fuckery. They can’t go without this stupid whacky humor can’t they?
Otherwise satisfied with what I saw.

 

[GrainWetski]

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?

Separately, can any of the Swen apologists explain to me how players will be able to experiment with diverse party builds in a four-person party system and why it makes sense from a gameplay perspective to limit the party to four in 5e?

I can explain ! Because adding two modes in the same game is completely retarded, two modes if done right are radically different . Larian team is not retarded, so they dont waste time on this and just doing a real D&D game, something that has not happened since kotc .
4characters party builds still alows many combinations, most real D&D 5E group are no bigger , more could make the combat too slow 4 is a good spot. There's probably technical limitations as well , balancing for 6 members means adding more monsters , someday they will have to port this on the switch too.

What are these combinations? Bard/rogue to pick locks, fighter/paladin to tank, cleric/druid to heal, sorc/wiz to dps & cc? Where's the ranged (ranger) or melee dps (barbarian) class fit in? Porting to Switch--agreed that's the reason.

You have never played D&D 5, right? Each class can fill so many more roles. Druids, clerics and barbarians make excellent tanks, fighters and rogues are the best damage dealers (both ranged and melee). Anyone can pick locks, you don't need an entire character devoted to that. And there are many more examples. You can build very diverse party combinations even with 4 slots, but it would obviously be more fun with 5 or 6.

sounds zoomer shit, like everyone gets a trophy and everyone is awesome and speshul or they might throw a tantrum or come into the room with an Ar-15

It's like he is talking about WoW what the shit is that?

Rogues best damage dealers? Since the fuck when? Druids tanking lmao.

Seems like 5th edition is a COLOSSAL pile of shit. Everybody keeps telling me it's good but every time somebody mentions specifics it's all shit.

It's videogamey storyfag trash. Made for those sad Youtube DnD "shows" or whatever you want to call them.

 

[Elex]

But a lot of 5E's success can be credited a lot more to being in a perfect storm situation. Geek culture stuff has gotten trendy and cooler than ever before and really took rise in the 2010s, you have McCree and Jaina Proudmoore's VAs streaming themselves playing D&D along with other "e-celebs" which is free promotion, even if D&D was stuck in that immensely shit 4E it would likely blow up in popularity as well. 5E's popularity has less to do with it being a genuinely great system and more that it happened to exist in the same neighborhood this tornado of nerd exaltation took place. Personally speaking, 5E isn't bad but let's face it: next to 4E just about anything would be better.

And I will even go further and claim this: I bet most people that purchase 5E stuff don't even play it or homebrew the shit out of things so hard it may as well be something else entirely. As I mentioned, nerd culture is trendy and hip, have some D&D books on your shelf and you look like you're "about that life."

5e is succesful because is less focussed around rules.

The focus of 5e is rpg. This is why critical role worked: they are actors and the 5e allow them to do their funny voice for 4 hours so people can watch them and having fun.

so a new player don’t need to learn a single rule he just need to think about a character and the DM can do the rest.

combat is also faster ( and a full round can still take 15-20 minutes when you have many players)

so the success come to be easy to play and easy to DM.

 

[Valky]

But a lot of 5E's success can be credited a lot more to being in a perfect storm situation. Geek culture stuff has gotten trendy and cooler than ever before and really took rise in the 2010s, you have McCree and Jaina Proudmoore's VAs streaming themselves playing D&D along with other "e-celebs" which is free promotion, even if D&D was stuck in that immensely shit 4E it would likely blow up in popularity as well. 5E's popularity has less to do with it being a genuinely great system and more that it happened to exist in the same neighborhood this tornado of nerd exaltation took place. Personally speaking, 5E isn't bad but let's face it: next to 4E just about anything would be better.

And I will even go further and claim this: I bet most people that purchase 5E stuff don't even play it or homebrew the shit out of things so hard it may as well be something else entirely. As I mentioned, nerd culture is trendy and hip, have some D&D books on your shelf and you look like you're "about that life."

5e is succesful because is less focussed around rules.

The focus of 5e is rpg. This is why critical role worked: they are actors and the 5e allow them to do their funny voice for 4 hours so people can watch them and having fun.

so a new player don’t need to learn a single rule he just need to think about a character and the DM can do the rest.

combat is also faster ( and a full round can still take 15-20 minutes when you have many players)

so the success come to be easy to play and easy to DM.

Sounds less like a GAME and more like a homoerotic LARP session.

 

[Harthwain]

oh well it's actually in the Dungeon master guide page 270.

Spoiler

Side Initiative

Recording initiative for each PC and monster, arranging everyone in the correct order, and remembering where you are in the list can bog the game down. If you want quicker combats, at the risk of those combats becoming unbalanced, try using the side initiative rule.
Under this variant, the players roll a d20 for their initiative as a group, or side. You also roll a d20. Neither roll receives any modifiers. Whoever rolls highest wins initiative. In case of a tie, keep rerolling until the tie is broken.
When it's a side's turn, the members of that side can act in any order they choose. Once everyone on the side has taken a turn, the other side goes. A round ends when both sides have completed their turns.
If more than two sides take part in a battle, each side rolls for initiative. Sides act from the highest roll to lowest. Combat continues in the initiative order until the battle is complete.
This variant encourages teamwork and makes your life as a DM easier, since you can more easily coordinate monsters. On the downside, the side that wins initiative can gang up on enemies and take them out before they have a chance to act.

So we solve an issue that no-one had (in crpgs) in a way that destroys the balance for anyone not terminally retarded? Where have we seen something like this before? Oh that's right, in Larian previous game with their armour system!

Swen does something and people think is outside the rules of DnD - people: "Booo! You're breaking the rules, Swen! Fuck you!".
Swen does something and it turns out it's allowed by the rules of DnD - people: "Booo! Fuck you anyway, Swen!".

It's hilarious.

It's pre-alpha, and planned to go through Early Access. It really is hard to think it's anywhere near done as a result, but no one here wants to consider that just because it's not RTwP.

It looks fairly complete, at least judging by the demo. And it's hard to think they'll simply throw away all the work they put in already.

 

[Elex]

Nice to see positivity between Larian and Owlcat and vica verca:

On one hand, it is nice and... "wholesome" as the kids say.

But on the other hand, I'd SHIT TALK so hard if I was one of these guys. Also because I know this is all a load of shit. The reality is every time Swen had a bug or glitch or something wrong happened, Owlcat was laughing and giggling and doing prisyadka dances. I'd love it if more developers were honest and direct and did some good old fashioned Sega vs. Nintendo rivalry hijinks. Owlcat does what Larian don't, make up some bullshit like blast processing, claim BG3 has ransomware hidden deep in its code that will sell your information to drug cartels, give us a good fight. You think Swen is there going, "I sure hope Pathfinder's new game is a smashing success!" Hell no. He saw Owlcat's response there and was FUMING at their compliment.

The sad reality is: the larian 3 week promotional trip budget is superior to kingmaker total budget.

 

[Sykar]

But a lot of 5E's success can be credited a lot more to being in a perfect storm situation. Geek culture stuff has gotten trendy and cooler than ever before and really took rise in the 2010s, you have McCree and Jaina Proudmoore's VAs streaming themselves playing D&D along with other "e-celebs" which is free promotion, even if D&D was stuck in that immensely shit 4E it would likely blow up in popularity as well. 5E's popularity has less to do with it being a genuinely great system and more that it happened to exist in the same neighborhood this tornado of nerd exaltation took place. Personally speaking, 5E isn't bad but let's face it: next to 4E just about anything would be better.

And I will even go further and claim this: I bet most people that purchase 5E stuff don't even play it or homebrew the shit out of things so hard it may as well be something else entirely. As I mentioned, nerd culture is trendy and hip, have some D&D books on your shelf and you look like you're "about that life."

5e is succesful because is less focussed around rules.

The focus of 5e is rpg. This is why critical role worked: they are actors and the 5e allow them to do their funny voice for 4 hours so people can watch them and having fun.

so a new player don’t need to learn a single rule he just need to think about a character and the DM can do the rest.

combat is also faster ( and a full round can still take 15-20 minutes when you have many players)

so the success come to be easy to play and easy to DM.

My group had great fun with 5E, especially the advantage system. I remember our fighter rushing in on an opponent first round with advantage, rolls a 1 twice with spectacularly hilarious consequences. At least it was not with disadvantage or he might have fallen on his own sword.

 

[prodigydancer]

What I am not a fan of is throwing boots fuckery. They can’t go without this stupid whacky humor can’t they?

You don't have to throw objects at enemies, Swen simply wanted to demonstrate that it's possible. BTW, using makeshift weapons is quite common in P&P at low levels, nothing wacky about it.

Sounds less like a GAME and more like a homoerotic LARP session.

If all you care about is truckloads of ultra-tactical combat, you should play wargames. RPGs are more diverse. In P&P, I played entire campaigns without any combat at all and that was way before 5e.

 

[Yosharian]

You can cast two spells but one of them must be a cantrip (level 0 spell). Unless you use the Fighter ability Action Surge.

 

[Elex]

a homoerotic LARP session.

Yeah critical role, exactly.

 

[Elex]

What I am not a fan of is throwing boots fuckery. They can’t go without this stupid whacky humor can’t they?

You don't have to throw objects at enemies, Swen simply wanted to demonstrate that it's possible. BTW, using makeshift weapons is quite common in P&P at low levels, nothing wacky about it.

Yes one of the best low level weapon in 5e is a flask of lantern oil.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Beamdog originally announced BG3, after making an updated version of the infinity engine and made an expansion to bridge the two games. They were meant to be working on another BG title after SoD, not necessarily BG3; everything was talked about in codenames and vagueries. Though Wizards probably moved onto Larian for a number of reasoning, but one part of it was that a bunch of sexless nerds bemoaned the writing and iirc something about there being a transgender character (so basically it fell victim to the shallow culture wars). They're hiring a ton of people right now, so maybe I'm wrong and the plug was pulled on everything because of WotC's behaviour, I don't know know, but we'll probably find out soon. It would be a shame if the nostalgia actually killed something closer to the original games.

There was also the trifling issue of developers screaming on twatter that gamergaters were raping their game. They also basically declared that anyone who is not okay with the inept writing produced by some deluded woman with no training or writing talent, is "not a real Baldur's Gate fan". If I was in WotC's place, I wouldn't let Beamdog near the toilet of the D&D department.

The Autism that is the last 400 pages is unreal, If this was called "A Forgotten realms tale" or some such you would all be jumping for joy.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, get over your fucking nostalgia. Seems a lot of the haters would of never been satisfied with anything other than 1992 infinity engine sprites and shitty RTwP 2nd ed rules.

I'd be perfectly fine with what I've seen in the demo with only the following minor corrections, all of them completely impossible of couse:
- reduce the gayness
- remove romances
- tone down the D:OS2 animation style for jumping, etc.
- come up with a writing style that's doesn't treat the player as if it's a child with mild mental disabilities

I need to move to the next stage, what is that?

Start by watching tranny porn every day for two months. No more posting until then.

Jaina Proudmoore's VAs

When one sees a name such as "Jaina", googling it is inevitable. Boy, is this what zoomers are jerking off to nowadays?

Spoiler

 

[Black]

You don't have to throw objects at enemies, Swen simply wanted to demonstrate that it's possible.

And it proved to be more effective than most of what he tried at the beginning. Maybe that's a problem.

 

[Harthwain]

Jaina Proudmoore's VAs

When one sees a name such as "Jaina", googling it is inevitable. Boy, is this what zoomers are jerking off to nowadays?

Spoiler

What's wrong with the picture?

 

[prodigydancer]

You don't have to throw objects at enemies, Swen simply wanted to demonstrate that it's possible.

And it proved to be more effective than most of what he tried at the beginning. Maybe that's a problem.

Indeed. RNG miss streaks never happened in the IE games. What was Larian thinking? /s

What's wrong with the picture?

It's not tranny porn, so by AwesomeButton's logic, it won't help to reduce gayness.

 

[Doktor Best]

this shit is beyond lazy.

I really don't know what those supposed 300 people are working on this reskin. Everything is a fucking copy pasted shit,they didn't even bother to change the colour theme.

Wouldn't be surprised if they had already started working on this game as D:OS 3 before they had acquired the license from Wizards and then just changed the name and started tweaking the characters and lore as to fit the Forgotten Realms setting.

I do agree with this hypothesis. It does seem logical that they were working on to something for the last two years. The game does seem finished looking at the gameplay reveal,they could be just pretending and stalling. After all you can't just come out and say that you have BG3 finished a few months after getting the rights lol. The game will come out by the end of the year,most likely September.

They were working on it since 2017 to be exact, as this is when they got the deal with WOTC.

And why would they burn vast amounts of money by stalling game development? That shit makes absolutely no sense. If you gonna put on the tinfoil hat, please make it atleast somewhat plausible, otherwise its not entertaining.

 

[catfood]

 

[underground nymph]

You don't have to throw objects at enemies, Swen simply wanted to demonstrate that it's possible. BTW, using makeshift weapons is quite common in P&P at low levels, nothing wacky about it

I don’t have anything against throwing things per se. I’m not ok with the concept of leather boots fatally wounding somebody.

 

[Valky]

You don't have to throw objects at enemies, Swen simply wanted to demonstrate that it's possible. BTW, using makeshift weapons is quite common in P&P at low levels, nothing wacky about it

I don’t have anything against throwing things per se. I’m not ok with the concept of leather boots fatally wounding somebody.

Indeed, did 5E remove the concept of nonlethal damage?