Baldur's Gate 3 - Pre-Patch Announcement
 

Larian is about to push an update that changes the story, and makes previous saves incompatible.
This link (unlike Steam's), shows the correct procedure for all platforms, for those who want to ignore the patch and continue playing with their saved games -> link.

Thanks for the info, Redglyph!



More information.

I wonder how big the changes are to the story. I'm still playing the EA a little in my spare time, but I won't be starting any new games or playing any content past the first map.

It would be interesting if they could bring a few of their "good" companions, to try other combinations.

I suppose that either way, it'll be a big download again..

You mean good as in their alignment? Out of the companions they've shown so far (assuming that isn't all of them) only 1 seems to be of evil alignment afaict. Most of them don't seem to indicate an alignment at all.

They mentioned recently that the current companions were mostly neutral or evil-ish, after complaints from fans that those companions weren't very friendly. Larian said they also had other companions in reserve who were more on the good side.

Not that I want to stick with good alignment, any other new companion would be interesting to discover.

None of them have alignment but I know in getting to know them only Gale and the warlock guy seemed really on the side of good.

Shadowheart can be nice at times but considering the evil goddess she worships I don't really consider her good.

Based on likes/dislikes the rest tend to respond to negative actions with likes a lot. Cruelty, selfishness, things like that.

Still they were never that one dimensional to me. I found things to like and dislike in all of them. Shadowheart has a soft spot for animals which I really like. The vampire guy can be rather vulnerable at times and went through a lot of abuse, and was feeding on animals not people … even if he tends to enjoy some cruel deeds. So mixed somewhat.

I thought they did a good job with all of them really. Some good unique personalities with multiple layers.

Also saw this in the Solasta Q&A session but I believe it applies to BG3 as well in regards to "horrible" dice rolls and my own statements that its human nature to focus on the bad not the good, or to expect something good after a bunch of bad, so its more a perception issue than a reality.

Also offers a possible solution for BG3 as well. Anyhow thought the comment was interesting.

Saw that too, that's an interesting phenomenon :) That being said, I did write down every roll in BG3 for a little while, a couple of combats more or less, and there was a slight offset for 2 or 3 characters. I certainly didn't have enough samples to get an interesting confidence interval, and it's tedious to do so I won't bother. But using pseudo-random generators can be tricky in some conditions, especially when using one source for several events.

Shadowheart is evil or at least she's tagged as "Evil Cleric" in her character page. I agree she doesn't seem very evil though.

None of the other companions have any indication of alignment outside of their reactions.

I have no issue with that. I get that D&D fans are used to being told what someone's alignment is, but I'm fine with how Larian is handling that so far. I also hope they don't cave and make them more friendly just because a few snowflakes feel they're too abrasive. :)

Yep in the last IGN interview it was stated the first version was basically released for evil players and companions. It has nothing to do with snowflakes it was a test run.

Same with the dice rolls they made them extremely hard on the first release.
At least the Solasta developers allow you to pick and choose your dice rolls. That's what Larian needs to do. Allow the player to chose how difficult they want the dice to be.

Attachment 3633

Thanks go to Redglyph for sharing the image.

There's nothing hard about the dice rolls. Some people are simply complaining because they're accustomed to having things slanted in their favor.

Lets see this was quoted right from the last interview.
Also the data suggests all you EA players are evil and not neutral.

Yes, you just said that in your last post. :)

Just adding some reference before someone says snarky shit about how I'm wrong again once again. As that seems to be the trend with certain posters on this site.:cool:

Also from the last IGN interview, regarding "hard" dice roll:
and

It's weird that Swen contradicts himself like that, but I think referring to the dice rolls as hard was just a poor choice of words on his part.

As he says in the latter paragraph, it's pure RNG. There's nothing easy or hard about that, it's completely random. Like he said, some people are just getting pissed because of having bad luck sometimes, but that's how RNG works. It can seem like it's working against you but it's not.

I like it that the followers aren't always kissing my characters ass. It was a bit odd at first after so many games where followers are more like thralls to the player. But I enjoyed it. The Geth woman, she was loads of fun. I confess my Drow Rogue had a lot of fun antagonizing her.

And I am surprised they said they only put in neutral or evil characters as Gale and the warlock dude both seem on the good side. But I suppose neutral could work since they both did something you could argue wasn't very good. Still both tend to like it when you make "good" choices or decisions.

Anyhow curious to see how the patch goes. Course people on the forums are complaining about losing their characters. There is a way to not update but then they complained that the way it was done was too difficult and they should have done it in reverse.

Not unexpected though since we all know you can't please everyone.

Btw, everytime there's one of those "more info" links on announcement posts like this, the link just takes me to the very thread I was already on. Instead of a source, like I would assume would be the result.

Wondering if I should buy the game before they make changes to the story. Perhaps it will appear on Steams Autumn sale.

Stop dreaming. This game has not even been released yet. Perhaps it will be on Autumn sale in 2022 or 23.

https://i.imgur.com/uR4WuQ0.gif
You can never be sure about RNG…

Perhaps he wanted to say that the DCs were too high and thus it was too hard to have a success.

Like in having success with a 20% chance is harder than having success with a 80% chance.

I understood it as "hard evidence", in the sense it's concrete and indisputable, the roll is there and that's that, no dicussion on whether you have enough skill to succeed or not:

(Oxford Dictionary, "hard")
9. facts/evidence
​[only before noun] definitely true and based on information that can be proved
- Is there any hard evidence either way?
- The newspaper story is based on hard facts.

Lae'zel is something, isn't she? :D Some fierce and feisty warrior. And she can't stand Shadowheart, so having them together is fun. Add Wyll to the mix, who'll try to hit on her and get biting responses, it certainly won't be boring.

I'm not sure I'd put Gale on the good side, he's pretty selfish-neutral, no? ;) But definitely not evil (except if you fail his miserable revive protocol).
The link brings me from the forum URL to the newsbit URL (in a new tab), which only has the news post, and the game info box on the right with the handy "Details" link. Perhaps your browser blocks the new tab?

Perhaps, but I'm not sure why he would say dice rolls instead of DCs if that's what he was referring to.

Either way, I hope they don't make any changes unless they're in the form of having more difficulty options.

I wonder when this will arrive? "soon/around the corner" is not very specific ;-)

I finally buckled and played the EA for about 28 hours. I have mixed feelings about it.
Overall, positive, but still doesn't really 'feel' like a BG game - there are still too many DOS moments, exploding traps, gas clouds, steam and icy/flaming/poisonous/acid surfaces. And blood. So much blood…where does it all come from? Cut someone and they seem to squirt out 20 liters of the stuff (which can still be modified etc). All of which I *loathed* in DOS2 - much as I enjoyed the base game. They have even changed how spells work from 5E to pretty much 'force' (inflict?) these on you. Cast a firebolt - it does less damages, but now sets surfaces on fire (in base 5E you can firebolt a person, and it won't impact people near them). Ray of frost causes freezing patch (which everyone slips on, repeatedly). I really don't like that. Hopefully they'll be convinced to tone down all of that before the final release. Also, the pathing is way worse than DOS2 - characters constantly run through known traps/areas (like acid), path oddly to get places. Sure this will improve with time though.

I am enjoying the characters and story as well as the environment. Another odd immersion breaker - I can be standing anywhere out of combat, and 'sleep for the night"…which magically seems to move my party to our beautiful camp (there is no story device for this and it is really silly).

I didn't realise there was a very low level cap at 4 for EA - otherwise I would have stopped playing. So spent several hours accumulating XP that I couldn't use - and I pushed, because level 5 is the first big power break in 5E. Wizards get level 3 spells, fighters, a second attack etc. I think I've had enough and will wait until several updates down the line.

Yeah, I thought that was weird at first too, but I'm not sure how else they could have done it.

The biggest immersion breaker to me is the voice acting for some of the enemies. How is it that every monster can suddenly speak Common perfectly? Not only that, but a lot of them have English accents which is just dumb. The goblins sound like they just immigrated from the UK.

People love to complain about RNG. Go over to the Steam forums on Battle Brothers. People cry all the time about their luck in BB. I have played that game for 1700 hours and the rolls are truly random. You just remember the bad ones that get your favorite mercenary killed.

You echo my very own sentiments about these two games! I would also add the group selection (with the awkward chain gizmo) on my personal list of griefs ;)

I'd be curious to see a poll on those AoE, I'm not sure many people really enjoy them so much. If only that was a bit more subtle.
They could have done it like Pathfinder, you set up your camp where there is enough room for it, by moving a ghost pre-rendering of it until you find the right spot. It's just spawning a few bedrolls and a campfire. Or it could be pre-determined locations with an old campfire as a hint (or any other way to guide the player to a location nearby).

But they're also using the camp for other purposes, so I think we can definitely forget about any change ;)
Brexit has its toll..

Maybe Belgians think that the English look like goblins? Can't really blame them. Look at Ozzy, for example.

It isn't. But fortunately, Solasta and Wasteland 3 are there. This autumn black friday sale is going to be expensive, for me :-)

Well, I guess they're well educated having studied in Oxford or Cambridge. ;)

Answered before many times already but it should be complete by next year if were lucky according to the EA FAQ, and maybe 2022 at the latest if they need more time.

*scratch sound*
Narrator: “They needed more time.“

Wanna bet it's released next year? I'm game if you are. Only say this as Act one of three is mostly done. Early info suggests they will release a new act every 5-6 months.

So something will have to wrong or Larian pulls a Josh Sawyer to release in 2022.

(That's inside humor about endless patching classes for perfection)

I meant this new patch…which they claim is 'just around the corner". I know the game will be in EA for some time.

Said I'd finished…but went back, and ended up running into 2 minotaurs with my 4th level party…*crit*stomp*gore*smash*…2 dead. I was unlucky with my rolls admittedly, but they do an average of 25/26 if they charge and gore and they get advantage every round ('reckless'…sure, you get advantage too, but they have 76 hp…I
guess you are meant to be level 5)

Wait until you see the Bulette.. it's nasty.

I hope it's a week-end type of corner, for the update, or perhaps the corner of the month ;) We'll see.

Depends on the quota. ;)
My guess is ~60% for a release in 2021, and ~35% for a release in 2022.

So I suggest we make a bet: If it's released in 2021, you get 1 something from me, if it gets released in 2022, I get 2 somethings from you.

Technically, that's 100% in 2021 ;-)

Darn! *quickly fixes stupid error*

But why 100%? It's 95% for 2021/2022.
(I'm leaving the final 5% for 2023 or an apokalypse.)

Sorry about that olive branch offered with apologizes.:party:
As for that bet I'm confident as Larian isn't a small indie studio milking Early Access for 5+ years. The have multiple studios with 100's of employees now on a worldwide scale.

The basics of the game are done it's content, bug fixes and tech work now.

Nah. Think they said the game was released on hard only for the difficulty. Normally I play on easy but had no choice but to really learn the classes and abilities. On my third play through I managed to defeat all the big bosses and battles with no cheats or exploits or even AI hacks. It did take a few tries though.



Normally I don't sink that much time into combat but since I knew there wasn't going to be any more content for a while I focused on tactics and got pretty good all things considered.