Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

[Eisenheinrich]

Sorry but... i don't play games for representation. Is this another of those clumsy attempt to turn the thread in a culture war thing? How boring.

I'm just here for the funnies.

You are the funnies.

 

[Fedora Master]

better quest branching

Where is there ANY branching in BG3? The outcomes to any quest and plot line remain the same, as the Gith Creche demonstrates.

Journo-level question. There are many quests than have multiple endings, and not even limited to two or three.

Yea, sometimes they end early. Lol.

 

[warcrimes666]

Going back to why the encounter designs are shit, it goes deeper but at root it's a paint by numbers approach and tellingly based on their press releases pretty obviously entirely derived through base analytics rather than knowledge or experience and in creating solely for the lowest common denominator practically bar any extensive use of the grey matter to proceed. Which is indeed a crime on personal computers of the power we now have at home.

Contrast with the other extreme, take the sum total of battles in bg3 and compare with basically any scenario in knights of the chalice 2 where you have someone with a supreme knowledge of rules and their interactions coupled with a dash of sadism that lovingly crafted each setup to force the intellect to come in to play to force solutions on the fly instead based on pertinent variables and rigid within the rules of the game. Chess hasnt been around for this long

99% of the combat is click to win which makes sense considering they're using click per minute variables as the basis instead of logic and they wantonly butchered even the already watered down disaster of 5e but low level dnd has always been incredibly lethal and it was only by the grace of your dm Uncle Terry if you could keep going with your character or have to reroll which could happen in any single combat in any early level adventure, until the modern day of course but given bg3 obsession with background analytics governing design decisions we're left with the worst combo possible of bland, flavourless franchise food. Most people out there can easily crush a couple of big macs and enjoy it until it comes out the other end anyway, leaving your ass guaranteed ragged and blown out. You get the exact same experience every time you long rest in this game, quite often literally.

Its not even a question really of enjoyment as we all eat junk food from time to time but can a subway sandwich ever be the pinnacle of culinary taste? Jackson Pollack painted as good as Rembrandt I guess because it sells for a few million. I'm not saying we have a bunch of absolute masterpieces in the hobby but there is the concept of craft and pride of work. You can draw circles around the content of the game developed by the different teams in different parts of the world under different directives and it culminates in a paycheque coming every two weeks, decidedly not a passion project and it practically glows in encounters.

It is perhaps ironic that the most expensive and most profitable rpg made in history is simultaneously the maxima of peak decline but this scenario was foretold long ago anyway so not surprising in the slightest but still disappointing.

It might very well be the best day old sandwich someones ever eaten at an airport in New Jersey but Swens click to win Dad dungeon is not the best rpg ever made, give me a break.

 

[Tyranicon]

So real question, you guys think that Larian's changes and additions to 5e make it better or worse?

Martials got pretty buffed, I haven't really seen anything interesting with wizards, twinned haste is even more god-tier than it was on tabletop.

Shove = OP
But no grapple? RIP grapple builds.

 

[MerchantKing]

So real question, you guys think that Larian's changes and additions to 5e make it better or worse?

Martials got pretty buffed, I haven't really seen anything interesting with wizards, twinned haste is even more god-tier than it was on tabletop.

Shove = OP
But no grapple? RIP grapple builds.

It makes it worse. It was already nonsense before. But it's even more nonsensical now.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I can restore a recent save, but I suppose I need to determine the proper order for doing things in Moonrise Tower so the game doesn't bug out like that.

The way I did it was:

Spoiler

talk to gnomes who have an escape plan, they need tools (blunt weapon like mace, warhammer)
Kill the floating eyes and the wardens in the prison (otherwise they might pursue and kill the prisoners).
Give blunt weapon to gnomes who will use it to smash the wall of their cell and then will also free the tieflings. They will use the tunnels to flee to a boat.
Open cells with levers in warden office and follow them to boat. Use boat.

Yes, this has worked for me. I suppose it would have made too much sense for the game to accept that you freed the prisoners by opening the doors to their cells, with a ship conveniently available at the docks right outside the tower entrance, only a short voyage away from safety at the Last Light Inn.

It's kind of funny. The unspoken assumption seems to be that women don't play video games like this.

Larian aimed its romance options primarily at heterosexual women, with three male human companions who are generally attractive, whereas the three female companions are a somewhat attractive half-elf, an oversized scarred tiefling barbarian, and and a githyanki. Homosexual men, of course, have the same relatively attractive male options as heterosexual women. From what I gather from reading this thread and other sources, all three male options are quick to advance from "romance" into sexual intercourse (also Halsin, who joins the party for the large majority of players following the good path), whereas for the female options this is true only of the githyanki, while a completionist would take about 30 hours to reach that point for Karlach and over 40 hours for Shadowheart.

well its not just the direct "stick you dick in me" shit, its just every character feels like that weird 37 old drunk guy at the frat party giving off weirdo vibes to all the sorority girls , or perhaps sort of like porn music is turned on in the background whenever you engage in conversation w/ your companions. Its a weird gross vibe, its more like it just feels cringe to have to pick dialogue selections from most of your companions that will reveal an odd and poorly written avenue to go down goes which I was not interested in going down in the first place all in order to please a clientele who I suppose they feel wants that sort of thing.

It will interesting to see what proportion of players don't advance much farther into the game than completing the druid/tiefling/goblin conflict. Larian seems to have designed the majority of the companions for a sort of player who demands near-immediate "romance" followed shortly afterward by sexual consummation, although conspicuously this does not include the only palatable choice for heterosexual men.

 

[ItsChon]

Would love to see a response to Mr. Warcrimes post. Big if true.

 

[Takamori]

So real question, you guys think that Larian's changes and additions to 5e make it better or worse?

Martials got pretty buffed, I haven't really seen anything interesting with wizards, twinned haste is even more god-tier than it was on tabletop.

Shove = OP
But no grapple? RIP grapple builds.

Shove retarded change, same for anyone can use scrolls, being able to change spells on a whim is retarded, no penalty wearing heavy armor devaluing DORF its one for the book of grudges and double casting.

Now stuff that I support the changes in Ranger and Monk for sure WotC is too retarded for letting those classes be a barrel of jokes and the weapon maneuvers they fixed a little 5e retarded weapon being raw potato beat sticks.

Stuff I wished they added was the crafting of magical items even with limitation or with a high cost.

 

[Space Satan]

Muscular women are beautiful.
Feminine women are beautiful.
Short women are beautiful.
Tall women are beautiful.

As long as they are women and not made by bioware.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Could be useful to some people here

https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gat...ot-playtested-this-mod-for-more-than-an-hour/

If I got to redesign Baldur's Gate 3 to fit my specific preferences, the first thing I'd do is get rid of the party system. My posse of Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach is great, but my favorite character to roleplay is the wandering ronin—the problem solver with an air of mystery who can take care of himself (Geralt of Rivia, essentially). But alas, BG3 is built with a full party of four in mind. You could try to fly solo, but difficulty doesn't scale to smaller parties, so fights would inevitably become impossibly punishing. Unless mods can save the day.

A new mod from Nexus user Mordread256 aims to make solo play viable with buffs inspired by a perk from Larian's previous RPG, Divinity: Original Sin 2. "Lone Wolf" attempts to even the odds in fights by giving the player character extra opportunities to attack and a quicker leveling curve.

https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/789

This mod makes the game more similar to DoS Lonewolf mode (not exactly, just similar).
You MUST start a new run or the XP changes can bug.
Don't open existing saves with this mod on.

Tweaks:
2x XP to improve solo and duo experience
L20 max. level, but do not exceed 12 on any single class or it will bug!
Like similar mods, take the 12th level of you class as the last level or it could bug.
Increased carry capacity
Extra feat at level 2 for all classes
Double actions, bonus actions, spell slots and sorcery points

I have not play tested this mod for more than about an hour but it seems stable. Although you should easily be able to remove the mod and carry on.

To install the mod just extra the zip file. Place the 1 folder (Public) into your game's data folder:
Baldurs Gate 3\Data

Then play the game like normal. Larian launcher will give an error popup, just close the error message and play like normal.

To delete the mod, just delete the folder (Public).

Optionally I include a file to lock you to 1 party member (this will make certain side quests impossible):
Just download, extract and put the Mods folder into Baldurs Gate 3\Data.

I have also left the old legacy version with only:
Tweaks:
Locked to 1 party member
4x XP to match the Solo experience
L20 max. level, but do not exceed 12 on any single class or it will bug!
Like similar mods, take the 12th level of you class as the last level or it could bug.

 

[Takamori]

Could be useful to some people here

https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gat...ot-playtested-this-mod-for-more-than-an-hour/

If I got to redesign Baldur's Gate 3 to fit my specific preferences, the first thing I'd do is get rid of the party system. My posse of Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach is great, but my favorite character to roleplay is the wandering ronin—the problem solver with an air of mystery who can take care of himself (Geralt of Rivia, essentially). But alas, BG3 is built with a full party of four in mind. You could try to fly solo, but difficulty doesn't scale to smaller parties, so fights would inevitably become impossibly punishing. Unless mods can save the day.

A new mod from Nexus user Mordread256 aims to make solo play viable with buffs inspired by a perk from Larian's previous RPG, Divinity: Original Sin 2. "Lone Wolf" attempts to even the odds in fights by giving the player character extra opportunities to attack and a quicker leveling curve.

https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/789

This mod makes the game more similar to DoS Lonewolf mode (not exactly, just similar).
You MUST start a new run or the XP changes can bug.
Don't open existing saves with this mod on.

Tweaks:
2x XP to improve solo and duo experience
L20 max. level, but do not exceed 12 on any single class or it will bug!
Like similar mods, take the 12th level of you class as the last level or it could bug.
Increased carry capacity
Extra feat at level 2 for all classes
Double actions, bonus actions, spell slots and sorcery points

I have not play tested this mod for more than about an hour but it seems stable. Although you should easily be able to remove the mod and carry on.

To install the mod just extra the zip file. Place the 1 folder (Public) into your game's data folder:
Baldurs Gate 3\Data

Then play the game like normal. Larian launcher will give an error popup, just close the error message and play like normal.

To delete the mod, just delete the folder (Public).

Optionally I include a file to lock you to 1 party member (this will make certain side quests impossible):
Just download, extract and put the Mods folder into Baldurs Gate 3\Data.

I have also left the old legacy version with only:
Tweaks:
Locked to 1 party member
4x XP to match the Solo experience
L20 max. level, but do not exceed 12 on any single class or it will bug!
Like similar mods, take the 12th level of you class as the last level or it could bug.

Friend of mine is doing a solo run with his cleric, no mods required so take that info with a grain of salt. He just killed Lorrakan

 

[Eisenheinrich]

Would love to see a response to Mr. Warcrimes post. Big if true.

NPCs in KotC2 greet you with "Howdy".
Sure, there is a target group for this type of specialist's games, but it's not even close to the feel of a PnP-Game.

 

[The_Mask]

Muscular women are beautiful.
Feminine women are beautiful.
Short women are beautiful.
Tall women are beautiful.

As long as they are women and not made by bioware.

Possibly the first and only post on this thread I agree with 100%.

 

[Space Satan]

datamined unused Minthra dialogues:

As well all know, Minthara's romance is either bugged to hell or cut out of the game, so I extracted some files and searched for her name. I sadly cant see who says them AND its really hard to tell one line from another, but I chose some interesting ones I didn't personally see in game (friends have said they've seen some of them, so not all are unused.)



pregnancy

• So, Minthara has one in the proverbial oven?
• I hope we’re not finished with our current labours before Minthara drops her egg. War is the perfect nursery for a child.
• Minthara with child… Somehow I can’t picture her sitting around the campfire, knitting baby booties…
• Minthara’s pregnant. A new life, a little one, sprung from all this fuckin’ chaos.

companions about/to minthara (guessed!)

• It’s funny seeing you so smitten, Minthara. Didn’t think you were able.
• How curious - I’ve only ever known Minthara to moan with pleasure when somebody’s losing a limb.
• So, you and Minthara, is it? I suppose that little spark we shared has been snuffed out then. I don’t blame you though - she is a… compelling prospect.
• And you’re carousing with Minthara.
• Not interested in Minthara’s leftovers, I’m afraid.
• Any doubts about falling for a foe, Minthara? Or does that just add spice to things?
• Minthara’s something of a closed book, but I suspect a heart of gold lurks beneath that stern countenance.
• So. You and Minthara. Wow. Impressive.
• I bet Minthara is fun.
• To choose Minthara over, well, anyone… It’s certainly a brave decision. One might hazard to say reckless. Stupid. Fatal…
• I hope you and Minthara are very happy together. Or miserable. Whatever she prefers.
• Right. Well, far be it for me to stand in the way of true love. Or anything else Minthara wants, for that matter.
• What about Minthara? Weren’t you guys in some kind of horrific power play masquerading as romance?
• Hey, so, what’s romance like in the Underdark, Minthara?
• And you favour Minthara, no less. I thought you valued yourself. Minthara certainly doesn’t.

pc to/about minthara (guessed!)

Amorous passions usually make people more considerate, Minthara. Kinder. Sympathetic. Better at cooperating.

• Even my people know the value of a carefully crafted coalition, Minthara. Is our own alliance not a case in point?
• Who do you love, Minthara?
• I’m yours, Minthara.
• I’ve decided to pursue a relationship with Minthara. I thought you should know.
• You’ve judged my affections wrongly - I am much closer to Minthara!
• It was only sex, Minthara. Do you have to be so dramatic?
• I’ll do it. Just please - don’t hurt Minthara.
• Yes. I’m yours, Minthara.
• She comes in here, into our camp, and lays hands on my Minthara?!
• We’ll find your family, Minthara. And slaughter them. Would you enjoy that?
• You think I’m beautiful? Oh, Minthara.

narrator (guessed!)

• You slept with the drow Minthara. You pleased her.
• The guard is happy to let you pass - Minthara is rather less happy about your choice of words.
• You slip into Minthara’s mind while all her attention is focused on saving her own skin. You can feel her guilt everywhere, writhing and churning. All it takes is one little push…

idk

• Who knows how long the real Minthara has been strapped to Orin’s altar? We owe it to her to bring her back safely. She would do no less for you or I.
• You’re that True Soul that’s been chumming around with Minthara, aren’t you?
• Care to share any of Minthara’s weaknesses? Or would it take too long to go through them all?
• And Minthara is - eh. A friend of yours, I am sure.
• Distract her with thoughts of your night with Minthara.
• Orin, masquerading as Minthara… That certainly explains her vociferous antipathy towards me.
• And what more beautiful terror can there be than that wrought by Minthara and her love?
• Why so surprised? Minthara murdered her way out of the womb.
• I’m glad to know you have a softer side, Minthara. I was beginning to think you rather heartless.
• Minthara Baenre. It is fair to say her intimacy is not easily won. Nevertheless, I did. Tried. (ORIN??)
• My good friend Minthara is the funniest person I know.
• Orin thinks Minthara’s abduction is an ultimatum to kill Gortash.

status

• Partnered with Minthara
• Orin abducted Minthara. She told us that she’ll release her if we kill Gortash.
• Minthara is in Orin’s clutches.

searching for “baenre”

• It is true. Surface food lacks flavour. House Baenre banquets were legendary.

 

[Darkwind]

Sounds like a skill issue. Maybe you should apply yourself.

Vyvian! So good to see you! Your avatar pic is so hot! That classic 50s blond look really turns my crank. Do you have an onlyfans? I'm so happy that so many real life women are suddenly so interested in cRPGs and the Codex.

 

[Shadowfang]

Sounds like a skill issue. Maybe you should apply yourself.

View attachment 40105

Vyvian! So good to see you! Your avatar pic is so hot! That classic 50s blond look really turns my crank. Do you have an onlyfans? I'm so happy that so many real life women are suddenly so interested in cRPGs and the Codex.

Its a trap!

 

[Takamori]

So which penis Vyvian has? Penis B or C?

 

[Johnny Biggums]

I'm neither of those

You're an old school degenerate

Perfect fit for the codex!

You say this as a dig but old school degeneracy is based

 

[Elthosian]

Devs confirmed that most of Minthara's content have been locked due to bug.

Guesss I'll postpone the rest of my playthrough until that gets fixed then.

I wouldn't count on it. I'm not aware of any "dev confirmation".

Regarding several mintharas' issues

 

[Johnny Biggums]

So real question, you guys think that Larian's changes and additions to 5e make it better or worse?

Martials got pretty buffed, I haven't really seen anything interesting with wizards, twinned haste is even more god-tier than it was on tabletop.

Shove = OP
But no grapple? RIP grapple builds.

They implemented everything worse except for jump, where the implementation is mechanically dumb, but in practice very fun.

 

[Agame]

Most people out there can easily crush a couple of big macs and enjoy it until it comes out the other end anyway, leaving your ass guaranteed ragged and blown out. You get the exact same experience every time you long rest in this game, quite often literally.

Beautiful imagery, this should be in the Codex official review.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

So real question, you guys think that Larian's changes and additions to 5e make it better or worse?

Just to set the context I have to stress that I'm not exactly the most fervent D&D loyalist out there.
I have played barely a handful of tabletop games in my life -often not for very long, either- and even among these I'd put ANY edition of D&D pretty close to the bottom of my preferences (Cyberpunk, Cthulhu, M.E.R.P, etc).
At the same time, I would STILL take D&D over the overwhelming majority of the crappy rulesets developers made up specifically for videogames over decades (with very few isolated exceptions, like Darklands, the "SPECIAL" in Fallout 2, etc).
This idea a lot of people go parroting around, that "If it's born for a tabletop system is probably a poor fit for a game" is GARBAGE in my opinion, and I'd argue that the active effort to move away from the idea that "if the game is on computers it HAS to feel like a videogame" is precisely what makes ((some parts of) these CRPG feel special.

I have also zero emotional investment in the war between the old and new D&D editions, but I'll say this: for all the autistic screeching I've heard over the years about "5th edition being dumbed down shit" I have to conceded that actually playing it in the context of tactical combat doesn't feel half bad to me, it grew on me over time. The interruptions/reactions system in particular is great in games like Solasta and this one.

All this to answer the question:

A way to put this could be that they introduced something like a hundred+ of minor changes or so in their current implementation of the ruleset... And I'd be hard pressed to point more than a couple of them that when put under any amount of scrutiny don't turn out to be changes for the worse.
YES, even if the excuse was that they were changes made "to fit a videogame".

 

[Heroic Liberator]

 

[Alienman]

Damn, the evil path really made chapter 1 short as hell.

Spoiler

Talked to Minthara (really liked her, voice and appearance). Accepted the mission to destroy the grove. Did so together with her. It was a fun fight, but not very challenging. Had a small party at the camp and she tasted the salami as a reward. Decided to go back to the Absolute camp, and they cleared out already? Wtf. I was hoping to do missions for them, talking to a few, but nope. None there. So much content gone, like tears in the rain and the whole experience gave me a strong suspicion that the evil path might not be as interesting as I hoped it to be since I didn't actually get to join them. Even if I did their dirty deed. It seems I did the deed more for myself than actually joining anyone. For some reason, the game treats the Absolute as the enemy, when I don't even know much about them. This in turn makes me think chapters 2 and 3 will play out the same, however, with small narrative differences. Oh well. In my good playthrough, I was able to walk freely among the cultists as well, which I think will be exactly the same as the evil path.

 

[perfectslumbers]

Martials got pretty buffed, I haven't really seen anything interesting with wizards, twinned haste is even more god-tier than it was on tabletop.

Sorcs got a huge buff because you can cast two spells per turn now. That's also a slight buff to wizard since they can misty step + cast, although the biggest buff to wizards is that evocation wizard adds your intelligence to every single magic missile. Add some gear and it's a good way to do 100 undodgeable dpr to bosses

5e is in my opinion a pretty bad tabletop rpg because the system is A: Attrition based, B: Slow and cumbersome, and C: has no way to stop players from getting infinite resources. These three qualities all make each other worse by merit of 5e's design. It's difficult to design a single challenging encounter in D&D 5e without making it very swingy, often resulting in a single moment or two deciding the outcome, because the game is focused on attrition over singular mathematically balanced encounters. Encounters take a long time because enemies and players in 5e are quite tanky, players are hard to take down, and it's juuuust complex enough that people sit there thinking of what to do. And playing 5e with all the default rules, there's no way to stop your party from constantly long resting. Even if you decide to spam an encounter every time they rest eventually they unlock Leomund's Tiny Hut and the campaign breaks down completely.

Larian fixes some of this, and being a videogame fixes some of this. Larian's solution to infinite resources is introducing a supply system to long resting. Once I started looting every box I never felt in danger of running out of long rests, but the very presence of these supplies did make me think "Should I rest, or push on?" often, which means 5e's attrition based gameplay can function properly. Being a videogame helps address the swinginess of single challenging fights, simply because you can reload. If you wipe your entire party as a DM in a tabletop game, you just ruined everyones night, it sucks. If Larian wipes your party, you reload. This gives Larian way more options to create boss encounters or unique fights. The game is still as slow as tabletop 5e but that's fine since you control 4 characters instead of a single character.

So overall, BG3 turns 5e from a terrible tabletop game to a very fun CRPG system, although the many editions of D&D also have a habit of working better as videogames than as tabletop games. OD&D and Basic D&D are the exceptions that work better as tabletop games IMO.

Actually it was

Spoiler

The Emperor

Spoiler

I complained about him not acting like a mindflayer but clearly I misread his character. Considering this, and considering that he made Duke Stelmane his thrall, he really does act like a proper mindflayer, albeit a suspiciously horny one. (Same with every character Larian has ever written, I guess). I wish we could have more options to be suspicious of him and more conflict with him. Seems like a missed opportunity to bring a lot of interesting moments into the game considering how little proper interaction there is with The Emperor and the Orpheus situation.