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

[Ontopoly]

At this point they've changed enough features that they can't hide behind the "we wanted to stay faithful to dnd" excuse. They made it the way they did because it's easier for them and they don't think they could make a good rtwp game. Why make new mechanics when you can just use old ones?

 

[Elex]

At this point they've changed enough features that they can't hide behind the "we wanted to stay faithful to dnd" excuse. They made it the way they did because it's easier for them and they don't think they could make a good rtwp game. Why make new mechanics when you can just use old ones?

they changed basically nothing.
short rest are a thing you are supposed to spam.

 

[Lacrymas]

Massive incline.

(initiative not so much, but you win some you lose some)

 

[Jimmious]

Not like in Original Sin. BG is a different type of game when it comes to loot and item fever. We still want to make treasure exciting, though, and that means a lot of manual work.Treasure has to make sense in the context, and that means hand-placing and hand-creating it. There will be equipment with magical bonuses, but not many - they’ll feel special, and they'll be tailor made.

That's great to hear read

 

[Lacrymas]

I like how they are shitting in the soup of both BG2 supremacists (who are wrong) and RTwP fetishists.

 

[Grotesque]

So nobody asked about day/night cycle?

 

[Elex]

Hello - Adam here- senior writer on BG 3! We want to answer as many questions as we can, and if we start reminiscing about BG 1 & 2 we could be here all night :D But, that said, I can't resist...

Like many of you, I've played BG 1 & 2 a lot over the years, and every time I do, I go back to being a teenager and playing the first game with my sister day of release. It wasn’t my first exposure to Dungeons and Dragons - I'd played Eye of the Beholder and many of the Gold Box games previously (shout out to Gateway to the Savage Frontier and my first time meeting the Zhentarim), but it was the game that made me love the Forgotten Realms.

BG immediately felt special. There was a sense of discovery and companionship - a party that were more than a bundle of character sheets to help me deal with encounters - and even before I left Candlekeep I had a sense of being caught up in an adventure BIGGER than me.

As I played that sense of adventure grew. BG was about forging an identity in a world that was bigger, stranger and darker than anything I'd seen before in a videogame - and discovering things about my character that challenged that identity. I'd never played an RPG before where I didn't have a clear sense of how I'd survive, or who I would be at the journey's end.

There are individual moments that encapsulate all of that, but across the saga, it was a sense of overcoming great odds, and matching wits and power with sinister, fleshed-out antagonists, and a world that was fantastical, dangerous, and credible.

A long time has passed - in the Forgotten Realms and in our world - but that sense of adventure, fellowship and danger is still what drives us. Making Baldur's Gate 3 is a privilege - and you'll be the judge of how much of the spirit you loved in the previous games we capture - but the game we're making has all of our affection and sense of wonder for the world and the series in it. From the themes, plot lines and characters many of you will recognise, to the texture and tone of the world that some people will be discovering for the first time.

 

[Bara]

We’re also planning to allow you to build a custom party from the character creation screen though that most likely won’t be present in early access from the get go.

Now if only they include a storm of Zehir dialogue mechanic to switch between party members that would be perfect. Otherwise this alone is still great.

Going to be really interesting to see how Solasta and BG3 shape up when Solasta is also doing a level 1-10 campaign.

 

[conan_edw]

Reactions don't seem to be limited to Attack of opportunities but they are executed automatically in some conditions, could be good if you can micro-manage the conditions but still why not just make it manual?

In BG3 players will be able to pre-emptively select which reactions will trigger automatically when their conditions are triggered. E.g. a Wizard would disable their Attack of Opportunity and enable their Shield spell.

Unfortunately they seem persistent with the side initiative system. I don't know why but I get the feeling that with these changes they are aiming to not make the fights take longer time which seem weird to me. I don't know, does the majority hate it if a fight take sometime? I don't mind usually.

 

[Jimmious]

Going to be really interesting to see how Solasta and BG3 shape up when Solasta is also doing a level 1-10 campaign.

Honestly the whole thing is a bit unlucky for Solasta since they will share a lot : TB 5e, elevation is important, 4 char party...

 

[NJClaw]

Levels 1-10. Enjoy casting 2 level 5 spells at end game. Maybe they really are inspired by bg1.

So are we bashing BG1 now?

 

[Elex]

Reactions don't seem to be limited to Attack of opportunities but they are executed automatically in some conditions, could be good if you can micro-manage the conditions but still why not just make it manual?

In BG3 players will be able to pre-emptively select which reactions will trigger automatically when their conditions are triggered. E.g. a Wizard would disable their Attack of Opportunity and enable their Shield spell.

Unfortunately they seem persistent with the side initiative system. I don't know why but I get the feeling that with these changes they are aiming to not make the fights take longer time which seem weird to me. I don't do the majority hate it if a fight take sometime? I don't mind usually.

about iniative:

However, all of that said, it is something we are still working on and experimenting with. If we find it doesn’t work as well as we hope, we’ll tinker with it. It’s one of the things we’ll figure out during Early Access.

 

[NJClaw]

At this point they've changed enough features that they can't hide behind the "we wanted to stay faithful to dnd" excuse. They made it the way they did because it's easier for them and they don't think they could make a good rtwp game. Why make new mechanics when you can just use old ones?

Unbelievable. A studio that makes a game the way they are more comfortable with. What a bunch of pussies. If they were true hardcore developers, they would make a 2d side-scrolling BG3.

They made it the way they did because that's what they think they are good at. And probably WotC thinks the same, since they gave them the rights to their most important D&D videogame franchise.

They didn't make a rtwp game because they didn't want to.

 

[Riddler]

Massive incline.

(initiative not so much, but you win some you lose some)

This might be too much of a loss for me gameplay wise. Maybe they can craft something interesting but this really is a galaxy brained decision.

 

[Lacrymas]

Honestly the whole thing is a bit unlucky for Solasta since they will share a lot : TB 5e, elevation is important, 4 char party...

Solasta only has a chance before this comes out, and honestly it doesn't look good. I mean aesthetically. The UI is cancer, the art design doesn't exist, the spell FX are eye-raping nonsense. Unless they can somehow compensate with awesome dungeons layouts and encounters, I don't see it being more than less-than-average tier.

 

[mibbles]

Writing and storytelling is a major point of contention in discussions surrounding Baldur's Gate 3. While there has been speculation about the plot, the player responses when interacting with other NPCs have been specifically noticed. Many agree that the first person, past tense style of the writing is jarring and breaks immersion. Is this the style you wish to continue forward with or is this still being worked on?

There’s several reasons we’re doing it this way. Of course there are story reasons but it also allows you to get closer to your character; their thoughts, their feelings and moments of introspection allowing you to truly understand their motivations. We’ve experimented with several styles when starting development but this was the one that at the end of the day stood out and we’re actually quite excited by what we can do with it. It turned out to be an excellent way of allowing players to tell their own story and role-play their character on a deeper level. I think it’s a wonderful tool for role-playing and story telling and when you’re playing it’s like you’re narrating your own adventure.

 

[NJClaw]

Massive incline.

(initiative not so much, but you win some you lose some)

This might be too much of a loss for me gameplay wise. Maybe they can craft something interesting but this really is a galaxy brained decision.

They said that they are still working on the initiative and that early access will help them figure out what to do. We just need to hope early access player will not be complete retard

 

[Riddler]

Massive incline.

(initiative not so much, but you win some you lose some)

This might be too much of a loss for me gameplay wise. Maybe they can craft something interesting but this really is a galaxy brained decision.

They said that they are still working on the initiative and that early access will help them figure out what to do. We just need to hope early access player will not be complete retard

I mean, people hated the armor system and they didn't give a shit. No reason to be a complete doomer until we actually see what the do in the beta though.

 

[Lacrymas]

Larian has a penchant for not taking gameplay feedback very seriously until it's too late. I don't know if they are going to change their minds even if someone records an entire EA run with a high initiative party destroying encounters because their whole party goes first.

I mean, people hated the armor system and they didn't give a shit. No reason to be a complete doomer until we actually see what the do in the beta though.

Swen admitted the armor system was a mistake.

 

[Riddler]

Writing and storytelling is a major point of contention in discussions surrounding Baldur's Gate 3. While there has been speculation about the plot, the player responses when interacting with other NPCs have been specifically noticed. Many agree that the first person, past tense style of the writing is jarring and breaks immersion. Is this the style you wish to continue forward with or is this still being worked on?

There’s several reasons we’re doing it this way. Of course there are story reasons but it also allows you to get closer to your character; their thoughts, their feelings and moments of introspection allowing you to truly understand their motivations. We’ve experimented with several styles when starting development but this was the one that at the end of the day stood out and we’re actually quite excited by what we can do with it. It turned out to be an excellent way of allowing players to tell their own story and role-play their character on a deeper level. I think it’s a wonderful tool for role-playing and story telling and when you’re playing it’s like you’re narrating your own adventure.

Fucking wafflebrained narrative designers...

 

[NJClaw]

Honestly the whole thing is a bit unlucky for Solasta since they will share a lot : TB 5e, elevation is important, 4 char party...

Solasta only has a chance before this comes out, and honestly it doesn't look good. I mean aesthetically. The UI is cancer, the art design doesn't exist, the spell FX are eye-raping nonsense. Unless they can somehow compensate with awesome dungeons layouts and encounters, I don't see it being more than less-than-average tier.

This is also true for what we have seen so far of BG3.

I think Solasta still has a chance (of moderate success in its niche) because fans of D&D-related rpgs are always starving for something new and faithful to the ruleset. At least I know I am.

 

[Lacrymas]

Solasta is a special case of cancer, though, BG3 at least won't have those mobile-tier flat transparent surfaces for a UI. There is nothing that I despise more in terms of UIs. BG3 also looks good in terms of graphics no matter how we spin it. Solasta looks like a sequence of Unity assets put together.

 

[Mazisky]

So nobody asked about day/night cycle?

I did at the start of AMA, i've also asked if there are night locations at all, no answer yet.

 

[Ontopoly]

Going to be really interesting to see how Solasta and BG3 shape up when Solasta is also doing a level 1-10 campaign.

The only difference between them is about 200 employees. I'm disappointed that triple AAA development includes full voice acting rather than levels 10-20.

 

[Ontopoly]

Levels 1-10. Enjoy casting 2 level 5 spells at end game. Maybe they really are inspired by bg1.

So are we bashing BG1 now?

No. I'm just expecting a lot more from a studio with triple a funding and 250 employees than a developer from 20 years ago who were making one of their first games ever.