Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Are there any cities/towns in BG3?

Well, there would be an inn if the goblins hadn't set it on fire! I actually don't find it odd so far that we're camping in the wild. We've crashed in an isolated area overrun by gnolls and goblins and it's going to take us a while to find our way back to civilisation. I'm hoping that this will make the pay-off feel even greater when we do.

I do want to see resting handled differently in towns, e.g. needing to agree a price with a local innkeeper to stay there, and having a "camp" that looks like an inn suite whenever we rest in that town, with perhaps some different cutscenes we'll get when staying in an inn as opposed to camping in the wild, but I don't think this needs Larian to radically rethink their approach to resting, just use the mechanism they've already got in a clever way. Hopefully that's what they're doing!

D:OS1 had the best city I have seen from Larian in the opening act. D:OS2 had a very tiny city in the 2nd act, and the whole final act took place in a city, though it was in the middle of the siege, so it didn’t really feel much distinct from previous wilderness levels.

I do feel this is this lack of traveling to and from that prevents a mental image of a town room being created, the way it happens in other RPGs.

Well, there would be an inn if the goblins hadn't set it on fire! I actually don't find it odd so far that we're camping in the wild. We've crashed in an isolated area overrun by gnolls and goblins and it's going to take us a while to find our way back to civilisation. I'm hoping that this will make the pay-off feel even greater when we do.

I do want to see resting handled differently in towns, e.g. needing to agree a price with a local innkeeper to stay there, and having a "camp" that looks like an inn suite whenever we rest in that town, with perhaps some different cutscenes we'll get when staying in an inn as opposed to camping in the wild, but I don't think this needs Larian to radically rethink their approach to resting, just use the mechanism they've already got in a clever way. Hopefully that's what they're doing!

Agree with the latter portion of what you are saying. But did you play DOS2, specifically the last two acts? Larian always posits a lore or story-based reason that densely populated areas or functional civilization are suddenly absent, like the conflict on the Nameless Isle or the Siege of Arx or the various troubles on Reaper's Coast. They turn "civilization" into urban wilderness, and safe "neighborhoods" or boroughs into village equivalents. There's not actually a world that feels lived in because it's all a crisis waiting for you to show up so they can hit the "play" button, like Waukeen's Rest.

I actually ran out of steam with DOS2 near the beginning of Act 2, so haven’t seen the bits you mention. (I will get back to it one of these days, though it took me three tries before I finally managed to get to the end of DOS.)

I can understand why you are wary on the basis of DOS2, and the early part of BG3 obviously won’t have given you any reassurance that it will be different. But they’re now a much bigger studio so have the resources to do more, and surely they know there will be HOWLS of disappointment if we don’t get to explore a functioning city as we did in BG1 & 2. I’m going to choose to remain optimistic until reality forces me to be otherwise .

Agree with the latter portion of what you are saying. But did you play DOS2, specifically the last two acts? Larian always posits a lore or story-based reason that densely populated areas or functional civilization are suddenly absent, like the conflict on the Nameless Isle or the Siege of Arx or the various troubles on Reaper's Coast. They turn "civilization" into urban wilderness, and safe "neighborhoods" or boroughs into village equivalents. There's not actually a world that feels lived in because it's all a crisis waiting for you to show up so they can hit the "play" button, like Waukeen's Rest.

The section in bold is something I've thought about a lot with Larian games in general. They feel like, I don't know if this is the right word, but amusement park rides. The world is the park, and each area is a separate ride. In BG3 we have the crypt ride, the grove ride, the goblin town ride, the burning inn ride, etc. They all look great, and can be fun, but it doesn't feel like a cohesive area. Just the fact that a goblin stronghold is a minute walking distance from the grove, which is right beside the crypt, which is right beside the ship crash makes it all feel very artificial and unorganic.