Baldur's Gate 3

[brat-sampson]

Sorry Zelda, this might be the best game now.

EDIT: To add a little more, this is almost certainly the most accurate 5e DnD representation in a game, and it really feels, at least on a first playthrough, like almost every aspect of your race, class, background, stats and choices are *truly* fundamental to how you will experience this game. Which encounters you'll fight, which you'll persuade. Where you'll be welcomed vs ostracised. Whether you'll murder a potential companion and steal something valuable from them in the first hour or whether they'll deal the final blow of the entire game as your romantic partner against whoever you fight at the end.

Like, it's fucking good.

[Mobius]

Really looking forward to this on ps5. Larian Studios seem like a good bunch

[Lemming]

It's fun, definitely looking like a very strong GOTY contender (though there's some more good shit coming up in the next couple months). Thank god Larian kept with the turn-based stuff they're used to rather than going back to original Baldur's Gate style RTwP. I've just started Act 3 and the game feels like a fair challenge on Tactician, probably the most overpowered party member is Karlach but she's still far from unstoppable. Monk class is hilarious for the player character, cheapshots galore.

Definitely feels like one of the best approximations of a tabletop experience ever achieved by a videogame. The amount of creative solutions to things is really pleasing too, I was never a massive fan of Divinity but this was one of the big strong points. The goblin camp for example is insanely good, so many different ways to approach it from a mechanics standpoint. I found a lot of success in using Minor Illusion to lure guards away and then having my Monk knock them out one by one until my Rogue could sneak up onto the roof unnoticed and start tossing explosive barrels around like a prat.

To address the romance stuff since it's a big talking point online: I was shocked by the camp cutscene after defending the grove from the goblins in Act 1, where literally every companion reveals themselves to be a bisexual fuck-machine who's got you in their crosshairs. Like it's actually surreal. The BioWare-y "romance" shit that's popped up in party-based RPGs since Baldur's Gate 2 is always a bit naff and very thinly-written IMO, but it was really bad here, everyone just piling in on you very suddenly all at once having only just met you. It actually came across as an over the top parody of the thing it's unironically trying to do. Apparently it's meant to be triggered by approval, but for some reason they put this scene so early on that you basically haven't had a chance to alienate anyone so the whole party descends on you, cocks/clits in hand.

It's even worse because you don't realise what's happening until its too late. Magic guy is like "do you want to hang out?" and I say "yes", and then I go to talk to vampire guy and he's like "WELL I suppose there's no point asking YOU to spend the night with me since magic guy's cock is already stuck halfway down your throat". What?! Oh no! He just said he wanted to hang out, I didn't know this would happen! Also, who the fuck do you think you are, we've just met. And then my dialogue options are all reciprocal, except one that's phrased really aggressively and badly, like "You're wrong, also I'm a rat bastard who supports the Nazi party". Then I'm like "fuck, get me out of here" and I run over to Shadowheart and Lae'zel who are also angry at me and demand that I spend the night with them instead. Fuck off? I dunno what the deal was with this, I guess maybe they wanted to get it out of the way early on or something, but it's completely batshit the way it's done and gives a very false impression of what these characters will be like going forward.

Here is the decisive companion ranking, best to worst (BIG SPOILERS):

Spoiler alert

Karlach - it's nice to have someone on the party who isn't a complete arsehole

Astarion - this guy is a complete arsehole but he's funny. Don't care about his backstory, as far as I'm concerned he's just a gay dandy who faints whenever you do something he doesn't like

Lae'zel - didn't like her until I realised what the idea was, that she's too young to know any better than the gibberish shit she's been told. Fun character. Plus her crazy jump ability has gotten me out of many tight spots

Jaheira - just like she was in BG2 except a granny now

Halsin - this guy's absolutely ridiculous, impossible to take seriously. Look at his face, look at his body, look at his appearance. He's alright though

Wyll - more like "wyll this guy ever shut the fuck up about his boring devil-pact backstory". If you introduce a character with a catchprase as shit as "anger the blade, feel its sting" (or whatever it was), you can't reasonably expect people not to hate the fucker. I like the devil he's in a pact with so I keep taking her side, much to his chagrin

Shadowheart - I had one conversation with Shadowheart and it was boring. She sat alone in camp for ages until she suddenly popped up near the end of Act 2 to tell me she was furious at me for not taking her useless self on the big temple adventure, and was leaving the party with immediate effect. I said okay and let her leave because I forgot who she was.

Gale - yawn-o-rama city. somehow got even more boring when Gandalf showed up to loredump his backstory

[close]

Possibly the most extraordinary thing about this is the sales. Some estimates are saying over 10 million - fucking how?! We've had a slew of these isometric RPGs since the mid-2010s (Wasteland 2/3, Pillars of Eternity, Pathfinder, Shadowrun, etc) and none have come anywhere close to these kinds of sales figures. It's great news, especially if it gets turn-based RPGs back into the mainstream, but those sales are just absurd.

[oggyraiding]

I played a bit when it first came out in Early Access, but my PC is not strong enough. Wasn't fan of how it started in the burning wreckage of a mindflayer airship, I like more humble beginnings to RPG adventures but that's personal taste really. It's a shame the Xbox release has been delayed ages. Something to do with the inability to get split screen running well on the weaker Series S.

[Mobius]

Yeah it's weird how popular it is, maybe it's been marketed well. I know a lot of fucked off Diablo players have gotten on board due to Diablo 4 being rubbish.

[Lemming]

I played a bit when it first came out in Early Access, but my PC is not strong enough. Wasn't fan of how it started in the burning wreckage of a mindflayer airship, I like more humble beginnings to RPG adventures but that's personal taste really. It's a shame the Xbox release has been delayed ages. Something to do with the inability to get split screen running well on the weaker Series S.

Yeah as with a lot of these games the main plot is a bit awkward and requires your character to do things they have no real motivation to do. It's shocking how infrequently you're actually able to ask people about ways to remove the parasite that's embedded in your brain, despite it being the only apparent reason you're out in the world rather than just chilling at home.

It gets particularly awkward around the start of Act 3 when

Spoiler alert

you meet the friendly Mindflayer who sends you off on your grand quest to save Baldur's Gate, and if you just ask him to remove the damn parasite so you can give up and go home, you get brushed off with a line about he could do that but it would "probably" kill you or something.

[close]

It's one of those things where you have to bite the bullet and accept that you're a videogame protagonist who can go from ridiculously high-stakes shit to arsing about helping local farmers in the space of an hour, with no clear motivation beyond being the protagonist. Still not quite as bad as Oblivion's "there's a Daedric invasion underway but you'll never really see any evidence of it and nobody will ever mention it, also feel free to spend three years gathering wildflowers while the invasion waits for you" premise.

[MoreauVasz]

It's even worse because you don't realise what's happening until its too late. Magic guy is like "do you want to hang out?" and I say "yes", and then I go to talk to vampire guy and he's like "WELL I suppose there's no point asking YOU to spend the night with me since magic guy's cock is already stuck halfway down your throat". What?! Oh no! He just said he wanted to hang out, I didn't know this would happen! Also, who the fuck do you think you are, we've just met. And then my dialogue options are all reciprocal, except one that's phrased really aggressively and badly, like "You're wrong, also I'm a rat bastard who supports the Nazi party". Then I'm like "fuck, get me out of here" and I run over to Shadowheart and Lae'zel who are also angry at me and demand that I spend the night with them instead. Fuck off? I dunno what the deal was with this, I guess maybe they wanted to get it out of the way early on or something, but it's completely batshit the way it's done and gives a very false impression of what these characters will be like going forward.

Ugh... That kind of toxic atmosphere is why I stopped going to cubs.

[madhair60]

so many sphincters, they should call it baldur's gape

[WesterlyWinds]

did you shag a bear yet

i only have ps5 so i will have to wait until september to shag bear :(

[madhair60]

not yet but i really am trying to fuck animals

[oggyraiding]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/baldurs-gate-3-taking-over-154858057.html

Baldur's Gate 3 accounted for nearly a third of total playtime on Steam in the US this past Sunday.

The mind-blowing statistic was provided by Circana, via executive director Mat Piscatella in the tweet just below. Piscatella revealed that this past Sunday, August 6, Baldur's Gate 3 accounted for 27.5% of total playtime on Steam throughout the US, and the closest another game came to that was CS:GO at just 5%.

That's insane. Huge IP, studio with good rep, but even with those factors I did not expect the game to be so popular.

[Timothy]

Is it better then Divinity 2? Liked the gameplay in that one but wasn't a fan of the writing.

[Mr Trumpet]

No Githzerai option? Count me out, sweetcheeks

[brat-sampson]

My MC got shoved into a pit by a boss and died, so in anger I just got Shadowheart to run over and shove the boss. Fight won. 10/10.

[madhair60]

the combat in this is very hard.

[Lemming]

Level 5 makes all the difference, most classes unlock multiple attacks and you start absolutely cleaning up every combat encounter.

Barbarians also seem absurdly overpowered; add Level 5+ Karlach to the party, kit her out properly, and everyone who gets in your way is pretty much mincemeat.

Though even at level 5

Spoiler alert

the boss battle against the elf guy at the end of Grymforge is complete bullshit, especially if you didn't convince half the dwarves to join you.

[close]

Is it better then Divinity 2? Liked the gameplay in that one but wasn't a fan of the writing.

It's a pretty similar experience in a lot of ways. I'm not a huge fan of the writing in this game but it's worth enduring for the gameplay IMO. The writing isn't like offensively bad or anything* but it does feel reminiscent of past Larian games, mixed with a shitton of BioWare, which I suppose makes sense.

*maybe barring one or two minor characters/areas

[Viero_Berlotti]

What's the humour like on this?

I'm a miserable Gen-Xer, only a few years off being 50. I can't be doing with any Millenial/Gen Z sassy bullshit in my RPGs. They've got to be played straight like Bloodborne, Souls games with maybe the odd bit of surreal/absurdist humour here and their(i.e, the talking Crow in Dark Souls).

[oggyraiding]

How are gamepad controls if anyone is using them? I tried playing one of the Pathfinders on PS5, and Pillars of Eternity on Xbox, and the controls and interface were very unintuitive.

[Peri Peri]

Looking forward to this on console, heard good things but also Starfield which I just bought an Xbox for but now I think it looks shid

[Pink Gregory]

So not particularly interested in BG3 - liked BG enough but I tired of it just before the end, playing as a wizard probably not the best idea for a beginner, but I think I have room for a CRPG in my life. 

From what I've heard - I don't think Pillars of Eternity or Pathfinder are exciting me much, I actually have Planscape Torment on GOG but I'm not of a mood for that much reading.  I did hear on a podcast that Tyranny might be of interest?

[brat-sampson]

Tyranny might be worth a should just for being different. From what I've heard it's nowhere near as long as most of the genre staples and the premise of you setting out as 100% a bastard is also unusual.

Everything else you said basically reads like you want to play a CRPG but not one that plays anything like a CRPG. The Icewind Dale ones are very old-school but also a lot more combat oriented.

[Pink Gregory]

I may be being presumptuous with Pillars.  Contradictory sort that I am.

[The Bumlord]

Looking forward to this on console, heard good things but also Starfield which I just bought an Xbox for but now I think it looks shid

I hope you have a PS5 cos this won't be out on Xbox until Microsoft relax their compatibility rules.


It's also really, really good. I spent 70 hours just on the Early Access version.

[The Bumlord]

What's the humour like on this?

[Capt.Midnight]

Is it good even if you aren't into ye olde fantasy type generic bollocks?

[The Bumlord]

Is it good even if you aren't into ye olde fantasy type generic bollocks?

Elves and pixies and the like usually make me want to hide in a cringehole but I have made an exception and I don't regret it.

[Capt.Midnight]

Elves and pixies and the like usually make me want to hide in a cringehole but I have made an exception and I don't regret it.

Nice, I do get this feeling too. I enjoyed BG Dark Alliance on PS2, not sure if it's similar but the gameplay elevated it.

[Lemming]

Speaking of settings, I wish Larian would pick one of the more interesting D&D settings like Ravenloft or whatever. Hasn't been a Ravenloft game since Stone Prophet, hasn't been a Dark Sun game since Wake of the Ravager. Step it up, Larian. No more Forgotten Realms, please, it's so fucking dull.

Is it good even if you aren't into ye olde fantasy type generic bollocks?

The plot is the typical shit but the dialogue is pleasingly modern-sounding at times, especially with the Karlach character (which obviously is massively dividing opinion among players, some of whom thinks she just sounds like a generic 21st century person). The game largely avoids the "ho sir knight, from where dost though hail" shit that sometimes makes fantasy RPGs unplayable.

[druss]

I like forgotten realms, I get that it is generic but I've always found it compelling.

[Lemming]

It definitely has it's place, I just wish it wasn't the default setting of choice for D&D videogames to the expense of most others, all the way back to the Gold Box era.

It makes sense I guess since Forgotten Realms is probably the most richly-developed of them all, but still, come on Larian, give us (me) the Ravenloft game of our (my) dreams