BG3

[Wormerine]

I am still in EA area with a lot of stuff ahead of me, before I can even consider moving toward new content.

Trigger the potential big battle of act1. I thought I found a sequence that would allow me to add Halsin to the fight (initiated attack of the grove, and than freed Halsin, who than rushed to the grove), unfortunately the lazy bear didn't show up until after the grove was defended. Feels like a wasted opportunity - but perhaps, they were too afraid that Halsin will die during the fight, depriving players from not one, but two companions in a single event.

Despite my reservations, I might have initiated a romance with Shadowheart. The invitation seemed innocent enough for my character to refuse (unlike other parties who were flirting rather obviously), and later refusing a kiss just seemed rude. Oh well, we will see how it will go. In general this sequence worked much better than in EA - companions start flirting, not stating one by one if you gained enough reputation to shag them. Well, except for Laez, but it fits her character.

Continuing the characters - I am not sold on Karlach so far. She feels rather bland. I find her liberal use of profanity to be very distracting (she strikes me as a drunk brit girl in a pub, not survivor of the Blood War), and outside throwing **** everyonce in a while, she seems to lack a memorable feature. I don't know if she is weaker than the rest of the cast, or if I simply didn't get used to her, as I did to others.

[Gorgon]

i think it's alright, about as good or bad as the divinity games. i struggle to care that much for my party members unique quests so far, but at least you can bring henchmen and make your own party. 

[kanisatha]

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

I am still in EA area with a lot of stuff ahead of me, before I can even consider moving toward new content.

 

  Hide contents

 

Trigger the potential big battle of act1. I thought I found a sequence that would allow me to add Halsin to the fight (initiated attack of the grove, and than freed Halsin, who than rushed to the grove), unfortunately the lazy bear didn't show up until after the grove was defended. Feels like a wasted opportunity - but perhaps, they were too afraid that Halsin will die during the fight, depriving players from not one, but two companions in a single event.

Despite my reservations, I might have initiated a romance with Shadowheart. The invitation seemed innocent enough for my character to refuse (unlike other parties who were flirting rather obviously), and later refusing a kiss just seemed rude. Oh well, we will see how it will go. In general this sequence worked much better than in EA - companions start flirting, not stating one by one if you gained enough reputation to shag them. Well, except for Laez, but it fits her character.

Continuing the characters - I am not sold on Karlach so far. She feels rather bland. I find her liberal use of profanity to be very distracting (she strikes me as a drunk brit girl in a pub, not survivor of the Blood War), and outside throwing **** everyonce in a while, she seems to lack a memorable feature. I don't know if she is weaker than the rest of the cast, or if I simply didn't get used to her, as I did to others.

I do like the visuals from your screenshot. It looks nothing like D:OS, and that is a HUGE change from early EA visuals and a VERY good thing.

[Bartimaeus]

Okay, I'm going through the character creator now trying to design a guardian, whatever the hell that is. The game doesn't tell you anything about what it is, and designing a character with zero context for what they're supposed to be is incredibly difficult, so I'm going to assume it's the mental manifestation of the worm they shoved into your brain in the opening cutscene, as I have literally zero other information to go off of. So, confession time: I know I've been complaining about this game and 3D graphics in general a lot, but...this game has the opposite problem that most games have for me: there are way too many hair styles that I like. How the hell am I supposed to choose between Carrion Feathers, Highbrow Low Moralist, Sensible Extravagance, Ballerina Buns, Flaunting Bounce, or Springtime Entanglement? And there are honestly like...ten other choices that I like too, that if they were in most any other game's character creator (like the Souls games or that Harry Potter game), I would go "thank goodness, there's at least one decent option I can choose". Damn it all, hoisted by my own petard. Well, there's not a lot of face customization, so I suppose the least they could do is have a pile of good hair options - though they do look a little oddly low quality and also have this weird fuzzy effect as I move the camera around, even though I'm at maximum settings, but I figure I won't ever notice that in the actual game. Maybe.

The facial hair, on the other hand, looks almost universally terrible and people should demand better than this pixely mess.

[Gorgon]

the game is probably zoomed in a bit too far, all the pimples are showing. im noticing clipping in armor sets as well. the environments look gorgeous though. 

[Wormerine]

30 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Okay, I'm going through the character creator now trying to design a guardian, whatever the hell that is. The game doesn't tell you anything about what it is

it is a bit weird, isn't it. I had my first encounter with it, and it more or less it is that.

It is not exactly manifestation of the tadpole, but rather of whatever it is that keeps tadpole from turning us. It guards us from tadpole taking over. So think and create whatever would make your PC likely to trust manifestation - both in their intention and ability to protect him or her

Overall, a massive improvement over EA aparition. 

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

it is a bit weird, isn't it. I had my first encounter with it, and it more or less it is that.

 

  Hide contents

It is not exactly manifestation of the tadpole, but rather of whatever it is that keeps tadpole from turning us. It guards us from tadpole taking over. So think and create whatever would make your PC likely to trust manifestation - both in their intention and ability to protect him or her

Overall, a massive improvement over EA aparition. 

Oh. Huh, well, that ended up being a lot more accurate than I thought it would be, even if it's not quite right. But...I'm just playing as Shadowheart, so I have no bloody idea what she would find trustworthy. I guess Shadowheart must like sickly goth girls?

Spoiler

 

The first incarnation was a little wackier:

I ended up deciding that them big ol' half-elf ears needed to be just a little less...uh, prominent, so I went away from the ballerina buns. If it's supposed to be someone your PC trusts, I guess it ended up probably being for the best, since...well, I rather envisioned this original version as being some kind of crazy axe murderer, vaguely in the vein of that one psychotic android lady from Blade Runner, which doesn't really seem like the best fit now knowing that it's not exactly the worm itself. But really, I feel like if you select to play one of the NPCs, you should at least have the option of a pre-generated guardian, because there's absolutely no way I could figure out what Shadowheart's "guardian" should look like without at least having played the game a little first. They could've given you the option of picking someone that looks like whatever Shar is supposed to look like, for example. Oh well, whatever.

1 hour ago, Gorgon said:

the game is probably zoomed in a bit too far, all the pimples are showing.

Hey, pimples and freckles and other skin defects/textures, even if they're small/minor, are much better than unnaturally flawless skin that just makes your character look like they got completely airbrushed over! ...That's not really what you were talking about, though.

Edited August 8, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[lobotomy42]

After playing a bit more, I will add that I think they did a great job with the implementation of the camp. The way characters can show up there, even non-party characters, and everyone reacts to what has happened in the story so far -- this is A+.  I just passed the part where

Spoiler

I killed the goblins and saved the tieflings from a dangerous journey, also saving the grove -- triggering a huge "party" at my camp.

and I have to say the use of the camp for this kind of "big story moment" while allowing for the player to pace themselves through conversations -- rather than having some big cutscene -- was excellent. It took more than a few notes from the best bits of the Dragon Age: Origins camp as well as the Citadel DLC from ME3 and incorporated them well, without feeling like shallow fan service. Also just the way the camp clearly moves with you and reflects the environment you're in -- the "dungeon camp" vs the "wilderness camp" and all the others -- adds a nice touch and makes the rest anywhere mechanic feel less silly.

One nitpick about the companion conversations -- I've noticed that when the companions have a "I have something to tell you" conversation (which seems like every 5 goddamn minutes?) they immediately take you into some conversation tree about their own issues (fine) and then finally dump you out of the conversation entirely (not fine.) This means if I just want to say "Hey Gale, leave my party for a bit" -- I have to first listen to all of Gale's issues, then leave the conversation, then re-enter the conversation, and then finally ask him to leave. This is tedious and pretty much breaks the flow narratively. My character wanted to make a quick tactical party change and got caught up talking about somebody's past?

Does anyone know if there's a UI somewhere for just making party changes? It really feels like this does not need to be a dialogue tree.

[lobotomy42]

From the interview:

Quote

GOL: The Baldur's Gate series has a long history. What was the key aspect of the world that you wanted to include in your game?

Swen Vincke: I think there were several things like that.... First of all, it was the first adaptation of a Dungeons and Dragons game at that time. So I think we wanted to make a similar breakthrough with the translation of the fifth edition of D&D into the game. We also wanted to preserve the team-based nature of the game. Another important issue was the "there's a monster growing inside me, what should I do with it?" theme. We start by being infected by the parasite and then getting the ability to take control of it or resist it. This is present in many origin stories, but especially in the main storyline - this dilemma of what are you going to do about it. We also wanted to bring the feeling of being in a city from the second Baldur's Gate to the actual Baldur's Gate [in "two" we didn't visit the title city, only Athkatla - editor's note]. This was another ambition of ours.

You know, this almost total disregard for Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 still doesn't sit great with me. BG3 is a fine game, but comments like these drive home the idea that this is fundamentally "Larian D&D Game" not "sequel to Baldur's Gate." Which is a fine thing to make! (I like the game!) But it makes the title feel all the more like a cynical marketing ploy to piggyback off of the popularity of some beloved CRPG classics.

And frankly, playing the game, it does really show that this is not much of a sequel at all. (Maybe I'll change my tune once a certain someone shows up...)

EDIT: Maybe now I finally understand how Dungeon Siege fans felt about Dungeon Siege 3...

Edited August 8, 2023 by lobotomy42

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I broke down and bought the game, downloading it now.

Uhh I went to Nexus to check out the mods and was greeted with images of a dwarf phallus, a nude fairy, and a half-orc with a beeg hog. Beautiful.

[Malcador]

20 minutes ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

I broke down and bought the game, downloading it now.

Uhh I went to Nexus to check out the mods and was greeted with images of a dwarf phallus, a nude fairy, and a half-orc with a beeg hog. Beautiful.

The Internet was a mistake.  Is hard to resist the hype on this game, hah.   Never played either BG or BG 2, but I guess those aren't necessary for this one

[HoonDing]

Couldn't get it even if I wanted to, I'm over my data limit.

Edited August 8, 2023 by HoonDing

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

35 minutes ago, Malcador said:

The Internet was a mistake.  Is hard to resist the hype on this game, hah.   Never played either BG or BG 2, but I guess those aren't necessary for this one

The internet definitely has made us all collectively dumber and worse, but in this case I think it's more funny than anything. Maybe I've just taken too much psychic damage though.

BG3 doesn't look to be like the og BGs very much at all and I think you'll be perfectly fine to play this without having touched either of those games. And the hype is very real.

Edited August 8, 2023 by PK htiw klaw eriF

[Wormerine]

1 hour ago, lobotomy42 said:

After playing a bit more, I will add that I think they did a great job with the implementation of the camp. 
(…)

Does anyone know if there's a UI somewhere for just making party changes? It really feels like this does not need to be a dialogue tree.

I had a lot of doubts about the camp system, but I think I ended up liking it. In the EA it felt like mandatory evil to facilitate companion story cutscenes, but so far it works so much better in 1.0.

First of all, I like how companion’s story progress now both in and outside of the camp (the wasn’t the case in EA). It makes the companions feel more alive - less like you get story story bits gated behind rests.

I also can’t stress, how big of an impact made the daylight camp - especially after you rested. It reinforces the idea of going to sleep in waking up before adventuring further, rather that a weird pocket dimension, where all your companions are stored. 

I am afraid there is no party management UI. Feels like there simply should be one when leaving the camp, and all inventories of all companions should be available while you are in camp.

1 hour ago, lobotomy42 said:

You know, this almost total disregard for Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 still doesn't sit great with me. BG3 is a fine game, but comments like these drive home the idea that this is fundamentally "Larian D&D Game" not "sequel to Baldur's Gate."

I think it is just something one needs to accept. Not a terrible thing, in my opinion, with original games being nicely wrapped up, but I would prefer if it was Baldur’s Gate: xxxxxxx, rather than a titled entry. 

[Bartimaeus]

I figured the game would be a lot smaller after being installed - usually, different languages take up a pretty good portion of the installer size. But, um, the 109 GB multi-language GOG installer instead became 125 GB after being installed. So...I guess not.

Made my guardian, got through the first cutscene, tried to figure out the camera controls, saved my game and quit. No static camera makes me wanna cry. Not that I quit because of that, just can't play right now, .

[InsaneCommander]

1 hour ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

I broke down and bought the game, downloading it now.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

15 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

 

The hype was too much for me, more than even Barbenheimer.

Also Fire Emblem: Engage on Maddening is very hard while also being an embarrassing anniversary game.

[lobotomy42]

Quote

all inventories of all companions should be available while you are in camp

God, yes. This, along with a party switching UI, would go a long way towards me actually using companions other than the first three I met.

Quote

I think it is just something one needs to accept. Not a terrible thing, in my opinion, with original games being nicely wrapped up, but I would prefer if it was Baldur’s Gate: xxxxxxx, rather than a titled entry. 

I know, I know. I just wish it were "Forgotten Realms: Revenge of the Tadpoles" or something. Sticking a number after a title feels like a big deal!

[Sven_]

On 8/7/2023 at 3:21 PM, kanisatha said:

I don't see any reason to interpret things this way at all. The game sold a bit over 2 million during EA. And it sat in EA for three years. It should come as no surprise at all to anyone that when the game is finally released, those 2 million people who bought and played it during EA would want to immediately play the full game. Hence the huge surge in people playing it concurrently at release. There is no reason to interpret it as a huge number of NEW players wanting to play the game. 

 

The pre-release numbers for the console release additonally hint at something a bit more going on. The 800+K peak numbers on Steam are concurrent players, not total. That's a number only ever reached by PC gaming's biggest hits. Larian's management told their staff to expect ~100K concurrent players. And they knew their EA sales numbers. Larian's boss worried Baldur's Gate 3 had peaked in early access, so its massive 800K concurrent player launch was 'way, way beyond' expectations | PC Gamer

Personally, I'm just glad an (AAA) RPG "proper" is rocking things out fairly decently anyway. It may of course never even hint at Skyrim-ish numbers or anything (neither did the original Dragon Age, arguably one of the last AAA RPGs harkening back to 1990s design ethos some). But in an (AAA) RPG world dominated by action-adventure-ish gameplay and shallow (character) systems, BG3's not the worst of things to ever happen. I don't think it will influence much though. No less as the entire AAA industry has moved into a different direction -- and this includes the staff that have been built (and/or left studios) throughout the years. Additionally, BG3 may have shipped at the perfect time. With D&D being at another peak (even though the fun movie flopped), too.

Personally, without the digital distribution / indie / crowdfuding revolution of the early 2010s (of which Larian have been a part of, even if I didn't like DOS overly much), I may have stopped playing one of my fav genres altogether... it's just changed that much ever since the demise of Interplay, Origin, Looking Glass, Black Isle, Troika, Sir-Tech, New World Computing et all.. Immersive Sims meanwhile at least had Arkane Studios going strong (with both classic CRPGs and IMmersive Sims being influenced by the very same thing.... TT RPGS). Arkane even pulled off Prey, a game that in many ways is even MORE complex than the 1990s/early 2000s games it took inspiration from. Whereas Dragon Age:Origins is a simplified BG in almost every way.


That said, BG3 also badly needs more UI/font size scaling options. Even indies are doing it as a standard feature these days...

Edited August 8, 2023 by Sven_

[Theonlygarby]

16 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I was going to say " this is an outrageous post? How  can you say you wont finish BG3" 

But then I read your post and I get your reasons, they understandable and  based on what you enjoy from RPG. BG3 is just not for you and I think we need to accept that?

Last point from me to try to convince you, Wyll has a hot Cambion   patron as his side quest, if you don't continue to play BG3 you might miss the chance to Romance her or something similar? Are you prepared to take that risk 

Oh and how many hours did you spend playing it?

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe 3-4 hours of actually playing in a single playthrough.  I played EA a bit.  so my time played is more than that.  I'll probably come back to it at some point. 

 

I find myself uninterested in the dialog/story, I really enjoy the combat though.

 

I might just not be in the mood for it, but I tried DOS2 many times and I never found it engaging.  And it feels a lot like DOS2.  Even starting on a ship, that ship crashing and waking up on a beach feels way too much like dos2.

Speaking of that ship, how does it fly?  is it a psychic sort of thing?  Its weird... kinda like bird people that live underwater

Edited August 8, 2023 by Theonlygarby

[Gromnir]

1 hour ago, Theonlygarby said:

Speaking of that ship, how does it fly?  is it a psychic sort of thing?  Its weird... kinda like bird people that live underwater

https://greyhawkonline.com/greyhawkwiki/Spelljammer

https://spelljammer.fandom.com/wiki/Spelljammer_Helms#Series_helm

spelljammer, which has been around a long time, took starships label literal. 

think treasure planet "ships."

edit:  nautiloid info

https://spelljammer.fandom.com/wiki/Nautiloid

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Nautiloid

HA! Good Fun!

Edited August 8, 2023 by Gromnir

[Wormerine]

Hmm, I am starting to see instances of game’s reactivity not catching up. So far minor stuff:

So far I am keeping everyone on tandpole-less diet. I don’t use tadpoles I find, and I don’t use tadpole power. That is true of my PC and companions. As such, I haven’t unlocked a single tadpole power so far (or even the tadpole menu). In spite of them two of the companions (Wyll/Astarion) claimed that the dream visitor granted them powers twice. They are either holding out on me, or are confused.

The 2nd instance had to do with the weapon. Shadowheart has been a constant presence in my party, so as such she holds on to the box. When engaging Gith party I sent my PC after Laez, while Shadowheart and Wyll stayed behind for an ambush. Without S. present the game acted as if PC was in possession of the box.

[InsaneCommander]

6 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

The hype was too much for me

I'll be joining really soon. I'm inside the Threshold fortress in PF:WotR.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

10 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

I'll be joining really soon. I'm inside the Threshold fortress in PF:WotR.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Going through the character creator and the companion origins seem interesting but I'm going with Dark Urge, which I am absolutely convinced is 

Spoiler

a Bhaalspawn. I will bet real money on this.

If that's true that maybe the title is more of a sequel than I thought.