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

[Thac0]

I'm working on a post about how giant spiders are one of the best and most iconic fantasy enemy.

Ex generic-giant-spider Tarantulos-Eduardo-Sanchez aproves

harsh reality that triple A developers are trash

You are coming to that realisation now???

 

[Ontopoly]

You are coming to that realisation now???

In the grand scale of gaming, it's only becoming a thing recently. I blame dragon age origins.

 

[Thac0]

You are coming to that realisation now???

In the grand scale of gaming, it's only becoming a thing recently. I blame dragon age origins.

What in the actual fuck? PC Gaming as a whole only exists since the 80s, since the 70s if you want to be really generous. Pac Man was 80. Thats 40 years. AAA is used as a word since the late 90s/early 00s, so since 20 years and it has always been soulless shit in that.
So AAA has been shit for half the lifetime of the entire medium of gaming and for all of its existance.

 

[Shrimp]

I predict this will be the best selling western RPG outside of Bethesda and Cdprojekt games.

Regardless of what people think the game will be like I don't think anyone can deny that the game's going to be a massive critical and financial success solely due to the associated brand names (Larian, WOTC, 'official' DND product etc)
It's going to influence the development and design decisions of future CRPGs in one way or another for the next handful of years.

 

[Ontopoly]

Regardless of what people think the game will be like I don't think anyone can deny that the game's going to be a massive critical and financial success solely due to the associated brand names (Larian, WOTC, 'official' DND product etc)
It's going to influence the development and design decisions of future CRPGs in one way or another for the next handful of years.

Which is why it's so important to make sure that as many people as possible know how bad it is before it's too late. Maybe in 20 years when everything is a larian clone people will remember what gaming was and there will be a return to form. larian is dangerous, not just to the bg brand, but to all rpg brands and gaming as a whole

 

[Kem0sabe]

Which is why it's so important to make sure that as many people as possible know how bad it is before it's too late. Maybe in 20 years when everything is a larian clone people will remember what gaming was and there will be a return to form. larian is dangerous, not just to the bg brand, but to all rpg brands and gaming as a whole

It won't matter if it's good.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Ex generic-giant-spider Tarantulos-Eduardo-Sanchez aproves

Cultural appropriation.

 

[NJClaw]

Regardless of what people think the game will be like I don't think anyone can deny that the game's going to be a massive critical and financial success solely due to the associated brand names (Larian, WOTC, 'official' DND product etc)

A massive critical and financial success just like the smash hits "Sword Coast Legends", "Neverwinter" and "Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard"?

Mind you, I'm not saying that the game is not going to be successful. What I am saying is that, due to recent history, a videogame associated to WotC and D&D is more likely to flop hard than succeed.

The only thing that will save this game from turning to shit is that finally WotC decided to give the job to competent people who know how to make a successful RPG. D:OS 1 and 2 writing may very well be complete shit, but they sold like crazy (as far as I know, D:OS 2 is still selling well enough even after 3 years) and sit at 90% and 96% approval ratings on Steam.

You may dislike Larian, but we shouldn't forget that it could have gone MUCH worse. Come on, WotC entrusted the first videogame adaptation of D&D 5 to companies that work on mobile games and fucking console ports. And not even ports from PC to playstation, no! Motherfucking Call of Duty ports to Nintendo DS, for fuck's sake.

Hate Larian as much as you want, but at least they don't make fucking Hanna Montana videogames.

 

[fantadomat]

Ex generic-giant-spider Tarantulos-Eduardo-Sanchez aproves

Cultural appropriation.

Write a block about your experience and feelings during this hideous crime against your people.

 

[Shrimp]

A massive critical and financial success just like the smash hits "Sword Coast Legends", "Neverwinter" and "Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard"?

Mind you, I'm not saying that the game is not going to be successful. What I am saying is that, due to recent history, a videogame associated to WotC and D&D is more likely to flop hard than succeed.

The only thing that will save this game from turning to shit is that finally WotC decided to give the job to competent people who know how to make a successful RPG. D:OS 1 and 2 writing may very well be complete shit, but they sold like crazy (as far as I know, D:OS 2 is still selling well enough even after 3 years) and sit at 90% and 96% approval ratings on Steam.

You may dislike Larian, but we shouldn't forget that it could have gone MUCH worse. Come on, WotC entrusted the first videogame adaptation of D&D 5 to companies that work on mobile games and fucking console ports. And not even ports from PC to playstation, no! Motherfucking Call of Duty ports to Nintendo DS, for fuck's sake.

Hate Larian as much as you want, but at least they don't make fucking Hanna Montana videogames.

Yeah, that's more or less what I was going for, but in hindsight I guess I worded my post poorly.

 

[Swen]

Didn't Swen assure us during the early reveal days, when people were saying it doesn't seem like bg, that we would be convinced of the baldurs gate name as we move forward and learn more about the game? Seems that was a big lie, considering every new update they show a new feature that takes more from DOS than BG. It seems Swen himself has forgotten that he's making a bg game himself. He seems to think he's making a dos game, while his writers are making a forgotten realms game(Not a bg game specifically, but a forgotten realms game). The fact that the team is so confused about what they are making shows his lack of leadership skills. He's been looking a little tired lately, bags under his eyes. Wonder if he's getting a little too old for the industry. He's always been incompetent but the rattled brain is just making everything worse. Doesn't help that sellouts like Mike Mearls are humoring him. I still request that Swen give credit and recognition to the original series he acted so excited to be working on. He won't, but that's the biggest reason why I have to request such a thing. It was all an act, and larian cultists don't care because they're too busy swooning over the guy. Blinded by fanaticism. Imagine being a fanatic of someone who has never made a good game. Imagine expecting things to be different every time he puts out a game. "He let me down the last 5 times but surely this time he wont."

Personally, I will not be buying this game. And I encourage everyone to also not buy it. Not even worth pirating, because your time should be worth more than your money. And your passion should be worth more than either of those and both of them combined.

Ah my biggest fan has returned.

We at Larian recognize your talents that the gaming industry so desperately needs. Hereby we would offer you a job as toilet cleaner at our office in Ghent.

Beware though, I drop a huge log in the morning...

 

[Cryomancer]

I just hope that BG3 will be easily moddable... So people will mod crazy shit into it like shadow weave based magic for BG2:EE and IWD:EE and more 3.5e classes like Pale Masters being ported to a game in 2e and even better. 2e rules. I was of the opinion that 3.5e is the superior ruleset but when read some 2e books(never found a group to play, all rpg stores are closed where I live. Thanks corona-chan), changed my mind and think that 2e is the superior ruleset.

But just imagine if BG3 is easily moddable like NWN2. There are mods which adds classes like dread necromancer, makes spells more P&P like, fixing then, modules re making even BG1/2 campaigns. Imagine this level of mod friendly on BG3...

Because BG1/2 are hard to mod.

A massive critical and financial success just like the smash hits "Sword Coast Legends", "Neverwinter" and "Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard"?

There is a huge difference. Larian has a much more mainstream renown/appeal. On Switch, DOS2 is one of the most popular games on switch. And Switch has the most "normie" playerbase.

Sadly, few portable RPG's has any depth. When you are in a treadmill, reading book or playing portable games can make this boring exercise more bearable. I own NWN:EE on my Android but is unplayable... I wish that Switch was less expensive in my country so I would buy.

--------------------

One thing that I don't get is Vincke worrying about things like spell slots. IDK how he thinks that it is unintuitive. I mean, POKEMON, a mobile children's game uses spell slots. Eg - 5 "casts" of Fire Blast per rest and max 4 "moves/spells" memorized. Dark Souls and other console RPG's like Suikoden and FF1 uses it too. And pokemon is a good example because is popular for 4 yo children and 40 yo competitive tournament gamers.

 

[Ghulgothas]

But just imagine if BG3 is easily moddable like NWN2.

Welcome to the neverending pipedream of an accessible and adaptable modern toolset for making custom CRPG content. Look forward to a recut DOSII level of moddability, as well as a version of it's misbegotten module maker in a game with a setting far more suited to it than DOS's ever was.

 

[Infinitron]

New gameplay and interview from RPS!

For some reason, they decided to post about it on the site today: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/20...ie-in-the-first-15-seconds-of-baldurs-gate-3/

Watch out! You can die in the first 15 seconds of Baldur's Gate 3

In Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll be able to play as an almost-vampire. His name is Astarion, and he’s technically a vampire spawn rather than a fully-fledged blood sucker, but like vampires across all sorts of fantasy media, he can’t go into places without being specifically invited and, more importantly, he can’t cross running water. Unfortunately for Astarion, there just so happens to be a large river right next to where you spawn in the very first section of Baldur’s Gate 3. According to the game’s lead systems designer, Nick Pechenin, it’s possible to kill the poor vamp within 15 seconds of spawning in.

“If you’re not careful you can die in Baldur’s Gate 3 as Astarion in the first 15 seconds of the game,” he told RPS VidBud Matthew. “If you click on the river, that’s the Chionthar river that’s going past you, and if you just don’t pay attention you will dissolve in acid, right there on the spot where you spawn.”

Not ideal. Who’s idea was it to make vampires so squishy? Being weak to sunlight and impoliteness sounds silly enough, I didn’t even know they couldn’t hack a bit of water until today.

Pechenin tells Matthew the devs at Larian had to go through every single piece of water in the game to figure out what was running and what was still. Can you imagine if they missed any? The crushing defeat of death as the hundred year-old vamp wanders aimlessly through a puddle.

All jokes aside, the mechanics behind the vampires in BG3 aren’t too harsh. For example, with the whole “invitation” thing Astarion won’t need to ask everyone he meets if he’s allowed into their houses. Instead, he’ll get an invitation to enter a whole settlement, so you’re not banging on every door asking to come in.

“At the start of the game there is a settlement that you help repel an attack from goblins,” Pechenin says, “and they kind of shout ‘come on in, more goblins coming’ and Astarion goes ‘Ah! I’m invited!'”

There are plenty more juicy Baldur’s Gate details Pechenin tells Matthew in his interview, and you can hear all about them in the video below:

Baldur’s Gate 3 will (maybe) hit early access next month, and there’s loads of gameplay footage you can entertain yourself with in the meantime.

 

[Shrimp]

For example, with the whole “invitation” thing Astarion won’t need to ask everyone he meets if he’s allowed into their houses. Instead, he’ll get an invitation to enter a whole settlement, so you’re not banging on every door asking to come in.

“At the start of the game there is a settlement that you help repel an attack from goblins,” Pechenin says, “and they kind of shout ‘come on in, more goblins coming’ and Astarion goes ‘Ah! I’m invited!'”

I'm honestly really curious to see how they're going to pull this off throughout the entire game. It seems like one of those ideas that on paper are too wide of a scope to be implemented in a reasonable manner, but considering they supposedly had someone systematically go through every body of water I suppose it's not out of the question to do something similar with every construction or location either.
But to be clear, what I'm mostly interested in seeing is how it's handled rather than if it's handled. Having NPCs that automatically request that you enter as soon as you approach is sensible given the described circumstances, but if it turns out that every populated location in the game will have something similar it's going to feel rather cheap.

 

[Ontopoly]

You may dislike Larian

Yes

 

[Ontopoly]

Beware though, I drop a huge log in the morning...

You are the log

I'm honestly really curious to see how they're going to pull this off throughout the entire game. It seems like one of those ideas that on paper are too wide of a scope to be implemented in a reasonable manner, but considering they supposedly had someone systematically go through every body of water I suppose it's not out of the question to do something similar with every construction or location either.
But to be clear, what I'm mostly interested in seeing is how it's handled rather than if it's handled. Having NPCs that automatically request that you enter as soon as you approach is sensible given the described circumstances, but if it turns out that every populated location in the game will have something similar it's going to feel rather cheap.

It will just be another opportunity for them to write "witty" dialogue. Every town will have some joke dialogue from a guard in front or something with the vampire saying something to himself afterwards. I'm sure all the vampires out there in the world feel like idiots though. They've been asking individual people the whole time if they can enter their house to murder them instead of just asking the guard at the front gate.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

I still don't understand the mentality of people frequenting the threads on games they actively dislike/have no interest in. One really has to have a twisted mentality to do that. Imagine fans of FIFA frequenting Madden forums and complaining about how not soccer-like the game is. My only guilty pleasure in this regard are Star Citizen threads, but that's because those are separated into Roberts cultists vs. normal people.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Beware though, I drop a huge log in the morning...

You are the log

I'm honestly really curious to see how they're going to pull this off throughout the entire game. It seems like one of those ideas that on paper are too wide of a scope to be implemented in a reasonable manner, but considering they supposedly had someone systematically go through every body of water I suppose it's not out of the question to do something similar with every construction or location either.
But to be clear, what I'm mostly interested in seeing is how it's handled rather than if it's handled. Having NPCs that automatically request that you enter as soon as you approach is sensible given the described circumstances, but if it turns out that every populated location in the game will have something similar it's going to feel rather cheap.

It will just be another opportunity for them to write "witty" dialogue. Every town will have some joke dialogue from a guard in front or something with the vampire saying something to himself afterwards. I'm sure all the vampires out there in the world feel like idiots though. They've been asking individual people the whole time if they can enter their house to murder them instead of just asking the guard at the front gate.

Still better than 99% of the other RPGs out there who either never take into account one's race, or have a very, very small number of references. Up until today basically only Arcanum and the Dragon Age series took the main character's race into serious consideration.

 

[Ontopoly]

I still don't understand the mentality of people frequenting the threads on games they actively dislike/have no interest in. One really has to have a twisted mentality to do that. Imagine fans of FIFA frequenting Madden forums and complaining about how not soccer-like the game is. My only guilty pleasure in this regard are Star Citizen threads, but that's because those are separated into Roberts cultists vs. normal people.

I do it because this game will have a lasting impact on the baldurs gate name and community and will have a big impact on rpg gaming in general. All I have are my words, they're the only way I can express justice.

Still better than 99% of the other RPGs out there who either never take into account one's race, or have a very, very small number of references. Up until today basically only Arcanum and the Dragon Age series took the main character's race into serious consideration.

Dragon age origins is to blame for the downfall of western rpgs.

 

[Thac0]

Dragon age origins is to blame for the downfall of western rpgs.

Wrong Tree, World of Warcraft bro.
Normalised mindless grinding and turning class identity into mush. Also showed big publishers that there was money to be razed from that nerd genre with spells and swords.

 

[Xamenos]

I still don't understand the mentality of people frequenting the threads on games they actively dislike/have no interest in. One really has to have a twisted mentality to do that. Imagine fans of FIFA frequenting Madden forums and complaining about how not soccer-like the game is. My only guilty pleasure in this regard are Star Citizen threads, but that's because those are separated into Roberts cultists vs. normal people.

This is not the first game in a series. If FIFA 2022 ends up being an american football game, you bet your ass FIFA fans will complain.

 

[Shrimp]

Yeah, I think Warcraft is a bigger culprit when you look at the whole picture. Even to this day fantasy character and armour design suffers from the aftershocks of WoW's massive impact.

 

[Cryomancer]

Dragon age origins is to blame for the downfall of western rpgs.

Wrong. Is wow. Before wow, we had Arx Fatalis magic system, ultima magic system, vancian magical system(...) after wow, everything copies the same cooldown based everyone gets spell at lv X magic and few games deviate for that norm. Vincke said many times that spell slots which exists on countless of games aren't intuitive. Even 4e took a lot of inspiration with wow.

Dragon Age, mainly DA2 and DA:I is one symptom. WoW is the disease.

This is not the first game in a series. If FIFA 2022 ends up being an american football game, you bet your ass FIFA fans will complain.

Will complain but continue purchasing... Everyone hated futuristic cod but nobody migrated to battlefield when activision keep producing futuristic...

I do it because this game will have a lasting impact on the baldurs gate name and community and will have a big impact on rpg gaming in general. All I have are my words, they're the only way I can express justice.

Also has a positive impact. more people will try BG2/1. Even if is the "enhanced" edition...

People stooping with "dos2 is modern bg" bs is a good impact IMO

 

[Gyor]

I still don't understand the mentality of people frequenting the threads on games they actively dislike/have no interest in. One really has to have a twisted mentality to do that. Imagine fans of FIFA frequenting Madden forums and complaining about how not soccer-like the game is. My only guilty pleasure in this regard are Star Citizen threads, but that's because those are separated into Roberts cultists vs. normal people.

I do it because this game will have a lasting impact on the baldurs gate name and community and will have a big impact on rpg gaming in general. All I have are my words, they're the only way I can express justice.

Still better than 99% of the other RPGs out there who either never take into account one's race, or have a very, very small number of references. Up until today basically only Arcanum and the Dragon Age series took the main character's race into serious consideration.

Dragon age origins is to blame for the downfall of western rpgs.

Agreed it will have lasting impact, were we disagree is that all of it will be good.