If you play it on story mode to make the fights easier, if you skip side-quests, and then any re-runs goes much faster because you know where and what everything is.
Baldur's Gate 3
- Thread starter Old_Hunter_77
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I have not seen everything, as evidenced by all the scenes I find online. However the first playthrough was like 70 hours in game time (actually more because of save scumming and breaking out of softlocks). Second playthrough was speedrun a bit partly because we already knew where everything was and partly because in the evil playthrough most party members either died or left us so there's a lot of content to not see anymore.
Apart from the aformentioned lack of party members, we didn't skip many sidequests, most had an evil alternate we did instead. It's still just faster by virtue of not stumbling around blind.
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Every time I hear something about Baldur's Gate 3 it sounds like the coolest game to come out recently, but every time I see screenshots my brain immediately groans because the game play itself looks horribly unengaging to me. I typically don't care for the isometric perspective in games (with some exceptions), and I also typically don't care for turn based combat systems in RPGs. I also feel kind of burned out on big open world 100 hour games. It's been years since I actually managed to get myself to finish a game of that size.
Given all of these issues is there any possibility that I'll actually finish Baldur's Gate 3, or should I go with my gut and just ignore the game?
Given all of these issues is there any possibility that I'll actually finish Baldur's Gate 3, or should I go with my gut and just ignore the game?
Do what works for you. I am getting Armored Core 6 this week. After I finish that, Mario Wonder, Alan Wake II, and Sonic Superstars are on my play next list. BG3 I have 0 interests in getting or playing.
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I have a right to be here like anyone else and share my thoughts or the thoughts of others. I ain't giving anyone a hard time on this thread. Besides, I did play BG2 a few times back in the day at a friend's.
I can ask you the same question: Why are you here? Why are we heeerreeeee?!!!
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This is a thread for people who are either actively playing the game, or have an interest in playing the game. If you have 0 interest in playing the game then why are you in a thread about it? Got nothing better to do?
And you are indecisive. So what's your point?
I've provided some extra information, and I like chatting up with you guys and gals. Ain't that hard to figure out. Besides, I am not the only one who has ever gotten into thread about a game I am not interested in. Last I checked, it's not a crime to do so. What are ya, the Internet Forum Police?
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I like armchair browsing threads like this knowing I’ll probably never play the respective game anytime soon/if ever, because it’s no pressure since I have no stake in it. Just passive observances; a window into experiencing something vicariously through all others’ personal experiences with it is efficient use of time sometimes.
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Apparently playing with a controller significantly changes the UI and gameplay perspective.
FWIW I started this thread but I am indecisive about it too. I also started another thread about Lords of the and Atlas Fallen, 2 games I decided not to buy. I just think games are interesting!
My gut also warns me away from isometric turn based combat. But my gut has also been pushing to step outside of my comfort zone. So I’ll just how I feel after Armored Core and what people say about it PS5.
I generally played on controller. Some of it is better and more intuitive, a lot of it isn't though, and there's a puzzle in the game that is currently as far as I can tell impossible for controller users. Had to switch back to keyboard for it.
Welp, I finally finished it after 90 hours.
I'd say this game was worth every penny. I knew it had huge potential back in early-access, and the game went above and beyond my expectations ten-folds. The characters were complex; Everyone was all over the alignment chart, with no one being lawful good or chaotic evil (well save for one of the big three at the end). Hell, my paladin was probably chaotic neutral as he always attempted to avoid fight, even if it meant going against the greater good.
The cinematics were great. Instead of the narrator describing every minor thing during a dialogue, everything is rendered and great to witness. I learned the other day these characters during the dialogues were all mo-capped, which is amazing.
I do think Act 2 was on bit lackluster. I don't mind the shortness of it, but it had so many environmental hazards, and the enemies felt really annoying here.
I love how the side-quests got tied to the final act, and the choices I've made affect how the final battled turned out to be. I also learned the power of barrelmancy.
Speaking of, I hated the ending and I'm pretty sure Larian will add contents to it. Some parts that are known to be cut content or stuff I wish for are:
IDK, I just feel after all that build-up of complex choices I've made, the ending where I'm the hero of the BG is tad big generic; In DOS2, there were good reasons why you don't wanna become the new god of the world, and everyone had their endings.
Still, this game is too good to take a break and come back to it; It NEEDS to be finished from the beginning to the end. That's why I probably won't be coming back to it for a while. I'm now off to Armored Core 6!
I'd say this game was worth every penny. I knew it had huge potential back in early-access, and the game went above and beyond my expectations ten-folds. The characters were complex; Everyone was all over the alignment chart, with no one being lawful good or chaotic evil (well save for one of the big three at the end). Hell, my paladin was probably chaotic neutral as he always attempted to avoid fight, even if it meant going against the greater good.
The cinematics were great. Instead of the narrator describing every minor thing during a dialogue, everything is rendered and great to witness. I learned the other day these characters during the dialogues were all mo-capped, which is amazing.
I do think Act 2 was on bit lackluster. I don't mind the shortness of it, but it had so many environmental hazards, and the enemies felt really annoying here.
I love how the side-quests got tied to the final act, and the choices I've made affect how the final battled turned out to be. I also learned the power of barrelmancy.
Speaking of, I hated the ending and I'm pretty sure Larian will add contents to it. Some parts that are known to be cut content or stuff I wish for are:
Here are things I'd love to see as some sort of slideshow narration, similiar to how it was in DOS2:
- What happens to the followers of the Absolute? Do they still try to resist or dissolve and scatter all over the world?
- Fate of Karlach and Wyll. How do they fare staying there and is Wyll still able to travel back to BG?
- Did Wyll ever managed to get away from Mizora?
- Halsin and his druids. Did they kept their grove in its natural condition?
- Does Kagha ever drop her ***** attitude?
- Astration's new life in the shadows. Does he go mad from drinking blood or try to maintain his sanity?
- Fate of Githyanki Empire and Lae'zel. I chose to kill Orpheus. So odes this mean the empire is doomed and Lae'zel is forever cursed to walk the earth as a traitor? Or does she find a home somewhere?
- Your character. Where do they go after choosing (not) to become a mind flayer? Settle down somewhere with the companion you romanced?
- The rest of the significant companions and NPCs; Jaheira, Minsc, Dame Aylin, Moonmaiden, etc
- Does Scratch continue to remain a good boy?
- With Gortash dead, who becomes the leader of BG?
Still, this game is too good to take a break and come back to it; It NEEDS to be finished from the beginning to the end. That's why I probably won't be coming back to it for a while. I'm now off to Armored Core 6!
I'm 25+ hours in, and I've yet to feel like consequences of my actions, or the path I've taken, has been forced on me by a dice roll. It feels more like a "fuck around and find out" scenario. Like with the hag and the githyanki shrine: curiosity just got the better of me, and being able to just peer into an alternate timeline free of consequence does IMO feel like it goes a bit against the spirit of DnD. And it definitely takes away from the dramatic weight of said consequences, like with how you can kill the entire githyanki creché by collapsing the temple. But then again, we're talking two entirely different mediums, so trying to play with the rules and mindset of one in the other is a fool's errand anyway.
Let's take the hag as an example. Putting this in spoilers just in case:
In a DnD campaign the scenario might go something like this:
The players know there's a mysterious woman living in the swamps who could be a hag, but they don't know just for sure. The DM has planned for this to be just a social encounter, and hasn't prepped any extra environments or scenarios. But the players start prodding, and eventually RP leads to the hag revealing itself, threatening the players and disappearing. This is the DM trying to signal to the players that the encounter is over and they should continue with their main quest. But the players insist on there being something else and start rooting through every square inch of the cabin. The DM sees the players are clearly invested, and on the spot makes up the fireplace being an illusion, and behind it is a small dungeon crawl. None of it was prepared, and it was made up right there and then.
In video games, however, no such spontaneous creation can exist. There has to be something more to the hag because this is a videogame quest and players will rarely leave those unresolved. So the incentive for the player to investigate isn't out of spontaneous curiosity and investment, but out of a gamer instinct to see more. What are they gonna do, not go out of their way see the content Larian spent years meticulously building?
The players know there's a mysterious woman living in the swamps who could be a hag, but they don't know just for sure. The DM has planned for this to be just a social encounter, and hasn't prepped any extra environments or scenarios. But the players start prodding, and eventually RP leads to the hag revealing itself, threatening the players and disappearing. This is the DM trying to signal to the players that the encounter is over and they should continue with their main quest. But the players insist on there being something else and start rooting through every square inch of the cabin. The DM sees the players are clearly invested, and on the spot makes up the fireplace being an illusion, and behind it is a small dungeon crawl. None of it was prepared, and it was made up right there and then.
In video games, however, no such spontaneous creation can exist. There has to be something more to the hag because this is a videogame quest and players will rarely leave those unresolved. So the incentive for the player to investigate isn't out of spontaneous curiosity and investment, but out of a gamer instinct to see more. What are they gonna do, not go out of their way see the content Larian spent years meticulously building?
I just wanna say how much I appreciate reading the experiences of those playing the game, it’s interesting.
I think there's a practical element that you play a game and you want to see the content. But I for one am absolutely fucked if I'm going to sink 100h into a game and then sink another 100h in replaying it wholesale just to try out a few different things, because I'm just not interested in doing so much of the same stuff. I'd rather just have a "main path", and check out a few branches from it along the way, reloading back on to the main path as required.
Probably partially chalk that up to using D&D license. no big shifts to the status quo. Even in the originals
The canon ending of Baldurs Gate 2, is the demigod protagonist kills all their remaining half-siblings, and the last Priestess of Bhaal. Chooses not to become the new murder god, and retires to Baldurs Gate to do nothing of note and is later just killed randomly in a mutual death with another half-sibling that previously did not exist (the character did, but wasn't indicated as one of the Bhaalspawn, and the ending was pretty solidly reliant on all the Bhaalspawn but one being dead)
The "canon" (Forgotten Realms as a whole ignores the party, but BG2 did force a specific one initially) all just kind of do nothing. Imoen got de-demigodded during BG2. Minsc presumably just wandered without any purpose. And Jaheira's only defining character arc was "oh dear my husband got killed offscreen between games" (I'm aware she apparently returns in the current one, which is kind of stretching lifespans even for half elves)
Bhaal just kind comes of back to life anyways, because Forgotten Realms gods are like comic book characters, rendering the whole plot essentially moot.
The "canon" (Forgotten Realms as a whole ignores the party, but BG2 did force a specific one initially) all just kind of do nothing. Imoen got de-demigodded during BG2. Minsc presumably just wandered without any purpose. And Jaheira's only defining character arc was "oh dear my husband got killed offscreen between games" (I'm aware she apparently returns in the current one, which is kind of stretching lifespans even for half elves)
Bhaal just kind comes of back to life anyways, because Forgotten Realms gods are like comic book characters, rendering the whole plot essentially moot.
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Yes. The eternal prroblem with all this sort of licensed world is that the ball needs to keep rolling, and that means sacrificing narrative strength for commercial imperatives. There's a huge advantage in licensing IP to springboard off the ready-made market and a lot of the creative work is already built, but I think it also puts heavy limitations on what can be done. Looking at the histories of things like 40K or Battletech is to see a universe where nothing ever really changes, but that also means nothing really matters.
I think that devs often feel need to make the player's actions world-shatteringly important, but I'm not sure this is necessary. More, I fear, it's a lazy way of creating impact and tension. In Planescape:Torment, for instance, you resolve nothing but the question of your own life, and yet IMO it's a better story than BG 1/2 or 3. Part of this is perhaps player wish-fulfillment. Bethesda for instance allows your character to not just save the world but become grand high poobah of everything in a way that undermines the world and its narrative. BG3 has all the NPCs throw themselves at the PC for sex so all the horny adolescents can pick their wank fantasy, but it horribly undermines them as characters.
Well, the original Baldurs Gate was supposed to be canon, and a companion piece to the 3rd edition Time of Troubles reboot. (and was loosely canonized in full by its own terrible novel lol).
Flip a coin on why that didn't really stick. Black Isle/Bioware evidently didn't think much of the Bhaalspawn story that it was supposed to tell, since its nearly an afterthought that only bookends BG1, and basically goes AWOL for BG2 before Throne of Bhaal marks a hasty end to it (replacing what was originally supposed to be Baldurs Gate 3). So hard to tell if WotC just didn't like their work and quickly "Poochie went home and died" on it, or if it just got lost in the panic shuffle to 4th ed (where they rebooted everything because of Pathfinder becoming a competitor and tried to shoehorn in more and more stuff they could copyright in full as far as races and such)
Well, sounds plausible. Of course, I recall Westwood Associates back in the 90s parted ways with D&D after EOB2, because they didn't like it (leaving the barely competent EOB3 to dribble out into the market from much inferior devs), although that was more, I think, that they didn't like the system mechanics than issues with creative direction. After all, EOB1&2 hardly required being tied into anything much at all - basically a generic dungeon and a generic evil temple.
I get the feeling that Black Isle might have employed better storytellers than WotC.
Baldur's Gate 3 and Honor Among Thieves Both Nail the D&D Tone
Baldur's Gate 3 captures the sprawling, improv spirit of its Dungeons & Dragons source - just like Honor Among Thieves did earlier this year.
www.escapistmagazine.com