Baldur's Gate 3 announced

[Zanza]

What's everybody first impression? 

[Tamas]

So far very positive (been a while that intro cinematics blew me away, for example), but I have just entered the "here's this town-like area go around talking to random people if you don't want to miss side quests" phase which wears me down in these kind of games eventually. I am feeling motivated to continue, though.

[Zanza]

That part sounds like the most fun. 

[FunkMonk]

Roughly 2 and a half hours in. Mostly just messing with character creation and getting through the tutorial.

Very positive vibe so far. I haven't played a CRPG in a long time but this feels like getting back on a bike after a long time away. I like it.

I'm playing this on a Steam Deck on the Ultra preset with a few settings turned down to Low and FSR on. It's running a solid 30fps and it looks spectacular on the small screen. It's honestly incredibly I'm playing a game that looks and feels this good on a handheld. And the controller scheme is very intuitive.

[Jacob]

Can someone with the PC version confirm whether or not split-screen coop is possible? My internet searching has turned up conflicting information.

[Jacob]

... the question is now academic for me, as I just bought it and am waiting for the ~120 GB download to finish. So I guess I'll see  for myself 

[Valmy]

On vacation. I will try it next week sometime and let you guys know what I think.

[FunkMonk]

This is probably the best review out for the game right now. The guy is a CRPG fanatic.

[mongers]

I should really search for an authentic Ad&D 1st Edition experience, any suggestion which games do conform to those rules or at least something in the spirit of the game from way back then?

[Jacob]

What's everybody first impression? 

It's a really well-executed D&D CRPG. It seems faithful to the 5E rules, faithful to the Forgotten Realms setting, and well executed in terms of mechanics, graphics, and story (so far as I've gotten, which isn't very).

Turns out that's not what I want to play right now, but it did motivate me to go back and troubleshoot my otherwise abandoned Skyrim modlist.

The opening cinematic does a great job setting the stakes and providing a call to action. That said, my personal philosophy is that video-game cutscenes should focus on interpersonal interactions that add emotional heft to gameplay rather than high action sequences not achievable in gameplay. So the bits with the little larvae thingies was great. I found all the flying and smashing and high action stuff a bit tedious. It does look really good, though, and it's nicely executed.

[The Minsky Moment]

I should really search for an authentic Ad&D 1st Edition experience, any suggestion which games do conform to those rules or at least something in the spirit of the game from way back then?

The Goldbox games are available on Steam if you are willing to accept late 80s graphics.
The original Baldur's Gate used 2e rules but 2nd edition isn't really THAT different. 

[Syt]

I should really search for an authentic Ad&D 1st Edition experience, any suggestion which games do conform to those rules or at least something in the spirit of the game from way back then?

The Goldbox games are available on Steam if you are willing to accept late 80s graphics.
The original Baldur's Gate used 2e rules but 2nd edition isn't really THAT different. 

Also on GOG. Keep in mind that you probably want to have the pdf manuals open for those as the games often refer to "tavern rumor no. X" or "journal entry no. Y" that you need to read up in it. They also contain all the tables for weapons, spells etc. IIRC the games are more dungeon crawling and combat focused, less story driven. Oh, and there's some quality of life tools frkm the community these days, e.g. automatically drawing a map as you explore.

[Solmyr]

Character creation and ruleset are quite smooth. Made me want to play D&D 5e.

[Josquius]

I'm amazed they're onto 5th edition. 2nd edition lasted forever, seemed to be one of those things that just always was and would be there. I remember when 3rd came along but totally overlooked 4 and 5.
A quick read about BG3 and all the changes confuse me. So many new classes.
I shall play this some day. I guess no need to play 1 and 2 again first? Sounds only vaguely related.

[Tamas]

3rd edition was the last tabletop version I played. I felt like I had fun despite the system. 5th edition feels much smoother but maybe its just that it is on a computer.