Initial Basic Thoughts on Baldur's Gate 3
Aug. 13th, 2023 06:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrMasterpost
I only just started but thus far I am having a great time, the non binary inclusion is reasonably good for this sort of AAA roleplaying game and I'm enjoying the weird, darkly humourous dark-fantasy-horror and old school D&D inspired RPG vibe, it reminds me of playing Dragon: Age Origins, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights mods back in the day, but as a modern game (albeit with all the graphics settings at lowest quality so my computer doesn't fall over). I continue to not be very good at this sort of combat, but that's what story mode is for! (It's presumably even more like other Larian games like Baldur's Gate 2 or Divinity Original Sin but I never really played those EDIT: ha, Baldur's Gate 2 was made by Bioware, guess that explains the Bioware Vibe!)
According to the save file I spent 55 minutes in the character creator lol.
Here is my character, using the default name Tav. They are a tiefling (half-demon) ranger (EDIT: Druid, oops), using they/them pronouns and the tall-and-muscular-with-boobs body type. Their hair is darker than this in-game, this is just a shot from the level up screen where the hair glows.
You can also just play as an existing character but that's apparently not suggested when starting a new game, it probably has spoilers.
Chosen separately:
You then design a second character whose purpose I have yet to figure out. I made a little middle aged dwarf woman with a big beard which was fun, and then never saw her again.
I would have preferred the option of body types that are truly not binary, plus the option to be chubby etc, but am still really enjoying playing a character who is so androgynous. My main frustration was not being able to get all the colours to look the way I wanted. There were a few natural and curly hair options, but they're in the minority, and curly dark hair never looks totally dark.
The PC isn't fully voiced they just have little things they say every now and then as you wander around the map.
The gameplay is very very dungeons and dragons, including turn based combat and actual little dice that show up on screen for you to click when success is a matter of chance. It is very easy to make a save at significant moments for if you choose wrong or the dice do not roll your way, though thus far I have let all my failures stay failed.
While I've played a fair few computer rpg games, I have never played Dungeons and Dragons, and while I think I have played some computer games with D&D mechanics it was a long time ago and I never got the hang of it. I have listened to a few D&D actual play podcasts, and I spend a lot of time thinking "what would the players in Dimension 20 do?" The story mode is pretty forgiving, so mostly I just walk to each monster in turn and hit it until it's dead.
I haven't gotten far into the plot, but have finished the introductory section of the game and met a couple of companions. I'm liking everything a lot so far. There's a lot of squishy lovecraftian "the walls are made of meat" horror vibes in the starting area which I enjoyed and gave me nostalgia for Dragon Age: Origins. The rest of the world seems pretty generic Fantasy. I was warned that the companions tend to be prickly, morally grey edgy assholes but thus far it's been in a way I like, everyone being nice is boring!
I don't know how responsive the plot is to player choice but do feel like I'm getting to roleplay a specific character a moderate amount. As is traditional for me, since this is my first playthrough and I am naturally indecisive and soft hearted, I am playing a nice dumbass who means well but has no idea what they're doing and makes decisions by impulsively following their gut. Turns out the default Ranger stats involve a -1 to intelligence rolls which has added to the roleplay lol. I have already had one scene where I sat there laughing in mild horror as Tav made some WEIRD but in character choices with disconcerting (if ultimately minor) consequences. I suspect they are eventually going to screw themselves over very badly, but that's part of the fun! Once I've either finished the game or screwed things up past repair I'll look up some guides etc, maybe play a little clever gnome or something.
While there's horror-y aspects it's thus far much more fantasy than horror in genre, it's not trying to scare you too much. Still, the basic premise is pretty gross. Here's the opening cutscene, where
The Dungeons and Dragons setting has some inbuilt unfortunate aspects involving "race" (eg species), certain people being born evil etc, which can sometimes rub me the wrong way in D&D inspired stories and games. I hear there's a lot of Fantasy Racism in this game but nothing has rubbed me the wrong way thus far. We will see!
I get the sense I am going to have Many Rambling Thoughts which is why I posted this now, so curious people can get a sense of the game without having to wade through my spoilery rambling Feelings.
I only just started but thus far I am having a great time, the non binary inclusion is reasonably good for this sort of AAA roleplaying game and I'm enjoying the weird, darkly humourous dark-fantasy-horror and old school D&D inspired RPG vibe, it reminds me of playing Dragon: Age Origins, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights mods back in the day, but as a modern game (albeit with all the graphics settings at lowest quality so my computer doesn't fall over). I continue to not be very good at this sort of combat, but that's what story mode is for! (It's presumably even more like other Larian games like Baldur's Gate 2 or Divinity Original Sin but I never really played those EDIT: ha, Baldur's Gate 2 was made by Bioware, guess that explains the Bioware Vibe!)
According to the save file I spent 55 minutes in the character creator lol.
Here is my character, using the default name Tav. They are a tiefling (half-demon) ranger (EDIT: Druid, oops), using they/them pronouns and the tall-and-muscular-with-boobs body type. Their hair is darker than this in-game, this is just a shot from the level up screen where the hair glows.
You can also just play as an existing character but that's apparently not suggested when starting a new game, it probably has spoilers.
Chosen separately:
- Species and subspecies. The species choices are Human, Elf, Drow, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Halfling, Dwarf, Gnome, Tiefling, Githyanki, Dragonborn. Changing sub-species resets the appearance so do that first!
- Background: character backstory. Not sure how much effect this has.
- Class: your battle role, like healer, warrior etc. I just picked something that sounded fun and used the suggested starting stats.
- Pronouns: he, she, or they.
- Genitals: vulva or penis, for tieflings the only other main difference seemed to be whether there's body hair. You can toggle genitals to never show up onscreen making this choice irrelevant (...unless you encounter a penis clipping bug, which apparently happen sometimes lol).
- Voice: a mix of like 6 choices, on a spectrum from low to high. None stood out as notably androgynous but I couldn't hear very well over my fan dying as my computer tried to render Tav's face before I lowered the graphics settings.
- Body type: Some species have only two body types, looking very much like a cis binary, but the more human-looking ones have four options, two looking very binary and two more androgynous, though every type is one of boobs/narrow waist or flat chest/broader shoulders. The few face options are ethnically varied but binary, based on the body type. I found one which looks fairly androgynous.
- Specific appearance details like colouring, tattoos, hairstyle, facial hair, etc, which are sometimes limited by (sub)-species but afaict not generally by body type. There are some nice options, which looked nicer before I lowered the graphics settings.
You then design a second character whose purpose I have yet to figure out. I made a little middle aged dwarf woman with a big beard which was fun, and then never saw her again.
I would have preferred the option of body types that are truly not binary, plus the option to be chubby etc, but am still really enjoying playing a character who is so androgynous. My main frustration was not being able to get all the colours to look the way I wanted. There were a few natural and curly hair options, but they're in the minority, and curly dark hair never looks totally dark.
The PC isn't fully voiced they just have little things they say every now and then as you wander around the map.
The gameplay is very very dungeons and dragons, including turn based combat and actual little dice that show up on screen for you to click when success is a matter of chance. It is very easy to make a save at significant moments for if you choose wrong or the dice do not roll your way, though thus far I have let all my failures stay failed.
While I've played a fair few computer rpg games, I have never played Dungeons and Dragons, and while I think I have played some computer games with D&D mechanics it was a long time ago and I never got the hang of it. I have listened to a few D&D actual play podcasts, and I spend a lot of time thinking "what would the players in Dimension 20 do?" The story mode is pretty forgiving, so mostly I just walk to each monster in turn and hit it until it's dead.
I haven't gotten far into the plot, but have finished the introductory section of the game and met a couple of companions. I'm liking everything a lot so far. There's a lot of squishy lovecraftian "the walls are made of meat" horror vibes in the starting area which I enjoyed and gave me nostalgia for Dragon Age: Origins. The rest of the world seems pretty generic Fantasy. I was warned that the companions tend to be prickly, morally grey edgy assholes but thus far it's been in a way I like, everyone being nice is boring!
I don't know how responsive the plot is to player choice but do feel like I'm getting to roleplay a specific character a moderate amount. As is traditional for me, since this is my first playthrough and I am naturally indecisive and soft hearted, I am playing a nice dumbass who means well but has no idea what they're doing and makes decisions by impulsively following their gut. Turns out the default Ranger stats involve a -1 to intelligence rolls which has added to the roleplay lol. I have already had one scene where I sat there laughing in mild horror as Tav made some WEIRD but in character choices with disconcerting (if ultimately minor) consequences. I suspect they are eventually going to screw themselves over very badly, but that's part of the fun! Once I've either finished the game or screwed things up past repair I'll look up some guides etc, maybe play a little clever gnome or something.
While there's horror-y aspects it's thus far much more fantasy than horror in genre, it's not trying to scare you too much. Still, the basic premise is pretty gross. Here's the opening cutscene, where
Cut for spoiling the literal first scene, also eye horror:
you are infected by a gross little worm which crawls into your eye.The Dungeons and Dragons setting has some inbuilt unfortunate aspects involving "race" (eg species), certain people being born evil etc, which can sometimes rub me the wrong way in D&D inspired stories and games. I hear there's a lot of Fantasy Racism in this game but nothing has rubbed me the wrong way thus far. We will see!
I get the sense I am going to have Many Rambling Thoughts which is why I posted this now, so curious people can get a sense of the game without having to wade through my spoilery rambling Feelings.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-12 11:33 pm (UTC)I really want to play this but I think I might need new hardware to play it on.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-13 01:01 am (UTC)Yeah my computer isn't brand new but it's not super old either. It is doing ok with the lower settings at least, the noises it made when I opened up the character creator had me worried.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-13 01:36 am (UTC)My laptop is very nice for what it is but it isn't meant for gaming--I think I might be happier waiting for a console release but even there I'd have to upgrade.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-15 10:05 am (UTC)nods On the plus side the lower graphics settings made a pretty big difference on my computer, though obviously nothing is as pretty.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-15 12:29 pm (UTC)But I'm having fun being a Jedi while I wait for this to come out for console :)
no subject
Date: 2023-08-19 12:00 pm (UTC)nods And yeah the game will still be here later!
no subject
Date: 2023-08-13 04:24 am (UTC)(...unless you encounter a penis clipping bug, which apparently happen sometimes lol).
Omg.
Thanks for your recap of the character creation! I've heard good things about it and it's nice to hear your take. ;D
no subject
Date: 2023-08-14 02:59 am (UTC)I have played some Planescape Torment but eventually ended up confusing myself about what I was doing and never went back to it. I don't remember the githyanki but it was a while ago. Cool game, though, I played the slightly updated remake from a while back which had some nice useability tweaks.