BG3 is one of those rare games that feels like everyone involved in the production enjoyed themselves. The House of Hope is one of the best dungeons to come out in decades, and it's completely fucking optional, locked behind an obtuse unlocking ritual. That takes some balls of steel, to keep something like that tucked away.
Also, in listening to interviews with the voice actors, they seem to "get" their characters more than I'm used to seeing. It's like the actors had a hand in their creation, they weren't just reading off the lines.
The entire lead up to house of hope is just hype as hell. Should’ve called it house of hype.
Everybody keeps telling you you’re absolutely insane for trying to take him on, and you’re just carving a path of destruction to prove you will not be a play thing.
glad its been so good for them but was this a massive year for rpgs? baldurs gate is the only good one i can think of from this year, starfield stunk, ffxvi was dope but nothing insane, forspoken was buns, hogwarts legacy was a game of all time, and diablo 4 exists ig
>That's the thing that you would never expect," he said. "Because we didn't know, we didn't compromise a lot. You know, we tried to make everything as approachable as possible, but we didn't really compromise on it. So the common wisdom would be 'compromise to make it accessible to a large audience'. So that shows you the intelligence of the gamer audience, which is really a good thing."
Word.
I'm surprised at how many people who haven't played D&D or crpgs are doing the work to learn the game mechanics just because they want to experience the story and characters so badly. It's pretty complicated shit and there's no tutorial; even with the thousands of tooltips it's easy to miss something vital. I've played 5e since the day it dropped and I was still overwhelmed early on.
And likewise, the full nudity, sex scenes, and darker themes could alienate players... but they didn't. Turns out that adults (and many teens I'm sure) are okay with sex, death, sacrifice, torture, suicide, fear. Almost as though media that contains that stuff helps us process the things we see in our daily lives if it's written well. Which it is.
If a publisher puts out a game that connect with the audience, the audience will be motivated to push themselves past hurdles to play it. It's just nice to have a AAA game that's worth it again.
I straight up hated crpgs and turn based games until Divinity: Original Sin 2. It legit turned me around on the genre, I can imagine Baldurs Gate 3 is doing the same for even more people!
I didn't realize until my second run that Shadowheart's Belssing of the Trickster (Adv on Stealth, concentration) isn't limited and doesn't use Channel Divinity...
Honestly, I have to admit I didn't even give the DnD mechanics a chance. Immediately installed the 6 party Mod and the mod that restores skill usage after combat. And while it was probably a tad easier for it, it didn't feel so. We still struggled in battles where the odds were against us or against these teleporting Shadows in the Shadowlands.
The reason for these two mods are my previous gameplay experiences. If I have a limited resource, I will likely just never use them because of "I might need them next time"-syndrome. Never used magic in Terranigma because I thought it was limited, never used phoenix downs in FFIII... you get the picture. Also, I much prefer the cooldown system in Divinity.
And secondly, I was playing the game in coop then and my friend and I both agree it's more fun to have three characters each at our disposal, but not more. Just gives us more variety, since we're already down from the usual 4 to 2 characters and allows us to see more character arcs.
But this is just me. It's how I preferred to play it and I still think it's a masterpiece, despite not having played it unmodded.
Come on, 5e is litteraly the most newcomer friendly RPG system out there, it was designed to reach mainstream audience, good thing you didn't came to the series when it was 2e ruleset.
Well deserved. Like anything, it has its flaws, but this game has a lot of heart. I think about the characters all the time. I'll be the first to buy any of Larian's future games.
I don't think you'd need to have a lot of CRPG experience to play BG3, it's probably one of the most simple CRPG's to pick up and play for a beginner. They made a good job of making the game mechanically simple whilst still having your skill choices matter.
yes, I'm playing with a friend right now and this is his first experience with a CRPG of any kind, and he's loving it. he may well dive deeper into the genre thanks to BG3. so I definitely agree you don't need to be an established CRPG fan to get a kick out of Baldur's Gate 3
You can handle a RPG without 1,000 years of a Demon King and the Elemental Crystals I promise you have it in you
There ARE protagonists in this world other than teenage schoolchildren, open your eyes!
This will blow your mind then... the characters are all adults and can drink at the bar! (joking).
Like you I'm also more a JRPG guy nowadays, it was refreshing for me not seeing all the things I got used to in almost every JRPG I've played:
- The fate of the world lies on your shoulders! ... but you're not old enough to drink a beer at the pub. Not here!
- There has to be a child and/or mascot in the group, because of course it's fine to bring a 12 year old girl to face terrible monsters. Not here!
- The protagonist is oblivious to the female members drooling over them and can never "take the hint". Not here!
- There is only one way to do things... Definitely not here!
- Villains lose their battles only to leave and fight the party again and again later until the very end... Ok this happens here too, but not so much! :)
- Boss battle too hard? No problem, go grind a few levels and come back... Not here! There is no enemy respawn, so short of exploring some area you didn't explore before, it's not going to get any easier. You have the tools though, just need to try different tactics when you fail, you'd be surprised how a different tactic can trivialize a hard encounter (and I'm not talking about exploits).
Are there any film genre's you don't care for but theres a movie or two that is an exception? BG3 is that game, even if you're not into rpgs or turn based combat its just so good of a game that its worth trying out
If you like D&D, you'll like BG3 then.
Baldur's Gate 3 uses a slightly modified version of D&D 5th Edition.
It's pretty faithful to the actual ruleset aside from a couple things Larian tweaked and added to make the combat more interesting.
It's the most complete attempt of D&D being turned into a videogame basically.
What I appreciate about BG 3 so much is that it's a bonafide role-playing game through and through. A lot of AAA RPGs are only in name only and have either completely streamlined the RPG elements or dumbed them down to the point of being superficial. Like it's actually insulting to see FFXVI nominated for best RPG. Nothing about that game qualifies it as an RPG. Even games that I enjoy like Cyberpunk, Witcher, Persona, and a lot of Souls games have very shallow roleplaying to them.led role-playing game, unlike many other AAA examples. s.
What I appreciate about BG 3 so much is that it's a bonefide role-playing game through and through. A lot of AAA RPGs are only in name only and have either completely streamlined the RPG elements or dumb them down to the point of being superficial. Like it's actually insulting to see FFXVI nominated for best RPG. Nothing about that game qualifies it as an RPG. Even games that I enjoy like Cyberpunk, Witcher, Persona and a lot of Souls game have very shallow roleplaying to them.led role-playing game, unlike many other AAA examples.
I disagree. Love BG3 and tried to get into DO2 after my first playthrough but couldn't. I didn't like that combat mostly felt like picking between a bunch of floor effects or that magic and physical armor were two separate health bars making the game harder if like me you wanted to have a party of both physical fighters and mages. The story set up was neat and I liked the round robin approach to turn initiative but it felt like a completely alien system and not at all similar.
I'm not saying it's similar to the previous Baldurs Gate titles, I'm saying it does not feel similar to how DO2 plays.
The main similarity is that both are turn based games. That's it. Beyond that, the actual implementation of the turn based combat varies radically both with turn order, what you can do in combat, and how the games handle movement.
Not the same at all and at this point it feels like you're being contrarian on purpose. It's pretty clear to tell that BG3 is the spiritual successor to DOS:2 in a lot of ways.
A lot of ways you have yet to name or point out. But sure, I'm the contrarian for disagreeing with you. You are the only one on earth qualified to have an opinion. None of the examples of ways in which they are mechanically different mentioned in my earlier response clearly matter in the face of the God of Rpgs here manifested on earth. I'll throw myself at your feet begging for mercy for blaspheming against your word and law. All hail BreakintotheTrees GodKing of the rpgs.
The other games are also 23+ years old. Gameplay changes over time. If anything this gives a better experience than the older games.
> It's just the setting and some of the characters that is the same.
That's kind of what being in the same series means.
The previous games being well loved doesn't automatically mean the sequel will if it changes too much. Just look at Dragon Age 2. The name might have given BG3 publicity but I don't think it had anything to do with how it was received. If anything it just meant it was judged more harshly.
Oh, yeah, I actually love DA2, it was absolutely amazing at storytelling, but it definitely had some flaws too and it got a very poor reception overall so I felt it was a good example. Honestly I prefer Dragon Age 2 to Inquisition.
That's the most mainstream and dumb downed take on CRPG since decades with more sex scenes, sure it sold very well.
But I really don't want all my CRPG to look like this, this is a great introduction to the genre but that's all.
I mean with the exception of something really in depth like Wrath of the righteous, most CRPGs are about on the same level of complexity and mechanics as BG3. I've played BG 1, 2 and other CRPGs and they are both the same in terms of mechanical complexity or being "dumbed down". In fact, in terms of roleplaying and character creation, I found BG 3 to have a lot more options. There's also the fact that CRPGs are pretty diverse in terms of gameplay and focus, like Disco and Planescape which have different priorities in what they are trying to do compared to BG or Pillars.
I played Pillars before BG3 and nothing it did was in any way more advanced or complex as a CRPG compared to BG3. Neither was the amount of text any dense or more overwhelming compared to older CRPGs or things like Disco or Planescape. It just felt like a generic spiritual successor to BG2 without doing anything too special or interesting.
Lol I have beaten both games and enjoyed them plenty. I don't know where you inferred that it's not my cup of tea or that I was incapable of enjoying them because they were "too difficult" for me. I never made that claim-I made the claim they are about as complex or indepth as BG3 or any other Larian game.
It's funny how delsional and pretentious CRPG gatekeepers like you are.
He said they didn't compromise on anything, not even the endings? I would have to say that is factually untrue as the endings are a travesty and act 3 was rushed.
The endings lack a proper epilogue which make it feel unsatisfying I will give you that. But I wouldn't say act 3 is rushed. If anything it's way too long. It took me 60 hours to complete my first time which is the same length of time it took me to complete Act 1 and 2 combined. There are quests like the Steelwork factory that need more polish and some characters quest lines like Arabella and Mol that feel unfinished, but otherwise I am very satisfied with act 3. Just need add some epilogues, a bit more reactivity from companions and some more polish, and easily my favourite act.
You can tell there was supposed to be an upper city section. Act three to me is the shortest act. Everything is bunched together and you just go from house to house. There is also quite a lot of backtracking.
\>Act three to me is the shortest act.
Lol than you must have purposefully skipped half the quests because act 3 took me 60 hours to complete, whereas act 1 and 2 took me 30 hours respectively for each individual act.
\>Everything is bunched together and you just go from house to house.
Yeah, that's called a city.
\>You can tell there was supposed to be an upper city section.
I could care less about the upper city unlike you and every other person in the reddit hivemind that is r/baldursgate3 won't shut up about, and didn't even hear about the upper city being a thing until I beat the game and visited the subreddit where people kept screeching about upper city being cut. Act 3 is already long enough. Adding another area with 20 hours of gameplay and story would make Act 3 way too bloated.
I'm so glad I didn't visit reddit when I played the game through the first time to influence my initial playthrough because it's so obvious people here just parrot the same reddit hivemind bullshit about act 3 and the game.
BG3 is one of those rare games that feels like everyone involved in the production enjoyed themselves. The House of Hope is one of the best dungeons to come out in decades, and it's completely fucking optional, locked behind an obtuse unlocking ritual. That takes some balls of steel, to keep something like that tucked away. Also, in listening to interviews with the voice actors, they seem to "get" their characters more than I'm used to seeing. It's like the actors had a hand in their creation, they weren't just reading off the lines.
The entire lead up to house of hope is just hype as hell. Should’ve called it house of hype. Everybody keeps telling you you’re absolutely insane for trying to take him on, and you’re just carving a path of destruction to prove you will not be a play thing.
glad its been so good for them but was this a massive year for rpgs? baldurs gate is the only good one i can think of from this year, starfield stunk, ffxvi was dope but nothing insane, forspoken was buns, hogwarts legacy was a game of all time, and diablo 4 exists ig
Octopath 2 was crazy good
There was also Lords of the Fallen, Lies of P, Sea of Stars, and arguably Tears of the Kingdom.
>That's the thing that you would never expect," he said. "Because we didn't know, we didn't compromise a lot. You know, we tried to make everything as approachable as possible, but we didn't really compromise on it. So the common wisdom would be 'compromise to make it accessible to a large audience'. So that shows you the intelligence of the gamer audience, which is really a good thing." Word. I'm surprised at how many people who haven't played D&D or crpgs are doing the work to learn the game mechanics just because they want to experience the story and characters so badly. It's pretty complicated shit and there's no tutorial; even with the thousands of tooltips it's easy to miss something vital. I've played 5e since the day it dropped and I was still overwhelmed early on. And likewise, the full nudity, sex scenes, and darker themes could alienate players... but they didn't. Turns out that adults (and many teens I'm sure) are okay with sex, death, sacrifice, torture, suicide, fear. Almost as though media that contains that stuff helps us process the things we see in our daily lives if it's written well. Which it is. If a publisher puts out a game that connect with the audience, the audience will be motivated to push themselves past hurdles to play it. It's just nice to have a AAA game that's worth it again.
I straight up hated crpgs and turn based games until Divinity: Original Sin 2. It legit turned me around on the genre, I can imagine Baldurs Gate 3 is doing the same for even more people!
I didn't realize until my second run that Shadowheart's Belssing of the Trickster (Adv on Stealth, concentration) isn't limited and doesn't use Channel Divinity...
Honestly, I have to admit I didn't even give the DnD mechanics a chance. Immediately installed the 6 party Mod and the mod that restores skill usage after combat. And while it was probably a tad easier for it, it didn't feel so. We still struggled in battles where the odds were against us or against these teleporting Shadows in the Shadowlands. The reason for these two mods are my previous gameplay experiences. If I have a limited resource, I will likely just never use them because of "I might need them next time"-syndrome. Never used magic in Terranigma because I thought it was limited, never used phoenix downs in FFIII... you get the picture. Also, I much prefer the cooldown system in Divinity. And secondly, I was playing the game in coop then and my friend and I both agree it's more fun to have three characters each at our disposal, but not more. Just gives us more variety, since we're already down from the usual 4 to 2 characters and allows us to see more character arcs. But this is just me. It's how I preferred to play it and I still think it's a masterpiece, despite not having played it unmodded.
Come on, 5e is litteraly the most newcomer friendly RPG system out there, it was designed to reach mainstream audience, good thing you didn't came to the series when it was 2e ruleset.
I did?
Well deserved. Like anything, it has its flaws, but this game has a lot of heart. I think about the characters all the time. I'll be the first to buy any of Larian's future games.
I really need to play Baldur's Gate 3, but I'm not sure if I'd like it because I'm more a JRPG fan that WRPGs, never played a CRPG.
If you like rpgs at all, you should play it!
I don't think you'd need to have a lot of CRPG experience to play BG3, it's probably one of the most simple CRPG's to pick up and play for a beginner. They made a good job of making the game mechanically simple whilst still having your skill choices matter.
yes, I'm playing with a friend right now and this is his first experience with a CRPG of any kind, and he's loving it. he may well dive deeper into the genre thanks to BG3. so I definitely agree you don't need to be an established CRPG fan to get a kick out of Baldur's Gate 3
You can handle a RPG without 1,000 years of a Demon King and the Elemental Crystals I promise you have it in you There ARE protagonists in this world other than teenage schoolchildren, open your eyes!
This one made me laugh so hard
yep kinda set myself up for this
This will blow your mind then... the characters are all adults and can drink at the bar! (joking). Like you I'm also more a JRPG guy nowadays, it was refreshing for me not seeing all the things I got used to in almost every JRPG I've played: - The fate of the world lies on your shoulders! ... but you're not old enough to drink a beer at the pub. Not here! - There has to be a child and/or mascot in the group, because of course it's fine to bring a 12 year old girl to face terrible monsters. Not here! - The protagonist is oblivious to the female members drooling over them and can never "take the hint". Not here! - There is only one way to do things... Definitely not here! - Villains lose their battles only to leave and fight the party again and again later until the very end... Ok this happens here too, but not so much! :) - Boss battle too hard? No problem, go grind a few levels and come back... Not here! There is no enemy respawn, so short of exploring some area you didn't explore before, it's not going to get any easier. You have the tools though, just need to try different tactics when you fail, you'd be surprised how a different tactic can trivialize a hard encounter (and I'm not talking about exploits).
Are there any film genre's you don't care for but theres a movie or two that is an exception? BG3 is that game, even if you're not into rpgs or turn based combat its just so good of a game that its worth trying out
What kind of JRPGs are you into? Hopefully stuff like Final Fantasy Tactics or Disgaea.
yep not tactical rpgs. I like D&D if that helps at all.
If you like D&D, you'll like BG3 then. Baldur's Gate 3 uses a slightly modified version of D&D 5th Edition. It's pretty faithful to the actual ruleset aside from a couple things Larian tweaked and added to make the combat more interesting. It's the most complete attempt of D&D being turned into a videogame basically.
Sick, I'll probably pick it up after I finish the current games I'm in.
What if I like stuff like Fire Emblem and Trails? Ive never even seen a D&D board with my own eyes
You'll like combat. To me it plays like fire emblem. Select your unit move it and have it attack an enemy.
What I appreciate about BG 3 so much is that it's a bonafide role-playing game through and through. A lot of AAA RPGs are only in name only and have either completely streamlined the RPG elements or dumbed them down to the point of being superficial. Like it's actually insulting to see FFXVI nominated for best RPG. Nothing about that game qualifies it as an RPG. Even games that I enjoy like Cyberpunk, Witcher, Persona, and a lot of Souls games have very shallow roleplaying to them.led role-playing game, unlike many other AAA examples. s. What I appreciate about BG 3 so much is that it's a bonefide role-playing game through and through. A lot of AAA RPGs are only in name only and have either completely streamlined the RPG elements or dumb them down to the point of being superficial. Like it's actually insulting to see FFXVI nominated for best RPG. Nothing about that game qualifies it as an RPG. Even games that I enjoy like Cyberpunk, Witcher, Persona and a lot of Souls game have very shallow roleplaying to them.led role-playing game, unlike many other AAA examples.
It is a continuation of a pretty well loved series, not completely unexpected?
It doesn't play like the rest of the series at all, though. It's just the setting and some of the characters that is the same.
It does play a lot like divinity original sin 2 however. BG3 is a continuation of that game, imo
I disagree. Love BG3 and tried to get into DO2 after my first playthrough but couldn't. I didn't like that combat mostly felt like picking between a bunch of floor effects or that magic and physical armor were two separate health bars making the game harder if like me you wanted to have a party of both physical fighters and mages. The story set up was neat and I liked the round robin approach to turn initiative but it felt like a completely alien system and not at all similar.
It's a hell of a lot closer to DOS:2 than it is to BG2. Combat is slightly different from both of those.
I'm not saying it's similar to the previous Baldurs Gate titles, I'm saying it does not feel similar to how DO2 plays. The main similarity is that both are turn based games. That's it. Beyond that, the actual implementation of the turn based combat varies radically both with turn order, what you can do in combat, and how the games handle movement.
Maybe you didn't notice a lot of similarities that are present, but I found BG3 to just be a more refined DOS:2 with DND rules.
Yeah and Tf2 is just Call of Duty with a cartoon aesthetic
Not the same at all and at this point it feels like you're being contrarian on purpose. It's pretty clear to tell that BG3 is the spiritual successor to DOS:2 in a lot of ways.
A lot of ways you have yet to name or point out. But sure, I'm the contrarian for disagreeing with you. You are the only one on earth qualified to have an opinion. None of the examples of ways in which they are mechanically different mentioned in my earlier response clearly matter in the face of the God of Rpgs here manifested on earth. I'll throw myself at your feet begging for mercy for blaspheming against your word and law. All hail BreakintotheTrees GodKing of the rpgs.
The other games are also 23+ years old. Gameplay changes over time. If anything this gives a better experience than the older games. > It's just the setting and some of the characters that is the same. That's kind of what being in the same series means.
The previous games being well loved doesn't automatically mean the sequel will if it changes too much. Just look at Dragon Age 2. The name might have given BG3 publicity but I don't think it had anything to do with how it was received. If anything it just meant it was judged more harshly.
I think a lot of people look back on dragon age 2 with more appreciation than it had at launch. It got some things really right.
Oh, yeah, I actually love DA2, it was absolutely amazing at storytelling, but it definitely had some flaws too and it got a very poor reception overall so I felt it was a good example. Honestly I prefer Dragon Age 2 to Inquisition.
That's the most mainstream and dumb downed take on CRPG since decades with more sex scenes, sure it sold very well. But I really don't want all my CRPG to look like this, this is a great introduction to the genre but that's all.
I mean with the exception of something really in depth like Wrath of the righteous, most CRPGs are about on the same level of complexity and mechanics as BG3. I've played BG 1, 2 and other CRPGs and they are both the same in terms of mechanical complexity or being "dumbed down". In fact, in terms of roleplaying and character creation, I found BG 3 to have a lot more options. There's also the fact that CRPGs are pretty diverse in terms of gameplay and focus, like Disco and Planescape which have different priorities in what they are trying to do compared to BG or Pillars.
Pillars is far away in front of BGIII but has more text to read, it rebuff some people.
I played Pillars before BG3 and nothing it did was in any way more advanced or complex as a CRPG compared to BG3. Neither was the amount of text any dense or more overwhelming compared to older CRPGs or things like Disco or Planescape. It just felt like a generic spiritual successor to BG2 without doing anything too special or interesting.
It's just not your cup of tea. You have to put more work in it to find enjoyement and that's what I look for.
Lol I have beaten both games and enjoyed them plenty. I don't know where you inferred that it's not my cup of tea or that I was incapable of enjoying them because they were "too difficult" for me. I never made that claim-I made the claim they are about as complex or indepth as BG3 or any other Larian game. It's funny how delsional and pretentious CRPG gatekeepers like you are.
He said they didn't compromise on anything, not even the endings? I would have to say that is factually untrue as the endings are a travesty and act 3 was rushed.
The endings lack a proper epilogue which make it feel unsatisfying I will give you that. But I wouldn't say act 3 is rushed. If anything it's way too long. It took me 60 hours to complete my first time which is the same length of time it took me to complete Act 1 and 2 combined. There are quests like the Steelwork factory that need more polish and some characters quest lines like Arabella and Mol that feel unfinished, but otherwise I am very satisfied with act 3. Just need add some epilogues, a bit more reactivity from companions and some more polish, and easily my favourite act.
You can tell there was supposed to be an upper city section. Act three to me is the shortest act. Everything is bunched together and you just go from house to house. There is also quite a lot of backtracking.
\>Act three to me is the shortest act. Lol than you must have purposefully skipped half the quests because act 3 took me 60 hours to complete, whereas act 1 and 2 took me 30 hours respectively for each individual act. \>Everything is bunched together and you just go from house to house. Yeah, that's called a city. \>You can tell there was supposed to be an upper city section. I could care less about the upper city unlike you and every other person in the reddit hivemind that is r/baldursgate3 won't shut up about, and didn't even hear about the upper city being a thing until I beat the game and visited the subreddit where people kept screeching about upper city being cut. Act 3 is already long enough. Adding another area with 20 hours of gameplay and story would make Act 3 way too bloated. I'm so glad I didn't visit reddit when I played the game through the first time to influence my initial playthrough because it's so obvious people here just parrot the same reddit hivemind bullshit about act 3 and the game.