Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General What games to play other than BG3 only?

To be honest, gameplay has never been their strong suit in any of their games. Baldur’s Gate was fun because it uses AD&D2 and is just exploitable as all hell. If you are familiar with the rule set you can break that game in half and have a good time doing it.

I know I’m in the minority, but I don’t even think their stories were great, either (though I’ll concede that the big meeting at the palace towards the very end of Origins was well done). I think it’s really always been about people liking their characters, and if they can still pull that off then much of their fan base will probably be down to follow wherever.

I loved Inquisition. Played it through a few times. Wasn't perfect but it was fun and engaging. I recall you could give commands or switch to other party members to command directly. It was a RTWP situation, but better implemented than most.

You ever think about how Bioware's last good game (according to the forum) was almost a decade ago? Not making a point, just saying. Time is crazy.

No, but I never felt older titles leaned so hard on gameplay. Inquisition especially has pitiful amount of story content compared to required non-completionist playtime - as such combat to me became unbearable, as it was the main course rather than the thing you do before story bits.

I think it also makes difference that completionist playthrough of KOTOR1 or Jade Empitre takes me about 25 hours, compared to 60-80h of let’s say Origins. I think I might have disliked DA2 the least out of the trilogy as it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome.

I think DA2 is a really tragic mishap. There are some good ideas there. Some terrible ones too, for sure. “Every time a player pushes a button something AWESOME needs to happen,” is not a coherent design philosophy and why does Kirkwall have spikes on everything? But I think if that game had been given a proper 2 or 2.5 year development cycle it could have become something much greater than it was.

Sometimes I feel like I want to replay it but then I remember how uninspired the encounter design is and how much a slog getting through it was and I change my mind.


But this is so much dunking on BioWare that even I am feeling bad for them.

How about upcoming game?

I have big hopes for Dragon’s Dogma 2. I’ve purchased the original three times (PS3, PC, and Switch) and I am really excited for a new entry.

Kirkwall was certainly a mood. Dragon Age II is still my favorite Dragon Age, even with all the reused assets and rushed battles. The combat was also mindless, yet still less mindless than Inquisition I think. But it did a lot of interesting things with the story and the characters. Kirkwall might be one of the most realized urban settings we've gotten in modern RPGs.

…But they have jagged spikes instead of hand rails?

But otherwise I totally agree actually.

I think that having a game set over a long period of time about one person as they build up their prominence in one location was truly inspired and a breath of fresh air in RPG narrative.

And I don’t usually care much for BioWare campions at all. I fact, as much as I can I usually sabotage them or outright kill them (BioWare games are the only ones where I’m often playing just pure Chaotic Evil because I think most of the moral choices they give you are dumb). But Fenris? He was it. He was my best friend, my pal, my homeboy, my rotten soldier, my sweet cheese, my good time boy. I freaken love that toxic, drunken elf.

This makes me want to replay that game so much. Maybe there is a mod that just removes enemy waves?

It’s not my favourite, but I did still really enjoy DA2. Obviously it was rushed, and unnecessarily so it feels given how suddenly it came out only a year after Awakening. If only they’d taken longer to create more diverse environments and combat designs I agree it could have been so much better, but it still had great characters and relationships, its structure and ambience was interesting and the story was engaging, for all the frustration about Hawke’s lack of ability to really make a difference to a number of key events.

And I agree combat in DA2 was better than Inquisition. I found I tended to pause pretty frequently playing Origins, taking control of different party members and setting up combos, just using the programmable combat tactics to reduce the amount of stopping and starting. Whereas for me, DA2 combat was all about setting up tactics, and tinkering with them so that battles could happen pretty much in real time, just taking control of a party member who looked like they needed more attention while the others could take care of themselves using pre-programmed behaviours. Inquisition, however, I found fiddly, boring and usually unnecessary to play in RTWP mode, so I played it in much the same way as DA2 but without the ability to set up party AI however I wanted.

Though I guess spending ages setting up and fine-tuning different sets of rules for party behaviour in combat is not everyone’s idea of fun, so much as I’d love the reintroduction of tactics, it’s not something I’m expecting for Dreadwolf. For the moment, I’ll just keep hoping that combat in the game will evolve significantly from that initial leak.

Architecture can be a psychological tool of oppression. I think there's a term for that. But I'm a fan of Star Wars, which could use a few barbed-wire guardrails.

Yes it was the city, the companions and something I still haven't seen else where, a story told over a long period of time. Letting the story take place over 10 years really opened up the way consequences to your choices could play out. And you don't have to rationalize away people going from 0 to 100 because the story needs this act to be over now.

After playing BG3, I now prefer either turn-based or action gameplay over RTwP, so I am fine with action gameplay for Dreadwolf! Will have to wait and see what mage gameplay looks like.
The moral of this story is don’t mess with bears!😜🐻🐻🐻

Yup.

Just one? :-/

Damn i cant really decide between VtM:Bloodlines, SW:KotOR II. (yes, i like second game more, story was better in I. no doubt about it, but II. was improved so much so i cant really help myself), and DA:Origins ...
If i had to decide, it would probably be in this order tho ... very, very, very close together.

But im not too good in selling things, all i can say is that theese 3 games provide everything i want from RPG and more ...
Interesting world, deep characters, plot twists that makes sense, decision that matter (very important point for me), fun gameplay ... there is not much i can criticize on them in general ... but each had their weak sides ofc.

From what i have heared, there was 20 minute gameplay video leaked ... sadly, it was deleted quite fast, so only few people managed to see it whole.

I wouldnt recomend to give too much value to this tho ...
After all, our companions needs to be capable to work by themselves, maybe in this prealpha phase they were only testing AI ... after all, adding pause and possibility to take control over your companion seems like minor change that can be done any time later.
I certainly wouldnt hope for complex tactic settings as it was in Origins ever again.

Im not really sure how are we supposed to read this.

But yes, it is wrong ... you could totally take over full control over any of your party members ...
Wich was great during combat, but quite anoying out of it to me, since only Rogue companions can lockpick, only Warrior companions can break walls or red Lyrium veins, and only Mages can levitate things ... i was hoping since Origin for some system that would allow me just give order from my character and have companions do their thing. I mean, it worked in Mass Effect, so why not Dragon Age aswell?
Especialy in Origins, where if you got well set tactics, you never had to control any of your companions ever again!

God I miss the combat tactics in Origins. Setting "If-then" conditions for companions to customize their playstyle. It made the party-based+RtwP nature of the game so nice, enabling me to focus more on playing my main and only occasionally switching to companions.

00:00 Repo Man
01:44 Mass Effect 4
03:25 The Outer Worlds 2
04:47 Avowed
06:13 Legend of Ymir
07:38 Wyrdsong
08:36 Code To Jin Yong
11:04 Hogwarts Legacy
12:05 Star Wars: Jedi Survivor
13:25 State of Decay 3
14:54 Echoes of the End
16:19 Flintlock
21:19 The Lords of the FallenI must say I am more intersted in a MMO that might capture me with Unreal 5 engine.

That said
4:47 Avowed
06:13 Legend of Ymir
07:38 Wyrdsong
21:19 The Lords of the Fallen
Those interest me more or less, but very hard to say so early stage yet, but will follow their development and see reviews when released. I am not ranking them in any order said the games in which timeline they were presented in the above youtube video. Well and this is my personal taste if you love example Mass Effect 4 then go for it enjoy.

That was just me misremembering how Inquisition worked, probably because I was conflating it with Mass Effect. My sentiment didn't change though. I think the whole endeavor started with making these games playable for console gamers, but for some reason they couldn't be bothered to make two control schemes after Dragon Age Origin. really tiresome.

That if-then scheme was great, certainly better than relying on some perennially gormless party AI. Worse it means dumbing encounters down to the level of your AI's capacity to handle.

I mostly played Origins as Baldur’s Gate style game so I didn’t mess much with the AI conditional statements. I think that does kind of show how BioWare never really had a solid idea of what kind of game they were making. It was always a bifurcated and trying to do multiple things at once instead of doing one thing well.

Yes! This was awesome. DA2 had it too, but then Inquisition dropped it in favor of whatever they call its shitty AI.

After all the hatred FF XII's gambit system got when it first came out, it remains one of the better ways to set up party behaviour without having to either micro manage everyone, or rely on awful default AI.

Even NWN2 had a long list of party behaviour options for you to use, although it still wasn't amazing.

I have Hogwarts Legacy on my list and lo and behold, I spotted an Astarion Double on a streamer's discovery tour. As soon as I get through the BG 3 EA, I'll grab Hogwarts Legacy.

If I had to promote one Game as my favorite one, it Had to be Bloodlined. The story, characters, music, atmosphere- everything is just so good.