Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

How is the writing overall? Have Larian managed to avoid their usual over the top light-hearted style?

Nope. Not so far. Feels like an Obsidian game, but with dice rolls instead of raw stat checks - which is of course good and bad.

The dice rolls make things feel kind of random. And the Obsidian-ness means the characters feel a bit edgy without a good reason.

Why do we all need to hate each other from minute one and work our way up from there?

Then again, the one guy that didn't act aggressively from the moment I met him was the wizard, and I just found him a pompous prick, so I killed him.

 

[Lacrymas]

Wow, so leveling up was picking one thing and then accept. Really exciting...

This is the D&D 5E leveling. There are feats and they said they are going to use them, but they aren't as extensive as Pathfinder or 3.5E. It's also not clear if they are going to use supplementary material for them (Xanathar and later Tasha) or only the Player's Handbook.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Oh, listen up phaggotz, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

We appeased the "woke" subhumans by letting people choose any type of voice they want, so a dude can have a female voice. This way they're happy and it didn't cost us any extra work, win-win.

lol, I thought it was a bug.

lmao, they actually made tranny an option on chargen with this. oh man.

 

[Lacrymas]

The dice rolls make things feel kind of random.

It's a huge point of criticism of 5E that you don't really have a way to specialize a character outside of arguably a Rogue. Your character's competencies are determined more by the dice roll than anything else. It can turn out that an inbred nudist has a vaster repository of historical knowledge than a wizened old sage. And it did in my last D&D tabletop game.

 

[Tacgnol]

Oh, listen up phaggotz, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

We appeased the "woke" subhumans by letting people choose any type of voice they want, so a dude can have a female voice. This way they're happy and it didn't cost us any extra work, win-win.

lol, I thought it was a bug.

lmao, they actually made tranny an option on chargen with this. oh man.

Seems to be the woke thing these days. Wasteland 3 has a similar option.

I guess it's a very low effort way of appeasing the woke knuckle draggers.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

This is the D&D 5E leveling. There are feats and they said they are going to use them, but they aren't as extensive as Pathfinder or 3.5E. It's also not clear if they are going to use supplementary material for them (Xanathar and later Tasha) or only the Player's Handbook.

Well, at least my warlock got to pick different spells and has the option to replace ones he's learned.

(Though there are default options for everything so the noobs don't strain themselves actually reading the descriptions.)

The dice rolls make things feel kind of random.

It's a huge point of criticism of 5E that you don't really have a way to specialize a character outside of arguably a Rogue. Your character's competencies are determined more by the dice roll than anything else. It can turn out that an inbred nudist has a vaster repository of historical knowledge than a wizened old sage. And it did in my last D&D tabletop game.

Ah, so this is working as intended then.

Sad.

 

[Gyor]

Oh well...

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020...access-mediocre-rpg-amazing-rendering-engine/

Answering the question nobody asked: “What if Michael Bay made a D&D 5e game?”

lol, that's how i assumed it would be yeah

Am I the only one who thinks the idea of Michael Bay making a TB 5e D&D game set in the Forgotten Realms is awesome?

 

[Alienman]

The dice rolls make things feel kind of random.

It's a huge point of criticism of 5E that you don't really have a way to specialize a character outside of arguably a Rogue. Your character's competencies are determined more by the dice roll than anything else. It can turn out that an inbred nudist has a vaster repository of historical knowledge than a wizened old sage. And it did in my last D&D tabletop game.

I was wondering that next - it seems skill checks are total random rolls, nothing that boosts "knowledge" of topics. Man, this seems like total decline to be honest.

 

[AwesomeButton]

The great benefits of the "cinematic experience", wow.

Michael Bay would be proud. The comparison was quite well-put.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I was wondering that next - it seems skill checks are total random rolls, nothing that boosts "knowledge" of topics. Man, this seems like total decline to be honest.

I think you get boosts. It's just not very visible.

It's mainly from your stats (and maybe your background, but I don't see that quantified on my character sheet.)

 

[Swen]

Oh well...

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020...access-mediocre-rpg-amazing-rendering-engine/

Ars technica bashing BG3 is the biggest compliment you can get.

Especially coming from this.... thing :

Jim Salter

@ArsTechnica
technology reporter,
@2_5adm1ns
co-host, mercenary sysadmin, and gadfly. He/him. #BlackLivesMatter
. Don't like it? Don't bother following.


Also would like to aware you of this:

Left Wing Ars Technica Journalist, ‘DrPizza,’ Convicted of Pedophilia Offense

https://nationalfile.com/left-wing-ars-technica-journalist-drpizza-convicted-of-pedophilia-offense/

 

[Thonius]

Oh well...

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020...access-mediocre-rpg-amazing-rendering-engine/

Answering the question nobody asked: “What if Michael Bay made a D&D 5e game?”

lol, that's how i assumed it would be yeah

Am I the only one who thinks the idea of Michael Bay making a TB 5e D&D game set in the Forgotten Realms is awesome?

Have you tried to watch Michael Bay movies in a row? My head hurts in the middle of first because of all the BOOOm SWOOOOOOSH KAZINGA! DZING! SLOOOOOOOWMOTIOOOOON BOOOOOOOM!BABAH!
Same with DOS3, simple actions articulated by some over the top vfx and sound fx.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Oh well...

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020...access-mediocre-rpg-amazing-rendering-engine/

Ars technica bashing BG3 is the biggest compliment you can get.

Especially coming from this.... thing :

Jim Salter

@ArsTechnica
technology reporter,
@2_5adm1ns
co-host, mercenary sysadmin, and gadfly. He/him. #BlackLivesMatter
. Don't like it? Don't bother following.


Also would like to aware you of this:

Left Wing Ars Technica Journalist, ‘DrPizza,’ Convicted of Pedophilia Offense

https://nationalfile.com/left-wing-ars-technica-journalist-drpizza-convicted-of-pedophilia-offense/

Funny, after all the steps they took to please the woke mob, they just said it's shit and moved on.

 

[Nano]

Oh, listen up phaggotz, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

We appeased the "woke" subhumans by letting people choose any type of voice they want, so a dude can have a female voice. This way they're happy and it didn't cost us any extra work, win-win.

lol, I thought it was a bug.

lmao, they actually made tranny an option on chargen with this. oh man.

You could literally do the same thing in BG, dude.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

You could literally do the same thing in BG, dude.

Somehow I doubt this was done to please the trans community, who basically didn't exist at the time as far as most of the general public was concerned.

 

[Storyfag]

Oh well...

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020...access-mediocre-rpg-amazing-rendering-engine/

Ars technica bashing BG3 is the biggest compliment you can get.

Especially coming from this.... thing :

Jim Salter

@ArsTechnica
technology reporter,
@2_5adm1ns
co-host, mercenary sysadmin, and gadfly. He/him. #BlackLivesMatter
. Don't like it? Don't bother following.


Also would like to aware you of this:

Left Wing Ars Technica Journalist, ‘DrPizza,’ Convicted of Pedophilia Offense

https://nationalfile.com/left-wing-ars-technica-journalist-drpizza-convicted-of-pedophilia-offense/

Funny, after all the steps they took to please the woke mob, they just said it's shit and moved on.

Maybe that was the point? To have them merely move on?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Maybe that was the point? To have them merely move on?

Yeah. I think we've seen the results of not kowtowing to them at all (Kingdom: Come Deliverance) and going full woke (Mass Erect: Androgynous).

Middle ground of appeasement seems to be their choice here.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Maybe that was the point? To have them merely move on?

Yeah. I think we've seen the results of not kowtowing to them at all (Kingdom: Come Deliverance) and going full woke (Mass Erect: Androgynous).

Middle ground of appeasement seems to be their choice here.

Woke or no woke content, MEA would've still been shit.

 

[Infinitron]

Wtf are you talking about, it's one guy

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Maybe that was the point? To have them merely move on?

Yeah. I think we've seen the results of not kowtowing to them at all (Kingdom: Come Deliverance) and going full woke (Mass Erect: Androgynous).

Middle ground of appeasement seems to be their choice here.

Woke or no woke content, MEA would've still been shit.

But the woke content made it unplayable shit.

Plus, making woke content means hiring woke people to make the content. Which means shit game. Chicken or the egg.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Maybe that was the point? To have them merely move on?

Yeah. I think we've seen the results of not kowtowing to them at all (Kingdom: Come Deliverance) and going full woke (Mass Erect: Androgynous).

Middle ground of appeasement seems to be their choice here.

Woke or no woke content, MEA would've still been shit.

But the woke content made it unplayable shit.

Plus, making woke content means hiring woke people to make the content. Which means shit game. Chicken or the egg.

The wokeness certainly contributed to its unplayability, but it was also made by a newer, less experienced BW team and it had also suffered from significant changes to the team throughout its development. It being mediocre or worse was unavoidable when BW decided to relegate the importance in development of what used to be one of their flagship franchises in favor of Anthem.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Btw, I don't get the Michael Bay comparison at all here.

Yes, there are explosions, but the game is hardly brainless. Turn based combat is fun and engaging.

Nothing's perfect, sure, but it's not loaded with trash mobs or anything. (Yet.)

 

[Alienman]

This game has a really hard start. So you are kidnapped, the tentacle zeppelin crash and then you have to find your way back or something. But after talking to some people outside the druid-gate it sounds like Baldur's Gate is within walking distance. This guy just says fuck it and walks back. So what the hell is going on here, why am I getting roped in with thiefling druids and what not? Just feels very theme parky so far a la DOS and I have no reason at all to care about all this. There is no real presentation of the world or anything, just shit happening all around you all at the same time, and for some reason they seem to look to you for solutions. Some random low level fighter that fell out of the sky 5 minutes before.

 

[Swen]

Btw guys, to open up the combat log there's a small arrow you can click on the lower right side of the screen.

 

[Van-d-all]

Maybe that was the point? To have them merely move on?

Yeah. I think we've seen the results of not kowtowing to them at all (Kingdom: Come Deliverance) and going full woke (Mass Erect: Androgynous).

Middle ground of appeasement seems to be their choice here.

Woke or no woke content, MEA would've still been shit.

But the woke content made it unplayable shit.

Plus, making woke content means hiring woke people to make the content. Which means shit game. Chicken or the egg.

The wokeness certainly contributed to its unplayability, but it was also made by a newer, less experienced BW team and it had also suffered from significant changes to the team throughout its development. It being mediocre or worse was unavoidable when BW decided to relegate the importance in development of what used to be one of their flagship franchises in favor of Anthem.

It was killed by it's own promise. The idea of a whole new galaxy, even in it's silly space opera tone, was pretty much certain to end up ridiculous, especially when ME just established it's own setting of not being a cheap Star Wars knock off. And that's what you got. New galaxy magically inhabited by similar anthropomorphic races which manage to establish communications on the run.