Steve Troughton-SmithI didn't expect Baldur's Gate 3 to go full-on Cyberpunk with the genital options. Fortunately there's no roll for size
I’m immediately invested; I feel like every little choice I make is gonna come back to bite me (perhaps literally?) later 😅
Baldur's Gate is not for the faint of heart, that's for sure! Though I guess choosing to infiltrate an enemy stronghold, assassinate its leaders, then fight my way back out as my first quest is on me 😅 So good
Larian RPG protip: always Speak with Animals
I figured the nice D&D game would start simple, like saving a town from gnolls and romping through the countryside. But no, I fought my way through a fortress and now I’m in the underdark 😅
Baldur’s Gate update: clutched my way through a way-above-my-level boss encounter, after invoking a god’s wrath and permanently losing a party member, by pulling out a beholder in a genie bottle and throwing it at them 👀 I was a good 45 mins past what I figured would be a non-canon quicksave, but I guess this is my life now. If there were ever a moment to use the nuclear option, that was it
Baldur's Gate is relentless; every narrative arc seems to have the kind of stakes you'd expect at the finale of any other game. I had no real expectations going in, but I have been surprised at how focused its story is — I figured it would be more free-form and open-ended, with plenty of downtime and regular RPG things like collecting things and bringing them back to questgivers, but no. This is a dungeon master’s opinionated narrative campaign and you're merely participating in it. Real good
Also the action economy/combat system is so crunchy and fun to manage moment to moment that it immediately makes the Divinity: Original Sin games feel really oversimplified and lightweight. Give me ten more games in this engine and I would play them all. I hope it gets a bunch of expansions
All I want is for my party to relax in a nice inn for a bit. Is that too much to ask? 😅
Turns out a bear is not the craziest thing you can sleep with in Baldur's Gate… 👀🦑
As the reviews finally trickle in, it confirms my thinking upon entering the third act of Baldur's Gate 3 that the best moments of the game are behind me. The experience has been mostly enjoyable, I haven't rolled credits just yet, but you can tell which parts of the game had years of widespread beta testing and which haven’t. It really hurts that you can't go back and visit older areas that you haven't finished off, even to just get some visual variety, because ~all Act 3 is city and sewers
The final Act of Baldur's Gate 3 kinda exposes what the game really is — a series of really-well-crafted combat encounters, with very lightweight narrative glue holding them all together. It’s not an open-ended RPG in the same way The Witcher 3 or Skyrim is; it's more of a funnel that front-loads a lot of content but gradually reduces in size and scope as it continues. One of the companion storylines in full is effectively two encounter rooms connected by empty corridors
It has been a Very Good Game, but I find it hard to believe anybody making it to the very end is going to give it a 10/10. The late-game bugs alone have been real frustrating, with long-gone characters resurrected by faulty quest flags and dropped in the room like they've always been with you, infinite looping inescapable dialog, and compositing/state flicker issues that have made some companions unusable in certain encounters, clip through the floor, or lose half their body geometry
Ryan Q@stroughtonsmith bugs only?
I keep considering it but I kinda feel in my heart the style of play won’t hold my interest for such a massive runtime.
Johannes ヨハネス@stroughtonsmith What the hell is this layout?!
Brett Elliff@stroughtonsmith I am kind of glad that I am taking this game very slow them. So far I am enjoying it.
CTD@stroughtonsmith hmmm. I’m barely halfway through so may take it slow. Real slow.
Sir David Nielsen@stroughtonsmith it is almost as if these people have experience with classic AD&D, which was all dungeons, ending in a dragon or two, after all it was designed was war gamers, so the combat was kinda the point. Story and role playing were kinda… optional extras. Hitting stuff and taking its stuff.
So it is a bit of a throwback, which is cool as well, I can dig it.
nuzzlerat@stroughtonsmith act 3 just feels so… small? I get the feeling there was definitely a bit of a rush to reach the end, which is fair considering how much time they spent on the game
Michael Stanclift
sdw@stroughtonsmith is that… an illithid?
Gordon Hughes@stroughtonsmith Now I can’t unhear Matthew Mercer saying that in his Ilithid voice.
MikeNM@stroughtonsmith can’t wait for the breathless coverage in Fox News of this when the Trump trial starts.
BenRiceM
TheBatman@stroughtonsmith and that’s enough internet for the day lol
S★m V★rm★@stroughtonsmith Man, these images are staggering. I don't PC/console game, but really enjoy you letting me dip a toe in 😁 The quality of the textures is sick
Paul@stroughtonsmith Not sure if you've seen this https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-expansion-interview/
Supposedly they're struggling to make an expansion because of how ridiculously strong double digit D&D characters are
Nate Martin@stroughtonsmith I’m loving it so much. I’ve never been able to make it that far in RPGs before, but this is just sucking me in.
Mark@stroughtonsmith wow this may get me playing. I loved the original
Josh Biggs@stroughtonsmith So glad I picked it up. Exactly the kind of game I've been looking to sink my teeth into. 10/10 no notes.
Wim@stroughtonsmith I am really in doubt if I should pick it up. I am gonna watch some YouTube videos about it first, as I never played a BG before.
@xtracer it’s more like the Divinity games than BG
@stroughtonsmith This game has impressed me so much. I played the original Baldur's Gate when it launched and was not a huge fan but this is a great game. Having fun in the underdark.
@stroughtonsmith I genuinely would pick that in real life as well.
Manuel Kehl@stroughtonsmith Haha yes! I’ve been playing a Divinity Original Sin 2 campaign with a good friend of mine over a long period and my character has had the “Pet Pal” talent from day one.
I was hesitant if that’s worth spending a point on at first but I’m so glad I did! Not only is it incredibly entertaining because they did fantastic voice acting for every last sewer rat, stray dog or random bear cub out there, but it’s also a great source of opportunities and quest starters 🤓
Ingo@stroughtonsmith It looks very pretty!
Sim@stroughtonsmith so jealous! Love seeing your posts on this. Can’t wait til it comes out on Mac. Baldur’s Gate I & II was such a huge part of my gaming memory
Cyril Zakka, MD@simsaens @stroughtonsmith I think it is - just saw this on the FAQ https://larian.com/support/faqs/macos-information_57
@czakka @stroughtonsmith oh I thought the release version for macOS wasn’t out yet, thanks!
saniul@simsaens @czakka @stroughtonsmith if you install it now you’ll get the Early Access version. They’re targeting 6 Sept for the macOS release, but still to be confirmed
chrizel@simsaens @stroughtonsmith I played Baldurs Gate 3 yesterday on my M1 MBA by using GeForce Now (Nvidia's streaming service). So if you are willing to pay the fee for the service, you could play it right now, and later switch to the native Mac version.
@chrizel @stroughtonsmith thanks for the tip!
@stroughtonsmith just saw that it’s compatible with macOS. Not a big gamer but might snag it and play for when I’ll have free time!
Jerry Gonzalez 
@stroughtonsmith everything about this game looks amazing!
Mark Danks@stroughtonsmith So, er, is it possible to avoid the gigantic, realistically rendered spiders in this game? Asking for a friend
Thom Holwerda@stroughtonsmith The cool thing is the game doesn't use gender as a concept at all in the character creator. You can literally be whatever you want.
Jer Clarke@stroughtonsmith How did I miss this?!! What platform are you on? The macOS version on steam is still marked “Early access”.
Bryson@stroughtonsmith dare I ask what the other options beyond "default" are?