Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Swen Vincke on Dropped Frames show!

Wyll and Shadowheart for sure. First, they are intimately tied to their sub-class; and second, they are the only ones that pick a sub-class at level one anyway.

It sounds like companion main classes are locked and two main subclasses are locked so maybe some some subclass are changeable...which as you say definitely Wyll and Shadowheart. Though I'm not sure if it would make sense to change Minthara's Paladin subclass...which I'm not sure what subclass she is but surely there's no way we can put her under a proper oath.

So Swen doesn't recommend to play The Dark Urge for first playthrough...
That is definitely disappointing.

I was very much looking forward to it, but he managed to cool my enthusiasm quite a bit.
I'm still going to play as Dark Urge, but now I'm going to spend the entire game wondering if I made a mistake...

You can do whatever you want. I'm absolutely going dark urge first playthrough.

Thought it was interesting that testers didn’t respond well to danger zones where you can’t long rest. I thought that would add a fun challenge to the game but I guess if you can still backtrack far enough to long rest, it just becomes a nuisance.

Larian's next project doesn't have to be NWN3 or IWD3, it could be an entirely new game set on Faerun or something based on one of the books.

Planscape. Its happening.

Yeah it seems like I might head out after BG3. I’m not here for smaller experiences. DOS2 was fun, but I wanted more out of it. BG3 seems to resolve this issue, but if they aren’t staying at this size of experience, or close to it in terms of reactivity, roleplay potential, and character driven storytelling with engaging combat… just not here for it. Bet they’ll make fun games and all, but I’m looking to get LOST in my gaming experiences.

It’s still a smart business decision; it’s just not one I’m going to stick around for.

With stuff like that it's easy to make limiting rules for yourself, but doesn't really work the other way around.

Also with how spell slots work, limiting long rests, especially if the game has lots of challenging combat, can be a bad idea

Hopefully the new project will still have cinematic dialogue!🤞

I am glad for that!😊

Do we have a timestamp for the danger zone reaction? I'm very curious to hear what he said about that specifically.

Wernt Swen's statement on teamsize more of a trimming the fat kind of thing?

Bit of a divergence between Swen’s perception of the game and how people play it usually.

He says do first playthrough as Tav and then new story and context through origin, but in DOS2, playing custom was just all around worse than playing Origin. You play origin with a party of 4, you have 4 sources of plot hooks and encounters scattered throughout the Acts, like the caravan for Red Prince only responding if he is in party. Sacrifice one slot and you have a custom with 3 plot hook sources. Also fewer dialogue options and less flavor. What then of Tav? Do we devote a whole playthrough to a less full experience so we are wowed in subsequent playthroughs?

He mentioned not “missing content” because the reactivity is so diverse. Not my experience in DOS2. If he were talking about DOS2, I would imagine every point to be a rationalisation.

The only way I can make this work is if BG3 is unfathomably wider in its permutations and play diversity that every way through is truly different than another.

Wow, I have to say, that is surprising that he straight up recommended a Tav run first. That is promising imo, it shows that he has a lot of faith in the default experience as Tav, and that actually, you're getting the intended experience. Most players will only do a single playthrough, and Swen has to know that, so for him to recommend a Tav run is telling for sure.

I would not hold DOS2 as an example of what to expect in BG3 at all. BG3 is a vastly larger and far more reactive game by orders of magnitudes. DOS2 was made by a team of ~50 people...BG3 was made by ~400 people.

Personally I don't care to play as most of the origins in BG3 but I do intend my first playthrough to be as Dark Urge, and at some point I will want to play as Astarion just to see that evil ending he can have with Shadowheart that Swen mentioned. At any rate...this is game has vastly more story and content than DOS2, I wouldn't worry that much about playing only with origin characters.

"playing custom was just all around worse than playing Origin"

No. Playing a premade 'origin' character was crap and a horrible experience. Playing a custom potentially interacting with those characters or with a custom party is 1 billion times better.

I just listened to that part of the interview again and he didn't actually say anything about their next project except that they already knew what it was and that they had not alluded to it. He didn't mention BG3 at all when it came to the next project so it's still completely unknown if it's related or not. They know what it is, but they haven't said anything doesn't mean it's not related to BG3 anymore than it means it is related.

We just don't know.

I'm definitely playing Durge. By all accounts there's a ton of content and the narrative is different depending on choices. With that in mind I'd sooner just play what I really want, because I don't tend to replay really long games.

Sadly many "gamers" do not want challenge. They want easy games that still tell them that they are hard so they feel powerful and accomplished.
Thats why everything gets dumbed down, including WotC with D&D 5E and OneD&D.

It’s true and I have some scepticism, however BG3 doesn’t play like D:OS2 - in D:OS2 companions had very little content, you had to have the companions in your active party and spare companions were killed after act1. So when playing custom you could at best experience 3 companion’s storyline, and considering there very little roleplaying involved in D:OS2, picking an origin just have you an extra short storyline to see.

In BG3 most story events take place at camp, and you can swap party members in&out to fulfill their quests when resting. While you will probably see and have better relationship with companions you spend your time with, I don’t think picking Tav is a straight up loss, the way it was in D:OS2.