"We invested heavily into what drives our animation pipeline, and specifically made tweaks to improve the feel and motion in combat. The increased brevity and flow is down to many, many changes shaving off microseconds (and sometimes entire seconds). For example, another character’s turn will begin - behind the scenes - as the previous character is ending their animation. Even things as simple as combining move animations with the hit of a melee strike shaves seconds off combat.

BG3’s combat is now set so that each combatant takes a turn at a time but there’s a twist. If multiple combatants of the same faction follow one another in the turn order, then you can simultaneously command each of them.

That means that based on the results of the initiative roll, you’ll experience a different tactical puzzle in each combat that really mixes everything up but still allows you to react to the “cards” you’re “dealt”, so to speak. (There aren’t literally any cards, sorry MTG fans!) Between the RNG of initiative, and the planning, you should be able to have a fresh experience with every combat while still being able to predict and plan with friends how to combine spells and abilities, and ultimately win the fight.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a party-based game that you can play alone, controlling each character, or as a party of up to four where each person rolls their own character. (It’s of course possible to also play as 2, or 3 people, with AI, etc).

In multiplayer, when your avatars and companions are next to each other in the turn order players can simultaneously control characters. This allows you to communicate with your friends and combine spells and abilities to take advantage of more brains on the battlefield, and more hands on the keyboard. This, compared with Divinity: Original Sin 2, drastically reduces the amount of time each player would have to wait between turns, since they’re able to move together."


"Our stealth mechanics now also take light and darkness into account. You can be obscured or heavily obscured so that even when you are caught in the visibility cones of the enemy, you still have a chance to slip through unseen. Of course, that is if your enemies don’t have darkvision. Here’s a little table that summarizes how light, darkness and darkvision affect stealth.

Clear area = always visible.
Lightly obscured = stealth check.
Lightly obscured + enemy has darkvision = visible.
Heavily obscured = undetected.
Heavily obscured + enemy has darkvision = stealth check.

Things get even more interesting when you discover you can manipulate light by using spells or throwing water at a torch, as lighting is dynamic, and thus shadows are also."

I was wondering the rolls you see to pass the various checks they are already taking into account characters abilities & buffs ? e.g if a rogue is sneaking around a guard & needs say a 10 to be successful then I take it a plate wearing fighter needs a 19, or if you are moving a group the game works out averages & spits that out as the roll required say a 14 ?

This may be common knowledge I just hadn't seen it clearly demonstrated apart from in an individuals case & I just assume all the buffs etc are built into the roll required - I hope Im making sense......

I think they did a fantastic job with the new initiative system! I think they got the best of both worlds, maintaining everyone having their own initiative but also allowing you to do simultaneous moves or switching orders when your party members are going back to back. It allows you to do some more complex tactics but at the same time also ensures that you must think on your feet as each tactical situation will be different considering that the turn order may or may not give you these back to back situations!

How is it best of "both worlds"? There are no two worlds here. Only one world - one combat system. People who like that get what they want, while those who don't like it don't get what they want. I want simultaneous movement and controlling my party however I want. I DO NOT get that from this system. You are being completely disingenuous in trying to claim that those of us who don't like this system are still somehow, magically, getting what we want.

Sounds nice that you can play with 2, 3, 4, with IA, etc. in MP It would come in handy if someone has to leave or the net goes down here, as usual.

That kind of cool hybrid system would allow some pretty crazy stunts in Mp: Taunt the guys with one player, flank with the other and then a zero strike together if we are side by side.


Also it seems darkvision became a very important feature if you are playing a rogue or some sneaky character, for players and enemies alike.

You claim to not know why people single you out for your opposition to TB, but you constantly go out of your way to make it an issue when that isn’t what is being discussed. You also put words in people’s mouths, in this case accusing somebody of insincerity in a claim they never made or implied.

Just doing you a favor: this is why people single you out.

Thanks for responding to the previous poster Warlocke and may your search for hidden knowledge increase your magical prowess.

You claim to not know why people single you out for your opposition to TB, but you constantly go out of your way to make it an issue when that isn’t what is being discussed. You also put words in people’s mouths, in this case accusing somebody of insincerity in a claim they never made or implied.

Just doing you a favor: this is why people single you out.

It looks amazing about lights but I'm really conflicted with the idea of a button to turn everything into TB.
It looks so easy to avoid traps or ennemies with that system... I think it's gonna be so easy to start nearly every single fight with a crit in the back of moving ennemies.

I could understand a pause so you can take your time, choose the right moment and move with accuracy but here doesn't it look like a cheat ?
What do you think about it ?

I hope they'll change the field of view because we can see moving things on a way larger angle than what we saw in the gameplay videos.

I think they will balance the encounters to take advantage & disadvantages into account - agree with you this looks like a great take on the stealth system & the TB piece is just a way they are trying to bring some aspects easier in table top gameplay to a computer game - you have to applaud them for all the mechanics they are bringing into this game.

Can fights be avoided by using social skills?
Yes. All the fights that Sven did [Editor's note: in the version shown to the press], could have been avoided. There is none that was essential. Each time, there is a dialogue: that's something new. It's a big evolution for us since DOS 1. In this game, you had monsters; they were aggressive so as soon as they saw you, they attacked you. It is something that we no longer do or if we do, it is extremely rare. Without exaggerating, you can avoid everything. You can talk, lie or just hide each time. There is no fight that you have to do.

In this interview with Edouard Imbert, senior designer there´s an interesting answer :
Edouard Imbert translated interview


Sounds like roguelike tactics and stealth could be feasible to bypass many enemies of the game, so maybe it could be possible to play an entire run of the game using those tactics.

The way he phrased it kinda remembered me the V:TM bloodlines game, where you can achieve your objectives not only fighting, but using your social skills, cunning tactics or stealth. That sounds like a great approach that I look forward to.

And yeah, not very BG2 like but the inability to avoid violence was an important part of the BG 1&2 plot . Try as you might you couldn't avoid leaving a trail of bodies behind you . . .

And I think being able to go through without being murder-hobos is a great thing for an RPG, and something I missed in BG1/2.

Yes this is exactly the interview I myself have been referencing in various threads here. If all of this ends up being how the game works, and keeping in mind this interview is from way back in February, then it can be okay for someone like me. I can use skills checks to avoid many combat encounters, even reloading the game to win the check as necessary, and for those encounters I can't avoid I can lower the difficulty to Story Mode (which is also implied in the interview as something the game will have). But it still means the game is not a great game if I have to do all this to avoid a big chunk of the game.

I mean if this is the case, what are still hoping to do?
Just see the Story, because you could watch YouTube playthrough for that.

If you think a game is poor, surely the best thing to do is not buy it. You’ve consistently stated your dissatisfaction at the design of this game as is being presented to you, and that’s fine. I’m just curious why anyone would still pay for it?

Im still very much looking forward to it (not that I don’t have different personal reservations) and I guess we will hopefully both see more on the 18th.

The fact that we air these views means that at least Larian get to hear them, and choose whether they want to react to them. If you have personal reservations for the game, perhaps you should also discuss them, rather than leave it to chance?

Apologies, realized I had forgotten to actually quote who my post was replying to.

I actually have aired my views on the development of this game.
Some of those minor quibbles of mine have even already been addressed, hence why I’m actually pretty positive about this game and am looking forward to it.

Other nitpicks, or thoughts I have are things like over the top animations on Jump or Shove, the look of the UI (in relation to previous BG games) and whether or not I will enjoy TB combat (I do in xcom and it looks ok here too).

With regards to stealth, I’ve never been one for rogues usually because in previous games it usually just made sense to me at least, to have fighter-esque characters mixed with healer and dps wizard and blast everything and everyone. Usually because stealth is fiddly and when playing solo in RT it’s easy to mess up and rarely worth the hassle.

Here in BG3 it looks interesting and the TB aspect has the ability in my view to enhance this, especially if playing solo.

In the end the best thing is choice. Choice to play situations how you want to and that should be at the core of any RPG, especially a D&D game.

What I was questioning was the odd member here who are more actively against the design decisions and who will likely want to skip as much as possible if anything to do with the mechanics just to what, say the played it? Because it’s part of the BG franchise so sod they’ll suck it up? Again free to do as one chooses, just curious.

What I was questioning was the odd member here who are more actively against the design decisions and who will likely want to skip as much as possible if anything to do with the mechanics just to what, say the played it? Because it’s part of the BG franchise so sod they’ll suck it up? Again free to do as one chooses, just curious.

Yes I am very active here even though I don't like the game in its current form, and in my case the odds are more likely that in the end I will NOT play this game, because it is this specific game: BG3. There are many of us who have long wanted to play a new RPG that is D&D and/or Forgotten Realms and/or part of the old BG franchise (depending on which of these is the most important for that person). So unhappiness and disappointment and even anger are very reasonable and understandable emotions for some people to have. I don't have a single post in this forum ever criticizing the D:OS games, because I simply did not care about those games. But this game is different, and uniquely so, precisely because it carries the title BG3. .

I consider the D:OS games to be complete shit. I don't even agree that they qualify as true RPGs. And all the so-called "innovative" elements in those games are trite, superficial crap to me. So for me, it is incumbent upon Larian to prove to me they know what they're doing in making BG3 'cause I have not drunk the Larian Kool-Aid.

¿You do not have a single post in this forum criticizing the D:OS games?

Please, tell me more, I´m eager to see what´s next


http://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=655061#Post655061

Kanisatha, would you have liked what they a doing with BG3, or at least given it a chance if it was called, say, Forgotten Realms instead?

But that was in this BG3 subforum, in response to people saying they wanted BG3 to be just like D:OS. My point was that when the D:OS games were being made, I did not go to the D:OS subforums and post criticisms of those games.

Not even close to what was discussed in the "Ragin debate: RtwP vs TB" thread in previous posts. They were discussing Tabletop games and game mechanics of the endless debate until you post one of your "colourful" posts. Link´s there. You can check.

No, kanisatha is not a troll. He has a strong resentment to the obvious changes from earlier BG games ( as was the case with FO3 for those that loved FO1/2 ), and is conflicted as to whether the game can be something he will enjoy; that does not make a person a troll.

The game will be different from BG1/2, and it will be different from D:OS1/2; but as you point out, we have not seen enough to know exactly how good or bad the experience will be. I'm leaning on the side of playing the game, but I will look for neutral review sources/streams of EA gameplay before deciding.

You can freely express your opinions and resentment in a polite manner (or not) and to do that you do not need to use a despective way and name-calling others with expressions like "cheerleaders" "nerds" "bootlickers" "trolls" and stuff like that.

-Just saying-

Interesting that you had to add "trolls" to your list of insults 6 hours after your original post, after realising that your attempt to have a dig at me didn't actually relate to the preceeding posts.

For the avoidance of doubt, I do not ever intentionally *give* offense to people online. If you choose to *take* offense at anything I say you are free to query my intention, discuss use of, and understanding of, the English language ( slippery at the best of times ), or post emotional incoherent rants about me, which I shall, of course, ignore.

Snide comments, such as the above, really do not reflect well upon you.

You are transparent. By all means keep digging, if you wish.

Interesting that you had to add "trolls" to your list of insults 6 hours after your original post, after realising that your attempt to have a dig at me didn't actually relate to the preceeding posts.

It's really quite amazing how someone can come into a game developer's forum, make hundreds of posts calling all their previous games shit, calling the current game they are working on shit, and saying they're not likely to buy it (because it's shit), dismissing people who don't hate the game as "fanboi's", and, with a straight face, say that the actual toxic users are other people.

A remarkable example of doublethink.

@etonbears is not now nor has ever been a toxic forumite. The real toxic individuals are easily identified, specifically those who attack other posters just because they don't agree with those posters' views, try to label those posters as trolls, and demand that those posters leave the forum.

You're a troll so nothing you have to say matters.

If I'm a troll for calling out Kanisatha as a troll, then fine I'm a troll. I can accept that. But I would challenge anyone to go back and compare our opinions, both good and bad, of this game; a game this isn't even released as Early Access yet. And then come and try and tell me that I am the troll in this scenario. I've voiced my negative opinions in mature ways, like the past-tense speak and team-based initiative before the changes. I've not read yet a single mature critique from K, it's literally all "it's shit and nothings going to change and i probably won't play it". Yet he comes back day after day to shit on a game that ISN'T EVEN RELEASED YET all the while saying its a game he isn't even going to play. That is the definition of a troll.

If I'm a troll for calling out Kanisatha as a troll, then fine I'm a troll.

Honestly though, it’s better to just ignore them.

My distaste for _Vic_'s comments about politeness stem from similarity of particular wording to some hostile posts in another thread a few days ago, and a failure to engage in conciliation when offered.

Unlike in some other places, no-one on this forum fits the description of a troll, as someone making posts to deliberately antagonise others for that purpose alone. We are possibly all guilty of over-zealous advancement of our interests in the game, and what we consider our rights.

We know this is an expensive game to make, so for everyone to get what they would like from the game, it needs to be financially successful enough to continue adding new features, at the very least to the point where the playing community can add their own.

We also already know what the game looks like in general terms, whether we consider that good or ill. If we actually want our discussions to be helpful to Larian, it is probably better to focus on discussing how the features we have seen can appeal to the widest audience possible. Larian will decide which features, if any, are worth adding, not us.

You can try, but they seem to keep coming, barging into threads and topics unrelated so they could be noticed...

I for one am quite curious how the multiplayer aspects of stealth will feel in practice with those free roaming and others stealthing with tb movements.

Why is the whole community update thread about forum members complaining about other forum members? It was an update on game combat, not verbal combat on their forum.