Games Baldur's Gate 3

[Deck Rickard]

Thanks again for all of the help. I realized I could respec my character with Withers and the game got SO much better after I changed from being a rogue to a paladin. My character is an absolute badass now and when I double team enemies with Karlach, they don’t stand a chance.

The more I play, the more I dig the combat. I think I just had to shake the mindset I’ve been in for the past few years playing games like Elden Ring and AC: Odyssey where fast combat is such a critical part of the experience. But turn-based fights are cool because they force you to strategize so much more. I also started a second playthrough doing the Dark Urge thing so I can make all the evil choices. I love how much it changes the experience. When I found Gale stuck in his portal at the beginning, I chopped his hand off and left him for dead!

The only thing that makes me a bit sad about this game is how s***ty the last D&D inspired game (Dark Alliance) was in comparison. That one is personal for me because I read a bunch of the Drizzt books years ago and I was excited to see someone finally make a game featuring him and his companions. And… it sucked. Like, so badly. I was hoping we would get a Drizzt or Entreri cameo in BG3 but as far as I know, it didn’t happen. I hope that Wizards of the Coast finally incorporates some of their best literary characters into the next BG game (as I’m sure there will be one, even though Larian won’t be doing it) because it just feels like a missed opportunity (especially when they name drop House Do’Urden and Baenre in BG3).

 

[Deck Rickard]

So I’m pretty close to the endgame now… I took out Orin (sadly, I was unable to save Gale, who she kidnapped), I busted the Gondians out of the underwater jail and blew up the Steel Watch factory. I still have to take down Gorlash and the Netherbrain, but I think I can give my final verdict on this game.

It’s the best game I’ve ever ****ing played. Easily. While I don’t know for sure if I can call it my favorite game of all time, it’s definitely in my top 3 and absolutely has the best characters of any game I’ve played. The core group are all incredible, particularly Shadowheart. Everything with her story (at least if you follow the “good” path with her) is tragic and beautiful. They really knocked it out of the park with her character and she is probably my favorite NPC of all time. The rest of the group is great too, especially Karlach and Gale. I’m going to have to play through this game multiple times just to experience as many different outcomes as possible.

And the villains! I have to say, I have never HATED so many antagonists as I have in this game, and I mean that in the best possible way. Shar and Viconia are such vicious ***holes, lol. Orin is despicable, but not as despicable as her grandfather/father . Gortash looks like an evil Noel Fielding lol. And Ketehric is easy to hate but also sympathetic (and you can’t beat the stellar voice work by JK Simmons).

Anyway, I know I’m late to the party on this (story of my life when it comes to video games) but I’m SO glad I gave BG3 another shot. It’s really renewed my interest in the Forgotten Realms and I even started reading the books again. Not sure what studio will attempt BG4 but… maybe they shouldn’t? Has a game ever been set in Calimshan? If not, then maybe the next D&D game should consider doing that instead because that’s one of the most interesting areas in Faerun. It’s essentially Tatooine… a hub of crime and villainy in a vast desert. I think the next time this world is revisited in a video game, it would be cool to move the setting like they did before with Icewind Dale and Neverwinter. Let’s go to the desert next time.

Sadly, I guess it won’t be Larian doing it, but hopefully whoever does will understand the shoes they need to fill. Regardless of all that though, this game is amazing. It really has set a new standard for fantasy RPGs.

 

[Gee]

@Deck Rickard Happy to read the game won you over in the end.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[blueharvest]

 

[DKDetective]

So I’m pretty close to the endgame now… I took out Orin (sadly, I was unable to save Gale, who she kidnapped), I busted the Gondians out of the underwater jail and blew up the Steel Watch factory. I still have to take down Gorlash and the Netherbrain, but I think I can give my final verdict on this game.

It’s the best game I’ve ever ****ing played. Easily. While I don’t know for sure if I can call it my favorite game of all time, it’s definitely in my top 3 and absolutely has the best characters of any game I’ve played. The core group are all incredible, particularly Shadowheart. Everything with her story (at least if you follow the “good” path with her) is tragic and beautiful. They really knocked it out of the park with her character and she is probably my favorite NPC of all time. The rest of the group is great too, especially Karlach and Gale. I’m going to have to play through this game multiple times just to experience as many different outcomes as possible.

And the villains! I have to say, I have never HATED so many antagonists as I have in this game, and I mean that in the best possible way. Shar and Viconia are such vicious ***holes, lol. Orin is despicable, but not as despicable as her grandfather/father . Gortash looks like an evil Noel Fielding lol. And Ketehric is easy to hate but also sympathetic (and you can’t beat the stellar voice work by JK Simmons).

Anyway, I know I’m late to the party on this (story of my life when it comes to video games) but I’m SO glad I gave BG3 another shot. It’s really renewed my interest in the Forgotten Realms and I even started reading the books again. Not sure what studio will attempt BG4 but… maybe they shouldn’t? Has a game ever been set in Calimshan? If not, then maybe the next D&D game should consider doing that instead because that’s one of the most interesting areas in Faerun. It’s essentially Tatooine… a hub of crime and villainy in a vast desert. I think the next time this world is revisited in a video game, it would be cool to move the setting like they did before with Icewind Dale and Neverwinter. Let’s go to the desert next time.

Sadly, I guess it won’t be Larian doing it, but hopefully whoever does will understand the shoes they need to fill. Regardless of all that though, this game is amazing. It really has set a new standard for fantasy RPGs.

The old guard from BioWare just so happens to be at a new studio owned by Wizards of the Coast and run by the director of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, as well as Dragon Age: Origins. They are currently working on an original sci-fi RPG in the vein of Mass Effect, but Wizards would be crazy not to throw all of their money at that team to make BG4 after it.

P.S. their new sci-fi RPG, Exodus, sounds super cool. The game universe has relativistic space travel so time moves forward decades at home while you are out on missions, which means you get to see the long term consequences of your actions in real time in the game.

 

[Deck Rickard]

The old guard from BioWare just so happens to be at a new studio owned by Wizards of the Coast and run by the director of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, as well as Dragon Age: Origins. They are currently working on an original sci-fi RPG in the vein of Mass Effect, but Wizards would be crazy not to throw all of their money at that team to make BG4 after it.

P.S. their new sci-fi RPG, Exodus, sounds super cool. The game universe has relativistic space travel so time moves forward decades at home while you are out on missions, which means you get to see the long term consequences of your actions in real time in the game.

Oh wow that does sound wild. Much better than Starfield, lol. And I agree; that team would be great for a BG4, Neverwinter, Icewind Dale, or my personal preference, a Calimshan game. I have to believe they would want to capitalize on BG3’s popularity and get it into production soon.

Also, I beat the game a couple weeks back. So freakin’ good. I loved the epilogue; I’m so glad I waited to play through it until after they added that. I immediately started a few new playthroughs… a good character that will play a bit smarter than my original hero so I can save key characters like Isobel, Florrick and the team member that Orin captures (Gale in my case), a redemption Durge character and an full-on evil SOB Durge. Slaughtering the Tieflings was awful, but I got to hook up with Minthara so… worth it!

 

[DKDetective]

Oh wow that does sound wild. Much better than Starfield, lol. And I agree; that team would be great for a BG4, Neverwinter, Icewind Dale, or my personal preference, a Calimshan game. I have to believe they would want to capitalize on BG3’s popularity and get it into production soon.

Also, I beat the game a couple weeks back. So freakin’ good. I loved the epilogue; I’m so glad I waited to play through it until after they added that. I immediately started a few new playthroughs… a good character that will play a bit smarter than my original hero so I can save key characters like Isobel, Florrick and the team member that Orin captures (Gale in my case), a redemption Durge character and an full-on evil SOB Durge. Slaughtering the Tieflings was awful, but I got to hook up with Minthara so… worth it!

Redemption Durge is such a great playthrough, seriously the best heroic playthrough especially if you are romancing Shadowheart on the path to redemption as well.

Yeah, the only thing that I could see stopping Archetype from being the BG4 studio is the fact that Wizards got Ohlen out of planned retirement by giving him full creative control to develop whatever new IP he wants, which is why Exodus has got such a great concept to it. It also helps that it has the head writer from KOTOR and creator of the Mass Effect universe writing it.

I should also mention that studio head James Ohlen was also the director of Neverwinter Nights and KOTOR as well. However, maybe nostalgia might convince Ohlen to make a BG4. I mean the classic BG legacy characters like Jaheira, Minsc, etc. were all Ohlen's creation. They were his characters from his weekly tabletop DND games before BioWare. I assume he might want to see his babies again one day.

 

[Gee]

Slaughtering the Tieflings was awful, but I got to hook up with Minthara so… worth it!

Shadowheart disapproves.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Redemption Durge is such a great playthrough, seriously the best heroic playthrough especially if you are romancing Shadowheart on the path to redemption as well.

Yeah, the only thing that I could see stopping Archetype from being the BG4 studio is the fact that Wizards got Ohlen out of planned retirement by giving him full creative control to develop whatever new IP he wants, which is why Exodus has got such a great concept to it. It also helps that it has the head writer from KOTOR and creator of the Mass Effect universe writing it.

I should also mention that studio head James Ohlen was also the director of Neverwinter Nights and KOTOR as well. However, maybe nostalgia might convince Ohlen to make a BG4. I mean the classic BG legacy characters like Jaheira, Minsc, etc. were all Ohlen's creation. They were his characters from his weekly tabletop DND games before BioWare. I assume he might want to see his babies again one day.

Ah yeah it sounds like he could be lured back to do the next BG or other Forgotten Realms game then. I wonder though, if he did return to the series, would he stick with the new turn-based mode for combat or would he go back to the format that the original BG games used? I’d be fine either (or possibly more action-based combat). I do hope that whoever makes the next game in this series makes the maps somewhat larger. One of my (few) criticisms of BG3 is that the individual maps feel a bit small, at least in comparison to games like Dragon Age Inquisition and Skyrim. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but as someone who loves to just explore huge open worlds, I would love to see even bigger areas next time around.

Also, speaking of Minsc, it will be interesting to see if he shows up next time since you can kill him in BG3 if you’re not careful lol. I also (inadvertently) got Jaheira killed in my playthrough but then she weirdly showed up at the very end and I couldn’t tell if that was a bug or if she was somehow resurrected.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Oh yeah, did anyone else think that giant phase spider in the caverns under the Blighted Village was a nod to Spider-Man 2099?

 

[blueharvest]

Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 8 Arrives Early on PS5 by Accident

Baldur's Gate 3 patch 8 was released early for PS5 consoles by accident. Here's how you can return to patch 7.

insider-gaming.com

 

[Gee]

@DKDetective Here you go:

Baldur’s Gate 3 Vinyl - Larian Merch Store

Larian Merch Store

us.merch.larian.com

There's also a limited boxset ($165 CAD) but it's sold out...

Baulder's Gate 3 Limited Edition

Pretty big box go burrrrrNo replacements if damaged. There's not enough stock.

www.veryokvinyl.com

 

[blueharvest]

As Baldur's Gate 3 Turns 2, Larian Boss Swen Vincke Talks About the Studio's Next Game and Asks Fans for Their Patience: 'We'll Need a Bit of Time to Make It All Work' - IGN

Baldur’s Gate 3 is two years old, and to celebrate Larian boss Swen Vincke has briefly discussed how its enormous success paved the way for the studio to work on its hotly anticipated next game. But don’t hold your breath for a reveal: Vincke called on fans to be patient as Larian "need a bit of...

www.ign.com

 

[blueharvest]

 

[Elayis]

 

[Gee]

He clears things up:

Larian CEO Responds to Divinity Gen AI Backlash: 'We Are Neither Releasing a Game With Any AI Components, Nor Are We Looking at Trimming Down Teams to Replace Them With AI' - IGN

This morning, the news broke that Larian Studios, developer of Baldur's Gate 3 and the upcoming, just-announced Divinity, is apparently using generative AI behind the scenes. The backlash has been swift, and now Larian founder and game director Swen Vincke is responding to clarify his remarks.

www.ign.com

Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian)

Holy **** guys we’re not "pushing hard" for or replacing concept artists with AI. We have a team of 72 artists of which 23 are concept artists and we are hiring more. The art they create is original and I’m very proud of what they do. I was asked explicitly about concept art and our use of Gen...

xcancel.com

While it is certainly disappointing to hear that, I believe the use of generative AI is fine during prototyping/concepting during the very early stages of development, and as long as none of the AI-generated crap is part of the shipped product.

 

[Elayis]

The problem is that if you're using AI to generate concept art or early prototypes then you're explicitly limiting the creativity of the final product. AI does not and cannot create new ideas, it can only steal from the work of real artists.

AI should never be used in creative endeavors, period. Not only does it rob human artists of employment, but it stifles innovation and originality.

I've also completely left out the ethical implications that come with AI (like intellectual property theft, environmental damage, increased strain on public electricity, a reduction in available computer memory that is driving up prices and will likely delay the next generation of consoles, etc).