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

[Gargaune]

Ok, let's throw down one more time.

Why do I get the feeling that the Early Access part of the story will finish with a reveal that will make the players go "Oh fuck, this IS a sequel to Baldur's Gate II"?

It's not, and no plot hook or miniature giant space hamster is going to change that. Videogames are described by their gameplay first and narrative second. If Obsidian came along to continue TNO's story with a game where you play Carmageddon in the Blood War, that wouldn't make it a sequel to Planescape: Torment. You can argue this game's D&D credentials all you want, but they didn't call it "Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition", they called it "Baldur's Gate 3", yet it's not even in the same subgenre. Like it or not, PFKM is more faithful to what the old BG games were merely by virtue of it being isometric RTwP.

BG3 will be to the Baldur's Gate series what Fallout 3 was to your precious Fallouts. Bethesda came along, liked the potential in the Fallout IP but reasoned that they had experience and success in the more popular Action-RPG segment, so they refactored the property into Oblivion-with-Guns while also giving the Codex a case of perennial hemorrhoids as an added bonus. While the gap between an ARPG and a TB CRPG is indeed significantly smaller than between a TB CRPG and a RTwP CRPG, the core issue is the same in that BG3 will play very differently from how BG played.

A big difference to Bethesda's Fallout run is, as mentioned before, that WotC did have space to pull a fast one by launching a new franchise and using "Baldur's Gate" as a subtitle, with the benefit of future versatility as well. That they instead went all out to just call it Baldur's Gate 3, especially since the Bhaalspawn saga was adequately concluded and BG2 comes with plenty of continuity baggage, comes across as a curious lack of confidence in their D&D brand given all their recent success with streaming and such.

None of this is to say that BG3 won't be a good RPG, just that it's not Baldur's Gate.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Ok, let's throw down one more time.

Why do I get the feeling that the Early Access part of the story will finish with a reveal that will make the players go "Oh fuck, this IS a sequel to Baldur's Gate II"?

It's not, and no plot hook or miniature giant space hamster is going to change that. Videogames are described by their gameplay first and narrative second. If Obsidian came along to continue TNO's story with a game where you play Carmageddon in the Blood War, that wouldn't make it a sequel to Planescape: Torment. You can argue this game's D&D credentials all you want, but they didn't call it "Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition", they called it "Baldur's Gate 3", yet it's not even in the same subgenre. Like it or not, PFKM is more faithful to what the old BG games were merely by virtue of it being isometric RTwP.

BG3 will be to the Baldur's Gate series what Fallout 3 was to your precious Fallouts. Bethesda came along, liked the potential in the Fallout IP but reasoned that they had experience and success in the more popular Action-RPG segment, so they refactored the property into Oblivion-with-Guns while also giving the Codex a case of perennial hemorrhoids as an added bonus. While the gap between an ARPG and a TB CRPG is indeed significantly smaller than between a TB CRPG and a RTwP CRPG, the core issue is the same in that BG3 will play very differently from how BG played.

A big difference to Bethesda's Fallout run is, as mentioned before, that WotC did have space to pull a fast one by launching a new franchise and using "Baldur's Gate" as a subtitle, with the benefit of future versatility as well. That they instead went all out to just call it Baldur's Gate 3, especially since the Bhaalspawn saga was adequately concluded and BG2 comes with plenty of continuity baggage, comes across as a curious lack of confidence in their D&D brand given all their recent success with streaming and such.

None of this is to say that BG3 won't be a good RPG, just that it's not Baldur's Gate.

Only... you know... Larian Studios confirmed in their A.M.A. on Reddit that the game will be a direct sequel to the previous ones. The Dead Three and their plots are literally mentioned in the game synopsis.

 

[Xamenos]

Only... you know... Larian Studios confirmed in their A.M.A. on Reddit that the game will be a direct sequel to the previous ones. The Dead Three and their plots are literally mentioned in the game synopsis.

Larian calling it a sequel doesn't make it an actual sequel. Just like a country calling itself, say, the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" doesn't actually make it an actual republic.

 

[Sergiu64]

So you guys would only accept a 2nd edition rtwp game as a sequel?

 

[Voids]

critical role

Potentially the most damaging influence in the medium of the past five years

BG3 is gonna be made with Critical Role dolla- I mean fans in mind, isn't it?

 

[Xamenos]

So you guys would only accept a 2nd edition rtwp game as a sequel?

It's been twenty fucking years. The story was over, pretty comprehensively, with ToB. There is nothing that could be done to make me accept a sequel.

 

[RPK]

Also, as a bonus, the worst druid illustration ever created for this game:

The art has been ugly for decades now

Indeed. the thing i miss most about AD&D is the art from the various rulebooks.

 

[Voids]

Oh god, they're really going to push Game Master Mode with this one aren't they.

Why is that a bad thing? I know it was in dos2 but I've never played it.

 

[Ghulgothas]

Why is that a bad thing? I know it was in dos2 but I've never played it.

Not bad, it's just a strange little curiosity. Though I'm worried what it'll end up becoming when mixed with the purported Twitch Chat integration.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Communists used to be decent writers,

Name one.

Orwell.

 

[pomenitul]

The Spanish war and other events in 1936-37 turned the scale and thereafter I knew where I stood. Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.

From his essay, 'Why I Write'. And before you ask, no, democratic socialism is not the same thing as communism.

 

[Harthwain]

Only... you know... Larian Studios confirmed in their A.M.A. on Reddit that the game will be a direct sequel to the previous ones. The Dead Three and their plots are literally mentioned in the game synopsis.

They did admit the Bhaalspawn saga was concluded and said something about BG3 being "next chapter in the story of the city"*. They want to bring focus to the city of Baldur's Gate and the other direct link - to call it a sequel - is Bhaal's involvement and some NPCs from the previous games. This is going to be a continuation of BG1 and BG2, but it will have very, very little to do with it story-wise, more like event-wise (in the sense that the events of BG1 and BG2 are history, which was also hinted a few times).

*

[...] but it is still going to be very much a third game, so it is going to be what we see as a worthy entry in the trilogy - which is now what it'll be: a trilogy - this is the next chapter in the story of the city [...]

Source:

Spoiler

Look at 6:15 for the quote. Not sure if I understood properly the part between the dashes.

 

[Readher]

Some EA news

$60 and it's Larian so no third-party sellers and no proper regional pricing. Yeah, I'm not paying 300 PLN for one game, let alone an Early Access.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Only... you know... Larian Studios confirmed in their A.M.A. on Reddit that the game will be a direct sequel to the previous ones. The Dead Three and their plots are literally mentioned in the game synopsis.

They did admit the Bhaalspawn saga was concluded and said something about BG3 being "next chapter in the story of the city"*. They want to bring focus to the city of Baldur's Gate and the other direct link - to call it a sequel - is Bhaal's involvement and some NPCs from the previous games. This is going to be a continuation of BG1 and BG2, but it will have very, very little to do with it story-wise, more like event-wise (in the sense that the events of BG1 and BG2 are history, which was also hinted a few times).

*

[...] but it is still going to be very much a third game, so it is going to be what we see as a worthy entry in the trilogy - which is now what it'll be: a trilogy - this is the next chapter in the story of the city [...]

Source:

Spoiler

Look at 6:15 for the quote. Not sure if I understood properly the part between the dashes.

Well, this is exactly what I meant. The first and second game also didn't have much to do with one another story-wise, outside of us being Bhaalspawn + a few NPCs. Hell, the second game and Throne of Bhaal had NOTHING to do with one another.

By the by, someone jokingly noticed that, since a significant chunk of the game takes place in Hell, we will stumble upon The Nameless One. Good joke. But there's one other guy in Hell right now - Irenicus. Pray he doesn't show up.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Only... you know... Larian Studios confirmed in their A.M.A. on Reddit that the game will be a direct sequel to the previous ones. The Dead Three and their plots are literally mentioned in the game synopsis.

Larian calling it a sequel doesn't make it an actual sequel. Just like a country calling itself, say, the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" doesn't actually make it an actual republic.

The term "republic" at that point was so broad it lost all meaning either way.

 

[Gargaune]

Only... you know... Larian Studios confirmed in their A.M.A. on Reddit that the game will be a direct sequel to the previous ones. The Dead Three and their plots are literally mentioned in the game synopsis.

You didn't read what you replied to, did you?

So you guys would only accept a 2nd edition rtwp game as a sequel?

The ruleset edition isn't a problem, in my opinion, Icewind Dale 2 still plays similar to Icewind Dale at an abstract level even with all the changes from 2E to 3E.

They did admit the Bhaalspawn saga was concluded and said something about BG3 being "next chapter in the story of the city"*.

Pointless story bickering aside, I wonder - is the next game after this one going to be called Baldur's Gate 4? Or Baldur's Gate 3 2?

 

[Xamenos]

Actually it does, license holders make canon, not retarded fans

At some point Hollywood is gonna decide to make a Lord of the Rings sequel and we'll be having the same retarded conversation with the same retarded fanboys.

 

[Prime Junta]

Actually it does, license holders make canon, not retarded fans

At some point Hollywood is gonna decide to make a Lord of the Rings sequel and we'll be having the same retarded conversation with the same retarded fanboys.

JRRT did start to write one. It was called The Return of the Shadown, and was set in Gondor a couple of generations after the LotR. Kids were starting to think Sauron was kind of neat and had these "orc clubs" and what have you. LOL that's completely ridiculous, like anyone would ever start thinking Hitler was cool after what went down in WW2

 

[Xamenos]

Actually it does, license holders make canon, not retarded fans

At some point Hollywood is gonna decide to make a Lord of the Rings sequel and we'll be having the same retarded conversation with the same retarded fanboys.

JRRT did start to write one. It was called The Return of the Shadown, and was set in Gondor a couple of generations after the LotR. Kids were starting to think Sauron was kind of neat and had these "orc clubs" and what have you. LOL that's completely ridiculous, like anyone would ever start thinking Hitler was cool after what went down in WW2

"I did begin a story placed about 100 years after the Downfall, but it proved both sinister and depressing. Since we are dealing with Men, it is inevitable that we should be concerned with the most regrettable feature of their nature: their quick satiety with good. So that the people of Gondor in times of peace, justice and prosperity, would become discontented and restless — while the dynasts descended from Aragorn would become just kings and governors — like Denethor or worse. I found that even so early there was an outcrop of revolutionary plots, about a centre of secret Satanistic religion; while Gondorian boys were playing at being Orcs and going around doing damage. I could have written a 'thriller' about the plot and its discovery and overthrow — but it would have been just that. Not worth doing."

Emphasis mine

 

[Harthwain]

By the by, someone jokingly noticed that, since a significant chunk of the game takes place in Hell, we will stumble upon The Nameless One. Good joke. But there's one other guy in Hell right now - Irenicus. Pray he doesn't show up.

Wasn't he torn apart by the Slayers and drowned in the lava lake?

 

[Xamenos]

Wasn't he torn apart by the Slayers and drowned in the lava lake?

Also, Bhaal's resurrection was stopped and Minsc was a normal human that should have been dead a hundred years ago. Why should Irenicus's fate give them pause?

 

[Storyfag]

By the by, someone jokingly noticed that, since a significant chunk of the game takes place in Hell, we will stumble upon The Nameless One. Good joke. But there's one other guy in Hell right now - Irenicus. Pray he doesn't show up.

Wasn't he torn apart by the Slayers and drowned in the lava lake?

Not Slayers, I think. More like regular Demons/Devils. And a soul like his would not be so easily destroyed. It'd be put to good use by some Infernal or Abyssal power sooner, rather than later.

 

[Harthwain]

Also, Bhaal's resurrection was stopped and Minsc was a normal human that should have been dead a hundred years ago. Why should Irenicus's fate give them pause?

Well... We didn't see him die, so here is that.

Not Slayers, I think. More like regular Demons/Devils. And a soul like his would not be so easily destroyed. It'd be put to good use by some Infernal or Abyssal power sooner, rather than later.

They have only two horns and one set of hands/appendages less, but back when I first saw this I always thought they were intended as some kind of poetic justice (Irenicus' plan of messing up with Bhaal stuff backfiring on him).

 

[The_Mask]

Well... We didn't see him die, so here is that.

No one's ever really gone...

 

[Elex]

You didn't read what you replied to, did you?


The ruleset edition isn't a problem, in my opinion, Icewind Dale 2 still plays similar to Icewind Dale at an abstract level even with all the changes from 2E to 3E.


Pointless story bickering aside, I wonder - is the next game after this one going to be called Baldur's Gate 4? Or Baldur's Gate 3 2?

Icewind dale 3
And the sequel: neverwinter night 3 and then: torment: original sin