Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General 72 hour Advanced Access to Full Game

In Polish version it is there as well. But maybe Larian's just did not bother to change this thing from other languages

"Edycja kolekcjonerska powinna pojawić się około 31 sierpnia, czyli w pierwotnej dacie premiery. W przypadku osób, które zamówiły grę na PC, kod Steam zostanie wysłany e-mailem wcześniej, aby można było prędzej rozpocząć zabawę. (Szybka uwaga: zapisy gry z wersji wczesnego dostępu nie zostaną przeniesione do pełnej wersji, ale będzie można przenieść zapisy z wersji finalnej, dostępnej na 72 godziny przed premierą)."

Translation from a filthy polack (me):
"Collector's Edition should arrive around 31st August, which means around the original release date. For people who ordered the game on PC, Steam code will be send via e-mail sooner so you can start your fun quicker.
(Quick note: saves from early access version will not transfer to the full version, but you can transfer saves from final version available 72 hours before the premiere).

So either they forgot to change the other languages or we do get 72 hour early access after all... But who knows at this point. Considering the amount of confusion it could be the former.

If they honour what was promised when money was exchanged you need to play on September the 28th.

Complaining about getting a game 25 days earlier than promised is a unique kind of idiocy.

I'm not too sure you've really read what I wrote. I said that I'm perfectly fine with the third even though I'd rather get the game earlier.

I also said I don't have a legal background, but still the text I quoted is on a platform they use to sell a product.
Combination of 3rd of August + 72 hours early play.

If they don't want to do that, fine with me, I wouldn't sue, I wouldn't rage, nothing. But they should change that text if they don't mean it.

Edit: Same text is here in the forum by the way.

I just leave this here again ... bcs its the only official statement we have right now.


And let me just say ...
Seeing how are you behaving, it wouldnt surprise me even a little bit, if Larian would just send out a statement that people are ugrateful and release is moving back to original date. -_-
I would even say you would deserve it ...

Hope you're not talking to me?

Because I need to specify this once again obviously.

I'm not ungrateful, I'm very happy for the 3rd.

Larian needs better communication though. They can't say one thing, have text say another and expect people to be happy. It's not me being unhappy though, I'm just saying I get why people feel that way because the communication isn't the best.

I'm not angry or anything, even the 31st would be ... like waiting for Christmas at age 4. No date is early enough. But if the quality is as great as I hope any wait is worth it on the other hand.

I honestly don't care, If we get the 72 hours early access or not. I was pleasently surprised, that the new release date is August 3rd, since I have some days off the week after and time to play.
I think getting the game three weeks earlier is a very welcome surprise and I don't need to feel special for being able to play sooner than the rest. I did EA because I want to give my input and to see, how the game will develop, everything else is just a bonus.

Honestly I only played EA like ... 10 hours in the beginning to check the quality, thought "ok, looks fine, Larian will do it", then kept from it. Recently I'm beginning to play because i can't wait xD
It'll get worse and worse with each day until the 3rd.

And I guess even people currently raging and venting against Larian will ultimately be happy come August 3rd.
I think we, I don't keep myself out of that equation, just need ways to vent sometimes. That's nothing developers/publishers can change. Customers, again me included, are idiots sometimes and need to do that.

It won't happen... Larian moved the official release because of Starfield, not to please players. They're not offering you an advanced launch, they just recalculated the better date from maximum profit point of view.

Still, they moved the lauch up, not down. That IS a pro-customer thing to do, no question about it. And even if they did it for publicity, money, or just badassery - it still means they offered us an early launch.

Probably not ...

Thats not the point tho.
We have saying in Czech: Offer a finger, and they rip your hand off.
That is closer to what i mean.

Here in the UK, our equivalent is "give someone an inch, and they'll take a mile"

Saying sounds awful lot like Dark Urges Jokes aside, this is a saying in german too, nearly same translation.

No this not a pro customer thing. It's a good thing for us of course, but this is not a favor in exchange of what those who have bought the Collector edition have paid for... This is not an early launch. This is the normal launch.

If you order a pizza with cheese for which the pizzaiolo says it will be delivered at 8:00 pm and that is delivered at 7h30 pm without the cheese for the same price you will think : "oh it's a pro consumer thing because i can eat it earlier, no problem with the missing cheese because the cheese was part of the order regarding the pizza of 8:00 pm, not the pizza of 7h30 pm" ?

If you buy a car and the seller delivers it earlier but with 3 wheels, you will say : "it's great ! I can have it earlier and that justifies that the product is incomplete because the 4 wheels apply only to the car that should be delivered later... What a pro customer thing !" ?

It's the same. They sold special editions with extra content. The release date does not change the content of these editions and the content paid must be delivered.

The official release date changed to August 3rd for PC players. That also applies to players who purchase the game on release date. So it's not that those who purchased the game in early access get the full game earlier than anyone else. August 30th is no longer the official release date so we get 3 weeks early access. August 3rd is the official release date for PC players and September 6th for PS 5 players.

The game was sold with 72 hour early access if you got the digital deluxe version. If you compare this to other games sold it means you can start playing the game almost as soon as it becomes available for download instead of having to wait extra.

So Larian has made some confusion for the players by stating tht everybody can play it from August 3rd (not mentioning July 31st as early access). If they wanted August 3rd for the players who purchased the early access version they could have solved that by saying August 6th as the official release date with August 3rd for those to purchase the game prior to August 6th. Then they would have got their August 3rd true release date and kept the 72 hour early access to the players. If they had done that no players would have been confused and everybody would have been very happy since they got the game earlier than anticipated.

Another issue Larian hasn't mentioned is if the release on August 3rd is at Midnight in every time zone or August 3rd at a fixed global time like 12pm CET / 6am EST etc. If not something else mentioned I would expect the game to be released on 00:01 August 3rd my local time.

I also wonder how we convert the early access game in Steam into the full version (digital deluxe version). I heard Larian speaking about some codes being sent to us that we can use to unlock the digital deluxe version. With other Steam games I've purchased in early access the game has just started working as a full game on the actual release date after installing an upgrade that got installed seamlessly without me having to enter any codes. I hope Steam will have a similar method for BG 3 full version so we don't have to uninstall the early access version and then get a new one.

It's also strange that Steam only has the early access version available and not the collectors editor or digital deluxe version. At the moment it seems the digital deluxe version is only available to purchase for PS 5 players. So I expect Steam has quite a lot of work to do around PC release time to make it possible to purchase all versions of BG 3.

Having said this I don't mind if we all have to wait for August 3rd to play BG 3 and not get the 72 hour early access. We still get the game earlier than expected and 3 days extra will pass by very fast. It's the confusion that Larian created that needs to be sorted out. Some say that what Swen Vincke said in PFH is the only thing that matters, but it has happened before that CEO's haven't thought about the impact of all changes mentioned. That is probably why we now hear silence from Larian. They have the needed discussion what should be the official statement about the actual PC release and then we will get all the answers we need. If it had been any other company than Larian then I guess we should prepare for the worst possible outcome, but Larian like to make players happy so I guess they're discussing if it's feasible to release act 1 on July 31st for owners of the early access version. Technically I don't think Larian would have any problems making July 31st since the game seems to be in a release state (according to superfans who tested the real version after the last PFH). The game will go gold very soon.

The main reason for sticking with August 3rd for all is that then they might claim there never was a confusion and all the official info they sent out was correct. If they have to backtrack and claim July 31st for some players then some will attack them for that as well. Therefore I think Larian will just inform everybody about details about the actual release and stick to August 3rd. Then they don't have to limit any players to act 1 the first 3 days of playing. That's easier to manage.

We do indeed need clarity from Larian, but hopefully I can offer at least an educated guess on these two points.

The Steam codes you've seen mention of, I believe, are those for the Collector's Edition, which is purchased directly from Larian and doesn't come with a code that someone can use to play now. Originally, the digital download codes for CEs were going to be on (or in?) the physical boxes, but as it seems those aren't going to be ready to send until later in August, Larian have now decided to email them so CE purchasers can start playing the full game as soon as it releases.

The CE isn't available on Steam as it is mainly a physical thing, and so needs to be ordered from Larian. The actual version of the game it comes with is still digital, and I believe the only different in game content is a CE-specific dice skin. Everything else seems to be the same as the Digital Deluxe.

And the reason you can't buy a Digital Deluxe edition separately on Steam is because every game bought at the moment will be Digital Deluxe, as everyone buying early access gets a free upgrade. I guess we'll see for certain soon, but I'm now guessing that what this is going to mean is that everyone buying the game up some point (possibly 2 August) will get the Digital Deluxe edition for a normal edition price, and then at some point (maybe not until 3 August) two versions will be made available so that everyone just paying the early access price will get the base game, and people will have to pay extra to get the Digital Deluxe bonus content.

The 'why' is not important. You. Get. The. Final. Product. Early.

Why do you think BG3 will be...missing cheese? You. Get. The. Final. Product. Early.

Why do you think BG3 will miss a wheel? You. Get. The. Final. Product. Early.

I personnally really care because 72h before the 3rd of august would mean a full week alone at home while a release on the 3rd would only mean 2 days...

Hopefully I didn't say to my boss yet when I will be off work...

That said this communication is really really bad (once again).
No matter what you choose : just clarify.
2 or 3 weeks before release is definitely too late. Many players plan to take holliday for the release and to be honnest it's a nightmare (delay happen often, here they decided to release earlier, + we don't know about the 72h + it is during summer hollidays...)

On top of that removing thr 72h is just removing a bonus the deluxe/collectors edition had compared to other, which is quiet unfair.

Don't get me wrong it will not change my life even if I'd like to have more time to play while my wife and children are not at home... but I really don't think what they are doing with all this is good nor for players, nor for them.

My two cents based on what the dev said on Twitter, I think they might post the community update a week before the PC release date. Their decision can go either way. They can decide to also give us the 72 hr access to Act 1 just like PlayStation OR we may not because PC players will be able to play the complete game a whole month ahead of PlayStation. Which I would understand if they choose to not give us the 72 hr for Act 1.

Not really. We get a chance to play the game on the official release date for PC and not earlier. Originally BG 3 was scheduled for a 2022 release, but got postponed to 2023 due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Early in 2023 they set the release date to August 30th. A few weeks ago they decided to change the official PC release date to August 3rd and the PS5 release date to September 6th. We know that game companies move release days all the time. We just have to focus on the current official release date. That is the date that really matters.

Everybody can start playing the PC version of the game on August 3rd. Even those who never participated in early access. So it's not that Larian are offering early access players and early access to the full version. They have just moved the official release date to stay clear of Starfield who will release early September.

Larian have claimed that players who bought the early access will get the digital deluxe version of the game for free. The digital deluxe version is not available for PC at the moment, only for PS5. In the PS5 digital deluxe version the players get 72 hour early access meaning they can play from September 3rd instead of September 6th.

The issue is that we took for granted that also PC players would get the 72 hour early access if we get the digital deluxe version. Larian have not specifically written that we will, but it was inferred when the relase date was August 30th. Thus the confusion when they moved the official release date for PC.

In the PFH session they answered as if August 3rd was the release date for ALL PC players regardless of the version you have. That will be what we can expect until Larian clarifies with more details. They also need to tell WHEN on August 3rd the game will be available. Is it at midnight in your time zone or will they have a global release time.

So we're getting BG 3 earlier than expected 1 month ago, but as far as I know there won't be an early access for some players. The general release date for all PC has been moved to August 3rd. Thus owners of the early access version of BG 3 will just get the digital content in the deluxe version and not access to the full version earlier than those who don't have the digital deluxe version.

Well, until Larian decide to prove us wrong and grant a 72 hour early access to the full version for owners of the EA version. That is what some are hoping for, but can live with just starting August 3rd as well if the wish doesn't come true.

I'm still sort of shocked that Larian doesn't just flat out say without any ambiguity at all "There is no longer any 72-hour early access for Early Access players on PC" or "Yes, July 31st will be the release date for those that purchased Early Access" and put it in writing on their social media/forum/main page/whatever. This isn't a small indy company were dealing with here. For Sven to say it so casually during a PfH but no official indication is just strange.