Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

[Cryomancer]

3.5 is garbage if you play melee, that's a fact especially at higher levels. Casters are buff autists

3.5E buffed a lot casters from AD&D editions. Some examples :

• No longer wizards need to find scrolls and pass a check to learn spells
• Much more spell slots. A lv 18 specialized wiz with 28 int have 8/7/7/7/7/6/5/5/4 spells of each level. Meanwhile a lv 18 specialist mage in AD&D would have 6/6/6/6/6/4/4/3/2 spells.
• Takes much more xp to level up mainly after lv 10 in 2e
• Takes one more level to get lv 6/7/8/9 spells in 2e
• Magic resistance is much more common in 2e
• MR is harder to deal in 2e
• d6 hit points instead of d4
• Less opposition schools
• And much more CON bonus in 2e
• Getting difficulty to resist spells is much easier in 3e

And in some settings of AD&D, being a pure caster was a nightmare. Most notabely Dark Sun. A single high level spell scroll can be extremely rare and well protected. Merely preparing spells where hard and Shadow Wizard from Defilers and preservers : the wizards of athas - page 60 could literally die while preparing spells. Magic is also extremely hated. So mages needs to disguise and be very cautious with their spells.

Ok Einstein, what is the perfect system then?

AD&D 2e, Retroclones very similar to AD&D 2e. And GURPS.

My greatest problems with 5E is :

• Too much hp at higher levels
• Too little nasty abilities from monsters eg - Medusas takes 3 turns to petrify someone
• They don't like hindrances and drawbacks.

For example, Necromancer specialized wizards getting resistance to necrotic damage at lv 10 is fine. Same with elemental damage for sorcs. But what is silly is that they don't get the drawbacks. IMO if the charname becomes resistant to necrotic damage, he should become vulnerable to radiant. If a silver/white sorc becomes resistant to cold, he should become vulnerable to fire. Prohibited schools from AD&D and 3.5e also should be back. In fact, I would love if Wizards had to have a "field of study" similar to Cleric's domain in previous editions.

 

[whydoibother]

 

[Delterius]

wait wtf the all time peak of starfield is just 300k?? is the console gap that powerful?

 

[Cyberarmy]

wait wtf the all time peak of starfield is just 300k?? is the console gap that powerful?

And probably gamepass gap. Game being utterly boring also doesn't help.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Almost 150 hours in. Act 3. Just few main quest left.

My thoughts about the game is mostly positive.

- Writing is ok, horniness aside origin characters has pretty good storyline especially shadowheart and astarion, they have the most agency. I don't mind the flirting and there is clearer set boundary, say compared to DA 2.
- getting rid of attunement is the best thing someone adapting 5E can do. Hate it, then again i am a pathfinder autist.
- overall good itemization. It single handedly erased my main complain about larian's itemization since divine divinity.
-tons of fun combat encounter, and it might be polarizing but i love gimmick boss like the grymforge golem and ansur the wyrm. There are few that i consider cheap like house of grief and the true soul in the end of act 1.


Bad:
-larian still cannot inventory and menu.
-map design sometimes is annoying. Too much platforming in a point and click crpg, especially because of friendly pathfinding is utter shit.
-bad ai that exacerbate and compromise difficulty. Too many instances fights can be cheesed by using wall spells and enemies almost have no sense to avoid them. The same with stuff like cloud of daggers, cloudkill, insect plague, and any persitent AOE attack.
- really need a "prepare" to position before battle. No option for formation (unless you separate each party member before battle)
- fucking 3 big patches and still have no UI scaling options. Play in 1080p it's readable but graphics are blurry, play in 1440 p it's unreadable without mods.
-TURN BASED GAMES ARE AWESOME BUT THEY NEED SPEED UP BUTTON. FUCKING PILLARS OF ETERNITT HAS SPEED UP BUTTON YOU BUTTOCKS.

So yeah it's overall a good game and most of my complain are from QoL and AI.

 

[jf8350143]

Almost 150 hours in. Act 3. Just few main quest left.

My thoughts about the game is mostly positive.

- Writing is ok, horniness aside origin characters has pretty good storyline especially shadowheart and astarion, they have the most agency. I don't mind the flirting and there is clearer set boundary, say compared to DA 2.
- getting rid of attunement is the best thing someone adapting 5E can do. Hate it, then again i am a pathfinder autist.
- overall good itemization. It single handedly erased my main complain about larian's itemization since divine divinity.
-tons of fun combat encounter, and it might be polarizing but i love gimmick boss like the grymforge golem and ansur the wyrm. There are few that i consider cheap like house of grief and the true soul in the end of act 1.


Bad:
-larian still cannot inventory and menu.
-map design sometimes is annoying. Too much platforming in a point and click crpg, especially because of friendly pathfinding is utter shit.
-bad ai that exacerbate and compromise difficulty. Too many instances fights can be cheesed by using wall spells and enemies almost have no sense to avoid them. The same with stuff like cloud of daggers, cloudkill, insect plague, and any persitent AOE attack.
- really need a "prepare" to position before battle. No option for formation (unless you separate each party member before battle)
- fucking 3 big patches and still have no UI scaling options. Play in 1080p it's readable but graphics are blurry, play in 1440 p it's unreadable without mods.
-TURN BASED GAMES ARE AWESOME BUT THEY NEED SPEED UP BUTTON. FUCKING PILLARS OF ETERNITT HAS SPEED UP BUTTON YOU BUTTOCKS.

So yeah it's overall a good game and most of my complain are from QoL and AI.

To be fair, PoE series probably has the most QoL improvements comparing to all the CRPGs out there.

If it sells better other devs might learn something from it.

 

[Swen]

View attachment 42217

BG3 completely destroyed /v, they can't handle it being a success. If it wins GOTY some there will legit rope

 

[Anthedon]

Don't worry, it's going to be Codex Goty too, But we are too jaded for suicide.

 

[Delterius]

Don't worry, it's going to be Codex Goty too, But we are too jaded for suicide.

 

[Padzi]

I think the Emperor scene is meant to be awkward because as you find out if you choose the rude options to turn him down the Emperor isn't actually into it and is just doing it to manipulate you, which makes way more sense than mindflayers getting off if you tug on their tentacles.

Yeah, if that's the case, it's not the Emperor who's a degenerate, but Tav is because the Emperor knows what Tav subconsciously desires. Tentacles in the butt or something to that extent.

 

[Lagole Gon]

I think the Emperor scene is meant to be awkward because as you find out if you choose the rude options to turn him down the Emperor isn't actually into it and is just doing it to manipulate you, which makes way more sense than mindflayers getting off if you tug on their tentacles.

Yeah, if that's the case, it's not the Emperor who's a degenerate, but Tav is because the Emperor knows what Tav subconsciously desires. Tentacles in the butt or something to that extent.

The ending really hits differently if you get the full Emperor lore.

A Flaming Fist guard looks wistfully at the statue of Balduran - a symbol of the enduring city...
And all I can think of is "Oh wow, he's lucky he doesn't know that this inspirational figure is a gay squid now, and recently tried to manipulate me into sucking his mantacle".

 

[Padzi]

Spoiler

And all I can think of is "Oh wow, he's lucky he doesn't know that this inspirational figure is a gay squid now, and recently tried to manipulate me into sucking his mantacle".

I like the Emperor because he is (in my opinion absolutely) a well-written villain. But

Spoiler

it annoys me that the conversation about his true intentions is never addressed later in the game.

And seriously, I can't believe that over 20 years ago, when I was a kid, I thought, "Ew, mindflayers are monsters," and now I'm discussing the sexual lives of Tav and the Emperor.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Spoiler

And all I can think of is "Oh wow, he's lucky he doesn't know that this inspirational figure is a gay squid now, and recently tried to manipulate me into sucking his mantacle".

I like the Emperor because he is (in my opinion absolutely) a well-written villain. But

Spoiler

it annoys me that the conversation about his true intentions is never addressed later in the game.

And seriously, I can't believe that over 20 years ago, when I was a kid, I thought, "Ew, mindflayers are monsters," and now I'm discussing the sexual lives of Tav and the Emperor.

...

>Lagole Gon gains 10 misogyny.

 

[Padzi]

>Lagole Gon gains 10 misogyny.

 

[Tytus]

Spoiler

And all I can think of is "Oh wow, he's lucky he doesn't know that this inspirational figure is a gay squid now, and recently tried to manipulate me into sucking his mantacle".

I like the Emperor because he is (in my opinion absolutely) a well-written villain. But

Spoiler

it annoys me that the conversation about his true intentions is never addressed later in the game.

And seriously, I can't believe that over 20 years ago, when I was a kid, I thought, "Ew, mindflayers are monsters," and now I'm discussing the sexual lives of Tav and the Emperor.

Bioware Refugees are really the worst.
They are so starved for degenerate sex scenes in RPGs they're gonna fuck monsters and argue why it is ok.

 

[Padzi]

I'm not saying it's okay, but it's so cringe-funny that literally, why not? Besides, for me, it's also a meta joke because my guardian is made in the image of the basic Tav, the one Larian probably hates.

Basic Tav:

My Guardian:

 

[Lagole Gon]

I was fully ready for this thing to suck my brain out.

But man, I was not ready for it to suck out the last bits of enthusiasm for Forgotten Realms.

 

[Padzi]

But man, I was not ready for it to suck out of me the last bits of enthusiasm for Forgotten Realms.

Ah come on, are you disappointed that

Spoiler

your sexy drow waifu is a tentacle faced monster, or do you just not like Guardian?

Also I really like the Emperor's drag here.

 

[Hagashager]

Back at release I instantly knew the Guardian would either be a Mindflayer or a construct of the Mindflayers. Sure enough, a friend spoiled the guardian being Emperor before I even bought the game. Even still I tried to make the guardian look like a cute ginger girl as are my personal tastes. It only made it worse, my immersion was juat not there at all with the Mindflayer. No amount of cute ginger girl aesthetic was going to make me not see a fucking Mindflayer.

That all said, *antagonizing* the guardian even before his reveal was actually really funny. I got good laughs out of the cute ginger girl sighing in disbelief at my not taking any of this seriously.

 

[Lagole Gon]

But man, I was not ready for it to suck out of me the last bits of enthusiasm for Forgotten Realms.

Ah come on, are you disappointed that

Spoiler

your sexy drow waifu is a tentacle faced monster, or do you just not like Guardian?

Also I really like the Emperor's drag here.

No.

I'm angry/weirded out/disgusted by the fact that Emperor is (kind of) Balduran.

Why? What was the point of that? Was it meant to be a cool twist? Was it meant to be "awesome" or "clever"? I don't fucking get it.
Why would you bring back (kind of) a dead historical character. Especially when the timeline doesn't make any sense.

...

Remember that historical character that added a bit of extra flavour to the history of the world?
Well, check this out! Now he's a gay squid that lives in your pocket and you can suck off his tentacles.

Why?

Insult to the injury - the game has a gall to show Balduran's statue in an inspirational manner at the end. These fuckin' souless... weirdo... BELGIANS! RWAAA...!

 

[Padzi]

Remember that historical character that added a bit of extra flavour to the history of the world?
Well, check this out! Now he's a gay squid that lives in your pocket and you can suck off his tentacles.

Why?

Well, I'm not sure when Dream Lover ("Daisy") evolved into The Guardian but Originally Daisy was representative of the tadpole in your head, not the Emperor, and would attempt to seduce your character into staying in the meadow by the river with her forever. A happy life with an imaginary dream lover while your body underwent ceramorphosis and was lost to you forever. Daisy was such an important part of the plot that both of the games theme songs "Down by The River" and "The Power" are based entirely upon Daisy. Datamined content also shows there was originally an ending where players would embrace a romance with Daisy and give themselves over to the parasite, forever leaving their individual consciousness "down by the river" with Daisy.

I kinda liked that, and I'm not sure what went wrong.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

But man, I was not ready for it to suck out of me the last bits of enthusiasm for Forgotten Realms.

Ah come on, are you disappointed that

Spoiler

your sexy drow waifu is a tentacle faced monster, or do you just not like Guardian?

Also I really like the Emperor's drag here.

No.

I'm angry/weirded out/disgusted by the fact that Emperor is (kind of) Balduran.

Why? What was the point of that? Was it meant to be a cool twist? Was it meant to be "awesome" or "clever"? I don't fucking get it.
Why would you bring back (kind of) a dead historical character. Especially when the timeline doesn't make any sense.

...

Remember that historical character that added a bit of extra flavour to the history of the world?
Well, check this out! Now he's a gay squid that lives in your pocket and you can suck off his tentacles.

Why?

Because the game is called Baldur's Gate and they need to exploit every bit of intellectual property the license gives them access to. After all why would they bring back Volo, Elminster, Sarevok, Jaheira, Minsc, Sarevok Viconia, The Iron Throne, Slayer Transformation etc. Since the game is about Ilithids what would be a better way to bring him than turn him into one. I'm sure writers thought they were being very clever.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Remember that historical character that added a bit of extra flavour to the history of the world?
Well, check this out! Now he's a gay squid that lives in your pocket and you can suck off his tentacles.

Why?

Well, I'm not sure when Dream Lover ("Daisy") evolved into The Guardian but Originally Daisy was representative of the tadpole in your head, not the Emperor, and would attempt to seduce your character into staying in the meadow by the river with her forever. A happy life with an imaginary dream lover while your body underwent ceramorphosis and was lost to you forever. Daisy was such an important part of the plot that both of the games theme songs "Down by The River" and "The Power" are based entirely upon Daisy. Datamined content also shows there was originally an ending where players would embrace a romance with Daisy and give themselves over to the parasite, forever leaving their individual consciousness "down by the river" with Daisy.

I kinda liked that, and I'm not sure what went wrong.

Because it's a high-effort failure route. That's my guess. Cool idea for a short story, a bit pointless for non-linear games.
The strange thing is that Larian didn't figure it out before writing, voicing and animating all that shit.

 

[Padzi]

But man, I was not ready for it to suck out of me the last bits of enthusiasm for Forgotten Realms.

Ah come on, are you disappointed that

Spoiler

your sexy drow waifu is a tentacle faced monster, or do you just not like Guardian?

Also I really like the Emperor's drag here.

No.

I'm angry/weirded out/disgusted by the fact that Emperor is (kind of) Balduran.

Why? What was the point of that? Was it meant to be a cool twist? Was it meant to be "awesome" or "clever"? I don't fucking get it.
Why would you bring back (kind of) a dead historical character. Especially when the timeline doesn't make any sense.

...

Remember that historical character that added a bit of extra flavour to the history of the world?
Well, check this out! Now he's a gay squid that lives in your pocket and you can suck off his tentacles.

Why?

Because the game is called Baldur's Gate and they need to exploit every bit of intellectual property the license gives them access to. After all why would they bring back Volo, Elminster, Sarevok, Jaheira, Minsc, Sarevok Viconia, The Iron Throne, Slayer Transformation etc. Since the game is about Ilithids what would be a better way to bring him than turn him into one. I'm sure writers thought they were being very clever.

I think it was supposed to be a tribute for older fans. The problem is that newcomers don't understand what it's all about and don't have a connection to it.

 

[Lagole Gon]

>I think it was supposed to be a tribute for older fans.

- Let's make Balduran a gay pocket squid.
- Let's turn Sarevok and Viconia into generic villains. You didn't like BG2 killing companions? Well, now you get to kill them yourself!

At this point I'm reasonably sure Belgians are not mammals.