Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Triple AAA to short for this game. Expansion please.

First, i´m from Spain, so apologies for my english, hope is enough to tell you all what this game make me feel. I´m not hipe, i´m on the next level of hipe.

I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons on board as Master or player around 10 years. I used some programs like roll20, fantasygrounds,etc, etc aswell. Confess that I prefer 3.5 rules over 5.0, but undestand 5.0 it´s less deeper and have a shorter barrier for new players. Furthermore, 3.5 version has more years than me.

i have played aswell games like baldurs gate ii, both pathfinders, ice wind dale, divinity, pillars of eternity, wasteland 3, Solasta, etc, etc.
What i want to say is that i´m not new on this genre. I´m a huge fan of it.

Right now im on vacation so i played Baldurs Gate III cause i couldn´t wait until 3th August.
I knew for sure the game would be good. They are the fathers of Divinity Original Sin 2 at the end.
But to say this game is good is not fair.
It´s not good, it´s one of the greatest games ever made of all times.

I see some bad comments on this forum and i don´t know if laughing or say bad words to some people. Are you playing the same game as me?
I can see the passion and love the developers put on every single aspect of this game. Every single one to very high level.
Just hearing the voice of the storyteller (female voice) and i get like, what the f...ck? Sounds amazing¡¡¡
This game can´t be qualified like Triple AAA, cause it´s level of detail is so pulished, that for me a new category has to be given for them. Triple SSS.
Best of the best. The goat. That´s BG III.

A gorgeous adventure and a wonderful world.
I played Solasta recently. A very good game with the same core-rule-set. Version 5.0. I enjoyed it a lot.
But difference between both games is enormous. Like compare the size of the sun with the earth.

It piss me off that my vacation ends on 31 July. If Baldurs were launched on this month i would be now playing and not writing T.T.
But God knows that my life on August will be like this:
Work-play-sleep-work-play-sleep...until i finish this game. Even several times. Friend, family, girlfriend...real life? what does that mean?

So, i beg to Larian Studios to work on a Expansion. I BEG YOU LARIAN. Take 3-6 months to rest, to think, to enjoy life, what you need, but this game is history of videogames. This project doesn´t deserves an expansion. MUST HAVE IT. Take my money and work.
Seriously. Fantastic job Larian. Surpass all my expectations. You must be really proud of the team.

La larga espera mereció la pena.
Gracias.

The other BGs got expansions, so it's not unlikely they're planning one for this one too.

Also, everything that's popular gets complaints about some things. That doesn't mean people think it's bad.

Larian is not known to make story expansions for their games I think? I guess there is also a license to think about, not sure how it works.

There isn't such a thing as too much of a good game, and I'm pretty sure the reception of BG3 will be great. I mean, it already is.

If enough people will want a DLC after they are done with the game, then... maybe?

According to one of the recent interviews they already have “the next thing”. Whenever it is an expansion, new D&D game, or a different game altogether is anyones guess.

Swen said there were no plans for an expansion. He understood what a lot of table top GMs have to contend with once you hit the higher tiers of play: players start their journey into demigod status. Especially casters who start getting access to thing that permanently change the world around them. While the martial classes really start to drop off.

Even combat-wise things shift significantly. Barbarian's level 20 boost is the get +4 to Str and Con. A wizard's level 18 is that they get to choose one 1st level and one 2nd level spell that they can cast at will, just like they were cantrips. So a Barbarian can do a couple extra points of damage, while a wizard can perma-lock down any humanoid they want with hold person, or hurl magic missiles like a machine gun.

More importantly they get spells like Wish, which quite literally lets them do anything (with very few limitations), including just cast any spell in the game of 8th level or lower, basically giving them access to every spell list in the game. You can permanently grant characters resistance to all damage types (after multiple castings). And depending on the DM, you may even be able to negate the negatives of casting it, by casting it on yourself or an ally who also has the spell, to prevent any negatives from happening. Or if you are allowed to make scroll, you can hand them out to your party and have them do the risky wishes, since losing the ability to cast it again won't significantly impact their character.

12-13 is where a lot of campaigns end IRL for a reason.

Swen's also stated that he can't talk agreements with WotC regarding future games. So we quite literally have no idea what's coming next. But I very much doubt it is BG 4 or an expansion for BG3. I dunno, maybe they'll hire Obsidian to do it

Whilst I'm certainly hoping for it, this game unfortunately, doesn't lend itself well for it.

There are such enormous variations in how the game plays out - that it would be extremely dfficult to add a story to it. Whether it plays after or during the main campaign, it would be an enormous untertaking. There is a limit to what people will pay for DLC content, and expanding this by something roughly the size of a single chapter would rapidly exceed the cost of a regular full-sized game.

They did, however, set up a huge infrastructure and they're very apt at using it now, so. Perhaps, more mask-of-the-betrayer-style, where all companions are replaced; a more standalone story? Who knows?

The kind of expansion / dlc i can imagine are in breadth, not length. So new classes, races, quests, companions maybe. But because of the insane reactivity it's still questionable due to the voice acting.
Since both DOS games got an enhanced edition, this might be most plausible for BG3 as well.

It's not hard to maje content for higher level parties. The rules ate there. Yeah the mage can spam hold person bur why? Many enemies will save
Wish can be cast 1ce per day in 5e. Why would you normally waste it on casting a weaker spell? There's also limits to.its power. BG2/TOB, HOTU and others have liven making content for high level/epic characters is extremely doable.

Not getting to try out higher abilities and spells would be sad. Afterall, that's one of the coolest things about leveling up - finally getting access to high power goodies.

I would love story dlc and/or an expansion!

I would like to place a bet:
Expansion is basicaly guaranted ... and i bet ... 50 gold coints and my pride.

It may come in few years, or decade ... it may not be done by Larian ... but i would be very surprised if WotC would let this golden goose unguted. O_o

Thats somerhing I very much doubt will happen. Larian has build and engine and set of tools to create games they create. That custom build toolset is likely one of the biggest assets they hold. I very much doubt though would give it out to others. Larian could hire others to do a project for them, but it’s not their IP, and you would need a studio with some big infrastructure (like Mocap) to properly expand on what Larian did. They also have bad exprience with that (D:OS2 tactical spinoff that’s been confirmed to be dead), so I would question if they would be willing to give that a go, again.

Sven said he wouldn't know how to handle making the game over lvl 12 so if we get an expansion or a dlc I expect more ''width'' than ''height''. That being said if the game brings tons of money (and I think it will) there's no chance WotC doesn't ride that wave, meaning giving more work to Larian if they choose to accept it.

I'm not really familiar with 5E, but is it that much different from 3.5E or even 2E in high level play?

There was no problem going "epic" in 3.5E and 2E, so why is it difficult for 5E?

Our favorite BG2 only started around level 12. NWN expansion Hordes of Underdark (lvl 18-30) is extremely good and NWN2 expansion Mask of the Betrayer (18-30) is a pure 10/10 Masterpiece.

I can absolutely see BG3 expansion going 12-20 at least.

There is nothing clear hard to make with higher level play in 5e espicially up to level 20. It requires the dm to have the same skills as creating lower level adventurers. Even 'epic adventurers' are really possible. This 'it can't be done' is silly. If BIO can do high/epic levels for TOB and HOTU surely Larain can do level 12+ for BG3. MOTB was also reasonably well done. But, if Larian doesn't want to do it, oh well.

Take 3-6 month rest?

My bills are due every month, no rest for the wicked.

Ill guarantee (I've said this before on another thread) they have had a team, already working on the next project, weather it be a think tank, lawyers or what ever. You must always have something brewing or every one will be homeless.

Doesn’t even have to be to level 20. Most DLCs are not adding 66%+ more game content, but more like 20% AT MOST. I’d take 3 more levels in an expansion with some new locations, characters, scenes, postgame, and maybe a new class.

I have to admit that I would be very surprised if the game never gets any expansions at all. It's already been too successful for that not to be in the cards unless Swen played hardball with WoTC and put something about never doing any expansions at all into the contract--something we can't know as the agreement is clearly under an NDA. At the same time, the only expansions I'm currently expecting are things like the "Rum Runners Pack" from Pillars II Deadfire. We might get an extra companion or a couple more hirelings--possibly another background option. Maybe some items or a new vendor. Just a little bit of free fluff to keep the game in the public eye.

A major paid expansion is something I think is less likely, but possible. Maybe some sort of quest in Elturel or the surrounding area that ties into the current game. I can't see such an expansion adding many more levels though. The furthest I can see them going is maybe 14th level, as 5E really starts breaking down above that. Anything in the 17-20 range is completely out in my opinion, and previous editions of D&D are a terrible example for thinking of what they can do with the 5E level cap. IF they do such an expansion I would expect it to take at least a couple or three years even if it's much smaller. After all, you need 100,000 XP to reach 12th level, and a further 40,000 XP to reach 14th. That's going to take a lot of content to provide.

I would love a major expansion, but I don't really expect one. However, if the game gets GOTY and tremendous sales, I would be less surprised as WoTC will be really pushing for it and the agreement could give them the whip hand in those negotiations--though then again it might not.

My expectation is that they have multiple small teams looking at different options right now. They're going to be at least roughing out something with their own IP in case there is nothing further going on with BG3. There's also going to be a team looking into moving further with BG3 whether it's expansions or a sequel unless the agreement with WoTC explicitly forbids that (and it may require that they look into further BG3 related work if certain thresholds are met). They may even be looking at making a game based on yet another IP...

We don't know exactly what they are doing, but you're right that we can be sure they are doing something.

Where is will, there is way ...
I dont pretend it would be easy tho.

What i was talking about was allready unprobable scenario that Larian would have litteraly less than zero interest in continuing in any way.

We can also be thankful that everything we are getting in the game will be 100% of the intended vision. If Larian is adamant about no DLC, it’s because they put everything they wanted to make in the game. This stands in stark contrast to other studies that either rush or chop up their games and attempt to sell other features of the game that should’ve been apart of the original vision.