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- 99,030
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Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD
- Thread starter Grunker
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2017
- Messages
- 30,836
Not news.
HumanTotemPole
Augur
- Joined
- May 2, 2012
- Messages
- 478
Hard to overstate how repellent this is. Crazy how things have changed, openly promoting an image like that on official social media accounts. A decade the media managers would've been fired and two decades ago somebody would have been sued.just wanted to leave this picture here
IHaveHugeNick
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2015
- Messages
- 1,870,477
Need I remind you that bestiality is still illegal even today but somehow Larian got away with having it in a game and got praise for it.
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2015
- Messages
- 12,711
The greatest benefit of Baldur's Gate 3 is that it has brought much-needed attention to the Belgian Question. 
ropetight
Savant
BG3 characters are bunch of tettekops, klootzaks and scheefpoepers.
Swen
Scholar
LARIAN HAS TAINTED THE REPUTATION OF BALDUR'S GATE WITH THEIR WOKE DEI TRANNY AGENDA AND MADE IT SO THE WRPG GENRE WILL NEVER BE TREATED SERIOUSLY AGAIN PEOPLE WITH TASTE THAT MADE FUN OF WESTOID RPG'S BECOMING DATING SIMS WITH A TURD BASED COMBAT AND SHIT WRITING
BG3 ONLY HAS LIKE 5 HOURS OF ACTUAL GAMEPLAY WALKING AROUND, SORTING THE HORRIBLE INVENTORY, HORRIBLE BIOWARE STYLE DIALOGUE, THAT'S LIKE 95% OF THE GAME 95% OF BG3 HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CRPGS
IT'S SWEN HIMSELF MAKING THESE POSTS/THREADS IT'S SO FUNNY TO LAUGH AT HIM FOR SELLING HIS COMPANY TO TENCENT
>M-MUH 30% ONLY!
LMAO LARIAN IS NOT SOME MASSIVE COMPANY WITH A DILUTED INVESTOR POOL. IT'S A MAN KEKING OUT TO THE CCP THEY HAVE 1000% SHARE AND THAT COVERS COSTS SVEN GOT ON HIS KNEES AND SUCK HIMSELF INVERTED WHAT A KEK
BG3 IS REDDITSLOP IT'S A SHIT GAME ASTROTURFED BY TENCENT THE SHILLS ARE COMPLETELY BROKEN BY TENCENT OWNING LARIAN THIS WESTERN SUBVERSION SLOP IS A TENCENT PSYOP IT'S THE TRUTH AND SO LONG AS THEY PAY YOU DREGS TO POST ABOUT IT WILL BE CALLED OUT CRPGS ARE DEAD CLAIMING BG3 IS GOOD BY VIRTUE OF COMMUNIST MONEY IS DISINGENUOUS
THIS IS NOT NATURAL DISCUSSION. THESE ARE SHILL POSTS IN A SHILL THREAD ALL THE PRAISE FOR BG3 WAS NEVER ORGANIC AND WAS ORCHESTRATED BY REDDIT RAIDERS WHO WANT THIS TO BE THEIR NEW SITE
THIS GAME IS CLEARLY INFECTED WITH THE WOKE MIND VIRUS BALDUR'S GATE 3 IS A TRANNY GAME MADE FOR TRANNIES BY TRANNIES DEAD GAME
LARIAN IS A SCUMMY SHAMELESS FRAUD BEING FUNDED BOTTED AND SHILLED BY CHINA ALL YOU'RE DOING IS CRYING ABOUT BEING CALLED OUT FOR SHILLING SHILL YOU'RE'RE DEFENSIVE ABOUT YOUR TENCENT TRASH YOU ADDED RANDOM PROJECTION WORDS ALL YOU'RE DOING IS CRYING ABOUT BEING CALLED OUT FOR SHILLING SHILL CRY MORE LARIAN SLOPPERS
Yosharian
Arcane
Anyway so Larian need to hurry up and finish the patch cycle, I'm tired of these games whose potential is only fully realised by modders, but the patch cycle lasts for fucking years.
It's like, stop patching the game already so modders can get started fixing your shit.
It's like, stop patching the game already so modders can get started fixing your shit.
Volourn
Pretty Princess
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2003
- Messages
- 24,948
Tried getting back into this, but trying to get the arcane tower generator to with but buggy. I can't put a flower/metal anything into it to combine thst shit. And, no, I'm not in turn base mode. Lol Downloading all the patches I missed. Let's see if that works. :D
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
- Messages
- 99,030
Herald of Durance
Educated
- Joined
- May 27, 2018
- Messages
- 80
So I spent the whole last flood-filled weekend on this, and this week I've finally reached Baldur's Gate. I've played it once before, but stopped somewhere in the third act. Now I want to finish it, but my feelings are mixed.
I'm enjoying it quite a bit, but at the same time, the classic Larian "everything’s connected to everything", and densely packed in a realtively small map, is starting to annoy me again. Every little fart from the first act will undoubtedly start to smell somewhere in the third act. Side quests basically don't exist: everything you do, or don't do, affects the main storyline. I get that they’re aiming for quality "choices & consequences," but it all feels so convoluted.
And most of all, despite their intentions and efforts, it doesn't feel natural or organic. It's still better than Divinity: Original Sin, which literally has fan-made maps on which level to go where, because there's basically the only "right" way to play. But even so, you get a ton of interconnected quests, and you have to think about what to complete when to get the desired result. Or, I guess you don't have to, and you can just play it however it turns out – but if you're going to spend about 100 hours on a game, don't you want it to end the way you imagine? Honestly, I can't imagine playing through it three times in a row just to try out different paths. I'm curious about them, but not that curious.
Connected to that is the fact that almost always, one path seems like the right one. If I get a difficult skill check, it's really obvious that behind it is the option I want to choose. So I choose it, and if I fail, the result is "you screwed up." Which, see above, doesn’t lead me to role-play that I messed up, but just to save-scum. Because "you screwed up" isn't an interesting alternative. I enjoy it in Disco Elysium, where failures lead to interesting and fun situations, but here it often seems like the result is just that I miss out on bonus info or the situation ends with an early fight which I wanted to avoid by going for the skill check.
Even so, BG3 is definitely the best Larian game I've ever played. Probably since it's BG3, they had to stick to certain rules and expectations and couldn't follow their usual formula completely, which I guess I'm just not the target audience for. I remember reading that D:OS2 is the best RPG ever, but for me, not at all. It's definitely not bad, but it's like a good meal that just doesn't suit my taste. Though, in terms of the plot, I didn't think it was that good, regardless of whether I (dis)liked the gameplay.
Where I think BG3 doesn't live up to the quality of the previous BG games:
The sense of adventure – BG1 and BG2 are just pure high fantasy in a Tolkien-esque way. It's charmingly naive, cheesy; you have to embrace it, or you'll get a sugar overload, but it's there. In BG3, I feel more like I'm calculating how to do things and when.
Pacing – BG1 is theoretically the same low-level adventure as BG3, but in BG3, we're already dealing with hugely epic matters right from the start, levels are flying up one after another, and we'll spend the entire third act at max level because the story doesn't allow for more progression. In BG1, it genuinely feels like a simulator of a beginning adventurer, and when we finally reach Baldur's Gate, it's a satisfying reward. In BG3, I think they tried to emulate something similar, but because it's so packed and intertwined, you end up exhausted after thoroughly combing through two acts just to complete something that's plot-wise pretty simple, and now suddenly a big city with tons of quests? Especially when there's a sense of urgency to head to the finale? Please, no. BG2 uses a different tactic; it starts directly in a big city and at a higher level. Sure, the main quest is urgent too, but what works is that you get plenty of options early on when the player is still eager to explore everything.
Companions – In BG3, they're a bunch of edgy teenage brats. Which is especially bizarre considering Gale is supposed to be an ultra-experienced wizard and a friend of Elminster himself, Karlach is a battle-hardened warrior who survived hell, etc. And yet (aside from their low levels), they all have teenage angst, make cringy sexual jokes, and deal with high-school drama. And their stories are similar. Karlach and Gale both have ticking time bombs inside them. Almost all of them rebelled (or have the opportunity to rebel) against some big divine/demonic/ultra-powerful authority. Maybe it's unfair to compare this to BG1, where the companions barely say anything, but in BG2, they're certainly more memorable. And there are more of them, so more options for building your party. Some can't stand each other, some you don't even have to recruit, and each has their own personality. In BG3, half of the companions' personalities are damaged protagonist-sexual. And their personal quests are all incredibly tragic, and incredibly unique and special, with gods/demons/etc.
You can’t really compare the map exploration either. In BG3, almost everything is tied to the main story, so it's about whether the player finds or misses some piece of the puzzle. In BG1, most of the content is entirely optional side adventures that have nothing to do with anything. There are maps you can wander around just to wander. BG2 is a middle ground – almost everything is connected to a quest, but not the main story.
As for the quality of the story, I’m not sure. BG3 is undoubtedly well-thought-out, but as I wrote earlier, it’s also quite convoluted. There are no side quests; everything eventually comes back around. Some things are downright ridiculous. Like the return of Sarevok or Viconia's role, which completely contradicts her personal growth in BG2, just because it's "canon." This sucks. Just like in Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, where the whole plot leads to the tearing down of the Wall of the Faithless, but in the end, nothing happens because canonically, it's not allowed.
I'm enjoying it quite a bit, but at the same time, the classic Larian "everything’s connected to everything", and densely packed in a realtively small map, is starting to annoy me again. Every little fart from the first act will undoubtedly start to smell somewhere in the third act. Side quests basically don't exist: everything you do, or don't do, affects the main storyline. I get that they’re aiming for quality "choices & consequences," but it all feels so convoluted.
And most of all, despite their intentions and efforts, it doesn't feel natural or organic. It's still better than Divinity: Original Sin, which literally has fan-made maps on which level to go where, because there's basically the only "right" way to play. But even so, you get a ton of interconnected quests, and you have to think about what to complete when to get the desired result. Or, I guess you don't have to, and you can just play it however it turns out – but if you're going to spend about 100 hours on a game, don't you want it to end the way you imagine? Honestly, I can't imagine playing through it three times in a row just to try out different paths. I'm curious about them, but not that curious.
Connected to that is the fact that almost always, one path seems like the right one. If I get a difficult skill check, it's really obvious that behind it is the option I want to choose. So I choose it, and if I fail, the result is "you screwed up." Which, see above, doesn’t lead me to role-play that I messed up, but just to save-scum. Because "you screwed up" isn't an interesting alternative. I enjoy it in Disco Elysium, where failures lead to interesting and fun situations, but here it often seems like the result is just that I miss out on bonus info or the situation ends with an early fight which I wanted to avoid by going for the skill check.
Even so, BG3 is definitely the best Larian game I've ever played. Probably since it's BG3, they had to stick to certain rules and expectations and couldn't follow their usual formula completely, which I guess I'm just not the target audience for. I remember reading that D:OS2 is the best RPG ever, but for me, not at all. It's definitely not bad, but it's like a good meal that just doesn't suit my taste. Though, in terms of the plot, I didn't think it was that good, regardless of whether I (dis)liked the gameplay.
Where I think BG3 doesn't live up to the quality of the previous BG games:
The sense of adventure – BG1 and BG2 are just pure high fantasy in a Tolkien-esque way. It's charmingly naive, cheesy; you have to embrace it, or you'll get a sugar overload, but it's there. In BG3, I feel more like I'm calculating how to do things and when.
Pacing – BG1 is theoretically the same low-level adventure as BG3, but in BG3, we're already dealing with hugely epic matters right from the start, levels are flying up one after another, and we'll spend the entire third act at max level because the story doesn't allow for more progression. In BG1, it genuinely feels like a simulator of a beginning adventurer, and when we finally reach Baldur's Gate, it's a satisfying reward. In BG3, I think they tried to emulate something similar, but because it's so packed and intertwined, you end up exhausted after thoroughly combing through two acts just to complete something that's plot-wise pretty simple, and now suddenly a big city with tons of quests? Especially when there's a sense of urgency to head to the finale? Please, no. BG2 uses a different tactic; it starts directly in a big city and at a higher level. Sure, the main quest is urgent too, but what works is that you get plenty of options early on when the player is still eager to explore everything.
Companions – In BG3, they're a bunch of edgy teenage brats. Which is especially bizarre considering Gale is supposed to be an ultra-experienced wizard and a friend of Elminster himself, Karlach is a battle-hardened warrior who survived hell, etc. And yet (aside from their low levels), they all have teenage angst, make cringy sexual jokes, and deal with high-school drama. And their stories are similar. Karlach and Gale both have ticking time bombs inside them. Almost all of them rebelled (or have the opportunity to rebel) against some big divine/demonic/ultra-powerful authority. Maybe it's unfair to compare this to BG1, where the companions barely say anything, but in BG2, they're certainly more memorable. And there are more of them, so more options for building your party. Some can't stand each other, some you don't even have to recruit, and each has their own personality. In BG3, half of the companions' personalities are damaged protagonist-sexual. And their personal quests are all incredibly tragic, and incredibly unique and special, with gods/demons/etc.
You can’t really compare the map exploration either. In BG3, almost everything is tied to the main story, so it's about whether the player finds or misses some piece of the puzzle. In BG1, most of the content is entirely optional side adventures that have nothing to do with anything. There are maps you can wander around just to wander. BG2 is a middle ground – almost everything is connected to a quest, but not the main story.
As for the quality of the story, I’m not sure. BG3 is undoubtedly well-thought-out, but as I wrote earlier, it’s also quite convoluted. There are no side quests; everything eventually comes back around. Some things are downright ridiculous. Like the return of Sarevok or Viconia's role, which completely contradicts her personal growth in BG2, just because it's "canon." This sucks. Just like in Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, where the whole plot leads to the tearing down of the Wall of the Faithless, but in the end, nothing happens because canonically, it's not allowed.
Hydro
Educated
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2024
- Messages
- 386
The answer is simple — Larian only needed Baldur’s Gate franchise to kickstart the company into the AAA area. They never cared about “legacy” or shit. They have this new target group of snowflake genderfluid braindead neurotics to cater for. Hence the fan-servicing companions, hence the theme-park dense environments, hence the Hollywood-esque bloated plot.
TheDarkUrge
Educated
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2023
- Messages
- 213
The story was changed at least once during development from what I read on release day. The characters were much more edgy and flawed too. There was an
actual bad ending with the guardian and it was actually an antagonist unlike the weird emperor thing we have now that makes the tadpole just irrelevant entirely
I was really excited for the darker story but it ended up just being kind of generic fantasy hero stuff again. Act 1 is still 10/10 though, it's just too bad that level of quality wasn't maintained for 2 and 3.
Yosharian
Arcane
> And yet (aside from their low levels), they all have teenage angst, make cringy sexual jokes, and deal with high-school drama.
You know what they say, 'write what you know' and all that
It's a shame we can't get a game like BG3 with writers that have a bit of maturity
You know what they say, 'write what you know' and all that
It's a shame we can't get a game like BG3 with writers that have a bit of maturity
onemananadhisdroid
Augur
This is an interesting take. To me BG3 is the middle ground. There's nothing really in BG2 you actually find for yourself. All the places you discover are pointed to by a quest giver. Which also means they only exist for that quest. Whilst Larian's general map design is highly compressed, you still find locations fully yourself. They also mostly have several entry points -- not all of which obvious.
As a simple example, it's just satisfying to discover an alternative path into Moonrise towers via using the spells at your disposal and observation. And avoiding the "welcoming committee" waiting to rip you apart at the front gates. And of course, chapter 1 has the Underdark with its numerous entries and exits. BG2 in general paved the way towards the "chose your own adventure dialogue" type of interactive movie games Bioware would later on be most reknown for.
Cryomancer
Arcane
This type of people make you really, really butthurt.
BTW, most people here in Codex gave 8/10 to Baizuo's gate 3 > https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...me-of-your-live-and-10-the-best.148390/page-8
I gave 6/10 but with mods to dewokify the game and a better ruleset, would give 8/10.
Hagashager
Educated
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2022
- Messages
- 613
While I agree that BG3's characters are like a modern College friend group, I don't exactly consider BG1 or 2 great either.
About the only character in all of Baldur's Gate that isn't a hamfisted stereotype or caricature is Keldorm. Even HE is a pretty standard Lawful Good Paladin.
Everyone else is their own generational hangup.
Harthwain
Magister
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2019
- Messages
- 5,237
Depends on the location. Some have more quests than simply the quest given by a quest giver (Umar Hills and Trademeet come to mind). And, frankly, I don't mind being given location spots by quest givers at all. It's not like walking around the map in Fallout was that great. Maybe you should be given more opportunities to learn about other locations, but that's about it.
Cryomancer
Arcane
A nintendo diehard cultist talking about Baizuo's Gate 3
KVVRR
Learned
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2020
- Messages
- 638
The writing can be a bit inmature for sure but I never found it to be full on teenage angst to be honest, maybe in some parts of act 2/3? Most of the time I was thinking it was the other way around actually: this is just a fairy tale made by someone who was horny half the time they were writing it. It kinda just depends on what choices do you make, your regular old Tav isn't going to have the same story experience as Durge on how violent the game gets, or at least will have the choice to avoid it for the most part.
Although maybe that's just personal bias, I enjoyed playing Durge way more than Tav. I always like when games just give you the option to kill any NPC at any given time and this is basically just the game adding a narrative to my primal urge of bashing in the head of whoever I'm speaking to at the first sign of annoyance. Helps that it comes with a funny butler too.
Although maybe that's just personal bias, I enjoyed playing Durge way more than Tav. I always like when games just give you the option to kill any NPC at any given time and this is basically just the game adding a narrative to my primal urge of bashing in the head of whoever I'm speaking to at the first sign of annoyance. Helps that it comes with a funny butler too.
Swen
Scholar
Herald of Durance
Educated
- Joined
- May 27, 2018
- Messages
- 80
Apart from some anachronistic jokes and stuff, the writing as a whole isn't teenage angst, just the companions are. It's as if the rest of the game was written by someone at least half-competent, but the companions were subcontracted to some shitty dating sim writer. There's no way that someone who fought numerous battles in hell would speak like a horny college girl. Wyll is possibly the most "classic" of all the companions, but somehow people find him boring. I personally like his story of a tainted would-be hero.
Funny thing is that if you choose not to romance any companion, Withers even scolds you for it.
A sidenote: there's a huge ludonarrative dissonance when it comes to the companions' looks and their stats. Halsin's STR is 10? Doesn't matter, let's give him body that would put a bodybuilder to shame!
Swen
Scholar
Valid criticism. You're right
Cryomancer
Arcane
HE also tested BG1 :
In his Switch and hated it. He is a JRPG cultist. Watching he bitch about Elden Ring while playing Elden Ring is amusing. He is like a living caricature of a Nintendo cultist.
_________________________________
For the BG3 haters here. A honest question. Does anyone consider BG3 worse than Pillows of 4e 1/2?
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