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Gamesradarès Baldur's Gate 3 preview is pure hype

Buggy Loop

Member
Here a couple more people who have played the full version.




Just had time to watch the fextralife preview

Sweating James Mcavoy GIF


Oh my

I was thinking of moving BG3 after being done with Starfield, but i think i'll flip it around. Starfield will probably be buggy as fuck anyway...
 

Fools idol

Banned
Even daggerfall and morrowind?
uhhh what? I'm talking about Larian's games exclusively eg, divinity series.

I mean if you want to know if I think BG3 early access is better than daggerfall and Morrowind then answer is an easy yes. There is so much more complexity, polish and immersion in Larian games than Bethesda.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
never played this franchise or games from this studio seems like they're offering something different than what I usually play this like a more advanced/complex super mario RPG? might check it out
Super mario rpg is more in lines with jrpgs than traditional rpgs.

This is a crpg. If you're not familiar with them they're basically games that usually try their best to emulate the experience of a tabletop rpg session. You make your own character builds, from their classes down to their personalities, and the game world will try to reflect these choices.

Mechanically speaking, you have tactical combat (turn based in the case of this game, similar to ff tactics in the sense that terrain and movement is part of it) where your character fights according to your build. You also control your party members who are set characters in the game world, but also can be custom characters made by you... or other players, since this game allows you to play coop. This game in particular also allows you to pick some of these set characters as your main character, instead of making one of your own, doing so lets you access unique story bits pertaining to those characters.

Speaking of story, this type of game also usually doesn't have a fixed storyline, instead the story changes and adapts depending on your dialogue choices or actions (like choosing who you ally with, whether you help a certain person or not, etc). Such choices can also be reflected on the quests, that usually can be completed in a multitude of different ways as well as have many different outcomes, with or without longterm consequences, with many of these choices being directly tied to your character stats (like being able to indimidate someone if you have a strenght based chatacter). This game follows this philosophy but also promises to be a few steps above in that area.
 

GymWolf

Member
uhhh what? I'm talking about Larian's games exclusively eg, divinity series.

I mean if you want to know if I think BG3 early access is better than daggerfall and Morrowind then answer is an easy yes. There is so much more complexity, polish and immersion in Larian games than Bethesda.
I thought you were talking about previous bethesda games.
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member
I love it that Act 2 has better combat according to Fextralife. I'm seriously hyped for this game.

I mean that makes sense, as you get higher level you gain access to higher power spells/feats you have more variety on how you can engage an enemy and likewise the enemies will gain more too.

Combat will naturally improve as a consequence of more options becoming available and a higher variety of what an enemy can hurl back at you.
 
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diffusionx

Gold Member
I was blown away by Starfield like a lot of people, but man the fact that this is on PS5 is fortuitous for them. It looks great. The way perverts crawled out of the woodwork with the bear stuff was pretty grim though.
 

GymWolf

Member


Nice.

Tossing the dwarf is in!

Undecited between monk and druid.

Druid seems super versatile, you can turn into a bird to fly on roofs, turn into a small animal to stealth inside locations, and the bear for to fuck up enemies (or dudettes).

But monk looks cool AF and scratch that martial arts brain of mine.
 
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RoadHazard

Gold Member
Dice rolls to decide success or failure in story stuff seems really weird to me, not sure I could get into that. I think I would prefer if that was completely hidden, and stuff just happened one way or the other. Seems to me like that would feel more natural. Pen and paper roll playing needs dice to have an element of chance, but this is a video game, it doesn't actually need that. But I guess that's what fans of this series want.
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
Dice rolls to decide success or failure in story stuff seems really weird to me, not sure I could get into that. I think I would prefer if that was completely hidden, and stuff just happened one way or the other. Seems to me like that would feel more natural. Pen and paper roll playing needs dice to have an element of chance, but this is a video game, it doesn't actually need that. But I guess that's what fans of this series want.
Its not completely random, you have bonus points depending on your stats, class, etc; a 6 roll could easily go up to a 17 when you add all the bonuses depending on what you're rolling for.

And while they could've made the rolls hidden, like other RPGs do, i think the design choice to show the roll works really well. Gives good moments of tension and you can witness how your stats are working in your favor (or against you) clearly. Not to mention it makes it easier to implement certain roll related DnD mechanics.

 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Its not completely random, you have bonus points depending on your stats, class, etc; a 6 roll could easily go up to a 17 when you add all the bonuses depending on what you're rolling for.

And while they could've made the rolls hidden, like other RPGs do, i think the design choice to show the roll works really well. Gives good moments of tension and you can witness how your stats are working in your favor (or against you) clearly. Not to mention it makes it easier to implement certain roll related DnD mechanics.



Yeah, I get it and how it could be cool, I just haven't played anything like it and have a hard time not thinking it's weird. 🙂
 

Doom85

Member
Yeah, I get it and how it could be cool, I just haven't played anything like it and have a hard time not thinking it's weird. 🙂

It actually helps give even more of a sense of progression with your character than most video game RPGs could accomplish.

Take my first D&D character, a Dwarf Rogue. Now, as she gains levels, of course she does more damage, gains HP, and increases her hit accuracy and AC (Armor Class, basically a Attack roll must match or exceed its target’s AC).

But in addition to that, she has her skill options, which are affected by your character’s stats (which can increase at certain levels) but also you can choose skills to be proficient in (based on your class and background) which give an additional bonus and also your proficiency bonus goes up at certain levels.

So my Dwarf Rogue is proficient in Stealth, Perception (these first two get even more boosted due to the Rogue class letting you boost two particular proficiencies), Deception, Insight, Investigation, Persuasion, and Thieves’ Tools. So all these skills will get boosted as her level goes up.

So as she gets stronger, she not only improves in combat, but also:

-(Stealth) hiding from enemies, which also can be used to massively boost her damage and give advantage on attacks (meaning you roll twice and use the higher result)
-(Perception) spot hidden people, items, spot something in the distance, etc.
-(Deception) lie to people
-(Insight) determine if someone is lying
-(Persuasion) convince someone with an argument
-(Investigation) search rooms, drawers, chests, a huge pile of notes, etc.
-(Thieves’ Tools) unlock locked chests, doors, etc.

And there are around 20 skills overall. It shows your character progressing in a way that extends well beyond combat. The dice roll represents no one is perfect though. Sometimes another person refuses to change their mind. Maybe someone has a perfect poker face. Maybe you might have spotted that figure hiding to your left but a fly got in your face and distracted you. This is the beauty of D&D, you will become far stronger as you progress, but you never become perfect in every possible aspect of life, even the things you train specifically in. But you will become far more frequently successful in those specialized skills.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
It actually helps give even more of a sense of progression with your character than most video game RPGs could accomplish.

Take my first D&D character, a Dwarf Rogue. Now, as she gains levels, of course she does more damage, gains HP, and increases her hit accuracy and AC (Armor Class, basically a Attack roll must match or exceed its target’s AC).

But in addition to that, she has her skill options, which are affected by your character’s stats (which can increase at certain levels) but also you can choose skills to be proficient in (based on your class and background) which give an additional bonus and also your proficiency bonus goes up at certain levels.

So my Dwarf Rogue is proficient in Stealth, Perception (these first two get even more boosted due to the Rogue class letting you boost two particular proficiencies), Deception, Insight, Investigation, Persuasion, and Thieves’ Tools. So all these skills will get boosted as her level goes up.

So as she gets stronger, she not only improves in combat, but also:

-(Stealth) hiding from enemies, which also can be used to massively boost her damage and give advantage on attacks (meaning you roll twice and use the higher result)
-(Perception) spot hidden people, items, spot something in the distance, etc.
-(Deception) lie to people
-(Insight) determine if someone is lying
-(Persuasion) convince someone with an argument
-(Investigation) search rooms, drawers, chests, a huge pile of notes, etc.
-(Thieves’ Tools) unlock locked chests, doors, etc.

And there are around 20 skills overall. It shows your character progressing in a way that extends well beyond combat. The dice roll represents no one is perfect though. Sometimes another person refuses to change their mind. Maybe someone has a perfect poker face. Maybe you might have spotted that figure hiding to your left but a fly got in your face and distracted you. This is the beauty of D&D, you will become far stronger as you progress, but you never become perfect in every possible aspect of life, even the things you train specifically in. But you will become far more frequently successful in those specialized skills.
One issue i have with using chance-driven dialogue options in videogame RPGs (as opposed to a tabletop one) is that it really tempts players to save scum, its particularly bad when the chance mechanics are kind of obscure or happen automatically.

Its one of the reasons i like the way they're implementing it here, they're essentially 'gamifying' the dice roll, even if its mostly by adding some audio-visual feedback to it, rather than using an instantaneous process. It does manage to make the dice roll feel more engaging and a genuine part of the game, as it actually is in a DnD campaign.
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
Ok, new community update clearing up some stuff regarding the 72 hour early access

We’ve updated our Steam page to better reflect the content of the game and bring the Early Access section up to date, as well as the specifications. On that page, we’re recommending that players don’t buy the Early Access version of Baldur's Gate 3 with a view to play through that content, partly because it’s out of date but mostly because we’re so close to launch and want to make it very clear that
saves in the Early Access version will not transfer into the final game. This is due to technical reasons.

Essentially, the game is so vastly different that it’s not possible to make those save files compatible. Early Access will, of course, remain playable up to launch.

A purchase of Early Access is essentially a pre-order, and will still grant you access to the Digital Deluxe content for Baldur's Gate 3 on PC, granting you access to: an exclusive in-game dice skin, the Divinity Bard Song Pack, Treasures of Rivellon Pack, Adventurer’s Pouch, Digital OST, Digital Artbook, and Digital Character Sheets for D&D IRL.

The PC Digital Deluxe Edition does not include a 72 hour head start, which would have essentially made the game’s release date July 31st. Shifting the release date – and thus communication around the Digital Deluxe Editions across PS5 and PC – came with a few complexities that we didn’t manage to communicate very well, so we thought it best to clarify it here, given that a 72 hour head start on PC wouldn't have been plausible.

Seems the 72 hour head start was meant to deluxe owners of the ps5 version a month later. The PC version will only the fully playable in the 3rd. Saves from before that will not transfer to the full game, i repeat, saves from before that will not be transferable.
 
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amigastar

Member
Ok, new community update clearing up some stuff regarding the 72 hour early access



Seems the 72 hour head start was meant to deluxe owners of the ps5 version a month later. The PC version will only the fully playable in the 3rd. Saves from before that will not transfer to the full game, i repeat, saves from before that will not be transferable.
So not playable 72 hours prior to launch on Steam, is that correct? That's really dissapointing then.
 
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Doom85

Member
Ok, new community update clearing up some stuff regarding the 72 hour early access



Seems the 72 hour head start was meant to deluxe owners of the ps5 version a month later. The PC version will only the fully playable in the 3rd. Saves from before that will not transfer to the full game, i repeat, saves from before that will not be transferable.

Makes sense saves won’t be transferable, I’m not done watching their stream but they mentioned quite a few things have been changed from the early access version of Act 1, so depending on what some of those changes are, it might have been nigh impossible to make saves transferable.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
It actually helps give even more of a sense of progression with your character than most video game RPGs could accomplish.

Take my first D&D character, a Dwarf Rogue. Now, as she gains levels, of course she does more damage, gains HP, and increases her hit accuracy and AC (Armor Class, basically a Attack roll must match or exceed its target’s AC).

But in addition to that, she has her skill options, which are affected by your character’s stats (which can increase at certain levels) but also you can choose skills to be proficient in (based on your class and background) which give an additional bonus and also your proficiency bonus goes up at certain levels.

So my Dwarf Rogue is proficient in Stealth, Perception (these first two get even more boosted due to the Rogue class letting you boost two particular proficiencies), Deception, Insight, Investigation, Persuasion, and Thieves’ Tools. So all these skills will get boosted as her level goes up.

So as she gets stronger, she not only improves in combat, but also:

-(Stealth) hiding from enemies, which also can be used to massively boost her damage and give advantage on attacks (meaning you roll twice and use the higher result)
-(Perception) spot hidden people, items, spot something in the distance, etc.
-(Deception) lie to people
-(Insight) determine if someone is lying
-(Persuasion) convince someone with an argument
-(Investigation) search rooms, drawers, chests, a huge pile of notes, etc.
-(Thieves’ Tools) unlock locked chests, doors, etc.

And there are around 20 skills overall. It shows your character progressing in a way that extends well beyond combat. The dice roll represents no one is perfect though. Sometimes another person refuses to change their mind. Maybe someone has a perfect poker face. Maybe you might have spotted that figure hiding to your left but a fly got in your face and distracted you. This is the beauty of D&D, you will become far stronger as you progress, but you never become perfect in every possible aspect of life, even the things you train specifically in. But you will become far more frequently successful in those specialized skills.

Yeah, for sure, BUT I don't see why any of that requires actual (simulated) dice rolls in a video game. Except of course to display the DnD roots.
 

Fools idol

Banned
The latest release from the devs now says that the early access is actually 1/4 of the full game content, not 1/3 as previously assumed by players.


That wolfheart guy has 1,000 hours clocked on his steam account in EA already, lmao. The full game is going to captivate people for years.
 

ebevan91

Member
Bought the game yesterday. I've avoided early access for years and won't play until the full release. Can't wait.

I actually finished DOS2 right before early access started for BG3 and I've put off playing it and any similar games since, so this'll be a pretty fresh experience for me.
 

gela94

Member
I'm honest I never finished BG 1 or 2, even back then in the 90s I strongly disliked the isometric angle, so this seems like the ultimate game for me and I AM HYYYPPPEEEEDDDD !!! It looks so beautiful.
Happy Pumped Up GIF by AT&T
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
I started playing this game just recently (Jesus, just checked; 14 hours already) - and this is the best game of all time. Why? I can speak to the frikkin' animals with my newly found ability!







For some reason I forgot to take pictures of the cows but I spoke to two of them as well!
 

GymWolf

Member
I started playing this game just recently (Jesus, just checked; 14 hours already) - and this is the best game of all time. Why? I can speak to the frikkin' animals with my newly found ability!







For some reason I forgot to take pictures of the cows but I spoke to two of them as well!
That dog looks great.
 

Fools idol

Banned
can someone confirm if they kept the sort of ... odd... voice acting style for animals in Divinity OS 2 in BG3?

They kind of sounded like kids with brain damage or something.
 
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Bkdk

Member
Will be a make or break title for Larian. So far seems like their advertisement is rather successful and pre orders are going nicely. If the game end up having game breaking bugs,
larian will likely go bankrupt with the amount of investment they put in for this game. It’s never easy to test out all the major bugs for games with high interactivity and lots of content. I bet they are quite nervous that some major bugs aren’t known until after release causing massive refund to happen on steam.
 

StereoVsn

Member
Druids have always been a part of D&D and there have always been a ton of comedic references in games, media, whatever about how they...fuck(in what form, etc.) for like 20 years? How is this comedic scene triggering? Lmao. It is fucking hilarious. Move on or dont play the game.
It's even longer then that. D&D has been around since the late 70s. So we are talking over 40 years now (not sure when druids were added to be fair).

And yeah, this is so stupid, how is this bear thing still ongoing? It's like One of the very minute thing about this huge RPG and you don't have to have anything to do with it since it's some very specific choices to view. Why are people still complaining?
 

StereoVsn

Member
Still don't think you can really form an opinion in 2 hours for cRPG genre

But oh well, i can't find any other alternative as there's no demo for the genre in general it seems.

Buying Baldur's gate 2 Enhanced edition on a tablet or PS5 for cheap ~$10 might be the safest bet, but understanding that the mechanics have changed and that well, BG2 is like the grand-father of the genre, plenty of quality of life improvements since then.
I highly recommend trying Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. Well, at least on PC no idea how it runs on a console.

It's an excellent modern CRPG, one of the best ever made, and ruleset is basically forked D&D 3.5 I think.
 

Fools idol

Banned
Why'd they change this?pretty sure some races lose out with this setup, plus it doesn't make sense from a role playing standpoint.

They haven't revealed why. I suspect is just to reduce min maxing.

It is partifularly bad for humans because they lose one of the few perks they have lol. Also half elf will be less viable too. Will wait and see how it plays out but I am not a big fan of this change either.
 

Fools idol

Banned
I highly recommend trying Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. Well, at least on PC no idea how it runs on a console.

It's an excellent modern CRPG, one of the best ever made, and ruleset is basically forked D&D 3.5 I think.
I fired up a new WOTR run today as wel. I've been playing both DND and PF for decades and have yet to complete WOTR on higher than core difficulty. It's absolutely brutally hard if you don't know what you are doing. If you do play it, go on easy for your first run as it's the 'hard' setting for most games.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
Why'd they change this?pretty sure some races lose out with this setup, plus it doesn't make sense from a role playing standpoint.
They haven't revealed why. I suspect is just to reduce min maxing.

It is partifularly bad for humans because they lose one of the few perks they have lol. Also half elf will be less viable too. Will wait and see how it plays out but I am not a big fan of this change either.
If they're following TCE rules the half-elf should get +1+1 points as well as be able to move around the +2 charisma to other stats. Wolfheart said there was no human variant so i assume the human race still gets the base +1 to all stats along no extra points.

But yeah, this is all just speculation at this point, we probably won't know for sure until the game comes out.
 
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Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
Seems telling that there is no Xbox version ready due to 'issues optimizing for the XS'. They moved the PC version up to Aug 3 and kept the PS5 version to Sept 6th......same day when Starfield releases on XSX. I wonder if Sony paid Larian to delay the Xbox version so they can release it on PS5 on Sept 6th to compete with the Starfield release. I don't see any other reason why otherwise.
 
and ? it's a clearly reference to zoophilia and that is sick imo.

If its was a guy turning into a horse or a dog to fuck a girl the internet would be in meltdown mode right now.
At a certain point you have to accept that its a video game with elves and ogres and shit and like people firing ropes of fire out of their asses and half elves that shit lightning bolts.

Like, relax bro. It's a video game weird shit happens.
 
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I'm shocked that it says statistically only 5% play evil.. wtf, I always choose evil path and come back around for the "good" path in things like Mass Effect, etc. Just seems very low.
Because evil usually sucks in most games. Its never really evil, its just choose the wise ass response to dialogue and end up at the same end point anyway.
 

Doom85

Member
Yeah, for sure, BUT I don't see why any of that requires actual (simulated) dice rolls in a video game. Except of course to display the DnD roots.

Maybe there’s an option to turn it off and you just see the result automatically? Personally, I’m excited you can actually see the dice rolls.
 

StereoVsn

Member
I fired up a new WOTR run today as wel. I've been playing both DND and PF for decades and have yet to complete WOTR on higher than core difficulty. It's absolutely brutally hard if you don't know what you are doing. If you do play it, go on easy for your first run as it's the 'hard' setting for most games.
I think Normal is ok if you are used to CRPGs/D&D. Otherwise yeah, Easy may not be a bad idea till at least you get a handle on the gameplay/abilities.
 
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