Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General What do you want to know before release … and what would you like to be a surprise?

Given that patch 9 has been announced as the last major update to EA, so we’re not now expecting any significant new content or changes to mechanics before release, we are now reliant on announcements and updates from Larian for any further information before we see the full game.

So my question is what do you really, really want to know before the game comes out, and what are you happy to be surprised by?

For myself, I want confirmation of the full list of playable races/subraces, classes/subclasses, backgrounds, level cap and whether multi-classing will be supported. That will allow me to while away many happy hours before release planning out custom characters, and enable me to get stuck into the game straight away when it comes out. The reason I prefer to know all of this before my first playthrough is because I’d like to make sure I have a roster of potential custom characters that covers all the races, classes and backgrounds as efficiently and effectively as possible.

For a similar reason, I’d love confirmation of any additional origin characters, so I don’t waste time designing a custom character that overlaps too much with one of them.

I would ideally like Larian to comment on whether they are planning any further significant changes to game mechanics, particularly ones that have attracted a lot of debate such as stealth.

Pretty much anything else I’m happy to be surprised by, including the full roster of party members, romance options, places we’re going to be able to visit, factions we can join and definitely the plot.

What I would like to know most before release is who the rest of the companions are, both non-Origin and Origin!🐻🐻🐻

I would also like to know if the pc will have full VO as well as any other big features not in EA.

I mean, pretty much this :
for the same exact reasons 😄 I also agree with the rest, I just feel this so much 😅

I love spending time creating characters and builds, not just for custom characters but also companions. But, it's not easy to do that without those informations (available races/subraces, classes/subclasses, backgrounds and the possible implementation of multi-classing).

Additionally, ideally, and for the same reasons, I would also like to know which spells will be implemented.

Spells can had a lot of flavor to a build. Some missing spells are somewhat understandable (most divination spells, some enchantement/illusion spells), but for some, it's harder to understand. For instance, "Slow" or even "Blink". Those two were successfully implemented by modders. So, maybe it's because those spells weren't ready to use for patch 9?

Still, it would be nice to have confirmation for things they know for sure will be implemented 🙂

To me, those aspects are part of the game-mechanics. They are useful things to know to play the game. What I want to be kept as a surprise are story-elements (encounters, romance options, locations...), so...same as you The_Red_Queen 😄

I'd like to know, If multiclass will be implemented. Also, how many and which companions will be available.
Confirmed races and classes/subclasses would be nice too. I still hope for a few subclasses outside the PHB ( looking at you, hexblade).

I want to know all about more:

- ofc multiclassing & maybe a bigger party size

- subclasses

- feats

- fighting styles

- maneuvers

- pacts & eldritch invocations

- backgrounds & inspiration goals

- weapons like blowpipes, whips, scythes, ninja-tos

- transmogrification and being able to choose colours for gear etc. pp.

- possibilty for a future German VO (or any other language) on a donation basis afterwards through a kickstarter campaign or something else: https://www.baldurs-gate.de/index.php?threads/fehlende-deutsche-sprachausgabe.45443/

I think it would like to be clear about mechanical stuff ... and surprised about gameplay and roleplay stuff ...

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I would really like to have deffinitive answers about most repeated topics here on forum, call me old fashioned but some people invested lots of energy and efort to take them together ... and some of them are taken together really well! Even those i disagree with ...
So i believe it would be only fair if someone from Larian would finaly come here and invest those few seconds to state "yes" or "nope" in those topics. :-/

I would certainly like to have deffinitive reasuring list of features that was promised at start of EA, but never mentioned since ...
You know, things like multiclass, missing (sub-)classes, missing spells, crafting, mercenaries, custom party, starting stats rolling, leveling preview, etc.

Aswell as things that was often requested, but never promissed ...
That would for me be starting equipment.

I would certainly like to know if there are some (and prefferably wich) changes planned for UI ... bcs it still seems lacking in many ways ...

And some coment about difficiulties would be certainly appreciated aswell ...
Yes, we "know" (to the extend that we even can know) that its planned ...
What i wonder is how will higher difficiulty be managed ... will we get more enemies, will they get new spells, boosted stats, smarter AI, all of the abowe? And if Larian will go that boring and old way of easy/normal/hard ... or if they will allow us to set our adventure as we would like it.

And finaly ...
I would certainly like to know if Larian would be open to idea of some major DLC ... like expansion ... if there will be an opourtunity.
Even if it would only mean adding another races and/or (sub-)classes.

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Surprisingly, i dont really want to know wich Races or wich subclasses outside PHB will be ingame ...
My reason for this is easy ... concidering how thorough feedback Larian received for Elves and Halflings ... and concidering how they changed basicaly nothing about them ... it seems like they are satisfied with their work in this matter ... and if we cant change their opinion, then there is no difference if we will know now, or a bit later ... so, i gues if you cant change its better to have it as (hopefully pleasant) surprise.

Same goes for companions ...
Its something that should be set by now ... so i would rather be surprised.

I dont really want to know max level.
I mean, i do ... when the game will be released, but not before.

And obviously everything related to story.

Yeah, mainly mechanics. What we can unlock in our level cap, specifically. What differs from 5e (We've all seen that owlbear wildshape) and what is merely the most powerful magic of all, NPC magic!

I’m only really interested in knowing this pre-release in the context of multiclassing (if that’s confirmed to be in), in the interest of planning multiclass builds.

I would love for it to be a surprise reveal that the final party count is upped to 5 or 6. It isn't a deal breaker if it isn't. I just like a bit of a larger group so that I can diversify my party a bit.

+1

I'd like to know something not game-related...

BG3 has undergone one of Larian's longest development periods in the history of the company, it had a long early access with a lot of feedback, the Larian team grew a lot (by a factor of ten according to some reports IIRC), and the early access made a lot of money, all after DOS2's major success. I want to know how all of that affected the initial vision for the game and how it went into development. A sort of "Making of Baldur's Gate 3" before release.

Game-related...
Mechanics yet to be released, potential party members yet to be revealed, scope of the game (hours in a given run maybe), anything that can be revealed without spoiling the game or its intentional surprises (mostly not spoiling story).

I've been planning a multiclass build that uses Pact of the Tome, so I'm just hoping!

Unexpected treasures would be Githzerai as a playable race, I've loved that race since NWN2. And they should be anywhere that Illithid and Githyanki are playing cat and mouse games. Having a PC who's more inthe know but has been trained to be "Eyes on, hands off" could be a fun roleplay.

I would love to see a Making of BG3 doc!😊

I want to know what will help me dive into the game with confidence and not make me feel like i have to reroll because of something that comes up or changes. Like most pointed out it relates to the following:

Party Composition->Who are all the origin and non origin party NPCs and what are their builds, what if any other mechanics may be impacted by things like backgrounds (like they did recently with inspirations tied to backgrounds)

Personal build->What are all of the feats, spells, abilities, and weapons and their associated mechanics that play a role in build. I dont want to build polearm for a paladin for example only to find it is a gimp build because certain feats weren't implemented in accordance with the PHB like Sentinel.

I want to be able to dive into the story and enjoy it and have it supported by the mechanics not overwhelmed by them or by them not working as we may have expected otherwise.

What I don't want to know are story spoilers, especially with the companions. Apart from Fale ( who's secret came as a surprise for me) and Lae'zel, who is supposed to be open with her intentions, the rest of the companions were immediatly upon meeting identified as Vampire, Shar worshipper and warlock.
And Auntie Ethel: when you meet her in the grove, she is a nice old lady with 90 hitpoints. It is immediatly clear, that she is something special.
So a bit more subtlety with story and companions would be nice.

Oh and applicability of loot. Inventory management is the worst thing about these games. My carrying around things because I don't know if it is vendor trash or if I will need a beaker to do titration at some point gets overwhelming and annoying.

Yes I totally feel you. That would be a really strong surprise. I need at least one more slot for a fifth party member. It would be even better if we are clear about this in advance, so that you can put together your own group composition full of anticipation before the release.

Any larger than 4 would need complete rebalancing of /all/ combat encounters in early access. If that was a prank, it was an expensive one

The killer argument is well known, as are counter-arguments, and that has been the case for a long time, not just yesterday or today... But precisely because of this, they could have been working on it quietly and secretly for quite a while.

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=672266#Post672266

That being said, as explained in the thread, you can stick with a party of 4. But others would have the opportunity to increase their party.

At severe cost of unbalancing my game, yes. That's not a real "it's optional" and you know it. Party cap is what the game balances for.

I don't care how big the party size is. Any annoyance of managing companion approval can be removed by allowing 4-6 custom characters... which can be left at camp, if desired.

However, considering that you can make do with a very calculated party of 3 at the moment, 6 would require doubling the difficulty, in my opinion. Bg3 is an action economy. Your strength in combat does not scale well. The more companions you have, the more turns you can take from the enemy by killing it quickly. Two actions more and stealing 2 enemy turns by killing them, means 4 actions in your favour.

This can be compensated for, by either increasing enemy difficulty or amount. I'm not a particular fan of the consequences of either option, however. Some of your guys getting one shot by powerful spells would justify investing in healing. Being swarmed will let you feel party weaknesses better. Aside from these benefits, it adds unpredictably for the sake of it.

The only difference to 4 members is that turns will take longer, fights will take longer and you'll need more items. Not in the least to deal with the increased damage and status effects dealt by enemies. I don't care for that. It doesn't add anything of interest to my game.

If you have six companions, you might as well allow 8 or 10 or no cap at all. It's so incredibly over the top in decreasing difficulty, might as well go all in and make it another optional story mode feature. That is the only true optional path, besides making the game scale to your party size automatically. Say, for every new member outside x, enemies have +30% hp, x to hit, x to AC, etc. If it's not either of these two implementations, it seems too late to invest in.