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Baldur's Gate 3 - Worldwide reveal stream - VOD available

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OmegaDL50

OmegaDL50

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,717
Philadelphia, PA
While this might just be a fanservice nod, there's the possibility that Boo is actually a deity and Minsc is his chosen.... Since in the Neverwinter MMO during the Chult campaign you have a chance to have a brief philosophical conversation with Boo and he refers to you and everyone else as "you mortals".

Also the petrification of Minsc being unstoned. I so much want to see him ham it up in BG3.
 
ArkkAngel007

ArkkAngel007

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
5,010
dude said:
I agree. That's why I felt like the onus of justifying this game being called Baldur's Gate was on Larian. If you're not going to follow up on the story or the gameplay, that means you're using the name just for the name, and I think that's a little cynical. This game should have been it's own franchise, it's a new take on D&D video games that has nothing to do with BG's take on D&D.
I don't blame Larian as much as I blame the attitudes in the industry that make it preferable to take the name of a beloved older series for no reason than to just do something new and start a new franchise.
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We don't know what ties there are. The Dead Three are still a factor, including Bhaal. It's still the setting of Baldur's Gate, just 100 years removed. So there's a new threat involved. What does that matter?

We haven't even seen the city outside of the reveal teaser, which wasn't gameplay or likely even something to exist outside of the marketing. At best we've maybe seen the Cloakwood to the South. If we were given a location of the wilderness, I must have missed it, but it has to be somewhere in the vicinity of Baldur's Gate.

I just fail to see how this is such a disappointing departure with so little shown, and seeing a lot of possibilities from adapting 5e. I honestly don't see RTwP and Turn-Based being such a gulf.
 
Shodan14

Shodan14

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,410
Anoregon said:
Very likely yeah, with their overall D&D push and Descent into Avernus being a big thing recently.




I love Deadfire warts and all, but don't really think of it as a "pirate game". I mean, you can be a pirate, but the naval/ship stuff isn't really the focus of the game (it's rightly considered one of its weakest points.) I think of it it more in terms of its caribbean/polynesian setting and the various colonialism themes.
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Once Owlcat gets around to adapting Skull & Shackles, we'll get our pirate rpg.
 
Spehornoob

Spehornoob

Member
Nov 15, 2017
8,960
dude said:
I agree. That's why I felt like the onus of justifying this game being called Baldur's Gate was on Larian. If you're not going to follow up on the story or the gameplay, that means you're using the name just for the name, and I think that's a little cynical. This game should have been it's own franchise, it's a new take on D&D video games that has nothing to do with BG's take on D&D.
I don't blame Larian as much as I blame the attitudes in the industry that make it preferable to take the name of a beloved older series for no reason than to just do something new and start a new franchise.
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This is a CRPG set in or around the city of Baldur's Gate in the Forgotten Realms, which attempts to emulate the D&D campaign experience by adapting the current edition's rules, just like the originals were. It even seems to deal with the Dead Three in the plot.

Is that not enough to justify making it a sequel? Do sequels have to follow the same characters and have the exact same gameplay? If so, does that mean that games like the Dragon Age series aren't sequels to one another? They switch up the gameplay systems and cast each time.
 
Ivory Samoan

Ivory Samoan

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,468
New Zealand
One thing is certain, TB plays so, so, SO much better on a controller.

I'm extremely happy with today's reveals, 5th edition seems to be adapted perfectly IMO.

I'm hoping Boo and Minsc get a really cool cameo...
 
Ivory Samoan

Ivory Samoan

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,468
New Zealand
Sarek said:
Have you two finished Deadfire and the DLCs? I think the writing is actually some of the best Obsidian has done, and they expanded the mainplot with Forgotten Sanctum and 5.0.
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I agree, Deadfire is an absolute treat for me in the writing dept too; also, the TB option they added works amazing too.

CottonWolf said:
I think there's no way Minsc and Boo are not playable.
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This would make 2021 so special.

Might be time to replay BG/BG2 on PS4...
 
Anoregon

Anoregon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,081
CottonWolf said:
I think there's no way Minsc and Boo are not playable.
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I think it depends on how they approach party members/companions. If it's like D:OS2, then every potential party member is also an origin you can pick as your main character, and that is at least the case in BG3 from what we have seen so far. I hope that's not strictly the case, I think the world/experience is more fleshed out if there are a larger number of potential companions that aren't as closely linked to your starting experience. I think a core part of the Baldur's Gate experience is running into random people all over the world who need your help and end up as potential party members.
 
Spirit of Jazz

Spirit of Jazz

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
10,499
UK
Whilst PoE2 and even Kingmaker look like much clearer successors to BGII I'm looking forward to this as a successors to ToEE or at the very least a Larian game with better character progression. My only real concern's the writing and tone. I'm already not liking how the dialogue choices are handled.

People seem to be trying to undersell how much like Original Sin this looks like though. I mean you have origin characters and can even move boxes and barrels around the environment.

Sarek said:
Have you two finished Deadfire and the DLCs? I think the writing is actually some of the best Obsidian has done, and they expanded the mainplot with Forgotten Sanctum and 5.0.
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For me It 100% suffered from the classic Obsidian rushed finish but outside of that it's a treat. Did the Forgotten Sanctum and 5.0 improve the ending at all because I finished it way before they were released.
 
ArkkAngel007

ArkkAngel007

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
5,010
Ivory Samoan said:
One thing is certain, TB plays so, so, SO much better on a controller.

I'm extremely happy with today's reveals, 5th edition seems to be adapted perfectly IMO.

I'm hoping Boo and Minsc get a really cool cameo...
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Does it? I'm having a rough time with Divinity OS1 on XBOX, and have been debating if I should just try again on PC.
 
modestb

modestb

Alt-Account
Banned
Jan 24, 2019
1,126
WellbornWarrior

WellbornWarrior

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,348
Joshbob1985 said:
Another way to look at it is: Why is this game called Baldur's Gate 3?

The answer is: because it grabs a load of attention. e.g. this thread is top in trending threads.
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While that certainly is the reason they took the name, I would argue Larian is such a strong household name by now that the combination of Larian + D&D alone would generate similiar levels of attention and maybe even comparisions to Baldurs Gate would come naturally even if they didn't name it Baldurs Gate 3.
 
Anoregon

Anoregon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,081
I just figured it out.
"Go for the eyes, Boo" is one of the most iconic lines from the old BG games
The cinematic opening to BG3 has the mindflayer literally going for the eyes with the tadpoles

it's like poetry
 
ArbitraryWater

ArbitraryWater

Member
Feb 12, 2019
1,429
Anoregon said:
I don't see why Cummings wouldn't come back if Minsc actually had a role in the game. He still does video game voice work.
I don't know if he did new voice work for Minsc in Siege of Dragonspear, but I think he may have?
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It was actually kind of impressive how many of the original VAs they got back for Siege of Dragonspear, Cummings included. They even got David Warner to reprise as Irenicus, and while he (and everyone else, tbh) definitely sounds fifteen years older they still put in good performances.
 
Shodan14

Shodan14

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,410
modestb said:
If we're going to head down quality-wise with each Pathfinder game, you'll have to wait about 15 more games until we get around to Skull and Shackles lol
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This is confusing enough for me to not understand whether you think Skull and Shackles is good or bad. It'd certainly require a bunch of work, but the framework there is pretty good (beyond the very start).
 
ArkkAngel007

ArkkAngel007

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
5,010
inguef said:
I'm really excited.

Also, Swen Vincke is one of the most charming people in gaming.
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His demo style was so refreshing. He didn't shy from saying what wasn't working or in yet. He rolled with the bugs and encounters going south, keeping the audience laughing with him rather than at him or getting angry. His enthusiasm was so infectious.
 
-Tetsuo-

-Tetsuo-

Unlimited Capacity
Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,627
dude said:
Well, BG and D&D are two different things - The gameplay in BG is a specific adaptation of D&D. People are allowed to like the specific adaptation used in BG2 and to expect that the next game in the same franchise will use something similar, no?
As for lore - Baldur's Gate was a specific story in the world of Forgotten Realms. If I buy a Drizzt book, and it has nothing to do with Drizzt or his companions, I'd say it's a bit weird they labeled it a Drizzt story and not just a Forgotten Realms story. BG3 seems to be a D&D FR game that has very little to do with the original BGs in terms of gameplay, story or even tone (the dialogues and companions are written very differently.)
All of that is not bad, BG3 seems to be like a very good game on it's own - I just find it very cynical that the name Baldur's Gate was used just for brand recognition and nothing else. I think people would be way less mad if the game was called D&D: Whatever.
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20 year old franchises get gameplay updates. That is just how it works. Especially when it is being handled by a different developer. As far as the story, we have no idea how, if or why this will tie into the older games.

Baldurs Gate was an adapted D&D ruleset over guided story. This is the same thing. People expecting this to bring in every element of the old games did not have realistic expectations. Even on the flip side, if they did, we would have people angry with Larian for not updating the game or changing it at all. It is a no win situation.

This is basically what happened when Firaxis revealed XCOM, and that game turned out fantastic. Just allow one of the very best RPG studios to make an RPG. They mnow what they are doing.
 
Funky Papa

Funky Papa

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,694
inguef said:
I'm really excited.

Also, Swen Vincke is one of the most charming people in gaming.
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I'm hardly the most hardcore D&D gamer out there and I'm not superinvested in BG, but his enthusiasm was not only refreshing, but sold me on the game. It's rare to see a developer being so upfront about what they currently have instead of hiding behind scripted demos. His enthusiasm was infectious, too.

I'm not sure if it'll be a good BG, but now I'm sure it'll be a fantastic game.

Edit: ArkkAngel007 get out of my head.
 
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misho8723

misho8723

Member
Jan 7, 2018
3,724
Slovakia
From a PCGamer article Baldur's Gate 3 looks great even when everything is going wrong :

"I'm critical of real-time-with-pause because I think that it looks messy. It's like a miss, pause, give three orders, a miss, pause," says senior designer Edouard Imbert. "Also, I don't believe that sticking to the old system can expand to a greater audience. The thing with turn-based logic is that everybody understands it. It's my turn, it's your turn. And we have this experience with it—it worked for us with DOS1, it worked for us with DOS2, and D&D is turn-based. Your characters are the tools you'll use to solve a puzzle, and the puzzle is a lot more messy if everything is moving at the same time.

To tackle one of the criticisms of the turn-based model—that it's slow or laborious—Larian's made some tweaks. Instead of characters going in order and getting an attack or an action, you can swap between them, using attacks and bonus actions to create a combo. Your party effectively moves simultaneously. If you love the turn-based combat so much you want it on even when you're out of battle, however, you can force turn-based mode. This should make it easier to sneak around, since you won't have to avoid guards in real-time. "

All of the spells, abilities and values are as they would be in a regular game of D&D, but just as important are all the open-ended roleplaying and combat opportunities. D&D is largely fuelled by imagination, and while Baldur's Gate 3 has to impose a few more limits (sorry, no Wish spell), it still promises to be more interactive and experimental—and just as free to exploit and abuse—than the already liberating Original Sin 2.

We don't want all the fights to be complicated," says Imbert. "Some of the fights have to be easy, like three goblins standing next to an explosive barrel. So we have this concept of popcorn fights, which are designed to make you feel good about yourself."
 
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FoolsMilky

FoolsMilky

Member
Sep 16, 2018
485
Bruceleeroy said:
Probably a dumb question as I'm on my phone but is there co-op in this?
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store.steampowered.com

Baldur's Gate 3 on Steam

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power.
store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com
Single-player
Online PvP
Shared/Split Screen PvP
Online Co-op
Shared/Split Screen Co-op
Cross-Platform Multiplayer
Steam Achievements
Steam Trading Cards
Captions available
Steam Cloud
Remote Play Together
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Definitely going to be playing it with 2-3 other people.
 
OmegaDL50

OmegaDL50

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,717
Philadelphia, PA
Richardi said:
Vic ok, Minsc is probably dead after more than a century, or very very old.
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Well apparently Minsc was turned to stone and was unstoned 100 years later, and then there is the thing in the Neverwinter MMO that hints that Boo is some sort of deity, because there is a philosophical conversation you can have with him and refers to others as "you mortals"

Also in the FR setting there is 9th level spells and supposed Time Gate that allows time travel.

Let's talk about the real elephant in the room though. Minsc was said to have been struck in the head when you first meet him in BG1. Do we consider Minsc's head injury to be a reason for his eccentricities, or do we take stock in Boo being divine and Minsc his chosen mortal and the REAL reason why Minsc is so addled is because he is god touched and went somewhat mad?
 
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Deleted member 4976

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,246
misho8723 said:
From a PCGamer article Baldur's Gate 3 looks great even when everything is going wrong :

"I'm critical of real-time-with-pause because I think that it looks messy. It's like a miss, pause, give three orders, a miss, pause," says senior designer Edouard Imbert. "Also, I don't believe that sticking to the old system can expand to a greater audience. The thing with turn-based logic is that everybody understands it. It's my turn, it's your turn. And we have this experience with it—it worked for us with DOS1, it worked for us with DOS2, and D&D is turn-based. Your characters are the tools you'll use to solve a puzzle, and the puzzle is a lot more messy if everything is moving at the same time.

To tackle one of the criticisms of the turn-based model—that it's slow or laborious—Larian's made some tweaks. Instead of characters going in order and getting an attack or an action, you can swap between them, using attacks and bonus actions to create a combo. Your party effectively moves simultaneously. If you love the turn-based combat so much you want it on even when you're out of battle, however, you can force turn-based mode. This should make it easier to sneak around, since you won't have to avoid guards in real-time. "

All of the spells, abilities and values are as they would be in a regular game of D&D, but just as important are all the open-ended roleplaying and combat opportunities. D&D is largely fuelled by imagination, and while Baldur's Gate 3 has to impose a few more limits (sorry, no Wish spell), it still promises to be more interactive and experimental—and just as free to exploit and abuse—than the already liberating Original Sin 2."
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Really like the change they made with simultatenous turns and swapping for combos. Smart stuff.
 
Ploid 6.0

Ploid 6.0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,440
misho8723 said:
From a PCGamer article Baldur's Gate 3 looks great even when everything is going wrong :

"I'm critical of real-time-with-pause because I think that it looks messy. It's like a miss, pause, give three orders, a miss, pause," says senior designer Edouard Imbert. "Also, I don't believe that sticking to the old system can expand to a greater audience. The thing with turn-based logic is that everybody understands it. It's my turn, it's your turn. And we have this experience with it—it worked for us with DOS1, it worked for us with DOS2, and D&D is turn-based. Your characters are the tools you'll use to solve a puzzle, and the puzzle is a lot more messy if everything is moving at the same time.

To tackle one of the criticisms of the turn-based model—that it's slow or laborious—Larian's made some tweaks. Instead of characters going in order and getting an attack or an action, you can swap between them, using attacks and bonus actions to create a combo. Your party effectively moves simultaneously. If you love the turn-based combat so much you want it on even when you're out of battle, however, you can force turn-based mode. This should make it easier to sneak around, since you won't have to avoid guards in real-time. "

All of the spells, abilities and values are as they would be in a regular game of D&D, but just as important are all the open-ended roleplaying and combat opportunities. D&D is largely fuelled by imagination, and while Baldur's Gate 3 has to impose a few more limits (sorry, no Wish spell), it still promises to be more interactive and experimental—and just as free to exploit and abuse—than the already liberating Original Sin 2."
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And turn based is a miss, give new character orders x 3, wait x 3-7 turns from the computer...

Back to your character that missed, give new order - miss, repeat cycle.

(15 minutes later)
Glancing blow.
 

closer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,177
The intentional changes to make turn-based less "slow or laborious" is very welcome to me, that's my main gripe with the system
 
ArkkAngel007

ArkkAngel007

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
5,010
I think Wish could have still worked as just the primary, safe use of the spell, which is to cast any other spell of level 8 or lower. One slot use balances it out, and by that high level of play it doesn't really matter.
 
Darryl M R

Darryl M R

The Spectacular PlayStation-Man
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,723
FoolsMilky said:
store.steampowered.com

Baldur's Gate 3 on Steam

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power.
store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com


Definitely going to be playing it with 2-3 other people.
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Wait there is online PVP? How does that work?
 
Anoregon

Anoregon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,081
OmegaDL50 said:
Well apparently Minsc was turned to stone and was unstoned 100 years later, and then there is the thing in the Neverwinter MMO that hints that Boo is some sort of deity, because there is a philosophical conversation you can have with him and refers to others as "you mortals"

Also in the FR setting there is 9th level spells and supposed Time Gate that allows time travel.

Let's talk about the real elephant in the room though. Minsc was said to have been struck in the head when you first meet him in BG1. Do we consider Minsc's head injury to be a reason for his eccentricities, or do we take stock in Boo being divine and Minsc his chosen mortal and the REAL reason why Minsc is so addled is because he is god touched and went somewhat mad?
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Yes
 
FoolsMilky

FoolsMilky

Member
Sep 16, 2018
485
Darryl M R said:
Wait there is online PVP? How does that work?
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Uhhh not sure. The "Arena" in DOS2 was technically PvP because you could fight your party members. So there may be some sort of other "casual" way to fight your friends.

But there's themes of betrayal, and if you've already beaten DOS2 with more than one party member, then you'll know that (Big spoiler if you haven't finished the game) there's the first fight for Divinity where you're "against" your party members and then the second possible fight where you are once again against your party members and you even kind of pick "sides" depending on what everyone chooses.

So long story short, there might be some parts of the story (if "betrayal" is to be interpreted literally) that could involve you fighting party members. And both recreational PvP and story PvP would both count as online PvP I guess. Swen and the Steam description hint at betrayal so it's really not out of the question that you could fight one another.

Also if you watched today's stream until the end, Swen talks about how his character could have chosen to (Early game choice) bite one of the fellow party members and further chosen to drink all or their blood or leave them some. Although that's pretty early, I wouldn't be surprised if that could lead to a fight, even if not a "to the death" fight.
 
Principate

Principate

Member
Oct 31, 2017
11,186
FoolsMilky said:
Uhhh not sure. The "Arena" in DOS2 was technically PvP because you could fight your party members. So there may be some sort of other "casual" way to fight your friends.

But there's themes of betrayal, and if you've already beaten DOS2 with more than one party member, then you'll know that (Big spoiler if you haven't finished the game) there's the first fight for Divinity where you're "against" your party members and then the second possible fight where you are once again against your party members and you even kind of pick "sides" depending on what everyone chooses.

So long story short, there might be some parts of the story (if "betrayal" is to be interpreted literally) that could involve you fighting party members. And both recreational PvP and story PvP would both count as online PvP I guess. Swen and the Steam description hint at betrayal so it's really not out of the question that you could fight one another.

Also if you watched today's stream until the end, Swen talks about how his character could have chosen to (Early game choice) bite one of the fellow party members and further chosen to drink all or their blood or leave them some. Although that's pretty early, I wouldn't be surprised if that could lead to a fight, even if not a "to the death" fight.
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I mean that's in D:OS 2.
You had the option of killing all the party members you encountered upon meeting them initially so it's likely the same here.
 
Spehornoob

Spehornoob

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Nov 15, 2017
8,960
WellbornWarrior said:
You could see he was a bit stressed and embarassed when the bugs hit but it only shows how passionate he is about the whole thing.
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Honestly, I found it refreshing to see an honest work-in-progress build. At the very least it's more informative on what we're looking forward to than these glossy, polished to perfection vertical slices we see at so many conferences now.
 

Wulfram

Member
Mar 3, 2018
1,478
I think a subtitle would fit better than calling it Baldur's Gate 3. Sequential numbering implies a closer connection than seems to exist. But of course it doesn't really matter, I just hope its good
 

Deleted member 2834

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
7,620
Do people unironically want BG2's combat over Divinity 2's? Lmao. BG2 is probably my favorite single-player game ever, but Divinity 2's gameplay is literally a 10000% improvement over it. Frankly, Divinity 2 in and of itself was probably about as good as BG2 anyway.
 
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