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

SkidAce · Jun 11, 2019

dalisprime said:
Surely power outages stop any form of non-tabletop gaming , unless you have a handheld console with fully charged battery, in which case the Stadia platform would also work since you can play your games via phone/tablet that can be kept charged up with power banks. As for data caps - just get a better provider.

I hear you.

But streaming and relying on others to deliver my gaming is not my method of choice.

I dont stream music either, I purchase what I want and then rip it onto my various players.

but hey...I get it.

/tangent

Paul Farquhar · Jun 11, 2019

gyor said:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.techradar.com/amp/news/baldurs-gate-3

Tied in tightly with 5th Edition D&D

"So, we started with the Player's Handbook, and we ported as much as we could to the video game," Vincke said.

Emphasis on STARTED, that suggests they're using more then just the PHB, meaning there is hope that the Subclasses, Races, Subraces, and Feats from the SCAG, MTOF, VGTM, XGTE, and Tortle Package might be in, or at least some of it.

"as much as we could" = some of it we couldn't. I.e. some of the PHB is NOT in the game.

As for the rest, I'm sure some of it will make it into DLC - you can have it, but you will have to wait longer and pay extra.

I can pretty much tell you what will and won't make it in to DLC now, and why:

In: aasimar, variant tieflings, genasi - can be done with minor tweaks to assets that are already in the game.

Not a chance in hell of getting in: aarackora (no flying), sea elves (no swimming), tabaxi (no climbing), eledrin (no teleporting), tortles, goliaths, firbolg (require unique game assets).

Borderline: Lizardfolk (might use tweaked dragonborn models).

Leatherhead · Jun 11, 2019

Actually, the divinity 3.0 engine already has flight and a z axis implemented. One of the fun things you can do in combat is shove people off buildings.

Paul Farquhar · Jun 11, 2019

Leatherhead said:
Actually, the divinity 3.0 engine already has flight and a z axis implemented. One of the fun things you can do in combat is shove people off buildings.

It does, but PCs can't fly more than short hops, for the same reason as teleporting is restricted. The story-telling aspect requires ground based triggers. Sword Coast Legends didn't have those triggers, which is why the story was a railroad.

MarkB · Jun 11, 2019

Paul Farquhar said:
It does, but PCs can't fly more than short hops, for the same reason as teleporting is restricted. The story-telling aspect requires ground based triggers. Sword Coast Legends didn't have those triggers, which is why the story was a railroad.

Teleporting is hardly restricted in the Divinity games - both short and long range teleportation are not merely accommodated, they're positively encouraged, and feature heavily in both combat and puzzle solving. If anything, 5e's teleportation options will feel positively stingy compared to those in Divinity Original Sin 2.

gyor · Jun 11, 2019

Paul Farquhar said:
"as much as we could" = some of it we couldn't. I.e. some of the PHB is NOT in the game.

As for the rest, I'm sure some of it will make it into DLC - you can have it, but you will have to wait longer and pay extra.

I can pretty much tell you what will and won't make it in to DLC now, and why:

In: aasimar, variant tieflings, genasi - can be done with minor tweaks to assets that are already in the game.

Not a chance in hell of getting in: aarackora (no flying), sea elves (no swimming), tabaxi (no climbing), eledrin (no teleporting), tortles, goliaths, firbolg (require unique game assets).

Borderline: Lizardfolk (might use tweaked dragonborn models).

They have a total team of 300! This isn't a small team/studio, like Owlcat, Beamdog, ect...

D: OSII had flying, teleporting, so it can have those, I see no reason that it won't also have climbing and swimming.

It sounds like they are trying to Cram everything 5e that will fit, so many of those races will be in, especially Aasimar.

When you have a team 300 deep, unique assets, especially ones you can use for NPCs as well, is no obstacle.

You keep comparing BG 3 to old Black Isles, Owlcat, and other similar companies, but the scale is radically different. 300 people, if even 10 are primarily focused on developing races, subraces, classes, and subclasses, it's going to be huge. Serious they could easily have 10 people who do nothing, but create Player character assets with a team that size.

Paul Farquhar · Jun 11, 2019

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Original Bioware, and more recently Owlcat produced amazing work with small teams - because those teams where highly dedicated.

Bethesda have a huge team, and they produce garbage like Fallout 4.

And why would they include aasimar, even with an infinite number of monkeys, when they can add them two months later and the chumps will pay extra?

gyor · Jun 11, 2019

https://www.polygon.com/platform/am...ldurs-gate-3-prequel-dungeons-and-dragons-rpg

Another BG3 article.

[video=youtube_share;IH1Xte953fY]https://youtu.be/IH1Xte953fY[/video]

https://youtu.be/IH1Xte953fY

gyor · Jun 11, 2019

Paul Farquhar said:
Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Original Bioware, and more recently Owlcat produced amazing work with small teams - because those teams where highly dedicated.

Bethesda have a huge team, and they produce garbage like Fallout 4.

And why would they include aasimar, even with an infinite number of monkeys, when they can add them two months later and the chumps will pay extra?

Because they are Larian, not some soulless corporate flunkies. They insist on self publishing the game, they refuse to force it out the door before itself ready. The sins of Bethesda should not stain Larian, who have an absolutely different company culture to companies like Bethesda. Look at how they developed D: OS II.

And as for DLCs, the Forgotten Realms and D&D multiverse is freaking huge, there will be no shortage of stuff they can add to BG 3, dungeons, planes of existance, nations, cities, races that haven't be updated for 5e yet like Wemics, Vryloka, Shades, Gloamlings, Spirit Folk, Henkyanoi, Para/Quasi Genasi, Blues, Illumians. Raptarians, Bladelings, Barbaurs, Thrikreens, Maenads, Synads, Elans, Bullywogs, and tons more. No shortage of stuff.

Paul Farquhar · Jun 11, 2019

Because they are Larian, not some soulless corporate flunkies.

They used to be Larian. Once you start hiring a couple of hundred extra people a company can change beyond recognition. Bethesda used to be good too, when they where a handful of people producing classics like Arena, Daggerfall and Morrowind. Bioware before EA is another example. Ten good people are worth a hundred also-rans, and when you expand rapidly also-rans is what you get.