Baldurs Gate 3

[Volatilis]

Playing a video game in early access is like watching a marvel film without the CGI.

Really dont understand the point and could ruin the experience

[Biomega]

Playing a video game in early access is like watching a marvel film without the CGI.

Really dont understand the point and could ruin the experience

The good thing about it is you don't have to do it if you don't want to.

[Volatilis]

The good thing about it is you don't have to do it if you don't want to.

Wait you mean developers DONT hold a gun to your head and force you to?

I guess I've been lied too all these years by the internet mob using the word "forced" constantly.

[sinilaid]

I played for 2h and just wow, everything about this is so good that I don't want to stop, but sadly work in the morning etc. Haven't run into any bugs or anything like that atm the only thing that annoys me atm is that the equipment, inventory and character tabs are separate, I think they should be reworked into a single tab for ease of use

[Fencers]

Well, after playing EA for a bit I was both surprised and disappointed by a number of aspects.

[Lindon]

Wait you mean developers DONT hold a gun to your head and force you to?

I guess I've been lied too all these years by the internet mob using the word "forced" constantly.

Cool ain't it?

[DreamSlaveOne]

After playing for 6.5 hours I can definitely say it's a potentially great game. It's certainly have nothing similar with previous installments (which disappoints me tbh but Pathfinder sequel will cure this itch) but it's also clearly not a D:OS3. Aside from bugs due to EA I enjoy it greatly so far barring some very long fights and other gameplay issues which should be easily fixed with proper feedback.

[Jastall]

Well, after playing EA for a bit I was both surprised and disappointed by a number of aspects.

Do tell, this game has my curiosity but it has a bit of a hill to climb if it wants my attention.

[Fencers]

Do tell, this game has my curiosity but it has a bit of a hill to climb if it wants my attention.

The game feels overall like a slightly toned down Divinity: Original Sin. Combat is a little slower paced and environmental effects/interactions a little less bombastic as well.

The style of writing, voice acting, UI, music, sound effects, controls, a large part of the UI, types of character interactions- almost everything feels and plays like Divinity: Original Sin with a D&D mod. There are a few new wrinkles; the move/action dichotomy and rolling a D20 occasionally, but this is basically Divinity Original Sin.

I had hoped Larian would go for something a little more novel or inventive with Baldur's Gate 3. Th0ough the production quality is pretty good, this comes off as slightly lazy. Almost assembly-ish/cut & paste-like.

[Andonais]

The game feels overall like a slightly toned down Divinity: Original Sin. Combat is a little slower paced and environmental effects/interactions a little less bombastic as well.

The style of writing, voice acting, UI, music, sound effects, controls, a large part of the UI, types of character interactions- almost everything feels and plays like Divinity: Original Sin with a D&D mod. There are a few new wrinkles; the move/action dichotomy and rolling a D20 occasionally, but this is basically Divinity Original Sin.

I had hoped Larian would go for something a little more novel or inventive with Baldur's Gate 3. Th0ough the production quality is pretty good, this comes off as slightly lazy. Almost assembly-ish/cut & paste-like.

All fair but Divinity was built to be D&D in the first place they wanted to BG3 years ago and were turned down

[Fencers]

All fair but Divinity was built to be D&D in the first place they wanted to BG3 years ago and were turned down

I am aware. But the thing is Larian already made this game, twice.

I admired Larian when they did stuff like Dragon Commander. BG3 feels overly familiar, which ain't' bad. It's not that thrilling either though.

I mean, they didn't even change the loot UI interface. Some of the assets in the world are nearly identical to those in DOS2.

[Jastall]

The game feels overall like a slightly toned down Divinity: Original Sin. Combat is a little slower paced and environmental effects/interactions a little less bombastic as well.

The style of writing, voice acting, UI, music, sound effects, controls, a large part of the UI, types of character interactions- almost everything feels and plays like Divinity: Original Sin with a D&D mod. There are a few new wrinkles; the move/action dichotomy and rolling a D20 occasionally, but this is basically Divinity Original Sin.

I had hoped Larian would go for something a little more novel or inventive with Baldur's Gate 3. Th0ough the production quality is pretty good, this comes off as slightly lazy. Almost assembly-ish/cut & paste-like.

That does not encourage me to be honest. I didn't hate Original Sin or its sequel at all but they are very far from my favorite RPGs, certainly behind Baldur's Gate 2. I guess hoping a Larian game would be less... well... Larian was kind of foolish but I did think they'd change the formula a bit more considering they're jumping into an existing franchise this time.

Oh well, plenty of time till full release to decide if I buy this based off seeing more gameplay and opinions.

[Fencers]

I didn't hate Original Sin or its sequel at all but they are very far from my favorite RPG

This is exactly how I feel too. I do not think someone indifferent to DOS1/2 will be enamored with BG3 much. It really does feel like playing a mod of DOS2 thus far.

This is EA, so who knows what the final product will be. Probably worth keeping an eye on if really interested but unlikely the game is going to change so greatly it does not feel DOS2-ish at the least. If that is not exciting-- wait for a sale maybe?

[MakeMeLaugh]

The game feels overall like a slightly toned down Divinity: Original Sin. Combat is a little slower paced and environmental effects/interactions a little less bombastic as well.

The style of writing, voice acting, UI, music, sound effects, controls, a large part of the UI, types of character interactions- almost everything feels and plays like Divinity: Original Sin with a D&D mod. There are a few new wrinkles; the move/action dichotomy and rolling a D20 occasionally, but this is basically Divinity Original Sin.

I had hoped Larian would go for something a little more novel or inventive with Baldur's Gate 3. Th0ough the production quality is pretty good, this comes off as slightly lazy. Almost assembly-ish/cut & paste-like.

Wasn't that expected? The same devs using the same engine on a very similar style of game. It's like Dragon Age/Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls/Fallout, those are very different in terms of style, but still with a lot of similarities.

It looks like this game is also going to be huge, that alone kinda limits what they can do in terms of distinguishing themselves from DOS. The game could be AAA but Larian is not on the level of other AAA companies in terms of manpower and money. From what I saw, Wizards of the Coast went with Larian because of how good they are at making RPG's, which is true, nobody can make an rpg like them at the moment, there's no way they would go with a different engine for this game.

[Andonais]

Wasn't that expected? The same devs using the same engine on a very similar style of game. It's like Dragon Age/Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls/Fallout, those are very different in terms of style, but still with a lot of similarities.

It looks like this game is also going to be huge, that alone kinda limits what they can do in terms of distinguishing themselves from DOS. The game could be AAA but Larian is not on the level of other AAA companies in terms of manpower and money. From what I saw, Wizards of the Coast went with Larian because of how good they are at making RPG's, which is true, nobody can make an rpg like them at the moment, there's no way they would go with a different engine for this game.

Wizards also want it to be as close to 5E as possible D&D is booming and they want this to push it further.

[Fencers]

Wasn't that expected?

Depends.

The game could be AAA but Larian is not on the level of other AAA companies in terms of manpower and money. F

Sure, but that is not the consumer's problem. That is their problem; they are still charging me $60 that could go to Genshin Impact, Cold Vein, Hades, or whatever floats your boat.

Not that I am saying BG3 is not worth $60. Though nothing exists in a vacuum and the end product to the consumer must compete on the same stage as other products; so the size and capability Larian are pretty ignorable in the end to the consumer.

[Jastall]

Wasn't that expected? The same devs using the same engine on a very similar style of game. It's like Dragon Age/Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls/Fallout, those are very different in terms of style, but still with a lot of similarities.

It looks like this game is also going to be huge, that alone kinda limits what they can do in terms of distinguishing themselves from DOS. The game could be AAA but Larian is not on the level of other AAA companies in terms of manpower and money. From what I saw, Wizards of the Coast went with Larian because of how good they are at making RPG's, which is true, nobody can make an rpg like them at the moment, there's no way they would go with a different engine for this game.

I wouldn't say Mass Effect and Dragon Age were ever the same. In terms of RPG systems they did grow somewhat close at times, but gameplay and presentation wise they remained very, very different. Elder Scrolls and Fallout being too similar is down to Bethesda's usual incompetence and Baby's First RPG approach, New Vegas showed you can have a first person Fallout game that doesn't feel like Oblivion with guns at all.

I'd also personally have given BG3 to Obsidian considering they already made a good D&D game, but of course they're less popular than Larian now.

[Lindon]

Sure, but that is not the consumer's problem. That is their problem; they are still charging me $60 that could go to Genshin Impact, Cold Vein, Hades, or whatever floats your boat.

Not that I am saying BG3 is not worth $60. Though nothing exists in a vacuum and the end product to the consumer must compete on the same stage as other products; so the size and capability Larian are pretty ignorable in the end to the consumer.

The "AAA" lable has in almost all cases no value whatsoever. It is an informal lable put on some companies to loosely hint at what budget they have.
A good example of this is Witcher 3. It is one of the best games ever made and it was developed by roughly 200 people. If Witcher 3 is not a "AAA" experience then that really fortifies the notion that that lable holds no meaning nowadays.

From what I've seen of the game currently is that it most likely has a massive budget. The visual fidelity, the amount of voice acting, the motion capture and possibly other things I've forgotten to mention costs a massive amount of money to develop with the quality BG3 has shown.

Whether you like the game or not is entierely subjective and anyone asking about the game should really think about this.

Not everyone will like the game and that's okay.

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I'd also personally have given BG3 to Obsidian considering they already made a good D&D game, but of course they're less popular than Larian now.

Can't say I agree. Just looking at their trackrecord shows that Larian is simply better at making D&D type of games.

[StillMcfuu]

I've been enjoying the game a fair bit, but I've found a few bugs and some quest pathing issues.

Manual saving had disabled auto saving on me, with no warning.

When you get to the Cleric at the door to the crypt, apparently there is an intended path, which is to back track through the crashed ship with the Cleric and go up the cliff. You'll immediately encounter a 3rd member to the party, and then you can enter the crypt. But if you are playing a rogue class, you can just open the initial door and get into the crypt. The major issue being you are now missing a way point and team member, and the crypt area is very hard without the 3rd person.

You can get in and out of "hide" while in combat, and hiding almost always freezes all enemy npc in place, even though they've seen you already. I used this to cheese my way through the crypt with only 2 people.

Other than those things, outside of some missing animations and cut scenes, nothing stood out as particularly broken. Granted I'm only 2 hours in with 2 different characters.

Ohh and some of the music seems... like it hasn't been mastered yet with really poor chorus. I was streaming to discord friends and they noticed immediately, you'll get really great music and then an awkward track will come on with a chorus and songs out of place. Same with the main screen theme.

[Fencers]

The "AAA" lable has in almost all cases no value whatsoever. It is an informal lable put on some companies to loosely hint at what budget they have.

I've worked in the games industry. There is no need to explain this or elaborate; I was merely speaking to the other guy's point about "AAA" development. Which was that it is meaningless to the consumer; only the quality of the product matters in the end.

I'd also personally have given BG3 to Obsidian considering they already made a good D&D game, but of course they're less popular than Larian now.

I like the guys over at Owlcat Games a lot. Pathfinder: Kingmaker was the closest thing to a RTWP RPG game has scrathed the BG itch for me in a long time. I am very much looking forward to Wrath of the Righteous.

- - - Updated - - -

I've been enjoying the game a fair bit, but I've found a few bugs and some quest pathing issues.

Yea, lots of bugs. It's EA, of course, so I'm forgiving of this and trying to save often. Thanks for tipping me off about the autosave bug.