WotC More info on Baldur's Gate 3 coming February 27 2020

In this brief clip we see some voice acting for Volo and a quote, some motion capture, orchestra, some photography that I'm not sure how it would be used in a video game and lastly a date February 27 2020, which happens to be the date of Pax East.

Speculate away.

 

[ZeshinX]

Well, considering that they're mechanics are close enough to 5e mechanics that Mearls wants to use thier ideas for the ranger in actual table top 5e, I'm not all that worried at this point.
Also, I'm more worried that they're going to be so far up their own hats with trying to simulate 5e rules that they won't actually make an enjoyable game from the perspective of soemone who has never played table top dnd, judging by the words of the lead developer who proudly talked about their obsessive need to make it as true to the 5e phb as a video can literally accomplish being. I can't imagine many structural elements of a game that could turn me off more than slavish dedication to replicating the game mechanics of a different medium as The Top Priority.

Well as I said earlier, I'm not looking for a 1:1 translation. Examples of what I've found as good translations of the D&D rules to video games would be (knowing these are entirely subjective to my own tastes): Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 for 2e (and small bits of 3e in BG2), Icewind Dale for 2e, Icewind Dale 2 for 3.5E, Temple of Elemental Evil for 3e, Neverwinter Nights for 3e, Neverwinter Nights 2 for 3.5e. Hell, even the Knights of the Old Republic games used a derivative of 3e.

This does not mean I find games that do not translate the rules as such are inherently bad, merely of zero interest to me (meaning I do not buy or play them)...in the case of the most recent attempt at a D&D video game in the style of Baldur's Gate, Sword Coast Legends, that was just a giant pile of steamy poo in every regard (the fact it took down a studio and the company that took up stewardship after that saw no hope of saving it and allowed it to languish and vanish into oblivion pretty much proves that).

 

[gyor]

Well as I said earlier, I'm not looking for a 1:1 translation. Examples of what I've found as good translations of the D&D rules to video games would be (knowing these are entirely subjective to my own tastes): Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 for 2e (and small bits of 3e in BG2), Icewind Dale for 2e, Icewind Dale 2 for 3.5E, Temple of Elemental Evil for 3e, Neverwinter Nights for 3e, Neverwinter Nights 2 for 3.5e. Hell, even the Knights of the Old Republic games used a derivative of 3e.

This does not mean I find games that do not translate the rules as such are inherently bad, merely of zero interest to me (meaning I do not buy or play them)...in the case of the most recent attempt at a D&D video game in the style of Baldur's Gate, Sword Coast Legends, that was just a giant pile of steamy poo in every regard.

So how do you feel about Pathfinder: Kingmaker by Owlcat Studios based on Pathfinder 1e' s version of D&D?

 

[ZeshinX]

So how do you feel about Pathfinder: Kingmaker by Owlcat Studios based on Pathfinder 1e' s version of D&D?

It's an excellent adaptation of Pathfinder RPG. A game I was chomping at the bit for but came too late. I lost interest in Pathfinder (and the 3.x rules system) about a year(ish) before 5e released. I like customization and options...but Pathfinder degenerated into number porn and "builds" and the classes they kept creating became ever more ridiculous. I still love the Golarian setting for its lore and fluff mind you, but the rules there lost me a while ago.

The Kingmaker video game itself I supported on Kickstarter and played a bit...but it was way too focused on minutae and "simulationist" aspects. The party camp system alone turned me right off (I honestly don't give a crap about who's cooking vs who's hunting vs who's on watch). It certainly leaned heavily in the 1:1 direction of adapting the rules. Too much for me. I don't at all regret supporting the game and put 10 hours into it, but finally gave up on it, uninstalled it and played through the Enhanced Edition Baldur's Gate games again.

 

[Seramus]

As I understand it the amount of cheesy humour in DOS2 depends on your choices in the game.

Taking the Pet Pal talent opened the doors to a lot of humor, and choosing humorous replies would often result in you getting humorous replies back. But if you didn't take Pet Pal and made your replies serious then your experience would be serious for most of the game. Mostly.

Whereas DOS1 was jokes a minute, everywhere you went (which was fine by me).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Well as I said earlier, I'm not looking for a 1:1 translation. Examples of what I've found as good translations of the D&D rules to video games would be (knowing these are entirely subjective to my own tastes): Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 for 2e (and small bits of 3e in BG2), Icewind Dale for 2e, Icewind Dale 2 for 3.5E, Temple of Elemental Evil for 3e, Neverwinter Nights for 3e, Neverwinter Nights 2 for 3.5e. Hell, even the Knights of the Old Republic games used a derivative of 3e.

This does not mean I find games that do not translate the rules as such are inherently bad, merely of zero interest to me (meaning I do not buy or play them)...in the case of the most recent attempt at a D&D video game in the style of Baldur's Gate, Sword Coast Legends, that was just a giant pile of steamy poo in every regard (the fact it took down a studio and the company that took up stewardship after that saw no hope of saving it and allowed it to languish and vanish into oblivion pretty much proves that).

Okay. That doesn’t really bear much on what I said, though.
The devs for this game are obsessed with staying true to the mechanics of 5e. The likelihood that the game will be nothing like 5e is slim to none. That is literally all I commented on, regarding the prospects of this game.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Anyone ever play NWN2's second expansion, Storm of Zehir? And remembers Volo from that game? Yeah. He's supposed to be that overdramatic. The trailer is following precedent perfectly there.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

As I understand it the amount of cheesy humour in DOS2 depends on your choices in the game.

Yup, particularly on your choice of party. The lich and the lizard prince are particularly jokey.

And I say again, BG1 had a lot of jokes in it that these days people are quite unaware are jokes.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Anyone ever play NWN2's second expansion, Storm of Zehir? And remembers Volo from that game? Yeah. He's supposed to be that overdramatic. The trailer is following precedent perfectly there.

Volo also appears in BG1, and though he isn't voiced, he is useless and overblown.

 

[djlatbu]

I am 100% that BGIII is going to appear at PAX east, because Larian Studios has a large booth near the front of the expo hall.

That area is usually owned by your AAA devs (Microsoft, Sony, Square, etc...). So, it would be a huge waste of money if they are not showing off a playable BGIII demo.

 

[miggyG777]

That said, I believe [...] (Mearls in particular) are involved to a degree in the game (beyond just signing it off).

I really doubt that this is a good thing. Too many chefs spoil the dish, especially when you have a visionary developer such as Swen Vincke paired with a guy like Mearls who undoubtedly wants to put his signature on the game.