WotC Baldur's Gate III Announced; Powered by D&D 5E

gyor · Jun 12, 2019

Paul Farquhar said:
They have already said they won't have everything from the PHB - you quoted it yourself.[/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]

The original Baldur's Gate didn't have any gods as part of character creation. NWN2 and Pathfinder: Kingmaker are the only games I know to feature deity selection as part of character creation.

I was refering to Classes and races, not say spells some out which might be too hard to do, like minor Illusion, Silent Illusion, Major Illusion, ect....

gyor · Jun 12, 2019

CapnZapp said:
Given how even official adventures eschew the xp guidelines, and basically level up after specific chapters, I am having trouble seeing what the problem is.

Or hand out twice the default monster xp, or whatever.

What I'm really interested in is, didn't those old AD&D games, including Baldur's Gate, follow the official xp amounts?

I can't recall ever hearing this complaint against 5E before. That you level up too slowly.

Did you level up faster in AD&D?

It lacks the constant gratification of frequent levej ups found in most video games.

Kobold Avenger · Jun 12, 2019

I can't see how leveling would be too slow for them since Divinity Original Sin 2 roughly has 20 levels in a normal playthrough. Unless it's one of those games where the story is meant to end at some point just above level 10.

CapnZapp · Jun 12, 2019

gyor said:
It lacks the constant gratification of frequent levej ups found in most video games.

What does?

Sorry, what are you saying?

Staffan · Jun 12, 2019

CapnZapp said:
Given how even official adventures eschew the xp guidelines, and basically level up after specific chapters, I am having trouble seeing what the problem is.

Or hand out twice the default monster xp, or whatever.

What I'm really interested in is, didn't those old AD&D games, including Baldur's Gate, follow the official xp amounts?

I can't recall ever hearing this complaint against 5E before. That you level up too slowly.

Did you level up faster in AD&D?

Not in the slightest. Though I guess it depends on how generous the DM was with story XP in 2e (1e was more objective in this manner, giving 1 XP per gp worth of treasure brought back home).

But I think the tolerance for slow leveling was higher back in the day. The original Baldur's Gate had an XP cap of 89,000 XP, which translated to 7th level for single-classed fighters, paladins, rangers, wizards, and clerics, and 8th level for single-classed druids, thieves, and bards. That's for a game that takes 40-80 hours to play through. Today, I think that would be a hard sell.

One of the problems is that games with frequent leveling, e.g. World of Warcraft, have many many more levels than D&D. WoW started with 60 levels, and I believe they're up to 120 now. That gives you a lot more room for frequent "dings", and even after you've reached the max level there are many goals left (reputations, gear, crafting skills, dungeons/raids, and so on). With only 20 levels (and it's likely the game won't go to 20), that's hard to do.

Gradine · Jun 12, 2019

Both Divinity: Original Sin games made you struggle to get much past 20. I think 23 is technically feasible in the first game if you go full murderhobo.

gyor · Jun 13, 2019

https://www.gamespot.com/videos/is-baldurs-gate-3-giving-players-too-much-freedom-/2300-6450054/

Interesting interview, this one is longer then most. They still aren't asking the questions I would which is very frustrating.

Another interview. https://youtu.be/n9VgaaNPVeo

[video=youtube_share;n9VgaaNPVeo]https://youtu.be/n9VgaaNPVeo[/video]

Paul Farquhar · Jun 13, 2019

gyor said:
The last one that was any good was Storm of Zehir expansion to NWN2, every single one has been aweful.

So I understand the Skeptism, but I look at what has been said, and look at Larian's rep and that makes me hopeful.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is good (better than SoZ). Siege of Dragonspear isn't bad either.

It's just the ones WotC has had it's paws in that have been poor...

gyor · Jun 13, 2019

Paul Farquhar said:
Pathfinder: Kingmaker is good (better than SoZ). Siege of Dragonspear isn't bad either.

It's just the ones WotC has had it's paws in that have been poor...

Kingmaker is good, bugs aside, but its not a Forgotten Realms game so I didn't count it.

I can't speak to Dragonspear, but I have heard alot of distain for it, but that is all second hand.

Anyways a podcast with some more info.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/bzpljg/podcast_interview_with_mike_mearls_wizards_of_the/

The Ranger appears to be based on Mike Mearls Improved version of the class.

Paul Farquhar · Jun 13, 2019

Dungeons & Dragons isn't just the Forgotten Realms (and Golarion is basically the same thing, improved).

One of Dragonspear's creators became a pet hate for alt-right trolls, and it attracted a lot of unfair criticism as a consequence. Not that it's perfect, but it's better than SoZ, and infinitely better than Sword Coast Leg Ends. The ending of Dragonspear is a bit weird because it's basically an extended plot hook for a Baldur's Gate 3 that will never happen.