Baldur's Gate III

I recommend the Cloak of Mirroring before the nerfing patch. Makes short work of the buggers.

Set 100 years after the events of the original games, Baldur's Gate 3 will utilize Dungeons and Dragon's 5th Edition Rules. But that doesn't mean that Baldur's Gate 3 will be an isometric RPG like BioWare's old Infinity Engine games. Rather, it will have its own identity, Larian founder Swen Vincke tells USG. "We're going to have some things that you haven't seen yet in CRPGs, which I would love to talk about, but I'm going to hold it," Vincke says.

Vincke also confirms that Baldur's Gate 3 will emphasize environmental interaction of some sort, though it's unclear what form it will ultimately take. When I ask Vincke if Baldur's Gate 2 will have interactions similar to that of Divinity: Original Sin 2, where you could set up massive combos by, say, arcing lightning across water, he says, "And more."

Interpret however you like, but this doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

Well I'm pretty stoked!

Did you see what's up in the sky when the lightning strikes toward the end of the trailer? Looks like we will be doing some Spelljamming!

Oh great, MOAR EXPLOSIONS AND COOL ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTIONS

Did I understand correctly that they have more than 200 people working on BG3?

Why is that - are they going to make Witcher Gate III with 3rd person and real-time combat? Did Owlcat or Obsidian use 200 people to make Kingmaker/PoE?

Cursed if they do Cursed if they don't.

Originally Posted by Zogar Sag
Nooooooo It will never be like BG1&2! Do they really needed to mess with our beloved game series? Why not make something different, something own in Forgotten Realms setting, like Waterdeep or whatever, but their own instead on exploiting nostalgia of RPG fans!

Originally Posted by SpoonFULL
Did I understand correctly that they have more than 200 people working on BG3?

Why is that - are they going to make Witcher Gate III with 3rd person and real-time combat? Did Owlcat or Obsidian use 200 people to make Kingmaker/PoE?

I'm thinking a Dragon Age Origin sort of camera which zooms out to a tactical view when needed but otherwise shows off the world in 3rd person. How else would Larian accomplish fidelity and tactical party based combat? It maybe that the combat system utilises sequential turns with a real time movement phase that is player activated, so you can dodge the fireball if needed.

I also expect the utility feats/spells to be more than window dressing. You could see the game incorporate them as problem solving tools, meaning most every feat or spell will be able to be mixed and matched to allow creative problem solving - at a guess.

Originally Posted by Silver
I'm thinking a Dragon Age Origin sort of camera which zooms out to a tactical view when needed but otherwise shows off the world in 3rd person. How else would Larian accomplish fidelity and tactical party based combat? It maybe that the combat system utilises sequential turns with a real time movement phase that is player activated, so you can dodge the fireball if needed.

I also expect the utility feats/spells to be more than window dressing. You could see the game incorporate them as problem solving tools, meaning most every feat or spell will be able to be mixed and matched to allow creative problem solving - at a guess.

I would very much like that if that is the case, and it will be an instant pre-order from me. I loved DA:O 3rd person group combat, mechanics, writing and atmosphere and I feel that it balanced everything almost perfectly.

Let us wait and see!

Originally Posted by JDR13
Interpret however you like, but this doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

Argh nooooooooooooooooooooo! To the environmental stuff A small bit is OK, but that was an aspect of D:OS that really annoyed me very quickly.

So probably not isometric and with environmental interactions. Just like many others already mentioned, environmental interactions by Larian trademark do not excite me in slightest. So, yeah, my excitement went down the hill quite quickly after announcement. Should have known better.

Screw this, Im going to replay Kingmaker with latest update. Or maybe finally finish PoE2 (this time in turn-based mode).

Originally Posted by Andrew23
So probably not isometric and with environmental interactions. Just like many others already mentioned, environmental interactions by Larian trademark do not excite me in slightest. So, yeah, my excitement went down the hill quite quickly after announcement. Should have known better.

Screw this, Im going to replay Kingmaker with latest update. Or maybe finally finish PoE2 (this time in turn-based mode).

My money is on 3D graphics and story as grim as Mask of the Betrayer with typical Larian environmental interactions and cheesy humour thrown in. I know this will be great news for those already hyped but it's a must avoid for me.

I think it's a bit early to say must avoid or even must buy at this point. I will just sit back and see how the game develops.

Originally Posted by Hastar
I think it's a bit early to say must avoid or even must buy at this point. I will just sit back and see how the game develops.

Thats reasonable and boring. :-)

Prepare for cursed fire surfaces EVERYWHERE.

Also, sigh, 5e. To be expected, but god is it ever a simplistic system.

Why would reactive surfaces appear in d&d based game?
Unless ofc wotc thought it's needed.

Originally Posted by Nereida
I mean in the original games, they have flawless spellcasting/psionics, kinda unavoidable instant death abilities, they could CC you for days, and when you somehow manage to get your barbarian in melee in full control of his mind to swing his weapon, they were actually pretty tough to kill!

It's a "hate" in the sense that.. they're overpowered creatures, but they make the perfect villain, and I'm excited to see what they are up to in BG3.

Yeah, sending summons in first and using ranged weapons was the tactic I used to kill them. Also invisibility worked well.

Illithids are incredibly annoying in Baldur's Gate 2 until you realize that https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Chaotic_Commands makes you immune to everything they've got except the Intelligence drain (via physically attacking someone).

Originally Posted by Zogar Sag
Nooooooo It will never be like BG1&2! Do they really needed to mess with our beloved game series? Why not make something different, something own in Forgotten Realms setting, like Waterdeep or whatever, but their own instead on exploiting nostalgia of RPG fans!

Answer: Marketing!

I agree with you somewhat though. The BG games felt a little like an exhaustive checklist of D&D items and tropes… a trip down nostalgia lane, even way back then. Still, I'm excited to revisit some of these locations in 2019.

Larian will do great, all you haters! Obsidian's Pillars games were dreary and dull to a huge degree and were basically Infinity-Zombie games… robotically mimicking the look and feel of 20 year old games with only a small sheen of freshness. Pathfinder: Kingmaker did a FAR better job revisiting that formula. I'm looking forward to something fresh from Larian, using D&D as a framework. They'll get it done.

And FFS, why all the reflexive hatred for online aspects? It's 2019… get decent internet and use it, you crotchety old grumps! It's like complaining about the horror of being FORCED to use a CD drive back in 1999. The world moves on. Games and technology change.

No complaints from me! I couldn't be more hyped.

I just hope there's a lot of content building up to the decent into the underdark and they don't just have you fighting scaled down Mind Flayers from the start. Flayers are pretty difficult monsters and a single one should be able to wipe out a low level party.

I'm sure this will be posted soon, but just for the super keen….