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AMA summaries: https://wccftech.com/baldurs-date-3-multiple-huge-regions-custom-characters/
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/20...uild-on-the-series-existing-story-say-larian/
Baldur’s Gate 3 is Split into Multiple Huge Regions, Custom Characters are Fully Developed
Last month Larian Studios finally pulled the curtain back on Baldur’s Gate 3, revealing over an hour of detailed gameplay footage. Of course, Dungeons & Dragons fans are a pretty serious bunch, and so a lot of questions remain. Thankfully, Larian head honcho Swen Vincke, producer David Walgrave, BG3 lead writer Adam Smith, and more took to Reddit to participate in an AMA. They covered a wide range of topics, some of which will only be of interest to hardcore D&D nerds, but I collected up some of the more interesting revelations, below.
First up, Walgrave spoke briefly about the size and scope of the Baldur’s Gate 3 world, implying it won’t quite be an open world, but a series of large staging areas…
You're in a huge terrain, but between acts you will travel from one huge region to another.
Swen Vincke provided some additional detail about the world’s layout.
The small portion of the adventure we’ve shown takes place many miles East of Baldur’s Gate, and the initial journey will take players along the banks of the river Chionthar, and surrounding wilderness and settlements, toward BG and the coast. You won’t be walking the whole way to BG in real-time, so there will be several large, open regions. Later, you’ll visit the city of Baldur’s Gate itself, of course. Other places I’m not going to spoil for you because discovery and exploration are part of the joy.
One subject that was clearly of concern to fans participating in the AMA was custom characters. Of course, D&D is all about rolling your own character, but the BG3 demo we saw focused on a pre-determined “Origin” character. So, the question is, will custom characters have the same depth as Origin characters? Or are you better off playing with Larian’s creations?
This is our campaign, but it's absolutely your adventure. The small amount of gameplay we've shown focused on one of our Origin characters, but whether you roll a custom or Origin character, the choices you make and the actions you take carry the same weight. In Baldur’s Gate 3, ‘Origin characters’ are basically fully-fledged companions, that you can optionally play. Even if you’re not playing as an Origin, you can explore their backstories and personal quests by having them in your party. Custom characters will see the world react to them based on their chosen race, class and background. Creating a character gives a sense of who you are, but the heart of the game’s reactivity is based on what you do after character creation
Writer Adam Smith provided some more detail on how Larian is handling custom characters.
This isn’t [Divinity: Original Sin II]. In BG3, custom characters have a much stronger connection to the world and the main arc of the story - whether they’re from Baldur’s Gate, further afield, or somewhere else entirely (hey, githyanki). The campaign is much more reactive to your actions - when we say there are serious consequences to your choices, we really mean it - and as you move through your adventure, you’ll discover quest-lines and stories that relate directly to the character you’re roleplaying, and the things that you’ve done. We’re confident that you won’t feel short-changed in terms of narrative breadth and depth if you choose to play as a custom character- we love our Origins, but this campaign is built for all of you.
Speaking of customs, it seems like BG3 will have quite a deep character creator.
After you select a race and a class, you could be all set and ready to go, but if you want to, you can dive in deeper, and change all the abilities, spells, skills, cantrips… and customize visuals. You will be able to select a face type, hairdo, facial hair, skin colour. I cannot give numbers or details, because it's still a work in progress, but there won't be sliders. We have more diversity in creation than in any other game we’ve done before. You'll be able to mix and match a wide variety of defaults, to create something unique.
Back to Origin characters, it sounds like there will be quite a few of them, and it doesn’t end there! You’ll also be able to recruit more generic mercenaries for your team.
We are trying to make all characters with backstory available as origin characters. Other than that, you will be able to recruit generic mercenaries and customize these. 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.
Those were the main things covered by the AMA, but here’s a few more quickie answers. Will all D&D classes be available at launch?
Yes, all classes from 5e Player’s Handbook will be included at launch. In Early Access you’ll be able to play as a Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock or Wizard.
Can you create an entire custom party?
We’re 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.
Will modding be available at launch?
We're focusing first on developing and finishing the main campaign, once we have some space, we can talk about that.
What’s the initial level cap going to be?
We’re planning to cover levels 1 through 10 in full release.
If you’ve got a few minutes to spare, you can wade through the full Baldur’s Gate 3 AMA, right here.
Baldur’s Gate III is coming to PC and Google Stadia. A release date has yet to be announced, but Google recently let slip that the game will arrive sometime in 2020.
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/20...uild-on-the-series-existing-story-say-larian/
Yes, Baldur's Gate 3 will build on the series' existing story, say Larian
Baldur’s Gate 3 is well out of the bag now and despite the lengthy gameplay reveal that Larian hosted at PAX East last month I have oh so many questions. So do you lot, it seems. Larian hosted an AMA yesterday to answer them all and though there were a few things they declined to answer, we’ve mostly rolled well on our Persuasion checks and come out with new details. Most importantly, yes, Baldur’s Gate 3 will continue the story from Baldur’s Gate and its sequel. It isn’t a direct sequel, but Larian say “we wouldn’t call it Baldur’s Gate 3 if there wouldn’t be a link.”
That’s been a big question from the start. A lot of time has passed since the original Baldur’s Gate games developed by BioWare and plenty of time has passed in the Forgotten Realms as well. Larian have hinted previously that we may spot familiar characters but the ways that Baldur’s Gate 3’s actual plot ties back to the earlier games isn’t yet being shared. That hasn’t changed much with this new Q&A, but Larian CEO Swen Vincke did at least assure players that they are connected.
“Let me just say that we touch upon the story of BG 1 & 2 in meaningful ways,” Vincke says. “There are returning characters and what happened in BG 1/2/[Throne of Bhaal] leads to what happens in BG3. You won’t necessarily see that at the start of the adventure, but you will quickly understand once you get further into the game.”
There are a bunch of other details in the Reddit AMA thread as well. Here are some of the highlights, by my measure:
Character creation will be similar to Divinity: Original Sin 2. We already know that, as with D:OS2, players will be able to make a custom character or choose to play as one of the “canon” story characters. Customising faces will also be similar, relying mostly on face presets, hair and skin colors, and hair styles. You won’t be fiddling with a bunch of sliders. You’ll also be able to choose a voice style even for a custom character and they will be fully voice-acted just like origin characters.
As for how custom characters will compare with origin characters during the story, Larian say that compared with D:OS2, “custom characters have a much stronger connection to the world and the main arc of the story. … We’re confident that you won’t feel short-changed in terms of narrative breadth and depth if you choose to play as a custom character.” I always recommended to friends that they choose one of D:OS2’s origin characters rather than building their own for this reason, so it’s good to see Larian adjusting their approach.
When it fully launches (after the planned early access period), Baldur’s Gate 3 will let you play as any of Dungeons & Dragons’ character classes from the 5th Edition ruleset. During early access, you’ll be able to play as a Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock or Wizard. One keen commenter asked about the distinction between long and short rests for Warlocks, who can regain their spell slot uses after only a short rest. Larian confirmed that yup, Warlocks will net back their spells between combat encounters, which in BG3 will count as a short rest. Your party will have to make camp to take a long rest though.
There’s a lot more that you can dig up in the Reddit thread, which you can do without my assistance. I’ve got to clear this stage before I get kicked off it, so here’s a last few details for ya.
Will there be a Dungeon Master mode? Maybe. Mod support? Maybe. Nearly every other question you could conceivably think of? Here ya go. When will Baldur’s Gate 3 launch in early access?
You can find Baldur’s Gate 3 on Steam.
