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".
What I love is that means this game would have been a success at 100k concurrent. That makes this a runaway success. Hopefully other triple As are paying attention to what Larian is doing.
Releasing an early access game as a full release? Other devs are doing that already.
Care to elaborate? The game had an early access and the official release has been incredibly well polished with few bugs that are already being patched out
Plus they limited it to act 1 only. So I don't get how you could even claim it was a "full release game released as early access". You literally couldn't even play the whole game.
But you would have to pay full price as if it was the full game so the fact that it wasn't the full game is even worse.
The game is riddled with game ending bugs. I've lost about 5 hours of play time from reloaded saves. Bugs that have been reported in EA are still present.
Missing key RPG fetures that were requested by almost everyone during EA. Such has more PC voice options, ability to change style of character in game and can't see full class or race level progression before starting.
The game feels too much like a Divinity game and not like a Baldurs Gate game. It's 100% a reskinned Original Sin. It's beautiful and has the lore of D&D but it has me longing for the dungeon crawl of BG 1 and 2, planescape, ice wind Dale.
Jump height and distance is insane. Maximum jump height for a running start is 3 feet yet my PC can jump the height of a 2 story building from standing.
Difficulty scale is backwards, the game gets easier the further along you get rather than scaling with you, like the original games.
Classic skills from 5e have been tweeked for no apparent reason other than to fit the reskinned Divinity skills. Skills with no comparable in Divinity, like dodge, were cut.
The ability for other party members to step into conversations is still missing. My fighter should be able to step in and intimidate rather than silently watching off to the side. My character that has buisness with an NPC should be able to jump into the conversation rather then having to select them and talking as party lead.
The spell icons resemble the pictographs of Divinity more than the previous BG games or anything from D&D.
I dunno, I got the early access for half price (of release price) with the 1st act (as advertised), and the full game at no extra cost.
The 1st act alone probably net me ~50+ hours of play, so their beta is better than 90% of AAA releases recently
There have been no discounts on EA.
Oh, I meant I got the early access right when it came out and was only like $30ish
The price of Early Access has not changed on Steam or GOG.
Did you buy it the day it released?
Want to continue to be a pedantic jerk?
Want me to share a receipt?
Sorry you are butthurt people are enjoying a thing. Now shut up
Yes. I bought it day one of release $60 USD.
Good thing is, it runs flawless on my Linux desktop too 👍
Just one of the best games I played in years. Good it payed out for larian to invest so much time into it. Maybe a good example for others that you do not need to rush a launch.
I love Lemmy. Geeks are everywhere. Linux is everywhere.
Seeing "runs flawless on my Linux desktop" on a gaming community is awesome! :)
Steam Deck is changing PC gaming. The better Steam Deck gets, the better gaming on Linux becomes. There are dozens of us.
Can we all take a moment to appreciate Proton? Shit is basically magic as far as I'm concerned.
GE-Proton too, that dude does good work.
I remember when years ago I launched Payday 1 and oh dude - 3D objects where white lines only, no textures, and 2-3fps. Things progressed quickly since DXVX project started. <3
I can also mention that it works flawlessly on Linux even with the GoG version (still through proton). It's uncommon for such games to be on GoG day one, and I wouldn't have bought it otherwise.
Oh nice, I went with GOG as well and was wondering if I'd be able to get it running on Linux.
Most GoG games can be run through steam/proton, but it's a bit tedious. I'm guessing that there are better approaches than what I do, which is to
Download install files from GoG. For BG3 it's like 27 or so files and one setup executable. Place all of them in the same folder
Add the install executable from 1. as a "Non steam game". Through the "Games" -> "Add non-steam game to my Library".
Edit the entry from 2. and add compatibility. (Right click and "properties". "Compatibility" and check the "Force the use of a specific Steam ...". I used Proton 8.0.3
Run it, and complete the installation. The install allows you to run the game directly, but don't do this. Just exit it after finishing the install.
Locate the wine installation for the game. Something like
"/home/<$USER>/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/pfx/drive_c/GOG Games/Baldurs Gate 3/bin/bg3.exe"
Edit the entry again from 2., set a nicer name. And the adjusted path above as the TARGET. And full path of the bin-directory it's in, in quotes, in START IN.
You should be able to run it as a normal steam game. I've done this with all gog games I own without much issues. Though, I usually check if it works on protondb.com before I buy it.
If anyone stumbles upon this comment, I would also mention that you can install any subsequent update in the same way, by editing the entry to the update file(s), run the update executable, and then edit the entry back.
Why do you use Proton instead on WINE? I've never tried, so I'm curious if I should look into it.
Proton is WINE on steroids, I haven't used it for a while, but ever since proton came out it's been a much smoother experience, at least for the sample size of me.
It is not recommended to use Proton outside of Steam. Use Wine + DXVK instead for GOG.
That's awesome. Also the lack of micro transactions makes me want to support them more. I kinda wish they had a donate button or something.
The donate button is buying the game and their previous titles.
Especially Divinity 2: Original Sin.
Or gift friends. Then play with them
When you’re out of friends, gift to random strangers!
Awesome idea that I totally just did!
The digital deluxe upgrade is basically that. You get some bonus stuff like extra bard songs, some cosmetics I think and the official Soundtrack. Stuff like that.
Is the soundtrack in the game files I assume? I haven't seen it yet, and I can't seem to get the dice skin to work so I wondered if I even got the deluxe edition for a moment.
Buy the Divinity games. They're all good.
I almost never buy a game on opening day for full price. But fuck microtransaction nonsense -- as soon as the devs made an official statement about it, I was on board.
Day 1 dlc.
And?
The key is that nothing in that DLC is needed to win the game. In fact, the only real game advantage at all is some camp supplies. The rest is art, character sheets (they're PDFs), and the soundtrack. It also allows Larian to throw a little extra at the early adopters who bought the game in early access.
"Day 1 dlc" means nothing without context. Not all DLC is pay-to-win.
It's also not egregious where you get a piece of a game, then have to finish out with dlc. It's one thing if you get a full game, then some optional add-ons. But we can't trust the "AAA" game makers to do that. Too much greed.
You could always buy a second copy to gift to a friend. Then you'd be able to play together on top of giving them another sale!
Buy the DRM free version on GOG if you haven’t already.
Sorry, dumb question, what's GOG?
It is another digital game store owned by CD Project, parent company of company that made the Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077. They originally started by selling old games that they would get running on newer OSes. They have since started selling new games and have an alright launcher that you can link to other stores to see your entire game collection.
Most importantly, GOG as a storefront does not allow DRM. If you buy a game on GOG and keep the installer around (on a drive that's regularly backed up), you'll always have the ability to play that game even if GOG's servers die.
Gog.com
Alternative games with some focus on old games.
I don't know why this sentiment is so popular. It's a single player game, most single player games don't have microtransactions... In fact I think it'd be odd and outside the normal if it did
It's not a single player game. It has online and LAN co-op. Lots of single player games have micro transactions these days too.
Its like everyone forgot Civ 6 exists
I wouldnt call it single player
The game has LAN support as well as steam cloud. While it's designed for single it handles multiplayer extremely well. The only annoyance I've ran into is that only one person can interact with a merchant at a time.
Game is designed for multiplayer from the ground up. Its the same engine they used for divinity. All about partying up, but has great single player support too.
@qwertyWarlord@AlecSadler I would like to respectfully disagree. Witcher 3 had DLC. Skyrim had DLC. Dragon age origins also had DLC. Many many single player games had DLC. I'm not sure where you're looking.
Dlc and mtx aren't really the same thing tho.
@StinkyRedMan got it. Sometimes it's hard to tell because in both cases I'm not getting a complete game or there's some sort of FOMO involved. Heh. I get what you're saying though.
There will most definitely be an expansion/enhanced edition for BG3. Expansions are not "in game purchases"
I bought it only because of their stance on microtransactions.
It wasn't really on my radar because turn based rpgs are not my thing.
I saw their press release and figured just for that upfront refusal to try rip everyone off to make money was good enough for me to buy the game and try it out.
I love dnd so it can't be bad
You could request they offer something small…maybe cosmetic…within the game that you could buy to support them.
Also they published the game on GOG - so it’s DRM free!
I love headlines like this.
Larian makes such great games. This kind of success means maybe a BG4 somewhere down the line.
The saddest thing is that with the destruction of the media over the past 20 years, I'm still waiting to hear whether it's actually any good or not.
It's super fuckin good. If you liked dos2, it's basically that but with more immersive conversations, more potential dialogue trees, more DnD like, and more titties and dongs.
i was flabbergasted to see titty and (various) dodongos on my character just like that. it's rad as fuck! I've spent the past 2 hours pretty much just reading flavor text. 100% worth the asking price, especially since it runs perfectly on my potato pc on ultra.
It’s good, best with a group
Definitely not unless your group is insanely dedicated to keeping it serious. All it takes is one person who doesn't care about lore or the story or some NPC talking to rush through something or make a joke and completely take you out of it. I could never play it in a group on my first serious play.
Just like regular D&D!
it's best in any format, imo. shaping up to be my all-time favorite game.
The group glitch where someone can’t leave your party once they join is pretty bad.
It's very good. Larian studios really went above and beyond with the level and attention to detail. The replayability is incredible. Most streamers are still on act one and there is no shortage of stuff to do.
Edit: autocorrected a word
Latharian studios
Guessing some kinda typo/autocorrect business going on here, but just to cover the bases, it's Larian, not Latharian.
Yeah I think part of the reason there's so few reviews is that the game is so large that not my reviewers have finished it yet. Or at least a lit of what I'm seeing are "reviews in progress"
Fucked a tiefling with my dragon penis, 10/10
It’s fantastic, if you have any familiarity with d&d and enjoyed that experience then you’ll love this.
It’s good. It may well be my favorite game, ever.
I have added the Baldur's Gate series to my backlog, I will probably play these in 10-15 years, wish me luck.
Just in time for BG4! (probably)
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.
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.
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.
Wtf is this? Have you seen the in-engine character expressions? Shit looks phenomenal.
Odd headline. Seems very rooted in the assumption of online gaming these days to me but then you get in and the article is basically just saying the game is a huge success, which is great news I'm sure we can all agree. :)
The game does have multiplayer. If it's not using P2P connections, preparing for 100k players and having 700k could make that slower. But I'm pretty sure it's P2P so that doesn't make any difference.
There's still going to be some server overheads in connecting players together initially (I don't think it works just by IP), but yeah I think the game stuff itself is P2P.
The Steam Matchmaking API is included in their 30% cut. They can have 0 servers.
Really? What's the benefit of going solo instead of paying the 30% thru steam.
If you're launching on Steam you're paying the 30% anyways.
If you publish elsewhere there's a lot you have to build yourself, but it would allow more freedom in the way you implement it. It might also be cheaper, but that depends on the way you do things.
I’m not suggesting they do, just that it’s a feature Steam provides. I just didn’t want to call it free as they pay for it.
Obviously 30% higher revenue per unit is the benefit of self publishing.
So.... I'm the only one not playing it?
what are you even doing right now that's so important
Being lazy
Yes
Don't worry, I'm too poor to play (weak ass laptop, game cost a bunch in my country, and work, and kids)
If it wasn’t for those pesky kids
Nope, I'm playing DOS2, since that's been sitting in my steam library for way too long!
THEN maybe I'll BG3. If my laptop can handle it...
Currently playing it too after a 3 year break. :)
Me too, but only because I'm waiting for the PS5 version.
Oh! That will be my excuse too. Didn’t realize it wasn’t on consoles yet.
I’m waiting for it not to be 90 bucks, probably pick it up in a year
Dang. Here I thought we had it bad in CAD
I'm finishing D:OS2 first with another party. Also Larian games are always better a couple months or so after release, so I don't mind waiting. So no not the only one :)
There is still time to change that.
As someone who hasn't ever really gotten into cRPGs before, how is the game? Is it hard to get into/is there a big learning curve to this game?
It’s heavy on the D&D 5e rulebook, if you have any level of familiarity with that it will all come naturally.
If you don’t, that’s ok too, they did a really good job describing rolls, saving throws, attack rolls, etc, in the guided tooltips.
If you haven't played a game like this, there is a learning curve. I've been playing stuff like this for decades and there's still lots to explore, in purely mechanical terms, with BG3.
That said, it is very much worth the initial investment. I found playing Divinity 2: original sin very much prepared me for BG3. You could start there a little more cheaply before delving into this expensive title. At least then you can see if you enjoy this style of game.
Being familiar with dnd 5e will give you a head start in the basics. Things like how ability scores and combat/social interactions can play out. But not necessary. They've changed quite a few minor things that deviate from the tabletop game that I've found myself having to actually unlearn dnd.
Monks are actually useable. Went with a 4 elements subclass. So I have a mix of spell-like abilities for range, and can still smack things with my staff and fist.
The main thing is, being aware of the micromanaging you'll have to do in combat. Don't be afraid to use consumables. And explore! I'm still only in act 1.( I've had pre release for over a year, so I'm taking it slow to see what changes are in the actual release).
And like regular DND, positioning is really important. Use the environment to your advantage: block line of sight, have the high ground, use spells that have an AOE to drive enemies where you want them to be.
If you go charging into the middle of the open room surrounded by baddies you're probably gonna get wrecked.
Yup, and action economy is still king 👑. Action surges, flurry of blows etc. Even at lvl 5 vs lvl 2 goblins can still be dangerous if your group is outnumbered.
If you're passingly familiar with 5E D&D, you should be pretty much good to go. The CRPG-ness of it shouldn't be too much to get your head around if you know the underlying system at all.
You can do what I did: turn down the difficulty until you get the hang of it. It's adjustable during the game, so you can crank it back up later.
750k concurrent players several days after release, quite the feat!
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.
My buddy has been playing co-op with me using GeForce now and it's worked great so far
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?
They didn't pull a Diablo because you don't have to wait in a login queue to play single player.
A lot of people are playing with their friends, not just alone
Is it not p2p and should barely matter?
Yeah players can drop in and out of games pretty fast plus there's stuff like user authentication
I mean yeah, bear sex
Plus Goblin and Ogre sex. THAT was an eye opener.
wait... we can have sex with goblins and ogres? quietly takes furious notes
Goblin slayer would be disapointed in you.
Bugbear, not goblin. A goblin probably could have climbed right in there.
#virile!
That's wonderful!
I wish my shitty ADHD-OCD mix brain would let me play it instead of doing shit through a system or something. I can't even play anything I want to cuz I'll feel bad that I'm not something the universe would want me to
You are a human. One of the things humans do is enjoy and have fun. It is in our programming. The universe wants you to enjoy and have fun.
Also, a big things humans do is endurance. Long term action and planning is kinda a thing we can do, while many other species specialize in rapid response. Taking the time to enjoy recharges our batteries so we can be more productive in the long long term.
Supporting systems that help others experience joy and fun (entertainment, the arts, sports recreation), through participation in ways that speak to you, helps all of us recharge our batteries. So our systemic endurance increases.
It's ok to play. It's necessary for our survival.
Mate, as soon as you get your shitty ADHD-OCD brain into it then you'll be hooked. There's plenty to keep you busy.
Well deserved, haven’t play it a lot personally but friends are very much still raving about it after playing for 20+ hours, so well worth it.
It seems this game has local coop? I was wondering if it was a nice experience for me and my GF
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.
Do you need two copies of the game for that?
Using software called Parsec, you can use 1 copy of the game where the person who owns it streams it to your pc.
Thanks a lot for the summary! 🤗
I'm so hoping my husband will play this with me when it comes out on Ps5. He rarely plays games with me - but this one is too fun is to pass up
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
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.
I mean it's definitely licensed d&d 5e content
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.
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
Be careful, at least one version has a bitcoin miner. Look for fitgirl or rune.
Asking as someone who plays DnD 5e, how much of the fun of this game is in playing multiplayer with a consistent party?
Me and 3 friends have had a lot of fun with Divinity Original Sin 2 multiplayer. There's usually a lot of shenanigans and fun happenings as a direct effect of having several players bringing their own style to the game.
Just be advised that the experience will not be the same as playing single player. From what I understand the multiplayer experience in BG3 is much improved but I found that when playing with friends in DOS2 that I could not for instance take the time to dive in deep with conversations, quests, lore etc as I would like.
There is also a current issue in that if someone joins your game with a custom character, that character will from then on be a permanent member of the party. You cannot at the moment get rid of them in any way.
Bottom line it is fun, but you should treat it as a separate thing from single player - and definately have a dedicated playthrough for multiplayer.
I found that when playing with friends in DOS2 that I could not for instance take the time to dive in deep with conversations, quests, lore etc as I would like.
This is also my experience. IMHO BG3 is also more focused on conversations than Divinity 1 and 2 or at least you can focus more on it. You can also just kill everybody of course. For now at least I feel like only a small part of my time with BG3 was in combat. Most of it was exploring and talking to people. I'm sure coop is fun, but I'd rather play is solo.
I spent some time playing 4p at the weekend. Personally, I loved it. It definitely had the feel of a ttrpg session. Your experience will completely come down to who you are playing with
Looking up similar questions for DOS2 might help. Different combat base system, but the multiplayer implementation seems to be your main concern.
Just be aware that a lot of the abilities are very different than how they work in 5e and a lot of the descriptions of abilities still need a lot of polishing. I've only tried single player but that's my only gripe.
I'd say under 20%.
I play this game duo with a friend (where, like for d&d - it's hard to match schedules) and solo with 2 characters (and a third to follow after). I obviously like playing it with my friend, but tbh I think I like playing it solo just as much, or more. Both my solo campaigns and my duo one are pretty much in sync, but in my solo stuff I get to do what I want, with no consequences. Imagine if your d&d table is good-aligned, but after the session you get to go home and play the same session again, with your chaotic party, who doesn't take shit from town guards or uppity priests, who intimidates instead of persuading, who loots the dead king's body instead of saving him. So yeah, you can have both types of fun :)
I should make a Drow....
That's what I did. Her skin is white though so she basically looks like a normal boring human though lol.
I wanna contribute to that number but I've encountered a progression halting glitch. :(
It's a shame the game is still basically an early access. Exactly why you don't pre-order.
Games this large and complex, with this many systems are always going to have some glitches. Overall this game runs great, and the vast majority of people have not had major issues afaik. Saying it's still "early access" because there is a glitch in it is just ridiculous.
The game as save ending bugs that were reported during early access. More than enough people are still complaining about these issues.
I actually got this game during early access and dropped it due to something similar.
But yes, never pre-order.
Not sure why the author makes a big deal about the game being single player. I’m intending to play it with my friend. Just waiting for his PC upgrade to arrive.
PC upgrade? I play BG3 on steam deck, runs great. I imagine any PC in the last 10 years could run the game well enough.
His PC is more than 10 years old lol
It runs well on Steam Deck? Damn, was going to wait a month or so for PS5 but if it runs well on Deck... How many fps we talking?
I have it locked at 30 fps out of habit. It runs pretty damn smooth, rarely dipping below 30 fps on medium settings. I haven’t played with any of the settings at all, just locked it to 39 fps and went in my way.
Not sure why the author makes a big deal about the game being single player.
Because the majority of capital in the games industry is currently being thrown behind MP-primary/only Games As A Service experiences, and aside from a select few Sony studios, most AAA development is moving away from Single-player
I've really been getting into Sony Studio titles lately, and I hope they continue their trend of pushing games to Steam as PC ports!
Nobody makes singleplayer games anymore because you only buy them once instead of spending hundreds/thousands over the lifecycle of the game. You're supposed to bend over and take it like a man. For capitalism!
That's why a game like this is so refreshing. A good singleplayer experience that you can also OPTIONALLY share with your friends, and I also intend to do that. I'm literally going to go on Steam and buy two copies now.
It's one of the best gaming experiences I had in years!
Wasn't sure if I still had a taste for this kind of game, but I'm loving it so far.
Waiting on the Xbox release date announcement
what is baldurs gate? ive nevet heard of it, skyrim 2.0?
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.
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.
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.
Not sure of others having been having issues with steam save file cloud sync but it seems like every other time i try to start the game it hangs on syncing errors. Wonder if it's just me or maybe a bunch of people due to the larger than expected concurrent player number.
I believe it shouldn't matter how many concurrent users are playing a specific game. Steam's cloud save service is handling dozens of millions of users at any given time.
Sucks it's happening to you, tho :(
Imagine making a game so popular that you give Valve's servers the hug of death
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.
Yeah I love Linux but I'm not about to put 600 hours into open tux cart
Won't even launch for me on steam deck, tried all the proton types, verifying files, restarting the deck, dx11 or vulkan, etc etc.
Nothing.
Incredibly big waste of money and disappointment
It’ll likely get fixed unless you did something funky to your steam deck that makes it a weird edge case
Steam offers refunds
Yeah, they must have done something because it fired right up for me. I've died 30 some times already in my first day (I like to touch things and I'm horrible at making save throws 🙃)
How does it run on Steam Deck? I was probably going to wait for PS5, but don't know how the controls will be.
Runs great! Took a bit to get the hang of the controls and the battle system, but I'm 10 hours in and it's a fantastic game.
"It works for me so its obviously something you did" is never helpful and often just rude.
The number one cause of errors is overwhelmingly operator error.
Good point, his Steam Deck probably just needs its aura cleansed.
The machine spirit inside is clearly unhappy.
binaric screeching
What could I possibly have done to it, I only use it to play steam games, I bought this game, tried to launch it, and nothing.
Just because you don't experience an issue doesn't mean it's infallible and somebody else isn't.
What I’m saying is that unlike other PCs the steam deck has very few varying factors (out of the box). Meaning, if it works for others, it is likely it could work for you.
I’m not saying anything or anyone is infallible. In fact, I just had a look at proton DB and there are certainly plenty other people with similar problems.
These are good news because Larian has a reputation for supporting and improving their games long after release. These kinks will get ironed out.
And again, if you don’t wish to be an early adopter (which is completely fine), refund it.
Buying the game now is not being an early adopter, that's what early access was which I didn't purchase. Additionally, it's fine for it to be fully released AND still not verified on deck or ready for it.
This is also not the case. It is now in full release AND deck verified.
Saying I should refund it if I don't want to be an early adopter is a fallacy of the facts, and is blaming the consumer for the product being in a state lesser than advertised.
I can't understand how you can defend a game that has been in early access, is now in full release, and deck verified, having issues even LAUNCHING on deck. It shows an ignorance of facts and a bias view in favour of the "everything is fine, larian good" view.
You do you, friend. I’m not trying to defend anything, just trying to help you out.
If you want to go on a crusade against anti-consumer practices or whatever then requesting a refund seems like the first step.
In short:
🤷♂️
No crusade at all, quite the dramatic description, just thought I'd clarify the difference between "early adopter" and "full price, full release, deck verified"
Have you tried using the --skip-launcher launch parameter? Seems to work with a lot of people with Proton Experimental.
Yeah, doesn't do anything either for me, it already doesn't use the launcher it goes straight to the larian logo, then nvidia, then crash.
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".
What I love is that means this game would have been a success at 100k concurrent. That makes this a runaway success. Hopefully other triple As are paying attention to what Larian is doing.
Releasing an early access game as a full release? Other devs are doing that already.
Care to elaborate? The game had an early access and the official release has been incredibly well polished with few bugs that are already being patched out
Plus they limited it to act 1 only. So I don't get how you could even claim it was a "full release game released as early access". You literally couldn't even play the whole game.
But you would have to pay full price as if it was the full game so the fact that it wasn't the full game is even worse.
The game is riddled with game ending bugs. I've lost about 5 hours of play time from reloaded saves. Bugs that have been reported in EA are still present.
Missing key RPG fetures that were requested by almost everyone during EA. Such has more PC voice options, ability to change style of character in game and can't see full class or race level progression before starting.
The game feels too much like a Divinity game and not like a Baldurs Gate game. It's 100% a reskinned Original Sin. It's beautiful and has the lore of D&D but it has me longing for the dungeon crawl of BG 1 and 2, planescape, ice wind Dale.
Jump height and distance is insane. Maximum jump height for a running start is 3 feet yet my PC can jump the height of a 2 story building from standing.
Difficulty scale is backwards, the game gets easier the further along you get rather than scaling with you, like the original games.
Classic skills from 5e have been tweeked for no apparent reason other than to fit the reskinned Divinity skills. Skills with no comparable in Divinity, like dodge, were cut.
The ability for other party members to step into conversations is still missing. My fighter should be able to step in and intimidate rather than silently watching off to the side. My character that has buisness with an NPC should be able to jump into the conversation rather then having to select them and talking as party lead.
The spell icons resemble the pictographs of Divinity more than the previous BG games or anything from D&D.
I dunno, I got the early access for half price (of release price) with the 1st act (as advertised), and the full game at no extra cost.
The 1st act alone probably net me ~50+ hours of play, so their beta is better than 90% of AAA releases recently
There have been no discounts on EA.
Oh, I meant I got the early access right when it came out and was only like $30ish
The price of Early Access has not changed on Steam or GOG.
Did you buy it the day it released?
Want to continue to be a pedantic jerk?
Want me to share a receipt?
Sorry you are butthurt people are enjoying a thing. Now shut up
Yes. I bought it day one of release $60 USD.
Good thing is, it runs flawless on my Linux desktop too 👍 Just one of the best games I played in years. Good it payed out for larian to invest so much time into it. Maybe a good example for others that you do not need to rush a launch.
I love Lemmy. Geeks are everywhere. Linux is everywhere.
Seeing "runs flawless on my Linux desktop" on a gaming community is awesome! :)
Steam Deck is changing PC gaming. The better Steam Deck gets, the better gaming on Linux becomes. There are dozens of us.
Can we all take a moment to appreciate Proton? Shit is basically magic as far as I'm concerned.
GE-Proton too, that dude does good work.
I remember when years ago I launched Payday 1 and oh dude - 3D objects where white lines only, no textures, and 2-3fps. Things progressed quickly since DXVX project started. <3
I can also mention that it works flawlessly on Linux even with the GoG version (still through proton). It's uncommon for such games to be on GoG day one, and I wouldn't have bought it otherwise.
Oh nice, I went with GOG as well and was wondering if I'd be able to get it running on Linux.
Most GoG games can be run through steam/proton, but it's a bit tedious. I'm guessing that there are better approaches than what I do, which is to
You should be able to run it as a normal steam game. I've done this with all gog games I own without much issues. Though, I usually check if it works on protondb.com before I buy it.
If anyone stumbles upon this comment, I would also mention that you can install any subsequent update in the same way, by editing the entry to the update file(s), run the update executable, and then edit the entry back.
Why do you use Proton instead on WINE? I've never tried, so I'm curious if I should look into it.
Proton is WINE on steroids, I haven't used it for a while, but ever since proton came out it's been a much smoother experience, at least for the sample size of me.
It is not recommended to use Proton outside of Steam. Use Wine + DXVK instead for GOG.
Good to know, thanks!
That's awesome. Also the lack of micro transactions makes me want to support them more. I kinda wish they had a donate button or something.
The donate button is buying the game and their previous titles.
Especially Divinity 2: Original Sin.
Or gift friends. Then play with them
When you’re out of friends, gift to random strangers!
Awesome idea that I totally just did!
The digital deluxe upgrade is basically that. You get some bonus stuff like extra bard songs, some cosmetics I think and the official Soundtrack. Stuff like that.
Is the soundtrack in the game files I assume? I haven't seen it yet, and I can't seem to get the dice skin to work so I wondered if I even got the deluxe edition for a moment.
Buy the Divinity games. They're all good.
I almost never buy a game on opening day for full price. But fuck microtransaction nonsense -- as soon as the devs made an official statement about it, I was on board.
Day 1 dlc.
And?
The key is that nothing in that DLC is needed to win the game. In fact, the only real game advantage at all is some camp supplies. The rest is art, character sheets (they're PDFs), and the soundtrack. It also allows Larian to throw a little extra at the early adopters who bought the game in early access.
"Day 1 dlc" means nothing without context. Not all DLC is pay-to-win.
It's also not egregious where you get a piece of a game, then have to finish out with dlc. It's one thing if you get a full game, then some optional add-ons. But we can't trust the "AAA" game makers to do that. Too much greed.
You could always buy a second copy to gift to a friend. Then you'd be able to play together on top of giving them another sale!
Buy the DRM free version on GOG if you haven’t already.
Sorry, dumb question, what's GOG?
It is another digital game store owned by CD Project, parent company of company that made the Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077. They originally started by selling old games that they would get running on newer OSes. They have since started selling new games and have an alright launcher that you can link to other stores to see your entire game collection.
Most importantly, GOG as a storefront does not allow DRM. If you buy a game on GOG and keep the installer around (on a drive that's regularly backed up), you'll always have the ability to play that game even if GOG's servers die.
Gog.com Alternative games with some focus on old games.
I don't know why this sentiment is so popular. It's a single player game, most single player games don't have microtransactions... In fact I think it'd be odd and outside the normal if it did
Something something Skyrim horse armor something something….
Oblivion horse armor even
It's not a single player game. It has online and LAN co-op. Lots of single player games have micro transactions these days too.
Its like everyone forgot Civ 6 exists
I wouldnt call it single player
The game has LAN support as well as steam cloud. While it's designed for single it handles multiplayer extremely well. The only annoyance I've ran into is that only one person can interact with a merchant at a time.
Game is designed for multiplayer from the ground up. Its the same engine they used for divinity. All about partying up, but has great single player support too.
@qwertyWarlord @AlecSadler I would like to respectfully disagree. Witcher 3 had DLC. Skyrim had DLC. Dragon age origins also had DLC. Many many single player games had DLC. I'm not sure where you're looking.
Dlc and mtx aren't really the same thing tho.
@StinkyRedMan got it. Sometimes it's hard to tell because in both cases I'm not getting a complete game or there's some sort of FOMO involved. Heh. I get what you're saying though.
There will most definitely be an expansion/enhanced edition for BG3. Expansions are not "in game purchases"
Gift me and I'll enjoy it 😉
I'm open to the idea.
steamcommunity.com/id/renegade1506 if you're not joking!
I bought it only because of their stance on microtransactions.
It wasn't really on my radar because turn based rpgs are not my thing.
I saw their press release and figured just for that upfront refusal to try rip everyone off to make money was good enough for me to buy the game and try it out.
I love dnd so it can't be bad
You could request they offer something small…maybe cosmetic…within the game that you could buy to support them.
Also they published the game on GOG - so it’s DRM free!
I love headlines like this.
Larian makes such great games. This kind of success means maybe a BG4 somewhere down the line.
The saddest thing is that with the destruction of the media over the past 20 years, I'm still waiting to hear whether it's actually any good or not.
It's super fuckin good. If you liked dos2, it's basically that but with more immersive conversations, more potential dialogue trees, more DnD like, and more titties and dongs.
i was flabbergasted to see titty and (various) dodongos on my character just like that. it's rad as fuck! I've spent the past 2 hours pretty much just reading flavor text. 100% worth the asking price, especially since it runs perfectly on my potato pc on ultra.
It’s good, best with a group
Definitely not unless your group is insanely dedicated to keeping it serious. All it takes is one person who doesn't care about lore or the story or some NPC talking to rush through something or make a joke and completely take you out of it. I could never play it in a group on my first serious play.
Just like regular D&D!
it's best in any format, imo. shaping up to be my all-time favorite game.
The group glitch where someone can’t leave your party once they join is pretty bad.
It's very good. Larian studios really went above and beyond with the level and attention to detail. The replayability is incredible. Most streamers are still on act one and there is no shortage of stuff to do. Edit: autocorrected a word
Guessing some kinda typo/autocorrect business going on here, but just to cover the bases, it's Larian, not Latharian.
Yeah I think part of the reason there's so few reviews is that the game is so large that not my reviewers have finished it yet. Or at least a lit of what I'm seeing are "reviews in progress"
Fucked a tiefling with my dragon penis, 10/10
It’s fantastic, if you have any familiarity with d&d and enjoyed that experience then you’ll love this.
It’s good. It may well be my favorite game, ever.
I have added the Baldur's Gate series to my backlog, I will probably play these in 10-15 years, wish me luck.
Just in time for BG4! (probably)
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.
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.
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.
Wtf is this? Have you seen the in-engine character expressions? Shit looks phenomenal.
Odd headline. Seems very rooted in the assumption of online gaming these days to me but then you get in and the article is basically just saying the game is a huge success, which is great news I'm sure we can all agree. :)
The game does have multiplayer. If it's not using P2P connections, preparing for 100k players and having 700k could make that slower. But I'm pretty sure it's P2P so that doesn't make any difference.
There's still going to be some server overheads in connecting players together initially (I don't think it works just by IP), but yeah I think the game stuff itself is P2P.
The Steam Matchmaking API is included in their 30% cut. They can have 0 servers.
Really? What's the benefit of going solo instead of paying the 30% thru steam.
If you're launching on Steam you're paying the 30% anyways.
If you publish elsewhere there's a lot you have to build yourself, but it would allow more freedom in the way you implement it. It might also be cheaper, but that depends on the way you do things.
I’m not suggesting they do, just that it’s a feature Steam provides. I just didn’t want to call it free as they pay for it.
Obviously 30% higher revenue per unit is the benefit of self publishing.
So.... I'm the only one not playing it?
what are you even doing right now that's so important
Being lazy
Yes
Don't worry, I'm too poor to play (weak ass laptop, game cost a bunch in my country, and work, and kids)
If it wasn’t for those pesky kids
Nope, I'm playing DOS2, since that's been sitting in my steam library for way too long!
THEN maybe I'll BG3. If my laptop can handle it...
Currently playing it too after a 3 year break. :)
Me too, but only because I'm waiting for the PS5 version.
Oh! That will be my excuse too. Didn’t realize it wasn’t on consoles yet.
I’m waiting for it not to be 90 bucks, probably pick it up in a year
Dang. Here I thought we had it bad in CAD
I'm finishing D:OS2 first with another party. Also Larian games are always better a couple months or so after release, so I don't mind waiting. So no not the only one :)
There is still time to change that.
As someone who hasn't ever really gotten into cRPGs before, how is the game? Is it hard to get into/is there a big learning curve to this game?
It’s heavy on the D&D 5e rulebook, if you have any level of familiarity with that it will all come naturally.
If you don’t, that’s ok too, they did a really good job describing rolls, saving throws, attack rolls, etc, in the guided tooltips.
If you haven't played a game like this, there is a learning curve. I've been playing stuff like this for decades and there's still lots to explore, in purely mechanical terms, with BG3.
That said, it is very much worth the initial investment. I found playing Divinity 2: original sin very much prepared me for BG3. You could start there a little more cheaply before delving into this expensive title. At least then you can see if you enjoy this style of game.
Being familiar with dnd 5e will give you a head start in the basics. Things like how ability scores and combat/social interactions can play out. But not necessary. They've changed quite a few minor things that deviate from the tabletop game that I've found myself having to actually unlearn dnd.
Monks are actually useable. Went with a 4 elements subclass. So I have a mix of spell-like abilities for range, and can still smack things with my staff and fist.
The main thing is, being aware of the micromanaging you'll have to do in combat. Don't be afraid to use consumables. And explore! I'm still only in act 1.( I've had pre release for over a year, so I'm taking it slow to see what changes are in the actual release).
And like regular DND, positioning is really important. Use the environment to your advantage: block line of sight, have the high ground, use spells that have an AOE to drive enemies where you want them to be.
If you go charging into the middle of the open room surrounded by baddies you're probably gonna get wrecked.
Yup, and action economy is still king 👑. Action surges, flurry of blows etc. Even at lvl 5 vs lvl 2 goblins can still be dangerous if your group is outnumbered.
If you're passingly familiar with 5E D&D, you should be pretty much good to go. The CRPG-ness of it shouldn't be too much to get your head around if you know the underlying system at all.
You can do what I did: turn down the difficulty until you get the hang of it. It's adjustable during the game, so you can crank it back up later.
750k concurrent players several days after release, quite the feat!
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.
My buddy has been playing co-op with me using GeForce now and it's worked great so far
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?
They didn't pull a Diablo because you don't have to wait in a login queue to play single player.
A lot of people are playing with their friends, not just alone
Is it not p2p and should barely matter?
Yeah players can drop in and out of games pretty fast plus there's stuff like user authentication
I mean yeah, bear sex
Plus Goblin and Ogre sex. THAT was an eye opener.
wait... we can have sex with goblins and ogres? quietly takes furious notes
Goblin slayer would be disapointed in you.
Bugbear, not goblin. A goblin probably could have climbed right in there.
#virile!
That's wonderful!
I wish my shitty ADHD-OCD mix brain would let me play it instead of doing shit through a system or something. I can't even play anything I want to cuz I'll feel bad that I'm not something the universe would want me to
You are a human. One of the things humans do is enjoy and have fun. It is in our programming. The universe wants you to enjoy and have fun.
Also, a big things humans do is endurance. Long term action and planning is kinda a thing we can do, while many other species specialize in rapid response. Taking the time to enjoy recharges our batteries so we can be more productive in the long long term.
Supporting systems that help others experience joy and fun (entertainment, the arts, sports recreation), through participation in ways that speak to you, helps all of us recharge our batteries. So our systemic endurance increases.
It's ok to play. It's necessary for our survival.
Mate, as soon as you get your shitty ADHD-OCD brain into it then you'll be hooked. There's plenty to keep you busy.
Well deserved, haven’t play it a lot personally but friends are very much still raving about it after playing for 20+ hours, so well worth it.
It seems this game has local coop? I was wondering if it was a nice experience for me and my GF
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.
Do you need two copies of the game for that?
Using software called Parsec, you can use 1 copy of the game where the person who owns it streams it to your pc.
Thanks a lot for the summary! 🤗
I'm so hoping my husband will play this with me when it comes out on Ps5. He rarely plays games with me - but this one is too fun is to pass up
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
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.
I mean it's definitely licensed d&d 5e content
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.
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
Be careful, at least one version has a bitcoin miner. Look for fitgirl or rune.
Asking as someone who plays DnD 5e, how much of the fun of this game is in playing multiplayer with a consistent party?
Me and 3 friends have had a lot of fun with Divinity Original Sin 2 multiplayer. There's usually a lot of shenanigans and fun happenings as a direct effect of having several players bringing their own style to the game.
Just be advised that the experience will not be the same as playing single player. From what I understand the multiplayer experience in BG3 is much improved but I found that when playing with friends in DOS2 that I could not for instance take the time to dive in deep with conversations, quests, lore etc as I would like.
There is also a current issue in that if someone joins your game with a custom character, that character will from then on be a permanent member of the party. You cannot at the moment get rid of them in any way.
Bottom line it is fun, but you should treat it as a separate thing from single player - and definately have a dedicated playthrough for multiplayer.
This is also my experience. IMHO BG3 is also more focused on conversations than Divinity 1 and 2 or at least you can focus more on it. You can also just kill everybody of course. For now at least I feel like only a small part of my time with BG3 was in combat. Most of it was exploring and talking to people. I'm sure coop is fun, but I'd rather play is solo.
I spent some time playing 4p at the weekend. Personally, I loved it. It definitely had the feel of a ttrpg session. Your experience will completely come down to who you are playing with
Looking up similar questions for DOS2 might help. Different combat base system, but the multiplayer implementation seems to be your main concern.
Just be aware that a lot of the abilities are very different than how they work in 5e and a lot of the descriptions of abilities still need a lot of polishing. I've only tried single player but that's my only gripe.
I'd say under 20%.
I play this game duo with a friend (where, like for d&d - it's hard to match schedules) and solo with 2 characters (and a third to follow after). I obviously like playing it with my friend, but tbh I think I like playing it solo just as much, or more. Both my solo campaigns and my duo one are pretty much in sync, but in my solo stuff I get to do what I want, with no consequences. Imagine if your d&d table is good-aligned, but after the session you get to go home and play the same session again, with your chaotic party, who doesn't take shit from town guards or uppity priests, who intimidates instead of persuading, who loots the dead king's body instead of saving him. So yeah, you can have both types of fun :)
I should make a Drow....
That's what I did. Her skin is white though so she basically looks like a normal boring human though lol.
I wanna contribute to that number but I've encountered a progression halting glitch. :(
It's a shame the game is still basically an early access. Exactly why you don't pre-order.
Games this large and complex, with this many systems are always going to have some glitches. Overall this game runs great, and the vast majority of people have not had major issues afaik. Saying it's still "early access" because there is a glitch in it is just ridiculous.
The game as save ending bugs that were reported during early access. More than enough people are still complaining about these issues.
I actually got this game during early access and dropped it due to something similar.
But yes, never pre-order.
Not sure why the author makes a big deal about the game being single player. I’m intending to play it with my friend. Just waiting for his PC upgrade to arrive.
PC upgrade? I play BG3 on steam deck, runs great. I imagine any PC in the last 10 years could run the game well enough.
His PC is more than 10 years old lol
It runs well on Steam Deck? Damn, was going to wait a month or so for PS5 but if it runs well on Deck... How many fps we talking?
I have it locked at 30 fps out of habit. It runs pretty damn smooth, rarely dipping below 30 fps on medium settings. I haven’t played with any of the settings at all, just locked it to 39 fps and went in my way.
Because the majority of capital in the games industry is currently being thrown behind MP-primary/only Games As A Service experiences, and aside from a select few Sony studios, most AAA development is moving away from Single-player
I've really been getting into Sony Studio titles lately, and I hope they continue their trend of pushing games to Steam as PC ports!
Nobody makes singleplayer games anymore because you only buy them once instead of spending hundreds/thousands over the lifecycle of the game. You're supposed to bend over and take it like a man. For capitalism!
That's why a game like this is so refreshing. A good singleplayer experience that you can also OPTIONALLY share with your friends, and I also intend to do that. I'm literally going to go on Steam and buy two copies now.
It's one of the best gaming experiences I had in years!
Wasn't sure if I still had a taste for this kind of game, but I'm loving it so far.
Waiting on the Xbox release date announcement
what is baldurs gate? ive nevet heard of it, skyrim 2.0?
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.
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.
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.
Not sure of others having been having issues with steam save file cloud sync but it seems like every other time i try to start the game it hangs on syncing errors. Wonder if it's just me or maybe a bunch of people due to the larger than expected concurrent player number.
I believe it shouldn't matter how many concurrent users are playing a specific game. Steam's cloud save service is handling dozens of millions of users at any given time.
Sucks it's happening to you, tho :(
Imagine making a game so popular that you give Valve's servers the hug of death
Getting it for a winter project 🖖🏻
closed source spyware, trash
Local linux user discovers video games
https://libregamewiki.org/Main_Page
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.
Yeah I love Linux but I'm not about to put 600 hours into open tux cart
Won't even launch for me on steam deck, tried all the proton types, verifying files, restarting the deck, dx11 or vulkan, etc etc.
Nothing.
Incredibly big waste of money and disappointment
Yeah, they must have done something because it fired right up for me. I've died 30 some times already in my first day (I like to touch things and I'm horrible at making save throws 🙃)
How does it run on Steam Deck? I was probably going to wait for PS5, but don't know how the controls will be.
Runs great! Took a bit to get the hang of the controls and the battle system, but I'm 10 hours in and it's a fantastic game.
"It works for me so its obviously something you did" is never helpful and often just rude.
The number one cause of errors is overwhelmingly operator error.
Good point, his Steam Deck probably just needs its aura cleansed.
The machine spirit inside is clearly unhappy.
binaric screeching
What could I possibly have done to it, I only use it to play steam games, I bought this game, tried to launch it, and nothing.
Just because you don't experience an issue doesn't mean it's infallible and somebody else isn't.
What I’m saying is that unlike other PCs the steam deck has very few varying factors (out of the box). Meaning, if it works for others, it is likely it could work for you.
I’m not saying anything or anyone is infallible. In fact, I just had a look at proton DB and there are certainly plenty other people with similar problems.
These are good news because Larian has a reputation for supporting and improving their games long after release. These kinks will get ironed out.
And again, if you don’t wish to be an early adopter (which is completely fine), refund it.
Buying the game now is not being an early adopter, that's what early access was which I didn't purchase. Additionally, it's fine for it to be fully released AND still not verified on deck or ready for it.
This is also not the case. It is now in full release AND deck verified.
Saying I should refund it if I don't want to be an early adopter is a fallacy of the facts, and is blaming the consumer for the product being in a state lesser than advertised.
I can't understand how you can defend a game that has been in early access, is now in full release, and deck verified, having issues even LAUNCHING on deck. It shows an ignorance of facts and a bias view in favour of the "everything is fine, larian good" view.
You do you, friend. I’m not trying to defend anything, just trying to help you out.
If you want to go on a crusade against anti-consumer practices or whatever then requesting a refund seems like the first step.
In short:
🤷♂️
No crusade at all, quite the dramatic description, just thought I'd clarify the difference between "early adopter" and "full price, full release, deck verified"
Have you tried using the
--skip-launcherlaunch parameter? Seems to work with a lot of people with Proton Experimental.Yeah, doesn't do anything either for me, it already doesn't use the launcher it goes straight to the larian logo, then nvidia, then crash.