Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Game looks great! Have some worries, though.

So I just watched the gameplay reveal and I'm so far loving what I'm seeing. I very much enjoy the Original Sin style gameplay and anything with D&D on it gets twice as good automatically!

I did have some worries, though, and some of them might simply be that they weren't implemented yet or were bugged. It was pre-alpha after all!

First thing I noticed is the player character being voiced and dialogue options being in the past-tense. Normally I prefer voiced player dialogue and it makes sense that a pre-created character would have it's own voice, but for a D&D setting it just feels kind of... off. The past-tense dialogue options seem incredibly awkward. Especially with stars on them. I guess they're kind of going for a Dragon Age 2 feel where it's all being told as a story that happened in the past, so maybe it'll make sense once you play the game but right now it was a huge turn-off for me.

In combat I noticed that everyone on one side gets to move at the same time instead of each character having individual initiative. That just seems really wrong. It removes a lot of the tactical gameplay where you aim for specific enemies because they will go first and you can't build for some of you characters to have a high initiative. I hope this is something that is subject to change.
EDIT: Someone on the forums mentioned how it would make it feel more dynamic in a multiplayer and I can definitely see that. If everyone can move at the same time it makes it more realistic and organic. For singleplayer, though, I'd prefer individual initiative.
I also noticed that Shadowheart kept getting missed while she was unconscious. It feels weird that a guy would miss an unmoving body three times in a row. It should be an automatic hit.
Being able to throw objects to damage your opponents is really cool, but having it as a bonus action seems kind of overpowered. It's practically a ranged attack at that point.
While it's convenient that we can see % I hope there will be a mode that let's you see dice instead to give it that D&D feel. Having a window that shows the math doesn't really do that for me.
He also talked about having to rebalance as they currently take the numbers straight from the book. I hope they keep that as an option and also that they won't go all crazy with numbers at high levels. D&D Online does that and it ends up being hundreds or thousands of damage per hit.

Jumping is really cool, but the animation is very over the top. Hopefully it's a placeholder.

Then there's the perception stuff. It seemed like it automatically goes off when you get near something? Passive perception is cool, but I don't think it should tell you when it fails as that lets you know that there actually is something there.
Same thing with the skeletons and stealth. The character wouldn't know (unless he's learned or has a high int) that skeletons have darkvision, so maybe he shouldn't see their extended vision cone. This would also make for an awesome gameplay element - that you have to learn about the monsters you might face in order to see more about them in combat. There could be books, scholars etc. to teach you.

Those are my initial impressions for the gameplay reveal. I mostly loved it and I really look forward to playing the game!

All in all I just pray they really turn the D&D up a notch! Make it feel more like you're a player in a tabletop game where you don't know anything, where you can get really creative and have a ton of options for how to make your characters.

EDIT: Oh and also, Sven mentioned that there will be more races than what they're showing now, but he said no such thing regarding classes. I really hope we at least get the 12 base classes.

Another good point I've seen someone make it that you shouldn't be able to see other characters HP nor should you be able to see places where you haven't been yet. I think there should be a completely dark fog of war on places you haven't visited yet. Possibly with an option to peep through keyholes or listen for footsteps/chatter in order to gauge what's behind a door.

Also in the mini-dungeon I feel like a huge barrel exploding would warn the other bandits (just like the shortcut would) and a big globe of darkness should probably warn the guy that something is up. Make him look around instead of just pretend like nothing has happened.

I can see why the dialog options are kind of awkward. I'm not used to it myself. I feel like they should be switched to present-tense. I don't mind that they aren't voiced and just give of the general vibe of what is being said...kinda let's you fill in the dialog with your own imagination/voice (which is good for custom characters).

I disagree on the initiative bit. I think each side going in turn is a better way of handling the flow of combat. At the table, I would always do initiative in the traditional sense, but in-game? I think having all of your allies go at the same time helps speed up the game and makes multiplayer more engaging if all of the players can go together instead of waiting for each other.

Definitely agree about the jumping animation. Looks like it is a placeholder from DOS 2 though, so hopefully it will change.

With regards to passive perception, idk. I can see what you mean. The game is tipping you off that something is there. But at the same time, it's nice to see the system actually working. Too much behind the scenes stuff and you'll just assume nothing is there, no secrets to uncover next playthough if you fail your check.

Regarding the "past tense/story telling" dialogue choices; RPS apparently asked Swen about it and this is the interviewers comment about it:
"Swen seemed to suggest it might have a mysterious relevance – he ducked the question and smiled enigmatically. I wondered if it might be the mind tadpole inside your head trying to ‘write your story’ or something." (source: comments https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/02/27/baldurs-gate-3-is-nearly-here/#comments)

So, it might be a narrative reason behind it.

You're right about the flow being better in multiplayer. I think it is indeed better in that case. Hadn't really considered it as I'm more of a singleplayer guy. I hope there will be an option for both.

It's true that you'll have less to look for in the next playthrough if you just assume that nothing is there. I think this could be solved by having failed checks on active perception checks, but not passive. This way you wouldn't automatically be told that there's something hidden near you, but if you suspect something is there you'd be able to check and get an answer.

Now that is interesting. You are recounting your story and the mind tadpole is influencing your recollection? I'm down for that. Perhaps there is a moment in the game where you catch up to current events and the dialog switches to present tense.

That's my guess too. There has to be something story-wise that explains it. Still not sure how I feel about it, though. It just looks so weird. At least remove the stars!

I actually agree with you on most points, I am unsure of what I think regarding the lack of individual initiative. That could go either way, I think I would need to actually try it to get a feel of it.

As for the rest, I am really hoping that they turn up the DND quite a notch up as well. I mentioned this elsewhere, but having the game without all of the core classes feels like a crime.

I have no doubt that there will be a lot more races/classes in the final release. They are likely just starting with those six for early access as they don't want to give away too much content at once.

Yeah, I don't doubt that they will have more classes either. It would just be nice to have official confirmation like with the races.

The great thing is that DOS has a great modding community and even if someone is the way we like it there is definitely going to mods that change or add it