Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Stepping Back

Hey there folks,

So, my original purpose, joining this EA and participating in the forums here has always been to give feedback, assessments and to contribute as much as I could in a useful and constructive manner; to do everything that I could with my single pair of hands and eyes, to help this game be the best game it could be. I've been excited for it; I've longed and hope for a true D&D game in the 5e ruleset for many years, and I've given willingly everything I could spare to help that end.

As we draw close to final release, and as the hype train churns into overdrive bringing crowds of new people from other sectors, I feel that I've reached the end of my ability to do so meaningfully. There are a lot of rolling topics and a lot of fresh hype now, but I don't feel as though any contribution I might make to them now is really capable of having any further beneficial impact.

I'm going to be stepping away from these boards at this point; the way I'm feeling about this game and its development these days is... it's not great. I'm sad, and a bit bitter about a lot of things, and I just don't think that I'm in a position to contribute in a way that isn't coloured by those feelings – nor is sharing my perspective likely to improve or benefit anyone else's experience at this stage; examining problems, failings or negative elements constructively is only beneficial when there's time and space for those things to be addressed... otherwise all it can do is bring down folks who might otherwise enjoy it without those thoughts or highlights; as dissatisfied as I am, I don't wish to do that, and there is no more time or space.

I don't feel as though I have succeeded in what I set out to do; I feel, quite truthfully, that I have failed to achieve anything substantial, but, that's okay in the end... I've done the best that I could do, and those labours are finished now. That's the reasoning; it's not what I want to focus on, however. I'd rather not step away on a bitter note, after all.

Instead, what I'd like to take this space to do is to say thank you to the others in this community who have helped and supported, shared my goals or even sparred with me in contrast to them. Over the time that I've been active here, I've received a great many messages and private communications from others showing support for my work, or appreciation for it; people glad that I put in the work that I did, or grateful that I brought up things that they weren't managing to. I've also had many messages from people who wanted to ask questions, clarify details, improve their own understanding, and even those who disagreed and wanted to engage me in further conversation on different matters. I want to thank everyone for keeping things civil and constructive, positive and more or less friendly, even when we disagreed, and I truly hope that as the wave crests and the hype bubbles over, that you can all keep true to that, and keep this place somewhere positive and open to honest discussion.

I'm stepping away from engagement here; I'll probably still glance in, but I'm calling a close on any bodies of work that I myself have contributed, at least in terms of my own input on them. I'm going to put some links here just as a poster board reminder, for anyone who still wishes to examine any of the work I've done – some if it is a bit outdated now, but much of it is still relevant.

Thanks again to everyone who has shared kind words with me and supported my efforts. I know that I can be a bit... intense at times, and overly direct when I've got the bit between my teeth; I hope that most of you have been able to take my occasionally visceral incisiveness in the most well-intended of ways. Best of luck, and I hope that as many folks as possible truly to enjoy the game that is delivered.

-Erica

Farewell Niara. It was fun, informative, and interesting to read and respond to your posts. Particularly the discussions about Darkness & Bonus Action spells in 5e, your PfH synopses/reviews, and ofc the way-more-detailed-than-expected sex scene choreography threads.

Regardless if you had any effect on BG3 (I'd argue that you, at the very least, played an integral part in getting some of the most egregious early changes addressed), you certainly spread knowledge about 5e mechanics, design philosophy, and lore to us other forum dwellers, as well as aiding people in better understanding BG3, how to contact Larian with feedback, and various other miscellaneous non-5e/BG3 topics when conversations meandered.

I think I can speak for most of us old-timers here in saying that you will be missed.

I wish you all the best, Niara, and hopefully we will read each other again.
Thank you for all the work, you've put in your analysis and I, too, think, that not all was in vain.

You were one of the few gems on this board. I was going to make a thread soon to appreciate you and a few others; the ones that really tried to get this game to its highest potential. It's amazing how you made this thread and I've been thinking the exact same thing for myself, too.

Larian will do well with this game. It seems the feedback is great for everything and my opinion doesn't matter at all.

Because larian has produced a great game with mass appeal.

No one should feel bad Swen didn't personally implement their feedback, I'm sure he has a whole analytics and trends team telling him what will please the most people.

Thank you Niara for your insights, tips and clarifications. Farewell!

Thanks for all your threads on the forum will be a lesser place with out you, gl i hope you find some enjoyment in bg3

And we see you again

Gl Niara

Nah, it's more complex than that.

However, I was always going to step back from the forum in the next 2 weeks because I'm not playing the game at launch. Don't want too many spoilers and this forum will be active with all kinds of newbies.

People that went to Belgium reported a lot of bugs in the build, which isn't surprising. I experienced DOS2 at launch and some quests literally crashed you to desktop with no warning.

Every creator I saw that played at Belgium said it ran fine...Fextralife got like 18 hours in and well into act two. And said the worst he had was a mild bit of fps loss once.

Niara - I haven’t posted in over a year, but had to dig up my old password and log back on after seeing your post. Thanks for all of your insights and contributions. I really enjoyed the long thread that we all had going regarding Origin characters about 1 1/2 years ago. They did take our advice and make a background for our custom character, although I don’t think that Dark Urge is what any of us had in mind. Oh well. We’ve all done what we could. Enjoy the game and thanks!

YOU'RE the crazy person that did a deep dive on all the sex positions involving halfling characters? I'll have you know, that thread has become something of a legend, even on forums other than this one.

Your "Intimacy with Small-sized Characters" thread was legendary. I hope that you will have as much of a good time playing the final game than contributing with those detailed and informative threads.

I think you are the central pillar of what EA testing is all about.
Wish Larian could listen take advice more from the content that you posted.
Happy gaming!

Ditto. Everything I read said the game ran very well.

Running well in terms of FPS's and not having bugs are two very different things. The game beyond Act 1 is not as tested as Act 1 is and on top of that the game is releasing 1 month early, I'm expecting quite a few bugs at launch and quite a few hotfixes soon after.

So now we're just speculating?

I'll be honest, I've been disengaging from the game in preparation for the release since the last patch. The only things that really pique my interest are the non-datamined speculation threads.

Until the possible post-mortems on the forum I don't think that will change.

Godspeed, Niara.

It was always a pleasure reading your input Naiara. It's a shame that EA has left you so bitter, I hope that when you look back in retrospect, that bitterness will have abatted somewhat. Take care, and I hope we run into each other again. You are an insightful and intelligent individual with a perspective that was greatly appreciated by me if nothing else.

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