Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General D:OS vs BG3 - what I like (and don't)

Hi, new to the forums here

I took advantage of this stupid Covid to do something that I never had time to do: play D:OS and D:OS2. Overall, I really, really liked it. However, I'm also a really hardcore BG fan that has completed multiple runs of the trilogy ever since 1998, SOD included. When BG3 was announced with Larian at the helm, I was initially a little surprised (why not Beamdog or better, Obsidian) but now, having played D:OS AFTER the BG3 announcement, I can see why they got it.

Also, I have to admit that I was a tiny bit disappointed when I saw the BG3 gameplay. I thought: ''ok, it's D:OS...meh''. I hadn't played D:OS yet so that was my reaction. Now I can totally see why it's a good thing. Sure it's not traditionnal BG gameplay but that was good over 20 years ago, it has to evolve. And I would rather thrust Larian at what they are good at instead of trying to copy something that already exists. All in all, I don't mind BG3 ressembling D:OS. With that said, there are some things I didn't like in D:OS that I would really like NOT to be in BG3.

1- Music - Hated D:OS music and overall sound experience. D:OS2 was way better but still a bit generic. I would like BG3 to be more epic, like the old BG.

2- Voice acting - Hated D:OS voice acting. Way too over the top and goofy. And all those accents, ungh. Again, D:OS2 was slightly better but not by much. I wand David Warner, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jennifer Hale kind of voice actors. Better voices AND better acted.

3- More seriousness - As stated in 2, please, drop the goofyness some. BG3 already looks way more serious, and I hope they keep it that way throughout.

4- Equipement management - This is the single thing I hated the most in the D:OS games. I feel like I lost like 30hours managing inventory and upgrading my equipement out of 100hours of gameplay. It was REALLY annoying.

5- Less mundane items - This is a bit of a personnal taste of mine, but I'm really not a crafter in videogames and I just found that more often than not, my inventory was flooded with useless (to me) items, plants, rocks, bowls, books, utensils, jars, etc. Tone it down a bit please, or, better yet, remove it all for all I care.

6- More differences between character classes - Just throwing it in there, but I suspect 5E rules will take care of that. In D:OS, no matter the class, characters could be built to be exactly the same to one another. I missed the flavor each different classes brought to the table in D&D. I have good hopes it will be back.

7- More party banter - There was some in D:OS, but I'm talking DA:O or POE level kind of banter. Those games really got it right. BG2 was really good also. It adds to immersion and brings characters to life.

8- Random loot - Please, stop the Diablo like looting and equipment. ''Magical astonishing great hammer of whatever-I-don't-care...''. Enough. UNIQUE items please.

9- Traders Everywhere - That's something I found annoying in D:OS, that everyone, litterally, has something to sell you. Even enemies. In BG, there was a point in going to the town blacksmith to buy weapons, instead of say, the fish vendor or the librarian, or the innkeeper (sorry Winthrop) I don't like to be able to sell and buy everything from everyone, everywhere.

10- Lootable containers - I understand being able to check and loot every nook and cranny everywhere, most of wich don't have anything in them, just to see if there's a little gold or something in there. I'm a completionnist so it got tedious fast, but I wouldn't mind less lootable containers.

11- Quick loot - Something BG:EE and POE got right, quick loot. POE was the best: you just dropped 6 baddies, just click on ONE body and you can loot them all.

Ok, I think that's enough for now. If anything else comes to mind, I'll come and share. Also, if anyone thinks of something else, please share also!

#3: I sincerely enjoy the silly as a counterbalance to the serious. The best pathos evolves over time and over-styling with seriousness can lead to emotional burnout. If people want seriousness, I'm not against it, but I would hope Larian balances that evenly with its awesome humor throughout the entire game.

#4: I couldn't agree more: I hope inventory is not a sub-game. It's boring.

#6, #8, and #10: I also love unique items. Rogue-likes are great for randomness, but RPGs are really meant for a sense of wonder. It's hard to get wonder from oodles of randomly generated loot in every barrel and crate.

I do like that. Systemic consequency (I think I am looking for a better word, which I can't recall right now...) - you can kill characters, you can pickpocket characters, you can talk to characters, you can trade with characters. They are interactive features in the world, not hidden interfaces (you can fight with that one, you can talk to that one, you can trade with that one).

There is still the point of trading with traders - if you are looking for an upgrade, you won't find it in random joe's inventory.

I do see how being able to sell everything to everyone to be a stretch - perhaps there should be a price differntiation (like blacksmith paying full price for armor and weapons, while magic or tricket guy wouldn't) or make NPCs not buy items with certain tags. However, I don't think I would actually want it. Being able to trade what you have, for what you want is handy (or simply get some cash and empty the inventory), and I see little benefit, beside busywork, that such restriction would bring.

#2. I liked DOS 2 voice acting. Fane was great. BG had great voice acting as well for the NPCs but some of the character sounds were terrible. "your life ends here"

My concern is that the voice acting will limit the amount of text. The BG2 characters had life to them, the DOS characters are two dimensional. I stopped playing with Irfan because his dialogue was so generic it could have been written by AI. Perhaps my biggest concern -- who are the writers? Is Larian conferring with Greenwood? Salvatore?

3. I want different humor not less humor. I want the humor to be less cynical, less sardonic and less third wall breaking. I lurved the final battle in DOS 2 but the fight with muppets beforehand was just irritating.

Jan, on the other hand, was hilarious, hard to do a BG2 play through without him. "That reminds me of the time . . . "

7. Yes! Spot on.

8. Loot should have lore. Not "this will help you hammer the point home" but instead "carried into the battle of bone by the halfling hero . . . " This is something that IWD1 did pretty well.

My top 2 desires currently is #7 Party Banter, and #11 Quick Loot; I am fine with endless mundane items (especially since unlike past editions, you aren't assumed to be fully decked out in magical equipment; you might have a magic weapon, focus, or armor, but you aren't expected to have every slot (head, chest, arms, hands, belt, legs, feet, etc) filled with a magical item)), I am also fine with Traders everywhere, provided that #1 they only buy/sell things pertaining to their profession (or their prices are unfavorable to the PCs if they don't match; such as selling a sword to a magic shop), and #2 non-merchants have limited wealth (Skyrim style).

I find DOS2's music to be superb. It's one my favorite parts of the game. I think I get what you mean by "epic," but I think those big choir and timpani scheme is a big played out now. I think Basil Poledouris set the bar with Conan the Barbarian (1982) and all others in fantasy have been trying recapture it. I congratulate Larian for not going with the flow and daring to do things differently.


Didn't bother me, but didn't wow me either I guess (I'm not sure I care enough either way). Just no more tired-old-man-wizard crap like whats-his-name is Diablo.


The mod/goody bag helped with this I think. Upgrading equipment? See point 8


Don't pick up everything.


Even though their aren't classes and we're free to mix and match whatever, there does seem to be a bit too much similarity often enough. So, I pretty much agree here.


It has been confirmed that everything in BG3 will be hand placed and there will no be such an over abundance of loot.


Yeah, can't stand them traders. They are just another symptom of the whole loot problem (a problem that shouldn't exist in BG3)


Kind of like point 5. Just don't look in them. That being said, I don't think I would miss all the lootable barrels and crates.


Contingent on other factors, like how much loot there is and how it gets stored. As it is in DOS, I think quick loot would only make it worse.

Now this isnt suprising to me, Kirill Pokrovsky music is completly unique and I genuinely mourn his passing. I dont think anyone can create the eerie magic that completly teleports you to the medieval fantasy lands of D:OS. I'm not suprised because it stands out from the typical orchestra tracks every RPG has these days. I'm also not really a fan of the music of the classic BG games although what stands out there is the ambience.



Is the non-EE version availble? I guess you played the EE and let me say you would've absolutly LOVED the original... no just kidding. D:OS non-EE has got the most charming voice acting of any game I've played. It is very silly though.



Eh, I'm not so sure about this. To get the "tone right" doesnt really have to do with the game being lighthearted or serious. I typically prefer the more whimsical tone but I also love Darkest Dungeon.



Yes, it was a bit tedious to manage items.



Its a interesting thing to be able to pick up everyday objects of no use but to vendor. I think alot of items (atleast in D:OS1) could be used in crafting? The crafting system had some issues but having an abundance of items creates a living world. Like, why would you open a drawer and it would be completly empty? Have 2 shirts in it, you dont *have to* pick it up unless you want to min/max your economy.



I'm a 3.5e player so I dont know if the classes are more streamlined in 5e but D:OS was essentially a classless system so I doubt this will be an issue in BG3.



I think this will be a big part of BG3 and my only worry is that they will limit the numbers of characters that can join your party because they "need to" be fully three dimensional with side quests, deep event trees and whatever.



Also something I would prefer, especially for replayability. Game devs seem to steer away from this, maybe for worries about balance? But whatever man, its not a PVP experince.



Disagree with this. Everyone can barter but you quickly learn who has any items of value for you. The only issue I had was when you forgot which vendor sold which type of items so you had to run around town.



As you say, you are a completionist and I think thats why "too much mundande items" is an issue aswell. I dont really care for such stuff. Give me some sort of indicator that either 1) the item is valuable or 2) unique in some way that its worthwile to pick up, and I'm good.



Was never an issue for me either but I do agree that the feature in BG:EE made it better so yea, why not.

>seriousness
opinion discarded.

Solasta has a great solution for investory.

Hey everyone. I’m new to the forums. I usually frequent the Beamdog forums but I thought I would join up here and see what the deal is. Funnily enough I have recognised quite a few people from the Beamdog forums which is nice to see.

I actually agree with a lot of the things the original poster said, though maybe not quite as strongly on some points -

1. This one I don’t feel quite as strongly about as whilst I do prefer the music from Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 I actually didn’t mind the music from DOS1&2.

2. The voice acting is one I see a lot of people talk about. I didn’t necessarily not like it but I definitely don’t think the tone will fit a Baldur’s Gate game. Luckily I think from the gameplay footage I’ve seen of BG3 this will not be an issue.

3. Like point 3 I think the tone will be a bit more appropriate from what I’ve seen so far.

4. This didn’t bother me to much at the time but now that I read your comment I can definitely see what you mean. Item management could sometimes become a bit of a chore.

5. Probably the point I agree with the most of yours. I miss the uniqueness of the items obtained during Baldur’s Gate 1&2. I remember the first time I got Vascorna Long Sword +2 with the extra +1 ice damage in Baldurs Gate 1. It was my favourite weapon. None of the weapons in DOS1 or 2 really felt unique like that and I am really looking forward to this being more likely BG1&2 for BG3 as I think I remember reading on the Q&A that there will be items that are unique :)

6. This is another personal preference for me. I much prefer having a set class. I love playing a Ranger and the DOS Ranger didn’t do it for me as they are just to many possibilities. It’s not a bad thing for some people but I prefer my classes to be more focused. It’s not a criticism, just a preference. Again this will be much more to my preference in BG3 as it’s D&D :)

7. Yeah I never really noticed the point you are making here so I can’t comment much. I often found myself speaking to the party and I think it felt Pretty good content wise.

8. This is pretty much the same as point 5 I guess but yes a I agree. No random loot. I like set items. I like learning everything about a game and all the locations of the good items :)

9. I understand this point but I have got to say that I really liked that you could just trade with everyone. I don’t necessarily think it should be like that for BG3 but I wouldn’t have any issue if it is as long as it is set in stone exactly what every person can sell you. No random items.

10. I’m in the middle on this one. I hate waking into a building and not having anything to open/check but at the same time to much can be a bit silly so maybe for me it just needs to be the right balance.

11. I only discovered quick looting a while back and must admit that now I use it I kinda would feel lost without it.

Anyway that’s just my input. Hope everyone is keeping healthy in these testing times :)