Baldur's Gate 3 - Preview @RockPaperShotgun

All the news lately been what I don't want to hear. Sigh.
Preach my friend as I also feel the same. It will more then likely be another turn-based RPG. Anyway I'm more excited for Outer Worlds, CyberPunk 2077, and GreedFall.

Guess I'll wait for a year or more to purchase this. So not a Day One for me.:(
 
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I was thinking: is this another indication that the computer RPG leadership is passing to Europe? EA (and Bioware) is being destroyed from within by bean counters, while Obsidian and inXile are being assimilated by the Borg. Bethesda may end up the only prominent American RPG company left.

Not sure if it's passing to Europe, but certainly Europe has developed. American/North American game companies got fat and lazy (like Americans, and I can say that because I am one). This renaissance of European games will, almost certainly, provide the needed ass kick to American companies to create better products-- if anything, by showing that new ideas and new ideas can make money.

It's good for the business, and more importantly, good for gamers.
 
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I found some interesting lore on what mindflayers fear. When it gets down to it an illithid invasion would generate the need for interesting alliances.
Undead.

They don't show up via Detect Thoughts, can't be mind blasted/controlled, can't be turned into more Mind Flayers and eating their brains is a) disgusting and b) ineffective.

Liches are inherently dangerous creatures. There's also fluff about how Mind Flayers prefer using Psionics to Arcane magic because Psionic knowledge gets absorbed by the Elder Brain but Arcane magic does not.

A Dracolich could be pretty fun. Fun aside: Mind Flayers can turn Dragons into Mind Flayers. They become a thing known as a Brainstealer Dragon. The only thing higher up the Illithid hierarchy are the Elder Brains.

Alhoons (also called illithiliches) are Mind Flayer Liches, and are mercilessly hunted down. Most are weaker than the Mind Flayer group, but if one of then went full on Xykon (all those other guys? They were the ones that gave up and died), it could be a problem.

Vampirism does weird things to Mind Flayers. Vampire Mind Flayers are weird feral things. Relatively weak, but if a particularly clever vampire has it in for the Mind Flayers it could be a problem.

"Please - help us. You've got to stop them.

There's some fluff where Mind Flayers are from an Illithid space empire from the future. It was destroyed by an unknown enemy. The ones you see now are the tiny handful of survivors who were thrown back in time by massive spell the casting of which required the destruction of countless Elder Brains. The thing that destroyed them in the future is unknown. Maybe they found it.

Help us - if even if it's only to save yourselves!"

Since Illithids are from the future, it's possible the Illithids discovered the PC's are their ancestors. Or are somehow key to the creation of their lost empire.

Also, the Illithids creep out the Aboleths. The Aboleths are old enough to remember the birth of the gods. They have no memories of Illithids. Maybe they figured out the Illithids secret and are moving to take care of the only thing that will rival them.

Elder Evils is a splatbook all about different ends of the world. Any one of them would be bad for the Illithids. Atropus would be particularly problematic, given that it's the undead abortion of creation itself.

Lords of Madness goes into depth on the Illithids and others (Aboleths, Beholders, Neogi, Grell, Tsochar) and is probably relevant to your interests.
 
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I was thinking: is this another indication that the computer RPG leadership is passing to Europe? EA (and Bioware) is being destroyed from within by bean counters, while Obsidian and inXile are being assimilated by the Borg. Bethesda may end up the only prominent American RPG company left.

There have been great crpgs coming from Europe for 25+ years. I don't recall North America ever being considered the king of RPGs, although the PnP variety might be more popular here.

As far as bean counters calling the shots, that's everywhere not just America.
 
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Belgian Game… (OK, minus, their studios are globalized). Wow, what a BIIIIIG thing for Larian. I wish them good luck and I have no doubt they can also do something else than light-hearted humor. Exciting news. Vincke is a manic über maniac, I wonder how much much atomic power energy this guy has.
 
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I think Larian can do it, but until I do hear isometric (turn-based) I will remain cautious. At the moment this could be anything from ARPG to 3D-D&D-Skyrim.
 
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Either TB or RtwP I don't really mind. Both can be done well.. It is just how well they are implemented.
I suspect that Larian will do a good job. I didn't mind DoS or DoS2 - played them both and enjoyed them, but I wasn't raving about them either.

I suspect if they take up with WotC, that they could pull this off quite well. My biggest issue with DoS and DoS2 was scaling was steep and unrealistic.

My biggest concern with BG3 is the use of GoogleStadia. (I hope I said that right)... If the game relies upon its use, then it may be very limiting. I don't think I can stream games well as my internet is unreliable. Mostly good, but not always. I just hope that they offer the game "offline" as well as through Stadia.

The other concern: If it can run on Stadia, are they going to dumb down to controls and options for use with a controller??!!! Keyboards give so many more options quickly than a controller ever could. This scares me!!!
 
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It’s not just Stadia, there’s also a PC version.
 
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Saw a short talk from Swen where he said the studio growing to 3x size was just to handle as large a game as BG3. Not that I wasn't hopeful before but that detail really makes me think they will manage to make a game worthy of it's name.
 
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Completely disappointed that it's Larian. How does anyone think they make Baldur's Gate type games? It should be Obsidian all day.
Well time will tell if WoTC? made another bad decision. *Cough* Sword Coast Lengends.

? = No idea who owns the IP/Setting not the PC games anymore after a few buyouts.
 
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It’s not just Stadia, there’s also a PC version.

Please, is that a sure thing?
Because I am not ready to accept any kind of google/facebook dependent mechanism crap to play games.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1086940/Baldurs_Gate_III/
Steam BG3 is a thing, so don't worry. Expect fully PC optimised controls, as it should be.

In addition, I disagree Obsidian were better candidates for making BG3. They probably would have done fine, but they're too hard stuck with Unity and making their games look like they looked 20 years ago on Infinity. I believe Larian can build a much more organic and beautiful game outside of that self-imposed limitation.

And I posted somewhere else, I suspect at this stage Obsidian aren't that interested in WotC's IP when they have their own sailing full sail. In the past they were reknown for NWN2, FNV etc, all incredible games, but now I'm pretty sure they rather boost their own worlds than others'. While Larian seem extremely excited to take this challenge and make the best of it.
 
I found some interesting lore on what mindflayers fear. When it gets down to it an illithid invasion would generate the need for interesting alliances.
The most likely ally against the Illithids are actually Gith, as the Gith truly hate the Illithids with a passion that few others do, after being enslaved by them for a very long time. They've also developed a number of ways to deal with them. That being said, they're not easy to ally with.

Maybe we'll see a reference to Dak'kon or Zhjaeve..

Edit: For those worrying about a PC version. It can already be pre-ordered on GOG:
https://www.gog.com/game/baldurs_gate_iii
 
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I was thinking: is this another indication that the computer RPG leadership is passing to Europe? EA (and Bioware) is being destroyed from within by bean counters, while Obsidian and inXile are being assimilated by the Borg. Bethesda may end up the only prominent American RPG company left.
Not sure if it's passing to Europe, but certainly Europe has developed. American/North American game companies got fat and lazy (like Americans, and I can say that because I am one). This renaissance of European games will, almost certainly, provide the needed ass kick to American companies to create better products-- if anything, by showing that new ideas and new ideas can make money.

It's good for the business, and more importantly, good for gamers.
It's not Europe only, you're forgetting japanese stuff they refuse to port outside of Sony and Nintendo's outdated hardware constructs. Also thanks to the law loophole in China where Steam is not banned/blocked, you might have noticed chinese RPGs selling thousands of copies, sadly not translated to other languages (just wait till they "discover" subs&dubs sell).

Meanwhile in USA... Mmoization and phonization of everything turned the gaming industry into cancer.
EA is the leader of everything must be mmo decadence.
Bethesda almost completely shifted to mmos and phone garbage.
Blizzard is trying to sell wow again by opening classic servers, if anyone considers Diablo a proper RPG, well... Everyone has an opinion, an arsehole and - a phone. According to them.
Microsoft bought Obsidian because they need a strong proper RPG otherwise Xbox is deader than Dead meat. Inxile? No, they bought them for whatnot mmos.
 
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I have high hopes, Larian is a company that delivers. I too have a huge dislike of the scaling mechanics especially in DOS2, but the humor and colours I have no problem with. Still, I hardly think they will make BG3 too much in that regard, they're professionals and I believe they will respect the heritage.
 
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Hype is definitely here. I think I can trust Larian enough to pre-order this one. Heck, it'll be the first time since the last Witcher.

I do hope for RTwP though. I like well executed TB and Larian is definitely able to do it well, but it's BG and it should be RTwP. Wanna TB in Forgotten Realms? Sure, go 'head, just don't call it BG.

btw, just imagine Minsc and Boo are back and you have a Pet Pal skill... craziness!
 
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If this game is isometric and party-based, there is big chance I will play it first day. There would have to be some strong signs of problems or incompetence to make me not wish to experience it myself, first hand.
 
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