We need to support and embrace this kind of games and studios more. They put so much love and effort into the game. But in the end, this game will probably profit as much as what Fortnite make in a couple months.
It’s always sadden me to know that even something as successful as Elden Ring, which sold 20 millions copies and made 1.2 Billion dollars, is nothing compared to what microtransactions make in games like CoD (2 Billion dollars per year) or Fortnite (over 5 Billion dollars per year).
And people complain why they “don’t make good games anymore”.
In some ways I agree they are pretty different, but fixating too much on particularities while glossing over core mechanics is a bit strange. We have space for a plethora of FPSs and action games of different styles, why are turn-based RPGs dismissed like this on a regular basis? Every gen or so we have yet another reminder that, yes, people do still like RPGs.
Baldur’s Gate may not have all ages cutesy characters, but D&D-style fantasy has its own appeal.
These things don’t necessarily follow one from another. Just because many fans are casual players, it doesn’t mean they don’t have a liking for the genre. D&D is not inherently repealing to the same group either. As much as Baldur’s Gate targets an adult audience, Pokémon as a series is over 25 years old, there is a sizable number of adult players. Not only there is an overlap, the differences may make it appealing to players with differing interests too.
Mind you, I am an adult Pokémon fan who plays D&D. As much as I understand that not everyone is like me, it’s not like Pokémon fans all evaporate when they hit 18, or they never again care for turn-based games.
Ultimately, the success of the game vindicates that there are people who want that.
There’s definitely some overlap. Almost all D&D players have played at least one pokemon game at this point. Hell even us old M:TG holdouts that thought that “Pokemon was for kids” when it came out when we were teens played Pokemon GO, though I know enough to know that PG wasn’t really a pokemon game.
I will admit that D&D players still make a minority of Pokemon players, but I maintain that’s mostly because people think D&D is way more complicated than it actually is. The rule books don’t help here. In all actuality most players will never read most of those books, because 90% of the “rules” won’t apply to your game.
I consider computer RPGs to be more in the vein of tactical RPGs rather than Pokemon/Final Fantasy style turn based RPGs tbh. It’s turn based, but positioning is key. Or, at least they scratch the same itch for me.
And Fire Emblem, XCOM, FF Tactics, etc have never exactly had mind blowing sales.
I don’t hear much talk of the optimization but the simple fact this is running great on a wide range of devices says a lot of the engineering prowess of the studio. Its amazing how well this game is runningnon my five year old machine. I know thats not too old but some new games make my cooling loop hot and this one doesn’t even make my components work that hard.
Honestly I’m not surprised, it looks like something out of the mid 2000s. That’s not to say something bad about it. Graphics don’t make a good game on their own.
Seems like the pre release was more demanding/less optimized. Running Fedora 38 and proton. Combined with the Vulkan option it’s been fantastic. And I think this weird glitch I was having two nights ago has already been patched ʘ‿ʘ
Specs: ryzen 5 1400, 16g ram, and a Radeon 5500xt. I had bumped a few options down on ultra, shadows to medium, and fog medium. Didn’t need to, but it’s helped without any noticeable graphic difference.
Now if we could just let our friends drop-in and out so I don’t have to keeo a separate save/character for them. I played with one yesterday and their character was stuck in my active party after they left.
Get excited. It plays stupidly well with a controller. I changed out my traditional pc desk setup for a recliner/TV setup and mouse and keyboard still get uncomfortable after not much time. Once I tried it with a controller… oh hell yes.
Ooh, yes, even more excited now! The recliner/TV setup seems perfect for this game imo. I bought an original Xbox a while ago just to play Dark Alliance the way I remembered playing back in the day, so this is going to be a huge treat either way
Not really. Baldur’s Gate is a Dungeons and Dragons based isometric game (camera like Diablo) from the late 90s-early 00s. You control multiple characters at a time and issue orders to attack, use magic, use items, etc. It’s much more RPG oriented than Skyrim or other fast-paced ARPGs of today.
Not exactly, though it is RPG it is overhead style and more heavily based on the way Dungeons and Dragons plays. It is a turn based game with RNG elements though not entirely RNG has you influence your experience based on your character build.
It is heavily story focused but friends playing with you is heavily encouraged. No play through is entirely the same and that is the point. While there obvious game play and story elements that will remain the same the idea is to have a different experience each time.
It is absolutely worth playing. There is a bit more freedom and fun by design. It is truly the first larian game that has let me play my first ever character based on childhood imagination growing up as a kid.
Definitely not like Skyrim apart from the fantasy setting, the game is narrative driven and everything is handcrafted by the devs. Skyrim has way too much randomly generated stuff to feel as rich as BG3. The game also is based off of dnd rules and is not real time action oriented like Skyrim, when not exploring you do things in a turn based mode and have to manage actions/bonus actions/and spell slots to do things. You also manage a party of 4 players and not just the one you make.
If you get the game and don’t have experience with DnD, definitely watch some battle mechanics videos cuz the game isn’t gonna explain all the nuances you should know to be effective.
Baldur’s Gate (the first) is mother of modern CRPG’s and what started BioWare. BG3 is arguable the best in it’s genre and surpasses Dragon Age: Origins from 2009.
Game is designed to be online by default, even though you don’t see it. If you want to play offline you have to go and disable multiplayer. Hence my comment, they shouldn’t make something always online if they are not ready for the traffic. If you switch to offline mode some events become unavailable. Although it is praiseworthy that they have enabled it to be played offline.
I absolutely adore and admire those at Larian studios. Divinity 2 is one of the best games I’ve ever played. I hope I can play BG3 one day since I don’t have the funds for a system that will run it or better yet, it becomes available on Geforce Now or something because I got a damn wedding to pay for and bills to pay!
As someone who has played Divinity Original Sin 2 and some of their older titles. You won’t be disappointed, BG3 is phenomenal. Interactions between characters has been massively improved that the added animated cut-scenes when speaking to characters gives them significantly more life. I think I still prefer the combat system in DOS2 but I don’t hate BG3 combat, it’s just different.
Yes, you can play on a LAN connection, offline assuming you both have your own PCs in the house. There is no split screen multilayer, yet. In fact, this is supposed to be the reason why only the PC version had it’s release date moved up. They didn’t see it as a requirement for the PC release and decided to work on the PS5 split screen issues, post PC release.
So PS5 will definitely have split screen functionality, and I suppose that might also go to PCs as well, but that’s just a guess on my side.
I was just playing split screen multiplayer on PC a couple days ago. Not sure where you heard that PC didn’t have it, if that’s what you’re implying. Seems to be working fine.
My friends keep telling me that getting the game is unethical because it supports Wizards, so I’ve not gotten it yet. I know Wizards is shitty and sent the Pinkertons to someone’s house, but does this game actually directly support them? Can anyone here weigh in on this? Should I just pirate the game instead? It looks fun, but I also don’t want to put my money in a bad place.
Sounds pretty wild to call it unethical to buy the game because of WoC (which isn’t even the one responsible for the game). I doubt their worst act even comes close to a normal Tuesday for a lot of companies you likely buy from, directly or indirectly.
You can look up Larian if you want, but they are far from a big game publisher the way EA or Rockstar is. And they are going against the trend of mtx or DRM. Pirate if you want, but using morals as an excuse for not wanting to spend money doesn’t really fly in this instance.
Larian is a fantastic company, Divinity original sin 1 and 2 both got massive free updates in the enhanced edition and definitive editions respectively, not to mention the mod-like grab bags they released. They’re great and I’m so oddly proud of their massive success with bg3
I’m not familiar enough with licensing contracts of this nature to know whether there are royalties being paid out based on the number of copies being sold. But in the case of whether WotC is going to get paid again for another licensed Baldur’s Gate game in the future, that’s already a done deal. Sales from this point aren’t going to matter. It’s similar to how that became clear pretty quick in the case of Hogwarts Legacy.
D&D is among the most mature IPs in gaming. It’s not going anywhere, and Hasbro has it right now. The most effective thing you can do is support one of its competitors, like Paizo’s Pathfinder.
As for whether you should pirate it, something to weigh is that Larian is one of the good guys. This is an offline/single-player capable game, with no MTX.
Ok, so looking into it, WOTC owns the D&D license, which Larian Games had to licence. So, yes it indirectly supports WOTC. They don’t own a stake in the game studio, and therefore aren’t directly getting revenue from this games sales. They have already received the licencing fees they would be getting for this game. It does however help WOTC since they aren’t developing their own 6th edition games currently and keeps D&D relevant so in that way it does support them.
Personally I would find that a morally grey area, and will pirate the game to see if I will buy it on sale.
What he means is that anyone can get clean files on GOG and then distribute those I think. No DRM or anything to clean up, so no need to rely on anyone to repackage it etc.
How is it morally grey? What factors makes it potentially unethical to buy a game from Larian? I don’t see an angle that wouldn’t immediately imply that it’s unethical to buy essentially any large company.
It’s the keeping D&D as a main part of the hive mind. I love D&D. Have played the first 3 editions. That being said, there are a ton more games out there, and it would be nice to watch D&D “die” again for a few years. See if WOTC is about to pull a TSR
Why is it a problem that IT was not prepared for so many concurrent players? Yes, it has multiplayer, but it’s mostly a single-player game. Did they pull a Diablo?
I know of it, but the vast, vast majority of games aren’t open source. A lot of them aren’t good in comparison to other games, like the Linux community loves bringing up Super Tux Kart and it’s just… Bad…
Just because they’re closed source doesn’t mean they’re spyware. They just want full ownership of their work and being able to profit off it.
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