Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

[Zayne]

Spoilers!

Bhaal is like "i have a gift for you my son! become my agent of death it's your destiny" Then he teaches you kill command that insta kill anything with less or equal to 100 hp. Your butler shows up in camp to give you lore dumps about him and your past. Also your duel with orin is quite epic.

So, basically, the same power Thorm's henchwoman Z'Rell has? Nice, proper gift :D

 

[None]

Has there ever been a "proper" sequel to anything when the time between releases is measured in decades?

 

[Grauken]

Has there ever been a "proper" sequel to anything when the time between releases is measured in decades?

Wizardry 8

 

[Swen]

I really hate this game. I guess the joke is on me for thinking this would be different from the previous Divinity games (which I also hated).

This has all the hallmarks from Larian's previous games that I personally hated:
- overly cartoony graphical style
- terrible writing for the most part
- bad puns and humour all over (yes, I prefer more grimdark settings/stories)
- annoying inventory system, with crates all over the place with useless loot
- terrible camera, especially in places with a lot of vertical spaces
- terrible companions

It certainly does not feel like a proper sequel to BG1/BG2 (which I played back at release). It feels like a Divinity game. But maybe I'm just getting old and bitter and don't enjoy how they make RPGs these days...

Cope it's much better than archaic RTWP trash.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I'm romancing her since the beginning of the game, have the friendliness bar at max and she still doesn't fugg me And I''m not fugging anybody else!

You need to reach Act III to consummate the Shadowheart romance, which for a completionist will be more than 50 hours into the game. As I've pointed out before, Larian clearly implemented the romances and sex scenes for an audience of heterosexual women, homosexual men, and githyanki lovers (possibly also people yearning to be dominated by a suspiciously masculine female drow "paladin"). Even Karlach's romance requires reaching Act II proper (about 30 hours for a completionist) for its consummation, and I expect the majority of people who purchased BG3 will never even reach the point where Shadowheart's romance could be completed.

It certainly does not feel like a proper sequel to BG1/BG2 (which I played back at release).

BG3 isn't a proper sequel to the Bioware Baldur's Gate games, because BG3 actually has decent combat and exploration. Pity the story and characters are another matter, though, clearly still bearing Bioware's baleful influence.

 

[Zeltak]

I really hate this game. I guess the joke is on me for thinking this would be different from the previous Divinity games (which I also hated).

This has all the hallmarks from Larian's previous games that I personally hated:
- overly cartoony graphical style
- terrible writing for the most part
- bad puns and humour all over (yes, I prefer more grimdark settings/stories)
- annoying inventory system, with crates all over the place with useless loot
- terrible camera, especially in places with a lot of vertical spaces
- terrible companions

It certainly does not feel like a proper sequel to BG1/BG2 (which I played back at release). It feels like a Divinity game. But maybe I'm just getting old and bitter and don't enjoy how they make RPGs these days...

Cope it's much better than archaic RTWP trash.

It would be if tactician didn't take a nosedive after level 4. It's really telling that the hardest encounter in the entire game was the hag because you don't have access to haste and extra attack at that point (unless you come back to it at a later time).

They really fucked up the difficulty curve on this one and it's a shame because they clearly put in a lot of effort to present unique encounters almost all the time. A simple mod fix is to reduce access to camping supplies everywhere. If you can't long rest spam it gets a lot more interesting.

Larian also had the initial intention to place more areas as no long rest zones but of course the casuals complained so it was reduced to very few areas in the game.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Has there ever been a "proper" sequel to anything when the time between releases is measured in decades?

The 26 years between Wasteland and Wasteland II and 30 years between The Bard's Tale III and The Bard's Tale IV are probably the record-holders for CRPG formal sequels, although perhaps someone could argue a longer gap for a 'spiritual successor'.

 

[Grauken]

Has there ever been a "proper" sequel to anything when the time between releases is measured in decades?

The 26 years between Wasteland and Wasteland II and 30 years between The Bard's Tale III and The Bard's Tale IV are probably the record-holders for CRPG formal sequels, although perhaps someone could argue a longer gap for a 'spiritual successor'.

Unlike say Wizardry 8, I wouldn't call either of those proper sequels, especially not BT4 which really has almost nothing in common with the original BTs trilogy

 

[Strange Fellow]

Has there ever been a "proper" sequel to anything when the time between releases is measured in decades?

Jagged Alliance 3

 

[jf8350143]

I really hate this game. I guess the joke is on me for thinking this would be different from the previous Divinity games (which I also hated).

This has all the hallmarks from Larian's previous games that I personally hated:
- overly cartoony graphical style
- terrible writing for the most part
- bad puns and humour all over (yes, I prefer more grimdark settings/stories)
- annoying inventory system, with crates all over the place with useless loot
- terrible camera, especially in places with a lot of vertical spaces
- terrible companions

It certainly does not feel like a proper sequel to BG1/BG2 (which I played back at release). It feels like a Divinity game. But maybe I'm just getting old and bitter and don't enjoy how they make RPGs these days...

This is bascailly a larger and better DOS2. Their design philosophy are pretty much the same.

The 5e system fixed their god awful combat system and itemization so it's playable after first chapter, ulike DOS 2 where the whole gameplay completely falls apart when you leave the second large area.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Has there ever been a "proper" sequel to anything when the time between releases is measured in decades?

Jagged Alliance 3

Jagged Alliance 3 also contains references to a prestigious Codexer:

 

[AwesomeButton]

GameStar.de just released the final review, which is only publically accessible until later today.

They gave it a score of 95% (with a current deduction of 5 points due to heavy bugs in Act3). That's the highest score *any* game ever got in the magazine's 25 year existence.

Bravo Swen !

We should preserve it then:

https://www.gamestar.de/artikel/baldurs-gate-3-test-review,3398541.html

Baldur's Gate 3 Test: Ein historischer Rollenspiel-Meilenstein verdient eine historische Wertung​

Nach rund 120 Stunden hat Sascha Larians monumentales Rollenspiel abgeschlossen und will nur noch eins: Es noch mal komplett von vorn durchspielen.

Sascha Penzhorn
17.08.2023 | 17:00 Uhr

Update vom 17. August 2023: Alles mitgenommen, alles probiert, alles durchgespielt. Sascha ist mit seinem Durchlauf von Baldur’s Gate 3 fertig und trotz einiger Bugs immer noch genauso begeistert wie zum Beginn seiner Reise. Entsprechend findet ihr im Text ab Seite 7 nun auch ein spoilerfreies Fazit zum Ende des Spiels, ein abschließendes Urteil zum technischen Zustand, einen finalen Wertungskasten sowie überarbeitete, beziehungsweise neue Meinungskästen, unter anderem von D&D-Experte Fabiano und GameStar-Chefredakteur Heiko Klinge.

Wie versprochen stellen wir das Endergebnis – einen über 40.000 Zeichen langen Testartikel (das wären rund 15 Heftseiten!) – all unseren Leserinnen und Lesern kostenfrei zur Verfügung.

Ab morgen um 17 Uhr ist unser Test wieder exklusiv für Plus-Abonnenten, ohne deren Support ein solch aufwändiger und umfangreicher Artikel nicht möglich wäre. Falls ihr euch danach noch tiefer mit dem Rollenspiel beschäftigen wollt, empfehlen wir euch unsere zahlreichen Guides zu Baldur’s Gate 3.

Passt zu euch, wenn ...

• ... ihr gar nicht genug Freiheiten in einem Rollenspiel haben könnt.
• ... ihr höchste Ansprüche an Story, Atmosphäre, Dialoge und Quest-Design habt.
• ... ihr die nächsten Wochen nichts anderes zu tun habt.

Passt nicht zu euch, wenn ...

• ... ihr keine Lust auf Fantasy habt.
• ... euch Rundenkämpfe einfach nicht gefallen.
• … ihr schon jetzt ein komplett fehlerfreies Spielerlebnis erwartet.

Ausgerechnet an einem Sonntag kamen die Presse-Keys. Abends. Rund 100 Gigabyte Download. Doppelt, weil ich Larians Monsterprojekt mit meiner Partnerin Claire teste. Als wir das Teil endlich starten, ist es Mitternacht. Kaffee. Energy Drinks. Earl Grey, hot. Als wir aufhören, ist es kurz vor zehn Uhr morgens.

Einige Stunden gepennt und direkt die nächste Nacht durchgezockt. Jetzt sitze ich hier und soll diesen Artikel schreiben. So viele Gedanken und Gefühle, ich kann sie gar nicht ordnen. Ob ich wenigstens Spaß habe, fragt Petra. Ha! Sie hat ja keine Ahnung! Claire und ich träumen von Baldur’s Gate 3, haben die Musik im Kopf, diskutieren über unsere Gefährten in der Story und deren Motivationen und Verhalten.

Historische Höchstwertung, aber 5 Punkte Abwertung wegen Bugs

Einerseits spielt sich Baldur’s Gate 3 für ein Rollenspiel dieses Umfangs und dieser Komplexität bemerkenswert rund. Andererseits gehört es ebenso zur Wahrheit, dass sich zum Zeitpunkt dieses Tests noch verhältnismäßig viele Bugs im Spiel befinden, vor allem im letzten der drei Kapitel. Weil diese je nach Spielweise auch dafür sorgen können, dass sich einige Quests nicht lösen lassen, müssen wir Baldur’s Gate 3 auf Basis unseres Spielerlebnisses temporär um 5 Punkte abwerten.

Angesichts des Rekordtempos, in dem Entwickler Larian gerade Hotfixes raushaut, gehen wir davon aus, dass diese Abwertung nur von kurzer Dauer sein wird. Und wir bleiben trotz der Abwertung über der 90er-Marke, weil wir Baldur’s Gate 3 selbst mit seinen Fehlern schon jetzt für ein Meisterwerk halten, das wir allen Rollenspielfans wärmstens ans Herz legen wollen.

Mehr zu unseren Überlegungen rund um die höchste GameStar-Wertung aller Zeiten erzählen Micha, Heiko und Sascha in unserem Talk-Video:

Ich war ja seit der ersten Ankündigung dagegen. Wieso plötzlich wieder Baldur’s Gate, wieso Larian, wieso erinnert hier so viel auf den ersten Blick an Divinity? Ich habe es lange Zeit ignoriert, bis Menschen während der Early-Access-Phase vor Begeisterung ausgerastet sind. Dort habe ich schließlich doch mal für fünf Stunden reingeschaut und alles ganz interessant gefunden, dann wieder aufgehört.

Falls ich die Vollversion spielen würde, wollte ich das erste Kapitel nicht bereits im Schlaf kennen und mich daran sattgesehen haben. Ich wollte mir Baldur’s Gate 3 für den offiziellen Release aufheben. Dementsprechend neu für mich waren die Erlebnisse, die ich für meinen Test gesammelt habe.

Vier Fäuste gegen Kaulquappen​

Man kann es natürlich auch prima solo spielen, aber wir starten sofort in den Multiplayer, Claire als Ranger und ich als Paladin. Direkt zu Spielbeginn lassen wir uns in beeindruckenden Rendersequenzen von Illithiden was in den Kopf setzen: fiese Parasiten, die ihren Wirt innerhalb weniger Tage auslöschen und in einen Gedankenschinder verwandeln.

Baldur’s Gate 3 fackelt nicht lange. Du hast eine tickende Zeitbombe im Kopf, du musst das Viech in deinem Gehirn schnellstmöglich und um jeden Preis wieder loswerden. Kurze Zeit später stellt sich dann heraus, dass dich dein Parasit nicht wie sonst üblich sehr schnell umbringt, sondern dir anscheinend neue Kräfte verleiht. Sehr mysteriös, das alles!

Typisch für Larian findet ihr bereits in den ersten Spielstunden alle sechs Hauptbegleiter im Spiel, ihrerseits Leidensgenossen mit Würmchen im Kopf, die sich euch anschließen, um gemeinsam nach einer Heilmethode zu suchen. Also größtenteils. Wenigstens ein Kollege hätte überhaupt nichts dagegen, seine neuen Kräfte voll auszunutzen, um mächtiger zu werden und die Menschen seinem Willen zu beugen.

Von daher findet er seinen Parasiten auch gar nicht mal so schlimm. Zudem kommen alle sechs Begleiter mit spektakulären Hintergrundgeschichten, schon weil ihr jede dieser Figuren wahlweise auch als Hauptfigur spielen dürft, wenn ihr keinen eigenen Charakter erstellen möchtet.

»Ich bin Uwe, ich bin Zwerg, mag Bier und boxe gerne Oger«, könnt ihr hier vergessen. An den Protagonisten von Baldur’s Gate 3 ist nichts bodenständig. Falls es hilft: Im weiteren Spielverlauf kommen noch andere Begleiter ohne massive Origin-Story hinzu, zudem dürft ihr recht früh im Spiel generische Mitstreiter anheuern.

Koop mit Tücken​

Startet Claire einen Dialog mit einem Charakter, kann ich sie anklicken und die Unterhaltung verfolgen, Antwortmöglichkeiten empfehlend hervorheben, die Kontrolle hat in diesem Moment jedoch allein meine Freundin. Das ist nicht ganz perfekt, weil ich immer möglichst sofort aktiv in ihre Dialoge reinklicken muss, um nichts zu verpassen.

Zudem bleiben unsere Hauptfiguren in Unterhaltungen stumm, wobei mir nicht immer genug Zeit bleibt, ihre Antworten vollständig zu lesen, bevor sie diese auswählt. Wir haben dieses Problem wie totale Rollenspiel-Nerds so gelöst, dass jeder von uns seine Dialogzeilen laut aufsagen (und schauspielern!) muss, damit der Mitspieler immer weiß, was gesagt wird.

Zudem gibt es noch die Option auf sogenannte private Dialoge, in denen der Mitspieler ganz bewusst nicht mitbekommt, was man in bestimmten Situationen mit NPCs bespricht, das haben wir aber deaktiviert.

Davon abgesehen ist das Spiel im Multiplayer bisher super. Claire hat sich mit einigen Gefährten angefreundet, die ich bisher nicht besonders mag und umgekehrt. Sie redet mit Tieren, knackt Schlösser, entschärft Fallen und findet Verborgenes. Ich überrede und überzeuge NPCs dank hohem Charisma-Wert in vielen Dialogsequenzen und schüchtere Monster und Banditen ein, was uns viele Kämpfe umgehen lässt.

Die Gefechte in Baldur’s Gate 3 sind ausschließlich rundenbasiert und nehmen entsprechend mehr Zeit in Anspruch als in den Klassikern, dafür hast du nicht an jeder Ecke wieder und wieder dieselben Trashmobs und kannst viele Konfrontationen gewaltfrei lösen. Kommt es doch mal zum Kampf, geht das Spiel sehr gnädig los, macht mir aber auch schon erste kleine Sorgen.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I'm romancing her since the beginning of the game, have the friendliness bar at max and she still doesn't fugg me And I''m not fugging anybody else!

Maybe take more long rests? I suspect the main reason I'm NOT getting hit on by all my companions is they can't catch me at camp.

BTW, if you don't rest-spam I find romances to be progressing at a normal pace. From my wine-drinking date with Shadowheart to my gifting her the black orchid, I had about 25 realtime hours of gameplay. It feels like quite a lot of time has passed.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I have yet to long rest ONCE lmao.

With the mod that reduces approval gained (and increases approval loss) it's likely i'll never even see some of the companion quests unfold.

 

[Kiste]

- overly cartoony graphical style

There nothing "cartoony" in the graphics style. Stop making shit up.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Has there ever been a "proper" sequel to anything when the time between releases is measured in decades?

Jagged Alliance 3

Haven't played that yet, but I had high hopes for it. It's made by an East European studio (Bulgaria) with western oversight. This seems to be a great combination, because the developers were likely playing JA2 at the time they bought their first PCs - somewhere in the mid-90s. I'd wager they are at least familiar with what they need to achieve.

Knowing the product from the "business" side, including as a user, greatly improves communication if you are outsourced work on that product.

 

[ferratilis]

Swen on suicide watch

Eurogamer review knocked it down a point

 

[Lagole Gon]

- overly cartoony graphical style

There nothing "cartoony" in the graphics style. Stop making shit up.

I don't get that complaint. The game looks great.
If I had to nitpick, some animal models up close are bad.

I was also going to argue that goblin design makes them look too humanized, but then...

So I had to withdraw my criticism about the humanization of goblins in this game.

 

[Rhobar121]

I really hate this game. I guess the joke is on me for thinking this would be different from the previous Divinity games (which I also hated).

This has all the hallmarks from Larian's previous games that I personally hated:
- overly cartoony graphical style
- terrible writing for the most part
- bad puns and humour all over (yes, I prefer more grimdark settings/stories)
- annoying inventory system, with crates all over the place with useless loot
- terrible camera, especially in places with a lot of vertical spaces
- terrible companions

It certainly does not feel like a proper sequel to BG1/BG2 (which I played back at release). It feels like a Divinity game. But maybe I'm just getting old and bitter and don't enjoy how they make RPGs these days...

Cope it's much better than archaic RTWP trash.

It would be if tactician didn't take a nosedive after level 4. It's really telling that the hardest encounter in the entire game was the hag because you don't have access to haste and extra attack at that point (unless you come back to it at a later time).

They really fucked up the difficulty curve on this one and it's a shame because they clearly put in a lot of effort to present unique encounters almost all the time. A simple mod fix is to reduce access to camping supplies everywhere. If you can't long rest spam it gets a lot more interesting.

Larian also had the initial intention to place more areas as no long rest zones but of course the casuals complained so it was reduced to very few areas in the game.

Combat isn't too bad when you don't use haste (I didn't even learn this spell). It's still not terribly difficult due to the small amount of hp.

 

[Terenty]

The game has been pure incline so far. Yes making every companion playersexual is retarded and the ability to go to your camp in the most unlikely scenarios is retarded too, but everything else is good.

I'm only I'm the first act, just done with the grove quest, but companions were pretty tame so far in regards to their horniness and nobody hit on me except for the gay vampire, which I can allow cus he's openly gay.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but unless you specifically choose a dialogue option nobody's gonna come on to you?

And I didn't find anything cringy or marvel like about the companions either, except for Karlach. Everybody is talking about terrible writing and how it's the worst written game, but I can't see it? Where?

Actually i wanna commend the game for not bombarding me with walls of text and exposition like so many RPGs do. Nobody tried to tell me about what Faerun is and how many races live there and their political status and blah blah.

I have a feeling people screaming about how this game is completely degenerate and downhill of civilisation will feel pretty stupid once they play the game, so far it's been such a miniscule part of the whole experience that it's not even worth mentioning (though it can change further into the game)

 

[Rhobar121]

The game has been pure incline so far. Yes making every companion playersexual is retarded and the ability to go to your camp in the most unlikely scenarios is retarded too, but everything else is good.

I'm only I'm the first act, just done with the grove quest, but companions were pretty tame so far in regards to their horniness and nobody hit on me except for the gay vampire, which I can allow cus he's openly gay.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but unless you specifically choose a dialogue option nobody's gonna come on to you?

And I didn't find anything cringy or marvel like about the companions either, except for Karlach. Everybody is talking about terrible writing and how it's the worst written game, but I can't see it? Where?

Actually i wanna commend the game for not bombarding me with walls of text and exposition like so many RPGs do. Nobody tried to tell me about what Faerun is and how many races live there and their political status and blah blah.

I have a feeling people screaming about how this game is completely degenerate and downhill of civilisation will feel pretty stupid once they play the game, so far it's been such a miniscule part of the whole experience that it's not even worth mentioning (though it can change further into the game)

The only problem seems to be with Gale being able to come to you multiple times even if you've refused him, which seems more like a bug than anything else.
But to accidentally start a romance, you have to be retarded. I haven't come across anything that falls into the category of Lann or Sosiel

 

[Infinitron]

 

[processdaemon]

I was also going to argue that goblin design makes them look too humanized, but then...

The goblins' accents and design remind me of British chavs, and as anyone who has ever spent time in the UK will attest that actually makes them easier and more satisfying to kill than if they looked more animalistic

 

[Shin]

I was also going to argue that goblin design makes them look too humanized, but then...

The goblins' accents and design remind me of British chavs, and as anyone who has ever spent time in the UK will attest that actually makes them easier and more satisfying to kill than if they looked more animalistic

i had to google "british chavs" and the first result were some goblin looking females:

so seems legit

 

[La vie sexuelle]

I really hate this game. I guess the joke is on me for thinking this would be different from the previous Divinity games (which I also hated).

This has all the hallmarks from Larian's previous games that I personally hated:
- overly cartoony graphical style
- terrible writing for the most part
- bad puns and humour all over (yes, I prefer more grimdark settings/stories)
- annoying inventory system, with crates all over the place with useless loot
- terrible camera, especially in places with a lot of vertical spaces
- terrible companions

It certainly does not feel like a proper sequel to BG1/BG2 (which I played back at release). It feels like a Divinity game. But maybe I'm just getting old and bitter and don't enjoy how they make RPGs these days...

Heh, "it's too colourful" argument again.

Look, even colourful things are diverse. Larian is from Belgium, and francophonic bandes dessinées (comics) have this same silly/flashy/macabresque feeling.