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!

 

[Zarithar]

I just read that the saves from early access wont work (IGN) once the game is fully released. Glad I waited

Heh... I am discovering that many of the saves don't work WITHIN early access!

 

[Burnside]

I just read that the saves from early access wont work (IGN) once the game is fully released. Glad I waited

Yeah, that's always the case with early access. This build is actually more stable than other early access games I've played.

But absolutely - by opting in now you're making a concession that you'll have to start over when the full game is released (which looks to be over a year away at this point).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I would say it works very well for a game so far from being finished.

 

[sim-h]

The NPCs are amazing. Only Astarion I can't stand and find irritating. All the others, I find very engaging in different ways. Shadowheart rocks. But she also dies, a lot, sadly. I saw a post from Larian saying she was the only NPC to die more frequently than the main PC...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I've found it's Wyll who dies all the time - Shadowheart has Mirror Image in her spell list which is currently very powerful in BG3.

I've found the enemy AI is pretty vicious. It picks a target and stays focused on it, it continues to attack downed targets, and it goes all out to break concentration.

 

[Nymrod]

I've found it's Wyll who dies all the time - Shadowheart has Mirror Image in her spell list which is currently very powerful in BG3.

I've found the enemy AI is pretty vicious. It picks a target and stays focused on it, it continues to attack downed targets, and it goes all out to break concentration.

Yeah the AI is a solid mean GM that gives players no breaks. Which is great for those who enjoy a challenge. As for me, I'm cheating my way through the game because I'm a lazy bastard that just wants to see the story (and there is finally a cheat engine script to always win d20 rolls)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, strict rules make Hex/Hunters Mark less effective than they tend to be in tabletop. "Whoops, did you trip over a pebble? You have just lost concentration on Hex." - Evil DM

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I've just reached the end of the early access section. About 32 hours logged on Steam.

 

[Nymrod]

I've just reached the end of the early access section. About 32 hours logged on Steam.

Haha and I still cannot even decide on how I want to play this.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Haha and I still cannot even decide on how I want to play this.

I decided that since this wasn't going to be a full playthough I would just pick something for testing purposes (Shield Dwarf Ranger) and play it through to the end of the chapter.