Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Is it gonna evolve more towards Baldur's Gate ?

Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of Baldur's Gate I and II; BG2 is one of the very few games that I have completed more than 3 times. I also loved the two Divinity:OS, which definitely do justice to the genre.
So, naturally, when BG3 was announced to be developped by Larian, I was super super hyped; it's the only thing I talked about in the office the whole week; "BG3 is coming, it's finally happening". Now that I had a close look at the gameplay demo yesterday, I'm like "mmmh..is it though ?".

Take a thousand people that have played BG & DOS, show them these 20 minutes of gameplay, then ask them to guess the title of the game. I honestly think 95% of them will answer DOS3. And it should be a big tell that something is not quite right somewhere.


Here is the list of reasons why I personnaly see DOS3, from minor to major issues (you probably know what's coming, so feel free to jump right to the final question):

- The engine is the same; I'm a developer myself, so I know one of the golden rule is "do not rewrite the wheel"; and if the time saved by reusing the same engine is put elsewhere, I think it's a good idea; all the "moving objects around", the verticality, etc felt great in DOS, so why not.

- The interface is the same; the icons, the menus, the bar at the bottom (messier than ever), the green action point (which does not apply well to D&D5), etc. I'm not too concerned about that, because UI can be changed quickly, and I'm sure it will. Again : why not.

- The party of 4; you probably noticed when Swen opened the new group inventory that the screen was divided in four parts, so I think it's safe to assume that there will be 4 members in the party and that it is planned to stay that way. It's not a major change, but it's one of these things where Larian asked themselves "Do we do this DOS style or BG style ?" and where they chose DOS. But, ok, let's be open minded : it's true that in BG you always had 1 or 2 companions that you liked less and used only during tough battles. So, again : why not.

- The turn based combat; combat systems in BG and DOS are both very good and enjoyable; but they are really different from the other, so you cannot really merge them into one new system. I secretly hoped that you would be able to switch between the 2 somehow, but you can't; it's turn based. Larian had to choose again "Do we do this DOS style or BG style ?", and again, they chose DOS. And this is not one of these minor changes in gameplay (that you expect from a new opus), this really changes the way the game feels. Now, I know what you want to say, go on, say it ... "but D&D5 is turn based, right ?" ... First, D&D2 was turn-based too, yet BG was live and everyone loved it. Then, D&D didn't really choose the turn-based aproach : it's a table-top game where ONE person (with one mouth and one set of ears) has to describe and listen to a battlefield of 10 people, so turn-based combat is the only thing that is manageable. A video game don't have this problem, it can make all these things happen live in a clear way. Now, let's pretend this is the only item of the list, and let's be open minded again; on its own, it's not a game breaking change, it's a very bold and risky change.

- The atmosphere; above all the rest, above the turn-based combats, this is my main concern. Baldur's Gate has a dark world, it feels serious and mature, there are human beings trapped in jars, people get disintegrated, there are whores and beggars in the streets, combats are brutal (when your warrior takes a sword hit, the animation and the sound are simple but you kinda feel it), caves and dungeons can be oppressing. DOS has this cartoonish, colourful and joyful ambience that makes you feel you're gonna have a good day even when you are in a crypt; everything and everyone is clean, you have this little "BANG" visual animation when you hit someone with an arrow, every tomb (like in the preview) has a poetic light coming from the ceiling somewhere, people (Astarion) thinking out loud about the fact that they have a living-growing-thing in them are not particularly panicked, etc. Everything is so positive; and this is DOS' atmosphere, which is the opposite of BG's. You got it right in the 2 cinematics, I thought, but I don't see it at all in the actual game. This is worrysome, because art direction and writing is not something you can easily change in the middle of the process.


All these items, especially the last 2, make me feel like I'm watching "DOS3: a tribute to D&D"; and don't get me wrong, I would buy that game and enjoy it very much. Just like I would buy and enjoy a BG3 that's true to the BG saga. But if I buy DOS3 branded as BG3, I will feel betrayed.

So my questions are simple : do you guys agree and are aware that this early version of the game is 90% DOS and 10% BG ? Is it just because we are early in the dev, you started of with the ressources you had from DOS (which is legitimate), and over time it will deviate from DOS' world and atmosphere towards BG's ? How do you plan to do that ?

I know you all work hard, and I don't want to sound mean. I'm just a scared fan; and Fear leads to ang...oops, so many franchises, I'm lost.

Best of luck for the months to come.

Cheers.