@Larian Just wanted to complement the progress so far. The visual quality, cinematics, gameplay and systems are light years beyond where we started (which was already very good). I have 200+ hours playing the game, and with the graphical overhaul and new class, its like purchasing a triple AAA short RPG in its own right.
Great work so far, and I think its clear BG3 will raise the bar for all developers.
Keep grinding
PS: give us min-max types something to carry us another year.....can we get an update on max level. Say 12 ?
well, it plays amazingly well on my laptop. the cinematic upgrade is absolutely amazing after I updated NVidia, Seriously this game is better right now than 90% of the titles out there. play it from start to end. Wild Magic is sick
It's clearly not finished yet, but I have to commend the art team for their work. I am always impressed by how much quality lighting can add to the game. For the most part the colour pallete is more impressive and atmosphere as well. Still bits that could be fixed/improved upon as others have pointed out, but overall an impressive upgrade.
Bugs aside, the graphical overhaul of this patch has me thoroughly impressed. I keep taking screenshots during cutscenes because they look so good now.
I'll repeat here what I said in another thread, as that thread appears to be expired.
I like a couple of things in this patch. Firstly, the graphics and "look" changes are very welcome to me. As some here will recall, I have been very negative about how the game looks, and spcifically that the environment art style is way too similar to the D:OS games. And since I did not like the look of the D:OS games, this game looking so much like those games was hard to swallow. Well, now I can finally say BG3 doesn't look like D:OS anymore. And that is huge for me. So thanks for that, Larian!
And secondly, I really love the new weapon actions. As someone who loves melee combat and doesn't care for spellcasting, and given how much spellcasting combat is given undue advantage over melee combat in 5e generally as well as in this game, this is a much-needed and very welcome rebalancing in favor of non-spellcasting combat.
And height 'Advantage' going away is bonus.
Now, we just need a change to a normal way to handle party movement. That's a big one I hope for next, along with some details about how game settings and difficulty settings will be handled.
Bottom line, for me, this patch finally moves the needle more towards the side of me being willing to buy this game someday than the other way. But we still have a ways to go.
I have no doubt the game will be awesome in the end and yes, I understand bugs are to be expected in early access but the OP said patch 6 is already AAA worthy right now which can't be true when several NPCs in the Druid grove think I'm hostile and either runs away or attacks me without any provocation from me. That's a pretty big bug that makes the game unplayable. Having said that, yes the graphics are great, sorcerer looks fun and the improvements to skill check rolls UI from start to now is great. The biggest item still on my wish list is a proper reaction system.
Considering that this is an EA and the game is in better technical condition at the moment than Cyberpunk (probably a lot of other AAA titles would be found) it is pretty good. RPG games tend to be more buggy than other games because they are expandable. Of course, I will not compare the state of BG3 with some other RPG game that recently premiered (although you can't see it).
Considering that this is an EA and the game is in better technical condition at the moment than Cyberpunk (probably a lot of other AAA titles would be found) it is pretty good.
Well, I think this says more about the general state of game design these days. We now live in a world where developers and gamers have come to accept that's it's ok for games to be very much unfinished and full of bugs at release and now feel that is "to be expected."
As an old man who has been gaming for several decades, I'm now at the point that with a very few exceptions for games I really can't wait to play (such as BG3), I'd much rather wait six months post release for a fully patched game usually at a discount.
Just to be clear... I understand BG3 is still in EA and so I'm not complaining about bugs right now. The game is absolutely improving with each patch.
I dunno, I just finally installed (haven't played since patch 2) and either I'm experiencing some heavy bugs during every single cutscene, dialogue and animation or you guys consider Andromeda's cinematics and animations to be the peak of quality.
Literally every single animation I've seen from running, jumping, dialogue, facial animations, cutscenes, etc. are some Andromeda tier bad. I'm going to try soldiering on to finish, but damn.
or you guys consider Andromeda's cinematics and animations to be the peak of quality.
Precisely. So AAA worthy. Actually not really, it's not that bad. AAA would have bunch of microtransactions and would squeeze any fun out of the game and try to sell it back.
Unless, Larian starts selling better UI, as a convenience. That would put it firmly in AAA territory.
280 hours in now 3 complete playthroughs of patch 6 and I agree with OP - coming along nicely & looking forward to the next big Patch in early 2022 I hope.
I would say AAA. Yes. My favorite game. I've been obsessed with this game for over a year, something I've never done before. Most games I will play for about 20 hours and move on to something else. Even Solasta and Pathfinder I haven't finished and am still occassionally returning to now and then. I'm mostly focused on this game, and all others fall by the wayside.
That's the main reason I'm out here so much making suggestions. I want it to go from AAA to AAA+. Maximuuuus' post about the changes we'd like them to make would certainly do that. I can't even remember them all. At the top of my list, though, are the D&D 5e stats and rules options, Party of 6 option and Day/Night cycle. Just implement those and that would really kick the game into AAA+ territory.
Oh... and naturally fix the bugs. That, however, should be a duh. You can't even call it an A game without fixing the bugs.
Anyway, Great post! Always good to give positive feedback in the midst of all the negative stuff. Most of us who are critical of the game are just doing so in the hopes of making it that AAA+ that we see it potentially being.
Keep up the good work, Larian! We have high expectations. So far, you're meeting them. Don't let us down now. Finish strong!
I think I've always expected this game to have certain AAA qualities, based on the interviews and the amount of money and people hinted to be working on this game. It's almost the cost of entry to the AAA tier nowadays.
With that said, here are some things I'm impressed by Larian so far (which aren't necessarily AAA traits, just well designed traits):
1) Reactivity in the EA has been top tier so far, considering the game has cutscenes and voiced lines for almost anything (which I'd say is a cool feature of AAA titles). What I like most about BG3's reactivity so far is that it's pretty organic and very much NOT in your face. There is a tendency for CRPGs to make reactivity very structured and systematic (i.e. choices and consequences A, B, and C is very clearly laid out for you). Whereas BG3 does a better job emulating the openness of a Table Top game by being a bit more subtle about this.
2) Quest and Encounter Design - this is one area where I think Larian has done a good job going beyond the normally very rigid and hand-held branching we see in many other RPGs. While strict objectives do exist for quests, for many of them they're designed in a way where you can theoretically take multiple approaches, and interact with various different systems to accomplish your goals. A bit like the Deus Ex "All Roads lead to Rome" approach to quests, which I very much love and haven't seen as much in CRPGs. Hopefully this is kept up in the later acts of the game.
<AAA worthy>...lol. For whatever thats worth in 2021.
Is this post ironic or are my missing something? Unless youve been gaming in a cave the last couple of years <AAA> nowdays is pretty negative in tone. Its a badge of bad quality and rehash game design, greedy corps, lack of content, lootboxes, season scam pass, failed promisses, marketing scam, day 1 patch bugs calore etc... Really hope Larian doesnt aim to become a <<<AAA>>> dev.
I think the top games and most influencial of the last decades has mostly been INDIE devs, and some Mid size studio. And a very few <AAA> titles from the <BIG> boys. Hollow knight, Undertale, Hades, Stardew Valley, Terraria, Disco Elysium, The sexy brutale, Celeste, Fez, Enter the gungeon, Isaac, Eastward, Axiom Verge, Steamworld series, Banner Saga series, Bastion, Cave story, Crosscode, Cuphead, Hotline Miami, Dead cells, Death road to canada, Dust, Katana zero, Owl boy, Rivals of the Aether, Transistor, Downwell, Factorio, Wargroove etc etc etc....
<AAA worthy>...lol. For whatever thats worth in 2021.
Is this post ironic or are my missing something? Unless youve been gaming in a cave the last couple of years <AAA> nowdays is pretty negative in tone. Its a badge of bad quality and rehash game design, greedy corps, lack of content, lootboxes, season scam pass, failed promisses, marketing scam, day 1 patch bugs calore etc... Really hope Larian doesnt aim to become a <<<AAA>>> dev.
I think the top games and most influencial of the last decades has mostly been INDIE devs, and some Mid size studio. And a very few <AAA> titles from the <BIG> boys. Hollow knight, Undertale, Hades, Stardew Valley, Terraria, Disco Elysium, The sexy brutale, Celeste, Fez, Enter the gungeon, Isaac, Eastward, Axiom Verge, Steamworld series, Banner Saga series, Bastion, Cave story, Crosscode, Cuphead, Hotline Miami, Dead cells, Death road to canada, Dust, Katana zero, Owl boy, Rivals of the Aether, Transistor, Downwell, Factorio, Wargroove etc etc etc....
Agreed.
AAA means a whole lot of nothing these days, other they maybe some flashy graphics.