Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

[Agame]

I am impressed so far with the druid/gobbo areas as there is a LOT of different ways to approach things, could really play it out multiple different ways. And the 'smear worg poop on your face to get in the base' feels like something you would do in TT, making up stuff on the fly that you and your mates can laugh about for the rest of the session.

The only problem is it smells a bit like 'blow your wad' syndrome where the devs front load all the good and interesting content into the first 1/4 of the game and the rest of it is rushed and padded out. Hopefully not the case here.

 

[Eisenheinrich]

Wish they kept this in the game, would have been a nice nod to the old games.

Always liked world maps in RPGs as they give you a sense of the overall place you travel.

It also looks good (not as good as the Icewind Dale maps, those were the gold standard, as were their character portraits).

 

[Shaki]

Reminder: Dragon's Dogma had an innovative character appearance customization system that allowed the player to choose the basic shape of important facial elements from a lengthy list of options (in similar fashion to selecting a hairstyle in many games, including BG3), supplemented by sliders to change size, positioning, etc. And it even had a more limited customization of the body, allowing the player to select from a smaller number of options for arms, torso, and legs, plus a height slider, a musculature slider, a weight slider, and (for women) a bust slider. And this game was released in 2012 for a console released in 2006. The expressions made by the player-character in Dragon's Dogma weren't all that much worse than the expressions made by the player-character in BG3, despite Larian limiting the player to a handful of heads (once sex and species have been chosen).

That's because it's a weeb game, and the character creation wasn't really made for the player's character, but to allow you to create your perfect pawn waifu (and then share her with other players like a cuck).

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

It's kind of funny that from a male point of view the Shadowheart relationship starts off as a quaintly old-fashioned "dating" type of thing. It's a shame she's one of the less good actresses (though she's not terrible by any means, it's just that most of the others are better).

I don't think she's a bad actress. The material is a little weak though. She's bipolar, snapping between broody at low influence and madly in love with you at higher levels.

Lae'zel only has one or two modes: insane frog woman and slightly introspective insane frogwoman. She's my favorite character in the game at this point, but probably because I haven't actually seen more than a small piece of her romance arc, having discarded her quickly.

Minthara is very much overacted, but her material is also more edgy than even Shadowheart's. I don't find her voice actress appealing either. I miss Viconia quite a bit. She may have been a whore, but at least she was a somewhat appealing one.

Astarion is very well acted. Gale, less so, but he has a lot of range to his character, which can give the impression of better acting, even if it's mostly just him loving the sound of his own voice.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Wish they kept this in the game, would have been a nice nod to the old games. Always liked world maps in RPGs as they give you a sense of country you travel. It also looks good (not as good as the Icewind Dale maps, those were the gold standard, as were their character portraits).

It also would have been a lot better than the dry list of areas we get, with names that barely tell you where they are referencing.

 

[Fedora Master]

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

what I'm saying is you can easily avoid the trannydick.

Maybe some of us want nudity and don't want tranny dick though.

 

[gurugeorge]

To be fair, that's very DnD. It's extremely hard to keep a PnP campaign from devolving into Monty Python, even with veteran players who get into character more aggressively.

I actually quite like Larian's D:OS 2, I'd argue it was pretty good at balancing whimsy with grit.

BG3 looks like it's very much capturing the tone and aburdism of a bog standard 5E group.

I wonder how much of that is self-consciousness, and/or related to the syndrome in that cartoon about how nerd hobbies are eventually ruined by spreading to a wider audience that has no intrinsic interest in roleplaying proper.

I only dipped my toes in serious roleplaying a couple of times (once in the Conan MMO of all places, and once in a NWN2 PW), but it's truly a magical experience. It's basically fantasy amdram improv, serious biznes, takes a lot of effort and commitment, but when everyone's pulling together it's amazing.

 

[Eisenheinrich]

It's kind of funny that from a male point of view the Shadowheart relationship starts off as a quaintly old-fashioned "dating" type of thing. It's a shame she's one of the less good actresses (though she's not terrible by any means, it's just that most of the others are better).

I don't think she's a bad actress. The material is a little weak though. She's bipolar, snapping between broody at low influence and madly in love with you at higher levels.

Lae'zel only has one or two modes: insane frog woman and slightly introspective insane frogwoman. She's my favorite character in the game at this point, but probably because I haven't actually seen more than a small piece of her romance arc, having discarded her quickly.

Minthara is very much overacted, but her material is also more edgy than even Shadowheart's. I don't find her voice actress appealing either. I miss Viconia quite a bit. She may have been a whore, but at least she was a somewhat appealing one.

Astarion is very well acted. Gale, less so, but he has a lot of range to his character, which can give the impression of better acting, even if it's mostly just him loving the sound of his own voice.

Which other game would you consider close in quality when it comes to voice acting? So far, I'm impressed by companions and NPC's acting.

I don't need that stuff since I grew up with text adventures, but if done well, it CAN enhance the experience.

 

[gurugeorge]

It's kind of funny that from a male point of view the Shadowheart relationship starts off as a quaintly old-fashioned "dating" type of thing. It's a shame she's one of the less good actresses (though she's not terrible by any means, it's just that most of the others are better).

I don't think she's a bad actress. The material is a little weak though. She's bipolar, snapping between broody at low influence and madly in love with you at higher levels.

Lae'zel only has one or two modes: insane frog woman and slightly introspective insane frogwoman. She's my favorite character in the game at this point, but probably because I haven't actually seen more than a small piece of her romance arc, having discarded her quickly.

Minthara is very much overacted, but her material is also more edgy than even Shadowheart's. I don't find her voice actress appealing either. I miss Viconia quite a bit. She may have been a whore, but at least she was a somewhat appealing one.

Astarion is very well acted. Gale, less so, but he has a lot of range to his character, which can give the impression of better acting, even if it's mostly just him loving the sound of his own voice.

I've come to like Froggy the best out of all the companions in terms of the acting. I mean her face gives me the heebie-jeebies, but man, that actress really throws herself into it and makes the character totally authentic and believable in context. Then Astarion, as you say - hated him at first, but when he had that turn from being super-fey to being bitter after you reject him, that was really class acting.

 

[Johnny Biggums]

what I'm saying is you can easily avoid the trannydick.

Maybe some of us want nudity and don't want tranny dick though.

On the one hand, idk why anyone wants video game nudity, but logically that is a fair point

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Which other game would you consider close in quality when it comes to voice acting? So far, I'm impressed by companions and NPC's acting.

I don't know. I haven't played a lot of modern games. It's at least as good as Mass Effect 2. Far better than any Bethesda game. BG2, ironically, had better voice acting, but it was only a few lines. It's easy to do multiple takes and knock it out of the park.

I agree that the acting, and some of the writing, is a pretty large improvement over the majority of RPGs. It's a shame that the gayness taints it though.

 

[Shaki]

View attachment 39820

Nice to see a fellow lute-smasher, it was one of the most satisfying moments in the game so far

 

[Eisenheinrich]

Which other game would you consider close in quality when it comes to voice acting? So far, I'm impressed by companions and NPC's acting.

I don't know. I haven't played a lot of modern games. It's at least as good as Mass Effect 2. Far better than any Bethesda game. BG2, ironically, had better voice acting, but it was only a few lines. It's easy to do multiple takes and knock it out of the park.

I agree that the acting, and some of the writing, is a pretty large improvement over the majority of RPGs. It's a shame that the gayness taints it though.

Remember Deadfire's voice acting?

 

[Mojobeard]

Shadowheart's VA is terrific, it's the writing that's the problem. Her story and interactions do not match.
You want to really knock on anyone, Karlach doesn't fit the mood of the rest of the game at all. But again, not really the fault of the VA, but the writing.

 

[430am]

I like Karlach a lot, what's not fitting with the game?

 

[Alienman]

Wish they kept this in the game, would have been a nice nod to the old games. Always liked world maps in RPGs as they give you a sense of country you travel. It also looks good (not as good as the Icewind Dale maps, those were the gold standard, as were their character portraits).

It also would have been a lot better than the dry list of areas we get, with names that barely tell you where they are referencing.

Also it gives a sense of distance and traveling. Eliminating the feeling of MMO/theme park/whatever from the game.

 

[Darkwind]

Has anyone found a magical HEAVY armor in Act 1? All I've encountered is the one worn by the githyanki in the monestary.

For sale, yes, in the game world as loot, do not recall.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Remember Deadfire's voice acting?

Never bothered with it. PoE bored me, so I never played the sequel.

 

[Mojobeard]

I like Karlach a lot, what's not fitting with the game?

The "fucking fuck let's kick their ass, fucking kill bad guys L-O-L". The character could stay chipper and coarse, but be executed much better.

 

[430am]

I like Karlach a lot, what's not fitting with the game?

The "fucking fuck let's kick their ass, fucking kill bad guys L-O-L". The character could stay chipper and coarse, but be executed much better.

Isn't that the whole point of a barbarian? Moreover a soldier. I know a few soldiers that come and go from the frontlines right now and that's exactly their personality. Also there's more facets to her than that one. Trying to cope with imminent death while daydreaming of her could-have-been future, plotting revenge against her betrayers, remembering her family and parents and reminiscing about their customs, enjoying the cute little things and being the happy-go-lucky type of the motley crew, just off the top of my head.

 

[Darkwind]

Anyone else finished Shadowheart's personal quest? I feel like they shouldn't have brought in Viconia for this.

I haven't and I clicked the spoiler. It was pretty obvious that's who it was from the first memory of the wolf when it didn't show her face.

Bringing in any of the old characters was a mistake. But isn't that what all the haters itt said for two years? "REEEE it has nothing to do with Baldur's Gate! There aren't any characters from the first game in it!"

Well, now you have Jaheira (and her kids), the cartoon barbarian etc. This is what they all wanted. Doesn't make things better, does it?

Related- They made Jaheira old as fuck, clearly people who have no concept about D&D lore. Even in 5E where they changes so much elves typically live 500-700 years. A century on Jaheira would put her in middle age at best. She was modeled and textured more like a post-menopausal chick which doesn't seem right to me since she was fairly young in the other games.

 

[Eisenheinrich]

Wish they kept this in the game, would have been a nice nod to the old games. Always liked world maps in RPGs as they give you a sense of country you travel. It also looks good (not as good as the Icewind Dale maps, those were the gold standard, as were their character portraits).

It also would have been a lot better than the dry list of areas we get, with names that barely tell you where they are referencing.

Also it gives a sense of distance and traveling. Eliminating the feeling of MMO/theme park/whatever from the game.

Exactly. While I find the actual setpieces (Grove, Blighted Village, Selune temple etc.) good, everything is so densely packed.

Like everything happens in shouting distance. They say the way to Baldurs Gate would take you ten days.

Looking at the loading screen artwortk (where you can see the Act 1 area in the foreground and Baldurs Gate in the background), that doesn't make much sense concerning the depicted distance.

 

[Alienman]

Gale, less so, but he has a lot of range to his character, which can give the impression of better acting, even if it's mostly just him loving the sound of his own voice.

Man, I so wanted to like Gale. I wouldn't mind him being gay, or just weirdly star-struck with the hero of the party. But I think this is the third time I had to say no to him. And all scenes with him make my character act very feminine in movement and mannerisms. I mean, I want to take part of his story, but it's very off-putting, and I could only imagine playing some kind of brute character and seeing this. Then we have the fact that he was the lover of Mystra, which I assume is a god in female form. So, wtf is going on here with Gale? I really really wish they would just have stuck to something, make that character gay if you have to, and if necessary base his background on that. Not that would be important during adventuring, but hey ho, here we are. Player sexual makes it so fugging messy, and immersion-breaking, and as mentioned, we can't have bros thanks to this. And the writing is always mean when turning someone down. Jesus Christ game.

 

[Mojobeard]

I like Karlach a lot, what's not fitting with the game?

The "fucking fuck let's kick their ass, fucking kill bad guys L-O-L". The character could stay chipper and coarse, but be executed much better.

Isn't that the whole point of a barbarian? Moreover a soldier.

No