Baldur's Gate 3 by Larian Games

In a perfect world we would gave gotten BG3 and D:OS3. I am just happy there is another good rpg coming. I would have preferred a more classic BG game, but Larian has shown that their games are great.

My biggest fear is what story they will tell. BG was just perfect in that regard. No "you are the chosen one and have to save the world" tropes. First one was basically a revenge story and stopping Saervok from messing with your life. Second one was getting your soul back and rescuing your childhood friend.
I lost interest in Dos2 in the end, because the main story was so bland. I loved all the minor stories and the different backstories, but stopping big bad from destroying the world is just kinda meeeeh. Same with Dos1.

Ridas said:

In a perfect world we would gave gotten BG3 and D:OS3. I am just happy there is another good rpg coming. I would have preferred a more classic BG game, but Larian has shown that their games are great.

My biggest fear is what story they will tell. BG was just perfect in that regard. No "you are the chosen one and have to save the world" tropes. First one was basically a revenge story and stopping Saervok from messing with your life. Second one was getting your soul back and rescuing your childhood friend.
I lost interest in Dos2 in the end, because the main story was so bland. I loved all the minor stories and the different backstories, but stopping big bad from destroying the world is just kinda meeeeh. Same with Dos1.

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The only fear I have with this is that Larian are shit storytellers. DOS2 was a lot better in terms of story, but still had some major faults/wtf moments. DOS1 was fucking garbage from a story standpoint. So bad that it was the reason I couldn't finish the game.

Gameplay on the otherhand, they have down better than anyone in the "modern" CRPG space. So, as long as WotC is just spoonfeeding them story elements, I think this has the potential to be this decade's "Mass Effect" in terms of a genre defining game that everyone talks about. Especially if Owlcat releases another buggy mess with Pathfinder.

I personally have no issues if this is a heavily modded version of Divinity 2 with D&D lore and mechanics, as I personally loved divinity 2, and the only way I could perceive it being better is if it actually used D&D lore and mechanics.

Yeah. That's probably some marketing guys at Wizards who insisted. Larian's been doing just fine with their own IP's.

It's really not baldurs gate at all from what I can tell. But then again, the Baal Spawn story was finished. So what would BG3 actually be? Checking in.... yep, still super evil/good!

They do have limited options for the name. Illithid Scourge would have been fine by itself, but something like that doesn't have the name recognition of Baldurs Gate. And it is important. They could have revived the Gold Box title.. but holy crap that would limit their immediate audience.

I don't really care that it's not Baldur's Gate, personally. 1/2/Throne finished that out to my satisfaction. By throne I was pretty much tired of it anyway. But I guess if you're a purist about these things it's could be annoying.

I guess they're betting there are not very many of that type of purist left, and the eyeballs they get to look at the product far outweighs the cost.

At least it's not a reboot. That reboot they halfassed cheapened the name. If this is good it will strengthen the name. It's not like they deleted BG1/2/Throne to make this one.

Yeah though. Larian storylines are contrived nonsense. It's sort of the aesthetic though. Larian games feel like you're playnig a game made by a dude that used to play those SSI games, too. Those SSI storylines were mostly dumb as fuck as well. lol. I am assuming (with no reason to) that Wizards sent a writer or two over, or some scripts at least, to try to keep them on track. But who knows.

I'm hyped for this. I had no idea it was being done by the Divinity OS people.
Looks like they made a lot of improvements too. Jumping, quicker fights, perception rolls, shoving people... all good shit. You can tell by that video they learned a lot and I already really enjoyed the Divinity series.

I never played DOS2, or 1 for that matter. Apparently I missed a huge game. Might just play it now while I wait for BG3.

Yeah, I mean what does one feel defines the BG series? The paused based semi real time combat? The cast of characters? I can't think of any singular thing that defines the BG series, but personally I preferred the combat system in Divinity2 over BG. To me, the greatest flaw in the BG combat system was a lack of control over "turns". You'd give a guy an order and really couldn't plan/know when it would get executed-- frequently causing spells to be cast too late, or your guy just sitting there because the monster you told him to attack dies a second later. You could mitigate this with auto-pauses, but imho the whole thing felt slightly disconnected. Didn't have this issue in Divinity 2. My biigest gripe about Divinity 2 was they went a little overboard with environmental/spell effect interactions.

Borzak said:

I never played DOS2, or 1 for that matter. Apparently I missed a huge game. Might just play it now while I wait for BG3.

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One isn't that great but two is probably one of my favorite RPG's of the last decade or so, or maybe all time. Definitely worth the playthrough..

I've got over 1000 hours in DOS1, I love that fucking game.

Frenzied Wombat said:

Yeah, I mean what does one feel defines the BG series? The paused based semi real time combat? The cast of characters? I can't think of any singular thing that defines the BG series, but personally I preferred the combat system in Divinity2 over BG. To me, the greatest flaw in the BG combat system was a lack of control over "turns". You'd give a guy an order and really couldn't plan/know when it would get executed-- frequently causing spells to be cast too late, or your guy just sitting there because the monster you told him to attack dies a second later. You could mitigate this with auto-pauses, but imho the whole thing felt slightly disconnected. Didn't have this issue in Divinity 2. My biigest gripe about Divinity 2 was they went a little overboard with environmental/spell effect interactions.

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I agree with TJT that it's mostly defined by its scale and that it was so far ahead of everything prior. It really was just a very revolutionary game in terms of its size and scope. Throw in some really well written characters/story arcs and you have a recipe for an all-time great. But, let's not pretend like the gameplay was the invention of the wheel or anything. That's why I don't get all the criticisms from the "purists" about, "It shouldn't be Baulder's Gate maaaaaan!". Larian will fix what is arguably the worst aspect of the BG series: gameplay. As long as they can keep the story elements good, this will be an all-time great.

Frenzied Wombat said:

Yeah, I mean what does one feel defines the BG series?

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Giant explorable city with things to do in every corner I feel is the key thing in both games.

I'll agree that the cast of characters and their interactions, particularly in BG II, was part of what made the game so great. Two decades later I still remember how fucking cool it was to stumble across Drizzt kicking ass in some Vampire den. That and the expanded kick ass god tier combat in Throne of Baal.

Still doesn't hold a candle to Planescape Torment, but nothing ever will I don't think.

Kirun said:

So, as long as WotC is just spoonfeeding them story elements

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At the risk of going off-topic, would that be a positive influence? Is the D&D side of WotC good at building a story?

I'm only familiar with the MTG part of their products, and what passes for "writing" in that branch of the company is laughable. it is strange, given how good their world building and plane settings are, but as soon as they get into personal stories it all falls apart.

Mr Creed said:

At the risk of going off-topic, would that be a positive influence? Is the D&D side of WotC good at building a story?

I'm only familiar with the MTG part of their products, and what passes for "writing" in that branch of the company is laughable. it is strange, given how good their world building and plane settings are, but as soon as they get into personal stories it all falls apart.

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Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of other people I'd rather have, but some of the DnD stuff is decentish-good. More importantly, it's a hell of a lot better than what Larian has done.

Frenzied Wombat said:

Yeah, I mean what does one feel defines the BG series?

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At this point, for most people it is defined by rose-colored nostalgia goggles. I get why people rile at the '3' in the title, but all things considered that is a minor detail dictated by marketing.

The question is whether Larian can pull of the writing and stories from the old BG games - if they nail that, nobody is going to complain about the game title. I haven't played the BG remastered releases, but I read that those were mediocre.