That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons bring us some web forums whereupon we can gather
http://garbi.online/forum/
15 years before the events of Baldur's Gate 3, the streets of the city ran red with blood.
Tavs, we need your help. Will your sharp analytical minds unravel these heinous killings before the murderer strikes again?
http://bloodinbaldursgate.com
I did not, in fact, hold out.
It is very different from the original, more a sequel in spirit. I have played through BG1, BG2, IWD1 and IWD2 and all expansions, and I like this more.Holman wrote: Fri Jun 23, 2023 4:13 pm I've studiously avoided early-access and even discussion of BG3. I'm waiting for the full release.
Without any spoilers, do you players have a sense that it might live up to the originals in terms of story, character, and writing?
Jesus. Bold words, sir. Very bold.Jaymann wrote: Sat Jun 24, 2023 11:26 amIt is very different from the original, more a sequel in spirit. I have played through BG1, BG2, IWD1 and IWD2 and all expansions, and I like this more.Holman wrote: Fri Jun 23, 2023 4:13 pm I've studiously avoided early-access and even discussion of BG3. I'm waiting for the full release.
Without any spoilers, do you players have a sense that it might live up to the originals in terms of story, character, and writing?
Yep.
Multi-classing and the variant human. Get's me my preferred Rogue RangerMadmarcus wrote: Thu Jun 29, 2023 10:27 pm II hadn't realized quite how spoiled I am by the ability to mod Solasta to allow picking racial stat boosts, interesting +1 ability point feats, and multiclassing.
To be fair, it's set in The Forgotten Realms, which is about the most standard, vanilla, by-the-book D&D world out there. In fact, the 5e rules are written with it in mind as the default setting. The races and stats in the rulebook are written as the canon rules and stats of that world.Madmarcus wrote: Thu Jun 29, 2023 10:27 pm With a standard array and fixed racial stat boosts it feels like everyone is typecast.
Unfortunately, IMO, 5th ed is boring and generic compared to Pathfinder. I wish there were more CRPGs of the latter.Madmarcus wrote: Thu Jun 29, 2023 10:27 pm I've seen many people saying BG3 is great in early release. It's tempting enough that I went and looked at the BG3 wiki to see how their version of 5e varied from the Solasta version of 5e. The problem is that reading about the races and classes available makes me tired and bored. With a standard array and fixed racial stat boosts it feels like everyone is typecast. Tack on the idea that your primary stat must be 16 at 1st, 18 at 4th, and 20th at 8th level plus boring feats and it all feels generic.
Nothing really novel in what I'm saying. I hadn't realized quite how spoiled I am by the ability to mod Solasta to allow picking racial stat boosts, interesting +1 ability point feats, and multiclassing.
I agree. 5e was a huge step up from 4e (and 3.5), but there were some design decisions that just don't hold up with long-term play. PF2 is a much more interesting game to play (and the characters are much more interesting to build as you go.)gbasden wrote: Fri Jun 30, 2023 8:40 pm Unfortunately, IMO, 5th ed is boring and generic compared to Pathfinder. I wish there were more CRPGs of the latter.
On October 25, 2019, a clever, funny game developed by the veterans behind some of the PC's best-ever RPGs arrived to much anticipation and positive reviews. In most other months or years, we might've been smitten with it. But The Outer Worlds had the bad luck of launching exactly 10 days after Disco Elysium, a game that fundamentally reshaped our expectations for RPGs overnight.
"The Outer Worlds is a fun romp around a solar system infested with capitalism and space cowboys," Fraser wrote at the time in an editorial about how Disco Elysium ruined The Outer Worlds for him. "It lets me shoot stuff with my laser pistol and also loudly tell people that corporations are shit. Sometimes I do this while wearing a stetson that makes me good at dodging. This is all good stuff, but my heart isn't in it. It's been stolen by an alcoholic detective."
I don't know if there are any alcoholic detectives in Baldur's Gate 3, but I wonder if its new release date—moved up to August 3, from its initially planned August 31—might end up giving some players flashbacks to the great Disco coup of 2019. With a full month's lead ahead of Bethesda's Starfield, is there any world, any galaxy, in which Baldur's Gate 3 kinda eats Starfield's lunch? I think there might be.
If you're looking forward to Starfield enough to consider putting yourself in a deep freezer for the next two months, please don't take the mere suggestion of this idea as a personal attack. If you're psyched for both: Great! It'll be an absolutely blessed RPG harvest. But in thinking about the kinds of RPGs Larian and Bethesda have made over the last few years, I'm already getting whiffs of 2019's Disco vs Outer Wilds comparison.
Jaymann wrote: Sat Jul 01, 2023 10:47 am
It has 3 Acts, and Larian is estimating 75 - 100 hours of gameplay, double that for completionists. I figure that means 600 - 1,000 hours for me.
If it's anything like BG2 that's 20+ years for me.Jaymann wrote: Sat Jul 01, 2023 10:47 am It has 3 Acts, and Larian is estimating 75 - 100 hours of gameplay, double that for completionists. I figure that means 600 - 1,000 hours for me.
So then it’ll be like all the other Larian RPGs that I start, get a decent way into (30-40 hours), then get distracted and/or annoyed and wander off without finishing.Jaymann wrote: Sat Jul 01, 2023 10:47 am It has 3 Acts, and Larian is estimating 75 - 100 hours of gameplay, double that for completionists. I figure that means 600 - 1,000 hours for me.
Seems pretty standard length for an RPG, to be honest. Baldur's Gate II's main story was about 70 hours. Of course, that was also back when I had time to finish 70-hour-plus games.Skinypupy wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 12:15 am So then it’ll be like all the other Larian RPGs that I start, get a decent way into (30-40 hours), then get distracted and/or annoyed and wander off without finishing.
Cool, cool.
That wasn’t intended as a negative comment on the game. More a realization of my own gaming habits these days. A 70-hour game would take me months to finish.Chraolic wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 5:23 amSeems pretty standard length for an RPG, to be honest. Baldur's Gate II's main story was about 70 hours. Of course, that was also back when I had time to finish 70-hour-plus games.Skinypupy wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 12:15 am So then it’ll be like all the other Larian RPGs that I start, get a decent way into (30-40 hours), then get distracted and/or annoyed and wander off without finishing.
Cool, cool.
Same. I just finished realRTCW (Return to Castle Wolfenstein overhaul mod) and it was probably around 15 hours max. Felt like 50 even though I enjoyed every minute.Skinypupy wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 8:51 amThat wasn’t intended as a negative comment on the game. More a realization of my own gaming habits these days. A 70-hour game would take me months to finish.Chraolic wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 5:23 amSeems pretty standard length for an RPG, to be honest. Baldur's Gate II's main story was about 70 hours. Of course, that was also back when I had time to finish 70-hour-plus games.Skinypupy wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 12:15 am So then it’ll be like all the other Larian RPGs that I start, get a decent way into (30-40 hours), then get distracted and/or annoyed and wander off without finishing.
Cool, cool.
Well that sucks. How does it compare to BGII in your opinion?Madmarcus wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 9:09 am After a couple of hours testing I like it but I'm not blown away.
* The UI is bad. Solasta and turn based PoE2 both feel better.
It has been too long since I played BG2. Mostly BG3 feels messy, cluttered and not very intuitive. Too many small icons clustered together. Plus some wonkyness when you are having one character scout. Sometimes the other party members follow but sometimes they don't. Made for an interesting situation when I got too close to some NPCs early on but the game decided my party was too far behind and didn't even get involved in the combat!Carpet_pissr wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 9:18 amWell that sucks. How does it compare to BGII in your opinion?Madmarcus wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 9:09 am After a couple of hours testing I like it but I'm not blown away.
* The UI is bad. Solasta and turn based PoE2 both feel better.
That happens to me in MMOs. I can play 50 hours of an MMO without thinking twice, but I struggle to keep interested in single player games. It’s an odd phenomenon.Carpet_pissr wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 9:11 am Funny thing is games like Civ where there’s no story arc don’t seem to have that effect on me. But then one of my typical Civ games is also not 50h, probably more like 10-12.
I will probably get this day one and I have avoided everything as well. I found that if I do early access it kills the game for me usually.YellowKing wrote: Sun Jul 02, 2023 7:01 pm Just to pile on - I was talking to a friend today who is a diehard D&D fan. He was absolutely blown away by early access BG3. I haven't seen him this excited for a game in ages, and the dude knows his RPGs. He's played Solasta and all the DLC, all the Divinities, Pillars of Eternity, etc. He said this blows all of them out of the water.
I've intentionally been avoiding pretty much everything BG3 related, but he's got me super intrigued.
LIkewise. A 15-hour game with an end? After a while, I'm constantly looking at the metaphorical clock, and after the 3/4 mark it seems to slow to a crawl. An MMO or an open-ended game (say, Satisfactory), or even a mission-based game (like Deep Rock Galactic), and I can put in ten times the hours of the start-to-end game without even noticing.Skinypupy wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 10:55 amThat happens to me in MMOs. I can play 50 hours of an MMO without thinking twice, but I struggle to keep interested in single player games. It’s an odd phenomenon.Carpet_pissr wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 9:11 am Funny thing is games like Civ where there’s no story arc don’t seem to have that effect on me. But then one of my typical Civ games is also not 50h, probably more like 10-12.
This is a feature not a bug. Since it is turn based you can select one of your party who is not in combat and have them sneak up to shoot or blast the engaged enemy.Madmarcus wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 9:38 amIt has been too long since I played BG2. Mostly BG3 feels messy, cluttered and not very intuitive. Too many small icons clustered together. Plus some wonkyness when you are having one character scout. Sometimes the other party members follow but sometimes they don't. Made for an interesting situation when I got too close to some NPCs early on but the game decided my party was too far behind and didn't even get involved in the combat!Carpet_pissr wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 9:18 amWell that sucks. How does it compare to BGII in your opinion?Madmarcus wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 9:09 am After a couple of hours testing I like it but I'm not blown away.
* The UI is bad. Solasta and turn based PoE2 both feel better.
My understanding is that early access saves won't be usable with the full game when released. Is that right, and is that going to change at any point pre-official release? I'm definitely going to get the game, but I don't like replaying parts of games so I've been holding off on early access.Octavious wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 11:16 amI will probably get this day one and I have avoided everything as well. I found that if I do early access it kills the game for me usually.YellowKing wrote: Sun Jul 02, 2023 7:01 pm Just to pile on - I was talking to a friend today who is a diehard D&D fan. He was absolutely blown away by early access BG3. I haven't seen him this excited for a game in ages, and the dude knows his RPGs. He's played Solasta and all the DLC, all the Divinities, Pillars of Eternity, etc. He said this blows all of them out of the water.
I've intentionally been avoiding pretty much everything BG3 related, but he's got me super intrigued.
It's interesting, it's kind of the reverse for me. Without a main plot I lose interest in games very quickly. Sandbox and open-ended type games are a no go for me as a result.Blackhawk wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 11:41 amLIkewise. A 15-hour game with an end? After a while, I'm constantly looking at the metaphorical clock, and after the 3/4 mark it seems to slow to a crawl. An MMO or an open-ended game (say, Satisfactory), or even a mission-based game (like Deep Rock Galactic), and I can put in ten times the hours of the start-to-end game without even noticing.Skinypupy wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 10:55 amThat happens to me in MMOs. I can play 50 hours of an MMO without thinking twice, but I struggle to keep interested in single player games. It’s an odd phenomenon.Carpet_pissr wrote: Mon Jul 03, 2023 9:11 am Funny thing is games like Civ where there’s no story arc don’t seem to have that effect on me. But then one of my typical Civ games is also not 50h, probably more like 10-12.
I'm guessing that it's psychological, caused by having a known end point. It's like when you're making a 30-mile drive to another town. As you drive, you think about the town that's 30 miles away, and it seems like it takes a long time to get there. But if you're making a 500-mile drive along the same route, you seem to get to that 30-mile town in a heartbeat. Open ended games don't have an end point, so we don't think, "Are we there yet?"