D&D General Baldur's Gate 3 will now be releasing August 3rd on PC and September 6th on PS5, increased level cap, race & class details and more

[Burnside]

Does it keep your settings saved? I played the Early Access version on Stadia, and one frustration was that while it remembered my saves, it didn't keep my keybindings.

It does keep keybindiings, yeah.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

I honestly can't imagine enjoying this game with the scant selection of companions.

It's definitely valid to criticize BG3's selection of party members, whether it's for their lack of variety (two human male casters? all frontliners are ladies? no dwarves anywhere? but a whole bunch of elves?) or for their (OC do not steal) vibes...

 

[KEV777]

But there is no escaping that it is a very talky adventure, with lots of opportunities to Starfleet your way out of combat encounters.

If someone just wants to kill monsters and steal their stuff they would be better playing Solasta, Diablo 4, or dusting off Icewind Dale.

This ties into all this "redefining CRPGs" nonsense. BG3 is great if you like that sort of thing, but not everyone does.

Yes, I plan to perform an Axe murdering of the entire city.

 

[KEV777]

It's definitely valid to criticize BG3's selection of party members, whether it's for their lack of variety (two human male casters? all frontliners are ladies? no dwarves anywhere? but a whole bunch of elves?) or for their (OC do not steal) vibes...

If most of great NPCs from the previous games were available this would not be a problem.

Yes it’s meant to be like the old games and have a good deal of story and exploration. It’s not Diablo.

The old games are great because the companions don't get in the way and there is a wide selection of them. I get the impression that is not the case with this game. These new companions seem annoying and very needy. I just hope the dialog options are there to make these conversations less insufferable. IMO these origin characters are mostly there to be killed.

 

[Ondath]

If most of great NPCs from the previous games were available this would not be a problem.

Except a good portion of them either no longer have any business in the Baldur's Gate area, or died since the timeline advanced by more than a century.

Since Minsc and Jaheira are here, I'm hoping we'll get a few more easter eggs. It'd be great to have Viconia since we visit the Underdark AND she's a priestess of Shar, but even if she makes an appearance they kept that under wraps. I think the Shadow Druid companion is alluded in a note left by the Shadow Druids in the swamp area. The rest we'll have to see.

 

[deganawida]

The old games are great because the companions don't get in the way and there is a wide selection of them. I get the impression that is not the case with this game. These new companions seem annoying and very needy. I just hope the dialog options are there to make these conversations less insufferable. IMO these origin characters are mostly there to be killed.

It goes beyond what BioWare has been like the last 15 years, where NPCs are vital. Now it feels like I'm just along for the ride for these NPCs to tell their awesome, unique, edgy, and totally not rebelling against the Man, stories.

No, I do not like the BG3 NPCs. Everyone is too cute, all the time.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

insufferable NPCs

I'm sorry do you not like CRPGs lol?

There has never really been a CRPG after about 1996, and precious few RPGs of any description (JRPG, ARPG, Soulslike, etc.) which isn't stuffed to the gunnels with "insufferable NPCs". Even the beloved Witcher 3 is basically wall-to-wall deep pile insufferable NPCs.

I jest but seriously, it's sadly part of the genre. The few that are arguable are just combat sims.

The old games are great because the companions don't get in the way and there is a wide selection of them.

The rose tint here is bananas.

Back when it came out I literally played 6 hours into BG2, then restarted with a fake-multiplayer game with 4 characters I'd created just so I didn't have to deal with the BG2 NPCs (I left space for a couple so I could do quests with minimal NPC nonsense).

Let's not pretend they were any different. If anything these guys are more chill and less shrill than that bunch.

This ties into all this "redefining CRPGs" nonsense. BG3 is great if you like that sort of thing, but not everyone does.

I mean, it ties into being an ACTUAL CRPG, which a number of CRPGs really aren't, because they forgot the RP bit.

Monster-slayer simulators are cool but don't buy a CRPG if you want that. Buy D4 like you said.

It goes beyond what BioWare has been like the last 15 years, where NPCs are vital. Now it feels like I'm just along for the ride for these NPCs to tell their awesome, unique, edgy, and totally not rebelling against the Man, stories.

No, I do not like the BG3 NPCs. Everyone is too cute, all the time.

I had a similar attitude in the early Early Access for BG3, but I'm sorry they're a lot better-written now. DOS2 was peak "beyond Bioware" in those departments, and initially BG3 was like that, but they've gone a huge distance to chilling everyone out. Hell, they re-wrote the whole of Wyll to make him less like that.

So I think this is a rather outdated perspective. Also if you mean Astarion just say Astarion. You can kill him if you like - you're well within your rights.

 

[KEV777]

Except a good portion of them either no longer have any business in the Baldur's Gate area, or died since the timeline advanced by more than a century.

Since Minsc and Jaheira are here, I'm hoping we'll get a few more easter eggs. It'd be great to have Viconia since we visit the Underdark AND she's a priestess of Shar, but even if she makes an appearance they kept that under wraps. I think the Shadow Druid companion is alluded in a note left by the Shadow Druids in the swamp area. The rest we'll have to see.

Viconia would certainly help - but at the end of ToB they all went their separate ways. I understand that it really wouldn't make sense for them to start over at level 1 again. Of course, I do wonder what the excuse for having Minsc and Jaheira return.

In trying to avoid a traditional mix of fantasy characters, these writers have fallen into the cliché of obtuse character extremes. Many fantasy writers today are scoffing at traditional fantasy character races, but what they don't realize is that interesting characters don't need shiny things like horns or hellfire hair. They only need personalities that are believable and relatable. IMO, the writers have completely lost the mark on that. I'll take well written characters from simple and basic fantasy LOTR races over this crap any day.

 

[KEV777]

It goes beyond what BioWare has been like the last 15 years, where NPCs are vital. Now it feels like I'm just along for the ride for these NPCs to tell their awesome, unique, edgy, and totally not rebelling against the Man, stories.

No, I do not like the BG3 NPCs. Everyone is too cute, all the time.

That is a great point. No player wants their main character to be a tag along.

 

[humble minion]

The old games are great because the companions don't get in the way and there is a wide selection of them.

That's an optimistic retelling. I replayed BG1 recently. It's a massive pain how there's no good cleric party member until you're way into the Cloakwood, which is stuffed with poison and nigh-impossible to get past without a cleric, and even then you find the guy at the end of a tough dungeon and he's a multiclass. So you can either bring Viconia into your party and just resign yourself to doing evil stuff every so often to keep her happy (and probably upsetting Ajantis in the process), or you can resign yourself to doing a full evil playthrough, putting up with the cartoonishly moustache-twirling cringeworthy 'evil' motivations and dialog of mid-90s RPGs.

I'm looking forward to something more in-depth personally. NPC party members with a bit more emphasis on the 'C', rather than just being mindless minions for you to order around. Though different strokes for different folks, and i can see why it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. But then again, I missed out on playing all the Dragon Age and Mass Effect games, so this will all be a bit new and novel to me.