Baldur's Gate 3 announced

[Syt]

They said they want to expand on the "evil epilogue" in the next (final?) patch.

I started a new playthrough - progress is, of course, "a bit" faster now

Plan was to play a horny old gnome bard who's out for himself - but I'm struggling to be a dick to the folks I got along with so well in my first run.

Plus, playing Dark Urge now, which is ... something.

[Syt]

I'm still not a huge fan of Astarion and I want to punch him a lot. I mean, he's extremely well written and acted, but 90+% of the time it feels to me (YMMV) like doing co-op multiplayer with Martinus' forum persona.

[Solmyr]

I'm still not a huge fan of Astarion and I want to punch him a lot. I mean, he's extremely well written and acted, but 90+% of the time it feels to me (YMMV) like doing co-op multiplayer with Martinus' forum persona.

So basically a successfully presented character?

[Tamas]

I'm still not a huge fan of Astarion and I want to punch him a lot. I mean, he's extremely well written and acted, but 90+% of the time it feels to me (YMMV) like doing co-op multiplayer with Martinus' forum persona.

Hah, THAT'S why Astarion was annoying me so much. He is the guy Martinus wanted to be around here. Damn. 

[Oexmelin]

Began playing earlier this summer. Astarion is indeed incredibly well written and well acted - though having had people like this close to me (people "broken" by controlling parents, who sometimes cling pathetically to the spotlight) it's alternatively quite touching and bloody annoying.

In fact, most characters are well acted - though I find not all are equally well-written. Wyll does well, but hie has to contend with a bland script. Karlach's actress also does well, but her character has to keep together her "sunshine and unicorns" persona with her "let's kill the bastards" aspect, which I found doesn't always work. Laezel has to deal with a character that is a bit one-note. Shadowheart's change of mind came out of nowhere, I thought.

I am enjoying my time, but contrary to what I had read or heard, not a big fan of the story. It follows what was arguably the beats of BG1's story, never that game's strong suit.

[Zanza]

I feel that the story was written for playing the Dark Urge character. It makes much more sense then.

[crazy canuck]

Does the story change depending on actions you take.  I am stil in act II.

[Norgy]

I'm still not a huge fan of Astarion and I want to punch him a lot. I mean, he's extremely well written and acted, but 90+% of the time it feels to me (YMMV) like doing co-op multiplayer with Martinus' forum persona.

 

Thanks, I needed that.

[Syt]

Does the story change depending on actions you take.  I am stil in act II.

As I understand it, many story quests themselves are very reactive to what you do/don't do our who you kill/don't kill/get killed. I'd assume the main story beats would be the same in their basics, but the execution/content can be different (beyond just siding with faction A vs. faction B). In my initial playthrough I probably missed a bunch of Act III content, because my death toll in Act II was fairly high. (And it could have been higher, because I initially failed a "big story event" that at least on the surface changed the whole setup A LOT - and no, I don't mean how I first got Jaheira killed before she joined the party ... yeah, reloaded that one, too  ).

My overall impression was that many decisions I made throughout the game caught up with me by the end in some form.

Larian (and their QA) apparently spent a lot of time trying to anticipate ways the player might act in situations or break the game, and then adding contingencies for that.

See e.g. these articles (some spoilers, of course):

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/a-baldurs-gate-3-player-has-discovered-hidden-mini-quests-you-can-only-get-by-leaving-the-most-important-items-in-the-game-in-an-exploding-building-or-at-the-bottom-of-the-ocean/

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/baldurs-gate-3-programmer-says-its-larians-philosophy-to-fuel-and-reward-player-creativity-they-found-a-way-to-exploit-the-game-let-them-have-it-its-awesome/

As for the main story - I was in my initial playthrough quite invested (playing human Paladin). I tried making the "good" choices whenever I could and trying to help people (including my companions) as much as I could or to set them right. (Which ended in a big noble sacrifice, because I refused to do certain things.) And I thought the ending was satisfying.

I'm holding off on doing a proper evil run; the next patch (the last big one) will add more epilogue scenes for evil playthroughs (and dedicated modding support). Though looking at just Act 1&2 I can see quite the potential for playing it evil and it not being too cartoony (well, within the confines of D&D's Forgotten Realms, the setting is quite cartoony ).

[Zanza]

Does the story change depending on actions you take.  I am stil in act II.

The core story with the finales of Act II and III is always the same, and there is basically only a good and an evil way to resolve it. But your interactions with companions, NPCs, available quests, dialogue options, etc. change based on your actions. Quite a bit actually.

[Valmy]

How the game plays changes quite a bit based on what you do. But the story overall doesn't change.

[Valmy]

The final update is supposed to come next month so I guess I will start my final play throughs once that happens. Been a hell of a ride BG3, this turned out better than I could have ever predicted.

[crazy canuck]

Thanks, I think I will restart then.

[Valmy]

Patch should be out this Friday!

Looking forward to it. Awesome game, I cannot wait to play the final version (well final-ish there will still be fixes but it should be feature complete now).

[crazy canuck]

Patch should be out this Friday!

Looking forward to it. Awesome game, I cannot wait to play the final version (well final-ish there will still be fixes but it should be feature complete now).