Baldur's Gate 3 by Larian Games

Brodhi said:

Based on the content already released, I think they blew the "D&D" aspects of the game already. If they are saying there are further issues trying to get it to work in their engine, they might as well just rename the game to D:OS 3 and move on.

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I love BG:3, but I completely agree that when the Early Access first launched it felt a lot like DoS with a D&D mod slapped on it. However, the sheer amount of feedback Larian is getting has been listened to and the game has begun to evolve. It's slowly 'becoming' more D&D-like and I have faith the final product will be great. They're definitely not going to capture the feel of the original two games, but III will definitely be worth playing.

Snagging it when it’s a definite edition.

New EA patch. Added the Sorcerer and a new location to act 1. They are committed to adding all 12 core classes, so still need Barb, Bard, Pal, and Monk.

Sounds like they will be lucky to get a full release out in 2022.

Patch overview:

Sven interview with Eurogamer:

I didn't play the previous patch (despite wanting to take the druid for a spin) but went for it with Sorcerer. Still in the oldest chunk of the content but there are definite improvements both to the system and to the narrative.

The rolls are much more interactive what with giving you access to guidance etc to influence as well as having Inspiration working. Course it helps having a charisma-based character for all the persuasion / deception tasks.

The Companions are slightly less punchable. I still dislike most of them, but I can at least tolerate them. I honestly wish they had done something more like what Solasta did in terms of building an entire party based on personality archetypes.

I've also had a personal epiphany with respect to scrolls. Scrolls are great for the spells that can be useful but which you would never blow a spell slot to cast.

I do wish their development was slightly less glacial, but at least this is entertaining.

They can take their time. Pathfinder has set the bar crazy high.

I'm playing through Divinity Original Sin 2 again with 3 friends. We were hoping this would release relatively soon after Christmas but looks like it wont.
I agree, take the time to make it great. We'll find another game to play between then and now.

Dashel said:

I'm playing through Divinity Original Sin 2 again with 3 friends. We were hoping this would release relatively soon after Christmas but looks like it wont.
I agree, take the time to make it great. We'll find another game to play between then and now.

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I tried playing DoS 2 co-op with my best friend I and gave up after two nights. The game is already incredibly long, but adding the co-op element easily makes the game twice (if not more) as long.

I simply have way too many games in my backlog to devote 250+ hours to a single game so I went on to finish it alone.

It still took forever, but I'm glad I did. It's easily one of the best RPG games ever made.

Amod could this thread be merged with this one?

Looks to me like they're the same.

Dang I was hoping this or D4 would be out this year.

Thought this shit came out a while ago

This game is still in early access.

Larian has done the same format for early access on their last 3 games (Divinity: Original Sin 1 & 2, and Baulder's Gate 3). Which is, they only release the first act, and that's it, until the full release.

In addition to spending time adapting to Europe's lockdown edicts, the sprawl of the game may have got away from them. They still don't have Paladin, Monk, or Bard implemented (not sure if Artificer is on the table). When EA was originally released, many complaints were that it felt too much like D:OS2 and not a D&D game, so they have spent a bunch of time taking a hacksaw to their engine to make 5e work better (purportedly).

Sven (CEO of Larian) said that this will be their largest game yet, by far, and as a company they have had a massive expansion in manpower while it was in development. In one of his latest video's he talked about how the development of Divinity: Original Sin 1 almost bankrupt them, and I wouldn't be surprised if they will be in that same boat again, by the release date.

Soygen said:

This thing any better now? I remember the early release/test stuff was not looked upon favorably.

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Funnily enough, I just re-installed this recently. I managed to play for about 7 hours before I uninstalled it last night, so this is the perfect time to complain while it's fresh in my memory.

It feels like Larian secretly wanted to make Divinity: Original Sin 3 but couldn't get the funding, so they scooped up the Baldur's Gate IP and used that to dredge up the cash they wanted. Then they made this instead. All the goofy, lame hallmarks of Larian's recent games are in here; the obsession with constant ground-based effects, climbing/jumping around every single map zone and battle, moving objects/npcs/enemies around with silly physics, etc.

For example, you can easily defeat the first major enemy demon at the end of the tutorial level by picking up a half-dozen of the nearby exploding barrels, placing them next to him, and shooting them with an arrow (after you dip it into the fire on the ground, of course). It seems cute the first time you figure it out, but it keeps happening over and over and over. The idea of shoving yet another goblin off this conveniently placed cliff/roof/etc. feels very cheap and gimmicky, very quickly.

Also, the characters and overall writing are pretty weak. Larian aren't exactly known for having good writing to begin with, and this is just sloppy in an awful lot of places. There are glaring plot holes that jump out within the first few minutes of meeting characters, a bunch of Mary Sue types (like the wizard who used to date the literal GODDESS OF MAGIC but is also a level 1 nobody when you meet him), and just clunky dialogue overall.

I really, really want to like this game, but nothing in the game as of now feels much at all like the classic Baldur's Gate/Infinity Engine CRPG games, or even a modern D&D 5th Edition game. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous feels much more like a spiritual successor to the BG franchise, as do a number of other games released in the past few years. Worse still, given that the game has been in Early Access for a year and a half so far and so many of these issues still persist, they're not likely to be fixed by release - particularly the problems with the writing and characters.