D&D General Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access

Baldur's Gate III is now available for early access on Steam and on Stadia.

I couldn't get the Steam version working on my Mac, but the Stadia version works just fine. The opening tutorial level is pretty gruesome (at one point I had to squish somebody's brain) and the mind flayer airship you're trying to escape from beings to mind the movie Aliens a lot.

Character creation is quick and easy, although options in the early access are limited. The gameplay is like Divinity Original Sin 2 with the 5E rules layered over it. I've only played an hour or so of the game, and as an early access game, it is occasionally a bit buggy, but nothing showstopping (yet).

This isn't a review (I haven't played enough of it to do that, and I don't think it's fair to review an early access version anyway); it's mainly just an alert to the few people who don't already know it's available. If any such person exists!

 

[Paragon Lost]

I read a review of it on Ars Technica that was pretty brutal. Based on what they shared/wrote, I'd have to agree with much of what they wrote.

 

[MockingBird]

I'm sure this is going to be a great game but I'm afraid it isn't going to feel like the older games. I really wish Obsidian would have gotten the license. I say that because PoE felt like a very true spiritual successor to the original BG games.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I read a review of it on Ars Technica that was pretty brutal. Based on what they shared/wrote, I'd have to agree with much of what they wrote.

That Ars Technica review was absolute garbage. Half of the review was him complaining that he wasn't using all of his movement on his turn, which is dumb for obvious reasons. And the other major source of complaint was the companions, when Larian straight up said to everybody that the evil companions were going to be the first ones available and that players will be encouraged to play as evil for the first part of early access because they wanted to test out the evil options that most players otherwise wouldn't take. They've been very transparent about that. You can certainly argue about how well written or not those companions are, but that's not what the review was doing.

 

[Oofta]

There have been mixed reviews. One thing is for certain, games have changed over the past 20 years. It's like someone that only played AD&D complaining that 5E isn't "just like" their version of the game. Doesn't make it a good game or bad.

I'll wait until the real thing comes out before I make a decision in any case.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I find reviews of Early Access extremely frustrating... you're SUPPOSED to criticize it, it's not finished yet!

Also I saw one review complaining how the companions were to mean to him, and he wanted it to feel like they were his friends like an actual D&D game. Which I thought was funny, because in these sorts of games the default always is "People don't like you," as if everyone starts liking you, it's kind of anticlimactic when you have those break-through friendship/romantic moments.

 

[Gladius Legis]

There have been mixed reviews.

User reviews for it are currently 82% positive on Steam. The negative ones are about what I expected, too, only few of them were constructive at all. Most were "$60 for early access???" or "hurr hurr it's DOS3" or "hoe noes muh RTwP."

The only negative review from one of the major publications is that ridiculous Ars Technica one.

In any case, calling reviews "mixed" is a bit of a stretch.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I find reviews of Early Access extremely frustrating... you're SUPPOSED to criticize it, it's not finished yet!

Also I saw one review complaining how the companions were to mean to him, and he wanted it to feel like they were his friends like an actual D&D game. Which I thought was funny, because in these sorts of games the default always is "People don't like you," as if everyone starts liking you, it's kind of anticlimactic when you have those break-through friendship/romantic moments.

Also, all the potential companions are in the middle of an extremely stressful situation, so its not surprising that everyone is on edge and not being polite and friendly immediately (on top of being for the most part evil, which Larian said would be the first ones available to playtest).

The Ars Technica review is pretty much the only one anywhere near that negative - other articles are mainly "this looks good, but there are some issues, but then again we are at the very start of Early Access".

 

[Oofta]

User reviews for it are currently 82% positive on Steam. The negative ones are about what I expected, too, only few of them were constructive at all. Most were "$60 for early access???" or "hurr hurr it's DOS3" or "hoe noes muh RTwP."

The only negative review from one of the major publications is that ridiculous Ars Technica one.

In any case, calling reviews "mixed" is a bit of a stretch.

I was just pointing out that people shouldn't be expecting Baldur's Gate II with improved graphics. Game design has changed.

I'm still looking forward to the game when it's done.

P.S. Also, the Ars Technica review struck me as someone just being contrarian to get eyeballs.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm playing it. Of course it isn't like the original game, for the same reason Star Wars: Squadrons isn't like Space Invaders.

And it has some DOS2-ish features. But I'm fine with that, I like DOS2. Firebolt is much more fun when you can actually set people on fire with it!

I'm not into reviewing, but if you have any specific question about the early access version I'm happy to answer.