Baldur's Gate 3

[xaldub]

I haven't been so torn over a game in a long time. I REALLY want to play, but £50 after buying a 3090 and a PSU may be the straw that breaks the camels back

Plus, do you want to spoil the story by beta-testing it now, and for the next 1 year or longer ? Or would you rather play the game in it's entirety, and fully optimised/polished, at full release ?

I'm holding off for now. If the game was in the final stages, and maybe only 3 months away from release I'd be tempted to get it now, but that's not the case ... it could be as long as 2 years until full release ( Larian are estimating at least one full year ).

 

[Bickaxe]

I wasn't expecting it to cost £50 and its still EA.
Its a lot more than I would normally pay so I'm on the fence at the minute (although I'll probably give in by the end of the day)

 

[Tombstone]

I wasn't expecting it to cost £50 and its still EA.
Its a lot more than I would normally pay so I'm on the fence at the minute (although I'll probably give in by the end of the day)

Think of it as a preorder, just like preordering AC Valhalla or Cyberpunk where you pay full price in the preorder, but the difference is that in this preorder you can play the game straight away until the full version comes. I find thats a better way of looking at it.

 

[HungryHippos]

I wasn't expecting it to cost £50 and its still EA.
Its a lot more than I would normally pay so I'm on the fence at the minute (although I'll probably give in by the end of the day)

Go on, you know you want to!

 

[SPG]

Turn based Divinity PAP, how to kill a game series.

This should not be BG3 but a brand new series based on the ruleset.

 

[Bickaxe]

Think of it as a preorder, just like preordering AC Valhalla or Cyberpunk where you pay full price in the preorder, but the difference is that in this preorder you can play the game straight away until the full version comes. I find thats a better way of looking at it.

I think I (and many other people) are so used to seeing EA games discounted before full release that its come as a surprise.
I fully intend to throw £50 at Cyberpunk but that price has been available for all to see for quite a while.

Would be good if they did a multipack like Sword Coast Legends, can't see our friends going for this until its discounted at some point.

@HungryHippos Ha, I know. There is a high chance that it will be downloading by the end of my lunch.

 

[eekfek]

I had to change to Dx11 from Vulkan to get the game to run, otherwise I just had continuous CTD's after character generation.

Good few hours in and it's okay, feels like Divinity 3 so far which isn't a bad thing.

£50 is far too much to ask for early access, but they knew people would pay it .. like muggins me

 

[Tombstone]

I think I (and many other people) are so used to seeing EA games discounted before full release that its come as a surprise.
I fully intend to throw £50 at Cyberpunk but that price has been available for all to see for quite a while.

Would be good if they did a multipack like Sword Coast Legends, can't see our friends going for this until its discounted at some point.

@HungryHippos Ha, I know. There is a high chance that it will be downloading by the end of my lunch.

It will be a long, long wait before its discounted. There was only 3 titles this year that I was certain that I would pay pretty much any realistic price for, Baldurs Gate 3, AC Valhalla and Cyberpunk. Purely because I work on the £ per hour system for determining game value and I am pretty certain that Valhalla and Cyberpunk will easily meet the £ per hour of play, the EA for Baldurs Gate 3 is 25 hours long, so thats 25 of the 50 required hours to meet my £ per hour, all I need is for the remainder of the game to be 25+ and its also hit the £ per hour for me. I think its pretty safe to say that the rest of BG3 is going to equate to 25+ hours.

Turn based Divinity PAP, how to kill a game series.

I dont think it will kill the game series, they are already projecting, based on day one sales, higher sales than BG1 or BG2 ever achieved and its currently sitting in 3rd/4rd on Twitch, which is pretty decent for a fairly niche genre of game.

 

[bakes0310]

Kinda tempted to get it in early access when it's a few months before finished version, to have a little play through with a custom character. Then when full release is out I'll do an origin character.

Downloaded baldurs gate 1 enhanced edition yesterday, finding it a little too old for my liking. Don't have the mastalgia for it as I've never played it.

 

[Kerplunk]

I'd rather wait until the full release and polish - Plenty of other games to get stuck in to at the moment

Looks good though

 

[Frubeling]

Turn based Divinity PAP, how to kill a game series.

This should not be BG3 but a brand new series based on the ruleset.

Mechanics from one of the best cRPGs ever made aren't going to kill a series that hasn't had a game out in 2 decades, plus Baldur's Gate is just a campaign setting like Neverwinter, Sword Coast and Forgotten Realms. It's not a game type in its own right

Plus, do you want to spoil the story by beta-testing it now, and for the next 1 year or longer ? Or would you rather play the game in it's entirety, and fully optimised/polished, at full release ?

I'm holding off for now. If the game was in the final stages, and maybe only 3 months away from release I'd be tempted to get it now, but that's not the case ... it could be as long as 2 years until full release ( Larian are estimating at least one full year ).

The potentially year+ to 1.0 release is very offputting yeah. I struggle to replay games and after that much time I will have had to save wipe and restart so many times I just won't be able to finish it. I may just have to reinstall D:OS2

Semi related but I was digging out some bits for my Nintendo Switch from the spare room yesterday and found my copy of Baldur's Gate 1. Pristine box, pristine map, still has the AOL discs and all

 

[arknor]

I wasn't expecting it to cost £50 and its still EA.
Its a lot more than I would normally pay so I'm on the fence at the minute (although I'll probably give in by the end of the day)

same 50 is way to high for me unless it;s a polished triple A title that's not going to farm people with DLC and expansions.

I'll wait for the complete edition or GOTY whatever in a sale.

early access usually means "never actually finished cos we took your monies, now so less people are buying the game it's just a drain on our resources K thanks bye."

they take in all the money they are going to what's the point in carrying on developing the game if there's very little revenue incentive?

 

[Gray2233]

Mechanics from one of the best cRPGs ever made aren't going to kill a series that hasn't had a game out in 2 decades, plus Baldur's Gate is just a campaign setting like Neverwinter, Sword Coast and Forgotten Realms. It's not a game type in its own right

Going to have to disagree with this.

Baldurs Gate might well be a setting, but Baldurs Gate 3 is a sequel to an established games series.

There are other games set in the Baldurs Gate area which have their own branding and style of gameplay, such as the Dark Alliance games.

I did not enjoy DoS 1 + 2, I found them tediously boring despite being a big fan of TB games in other areas. I, like many Baldurs Gate fans wanted an actual sequel in theme and gameplay to the originals -- if that isn't the intent why even call the game BG3 outside of marketing and hype thanks to the legacy of an at this point legendary series of DnD based games?

Granted SPG is clearly being hyperbolic in the grand scheme of things, I expect the game will do extremely well, but for me and those like me it's all but killed the series.

 

[Frubeling]

same 50 is way to high for me unless it;s a polished triple A title that's not going to farm people with DLC and expansions.

I'll wait for the complete edition or GOTY whatever in a sale.

early access usually means "never actually finished cos we took your monies, now so less people are buying the game it's just a drain on our resources K thanks bye."

they take in all the money they are going to what's the point in carrying on developing the game if there's very little revenue incentive?

You may be less inclined to see things that way if you read into Larian's track record. They're one of the few devs I'd still trust with early access
As far as devs who still have a vision that isn't just $£ they're definitely up there

 

[chroniclard]

I always used to pause a lot playing BG anyway, not that sure it detracts that much.

I wont be buying until full release though.

 

[HungryHippos]

I trust Larian to do a good job finishing the title so that would not be a concern I'd have personally.

I also think they are correct in saying that people actually playing the game can provide good feedback on how to improve it.

I guess the best way to look at it is it's a full priced game, but you get the chance to buy and play it early, unfinished, if you so wish.

 

[Frubeling]

I did not enjoy DoS 1 + 2, I found them tediously boring despite being a big fan of TB games in other areas, I like many Baldurs Gate fans wanted an actual sequel in theme and gameplay to the originals -- if that isn't the intent why even call the game BG3 outside of marketing and hype thanks to the legacy of an at this point legendary series of DnD based games?

They probably should have done what Pillars 2 did and offered the choice of RTwP and TB

BUT

I always used to pause a lot playing BG anyway, not that sure it detracts that much.

As said here, RTwP when heavily micromanaged turns into what is essentially turn based play anyway.

 

[Bickaxe]

I think there is a lot of trust on the buyers part and this is a reflection on the reputation of the developers.
From what I have read, Larian seem to be well respected which is why a lot of people are okay with paying it now. If they fail to deliver, the studio won't last long.

 

[Gray2233]

They probably should have done what Pillars 2 did and offered the choice of RTwP and TB

BUT


As said here, RTwP when heavily micromanaged turns into what is essentially turn based play anyway.

RTWP was what I'd hoped for, while chroniclard might have frequently paused when playing that style of game it was something I rarely needed to do. I felt it offered a more seamless experience and upped the difficulty significantly when playing the old Infinity Engine games, or titles like them. Admittedly it could be frustrating at times, especially if like me you didn't save scum and took losses where appropriate such as when a character would die (or worse yet be utterly destroyed), but it made for a much more rewarding experience in my mind. It's an option that would have gave both camps what they wanted, in fact it's fairly simple to mod most RTWP games into a more specific TB experience.

Don't get me wrong, I think Larian will do a stellar job, it's just unfortunate that their flavour of game really isn't my cup of tea.

I'm keeping an eye on BG3 if only to see if there's anything that might change my mind about it.

 

[Tombstone]

According to the data as of 9am this morning, Baldurs Gate 3 has sold 63% (since 6pm last night) of the total number of sales that Baldurs Gate 2 achieved in its release year. So I dont think theres any danger that it will globally kill the BG franchise, in terms of financial success its going to far outstrip any previous Baldurs Gate title.

I prefer turn based over RTWP - for much the same reasons as Chroniclard (I end up pausing so much that you might as well just give me a proper turn based mode), indeed the only reason I fell in love with Pathfinder Kingmaker was the turn based option. Having said that, I would prefer it if BG3 had both options, so that people could pick the one they prefer. Equally, having said that that, I would also prefer if every RTWP game ALSO had both options so that people could pick the one they prefer.

I've done 6 hours on BG3 so far and got to say I'm loving it. Looks great, looks more modern than many RTWP only games, enjoying the voice overs, liking the puzzles, enjoying the story and the combat, feels much more like I am playing D&D than most RTWP games that I have played and actually feels sufficiently different (aesthetics aside) from Divinity games that it feels like something new. The CRPG genre isnt one which is overflowing with new games, so I'm happy to just get one to play !