I am super hipped from all the infos we received today!!!

EA as early as August, June 18th new gameplay reveal. :D

Also did you guys noticed that in the glimpses of gameplay where they seem to be using the traditional divinity initiative and not the new team kind (thank god). I hope I saw that correctly. The team initiative stuff was my only real concern for the game, but now I am so excited.

You could also catch a glance of the drow companion, he (or she) looked so cool.

Swen also mentioned something about the narration style (they probably dumping the past tense style narration after much negative feedback, I guess).

Here is the youtube link for the info dump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=164&v=-YsT9eQ_CO4&feature=emb_title

There was a huge improvement! And the soundtrack is phenomenal.

I hope that people complaining about the lack of darkness are as satisfied now as a lot of us have been from the beginning. The new footage looks exceptionally promising, and it even has an owlbear, which makes it excellent.

Bear-faced jokes aside, I like what I saw in general, and I'm glad there's going to be another gameplay stream soon. I wonder what changed since the reveal.

Rewatched the footage couple times and can’t see and indication for it. It’s heavily cut, and I see no timeline. Enemy and player units are still kept seperately.

I, for one, wouldn’t welcome that change. D:OS2 was worse for it. Though, of course, that would be more faithful to tabletop, which considering tabletop is tabletop and multiplayer only I am not terribly interested in imitating so closely.

I only thought because of the white frame around the character who was acting in one of the gameplay shots. On the other hand, there was a scene where numerous pcs had white frame around them, so you might be right. I am still hoping. We will know better june 18th.

On the team initiative thing, I hear you. I know individual init slows things down significantly. Also it complicates stuff with held action and such...

However, with team initiative, imo, every battle would be a great gamble, where winning the first team round will decide basically everything (at least at the beginning, first couple levels when we have little to nothing hit points). I mean, just imagine a bunch of goblins winning the team ini for the first round and down like two team members of the party at one go. It is done, you can reload. It kind of forces you to savescam through the game.

This is the reason I am hoping for the old-school divinity initiative or rather both as options.

So strangely enough video made for Gourilla Collective has slightly different choice of game footage.
https://youtu.be/K1EokJQ_HpI?t=159

Here, the roll is clearly between Allies and Enemies.

My preference for team turn, rather then character turn comes mostly from complexity of interactions it brings - I find that ability to choose what moves with whoom I do first bring another layer of gameplay which I enjoy - having individual initiated I feel, flattens things a bit.

I hear you regarding the danger of alpha striking - if whoever is starting gives a massive advantage (like in FiraXCOMs) that can be greatly detrimental to overall experience - whenever it is in favour of the player or not.

However, I think one can get around it in many different ways without reverting to individual initiative. For one, I wouldn't necessary refer to table-top balance - Larian is making changes to DnD, so I trust that with change to initiative, there also comes a change to balance. I also thought that turn-based mod for Pathfinder: Kingmaker had a right idea - initiating party didn't get to make a full turn - so while it is an advantage it's not a crushing one: winning party can dish out some damage if they are in range but a lot of initiation comes with ability to set up, rather then strike.

The turn-based mod in PF:K implemented the "surprise rounds" mechanic of the Tabletop very nicely, indeed (Even the part where all surprised creatures are flat-footed if they do not have uncanny dodge or something like that)

Since you move in real-time before the combat starts it gives you the opportunity to surprise your enemies and set up ambushes yourself, for a change (and vice-versa), making exploration classes and sneak skills more useful. The previous gameplay showed that you can do that in BG3, and I´m happy about it.
I just hope you can shout to the enemies "You have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourself" before you get the jump on them XD

I think MP players of BG3 are gonna like the group initiative a lot.

Another news is that they finally changed the third-person narrator due to negative feedback. It seems they are listening.

The good news is that Sven said they are on schedule for August 2020 and we`ll have new gameplay footage soon.

Certainly looked better than the last overexposed trailer. Much more attractive.

Still don't like 5e tiefling visuals that all look look they suffer from raging hypertension ( maybe they do; IDK ).
Still will do whatever is necessary ( including killing them ) to discard companions with slashed doublets and ruffs.

I hope early access is in August, as my gaming attention after September 17th is likely to be entirely elsewhere for the rest of the year.

Tiefling skin could go from blue, violet or green to crimson, depending on your devilish ancestor heritage, so I hope not all tieflings are on the "Hellboy" side of the spectre.

Less even colour would really help, Hellboy or not. As it is, some of the canon 5e visuals look like they have been coloured by a 5 year old with crayons. This doesn't come through everywhere in BG3, but the tiefling colouration does look particularly flat.

Why does every assume you can change the outfits of the companions/characters. I hate Doublets, doublets should all be burnt in flame, but I feel confident we will be able to change their clothing.

Some good things in this video

+ The fiend's narrative is reminiscent of the choices the player forced into in BG2. To rescue Imoen you had to work with the (evil, manipulative) shadow thieves or the (eviler., manipulative) vampires. Every other attempt to find help -- pleasing the temples, helping the paladins, making the cowled wizards happy fails.

+ Glad to hear that Sven is no longer trying to tell WotC how to change the rules but finding ways to implement them. He's saying the right things at least.

- Starting worry that my computer won't be able to handle the graphics . . .

probably just me i don't like the changes to shadowheart.

i dont see why team initiative slows things down.

Ive recently gotten my group into 1977 Whitebox DnD, which had team initiative (and weird shti like simultanious actions while were at it)
Ive never had combat that goes this fast in any of my games (granted, you also die in one hit in that game a lot of the time)

Hi Sordak!

Yeah it is easy to misinterpret my post (sorry for that).

I meant that individual init slows down stuff (if you read back the whole back and forth, it makes more sense).

I will correct the post to avoid further misunderstandings.

No I don't like it either, its like they aged her 20 years.

a lot of people have commented on that.
IT might just be a change in the lighting.

But id like to point towards my post in the Community Update thread.

Its not like making Female characters uglier during the development cycle is soemthing unheard of in this industry.
Especialy once you start hiring people from California

Someone probably pointed out that she looked a bit young and angelic for a cleric of evil. But yes, I preferred the Priestess in the gameplay reveal, and I prefer the Wizard without facial furniature. The characters are generally not a handsome lot.

I will replace clothing that is out of place ( in my conception of FR ) if possible, but that will not save the Vampire Spawn. I don't like the voice, the hair, the face, the back story, or the fact that he looks like Cupid/Eros when he fires a bow. The Vampire Spawn will be discarded!

Unless you are forced to take everyone, which is something I REALLY hate about certain RPGs.

To me also it looks like the team initiative is still there, so I am happy about that at least. If that gets removed, then that will be the final straw for me and a hard pass on the game. The ridiculous decision to change party size to four is still there, clearly a sop to MP, but on that issue I am hopeful a mod will get made to fix that horrible mistake.

Having said all that, overall, as a harsh critic of the game right from the beginning, I am willing to admit the game does indeed look a whole lot better now. In particular the artstyle and art assets of the game are hugely improved, and no longer look like the ridiculous cartoonish D:OS artstyle. The atmosphere and the tone of the game also is now much more the Forgotten Realms and not D:OS. So, overall, I am now more cautiously hopeful about the game.

Not only do you not have to take him, you can piss him off enough that he leaves the party or you can straight up kill him.

i dnt realy understand why you are so upset about the renaissance aestheitc.
it appeas to mirror FR pretty well.
note that FR is a kitchen sink setting and that the level of aesthetic and technology vary greatly based on wehre you are in it.
Rashemen was always based on the Kievan rus and thus it mirrors that ancient vikings and slavic aesthetic.
Baldurs gate was always a bit odd in that.

I guess a lot of people assumed an early middle ages level of technology and fashion.
Quite frankly, thats more Greyhawk than Forgotten Realms.
Now, id actually find it refreshing to go full Dark Ages again with DND, but the current Art just doesnt look that way, and it hasnt since ADnD

I picture the FR right now as more a Renaissance setting than medieval.
I mean, they have firearms, mechanical portcullis and soul-fueled bikes in the Forgotten realms now so...

A bastardization of the setting by the new people WotC hired to handle the setting during the 4e era. Some of these people came in openly saying they hated the FR setting in its previous form and wanted to radically change it.



I agree that the pre-made characters still suck and remain very annoying, a window into the poor quality of the writing that continues to be an enduring legacy for Larian from the D:OS games. Shadowheart in particular will get slaughtered by me right away if I ever play this game, simply for the crime of being super-annoying.

Hah, true. And that lame hipster mage Gale, no thanks the name alone bores me to death. La'zeal is so ugly to look at, she looks like a photoshop filter gone wrong, sorry. Astarion would be cool but he is simply too gay. Whats left, Wyll? It's Gonna be a two party team then, damn.

Well, for my own part, the darkness in current games is a reason why I stopped playing RPGs altogether. Seriously. And yes, I'm THAT old.

And before someone calls me "play hello kitty instead !", I must say that this colouring isn't my taste, either.

Currently, DDO is what meets my tastes most.

But all this "everything must be dark and ugly !" thing ... I've already incorporated that into a market scene of a story I'm writing. Plus a market visitor's distaste for colourfulness. I do hope that I'll manage to get a book out of all that ...

We have seen almost no dialogue from this 25-50 hour game, and yet you have already got such a firm opinion on that 10 minutes (or less) of dialogue that they are now and forever will be "super-annoying". Have you ever heard of "character development" or "character arcs", where a character does this thing known as "changing over time"?

I imagine that this is a moot point since you'll only kill her on sight "if" you "ever" play the game. Somehow I don't think you will ever play the game.




See above.

Hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure all the or
Origin characters are bisexual. All of them.

I imagine you meant to say player-sexual, though maybe bisexual too.

But I want to be very clear nowhere in my post did I say anything about anyone's sexual orientation in any form.

While I will be buying and playing come full release, can't say I'm all that impressed with the NPCs we've seen up to this point. I intend to give them all a go (as I did with BG and BG2)...except Astarion. The Renaissance aesthetic throughout what we've seen thus far disgusts me (I detest the look, both actual and fictionalized Renaissance) and Astarion, unfortunately, seems to exemplify that style. I plan to do what I normally do to NPCs I loathe in the BG series...Ctrl + Y gib them so they're gone for good (if such an option will exist for BG3). An overreaction to a simple aesthetic I suppose, but I truly do utterly despise it.

Overall, what I find objectionable to the NPCs is they seem wildly too contemporary in personality. Rather than appearing to fit in the fantasy world they're in, they seem to be more akin to people you might know today (minus all the fantastic powers and whatnot obviously lol). Now I don't expect them to speak in "ye olde Englishe" and other such tropes like every dwarf has a Scottish accent, but the flavor is lacking (using terminology of the setting, expressions of excitement and frustration that are more fitting with the world they're in). Frankly they don't strike me as Forgotten Realms NPCs...they strike me more as enthusiastic cosplayers.

I'm still gonna buy and play this, but I gotta say, I've yet to see much to allay my doubts Larian can do this title justice.

Yes this is it exactly. They all reek of "yay for us super-cool super-awesome millennials" looks and attitudes.

I'm seeing good and bad. I'm still remembering the boot throw. But, yeah, the recent comments really demonstrate the problem with only having a handful of NPCs. BG2 had -- what -- 12? 14? meaning you if didn't like someone there was someone else to chose from.

Imagine what people would have thought of BG2 if you could only choose between Cernd, Anomen and Aerie?

There are more Origin characters coming and mercanaries too.

This thread in the words of immortal Deekin:


I have almost diametrically opposed views to most here. Party initiative? Bad. Breaks rule, likely to be imbalanced especially on top of surprise. Smaller team size? Good, especially combined with party initiative where large parties could spike damage and take out enemies with relative ease. DnD 5e is a complex and high micromanage system and less companions will make for less time-consuming battles. I also prefer fewer and deeper characters to explore relationship with. Smaller party makes choices matter more and there is increased replayability (not that I care as a casual gamer). I liked the apparent physical changes to Shadowheart (the headband/tiara thingy was particularly annoying). Larian definitely has my confidence, the writing and the storytelling in D:OS2 was nothing short of superb and it stood out to me as the real spiritual successor of the original BG-series, certainly much more so than anything Bioware produced.

That was exactly my concern, in the gameplay videos we were seeing huge advantage from having more people in your party where having more people doesn't mean everyone in the party would ''decide'' faster on what they wanna do. My initial and quick thought was, okay, they want to add up everyone initiative stat but divide the total by the number of member in that said party. So therefore, having more dexterity based characters would still mean something; rather than just adding anything as a party member to the total like adding minions, conjured beings, familiars, etc. just to buff the total initiative number.

I actually don't mind the party initiative. I would certainly prefer individual initiative, but I can roll with the party-based approach just as well.

It didn't look completely like D:OS 3 in the trailer, so I guess that is an improvement, for what it's worth.

But sadly, the gameplay will still be 100 percent D:OS and 0 percent Baldur's Gate.

Well, maybe for this game, having a smaller party size may indeed be a good thing. In every party-based cRPG I've ever played, the companions provided in the game have typically been really cool and fun to have in my party such that having to choose only some of them to be in the party and not others was very difficult, and I hated that some really awesome companions had to be left out of my active party. In this game, given how silly and ridiculous many of the companions are, my problem will likely be the exact opposite of all those other games: not enough companions I like and enjoy having in my party available to fill out even a four-person party.

Not particularly upset; it's a personal preference arising from playing DnD ( including Greyhawk & Blackmoor ) in the 1970s. I have no problem with other systems addressing other settings, but DnD to me has always meant classic swords & sorcery in a pre-handgun world.

FR is heavily reliant on real-world historical, geographic and cultural parallels ( as are many other settings ) for their sense of familiarity and ease of assimilation for the player. That doesn't mean I will like how they choose to develop it, if it goes against my sense of what DnD means ( which is definitely not clothing elements from 1600CE ).

Astarion would be a particular problem as he has no other redeeming features, in my eyes. As it seems I can discard or kill him, that problem is solved.

Uff... If you take a look at how is the actual 5e Forgotten Realms setting and I think you have to rewrote all your post in the past tense he he.

Like firearms. There is a gunslinger class in 5e, for example. And the artificer creates a little gun turret device that shoots the enemies at your leisure.

As I said before, not all the changes come from Larian, they´re doing a faithful approach to how is the FR 5e setting now, in character designs, colour palette, mechanics, etc... If you google it you can see that is how D&D5e is right now.

Point in case:



But they are changing things too in every community update, so I expect many more changes.

It's good to hear that they improved the combat (camera movement, initiate system, etc) , although I'm a bit disappointed to see the same body animation being consecutively recycled on characters.

Yeah, the animations, spells and physics (especially the collisions and impact) need a lot of work. But judging by the other improvements on this new trailer, i am positive they will fix it.

It's important to remember the game isn't completely polished yet. It's still in alpha or pre-alpha.

This is literally what Sven was talking about; getting the MoCap completed for animations, spells, and physics. Covid has obviously made working together in a group rather difficult, so this part of development is what's further-est behind. They have art, they have models, but the movement needs to be recorded.

it appears to be a draw weapon animation.
admtitedly the Dagger looks stupid, but id expect all the humanoi d races o share animations.

Now, somegames dont do this, liek WoW, and the effect is quite nice. but considering the ammount of races theyve got already and hw simmilar the races we got are ...

Yes - how some people can have such a clear opinion of a game that hasn't even reached early access yet is quite surprising - why not wait for the June 18th gameplay and see what positive strides Larian Studios have made. Im a D&D fan from , well to many years ago now - i just want a great game & I have high hopes from what I can see thus far.

Yeah, many people have the review of the game already written since the first cinematic video, with little room for change.

There are people that already hate the companions because we already watched like four lines of dialogue or something like that; so I expect this going downward from here.

From what I've seen from the gameplay trailers, it feels like these characters have been created and written by Buzzfeed opinon bloggers for twitter people (who will never buy the game btw). OK, we have that covered. Now what about the remaining 90 percent of the world who don't need to have their expectations subverted? I hope upcoming origin characters are more interesting.

Yep. It seems to me like a lot of people are spitting out nonsense because they decided in advance that they hate the game, and nothing will ever budge them from that.

Right back at you as someone who decided in advance that the game is the greatest game ever made and nothing can possibly ever be wrong or bad about it.

I haven't seen anyone say this is the greatest game ever. Even people like me that are stoked about what has been shown and think it looks phenomenal aren't saying it's the greatest game ever or that "nothing can possibly ever be wrong or bad about it". They haven't shown nearly enough to make that kind of claim. I will say, however, that this is the greatest game ever made and that nothing can possibly ever be wrong or bad about it

I didn't see enough of Baldur's Gate3 to judge characters, but that, more or less, was a problem I had with D:OS2 protagonist/companions. None of them were believably grounded in the universe and seemed to speak like snarky coop players, rather then in-universe characters. Not something I want in an RPG.

June 18th new gameplay reveal.
when does that start on June 18? so what time does the gameplay start? is that the first minutes at the beginning?

Baldur's Gate 3 LIVE at 10am Pacific Time tomorrow, June 18th at https://twitch.tv/dnd

I agree with that. I see that many people are concerned about environment color palette but I'm more concerned about companions (especially how big they were in BG2). At the moment I don't really like any of them, they don't seem fit for some "epicness", more like fantasy millenial blog. Of course we've only seen fragments but general design probably will stay. I hope they will introduce some great indviduals fitted deeply in fantasy world.