Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

[RegionalHobo]

low level adventures are just not popular imo.

even thou i really like that type of setting, AoD`s Teron is a good example. Actually think it s by far the best part of that game

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Why are you overthinking this shit?

He doesn't understand fun

BG2 is a game I haven't played in like 15 years, but if I recall wasn't it a similar hodpodge of every DnD trope out there? From illithids, to beholders, drow, githyanki and the planes?

 

[Mebrilia the Viera Queen]

I would support a remake of the Bhaal saga done from Larian honestly.

 

[gurugeorge]

I'm a bit behind because as usual I've been piddling around with alts, but got to the assault on Moonrise Towers - OMG Jaheira is made of fucking paper tissue. They really ought to do something about that. I mean, fair enough if you want to level her from lvl 1 as a companion, but before she joins you she should be at least something to be reckoned with ffs, it's positively embarrassing.

I vaguely recall someone mentioned ways to avoid that a billion pages ago - can anyone say what you have to do to ensure she stays alive? A different assault option than "take the main ground floor room?" - maybe get her to join your party, let her take charge, or tell her to keep out of your way?

 

[Mebrilia the Viera Queen]

I'm a bit behind because as usual I've been piddling around with alts, but got to the assault on Moonrise Towers - OMG Jaheira is made of fucking paper tissue. They really ought to do something about that. I mean, fair enough if you want to level her from lvl 1 as a companion, but before she joins you she should be at least something to be reckoned with ffs, it's positively embarrassing.

I vaguely recall someone mentioned ways to avoid that a billion pages ago - can anyone say what you have to do to ensure she stays alive? A different assault option than "take the main ground floor room?" - maybe get her to join your party, let her take charge, or tell her to keep out of your way?

That is true she get killed pretty easy at that point.

 

[processdaemon]

I really hope they never ever do anything like that, I like BG3 but the originals are their own thing and should be left alone, plenty of scope to do other D&D games without resorting to that (and I don't think Larian would want to anyway thankfully, they seem to value the freedom to put their own spin on things so I don't think they'd like being tied to an already existing plot)

 

[The_Mask]

I'm a bit behind because as usual I've been piddling around with alts, but got to the assault on Moonrise Towers - OMG Jaheira is made of fucking paper tissue. They really ought to do something about that. I mean, fair enough if you want to level her from lvl 1 as a companion, but before she joins you she should be at least something to be reckoned with ffs, it's positively embarrassing.

I vaguely recall someone mentioned ways to avoid that a billion pages ago - can anyone say what you have to do to ensure she stays alive? A different assault option than "take the main ground floor room?" - maybe get her to join your party, let her take charge, or tell her to keep out of your way?

What I did is I went upstairs and talked to the "fist" and left my other 3 companions around her. And since I roll a Wood Elf Monk, I have the longest stride in the game, so I was able to not give too many shits. But the priestess gets kidnapped.

I don't know if that works for everyone. And I'm not sure why they gave her like 7 spells: 3 ice storms and 4 heals.

Also: keep a Cleric around her, and worse comes to worse: throw healing bottles at her.

 

[gurugeorge]

you really wanna kill goblins for 100 hours lol

There's absolutely a way to make low level DnD great. All you need to do is be as grounded as possible.

Not everything has to be demons this and dragons that to be special. Imagine you were making a game set in the historical middle ages. Now add some monsters and shit and you get your low level fantasy. If you can't manage to come up with interesting stories in a real world setting you should have no business writing for a fantasy game either.

Baldur's Gate 1 is actually a fucking case in point because the entire plot of Saverok and his political machinations was actual great low level fantasy stuff. While the writing was mostly silly that part was actually genuinely great.

Why are you overthinking this shit?

This is an obvious case of an independent company excited to work on an IP they have respect for. They threw everything DnD into the pot because they had zero expectation of it ever being so successful and probably never expected to work with the setting again.

There's also the corporate reality of Hasbro wanting to flog their paperback Avernus module as a prequel.

No one is going to spend god only knows how many millions of euros on a gnoll killing adventure, as much as I'd love that as the gnolls and goblins look fucking awesome in this game.

Nah, he's right, you could still have all that shit and backload it, have an asymptotic curve into insanity at the end of the game, when you're at your most powerful to match.

It ought to be possible to draw the game out a bit more by relying on good writing, good encounter design and cool gear discoveries at the low to mid levels, where really D&D is actually more fun, because more challenging. Like for example the DLC for WOTR where you are a low-level adventuring party is great fun. The power fantasy is nice and all, but it's only enjoyable if it's earned, and you get revenge on the beasties after being tortured by them for half the game.

I honestly think it's also going to be easier to play for most people at the lower levels - half the reason why people complain is, I think, because there are too many options too soon, they don't know how to use them, so the monsters which are supposed to match the new toys become overwhelming because players are still using the old toys that they're only just starting to get into a groove with. I think the front loading of the levelling power curve exists because developers are nervous that if people don't get new toys soon enough, they'll get bored. But I think to really love a game you have to grow into your toys, learn to use them, and you need some time for that.

 

[perfectslumbers]

It would be pretty neat if Larian adds the support for custom campaigns the DOS games had and the fans remade bg1 or 2, but I definitely wouldn't want to see Larian do it.

 

[Junmarko]

Anyone playing/played through as Oath of Vengeance, are the dialogue options good?

 

[gurugeorge]

Hmm, apparently there was a scene after doing the Nightsong thing ("good" path) where Shar excommunicates Shadowheart? I didn't get that at all. Didn't click thorugh anything, didn't touch anything, just went through the portal and there we were outside the mausoleum and Shadowheart was talking about what Shar had said/done.

 

[Sunri]

Hmm, apparently there was a scene after doing the Nightsong thing ("good" path) where Shar excommunicates Shadowheart? I didn't get that at all. Didn't click thorugh anything, didn't touch anything, just went through the portal and there we were outside the mausoleum and Shadowheart was talking about what Shar had said/done.

There is no scene she just experienced it probably something like Gale scene when he talks to Mystra is different dimension but not shown to the player

 

[Tyranicon]

Anyone playing/played through as Oath of Vengeance, are the dialogue options good?

Not really, but I guess it depends on your definition of good. From what I remember, the Vengeance Paladin ones were mostly a smug/self-righteous version of the Berserker Barbarian ones (which is just going ape shit at everything).

The Barbarian ones were also especially underwhelming.

Rolls a crit 20 on an intimidation with advantage = your target should be pissing their pants.

Instead, 90% of the ones so far are = mild surprise, "whatever, fuck you."

Meanwhile I'm basically the Sword Coast version of the Juggernaut, covered in blood and with multiple corpses within visible range.



Like buddy, I made those corpses.

 

[Rhobar121]

Hmm, apparently there was a scene after doing the Nightsong thing ("good" path) where Shar excommunicates Shadowheart? I didn't get that at all. Didn't click thorugh anything, didn't touch anything, just went through the portal and there we were outside the mausoleum and Shadowheart was talking about what Shar had said/done.

You'll probably only see this scene when you're playing as SH

 

[Lagole Gon]

Why are you overthinking this shit?

He doesn't understand fun

BG2 is a game I haven't played in like 15 years, but if I recall wasn't it a similar hodpodge of every DnD trope out there? From illithids, to beholders, drow, githyanki and the planes?

Not the same thing.
In BG2 the wide buffet of FR oddities is mostly in the side encounters and dungeons. Main plot stays on the fucking issue.
BG3 tries to combine all that shit into a one embarassing Frankenstein's monster. From the start. Level 1 adventure starting on illithid spelljammer in hell, also you have nuke up your ass/you're a vampire!/you are son are folk hero son of Duke.
And it keeps shoving more and MORE as the whole thing develops. Netheril legendary artifact, dead three champions controlling an elder brain, the gay squid in your pocket is Balduran himself!

Stop defending stupid shit.

 

[Desiderius]

Hmm, apparently there was a scene after doing the Nightsong thing ("good" path) where Shar excommunicates Shadowheart? I didn't get that at all. Didn't click thorugh anything, didn't touch anything, just went through the portal and there we were outside the mausoleum and Shadowheart was talking about what Shar had said/done.

You'll probably only see this scene when you're playing as SH

Didn't get very far in SH playthrough but she starts talking about Dark Justicars and whatnot really early.

 

[Vic]

Hmm, apparently there was a scene after doing the Nightsong thing ("good" path) where Shar excommunicates Shadowheart? I didn't get that at all. Didn't click thorugh anything, didn't touch anything, just went through the portal and there we were outside the mausoleum and Shadowheart was talking about what Shar had said/done.

You'll probably only see this scene when you're playing as SH

Didn't get very far in SH playthrough but she starts talking about Dark Justicars and whatnot really early.

does she ever talk about anything else sheesh women and their mental issues amirite

 

[Lyric Suite]

This is an obvious case of an independent company excited to work on an IP they have respect for.

Sorry, no. I think they have no respect for the IP whatsoever, certainly not the wombyn writers (wombyn by and large only care about themselves. They are naturally self-centered and cannot into objectivity so for them is all about how they feel about the setting and not what the setting is in an objective sense. I could smell their imput in this game a mile away), and that's why we got what we got.

They threw everything DnD into the pot because they had zero expectation of it ever being so successful and probably never expected to work with the setting again.

They threw everything into the DnD pot because they think this is what DnD is.

There's also the corporate reality of Hasbro wanting to flog their paperback Avernus module as a prequel.

Hasbro themselves probably have no idea what a good fantasy is either because they are hiring the exact same kind of people as well.

No one is going to spend god only knows how many millions of euros on a gnoll killing adventure

Baldur's Gate went that route because of limitations in their original design (they wanted an open world, non-linear game and had to rely on randomly generated encounters to fill it up in what was still a primitive engine), not because that's how all low level DnD adventures had to be like.

You could literally make a game with has much writing as Torment all based on low level DnD (or all based on real life with no magic for that matter). There's no necessity to start bringing in Ilithids and demons to make it "exciting". The fact they felt the need to do this shows they lack all imagination.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I'm a bit behind because as usual I've been piddling around with alts, but got to the assault on Moonrise Towers - OMG Jaheira is made of fucking paper tissue. They really ought to do something about that. I mean, fair enough if you want to level her from lvl 1 as a companion, but before she joins you she should be at least something to be reckoned with ffs, it's positively embarrassing.

I vaguely recall someone mentioned ways to avoid that a billion pages ago - can anyone say what you have to do to ensure she stays alive? A different assault option than "take the main ground floor room?" - maybe get her to join your party, let her take charge, or tell her to keep out of your way?

Here:

Update on that battle. As I imagined, if you establish a killing field in the space between the two opposing staircases, you're golden. Ice Storm for ice cover, Evard's Black tentacles, Jaheira comes with another Ice storm, later on SH casts Silence in the same area, and the rest is mostly ranged attacks, with my main and Laezel engaging anyone who gets through and starts climbing the staircase on my side.

Spoiler

Since I'm controlling Jaheira, she can't go allah akbar. Sadly her melee harpers mostly died, but it's not my fault they didn't know basic tactics. On the positive side, the quartermaster lives and will continue to work as a merchant for me.

The hallway after the combat:

Spoiler

I actually ended up with quite a few unused spells on SH and Gale. Nice.

 

[Junmarko]

Zed Duke of Banville - any memorable examples?

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

The same thing happened to me when I attempted to attack Elminster during his dialogue at the beginning of Act II.

Why would you attack fantasy King Crispy?

Some of us have detested Elminster since the 1980s.

I'm a bit behind because as usual I've been piddling around with alts, but got to the assault on Moonrise Towers - OMG Jaheira is made of fucking paper tissue. They really ought to do something about that. I mean, fair enough if you want to level her from lvl 1 as a companion, but before she joins you she should be at least something to be reckoned with ffs, it's positively embarrassing.

I vaguely recall someone mentioned ways to avoid that a billion pages ago - can anyone say what you have to do to ensure she stays alive? A different assault option than "take the main ground floor room?" - maybe get her to join your party, let her take charge, or tell her to keep out of your way?

There should be a dialogue option resulting in Jaheira becoming a follower under the player's control, which makes it easy to keep her out of danger in the two battles, especially if the party had already cleared out Moonrise Tower, in which case the first battle involves just five or six mooks.

Hmm, apparently there was a scene after doing the Nightsong thing ("good" path) where Shar excommunicates Shadowheart? I didn't get that at all. Didn't click thorugh anything, didn't touch anything, just went through the portal and there we were outside the mausoleum and Shadowheart was talking about what Shar had said/done.

There's a cutscene where Shadowheart doesn't immediately reappear in Shar's Gauntlet with the other three party members, and she then mentions that she had just been tormented by Shar in revenge, but no cutscene actually showing this torment/excommunication --- unless perhaps the player chose at the start of the playthrough for Shadowheart to be the protagonist PC, in which case it wouldn't make sense for this incident not to be shown to the player.

 

[Sunri]

Why are you overthinking this shit?

He doesn't understand fun

BG2 is a game I haven't played in like 15 years, but if I recall wasn't it a similar hodpodge of every DnD trope out there? From illithids, to beholders, drow, githyanki and the planes?

Not the same thing.
In BG2 the wide buffet of FR oddities is mostly in the side encounters and dungeons. Main plot stays on the fucking issue.
BG3 tries to combine all that shit into a one embarassing Frankenstein's monster. From the start. Level 1 adventure starting on illithid spelljammer in hell, also you have nuke up your ass/you're a vampire!/you are son are folk hero son of Duke.
And it keeps shoving more and MORE as the whole thing develops. Netheril legendary artifact, dead three champions controlling an elder brain, the gay squid in your pocket is Balduran himself!

Stop defending stupid shit.

Thats a good thing that they went with epic approach, we have enough boring RPGs that start at shitty village and first few hours consist of role-playing fantasy mailman and killing some bugs or other shit while collecting party consisted of peasant local drunk and your friendly neighbor level 1 mage.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Why are you overthinking this shit?

He doesn't understand fun

BG2 is a game I haven't played in like 15 years, but if I recall wasn't it a similar hodpodge of every DnD trope out there? From illithids, to beholders, drow, githyanki and the planes?

Not the same thing.
In BG2 the wide buffet of FR oddities is mostly in the side encounters and dungeons. Main plot stays on the fucking issue.
BG3 tries to combine all that shit into a one embarassing Frankenstein's monster. From the start. Level 1 adventure starting on illithid spelljammer in hell, also you have nuke up your ass/you're a vampire!/you are son are folk hero son of Duke.
And it keeps shoving more and MORE as the whole thing develops. Netheril legendary artifact, dead three champions controlling an elder brain, the gay squid in your pocket is Balduran himself!

Stop defending stupid shit.

Thats a good thing that they went with epic approach, we have enough boring RPGs that start at shitty village and first few hours consist of role-playing fantasy mailman and killing some bugs or other shit while collecting party consisted of peasant local drunk and your friendly neighbor level 1 mage.

That's cool and all, but nobody cares what a person with an anime avatar thinks about writing.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

I'm a bit behind because as usual I've been piddling around with alts, but got to the assault on Moonrise Towers - OMG Jaheira is made of fucking paper tissue. They really ought to do something about that. I mean, fair enough if you want to level her from lvl 1 as a companion, but before she joins you she should be at least something to be reckoned with ffs, it's positively embarrassing.

I vaguely recall someone mentioned ways to avoid that a billion pages ago - can anyone say what you have to do to ensure she stays alive? A different assault option than "take the main ground floor room?" - maybe get her to join your party, let her take charge, or tell her to keep out of your way?

During the moonrise tower assault , before entering the tower, you can talk to her and tell her to join your party. She will be added to your main char like a summon and you get to control her in combat.

 

[AwesomeButton]

boring RPGs that start at shitty village and first few hours consist of role-playing fantasy mailman and killing some bugs or other shit while collecting party consisted of peasant local drunk and your friendly neighbor level 1 mage

That's not a problem caused by the level of the campaign but with clueless writers. What you are describing is what bad DMs do with a low level campaign, as opposed to what they've done with BG3.