Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Could BG3'S ambition kill the RPG as we know it

Much appreciated.

Oh, for sure. I thought your question to him was more rhetorical than genuine. That’s my bad.

The best thing in pathfinder games is the Pathfinder ruleset itself, and it’s implementation in a video game.

Other than that, meh. Take the rules out, and I personally wouldn’t even touch the game. Can’t stand it.

DOS games are actually playable bcos of their world, certain level of freedom, exploration is rewarding etc. you know, the RPG stuff.

Now BG3 combines Larian’s style of doing an RPG game with a beloved ruleset - bingo.

It was a mix, but I'll take the genuine approach after the fact if I receive a genuine answer. Don't apologize! It's all good.

Well, I think you are reading into what I'm saying something I'm not saying. I don't see any contradition between what I said and what you are saying here. I too am fine with flaws in my PC, and in fact have always included flaws in the PCs I've played in TT 5e D&D. But having flaws is fundamentally not the same as being evil. For example, being a drunk is being flawed, but not at all being evil. A flawed character can absolutely be that "true hero" I want to play. But there is a line that clearly separates flaws from evil. Unfortunately, though, I see Larian blurring even that line far too much in BG3, effectively saying everything in their game is amoral, and good and evil are really no different from each other.

I do think calling BG3 a pure RPG is something of a mistake. What we have here is multiple game genres worked into one. BG3 includes:
-RPG
-DND CRPG (There's a difference with typical video game RPG)
-Immersive Sim
-Dating Sim
-Multiplayer Sandbox (In a very limited sense)
-Virtual Tabletop
-Cinematic Experience
-Point-and-click adventure

It's not a pure RPG. But that's what makes me excited to see what it actually is at the end of the day.

Am I remembering correctly that you've not played EA at all? If all you've seen is Larian's marketing, and the topics that people talk about heavily, I can see where you'd get that impression.

I saw something recently where Swen says "there's not a good path or an evil parth, just choices." And yes, they've been very clear they're going to make the darker choices highly incentivized. And because of that, I imagine playing through as very strict good guy will be more difficult, and likely more satisfying for having done it in the face of much temptation.

I guess what I'm really saying is that if it you haven't played at all, you might be making assumptions that don't bear out, and blocking yourself from having a great time

Fair enough. This is, quite honestly, the nicest way anyone has put it to me, and so I commend you for that.

But as I have said in other contexts, I just cannot justify paying full price for a game that has so many things in it that I actively dislike or believe to be wrong/poor game design choices. And this is not a money thing. It's a principle thing. So, maybe, some years from now, if the game is on sale at a heavily discounted price, I will try it out then.

My dude you've spent hundreds of hours on this forum, the eqivilant of thousands of dollars, $60 is a pittance compaired to what you've already invested

Whew, you lasted longer than I did.

I just was instantly bored, there wasn't anything in it that I hadn't seen before. I also always get this tired feeling whenever I perceive that something is going to be a lot of work for very little payoff.

I never made it through the original Pathfinder game either. I just got really bored with the combat. RTWP is easily the worst system on the planet for conveying a RPG tactical experience - although i realize some people disagree.

Thankfully I got my money back. I don't want to be supporting aggressive mediocrity.

The payoff for him is to see Bg3 fail. The problem is its already a commercial success based on sales numbers and it's likely to be even more successful after launch.

Honestly, I can't stand WOTR, but if I had spent hundreds of hours on a forum for a game I hated then I would feel I had failed somehow in life.

Even though a few of my favorite games are RtwP, I pretty much agree. By and large it’s just not good. Pillars of Eternity taught me that. I thought I really wanted more classic Infinity Engine style games, but now, not so much.

The constant pausing and unpausing and immediate pausing really becomes tedious for me.

I actually love FF7Remake for making a RtwP action RPG work. I think that is inspired and I hope more games copy the formula. They cracked the nut BioWare has been grinding down it’s teeth on for years.

My main takeaway from the WOTR vs BG3 debate over the year has been that everyone has different tastes and different expectations and means of satisfying those expectations.

The older I get the less I seem to learn haha.

No one believes you anymore that you hate the game.

You hang around the forums all of the time talking about it and you are playing it on release. People don't spend their time playing games they believe they are going to be piss-poor.

You quite literally listed the starting character you plan on playing in another thread. It was some kind of Paladin and you made a snarky comment about how Larian wouldn't allow you to select a diety to worship or something.

Ease up man. No need to go after him like that.

Like I said before, just let the guy be. He’s got his opinions, we rarely see eye to eye, but he is far from the worst poster here, and ultimately it doesn’t make any difference to any of us what he plays or doesn’t.

For a game that's a shoe-in to be GOTY for many of us, we're certainly sensitive about people being negative towards it. As Warlocke said, let people be, it doesn't make any difference what someone plays or doesn't play.

Different opinions will make the game better, provided they are predicated upon and dealt with dialogue as opposed to hostility.