Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

[Zed Duke of Banville]

A Sequel only in Name. A mutt-level RPG Game.
A prime example of Dark Ages computer-gaming.

Lilura1 on Baldur’s Gate 3

And yet the original Baldur's Gate 3 still has much better gameplay than BG1&2.

 

[KeAShizuku]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldu...re-daily-users-in-2024-than-its-release-year/

Baldur's Gate 3 defies the laws of physics by being a single-player RPG with more daily users in 2024 than its release year​

Baldur's Gate 3, pound for pound, has had more daily users in 2024 than in 2023, which feels a little bit like setting a coin spinning, going on holiday for a week, and then coming back only to find it still whirring away on your table.

That's as per Michael Douse, Larian Studios' director of publishing, who revealed some numbers on X today. According to him, Baldur's Gate 3 had 3% more daily peak concurrents, 20% more daily active users, and a 61% bump in daily Steam Deck users—in the second year of its release.

This is staggering, quite frankly, because Baldur's Gate 3 is not technically a game that's meant to be played for so long. You might see that kind of year-on-year growth out of a live service game, or an MMORPG after a new expansion pack release, but Larian's natural 20 doesn't have a whiff of any of that in it. It is objectively a game that's meant to be played for 100-something hours, lauded, loved, and put down for the occasional revisit. I feel like Kronk in Emperor's New Groove, staring at a graph and going "Well, ya got me, by all accounts it doesn't make sense."

Douse theorises that this is basically due to the recent mod support, adding to those numbers the kind of deep insights you'd expect out of a head of publishing, such as "mods are good" and "mods are very good"—he's not wrong.

While I agree with that assessment, it should be pointed out that Baldur's Gate 3's official mod support only arrived in September of this year. I'm sure another boon was Honour Mode, which released late 2023 but had players, myself included, going back for more playthroughs into early 2024 for the bragging rights of golden dice (which I snagged, thank you very much).

There are also statistical explanations—technically, Douse is measuring half a year of 2023 compared to almost a full year of 2024, since Baldur's Gate 3 came out in August last year, buoyed by a steadily-climbing cloud of early access hype. On the other hand, it released to over 875,000 players on Steam, a number that wouldn't dip below 200,000 players until the end of the year.

Honestly, maybe I'm just trying too hard to explain these natural forces. Baldur's Gate 3 feels like a gigantic milestone—an evolution of the CRPGs of yore that perfected a formula then pushed it just a little further. As a result, it's got a ton of different endings, and a story that's been slowly polished to a mirror shine with things like a new epilogue and evil endings hooking players back in. It's a 100+ hour long RPG, sure, but you might go in for a second breakfast of epic fantasy—especially when there's not much competition scratching the same, choice-based itch. Mods are good, yes, but so's Baldur's Gate 3.

id argue Dragon Age did the party dynamics MUCH better. BG3 is a weird Frankenstein that still has too many DOS2 elements, like every party member being the main character, and the worst camping system ever created. its certainly not an evolution or a polished story

Bioware party banter is legendary.

 

[Fedora Master]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldu...re-daily-users-in-2024-than-its-release-year/

Baldur's Gate 3 defies the laws of physics by being a single-player RPG with more daily users in 2024 than its release year​

Baldur's Gate 3, pound for pound, has had more daily users in 2024 than in 2023, which feels a little bit like setting a coin spinning, going on holiday for a week, and then coming back only to find it still whirring away on your table.

That's as per Michael Douse, Larian Studios' director of publishing, who revealed some numbers on X today. According to him, Baldur's Gate 3 had 3% more daily peak concurrents, 20% more daily active users, and a 61% bump in daily Steam Deck users—in the second year of its release.

This is staggering, quite frankly, because Baldur's Gate 3 is not technically a game that's meant to be played for so long. You might see that kind of year-on-year growth out of a live service game, or an MMORPG after a new expansion pack release, but Larian's natural 20 doesn't have a whiff of any of that in it. It is objectively a game that's meant to be played for 100-something hours, lauded, loved, and put down for the occasional revisit. I feel like Kronk in Emperor's New Groove, staring at a graph and going "Well, ya got me, by all accounts it doesn't make sense."

Douse theorises that this is basically due to the recent mod support, adding to those numbers the kind of deep insights you'd expect out of a head of publishing, such as "mods are good" and "mods are very good"—he's not wrong.

While I agree with that assessment, it should be pointed out that Baldur's Gate 3's official mod support only arrived in September of this year. I'm sure another boon was Honour Mode, which released late 2023 but had players, myself included, going back for more playthroughs into early 2024 for the bragging rights of golden dice (which I snagged, thank you very much).

There are also statistical explanations—technically, Douse is measuring half a year of 2023 compared to almost a full year of 2024, since Baldur's Gate 3 came out in August last year, buoyed by a steadily-climbing cloud of early access hype. On the other hand, it released to over 875,000 players on Steam, a number that wouldn't dip below 200,000 players until the end of the year.

Honestly, maybe I'm just trying too hard to explain these natural forces. Baldur's Gate 3 feels like a gigantic milestone—an evolution of the CRPGs of yore that perfected a formula then pushed it just a little further. As a result, it's got a ton of different endings, and a story that's been slowly polished to a mirror shine with things like a new epilogue and evil endings hooking players back in. It's a 100+ hour long RPG, sure, but you might go in for a second breakfast of epic fantasy—especially when there's not much competition scratching the same, choice-based itch. Mods are good, yes, but so's Baldur's Gate 3.

How is this relevant to the game itself?
It isn't. Not news.

 

[Ryzer]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/baldurs-gate-3-defies-the-laws-of-physics-by-being-a-single-player-rpg-with-more-daily-users-in-2024-than-its-release-year/

Baldur's Gate 3 defies the laws of physics by being a single-player RPG with more daily users in 2024 than its release year​

Baldur's Gate 3, pound for pound, has had more daily users in 2024 than in 2023, which feels a little bit like setting a coin spinning, going on holiday for a week, and then coming back only to find it still whirring away on your table.

That's as per Michael Douse, Larian Studios' director of publishing, who revealed some numbers on X today. According to him, Baldur's Gate 3 had 3% more daily peak concurrents, 20% more daily active users, and a 61% bump in daily Steam Deck users—in the second year of its release.

This is staggering, quite frankly, because Baldur's Gate 3 is not technically a game that's meant to be played for so long. You might see that kind of year-on-year growth out of a live service game, or an MMORPG after a new expansion pack release, but Larian's natural 20 doesn't have a whiff of any of that in it. It is objectively a game that's meant to be played for 100-something hours, lauded, loved, and put down for the occasional revisit. I feel like Kronk in Emperor's New Groove, staring at a graph and going "Well, ya got me, by all accounts it doesn't make sense."

Douse theorises that this is basically due to the recent mod support, adding to those numbers the kind of deep insights you'd expect out of a head of publishing, such as "mods are good" and "mods are very good"—he's not wrong.

While I agree with that assessment, it should be pointed out that Baldur's Gate 3's official mod support only arrived in September of this year. I'm sure another boon was Honour Mode, which released late 2023 but had players, myself included, going back for more playthroughs into early 2024 for the bragging rights of golden dice (which I snagged, thank you very much).

There are also statistical explanations—technically, Douse is measuring half a year of 2023 compared to almost a full year of 2024, since Baldur's Gate 3 came out in August last year, buoyed by a steadily-climbing cloud of early access hype. On the other hand, it released to over 875,000 players on Steam, a number that wouldn't dip below 200,000 players until the end of the year.

Honestly, maybe I'm just trying too hard to explain these natural forces. Baldur's Gate 3 feels like a gigantic milestone—an evolution of the CRPGs of yore that perfected a formula then pushed it just a little further. As a result, it's got a ton of different endings, and a story that's been slowly polished to a mirror shine with things like a new epilogue and evil endings hooking players back in. It's a 100+ hour long RPG, sure, but you might go in for a second breakfast of epic fantasy—especially when there's not much competition scratching the same, choice-based itch. Mods are good, yes, but so's Baldur's Gate 3.

id argue Dragon Age did the party dynamics MUCH better. BG3 is a weird Frankenstein that still has too many DOS2 elements, like every party member being the main character, and the worst camping system ever created. its certainly not an evolution or a polished story

Bioware party banter is legendary.

Bioware was reddit before reddit is a thing.

 

[cvv]

Finished, 130+ hours.

So people complain profusely about the 3rd act and I've done my share of bitching too but now looking back... it might be my favourite, even accounting for the recency bias. It certainly has the most memorable moments, fights, story twists and choices, even though trundling through the city or slogging through the sewers isn't as much fun as 1 or 2. I especially loved the episode with Raphael, breaking into his hidey hole and then fighting him, trying to escape. Most epic fight of the game, in my book. Also gathering allies and then using them in the final battle... schweet. The only thing I didn't like about the endgame was getting to the brain stem, when there is a new batch of baddies dropping down every turn. I just invised Astarion and ran through, ain't nobody got time for that shit.

In the end I turned into a full illithid, dominated the brain and became all powerful, making my teammates my bitches. Vincke tried to pass it off as a bad ending but what does he know.

And this time around even the renowned Larian writing is far from the previous jaw-dropping retardery. The overall story isn't exactly a masterpiece but overall it's notably above the current industry average.

My only major complaint is the game is just too long, even for people who enjoy it. Oh and even tactician is maybe too easy, for the most part, especially compared to previous Larian games where Tactician was a straight-up autism simulator.

Not my favourite RPG, as I'm not the biggest isometric fan, but grate gaym nonetheless, can't really justify giving it anything less than 10/10.

 

[Swen]

Finished, 130+ hours.

So people complain profusely about the 3rd act and I've done my share of bitching too but now looking back... it might be my favourite, even accounting for the recency bias. It certainly has the most memorable moments, fights, story twists and choices, even though trundling through the city or slogging through the sewers isn't as much fun as 1 or 2. I especially loved the episode with Raphael, breaking into his hidey hole and then fighting him, trying to escape. Most epic fight of the game, in my book. Also gathering allies and then using them in the final battle... schweet. The only thing I didn't like about the endgame was getting to the brain stem, when there is a new batch of baddies dropping down every turn. I just invised Astarion and ran through, ain't nobody got time for that shit.

In the end I turned into a full illithid, dominated the brain and became all powerful, making my teammates my bitches. Vincke tried to pass it off as a bad ending but what does he know.

And this time around even the renowned Larian writing is far from the previous jaw-dropping retardery. The overall story isn't exactly a masterpiece but overall it's notably above the current industry average.

My only major complaint is the game is just too long, even for people who enjoy it. Oh and even tactician is maybe too easy, for the most part, especially compared to previous Larian games where Tactician was a straight-up autism simulator.

Not my favourite RPG, as I'm not the biggest isometric fan, but grate gaym nonetheless, can't really justify giving it anything less than 10/10.

Yup, I doubt the idiots here have even played act 3 completely before spouting their crap. It's a great act, also it improved a lot with the latest patches; more endings, no more bugs and better performance.

 

[Hydro]

it might be my favourite

Telling you, this fellow’s opinion can go straight to the trash bin

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Are the content patches done by now, and are there any recommended mods?

 

[Heroic Liberator]

So is there a proper mod yet that unlocks appearance customization when playing as one of Larians' donutsteel OCs instead of Tav / DU?