Larian Banner: Baldur's Gate Patch 9
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pavvles Offline OP
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First of all, I would like to preface this post by saying I am not a hardcore Larian fan. I did not enjoy Divinity: Original Sin 2 too much, though I appreciate it as a game and a piece of artistic medium, and I enjoy the earlier entries in that world.

Secondly, I would like to consider myself as a fan of Dungeons and Dragons.

With that out of the way, I have several praises to list, as well as some complaints. I believe that the game mechanics as they are currently implemented are on point for an early access. I enjoy the combat and gameplay, the UI is sleek and comfy, and customization of appearance is great, compared to other cRPGs. I enjoy a good majority of the companions.

Some graphical glitches and performance issues that I am sure will be optimized in time are the least of my concerns, but I'd like to focus on a specific set of topics.


1) Shadowheart: She does not feel like a Sharran Cleric. At all. Even in the art of this forum's banner (where she looks like a very Banite/Tempuran/otherwise flashy deity-follower [I think she would have the best look in a dark robe that veils her features and not mention that she's in any way involved with Shar at all, but that is just my preference and not what I am about to touch on]), she does not resemble anything like what she should be resembling. The characterization here seems way off and lacking of research for what this deity and Her clerics are like and what their missions are; sure, she is evil and unpleasant and uncouth and uses the player character to get back to her coven, and while you could make the point to argue for creative license, I do not see how her behavior and rationales depict the dogma or expected behavior of a Sharran. It only takes a few pages of research to figure out the general feel for such a character, and I cannot help but feel this research was not done. Which leads me to my second topic,

2) The Missing, Inaccurate, and Outlandish: I am not sure why there are several types of Half Drow when Moon Elves have yet to be implemented, and I am unsure why High Elves are not called Sun Elves. It is a minor complaint, but the former are rather important, and High Elves is a colloquial nickname rather than a correct term. The background system, from what I can tell, is aimed at making your character someone exceptional - which is not a problem! Games are made to be power fantasies. But I feel like these take it a bit too far. All in all, there are a lot of things that I'd like elaborated, toned down, or made to fit what Dungeons and Dragons is at its core. Research should be done adequately.

And what happened to Gnomes?

3) Features: I would like to know what the plans are for classes and specializations, because as they are right now is fairly limited. I'd hope to see the full scope of 5e classes with at least more than 2-3 specializations each; I am sure that this is in the works, as is the alignment system.

4) Level Cap: I read somewhere the plan is for it to be 10. Why? The story throws you into such high magic, high fantasy scenarios within the first 20 minutes and continues on that agenda throughout insofar as I could see; why limit yourselves at level 10? I feel like this story would be more well rounded out at a cap of 15, with the elements that are at play. This lets characters shine and also become appropriately powerful for the powers involved.

All in all, this game has a great potential. It seems like it has a good future, but I cannot help but feel it was made for a very specific crowd of D&D players and not for the umbrella of all D&D players, and I am pretty sure that is why this game is so... sultry. Not that it is a bad thing, necessarily, but the narrator, and some of the modelling work (specifically on the privates of your customizable romantic partner...?), along with everything else I have outlined in my particular concerns, make me think that this game was tailored for the new wave of D&D players. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, and it is a sound business choice... but that's all it is. It's not something soulful, it's not even close to being Larian's best, and ultimately feels like a corporate cash-grab co-oped with Wizards of the Coast.

tl;dr game is very barebones but looks promising, though I can't shake the feeling that a slew of decisions were made to pander to new wave D&D players with everyone else left to chew on something lacking in Larian's creative soul.



Last edited by pavvles; 09/10/20 07:32 AM.
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As for future classes

https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Classes

theres no info on them yet but you can see what planned

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pavvles Offline OP
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Originally Posted by Bray
As for future classes

https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Classes

theres no info on them yet but you can see what planned


That is very disappointing. Thank you for the information.



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I'm going to have to throw in my agree.

The sultriness of the game doesn't bother me much as well but I can't help but notice it in more than one place (even though I failed to notice the dream-character and how revealed they were).

Sharran clerics are pretty much sociopaths if not bordering on sociopathic and have very fanatic nihilistic practices. While certainly no Sharran cleric is perfect and they may receive favor from Shar in one way or another, Shadowheart has failed to tick any of the boxes for me except the part of her using the character lead. The part on the Nautiloid where she's freaking out and practically begging to get out of her confinement while very 'human' in response seemed a little overdone, especially for a devotee of Shar who could probably care less that she's about to die even with an important mission riding on her shoulders. I figure that this should have been a much more tame interaction in terms of her overall demeanor. If she is fully aware tadpole in her cranium then she should in fact be begging to be reunited with her goddess rather than flailing against her impending fate. I imagine death far more preferable to turning into an Illithid or bringing willing harm to your fellow coven at the cost of some artifact we don't even know about yet.

I also find myself utterly baffled as to why the most present elf subrace is not present in the early access build. I am sure it will be added down the line, but I'm a little skeptical on the decision to not include them from the get go.

Features I can't bash too hard on because we know they're on the way, but releasing so early in a pretty bare-bones state (from a DnD veteran's perspective) left me a little more than wanting to see previews of a few more systems.

Level cap also confuses me unless OP is incorrect about the maximum level (and I hope he is). The sheer adrenaline rush and the situation you're tossed into does not adequately reflect a level 10 cutoff and would be an immense mistake, even though level 10 allows for a fair amount of character depth in 5E as I understand it.

Last edited by BigSea; 09/10/20 06:41 AM.
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level 10 cant be right. That would pretty much mean we got half the game already.

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Originally Posted by pavvles
4) Level Cap: I read somewhere the plan is for it to be 10. Why? The story throws you into such high magic, high fantasy scenarios within the first 20 minutes and continues on that agenda throughout insofar as I could see; why limit yourselves at level 10? I feel like this story would be more well rounded out at a cap of 15, with the elements that are at play. This lets characters shine and also become appropriately powerful for the powers involved.


True true... I mean, the beginning alone isn't something a first level group should even be involved in. It seams like Larian wanted to tell their story no matter if it makes sense as far as adventure/level tiers go. It's what a very inexperienced DM would do. If anything, there should be some form of origin prologue spanning levels 1-5 that's much smaller in scale, before jumping into outright Planescape territory.

Last edited by WarBaby2; 09/10/20 06:48 AM.
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-DOUBLE POST-

Last edited by WarBaby2; 09/10/20 06:47 AM.
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Originally Posted by Bray
level 10 cant be right. That would pretty much mean we got half the game already.



With how level gain scales that is a little inaccurate, but numerically correct on a shallow examination.

Originally Posted by WarBaby2
Originally Posted by pavvles
4) Level Cap: I read somewhere the plan is for it to be 10. Why? The story throws you into such high magic, high fantasy scenarios within the first 20 minutes and continues on that agenda throughout insofar as I could see; why limit yourselves at level 10? I feel like this story would be more well rounded out at a cap of 15, with the elements that are at play. This lets characters shine and also become appropriately powerful for the powers involved.


True true... I mean, the beginning alone isn't something a first level group should even be involved in. It seams like Larian wanted to tell their story no matter if it makes sense as far as adventure/level tiers go. It's what a very inexperienced DM would do. If anything, there should be some form of origin prologue spanning levels 1-5 that's much smaller in scale, before jumping into outright Planescape territory.


You are mostly right, although levels and what they mean have been scrunched in 5e; level 5 characters are essentially ideal for town-saving campaigns. A useful metric:

Levels 1-5: Gritty Fantasy (we did it, we saved the village!)

Levels 6-10: Heroic Fantasy (we did it, we saved the city!)

Levels 11-15: High Fantasy (we did it, we saved the kingdom!)

Levels 16-20: Superheroes (we did it, we saved the world!)

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I remember seeing somewhere that Larian raised the level cap to 14. I may be wrong though.

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Hence, the 'pretty much'
I assume stronger monsters grant more exp? no?
Anyways don't want to argue about 'ifs' and 'maybes'

It would be disappointing (although I dont expect us to make it to 20)

Last edited by Bray; 09/10/20 07:49 AM.

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