Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

[AwesomeButton]

wait, BG3 shows literal physical d20 dice rolls ingame? the devs realize the d20 system is just a percentile-based simulation of reality, right? why would you use dice to generate random numbers if you're already at a comput... never mind

Because of feels

 

[gurugeorge]

Hang on, this can't be right: on Steam, the achievement, "Descent from Avernus: take control of the Nautiloid and escape the hells" says that 0.1% of players have it. Surely that must be a glitch?

If this is right, then either most people who've bought the game aren't playing it (but that can't be right because of the 666k numbers), or they're still stuck in the character creator or the prologue

 

[AwesomeButton]

• Why is BG3 TB combat superior to BG1/2's RTwP
• Why is BG3 itemization superior to BG1/2's?
• Why is BG3 spell system superior to BG1/2's?
• Why is BG3 character system superior to BG1/2's?

It's superior if we compare them as two separate attempts to emulate the PnP feel. I don't have people to play PnP with, and even if I did, with age it's more and more difficult to find someone with a mindset that would let you successfully improvise a story together. But BG3 lets me do bits of improvised story that work for me.

 

[gurugeorge]

wait, BG3 shows literal physical d20 dice rolls ingame? the devs realize the d20 system is just a percentile-based simulation of reality, right? why would you use dice to generate random numbers if you're already at a comput... never mind

The point is to feel anticipation and either elation or disappointment. I rather like that kind of thing (I used to really enjoy the percentage skill checks ticking down in Wasteland 2, it was a great, crispy little sound, rising in pitch ).

But that reminds me - would you get a better simulation of perfect randomness from a physics simulation of rolling a 20-sided dice than from an RNG algorithm?

 

[AwesomeButton]

I think it's important to keep in mind that fans of BG1 and BG2 liked the systems in those games. That doesn't mean they were perfect

Sure, that's why they are fans. But you can be a fan of Scotch and also of Irish triple-distilled, can't you?

 

[gurugeorge]

• Why is BG3 TB combat superior to BG1/2's RTwP
• Why is BG3 itemization superior to BG1/2's?
• Why is BG3 spell system superior to BG1/2's?
• Why is BG3 character system superior to BG1/2's?

It's superior if we compare them as two separate attempts to emulate the PnP feel. I don't have people to play PnP with, and even if I did, with age it's more and more difficult to find someone with a mindset that would let you successfully improvise a story together. But BG3 lets me do bits of improvised story that work for me.

I think you're on the right track, although I would say that Solasta is a better simulator - it's just that it was made on a small budget by a tiny team.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I think you're on the right track, although I would say that Solasta is a better simulator - it's just that it was made on a small budget by a tiny team.

I've never tried Solasta, but I'm putting the emphasis on the fact that Solasta is easier to swallow for a BG fan because it doesn't have Baldur's Gate in its name.

I had a pretty disappointed reaction towards PoE, almost 10 years ago, because it was doing all it could to ride on the Baldur's Gate/IWD/Torment brands. It edned up being a game that overpromised on what it contained, somewhat, but as a separate issue - was very far from my expectations for an IE-style game.

Yet if you ignore the name-dropping and approach it without baggage and associations with other titles, it's a game worth a playthrough.

I think today a subset of old time BG games fans are having a same reaction to a game, that's much better than PoE was, just because of what it's called, not because of what it is.

 

[Lagole Gon]

wait, BG3 shows literal physical d20 dice rolls ingame? the devs realize the d20 system is just a percentile-based simulation of reality, right? why would you use dice to generate random numbers if you're already at a comput... never mind

Percentile-based in a fantasy game feels kind of souless.

 

[flyingjohn]

If this is right, then either most people who've bought the game aren't playing it

80 % of the sales come from people who buy stuff because their favorite e-celeb liked the game. They will play for 5 minutes and never touch the game again.
15 % of the sales come from people who buy stuff because other sourced liked the game. They will play for 5 minutes and never touch the game again.
1-3% of the sales come from people wo are interested in the game but are busy with other stuff/games. They will play for 5 minutes and maybe attempt to play the game again in a couple of years.
The rest are people who are interested and will actually play the game.

 

[Konjad]

If this is right, then either most people who've bought the game aren't playing it

80 % of the sales come from people who buy stuff because their favorite e-celeb liked the game. They will play for 5 minutes and never touch the game again.
15 % of the sales come from people who buy stuff because other sourced liked the game. They will play for 5 minutes and never touch the game again.
1-3% of the sales come from people wo are interested in the game but are busy with other stuff/games. They will play for 5 minutes and maybe attempt to play the game again in a couple of years.
The rest are people who are interested and will actually play the game.

Sources to such studies, please.

 

[Reinhardt]

being barbarian feels gud. roaring at owlbears and destroying shitty music.

 

[Grunker]

6/10 would chuckle again

 

[Orud]

Hang on, this can't be right: on Steam, the achievement, "Descent from Avernus: take control of the Nautiloid and escape the hells" says that 0.1% of players have it. Surely that must be a glitch?

If this is right, then either most people who've bought the game aren't playing it (but that can't be right because of the 666k numbers), or they're still stuck in the character creator or the prologue

All achievements currently show that percentage, it's bugged. I've also been getting random achievements pop, like casting magic missile and receiving the 'perform 5 attacks in one turn' achievement.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Interesting.

 

[gurugeorge]

I think you're on the right track, although I would say that Solasta is a better simulator - it's just that it was made on a small budget by a tiny team.

I've never tried Solasta, but I'm putting the emphasis on the fact that Solasta is easier to swallow for a BG fan because it doesn't have Baldur's Gate in its name.

I had a pretty disappointed reaction towards PoE, almost 10 years ago, because it was doing all it could to ride on the Baldur's Gate/IWD/Torment brands. It edned up being a game that overpromised on what it contained, somewhat, but as a separate issue - was very far from my expectations for an IE-style game.

Yet if you ignore the name-dropping and approach it without baggage and associations with other titles, it's a game worth a playthrough.

Oh you should try Solasta, it's an interesting comparison of two 5e implementations. I would say that just in terms of implementation of the mechanics and the UI, Solasta is in fact better than this game. The flow of combat is so good with the UI design in Solasta that it almost feels like realtime, it's so transparent once muscle memory kicks in. (Unfortunately, Solasta's UI has a typically "modern" scaleable look - I much prefer the traditional fantasy look of this game's UI - but I'm talking about in terms of layout and ergonomics obvs.)

Solasta also has a clear squares grid (a cube grid to be exact, to include verticality). (I'm guessing this game has something like, I dunno, like a "hidden" grid where your character acts as being within a grid square or hex if your character is anywhere in it in terms of visuals? There are pros and cons to that, it does feel more like a virtual world, but it's less transparent in terms of combat gameplay.)

 

[Orud]

Interesting.

I'm quite sure Josh Sawyer is losing sleep over this.

 

[d1r]

I think you're on the right track, although I would say that Solasta is a better simulator - it's just that it was made on a small budget by a tiny team.

I've never tried Solasta, but I'm putting the emphasis on the fact that Solasta is easier to swallow for a BG fan because it doesn't have Baldur's Gate in its name.

I had a pretty disappointed reaction towards PoE, almost 10 years ago, because it was doing all it could to ride on the Baldur's Gate/IWD/Torment brands. It edned up being a game that overpromised on what it contained, somewhat, but as a separate issue - was very far from my expectations for an IE-style game.

Yet if you ignore the name-dropping and approach it without baggage and associations with other titles, it's a game worth a playthrough.

I would say that just in terms of implementation of the mechanics and the UI, Solasta is in fact better than this game.

HAHAAHAHAAHAH...
AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAA...

 

[OttoQuitmarck]

Lol, I went to check my mod's page and was greeted by this message on the nexus:

View attachment 39698

No need for such praise, I just turned three textures transparent



Thanks, agris

I expect that, buried within the site's EULA, your new designation of Mod Author gives Nexus the right to repackage your mod into any collection they so choose, and prevent you from truly deleting it from their servers and/or restrict how they package and use it.

Not that it matters for this, and it's cool you went ahead and made it. Glad something positive came from our discussion!

I still think my chance of playing this is very small. I loath Larian's design sensibilities, and love / cut my teeth on BG1/BG2 when they were released. When I look at screens of BG3, not only do I not see a successor to BG3, I see a toy meant for children. Yes, BG1 and BG2 had childish moments. I don't wishcast them into some grimdark nostalgia fever-dream (plus I replay them enough to know this isn't true), yet the combination of Larian's eye-bleedingly ugly UI and horrendous writing, plus the trash fire that all AD&D versions after 2e are has left me feeling more than ambivalent about BG3.

This game is better mechanically than BG1 and BG2. Not even kidding. The UI and writing is whatever. Exploring feels super rewarding as well.

Care to explain? Points I'd be interested in:

• Why is BG3 TB combat superior to BG1/2's RTwP
• Why is BG3 itemization superior to BG1/2's?
• Why is BG3 spell system superior to BG1/2's?
• Why is BG3 character system superior to BG1/2's?

I think it's important to keep in mind that fans of BG1 and BG2 liked the systems in those games. That doesn't mean they were perfect - not by a long shot - but starting from the premise of "well they were trash in the original games" for any of the above is not going be persuasive.

1. Well I'm a pretty big fan of RTwP normally, however in BG3 you actually have a lot of options to interact with the environment within the turn-based mode to kill enemies, several times I have been able to shove enemies off ledges or cliffs or been able to collapse roofs. Not to mention that the game lets you throw literally *anything*, which has a lot of tactical uses. Plus you can even make use of improvised weapons. As far as turn-based combat goes it's probably the best executed combat system.

2. Itemization is mostly the same as in BG1/2's, main criticism I personally have is that it lacks a lot of unique/cursed magic items at least in act 1. But I have found one unique spell scrolls at this point, though, which is interesting.

3. Spell system is less prebuff heavy (which is only a plus IMO, prebuffing makes a lot of crpgs so goddamn boring). Aside from that it's pretty similar. Although BG3 has way more uses for non-combat utility spells than BG1/2 ever did. Detect thoughts, speak with animals, speak with dead, for example. As well as increasing jump distance and teleport. This makes it actually feel way more than D&D than BG1/2, which were more heavy on combat focus.

4. The game has way more unique dialogue based on classes/races than BG1/2 could even dream of. Even more "obscure" classes like monk have many unique dialogue options.

I also never claimed that BG1/2 is trash, lol. That's what you made out of it. They're fine games especially for when they were made. And I like their companions, writing, and main plot more. However, BG3 has an insane amount of stuff to explore in every nook and cranny. Plus the verticality honestly adds so much to the game world and combat system. And the fact it is a continuous open world, might not be appealing to some, but I find it to be very well executed in this game.

 

[Abu Antar]

Bros... I hadn't even thought about pickpocketing.

Guess what I am doing for the next two hours...

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Feels bad that there are no real bros in the game, well, since everything seems to have sexual undertones. Down with romance and up with bromance, I say! I just want an adventure partner of the same sex that don't want to cross swords naked, if you know what I mean. Someone to watch your back, without you having to watch the guy watching your back so you don't get raped.

The game lacks a stout dwarf companion who doesn't take shit.

Suffer not the gnome to live.

 

[perfectslumbers]

is rogue falling behind damage wise late levels like in solasta?

is polearm master + sentinel as good as it sounds? Can it deny melee boss its turns? Is it basically aod spearman experience?

can rogue execute 2 sneak attacks, provided 2nd one comes from opportunity?

Rogue is one of the best damage dealers over a long period of time, but they don't have any burst damage

Polearm master + sentinel is very strong and is one of the best combinations, assuming it works the same as tabletop

Yes rogue can only sneak attack once per turn but can still sneak attack outside of their turn with opportunity attacks, or readied actions if those exist (I can't find them on the UI if they do)

 

[d1r]

Bros... I hadn't even thought about pickpocketing.

Guess what I am doing for the next two hours...

Don't savescum and deal with the consequences.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Not sure if I want to keep going with the Dark Urge origin for my first playthrough without knowing if the reveal is worth it. So can someone spoil me as to whether you turn out as somehow being a Bhaalspawn despite Bhaal's rebirth?

Spoiler

Or an amnesiac Bhaal KotOR style, but I doubt Larian would go for something like that.

 

[Zarniwoop]

It's not trying to outdo them as a BG-like game, it's outdoing them in the broader task of being a better PnP adaptation to the videogame medium. And I think it's objectively better at that.

I'm still in act 1 (which makes me more qualified than the majority of gaming jouros out there) but I'd say that's spot on.

Hard as it is to say, this is more of an RPG than the old isometric classics. The production values and narrative focus are so good that they end up making a much better adaptation of going on a fantasy adventure with bros.

Heavy MOTB vibes by the way. You're not some Chosen One(TM) trying to save the world from Big Boss (at least not from what I've seen). You're just some dude with a worm in his head trying to get rid of it while trying to resist the urge to give in to it.

 

[Abu Antar]

Bros... I hadn't even thought about pickpocketing.

Guess what I am doing for the next two hours...

Don't savescum and deal with the consequences.

I've already killed two people because of it.