Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

[Zarniwoop]

For PC Gamer US, Baldur's Gate 3 joins some illustrious names. Before today, only five games had scored over 96:

• Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, 1999 [98]

Kind of based. SMAC was probably the greatest PC game of all time. Never been any other 4x that reached its heights.

99%-100% Advances the human species. Provides a feeling not dissimilar to the ending of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The only feeling I got from this movie was "what the fuck did I just watch". Particularly from the ending.

And BG3 gives you that feeling in act 1 already. When Gayle talks about his dead wife and shows you magic tricks.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Funny that the game has mechanics for fallen paladins, but if a cleric of Talos decides to prevent chaos and descruction, his deity doesn't even bat an eyelid...

What do you mean by this? Not played Paladin nor priest except for Shadowheart.

You didn't know you can become a fallen paladin due to how you resolve quests, and still keep playing as that subclass?

I'll just quote what I wrote yesterday:

* Reactivity to class/race -- unparalleled
* Evil path / multiple outcomes to quests -- at least viable, if not on par with the good path, the verdict is pending
* "Roll with failed checks" gameplay - provided! Show me another RPG that does that, in the last 20 years.
* Killable NPCs, including plot-important ones -- check.
The above sum up as "Choice & Consequence", a term coined here afaik. And then you also have:
* Combat -- D&D mechanics and monsters! Yes, 5e, but that's mandated by WotC :trollface: The worst I've heard so far about the combat is that Tactician needs balancing, which is achievable with mods.
* Exploration -- check.

 

[HammyTheFat]

Apparently they rolled back the hotfix, so not only did I just lose an hour plus of gameplay - I got put back in front of the door in act 2 that led to thorm that I couldn't even open until the hotfix patched it.

Thank you Larian, very cool.

I guess I'll start my evil playthrough or something.

Really? All TWENTY-FIVE quicksaves got broken by a patch?

Any save made AFTER the hotfix can't be accessed until they roll it back out. Which for me was every save after act 2, because I couldn't get to act 3 BEFORE the patch due to a broken door/conversation bug

 

[merser]

Schizo-opinion:
The dice in Baldur's Gate 3 is not the usual dice, but a lootbox for events.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a gacha.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Any save made AFTER the hotfix can't be accessed until they roll it back out. Which for me was every save after act 2, because I couldn't get to act 3 BEFORE the patch due to a broken door/conversation bug

 

[janior]

Grymforge is a good example of the "puzzle combat" in this game. (For those with reading comprehension, my complaint is that the combats take too long, not that they are too hard.)
When you enter the area you are told Nere and the gnomes are trapped in a cave-in with poison, you need to save the gnomes but also kill Nere, assuming you are good.

-If you rest, they all die, which makes sense at least. But if you happened to arrive at less than full health/spells, too bad. (Reload)
-You need a barrel bomb to open the cave in. I was lucky and had one already, but if you don't you have to go track one down. You'll probably run into several side fights that will sap your resources, potentially making the final fight unwinnable. (Reload)
-When you blow the bomb, you can easily hit one of the gnomes accidentally, turning them hostile and failing the quest. (Reload)
-When Nere is freed he immediately starts killing the gnomes unless you fight him. This inexplicably turns every dwarf in the area hostile, which is a fight you probably aren't prepared for. (Reload)
-One of the dwarves, who is not a caster, has a magic item that casts Thunder wave, and will attempt to use it to knock your guys into instakill pits or lava. The terrain of the room makes it very difficult to stay safe from this attack. So unless you intuited that this one dwarf was especially dangerous, win initiative, and burn her down, you're likely going to lose one or more guys. (Reload)
-You can try picking off some of the isolated dwarves ahead of time with stealth kills/pushes, but this is going to require some trial and error. (Reload)
-You can convince the elder to turn half the dwarves against Nere, but this requires a specific line of dialogue and a skill check, so if you missed it, too bad. (Reload and restart entire area).
-I tried to find an alternate way to free Nere without clearing the cave-in, but the game doesn't allow you to teleport or fly to the other side, even though it looks like it should. Waste of resources. (Reload)

So, for a single fight, that was about two hours of "gameplay" with at least 6+ reloads just to learn script triggers, gotcha enemies, and unpredictable NPCs, and I barely feel like I've made any progress or had any fun for my gaming time. You're really better off going into this area hard and just killing everyone, but then you won't get to experience the developers' awesome "puzzle".

lol ur so bad

Spoiler

just make him help u with the dwarves and then kill him solo ez

 

[turkishronin]

What even was the point in 3 years of Early Access if the game still came out buggy

 

[AwesomeButton]

How are you supposed to break the vengeance oath?

-me, drenched in the blood of anybody who looks at me wrong-

Vengeance oath:

View attachment 40163

You can break it right away, by killing the tieflings under the cage where Laezel is found.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Any save made AFTER the hotfix can't be accessed until they roll it back out. Which for me was every save after act 2, because I couldn't get to act 3 BEFORE the patch due to a broken door/conversation bug

Lmao, piracy wins again as i had no problem with this shit and i'm happely playing the game while ya'll stuck. Suck it down.

 

[Pizzashoes]

You're not telling me you actually reloaded saves in the game, did you? That's the least prestigious way to play.

 

[Lyric Suite]

BTW, finally, FINALLY i'm out of the fucking druid cove and decided to backtrack to those temple ruins i left behind before getting to the tiefling camp. Decided to take Astarion with me and made him an Arcane Trickster just for the theme, even though it seems it's actually the worst choice to pick for him but fuck it, combat is easy anyway who cares. After taking out 300 traps in the opening room i now have the run of the whole place. Since i'm playing Pally with that mod makes it harder to gain approval (and easier to lose it) i expect i'll probably lose Astarion at some point which means i need to find a way to make up for the loss of his rogue skills.

 

[Elthosian]

Any save made AFTER the hotfix can't be accessed until they roll it back out. Which for me was every save after act 2, because I couldn't get to act 3 BEFORE the patch due to a broken door/conversation bug

Lmao, piracy wins again as i had no problem with this shit and i'm happely playing the game while ya'll stuck. Suck it down.

Joke’s on you, I spent the day testing mods and lost like 5 minutes worth of gametime

 

[Pizzashoes]

I made a promise in the pre-game thread to kill Jaheira, but she dies so easily in her opening combat. It was really unsatisfying.

 

[Parabalus]

* "Roll with failed checks" gameplay - provided! Show me another RPG that does that, in the last 20 years.

Some examples?

 

[Swen]

Is Barbie the greatest movie ever and BG3 the best game EVAH? What do you think fellow baldur's gate 3 enjoyers.

Haters gonna COPE, SEETHE AND DILATE

 

[Pizzashoes]

True evil with a white male leading a harem of women in 2023 in the same game that has so much Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion up with the wazoo which lead to a near perfect review score.

The Most Evil Possible Ending

Did Larian Studios really thread this needle of pandering to game journos while creating a real roleplaying game? I'm pretty sure I sperged out way too hard in the pre-game thread.

 

[Nerevar]

So with these two easy to get act 1 items my full party gets bless and blade ward when they get healed. Seems pretty good. I respecced Sharty to life domain too.

 

[janior]

not a fan of respecs, should not be a thing

 

[Pizzashoes]

How do you get Bless? I used Hellrider's Pride the whole way through. It seems way more like a Very Rare item than a Green. Yes, Respecs are a second playthrough kind of thing. The game is easy enough on Tactician to encourage using the constraints of the game's characters and classes without switching. There really isn't any challenge difficult enough to justify respeccing.

 

[Swen]

Eurogamer calls out BG3 for being buggy: https://www.eurogamer.net/baldurs-gate-3-a-critical-success-with-critical-failures

With excellent stagecraft and meticulous detail, Baldur's Gate 3 conjures the illusion of perfect freedom - and then it disappears.

At its best, Baldur's Gate 3 achieves its quest to be Tabletop Roleplaying: The Video Game, with a to-and-fro of distinctive scenes that invite you to pay attention to them, and reward you generously for responding thoughtfully. I was often surprised, delighted, and shocked by its plot reveals, and emotionally torn about which direction - from a roleplaying perspective - I should pursue. At its worst, however, it's buggy to the point of broken - despite several post-launch hotfixes, with more to come - and frequently feels like its best aspects are compromised. Baldur's Gate 3 only has such a capacity to disappoint because for so long it feels like it does the impossible, making a game that feels actively collaborative as a storyteller - but it does, in the end, both critically succeed and critically fail.

Fcking eurogamer fags destroying my metascore and opencritic score!

So these retards gave BG3 and Zelda TOTK 4/5 but gave fcking Pikmin 4 a 5/5?! U wot m8?

What a dogsh*t site and lmfao looking at what... thing reviewed the game... I know enough.

 

[AwesomeButton]

nd BG3 gives you that feeling in act 1 already. When Gayle talks about his dead wife and shows you magic tricks

Don't prod the gay, he won't tell you gay things. I'm on a strictly live and let live terms with Gale, and he's just funny enough.

I admit that a young George Michael stand-in is not my first idea of a wizard concept, I'd prefer something more classic, but he is a pure wizard and has an INT of 18. I gave him some trinket that doubles his cantrip damage, and I'm mostly spamming firebolts. 90% of the fights don't require me to use even Magic Missile, and if I reach for the Fireball, this is at most once per long rest.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Looking back, I feel like Act II overstays its welcome. I would rather hang out in Baldur's Gate more. Or with less bugs.

I can just chill on the streets with shadowcooch...

...and just for a second forget that the BG3 main plot is the worst thing commited by Belgium since Congo.

 

[AwesomeButton]

* "Roll with failed checks" gameplay - provided! Show me another RPG that does that, in the last 20 years.

Some examples?

Too many to recount, but I put skill checks for perception and survival here, dialogue skillchecks, etc in this category.

Last Light is such an example, if you take "Failed checks" to include the "death" of an NPC during combat.

 

[Jaunty]

What even was the point in 3 years of Early Access if the game still came out buggy

Money.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Did Larian Studios really thread this needle of pandering to game journos while creating a real roleplaying game?

Yes. And the butthurt crowd look all the more stupid farting around about how monocled they are by shitting on it. Never thought I'd see such poseurs outside of heavy metal circles.