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Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

Barbarian

Arcane
Joined
Jun 7, 2015
Messages
8,115
"Neutral path" lol, what the hell are you guys on about? 3 factions which have no direct beef or relation to you are in conflict(well the cultists do but you don't know it at that point).

"Neutral path" is to simply walk away, as it is in the game.

Unless off course you suggest something like inviting the evil cultists and the druids for a debate or something.
 

Itoh

Literate
Joined
Jan 6, 2024
Messages
43
I walked away from the grove; because the tieflings and druids were boring and Halsin wanted me to complete some dumbass quests to recruit him even after admitting he didn't know much anything to help with the mind flayer problem. If, say, Bioware or Bethesda had made BG3, they'd have shoved the Tieflings back into the story for Act 3, and probably they'd have one of the Tieflings lecture me on what a callous asshole I was for refusing to play butler for a bunch of worthless low-level peasants. Larian did not do this. The tieflings were gone, because Larian realized that I wasn't interested, and had enough confidence in their work that they trusted I'd find other fun stuff to do without their needing to dangle every possible plot thread in front of me like keys before a toddler.

What's most exciting about BG3 is that you can see the DNA of future cRPGs in it. In the same way that Fallout was a revelation in 1997 and still today feels like a blueprint for how to make the cRPGs of the future, even though as a game itself it's very limited and basic in most of its systems and quests. Same for other games that seemed to offer a glimpse into a future that never materialised, like Daggerfall and Deus Ex - I can accept their own countless limitations because they still feel like they're trailblazing new models of what it's possible to do in a cRPG. BG3 similarly feels like it's saying "here's a rough outline of what RPGs might look like ten years from now", obviously we'll have to see if any of that comes to fruition in works from other devs in the coming years.

BG3 made far more money than either of those games, so I'm fairly optimistic. Most of the games that try to copy BG3 will be shit, but its success will give ambitious cRPG devs something to point to when some publisher worries that a complex roleplaying game won't sell.
 

The Bishop

Cipher
Joined
Oct 18, 2012
Messages
406
To side with the Sharrans dont you need to simply deliver Shadowtits to Viconia?

I assume you are talking about having instead Shadowheart become chosen of Shar and take over as mother superior(which is indeed a whole lot of work).
Obviously I haven't tested all the permutations, but I don't believe I was offered anything at Viconia's place. Can you still recruit Sharrans even if you defy Shar? Doesn't make much sense. But yes, I was talking about taking the evil path with Shadowheart and letting her stab Nightsong.
 

Barbarian

Arcane
Joined
Jun 7, 2015
Messages
8,115
On my good playthrough that is what Viconia offered. An alliance against the absolute in exchange for Shadowheart. I refused off course. According to the wiki accepting the offer indeed adds Sharrans as a summon in the final fight.

No idea if this has any interaction with having both saved and recruited Nightsong and Isobel. Apparently not... so you end up allied with both Sharrans and Selunites.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
Patron
Joined
Oct 3, 2015
Messages
13,114
Three paths for the early part of Act I:

Good: Help the tieflings avoid being ejected from the Grove and defend them against the goblinoids
Neutral: Assist the druids in expelling the tieflings and defend the Grove agains the goblinoids
Evil: Help the goblinoids massacre both the tieflings and the druids (not necessarily in that order)

Of course, Larian couldn't be bothered to develop more than a half-baked evil path, much less any neutral path.

Never mind that tieflings should not be of good alignment. :M
 

whydoibother

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 2, 2018
Messages
17,451
Location
bulgaristan
Codex Year of the Donut
Three paths for the early part of Act I:

Good: Help the tieflings avoid being ejected from the Grove and defend them against the goblinoids
Neutral: Assist the druids in expelling the tieflings and defend the Grove agains the goblinoids
Evil: Help the goblinoids massacre both the tieflings and the druids (not necessarily in that order)

Of course, Larian couldn't be bothered to develop more than a half-baked evil path, much less any neutral path.

Never mind that tieflings should not be of good alignment. :M
You are again comparing BG3 to the platonic ideal, instead of comparing it to KOTOR1 and Mass Effect 1, as the conversation before you was.
It objectively factually materially in the real world AKSCHUALLY for real is less black-white choice than those two, and that's a fact, and only wrong gay people disagree (they suck cock).
 

Reyvik

Educated
Joined
Oct 1, 2023
Messages
73
Thats why I said there is no neutral path. Not getting invovled and skipping quests is not a neutral path.

To give an example of Witcher 1, there are two factions that oppose each other. The neutral path is not siding with anyone at late game. You get unique content and characters that only appear on that path as well get to traverse a unique map at the end of the game that is not available in either path.

There is narrative and quests built around neutrality. BG3 has no real neutrality. It is simply skipping content.
Existence of neutral path in first Witcher game is tied to overarching motive, both in books and games, about monster hunters innate neutrality stemming from their so called codex (whish doesn't exist btw). I can't imagine adding neutral path in BG3, which is obviously heroic fantasy with its own approach to moral dillemas. In BG3 ignoring tieflings plight is obviously evil choice simply because cultists are portrayed as typical evil faction. In witcher both scoiatel and knights of the flaming rose have ambitions and goals tied to their ideologies that might be perceived as subjectively bad or good. In BG3 no such issues occur
 

dukeofwoodberry

Educated
Joined
Nov 21, 2021
Messages
516
Three paths for the early part of Act I:

Good: Help the tieflings avoid being ejected from the Grove and defend them against the goblinoids
Neutral: Assist the druids in expelling the tieflings and defend the Grove agains the goblinoids
Evil: Help the goblinoids massacre both the tieflings and the druids (not necessarily in that order)

Of course, Larian couldn't be bothered to develop more than a half-baked evil path, much less any neutral path.

Never mind that tieflings should not be of good alignment. :M
You are again comparing BG3 to the platonic ideal, instead of comparing it to KOTOR1 and Mass Effect 1, as the conversation before you was.
It objectively factually materially in the real world AKSCHUALLY for real is less black-white choice than those two, and that's a fact, and only wrong gay people disagree (they suck cock).
This game is very overrated. Sorry faggot
 

dukeofwoodberry

Educated
Joined
Nov 21, 2021
Messages
516
Isn't it funny that the two sort of badass party members are female (Laezel and Minthara) and the men are effeminate faggots?
 
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
1,876,733
Location
Glass Fields, Ruins of Old Iran
The people arguing in favor of the writing of BG3 fail to address the fact this game's writing and story are mostly boring with some cringe mixed in.
This generic subjective criticism could apply to literally all the games you listed as examples of "good" writing. I was far more bored with Mass Effect, KOTOR 1, and The Witcher than I ever was with BG3, and these days I'd probably cringe harder playing Fo2.

I don't see anyone arguing that BG3 is some kind of revelation in writing, but it's a basic heroic fantasy adventure story that mostly sustains itself until the third act, when it falls apart, and has some superficially funny and engaging characters (which is more than BioWare have ever managed). For me it's basically on par with BG1 and BG2 in terms of writing, except with significantly more interesting party members and other NPCs. I also thought the hook of having the mindflayer deceive you in dreams was a decent idea even if, like most things, it fizzles in Act 3.

I think the reason you're getting this reaction is because of the games you listed as alternatives - if you'd said "I personally found BG3 boring and think it could have been better written" (or even "BG3's writing is mostly shit") then everyone would probably agree, but if you come in saying "BG3 cannot compare to the objective classics like KOTOR and The Witcher and Mass Effect!" then everyone's going to say "but hang on, they're shit". All those games got torn a new asshole on this site when they were first released.
You either leave the codex or you post long enough to see the banal-shit-boring become new classics.

(Marilyn Manson - This is The New Shit starts playing in the background)
 

Barbarian

Arcane
Joined
Jun 7, 2015
Messages
8,115
I'm giving it about six years until we get a wave of new users complaining that the cRPGs of 2030 can't match up to the old classics like Baldur's Gate 3, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, and Pillars of Eternity Deadfire.

Better yet, a new wave of users reminiscing about the good old days where games like BG3 weren't so woke.

"In BG3 squid and bear zoophilia was optional content! In Baldur's Gate 6 the main character is raped by a wereboar during the introduction!"

Literally. I already mentioned how people thought the Viconia romance was degenerate in BG2.
 
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
1,876,733
Location
Glass Fields, Ruins of Old Iran
Remember Wyll? Remember Gale? They were just normal guys trying to save Faerun from some evil gods. Heckin' wholesome family fun, I remember laughing with my dad when the squirrel drops the nut. Why can't we have companions like that anymore? Why do we have half-gnome presbyterian artificers and warforged barbarian monks? Everything has to be weird nowadays. Swen...take us back home...
 

dukeofwoodberry

Educated
Joined
Nov 21, 2021
Messages
516
Isn't it funny that the two sort of badass party members are female (Laezel and Minthara) and the men are effeminate faggots?
Isn't it funny how much of a triggered little special snowflake you are being right now?
I'm not one of these anti woke free speech libertarian types. I would love it if fag and tranny content was banned and made illegal. I'm a fascist
 

Barbarian

Arcane
Joined
Jun 7, 2015
Messages
8,115
Didn't Fallout 2 had the possibility of the player character becoming a gay porn actor speciallized in sucking dick? Literally.

Game was full of edge and degeneracy. For its time at least.
 

Jvegi

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Nov 16, 2012
Messages
5,446
I'm not one of these anti woke free speech libertarian types. I would love it if fag and tranny content was banned and made illegal. I'm a fascist
They are fascist too.

As for your complaint, I'm afraid it has more to do with smaller roster and every character having to be unique and quirky. No room for predictable. Sadly.
 

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