Baldur's Gate 3 (PC out now/PS5 September 6th)

[drahkon]

Started a co-op playthrough with a mate. We played for three hours straight Meet:

Solus (me) - The Human Bard
Koh (my mate) - The Orc Fighter
And for now Astarion and Shadowheart.

It started off really well. Fights went smoothly, exploration was great.

And then...my mate just had to get close to that one spot in the Overgrown Ruins. He and Shadowheart crashed through the floor and engaged in a fight
I went through the main entrance and joined the kerfuffle from behind.

Thanks to Tactician difficulty screwing us, we suffered lots and lots of (critical) misses. Needless to say...it was a tough one But we pulled through.

Given my mate's much more adult living situation (full-time job, pregnant wife) compared to mine, it's difficult to gauge how much time we'll have to play this.
The first session was great fun, though. Hopefully our next isn't too far off!

Welp...I have to work in 4 hours so...good night

[Hero-of-Time]

Physical edition has finally been shown.

[Julius]

Also announced yesterday that the Xbox version is due to drop in December:

 

18 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Physical edition has finally been shown.

Man, I'm so very torn on this. 

It's a beautiful set, and at €79.99/$79.99 honestly looks like a bit of a steal. 3 disc OST, a physical cloth map, cool box? Awesome. But there's also a €20/$20 shopping fee to both Europe and the US, so really it's €100/$100 a pop at this Deluxe Edition, which is making the "price" look a bit deceptive. 

The Xbox edition being 3 discs vs 2 discs on the PS5 is super interesting. Coming Q1 2024 certainly makes it a difficult choice for the few stragglers on Xbox who care about physical, I imagine. 

...but I think I'm going to hold out. Still no word on a standard edition, and already owning the game, I don't really feel the need to get a physical DE – I only want the physical version to sit nicely on my shelf 

Edited November 16, 2023 by Julius

[Julius]

Big ol' Patch 5 has been released after a few days of tidbits coming out. And it's a big one (both in number of updates and size)! 

Physical Xbox edition confirmed to include Patch 5, still TBC for PlayStation from what I can see. 

[Julius]

Available now on Xbox Series X|S:

Oh, and also won a little award or two at The Game Awards...

Deserved 

[drahkon]

3 hours ago, Julius said:

Deserved 

How do you know? You haven't finished it

Me, an intellectual who has finished Act 1: Deserved

[Julius]

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

How do you know? You haven't finished it

Hey, that game is long, and my group is unreliable at best! 

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

Me, an intellectual who has finished Act 1: Deserved

(we hopped on for 40 minutes last week, beat that spider which they'd totally forgot about, and I forced them to walk through that stupid door...just so we could say we've finished Act I, too )

[Dcubed]

Of course BG3 won the TGAs, it was the only game there that stood a chance.  The rest are either in the wrong genre, would cause a ruckus for being a remake/licensed game, or are too whimsical.

[bob]

Of course BG3 won the TGAs, it was the only game there that stood a chance.  The rest are either in the wrong genre, would cause a ruckus for being a remake/licensed game, or are too whimsical.

Are you suggesting it was a fix?

[Dcubed]

11 minutes ago, bob said:

18 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Of course BG3 won the TGAs, it was the only game there that stood a chance.  The rest are either in the wrong genre, would cause a ruckus for being a remake/licensed game, or are too whimsical.

Are you suggesting it was a fix?

Only certain types of games can possibly win GOTY awards.  BG3 was the most fitting choice.  Simple.

Whether or not you feel that it deserves the award, there were only ever two possible choices (BG3 and TOTK), the other three were token gestures, as they never had a single hope.  2D games can't win, so Mario was always out, RE4 would never be chosen since it was a remake (could you even imagine the backlash if a remake won GOTY? How much of an indictment would that be on the industry as a whole!?), and Spiderman 2 winning as a movie license game (and a more-of-the-same sequel to boot) would be an insult to the industry as a whole.

So your choice is between TOTK (a rather whimsical Nintendo game), or a gritty dungeons & dragons fantasy RPG.  Gee, wonder which one that the critics will pick...

I said all along that BG3 was the only viable winner.  I don't even like TOTK, but anyone with a working brain should've seen this coming.

[bob]

Only certain types of games can possibly win GOTY awards.  BG3 was the most fitting choice.  Simple.
Whether or not you feel that it deserves the award, there were only ever two possible choices (BG3 and TOTK), the other three were token gestures, as they never had a single hope.  2D games can't win, so Mario was always out, RE4 would never be chosen since it was a remake (could you even imagine the backlash if a remake won GOTY? How much of an indictment would that be on the industry as a whole!?), and Spiderman 2 winning as a movie license game (and a more-of-the-same sequel to boot) would be an insult to the industry as a whole.
So your choice is between TOTK (a rather whimsical Nintendo game), or a gritty dungeons & dragons fantasy RPG.  Gee, wonder which one that the critics will pick...
I said all along that BG3 was the only viable winner.  I don't even like TOTK, but anyone with a working brain should've seen this coming.

Backlash against who?

If it is independent journalists and critics voting on the winner, why would they care about backlash.

Why can't 2D games win? Why would a 'movie license' game be an insult to the industry (it's not even tied to a movie)?

You're acting like it's a huge conspiracy.

[drahkon]

19 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Only certain types of games can possibly win GOTY awards.  BG3 was the most fitting choice.  Simple.

Baldur's Gate 3 was up against the crème de la crème this year and the game runs circles around each and every one of those no matter if they are a "token gesture" or not. I agree that it deserved the win but not because of the reasons you gave. It's a very cynical approach to the award and quite a way to downplay Larian's achievement.

They single-handedly reignited the spark of the cRPG genre, fueled the DnD fire with a healthy splash of gasoline and brought both of those to a wider audience by creating one of the greatest games ever made.

Your conspiracy talk makes no sense.

[Julius]

Yeah, I'm with @drahkon on this one.

I do think there's a discussion point potentially about recency bias being a factor resulting in what felt like a blowout night from BG3 across the board (Actor, for example, I think could have gone to Ben Starr from XVI given the entire game is carried on his shoulders), and what might have happened if Zelda released in August/September and BG3 in May, but @Dcubed, it is one of the best reviewing games ever. I haven't talked to anyone who has played this game for less than 5 hours who hasn't rambled on about their time with the game. 

Screw it, I'm just going to quote myself from the events thread, because I've said it before. 

Quote

Baldur's Gate 3 singlehandedly revived the conversation around CRPGs, bringing a lot of new people into the genre; is a worthy adaptation of one of the most popular variations of one of the most popular tabletop games of all time (which in the last decade has seen a resurgence of interest and newcomers); and that stretch of four or five weeks from PC to console release with no other major game releasing in-between that could hold the conversation. 

This is not to mention the commitment and support Larian have shown to the game and it's players since launch (and even before, in Early Access); the astounding VA throughout the game; the ludicrous number of choices you can make; the ability to play the game with friends (at all, let alone the fact that it works well!); the game's great score (I mean, it's no XVI, but it's still pretty damn good); and so on. I could go on and on and on about this game – and I've "only" finished Act I. Maybe I get to the end and hate how it shakes out? But even if that happens, I can appreciate so much of the game already that, yeah, it doesn't surprise me that it won – not because it's "bait" or "an obvious choice" or confirms to any weird metric or profile of game, but because it's a damn good video game, and has been recognised as such by fans and critics alike. 

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

Only certain types of games can possibly win GOTY awards. 

I'm not going to quote you from past threads because I think it's both poor form and, well, I'm on my phone, but since when is BG3 a, what was it, Oscar bait 3D story-driven game? Or an open world Soulsborne title? I thought those were the formulas for GOTY success? 

I think it's incredibly reductive and disrespectful to the teams who worked on these games to keep trying to boil down what will and won't be nominated, and what will and won't win, to a formula, a genre, a select set of dimensions, or being developed or published by a certain company. Have you played BG3? Watched anything about it? 

I am 100% all for a game not being for you, and I do think that at the TGAs in particular, there's obviously a certain level of mass appeal involved in many nominations simply because it is an aggregate of so many different opinions, from industry journalists and fans alike.

It's all in the execution, from the teams realising their vision, to how you are interpreting it. I don't mind if you didn't like BOTW, or Elden Ring, or God of War, or It Takes Two, or BG3, or any other GOTY winner, but if you could seriously and genuinely appreciate any of what they did and have accomplished, we wouldn't be talking about only games of a certain type being able to win the GOTY award. Because the conversation is a non-starter: these games are so diverse in their execution and goals that I think it's a genuine shame that you think only games of a certain type can win GOTY. 

It's funny, because in me saying we shouldn't be reductive, I do genuinely think that there is one actual defining component absolutely essential to winning GOTY (and so many other awards) at the TGAs: and that's to have a narrative around the production of your game. I don't mean a crafted narrative, mind you, but it can be as simple as being hard-working, or as complex as pushing for diversity, or as deep as telling a story about yourself or someone you care for, but ultimately the result is the same: the people walking up onto that stage to collect these awards are human, and with that comes all of the baggage that being a human brings. But we are humans, and the story of this baggage is often the story we tell – and relate to. 

The fact simply remains that not a single one of the games to ever - ever - win GOTY at TGAs wasn't a triumph in passion, collaboration, and dedication to the craft above all else. To suggest BG3 did so simply because it followed some flimsy set of rules on your end (that seemingly changes every year, by the way) is simply a sad conclusion to arrive at, from my perspective. 

So how about you go play BG3, and we'll have a conversation about that instead 

[Julius]

Pretty huge news but not the slightest big unexpected if you've heard about how terrible Hasbro were during BG3's development: Sven dropped the bombshell at GDC that Larian will not be releasing any DLC or expansions for Baldur's Gate 3, nor will they be releasing Baldur's Gate 4. 

Per IGN:

Quote

At a Game Developers Conference (GDC) panel today, Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke dropped something of a bombshell by revealing that the developer isn't planning to release any expansions or DLC for Baldur's Gate 3, nor a Baldur's Gate 4.

Instead, Vincke said at the panel, Larian plans to move away from Dungeons & Dragons entirely and do something new, leaving the IP in Wizards of the Coast's hands.

[...] 

It's a bit of a surprise, considering the massive success of Baldur's Gate 3, with many fans assuming that a DLC or expansion would be on the way. Larian has released several major free patches that have added, among other things, a playable epilogue party.

I'm honestly more surprised that IGN's surprised by this. 

For those unfamiliar, WotC own the D&D IP which Baldur's Gate is based on, and are part of Habsro – so working with them is part and parcel to any type of new content.

The problem is that, per Swen himself, barely anyone at WotC who supported Larian in getting to make BG3 the way they wanted in the first place as part of that initial meeting are even there anymore! 

This news came days after their GOTY win and just a month and a half after BG3 alone was responsible for a 40% spike in Hasbro's digital revenue. 

More power to Larian. I can't wait to see what they do next - probably return to Divinity if I had to guess? Though a new IP would really turn heads I feel - and look forward to going back and playing their earlier games, DOSII especially. 

Me and my friends are deep into Act III of BG3 and are still having a great time (even if it's much more of a technical mess than earlier parts of the game), definitely still got a solo playthrough or two on my mind 

[Julius]

Just finished the 4-player campaign with my friends after 104 ½ hours. It was an overwhelmingly great time, I've got issues with the dialogue and chaos of loot with so many of us so the true highlight was combat; we're pondering a second playthrough and might seek out other games like this in the future for our weekly gaming sessions (DoS II in the future, perhaps?). Really enjoyed it and I'm definitely considering giving the game a run through solo at some point. 

HOWEVER, without spoiling anything major about the game, I kind of want to warn people against playing the game in 4-player co-op, at least for a first playthrough like it was for us. For the ENTIRETY of the game all 4 members of our party - our 4 created characters - were present in all major cutscenes, even if one was front and centre and considered the "face" of the party for a particular cutscenes, everyone was shown in the background as you'd expect.

And this was the case...all the way through to the finale and epilogue, where it decided to focus in on only one party character, and the three other created characters weren't present. What's more? Lengthy farewells and hurrahs are had for the NPC party members who had been left behind at camp the entirety of our playthrough. The epilogue is ENTIRELY redundant in a multiplayer playthrough like ours where the party is filled with players because the focus is purely on said NPCs. 

Again, a great time overall and this wasn't an issue for 99.9% of the playthrough, but to sell the premise of 4-player co-op campaigns so hard and then just miss so entirely on how that's managed with the ending and epilogue feels like a huge fumble. I can't speak to the ending from a solo perspective - I could guess at the issues I'd have based on what we experienced, though - but this really put a damper on the game for me as a way of rounding it off. 

It's genuinely brought into question whether we even want to do a second playthrough, which is crazy but just shows how much of a letdown it was with how it was - or rather, wasn't - handled. Very disappointed for our multiplayer campaign that ended in such a way 

Edited April 6 by Julius

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

Just finished the 4-player campaign with my friends after 104 ½ hours.

These are quality friends, don't lose them.

If I had even one friend growing up that would happily waste over a hundred hours playing a nerdy game like this with me, I might not be the social recluse I am these days.

Anyway, a bit late, but the fact that Larian have decided to not continue to work with Hasbro, while totally well within their right (And more power to them), does leave me with concerns that a hypothetical Switch 2 port may be a pipe dream now...

I really wanna play this game, but it's not the kind of game where I can just play it intermittedly on my cousin's PC...

[Julius]

My gaming rut knows no bounds because not that deep into Chapter 2 of Lost Judgment, it's been shelved (for now). Always a bit frustrating when I find myself scrambling around to try to find a game I'll gel with like this, just bouncing off every game I start up at the moment. 

So I'm starting a solo playthrough of BG3 from scratch  this is my Lolth-Sworn (typically red-eyed, underground elf folk) Paladin of Vengeance (think Batman and the sense of fairly absolute definitions of judgement and justice) Drow: Tafr'aq. 

His name is based on the Arabic term tafrakh, or 'spawn', which relates to me choosing to do a Dark Urge origin playthrough this time around...and that's all I'll say about that.

And here's his Guardian:

Already knowing a fair chunk of the story from my time with it in the co-op campaign, I decided to go with DU this time to mix things up a bit and see what violent tendencies are thrown into the mix (for those unaware this run basically has an evil in your head which bypasses some rolls and decisions, and so you can either fight against or go along with the urges you get). I also know it's the run with the most tie-ins to the older BG entries (which I watched a summary on before diving into BG3 last year), and there was something really appealing to me about the idea of doling out this sense of justice as a Vengeance Paladin and smiting down evil, when that same evil I'm seeking out is also stuck up in my own head and making me commit atrocities out of my own control. I have a general idea of where I want to take this playthrough, fully expect my Oath to be broken, and have some aesthetic tweaks planned as the story goes on relating to Tafr'aq's eyes and hair; I'm basically viewing this run as an Anakin Skywalker-style fallen (or falling) hero, which suits the three act structure of the game perfectly. 

I think the main reason I want to get through this solo playthrough is to get a better idea of where I land on the game; as I said before, much as I enjoyed it with friends, the story itself didn't get a chance to shine and neither did the NPCs or our relationships with them, and that's why the ending ultimately felt a bit flat in that run. One of my friends has only played it through from start to end in our co-op playthrough and has declared it his favourite game of all-time, and while I respect his decision to come to that opinion, I'm a bit shocked he would say that based purely on our co-op sessions and not after completing a solo run, given that so many of our issues with it seem like they could be ironed out on a solo playthrough. And others which will shockingly stick around. I guess that's where our opinions split on the matter, but it's rare that I complete a game without seeing everything it has to offer or in perhaps the best way before declaring it one of my favourite, let alone of all-time! 

I probably won't go too in-depth on my playthrough here (maybe updates on an act-by-act basis and any interesting or funny business I came across), but it's already feeling very different controlling four characters as opposed to just the one, and it's interesting that I can break my Oath by, for example, freeing a prisoner, yet let someone else in my party do the same and my Oath sticks  won't be going out of my way to save scum but will definitely be keeping a number of quick save files to hand in case my Oath breaks before I want it to. 

As a last aside, talking about save files: the saves in this game are fairly big, which makes the options of 'Delete Campaign' to save going through all of your auto- and quick saves very welcome, and 'Delete all but last save' (or something to that effect) being great for a quick clean-up job! 

On 4/6/2024 at 3:25 AM, Glen-i said:

Anyway, a bit late, but the fact that Larian have decided to not continue to work with Hasbro, while totally well within their right (And more power to them), does leave me with concerns that a hypothetical Switch 2 port may be a pipe dream now...

I really wanna play this game, but it's not the kind of game where I can just play it intermittently on my cousin's PC...

With or without Larian, I will be shocked if BG3 doesn't end up on the Switch's successor. It's simply too much money to leave on the table for both Hasbro and Larian. 

On the side of Larian sticking around for a port, there being no DLC(s), expansion(s), or BG4 in the works means that they could just be working on a straight up port already (as opposed to waiting to release a definitive edition in 4 or 5 years if they were working on DLCs/expansions). If the game does come to the Switch's successor I also think Larian would want to support it because they know that it's their name on the game, and their support on PC and consoles - despite some hiccups - has been spot on, with hotfixes constantly in the works, major updates post-launch such as the epilogue being added, etc. 

On the other hand, it's Hasbro. I wouldn't be shocked if they lacked the foresight to tie Larian down to a Switch 2 port once the Stadia release plans got thrown out the window, and if Larian are planning to move on, given how they've treated staff that have worked on the game at WotC and in other areas of their licensing, they have very little to bargain with here I feel. The cheaper option will seem like the smarter option to them and so I think you'd still get a BG3 port, it'll just be a third-party, and more prone to bugs as a result. 

It really could go either way -- I think what we'll ultimately see is a middle ground where some third-party teams up with Larian for the main port effort and then they're overseen by Larian post-launch when implementing fixes, but seeing as there'll be nothing major being added, I think the overwhelming majority of the footwork should be put in before a potential launch so the game can flourish without the need to be patched, like how the physical PS5 and Xbox Series release includes waves of updates already on-disc. 

We'll of course need to wait and see, but I think BG3 on a Switch successor does 5+ million in unit sales easy, probably 10+ if the thing can get close to Switch console sales numbers. 

Edited April 8 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

36 minutes ago, Julius said:

My gaming rut knows no bounds because not that deep into Chapter 2 of Lost Judgment, it's been shelved (for now). Always a bit frustrating when I find myself scrambling around to try to find a game I'll gel with like this, just bouncing off every game I start up at the moment. 

I hate it when I get like that. Usually I end up just sacking gaming off for a day or two and then come back to it a little more focused and refreshed.

[Julius]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I hate it when I get like that. Usually I end up just sacking gaming off for a day or two and then come back to it a little more focused and refreshed.

Yeah, that's normally what I do too, take a short break (couple of days, sometimes a week), swap up genres or game lengths and then I normally get back in the groove; been through that cycle a few times already the last few weeks. This particular rut has followed me since I shelved Rebirth, longest one I've had in a good while. 

I think getting through the Battlefront Collection last month was honestly purely down to muscle memory, I just don't seem to be clicking with a lot of new(-to-me) games at the moment. I know I'll get back to the ones I've shelved for now, and it's not like I was too far into any of them to the point I'd be against starting over, which I much prefer to jumping in mid-game months removed and completely at a loss 

Ah well, as far as problems go it's not a terrible to have, if I can even call it that  in the meantime I've been in a film-watching mood so I've got through a chunk of new films over the last month. Not counting online sessions with friends, my session with BG3 last night was the longest I've had with a story-focused game since I replayed Part II, though, so that feels like a good omen  

Fingers crossed, eh? 

Edited April 8 by Julius