Baldur's Gate 3

Hyena · Post by **Hyena** » Wed Jul 26, 2023 4:56 pm

I created several classes in early access to see which one liked, including an eldritch knight, and found that one rather fun. I focused on two-handers and used the

Spoiler:

I've also made a warlock, rogue, and ranger. Never finished the prolonged in any run-through, I just wanted to try the classes out. One thing I do love is that the npc's you pick up are really good at what they do. Astarion, for example, starts the game with a +7 or +8 to lockpicking/pickpocket, and does some serious damage backstabbing. I always felt the need to create all my own characters, or even worse, make a jack-of-all-type character, but I've realized I can actually allow the npc's to have some of the glory. I don't have to multiclass from rogue into ranger into monk into sorcerer just so I can be the one who picks all the locks and kills all the bad guys and woos all the ladies.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Wed Jul 26, 2023 5:35 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 2:56 pm You D&D nerds have done a good job convincing me I don't need to get this game. I was already hesitant as I couldn't really get into DOS2 despite multiple attempts and the Pathfinder games about killed me. The complexity of modern D&D is beyond my interest.

Counterpoint: Hey, D&D powergamers: I promise you'll have more fun if you don't min-max in Baldur's Gate 3

It's time to let go of the game guides and Reddit threads, and just go with your heart when you get into that character creation screen in August. Let yourself spend longer choosing your half-orc's hairstyle than researching the most broken class combos, and you'll not only save yourself precious time that could be spent adventuring, you'll have a more enjoyable and memorable journey through Baldur's Gate 3.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Jul 26, 2023 6:53 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 10:46 am Y'all out there with these crazy multi-classes and I'm sitting here going, "I think I'll do a fighter...and a magic guy.....and a thief guy.......and a healer guy....."

Those whose experience is limited to the 2e version in the previous games may be in for a surprise - multi-classing is much more limited in 5e. Take a fighter, level up to 5. Add a level of wizard. You are not a level 5 fighter and a level 1 wizard the way you used to be in the earlier games. You're a level 6 fighter with a few wizard abilities on the side.

On the bright side, it solves the old problem of multiclassing - you gain breadth more than power. Have a character with two classes in the older versions and you have to split XP between them. Put them next to a single class character. The single class achieves, say, level 17. The multi-class character is now level 10 and level 7 in his two classes. The fact that your highest level is only 10 means that, in many things, you're much weaker than the level 17.

That was one of the things I hated about the original BG/BG2: Most of the companion characters took dual/multi-classing to extremes. There were practically no single-class companions, leading to never being able to access a lot of high-level abilities. You might have two wizards - a wizard/cleric, and a wizard/thief/bard. When your main character was level 20, the first was only level ~11 in each class, while the latter was probably level 8. That means that, at level 20, you had a level 11 and a level 8 wizard. Instead of casting level 9 spells, you were making due with mid-tier crap. Going back to the cheating thread - one of the first things I always did in BG was open it IEKeeper (the save editor) and tone down their multi-classing.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Jul 26, 2023 7:23 pm

So are there any downsides to multi-classing? (I'm completely ignorant of 5e rules).

Madmarcus · Post by **Madmarcus** » Wed Jul 26, 2023 7:44 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 6:53 pm Those whose experience is limited to the 2e version in the previous games may be in for a surprise - multi-classing is much more limited in 5e. Take a fighter, level up to 5. Add a level of wizard. You are not a level 5 fighter and a level 1 wizard the way you used to be in the earlier games. You're a level 6 fighter with a few wizard abilities on the side.

Could you explain what you mean by this? If you are a Fighter 5 and then take your sixth level as Wizard 1 what first level abilities are you missing? You have exactly the spell casting of a 1st level Wizard including spells known and spell slots. You have any special abilities gain by a Wizard at 1st level such as arcane recovery. The only things you don't get are some skills and proficiencies (this varies by class). To my way of thinking it is best described as you are now a 5th level fighter and a 1st level wizard. Specifically you are not a dual classed character with the old stuff about more or less forgetting your first class until you gained more levels in the second class.

The real weirdness comes if you multiclass with two spell casting classes because you don't keep spell slots and spells known separately any more.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Wed Jul 26, 2023 8:52 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 7:23 pm So are there any downsides to multi-classing? (I'm completely ignorant of 5e rules).

The cap is level 12. If you do any multi-classing you won't get the abilities/spells you would have gotten for that class at level 12 had you stayed the course. There are some low level abilities that may make it worthwhile, such as the Fighter extra turn at level 2.

I plan to just wing it until the multitude of you tubers tell me what works best. They won't know for sure until after full release.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Jul 27, 2023 6:46 pm

I grabbed this today for PC instead of waiting for PS5. Mainly just to mess with the character generator over the next week. I generally don’t enjoy replaying long segments of games, so I don’t know if/how much I’ll actually dig into the game proper at this point. Probably just enough to familiarize myself with the controls and systems.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sat Jul 29, 2023 1:19 pm

I made the tough decision today to wait for the PS5 version. I'd much rather play this one on PC, but my aging rig would be a roll of the dice at this point. My video card is just above minimum specs, and I'd literally have to go buy a new SSD just for this game.

Well, I had a rather surprising turn of events today. I was explaining to my wife that I was going to wait for the PS5 version as my PC was 11 years old at this point and I didn't trust it to run it. She then let slip that she had already been budgeting to get it replaced this Christmas.

So I went ahead and got it a little early (Christmas in July!), and we're going to give the old PC to my son who's entering middle school and will need one for online assignments.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 9:56 am

Just read that Larian wouldn’t send out any review copies of BG3 until July 28. Which means that sites will have a grand total of 6 days to do reviews on what is, by all accounts, a 70-100 hour RPG.

So take any reviews that come out this week with that grain of salt.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 10:17 am

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 9:56 am Just read that Larian wouldn’t send out any review copies of BG3 until July 28. Which means that sites will have a grand total of 6 days to do reviews on what is, by all accounts, a 70-100 hour RPG.

So take any reviews that come out this week with that grain of salt.

There are a few that I trust like Mortismal. He usually does reviews after completing 100% of achievements and content. However, in a game of this size he will generally do an initial review first. I have no idea how he completes such an immense amount of gaming.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 3:50 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Sat Jul 29, 2023 1:19 pm I made the tough decision today to wait for the PS5 version. I'd much rather play this one on PC, but my aging rig would be a roll of the dice at this point. My video card is just above minimum specs, and I'd literally have to go buy a new SSD just for this game.

Well, I had a rather surprising turn of events today. I was explaining to my wife that I was going to wait for the PS5 version as my PC was 11 years old at this point and I didn't trust it to run it. She then let slip that she had already been budgeting to get it replaced this Christmas.

So I went ahead and got it a little early (Christmas in July!), and we're going to give the old PC to my son who's entering middle school and will need one for online assignments.

Also think of the children! You can’t have your son starting middle school without a computer. So I think it’s quite thoughtful of you, buying the PC version of BG3.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 4:51 pm

I'm Father of the Year material, for sure.

I created a character last night and played through just a smidge of the opening to see how the gameplay was. I'm a bit bummed you're not rolling an entire party, but I did enjoy the combat and the out of combat dice checks.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 5:03 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 4:51 pm I'm Father of the Year material, for sure.

I created a character last night and played through just a smidge of the opening to see how the gameplay was. I'm a bit bummed you're not rolling an entire party, but I did enjoy the combat and the out of combat dice checks.

There is a workaround for rolling a full party which I use (though I am rolling 3 so I can swap origin companions in and out). Start a LAN multiplayer session, create a character but don't venture forth. Start additional instances of the game and join the session. Create all your characters then venture forth for all. It will be laggy af, but once in save your game and exit out. You should then be able to load the game with your custom characters.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 5:42 pm

I read that complaint a lot, but I'll be honest - I've never understood why people would want to roll a full party in a game like this. I mean, I get the desire to create a full, balanced party with every member being customized to your own preferences, it's not that. It's the trade-off. Losing out on all of the story, the character interactions, the party banter, the character development - all of it. It's the reason that Baldur's Gate felt like a great fantasy adventure while Icewind Dale felt like a dungeon crawl.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 7:55 pm

Yikes:

Baldur's Gate 3 is going to be a very big game—in the neighborhood of 122GB, according to Larian—and it brings me no pleasure to inform you that you will not be able to preload any of it in advance of the August 3 release date.

Baldur's Gate 3 unlocks in full at 8 am PT/11 am ET/4 pm BST on August 3.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 9:24 pm

Good, you all download while I’m at GenCon.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 9:26 pm

I forgot to tell you. I’ve decided I’m staying home to play BG3.

Hyena · Post by **Hyena** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 10:02 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 5:42 pm I read that complaint a lot, but I'll be honest - I've never understood why people would want to roll a full party in a game like this. I mean, I get the desire to create a full, balanced party with every member being customized to your own preferences, it's not that. It's the trade-off. Losing out on all of the story, the character interactions, the party banter, the character development - all of it. It's the reason that Baldur's Gate felt like a great fantasy adventure while Icewind Dale felt like a dungeon crawl.

For this particular game I will agree with you. However, if they actually allowed players to ROLL their stats instead of a preset point buy, I would create three original characters and swap out the others to get their story. That's what I did with the other games; I had 3 that I created, Imoen for her story, then I swapped out the companions to get each of their storylines.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 10:13 pm

Blackhawk wrote:I've never understood why people would want to roll a full party in a game like this.

Honestly it's just that I didn't remember that the original was pre-made characters, as I never finished it and barely played 2. I spent far more hours in Icewind Dale.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 10:44 pm

YellowKing wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 10:13 pm
Blackhawk wrote:I've never understood why people would want to roll a full party in a game like this.
Honestly it's just that I didn't remember that the original was pre-made characters, as I never finished it and barely played 2. I spent far more hours in Icewind Dale.

And that's fair (I'm not actually knocking anyone's preferences, just trying to understand them.)

For those that haven't played the originals, they're more akin to Dragon Age or Mass Effect where a significant chunk of the game is the interactions with/between the characters combined with 'personal' storylines and quests for each of them.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:04 pm

I'm glad you brought it up because knowing it's just following the format of the previous games makes me feel better about the design decision.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:57 pm

Maybe, just maybe, I don't want to get that tadpole out of my skull.

Community Update #22: Power Of A Mind Flayer

Wield the Power of A Mind Flayer

Announcing Baldur’s Gate 3 Twitch Drops!

Meet the Phenomenal Extended Cast of Baldur’s Gate 3

Respec Your Party and Forge Your Ultimate Dream Team

Launch Day

Cross-Save Compatibility

Will BG3 Run on Steam Deck at Launch?

4K System Requirements and Ultrawide Support

Romantic Alchemy – Finding Love in Baldur’s Gate

Untangling Dialogue: Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Tue Aug 01, 2023 12:35 am

Max Peck wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:57 pm Maybe, just maybe, I don't want to get that tadpole out of my skull.

Community Update #22: Power Of A Mind Flayer
Wield the Power of A Mind Flayer

Announcing Baldur’s Gate 3 Twitch Drops!

Meet the Phenomenal Extended Cast of Baldur’s Gate 3

Respec Your Party and Forge Your Ultimate Dream Team

Launch Day

Cross-Save Compatibility

Will BG3 Run on Steam Deck at Launch?

4K System Requirements and Ultrawide Support

Romantic Alchemy – Finding Love in Baldur’s Gate

Untangling Dialogue: Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Allegedly there will be as yet undefined "consequences" for using tadpole powers. This is one design decision I am not so pleased about. I spent hundreds of hours in EA learning to loathe the little buggers and trying to extricate them. At least for the first playthrough I will attempt to ignore that progression.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Tue Aug 01, 2023 6:32 am

I suspect that embracing your inner illithid is a course of action that is well-paired with the Dark Urge origin.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Aug 01, 2023 1:26 pm

Jaymann wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2023 12:35 am
Max Peck wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:57 pm Maybe, just maybe, I don't want to get that tadpole out of my skull.

Community Update #22: Power Of A Mind Flayer
Wield the Power of A Mind Flayer

Announcing Baldur’s Gate 3 Twitch Drops!

Meet the Phenomenal Extended Cast of Baldur’s Gate 3

Respec Your Party and Forge Your Ultimate Dream Team

Launch Day

Cross-Save Compatibility

Will BG3 Run on Steam Deck at Launch?

4K System Requirements and Ultrawide Support

Romantic Alchemy – Finding Love in Baldur’s Gate

Untangling Dialogue: Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Allegedly there will be as yet undefined "consequences" for using tadpole powers. This is one design decision I am not so pleased about. I spent hundreds of hours in EA learning to loathe the little buggers and trying to extricate them. At least for the first playthrough I will attempt to ignore that progression.

Presumably it could impact the ending, I would think, at least as to your character. I do worry a bit that one could find out 60+ hours in that you are committed to a shitty ending already, although I suppose the risk of that is clear enough so one could just not use the illithid powers if that's an issue.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:22 pm

Out tomorrow. My understanding is if you own EA version you should delete it (and saves) since it gives you no advantage on the download and may take up precious space.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:26 pm

Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:22 pm Out tomorrow. My understanding is if you own EA version you should delete it (and saves) since it gives you no advantage on the download and may take up precious space.

What if you ordered through Steam?

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:28 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:26 pm
Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:22 pm Out tomorrow. My understanding is if you own EA version you should delete it (and saves) since it gives you no advantage on the download and may take up precious space.
What if you ordered through Steam?

If you just ordered the full game you can start downloading at 8am PT/11am ET.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:50 pm

Launch Eve prep:

1. Delete your in-game Early Access Saves
2. Uninstall the Early Access version
3. Delete your Mods
4. Install BG3 on an SSD
5. Update your graphics card drivers
6. Refer to the launch FAQ

Less than 24 hours until I watch Steam crash from all the downloads. Can't wait.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:52 pm

0.5. Buy the game.

I'm still working my way through Jagged Alliance 3, and the days when I can impulse buy games for the future are, I'm afraid, long gone.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:55 pm

Anyone know if this will be on GamePass (for PC)? I know it won’t for the XBox based on Googling.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 4:08 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:55 pm Anyone know if this will be on GamePass (for PC)? I know it won’t for the XBox based on Googling.

Not at release, at least.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 4:44 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 4:08 pm
Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 3:55 pm Anyone know if this will be on GamePass (for PC)? I know it won’t for the XBox based on Googling.
Not at release, at least.

Yeah, I haven't seen it and if it was you'd think they'd advertise it.
They already announced Starfield and Cities II fir the future.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 5:04 pm

Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 should be coming to Game Pass soon.

Hamlet3145 · Post by **Hamlet3145** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 5:05 pm

Larian commissioned a bard song for launch:

"Answer the Call"

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 6:27 pm

Hamlet3145 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 5:05 pm Larian commissioned a bard song for launch:

"Answer the Call"

That’s no “And the Darkstone won’t shiiiiiiiiine!”, but it’ll do.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 6:34 pm

I tried to love Darkstone. I could not.

I'm not even sure if I'm thinking of the correct game. I think I am. I don't care enough to look

edit: And my ocd made me care. Yes, it's the game I thought it was. Ugh.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Aug 02, 2023 6:45 pm

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2023 6:34 pm I tried to love Darkstone. I could not.

I'm not even sure if I'm thinking of the correct game. I think I am. I don't care enough to look

edit: And my ocd made me care. Yes, it's the game I thought it was. Ugh.

It was a mediocre Diablo clone, at best. But that song was a banger.

I remember thinking that your character leaving bloody footprints was the coolest thing ever.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Thu Aug 03, 2023 9:47 am

Yes, sorry, I realize the focus was not the game itself. I don't remember that song. I may have played with the music off, or too low (likely).

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu Aug 03, 2023 10:26 am

Max Peck wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 5:35 pm
coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 2:56 pm You D&D nerds have done a good job convincing me I don't need to get this game. I was already hesitant as I couldn't really get into DOS2 despite multiple attempts and the Pathfinder games about killed me. The complexity of modern D&D is beyond my interest.
Counterpoint: Hey, D&D powergamers: I promise you'll have more fun if you don't min-max in Baldur's Gate 3
It's time to let go of the game guides and Reddit threads, and just go with your heart when you get into that character creation screen in August. Let yourself spend longer choosing your half-orc's hairstyle than researching the most broken class combos, and you'll not only save yourself precious time that could be spent adventuring, you'll have a more enjoyable and memorable journey through Baldur's Gate 3.

This, combined with a lack of willpower and lack of other games to play, means I bought BG3 this morning. I'll be joining you all this evening but in a more clueless manner.