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

[MRY]

I feel like my defense of Avellone's influence on the genre is vindicated by this review: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198038290352/recommended/1086940/

Characters feel like tropes: you don't meet any "normal" potential party members anywhere, instead meeting (at level 1) a vampire, a githyanki, a cleric of darkness, and a walking mage+bomb. Apparently they all need "deep, dark, secrets"

Before PS:T, RPGs -- even Infinity-engine RPGs -- were primarily about combat, traps, navigating tricky dungeons, building an adventuring party, etc., and their plots were essentially hero journeys about defeating a demon or dragon of some kind. After PS:T, RPGs are primarily about dialogue, lore, building a debating society/salon, and their plots typically subvert heroic tropes and explore an guilt-ridden protagonist overcoming his inner demons.

 

[Bah]

I feel like my defense of Avellone's influence on the genre is vindicated by this review: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198038290352/recommended/1086940/

Characters feel like tropes: you don't meet any "normal" potential party members anywhere, instead meeting (at level 1) a vampire, a githyanki, a cleric of darkness, and a walking mage+bomb. Apparently they all need "deep, dark, secrets"

Before PS:T, RPGs -- even Infinity-engine RPGs -- were primarily about combat, traps, navigating tricky dungeons, building an adventuring party, etc., and their plots were essentially hero journeys about defeating a demon or dragon of some kind. After PS:T, RPGs are primarily about dialogue, lore, building a debating society/salon, and their plots typically subvert heroic tropes and explore an guilt-ridden protagonist overcoming his inner demons.

While I agree with your general assessment, JRPGs had also been doing this prior to PS:T, and I think their influence can't be entirely discounted.

 

[Darkwind]

I feel like my defense of Avellone's influence on the genre is vindicated by this review: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198038290352/recommended/1086940/

Characters feel like tropes: you don't meet any "normal" potential party members anywhere, instead meeting (at level 1) a vampire, a githyanki, a cleric of darkness, and a walking mage+bomb. Apparently they all need "deep, dark, secrets"

God is that true? That isn't even some m'lady type hipster RPG that is more like 7th grade 'baby's first DM session'. Let me take all the most uber monsters from the Monster Manual and make them party members. Do they also give you the Illithid Nautilus Spelljammer ship to fly around in too just to seal the deal? It is a sophomoric level of amateurness. PS:T did this yes but the entire Planescape setting is fairly absurd/mental so it all fit there. Shoehorning the most esoteric unusual creatures into an adventuring party seems like a bad take, IMHO.

 

[Delterius]

I feel like my defense of Avellone's influence on the genre is vindicated by this review: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198038290352/recommended/1086940/

Characters feel like tropes: you don't meet any "normal" potential party members anywhere, instead meeting (at level 1) a vampire, a githyanki, a cleric of darkness, and a walking mage+bomb. Apparently they all need "deep, dark, secrets"

Before PS:T, RPGs -- even Infinity-engine RPGs -- were primarily about combat, traps, navigating tricky dungeons, building an adventuring party, etc., and their plots were essentially hero journeys about defeating a demon or dragon of some kind. After PS:T, RPGs are primarily about dialogue, lore, building a debating society/salon, and their plots typically subvert heroic tropes and explore an guilt-ridden protagonist overcoming his inner demons.

While I agree with your general assessment, JRPGs had also been doing this prior to PS:T, and I think their influence can't be entirely discounted.

PS:T is a JRPG.

 

[Thac0]

I feel like my defense of Avellone's influence on the genre is vindicated by this review: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198038290352/recommended/1086940/

Characters feel like tropes: you don't meet any "normal" potential party members anywhere, instead meeting (at level 1) a vampire, a githyanki, a cleric of darkness, and a walking mage+bomb. Apparently they all need "deep, dark, secrets"

God is that true? That isn't even some m'lady type hipster RPG that is more like 7th grade 'baby's first DM session'. Let me take all the most uber monsters from the Monster Manual and make them party members. Do they also give you the Illithid Nautilus Spelljammer ship to fly around in too just to seal the deal? It is a sophomoric level of amateurness. PS:T did this yes but the entire Planescape setting is fairly absurd/mental so it all fit there. Shoehorning the most esoteric unusual creatures into an adventuring party seems like a bad take, IMHO.

Now now let's hold our horses here.

Mages and clerics of darkness are not unusual party members at all. And I don't think the bomb stuff is outragous enough to make the mage count as one either.
Before having played their backstory fully I would go on a limb and say that Shadowheart and Mister Bombastic are not any more unusual then the average BG1+BG2 companion.

A gith is definitly out there, but somewhat rectified by the games Illithid story. Gith have always been the prime enemy of the illithid, together with always having been at war with their mirror species.

That makes the warlock and the vampire the only truly out there companions. I havn't spend any time with the warlock and I can't rectify the Vampire. He is a pretty ridiculous concept for an adventuring hero, especially when so few companions are 100% normal.

Also those are the evil and neutral companions. Those always had more fucky backstories than the goody two shoes. The review seems like another case of someone being butthurt that the good companions are still missing.

 

[Pope Amole II]

PS:T is a JRPG.

No, it's a Visual Novel.

 

[MRY]

As long as you guys don't call it an adventure game, I'm fine.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

The most helpful review on steam like right now is from someone that said they worked on Baldur's Gate 40 years ago and isn't totally happy that they called it Baldur's Gate 3 (tho it could also just be by someone from here lol):

Companions: So far there are 5 companions available, most likely one of which you will NEVER use, as party size is limited and you won't want to double up with your own protagonist's choice in class. I haven't played far enough to be fair, but initial impressions are there is a lot of anger and bossy people in this world, and not enough fun and adventure seeker's.

Laughed hard at this. Did you know that BG1 had 24 NPCs, of which 8 aren't available until chapter 4? And if you recruit them then, they'll be level one. From chapter 4 to chapter 7 there's only a few hours of gameplay. So literally nobody recruits these guys. You, the supposed "BG1-maker" fucked up 1/3 of your NPCs, so don't even talk pls.

I always thought that late game companions in BG1 were for ironmeme perma-death larpers.

 

[Infinitron]

No TotSC in this guy's list, though.

Then he either didn't actually work on that or he's uncredited.

Zakuen AKA "Mike Ghost": https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197971038456/recommended/1086940/

 

[Nano]

No TotSC in this guy's list, though.

Then he either didn't actually work on that or he's uncredited.

Zakuen AKA "Mike Ghost": https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197971038456/recommended/1086940/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-j-e-geist?originalSubdomain=ca

Joined BW in February '99. If this is the guy then he would've worked on TotSC for only two months, which might explain why he's uncredited.

 

[jackofshadows]

Did anyone managed to free the shadow chick at the beginning?

Apparently, it's impossible. If you passing the arcane check (which doesn't depend on any class btw) you'll be told that basically there's no way to remove the ward, you have do destroy the whole thing and it's indestructible. Although she acknowledge later on how you did approach to it: tell her that she's fucked or tried anything (GOAT C&C material, oh yeah).

I'm done with this demo, too many crashes and it looks like ass (have a GPU below minimum requirements). Feels okay, gonna play it when it comes out for dat grafix (have to buy a new GPU, obviously), smash some pussy and mess around with multi-classing. I hope that they'll adjust cut scenes so they wouldn't look so clunky, will make slider for slow ass TB combat and many many more tuning will be done by that time.

Still zero hope that the meat of the game - encounters will be really fun to play longer than for the first act at best. I have a better feeling about companions entertainment wise, honestly.

 

[vortex]

Still is not known how much content, quests, NPCs and companions is missing in this EA area.

 

[Tyranicon]

I feel like my defense of Avellone's influence on the genre is vindicated by this review: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198038290352/recommended/1086940/

Characters feel like tropes: you don't meet any "normal" potential party members anywhere, instead meeting (at level 1) a vampire, a githyanki, a cleric of darkness, and a walking mage+bomb. Apparently they all need "deep, dark, secrets"

Hey look, things that can be avoided by letting the player build a custom party right from the start.

 

[jackofshadows]

The character creator in this game is really amazing!

What's so amazing about it? Presets are lacking, high elves and drow have the same heads, for instance. No sliders, just array of presets just like in D:OS1/2 and many other games. It's amusing that games like MEA have set bar so low that anything that look not-revolting is enough for everyone, suddenly. Compare this to any modern MMO and you'll be probably truly amazed.

 

[Tyranicon]

The character creator in this game is really amazing!

What's so amazing about it? Presets are lacking, high elves and drow have the same heads, for instance. No sliders, just array of presets just like in D:OS1/2 and many other games. It's amusing that games like MEA have set bar so low that anything that look not-revolting is enough for everyone, suddenly. Compare this to any modern MMO and you'll be probably truly amazed.

Black Desert and whatever the sequel is called starts laughing like an insane, big-titted anime waifu.

 

[fantadomat]

Fuck,the game is full on RNG shit. Constantly missing with 100%. It feels really cheap. Also retarded AI. Had a battle with some band of thieves,they rush some oil barrel,then their mage use are of effect fire spell that blows up their whole band because there was a vampire fag near it lol. LoL level fights feel annoying because of low hp and focus fireing.

 

[DalekFlay]

Before PS:T, RPGs -- even Infinity-engine RPGs -- were primarily about combat, traps, navigating tricky dungeons, building an adventuring party, etc., and their plots were essentially hero journeys about defeating a demon or dragon of some kind. After PS:T, RPGs are primarily about dialogue, lore, building a debating society/salon, and their plots typically subvert heroic tropes and explore an guilt-ridden protagonist overcoming his inner demons.

Which is why Fallout is better than any previous IE game and improved the genre dramatically.

 

[Tyranicon]

LoL level fights feel annoying because of low hp and focus fireing.

Tbf, that's just DnD for ya. Low-level campaigns are always trash unless you want to laugh at your buddy's third attempt to roll a 5hp wizard that doesn't die.

 

[fantadomat]

Hmmm it looks like bg3 ea sold less than dos2. Curious if the EA will turn off people or it will sell more copies on release.

 

[Poseidon00]

What's so amazing about it? Presets are lacking, high elves and drow have the same heads, for instance. No sliders, just array of presets just like in D:OS1/2 and many other games. It's amusing that games like MEA have set bar so low that anything that look not-revolting is enough for everyone, suddenly. Compare this to any modern MMO and you'll be probably truly amazed.

Yeah I like the game but the character creator is potentially the worst part. No customization, just a few presets of some mystery meat ethnic origin.

 

[fantadomat]

LoL level fights feel annoying because of low hp and focus fireing.

Tbf, that's just DnD for ya. Low-level campaigns are always trash unless you want to laugh at your buddy's third attempt to roll a 5hp wizard that doesn't die.

Yeah,the first few and the last few levels are always boring for a campaign. The game shines in the mid levels,where you have enough options but you could still have very hard fights. That said 5e feels like dumbed down trash.

 

[Ontopoly]

So what's up with weapons giving you skills like topple, rush, and cleave? I'm not completely up to snuff with 5e but surely our "most faithful game to dnd since toee" wouldn't deviate at all from 5e. I'm just glad Solasta is coming so people can have a turn based game that isn't this piece of shit

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Let's see which of the two will prove to be the lesser of two evils:
- No Early Access/Beta phases, resulting in a horrible, barely working, bug-ridden product on Day 1 (95% of all RPGs in the last 25 years).
- EA/Beta phase implemented, resulting in months of bitching and moaning (= bad marketing) but allowing the studio to polish the product before official release.

 

[fantadomat]

Let's see which of the two will prove to be the lesser of two evils:
- No Early Access/Beta phases, resulting in a horrible, barely working, bug-ridden product on Day 1 (95% of all RPGs in the last 25 years).
- EA/Beta phase implemented, resulting in months of bitching and moaning (= bad marketing) but allowing the studio to polish the product before official release.

A well polished game on release,now fuck of retard!

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Let's see which of the two will prove to be the lesser of two evils:
- No Early Access/Beta phases, resulting in a horrible, barely working, bug-ridden product on Day 1 (95% of all RPGs in the last 25 years).
- EA/Beta phase implemented, resulting in months of bitching and moaning (= bad marketing) but allowing the studio to polish the product before official release.

A well polished game on release,now fuck of retard!

There never has been one, just like there are no white people in Bulgaria. I should've sent all of you to the gulags when I had the chance, but my comrades were afraid you'd steal all the equipment.