Poll of the Day > Baldur's Gate 3 EA launches tomorrow

(+) Yeah! (+)

Already took the day off.

I'm fucking shaking over here

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Well fudge. I still need to start and play Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera. I wanna show my support to Larian but I doubt I will play the game anytime soon. I do hope they kept in the "You must gather your party before venturing forth" voiceover.

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Divinity: Original Sin 2 wasn't bad. I believe Larian Studios have made this too. Perhaps if it ever comes to PS4/PS5 I'll give it a look.

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Here we go! Downloading now

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65 GB Dl.

I ended up refunding my steam purchase and went to GOG.

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Krow_Incarnate posted...

65 GB Dl.

Bloody hell. I will definitely wait till I clear some games currently installed or wait till I upgrade to a 1 TB M.2 drive.

Krow_Incarnate posted...

I ended up refunding my steam purchase and went to GOG.

Oh? Why so? To avoid having to download again in the future?

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Yeah, it's crazy that this game is EA.

I refunded it because Steam was stuck on the "allocating disk space" bs. It'd be one thing if I didn't just take the day off work for this, but I also tried a few solutions and it still wanted to waste my time. Meanwhile, my GOG download is at 18% already.

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70%!!!

So close, yet so far

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Hey Krow would you let me know if there is enough playable at this point to make it worth buying? I'm tired of buying EA games tbh.

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extended addition

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I had to looked up on Wiki to verify Larian are both the developers and producers. Kept thinking "EA" refers to Electronic Arts and not Early Access.

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InfestedAdam posted...

I think "EA" refers to Early Access. I had to looked up on Wiki to verify Larian are both the developers and producers.

Yeah, that is what I meant by EA, Early access, I believe just the first chapter is done and they said it would be like a year before the full release.

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Well, it's definitely early access. Quite a few bugs in the animation.

Beyond that, the game looks and feels incredible. It really captures the tone of the original series nicely and I wasn't expecting that. Based off a few of the trailers, I thought it looked more like Dragon Age, but I love what I've experienced so far.

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wolfy42 posted...

Hey Krow would you let me know if there is enough playable at this point to make it worth buying? I'm tired of buying EA games tbh.

I'm only a few hours into it, but it seems pretty hefty.

According to Larian, there's over 20 hours worth of content. I don't know if that's just one playthrough or not, but the game size itself(over 60GB) is massive.


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$80 for early access? I think I'll pass for now

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Where the hell are you getting $80.00 from?

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Krow_Incarnate posted...

Where the hell are you getting $80.00 from?

I'm getting it the hell from Canada

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Ah, I see. Ouch

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Downloading it on steam right now. IT did the whole allocating thing for me to, which was about 10 mins, very annoying, but once it started downloading it went fast, over 50% done in like 15 minutes max, so another 15 or so till it's ready to play.

I'm not a huge fan of 5e, but I just said screw it and bought it anyway, cause I am sure i'll enjoy it.

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Awesome! It's definitely rough in some areas, but it's a gorgeous ass game and I'm having fun.

It captures the tone of Baldur's Gate rather well, I'd say. The gameplay definitely uses Divinity as a base, but it doesn't feel like I'm playing Divinity at all, really.

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Krow_Incarnate posted...

It captures the tone of Baldur's Gate rather well, I'd say. The gameplay definitely uses Divinity as a base, but it doesn't feel like I'm playing Divinity at all, really.

Interesting. When I watched a demo video, I was not sure if it was doing to be more on the Baldur's Gate side, more on the Divinity side or a mix of both. Does it carry over any of the ol DnD rulesets or gameplay is more Divinity-like but with the atmosphere and setting of the Forgotten Realms?

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I'm not exactly a DnD aficionado but most people who are have pretty much described it as a solid 5E simulator.

Larian themselves mentioned having to break a few rules to fit it to the game though.

Gameplay definitely has it's share of Divinity, but it still feels unique to the game itself.

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It has you actually roll for alot of stuff, but the combat seems off, really off in some ways although maybe the imps have DR?

My char is supposed to do 1d8+3 with her attacks but keeps hitting the imps for 1 or 2 damage. I'm in a new area so maybe here things won't have DR (Damage resistance).

It does feel almost exactly like Divinity 2's engine though so far, which isn't really a bad thing.

I went with a plain Wood Elf Ranger to start, but a cleric is probably a much better option (or warlock), even fighter might be better depending if you can get your specializations etc like normal fights, extra attacks etc. Ranger is prob the worst choice lol.

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Just killed my first Owlbear :O

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Also, I've only played as a rogue and a ranger, but the ranger had an easier time with the first area for me. I also had the hunter's mark cantrip which may have helped.

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Krow_Incarnate posted...

Also, I've only played as a rogue and a ranger, but the ranger had an easier time with the first area for me. I also had the hunter's mark cantrip which may have helped.

Rogue and ranger are almost identicle for me, but rogue CAN use the brain thing to get extra damage, but 99.9% of the time that doesn't actually matter as you would have killed it anyway. IF I had played a melee rogue (not dex based/bow using) the dash ability at level 2 would have mattered more, but I didn't.

Cleric had sick guided bolt, which obliterated stuff at level 1 and 2 pretty much (3d6, 95% chance to hit everything I aimed it at). It also gives advantage to the next attack against that monster (if it survives).

AC on my cleric is pretty high, and he's ranged as well, so already doesn't get attacked much. Decent hp due to con, very high perception (proficient from wood elf + 16 (maxed at this point) wisdom. Good saves (high wis dex AND con).

I hear good things about warlock but so far i'm rocking the cleric for sure. Fighter was a let down in comparison. Ranger I gave up on, just didn't have anything special.

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I just rolled a Warlock and I like the character already. Eldritch blast seems really good.

I'm hoping I can turn them into a viable melee/spellcaster hybrid like NWN2.

As an aside, here are my characters!

https://i.imgur.com/KirUxif.png

https://i.imgur.com/v1xdC1e.png

https://i.imgur.com/oBwPgWY.png

I can't wait for half-orc to be added. Hopefully Goblins are playable at some point too. I don't think they're on Larian's list of planned implementations, but it seems to be a popular request.

Also worth noting, that gnomes aren't available in early access. Seems just a bit weird given that they're a staple of the original series and EA has a bunch of races new to Baldur's Gate as well as various subraces.

I'm happy though. I've made multiple Tiefling PCs over the years via Shadowkeeper.

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Krow_Incarnate posted...

Just killed my first Owlbear :O

Trivia time: The first enemy I killed when I played tabletop D&D back in the day was also an Owlbear. I had a two handed sword and rolled high enough that the DM said I had cleaved it in half with the hit. Was awesome!

About BG3 though everything I read about it tells me it's a DOS game, reskinned for the $$ since tons of people grew up with the first 2 and loved them to death (like me). I'm on the fence. Not at $60 at least, maybe sometime later.

At least I'll have PoE to play in the meantime.

wolfy42 posted...

I'm not a huge fan of 5e,

2nd edition 4 LYFE right here.

EDIT: Also what the hell, a $60 EA game? Does that mean they'll increase the price later?

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Doubtful. Probably has to do with a good portion of the fan base not getting the game at a discount.

As for the game, it has some Divinity mechanics but it's really not a Divinity game at all.

It really captures the drab, weary world of the first couple games quite nicely.

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So I just let some sado/maso dude torture me and all my companions thought I was some sort of sick freak.

I love this game.

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ill wait for console release.

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Kimbos_Egg posted...

ill wait for console release.

aren't pc versions usually superior to console or am i missing something?

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Impressions on the companions, copied from another message board:

I love all of them, but Shadowheart is absolutely my favorite.

She's just entertaining and her snide remarks are hilarious as hell. Overall, she seems rather reasonable enough in her judgement.

Lae'zel reminds me quite a bit of Jaheira, but more out of sheer pride rather than the naturally stoic nature of a harper. Jaheira was stern, but she wasn't quite as harsh as Lae'Zel can be. I don't hate Lae'Zel, but she's probably my least favorite companion.

Gale is freakin' great. There's not much more to say about that, especially without avoiding spoilers.

Wyll's pretty cool so far. I think he's awesome based off first impressions, but I just met him in my second playthrough where I actually managed to keep him alive. That said, my main character is a Warlock, so I'll probably save his party space for my Ranger when I get around playing her.

Astarion's cool. I was mildly turned off of him at first, but he grew on me rather fast. Still don't like him quite as much as Shadowheart, Gale, or even Wyll, but I fully expect to enjoy a playthrough with him in my party.

Overall, Shadowheart > Gale > Wyll > Astarion > Lae'Zel

That's my personal ranking based off what I've played. It's hard to compare them to the NPCs of the original series, but people have to remember that aside from the obvious standouts, there was a lot of NPCs across both games that were quite bland and didn't have a lot to them. I have no doubt in my mind that Shadowheart, Gale, and Astarion will prove worthwhile companions that can stand the test of time alongside the likes of Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Kivan, Edwin, etc.

Obviously not Minsc, but he's a special case. Not even my favorite of the companions, but I don't think there's a single other character who's name is as synonymous with "Baldur's Gate".

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I'll probably buy this when I finish all of my crusader kings III achievements. how is it?

I am the strange opposite of most people, in that I'm only really interested in getting it because I LOVED the hell out of D:OS 2 (beat it on the hardest difficulty/hardcore mode whatever it was called, for honour?) It was the first isometric rpg I've actually enjoyed. I've never played a baldur's gate game before

I just compiled many of my posts across multiple boards into one long "first impressions" piece. I'll post it in a second, so you can read through it.

There's enough similarities to DOS2 that I think you'll get something out of it. However, there a few things you need to understand regarding the combat:

1) These DnD systems always have some degree of a luck factor that you're not used to in other RPGs built specifically as video games.

2) As said above, another poster put it nicely in that your attack rolls can result in damage anywhere from 1-10(varies from class-to-class, etc.). There isn't much in the way of a cushion to keep you from doing crap damage on a bad roll.

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Well, it's definitely early access. Quite a few bugs in the animation.

Beyond that, the game looks and feels incredible. It really captures the tone of the original series nicely and I wasn't expecting that. Based off a few of the trailers, I thought it looked more like Dragon Age, but I love what I've experienced so far.

It captures the tone of Baldur's Gate rather well, I'd say. It does a pretty good interpretation of the drab, weary world of the first couple games quite nicely. Note that "drab" isn't exactly an insult here. Baldur's Gate to me is a much less vibrant, albeit colorful world than Divinity and is a bit less "lively" and has more of a depressed tone across the board. I thought that would be lost-in-translation through another developer's lense, but it's really not.

The gameplay definitely uses Divinity as a base, but it doesn't feel like I'm playing Divinity at all, really. It still feels unique to the game itself. I'm not really a DnD player, but it didn't feel so alien to me. There are more similarities to the original series than I think people might realize.

Of course, I also played the OG unpatched BG1 CD and I doubt anything could feel as terrible as that.

People just may have a hard-time coming to grips that there's a sizeable luck factor with the DnD system the games are based off of. Anyone who's unfamiliar won't consider options they have to offset that.

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If you haven't played the original series, I can't recommend it enough. The only thing I would suggest is reverting the games to beta 1.33 via Steam; that's before the Dragonspear update.

I'd really suggest avoiding the Enhanced Editions at all, but Beamdog made sure the previous complete editions were for all intents and purposes, off the market.

I'd have no problem sharing my files of the original complete edition for BG2 with you, but I never grabbed it for the first game when I should've. BG2 is a great game, but it really capitalizes off of BG1 and there would definitely be a gap in the understanding of the story if you played it first.

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Krow_Incarnate posted...

The only thing I would suggest is reverting the games to beta 1.33 via Steam; that's before the Dragonspear update.

ohhhh, you can do that???

I don't mind most things, but the way they turned all of BG1's UI to black and red is so stupid. doesn't fit the atmosphere of the game at all.

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Yeah, I was surprised too and I agree about the UI.

I do like the artstyle as one for Dragonspear(I never have made it out of that first dungeon btw), but completely doing away with the unique bars for BG1 and 2 is not only shitty, but disrespectful.

The slight color changes were one thing and I didn't mind that at all.

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Maybe I'll work on the ranger tomorrow and straight up record some footage for you guys. I may not be the most exciting player and that'll be my one "good guy" playthrough, but it should showcase some of the bugs and general gameplay.

Keep in mind that when I say it's "definitely" early access, I mainly mean that there a few things you would not see in the final build. I ran into one t-pose and a few glitchy animations, and the hotbar is a bit of a mess to manage.

Other than that, the game is very playable, gorgeous, and enjoyable in it's current state..

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I've played for a few hours and so far my biggest gripe is a lack of information. Characters get access to new abilities and options when you level up, but as far as I can tell there's no way to actually see what you're get in the future or even what passives you currently have in some cases. It makes character building and planning a frustrating mess, especially if you haven't played much dnd and aren't already familiar with 5th edition. Items you find are covered in keywords with vague or no description, leaving you to look up terminology online to understand what they actually do.

The story and characters have been solid so far and the game should look great once they polish things, but I wouldn't recommend the game in its current state. It needs a few UI updates before it feels good to play.

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I have such fond memories of baldurs gate. My dad had it on his computer when I was a wee lad and I'd sneak on at night to play it. I didn't understand it very well, but I discovered the hamster dudes partner had a powerful fart gas spell that wrecked everything. I also loves giving hamster dude the belt that turned him into a girl. I also liked having the "evil" warrior lady on my team but I always gave her the helmet to make her good. I haven't played in like 20 years though

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So I just recorded some footage with my ranger and it's not great. I ran into more bugs than usual and to be honest, I was playing like a moron. It's hard to just "play normally" when you're subconsciously aware that you're being recorded I guess.

Still, I'm uploading it anyways for transparency purposes. It's probably the worst of what you can expect from this EA. You'll see things such as a duplicate Shadowheart for brief moment and a skill check permanently remaining above Astarion's head; those were both new to me.

In the one lengthy combat sequence I managed to record, the first thing you'll notice is how some enemy ragdolls spaz out when I kill them. That hasn't exactly been infrequent, but it usually doesn't happen in back-to-back instances like you'll see, and not usually that badly.

I'll probably record some more footage with my Warlock and hope for the better. I've also noticed that some people have managed to create fully customized parties. I might start up another playthrough just to do one of those with at least myself and a character I usually make based off of one of friends.

CarefreeDude posted...

I have such fond memories of baldurs gate. My dad had it on his computer when I was a wee lad and I'd sneak on at night to play it. I didn't understand it very well, but I discovered the hamster dudes partner had a powerful fart gas spell that wrecked everything. I also loves giving hamster dude the belt that turned him into a girl. I also liked having the "evil" warrior lady on my team but I always gave her the helmet to make her good. I haven't played in like 20 years though

Ha! Funny you mention that because Baldur's Gate was originally my Dad's game as well. I remember walking in on him making a character in this new game and was immediately captivated by all of the options. Baldur's Gate was around for a lengthy part of my childhood. I was 4 or 5 when I first played it, but I didn't beat it until I was probably in the 4th/5th grade or even middle school, and that was with cheats.

By the time I was in high school, that's when I really got around to paying attention to every bit of dialogue and thoroughly learning the system and making all kinds of crazy builds and stuff. And that's where I truly gained an appreciate for Sarevok and Irenicus as two of the absolute greatest villains in all of gaming.

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First video. I'll do a recording with my Warlock later tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAkQn2JDkUI

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Trying to set up a custom party has already pissed me the hell off, so I don't know when I'll get around to the second footage.

Working on it, though.

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So I couldn't get it to work after all.

Seeing as this is my last day off for the week, I probably won't get around to recording until quite a bit later.

Today was awful for so many reasons and I don't even feel like playing anyways.

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Krow_Incarnate posted...

I'd really suggest avoiding the Enhanced Editions at all,

Hey, why is that? I have the EE on Steam but didn't get too far yet (played a couple months' ago).
I still have my original discs too but my laptop doesn't have a damn disc drive anymore (why do they remove all these nice things lol).

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I'm on the clock right now, but long-story-short, they destroyed the UI and made all of the sprites ugly with horrendous upscaling and ugly outlines.

Also, as someone who likes the new characters, they are all shoehorned directly into your path with unavoidable cutscenes. Not ideal at all for a game you're supposed to experience and explore at your own pace. Not even the most prominent party members from the originals got that treatment except for one and it wasn't nearly as intrusive.

I had more, but that's off the top of my head.

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I have only played a little bit, but I think this is going to be one of the greatest games of all time. For most people I would recommend waiting until it is out of early access though.

Just recorded more footage during my lunch break.

I had to cut it short and there's no combat. It's just me walking through the Tiefling village and talking to people. It's uploading now. It'll probably be done processing by shift-end.

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