Baldur's Gate III Announced - ...and it's coming to Google Stadia and PC

[Dave.]

I've been playing this game off and on for retrospective purposes just so I can re-experience this story and get an idea as to what I didn't like and why I genuinely got bored playing through it all. It's not bad, but it has a lot of "cute" references to the old games for seemingly no reason other than maybe Wizards of the Coast thought no one would recognize it as a Baldur's Gate game. It also leaves me with several questions that aren't massive but they are making me pause a bit.

Spoiler: Several Questions

-If the Emperor is tied to the artifact that Shadowheart possesses, why did he leave her in her pod and why didn't he let her out? I don't think she's going to go anywhere in the ship because it's essentially a straight line from our pod to her's unless you count the elevator.

-Our character is seen wide awake in one of the chambers while this squid face is putting a worm in our eye and we can presume he was conscious as the imps were attacking, so why is he seen waking up from consciousness as we load into the game and where were all the imps? Is the opening cinematic not related to anything?

-Why is Aradin such an unlikable ass hole to Zevlor the very moment we enter the gate? I get the fact humans and tieflings are bit different, but it doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense why they'd antagonize each other like that because Aradin DID in fact ask for help.

-What is Emerald Grove used for and what is its role in maintaining natural balance like druids are supposed to do in D&D? I get the fact that the game's limitations prevent it from making a realistic looking map, but there's so much civilization around it that it feels uncharacteristic of them to build it here.

-Why does this Emerald Grove have a back entrance and why is it not guarded? Any pinhead could find it and sneak in and create a flanking diversion because the only thing guarding it are statues that shoot fire and those things are easily turned off by a press of a button. And if the statues were on at the time, how the fuck did the Goblins manage to sneak in? Did they turn them off and turn them back on strategically? That doesn't seem characteristic of them.

-What is this weird theistic belief system the Shadow Druids have that's never explained? It's been a while since I played Baldur's Gate 1, but I don't remember the Shadow Druids having any sort of organized religion when they did the shit they did in Cloakwood, but they seem to worship some sort of deity tied to shadow which seems uncharacterisitic of them.

-Speaking of, where the hell even is the Emerald Grove located and how did Shadow Druids even manage to get here? The Cloakwood is miles and miles far away from Baldur's Gate and given that this unknown location is located next to a river that looks like it's flowing north I can only assume we're at least two countries away from Baldur's Gate. So why here of all places? This isn't exactly the kind of place you can just simply walk to from the Cloakwood.

-So they perform the Rite of Thorns and... then what are they gonna do? Pump propaganda into the druids? What even is there plan to begin with?

-Why is Halsin and the other druids so progressive? I understand this game takes place at a way different time than Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and I don't remember the druids being overly xenophobic, but they were generally pretty territorial when it came to their enclaves and rituals. I don't think traditional druids would ever allow outsiders into their groves not to mention they don't get much interaction from civilization anyway, so I'm not entirely sure why Halsin decided to be this open with his Grove.

-This is a bit of a nitpick, but why is everything from the church of worship the Goblins are occupying to the pathways leading up to the Shadowfell so conveniently placed together in such a small place? It's mostly video game shit so I wouldn't dock it points, but I figured I'd bring it up because it is a little goofy to think about.

 

[Agarathium1066]

Why is Aradin such an unlikable ass hole to Zevlor the very moment we enter the gate? I get the fact humans and tieflings are bit different, but it doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense why they'd antagonize each other like that because Aradin DID in fact ask for help.

Aradin is an asshole who is motivated purely by profit and wanted to get his stupid ass out of trouble, not caring if doing so blows the cover the tieflings and the grove have. If you at any point inform him you have found the "Nightsong" he attempts to jump your party at the camp too. He's just a dickhead.

What is this weird theistic belief system the Shadow Druids have that's never explained? It's been a while since I played Baldur's Gate 1, but I don't remember the Shadow Druids having any sort of organized religion when they did the shit they did in Cloakwood, but they seem to worship some sort of deity tied to shadow which seems uncharacterisitic of them.

Shadow Druids in the BG series have largely espoused wiping out civilization and letting things return to the wild. Their view of what 'balance' is means absolutely nothing beyond druidic circles and unga-bunga civilization. If even that. Most other druids think they're misguided and overzealous at best. Maybe some of them worked with Sharrans but I can't remember.

 

[Kane Lives]

-Speaking of, where the hell even is the Emerald Grove located and how did Shadow Druids even manage to get here? The Cloakwood is miles and miles far away from Baldur's Gate and given that this unknown location is located next to a river that looks like it's flowing north I can only assume we're at least two countries away from Baldur's Gate. So why here of all places? This isn't exactly the kind of place you can just simply walk to from the Cloakwood.

The game makes much more sense if you have read or played the accompanying 5e module specifically written as as a prequel: Descent to Avernus.

In that module, the PCs rescues a city called Elturel that was sent to hell, along with a familiar NPC: Duke Ravengard. Over the course of the module, the inhabitants of the city were all turned into tieflings. BG3 takes place right after the conclusion of the module, which is why you see tiefling refugees in Act 1, and why Duke Ravengard was staying out in the inn, heading back to Baldur's Gate at the conclusion of Descent of Avernus.

This is the map that was given in the module.


It is heavily implied (or even outright stated in the game, though I don't remember it being spelt out) that the river that you follow throughout the game is the river Chionthar. In any case, one can surmise that Act 1 and 2 takes place somewhere between the city Elturel and Baldur's Gate, and you were following the river towards the city throughout.

 

[Estate]

-If the Emperor is tied to the artifact that Shadowheart possesses, why did he leave her in her pod and why didn't he let her out? I don't think she's going to go anywhere in the ship because it's essentially a straight line from our pod to her's unless you count the elevator.

It's not explicitly stated, but hinted that he can't in full view of other illythids.
He's hiding there and biding his time until an opportunity arises.
Why save Shart and expose himself, when he can simply wait until the prism finds a better host?

Our character is seen wide awake in one of the chambers while this squid face is putting a worm in our eye and we can presume he was conscious as the imps were attacking, so why is he seen waking up from consciousness as we load into the game and where were all the imps? Is the opening cinematic not related to anything?

Did we watch the same thing?
He got the worm in the eye, then put in stasis. When the Nautiloid got attacked, some systems broke and his pod opened due to that.

Why is Aradin such an unlikable ass hole to Zevlor the very moment we enter the gate? I get the fact humans and tieflings are bit different, but it doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense why they'd antagonize each other like that because Aradin DID in fact ask for help.

You're overthinking this.
Remember that this is modern DnD and you should expect faggotry and niggerdry to the max.
Aradin is just a racist caricature, who also happens to be a white(ish) male. What a coincidence, right?
The entire tiefling situation is a huge racism bad, refugees good lesson.
One can argue that it's because of Elturiel going to Avernus, but he's a dick to you also, if you play certain races, so it's not just that.

What is Emerald Grove used for and what is its role in maintaining natural balance like druids are supposed to do in D&D? I get the fact that the game's limitations prevent it from making a realistic looking map, but there's so much civilization around it that it feels uncharacteristic of them to build it here.

You answered your own questions.
Take the example of the goblins searching for the grove and not finding it, when for you, the player, it's a 5m walk between both camps.
What we see as players doesn't translate into how the characters see it.
And Emerald Grove is just the local hippie community, and like any franchise, they're present wherever there's lots of nature.

What is this weird theistic belief system the Shadow Druids have that's never explained? It's been a while since I played Baldur's Gate 1, but I don't remember the Shadow Druids having any sort of organized religion when they did the shit they did in Cloakwood, but they seem to worship some sort of deity tied to shadow which seems uncharacterisitic of them.

It's not explored in the game. Read the dnd wiki or something of you're that interested.

Speaking of, where the hell even is the Emerald Grove located and how did Shadow Druids even manage to get here? The Cloakwood is miles and miles far away from Baldur's Gate and given that this unknown location is located next to a river that looks like it's flowing north I can only assume we're at least two countries away from Baldur's Gate. So why here of all places? This isn't exactly the kind of place you can just simply walk to from the Cloakwood.

In act 2 in Moonrise Towers you get snippets of info about how certain factions where incorporated into the Absolute.
Kethric was wary of druids as he had prior encounters with them, and prepared plans in advance to destroy them from within and what better tool then evil druids.
Again, you're overthinking shit and applying real world time and distance.
In game, they have been preparing and executing these plans for a long time.

So they perform the Rite of Thorns and... then what are they gonna do? Pump propaganda into the druids? What even is there plan to begin with?

The plan was just that. Isolate themselves and live their lives sniffing dirt or other faggot druid things.
Fuck man, we have people today that don't leave their homes at all and are happy to do that until they die.

Why is Halsin and the other druids so progressive? I understand this game takes place at a way different time than Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and I don't remember the druids being overly xenophobic, but they were generally pretty territorial when it came to their enclaves and rituals. I don't think traditional druids would ever allow outsiders into their groves not to mention they don't get much interaction from civilization anyway, so I'm not entirely sure why Halsin decided to be this open with his Grove

Modern DnD is gay. That's it.
In a worls with reality shaping powers, we have this

This is a bit of a nitpick, but why is everything from the church of worship the Goblins are occupying to the pathways leading up to the Shadowfell so conveniently placed together in such a small place? It's mostly video game shit so I wouldn't dock it points, but I figured I'd bring it up because it is a little goofy to think about.

Again, it's an abstraction to fit the game.


With all that out of way, I'll be honest and say you're kind of dumb or autistic, to ask some of these questions.
Now, you can either be mad at my honesty or appreciate my effort in responding to you, despite feeling your questions are very autistic.

 

[Dave.]

Shadow Druids in the BG series have largely espoused wiping out civilization and letting things return to the wild. Their view of what 'balance' is means absolutely nothing beyond druidic circles and unga-bunga civilization. If even that. Most other druids think they're misguided and overzealous at best. Maybe some of them worked with Sharrans but I can't remember.

Yeah it’s a been a long time since I played BG1 and I know they’ve been essentially a terrorist organization, but I found it odd to hear lines like “The shadows do not forgive” or “In the shadow, we’re stronger” or “I belong to the shadows no longer”. I guess the shadows was them talking about their faction.

This is the map that was given in the module.

Snipping. My initial thought looking at the map was because the river was making a sharp turn north around the swamp area of the map we were somewhere around The Reaching Woods. It’s also relatively close to Elturel so it would make a bit of sense. I also found it a little odd nobody in the Grove told me where the exact location actually was and I’ve asked everyone but for some reason nothing.

Why save Shart and expose himself, when he can simply wait until the prism finds a better host?

As the ship is crashing and burning? So what was that dream sequence conveying then when the Emperor was standing outside our pod? Is that Larian’s stupid cinematic shit? I thought that implied he himself manually opened ours.

Did we watch the same thing?
He got the worm in the eye, then put in stasis. When the Nautiloid got attacked, some systems broke and his pod opened due to that.

Well I didn’t see him putting us back into stasis also my only real exposure to a nautiloid in the modules was in Spelljammer and we managed to smoke it. All they had to do was show the mind flayer waving his hand and us fading back out there done. And it’s not even that big of a deal, I’m just nitpicking but you’re looking at someone who hasn’t really been exposed to mind flayer constructs other than a couple spats here and there in previous modules.

Take the example of the goblins searching for the grove and not finding it, when for you, the player, it's a 5m walk between both camps.
What we see as players doesn't translate into how the characters see it.

You know you bring that up and I’m reminded of the damage modifiers in Tom Clancy’s The Division. Essentially you shoot someone in the head and you do x2 damage in an otherwise realistic and authentic recreation of New York where in that kind of setting a headshot would drop someone instantly. Real world rules etc. BG1, 2, Fallout and other classic CRPGs already resolved this by having maps be tied to selectable icons in the menu and giving established time scales to imply that journeys are over several miles long. Larian wants to make seamless open worlds but the problem is that, at least for me others are probably not going to care like they probably don’t care about video game logic in The Division, their maps unintentionally imply that the Sword Coast is jammed packed and everything is shrunk down significantly that you take two steps and suddenly you’re in snow pockets whereas before you were is deciduous forests. They’re really jumping the gun with their design philosophy for me and it just makes the world feel fake.

The plan was just that. Isolate themselves and live their lives sniffing dirt or other faggot druid things.
Fuck man, we have people today that don't leave their homes at all and are happy to do that until they die.

So they’re a stupid faction with a stupid plan that’s just going to lead to self destruction. I know the Shadow druids are evil, but I don’t remember them being self sabotaging or sabotaging of other Druidic orders.

It's not explored in the game. Read the dnd wiki or something of you're that interested.

“Go read a wiki”. Hey thats another gripe I have with the game. Thanks for pointing it out.

“With all that out of way, I'll be honest and say you're kind of dumb or autistic, to ask some of these questions.
Now, you can either be mad at my honesty or appreciate my effort in responding to you, despite feeling your questions are very autistic.”

A word of advice to you, don’t cry out in pain when you strike, you’re not Jewish. At least I hope you’re not and if you are, tell your friends I’m not interested in donating to your country with my tax funds. You got a military who kills kids for a living, you don’t need my help.

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

In a worls with reality shaping powers, we have this

God I hate this image, and the Tiefling one too for that matter.

 

[StacticShock]

As the ship is crashing and burning? So what was that dream sequence conveying then when the Emperor was standing outside our pod? Is that Larian’s stupid cinematic shit? I thought that implied he himself manually opened ours.

Well I didn’t see him putting us back into stasis also my only real exposure to a nautiloid in the modules was in Spelljammer and we managed to smoke it. All they had to do was show the mind flayer waving his hand and us fading back out there done. And it’s not even that big of a deal, I’m just nitpicking but you’re looking at someone who hasn’t really been exposed to mind flayer constructs other than a couple spats here and there in previous modules.

by the way things go it's not supposed to be the emperor, all of the imagery regarding these squid fucks are meant to be pretty samey but with distinct differences of ranking because one using emperor robes also appears once you get stoned in the face after the dragon flames everything and even if you kill the mindflayer during the cambion intro you still get a option to kill the one that tadpoled you later on.

 

[Shidoen]

Rate my drip

View attachment 8266750

1 is classic, 2 is too glossy, 3 is the best, 4 is Arthur Morgan

 

[An Ordinary Ordinator]

Necroing this thread, but I did actually give this game a shot after two years (I think? Years kind of blend together) and a deep sale. The only things I'm not liking about the game is the hard 4 character party limit and the companions are a little underwhelming in terms of writing. They're alright, but they're not very subtle about their characterization. Karlach, the most popular one, also is dangerously close to a mary-sue for me.

I also do find it interesting this game was called "Baldur's Gate 3", but I'd be hard pressed to find any real relevance to the original games at the moment right now besides the Shadow Druids, Cloakwood, and that's pretty much it. I have to wonder if that was just some branding type deal from Wizards of The Coast or if that was Larian's idea for brand recognition.

 

[Estate]

Necroing this thread, but I did actually give this game a shot after two years (I think? Years kind of blend together) and a deep sale. The only things I'm not liking about the game is the hard 4 character party limit and the companions are a little underwhelming in terms of writing. They're alright, but they're not very subtle about their characterization. Karlach, the most popular one, also is dangerously close to a mary-sue for me.

I also do find it interesting this game was called "Baldur's Gate 3", but I'd be hard pressed to find any real relevance to the original games at the moment right now besides the Shadow Druids, Cloakwood, and that's pretty much it. I have to wonder if that was just some branding type deal from Wizards of The Coast or if that was Larian's idea for brand recognition.

The 4 man party works and it's also manageable enough to get good banter and interaction between them. I've played games with larger party, but the things I mentioned were lackluster.

Karlach is not the most popular. Overall Shadowheart wins. They released these metrics. Look them up if you're interested in hard numbers.
And a mary sue? Nah. Play more and you'll see that's not the case.

Play more and you'll see nods and links to the older games. It's not really a spoiler, but you meet Jaheira, Minsc and a few others.

Also, be warned, that while I do enjoy the game and I believe it's one of the best out there, it's also full of fags, dykes and niggers. I can never defend this aspect, yet I will hold that the game is good in spite of the pozz.

 

[An Ordinary Ordinator]

The 4 man party works and it's also manageable enough to get good banter and interaction between them. I've played games with larger party, but the things I mentioned were lackluster.

I just feel a touch nostalgic for the 6 player party system in the original games because there are some good scenes with companions that do come up during the game that I feel like I'd miss because my party make-up doesn't really need a Wizard or a Fighter. It's not a major issue, it's just preferential type deal.

Karlach is not the most popular. Overall Shadowheart wins. They released these metrics. Look them up if you're interested in hard numbers.
And a mary sue? Nah. Play more and you'll see that's not the case.

I was more going off of a lot of people speak highly of her on Twitter and other social media sites and she seems to be beloved by the community. I'm not really sold on her character yet because the party members glaze her when you first meet her and the only conflict she ever got into with one of my party members, Wyll, was easily abruptly resolved. I get that's just how Wyll is, but I wish that was a bit more expanded upon. But then Wyll is unsalvagebly boring for me so I guess that's par for the course. I'll take your word for it that maybe she gets better.

Play more and you'll see nods and links to the older games. It's not really a spoiler, but you meet Jaheira, Minsc and a few others.

I've seen a couple of nods here and there like the Shadow Druids which was kinda cute. I just wish it wasn't used as a justification for that one druid's xenophobia because having met some of the Tieflings, she does kinda have a point.

Also, be warned, that while I do enjoy the game and I believe it's one of the best out there, it's also full of fags, dykes and niggers. I can never defend this aspect, yet I will hold that the game is good in spite of the pozz.

I don't really mind the use of Chults because BG1 and I think 2 (vanilla) had characters from that region and I didn't really care because they were essentially used as a slight expository nod that the Forgotten Realms was way bigger than just the Sword Coast and it made sense why they were there to begin with. Also they were representative of their culture. My biggest issue here is that everyone adopts the customs with seemingly no issue which I guess makes sense in certain cases, but we never see any Chults or Rashamens ever having customs from their territories which is prototypical diversity shit. Also they're way overrepresented, but that's pointing out the obvious.

I also don't really like how they exhibit the worst, unattractive and stereotypical physiognomy of africans i.e the oversized lips, the bulging eyes, the corn-row haricut which wouldn't exist back then, but whatever.

As for the rest, that shouldn't be an issue because I installed a mod that culls them down because I remember seeing a picture of how many characters actually were LGBT.

 

[StacticShock]

Necroing this thread, but I did actually give this game a shot after two years (I think? Years kind of blend together) and a deep sale. The only things I'm not liking about the game is the hard 4 character party limit and the companions are a little underwhelming in terms of writing. They're alright, but they're not very subtle about their characterization. Karlach, the most popular one, also is dangerously close to a mary-sue for me.

karlach is only glazed by the party becuase probably internal retarded writer reasons, her sidequest is pretty meh and her stats are also shit even if the game wants you to spec her like a barbarian, as mentioned by the other kiwi the most famous character is shadowheart, although she is the character that is developed the most, i don't know of another character that can literally dye their hair like she does based on choices, i wager that larian wanted to do something similar for the rest of the party but couldn't get it in time.

I also do find it interesting this game was called "Baldur's Gate 3", but I'd be hard pressed to find any real relevance to the original games at the moment right now besides the Shadow Druids, Cloakwood, and that's pretty much it. I have to wonder if that was just some branding type deal from Wizards of The Coast or if that was Larian's idea for brand recognition.

there isn't much to go besides memberberries on the whole baldur's gate thing, you can kill elminster and keep gale btw, i tested it and it works for 1000 free exp.

when you put BG3 under a microscope it's pretty much a meh story about how much the dead three are fucking retarded, WotC being gay and retarded probably destroyed any attempts at larian even thinking on expanding the lore via DLC but who knows what the future holds, divinity 3 incoming has larian busy but if WotC offers a good deal i'm sure they would take it but the chance of that happening is low.

Also, be warned, that while I do enjoy the game and I believe it's one of the best out there, it's also full of fags, dykes and niggers. I can never defend this aspect, yet I will hold that the game is good in spite of the pozz.

honestly i'm only up for baldur's gay 3 because i played 2 and because dragon age is fucking dead as a IP and the party banter reminds me of it
the "de-woke" mod is kind of alright, especially the straight romances one where they managed to do a nice job of revoicing the characters, i recommend it.

also i'd like to leave a complaint about how flat orin is, not just chest-sized, i mean overall, what a fucking boring ass character even if her poor voice actress really tried to do something.

 

[Estate]

don't know of another character that can literally dye their hair like she does based on choices,

Not only that, but she has specific custom gear depending on choice, she has an unpickable deity, she has a cutscene for when she was young, she is the only one that plays with the dog or comments when you go to her tent and sit around.
She is the golden child and one can argue she's the real MC, while you're just there to loot boxes for crap to sell.

honestly i'm only up for baldur's gay 3 because i played 2 and because dragon age is fucking dead as a IP and the party banter reminds me of it
the "de-woke" mod is kind of alright, especially the straight romances one where they managed to do a nice job of revoicing the characters, i recommend it.

also i'd like to leave a complaint about how flat orin is, not just chest-sized, i mean overall, what a fucking boring ass character even if her poor voice actress really tried to do something.

I wish they implemented a proper evil path, not mega murder hobo or other mustache twirling comically evil path.
Even when I'm playing heroic character, I always hover over the option to kill the fag gnomes or kill the lesbos in Act 2.

I think Orin is fine, especially as a Durge character. And if they gave us the option, as Durge, to hit that, I would've dived in that mess to make more retarded incest murder babies.

Anyway, what exactly is your contention? Boring is rather vague and subjective.

 

[StacticShock]

she is the only one that plays with the dog or comments when you go to her tent and sit around.

someone is forgetting the owlbear cub... she pets it and has dialogue regarding it too.

no other character has any reaction to the cub, although they do have voice lines for scratch under certain conditions.

I wish they implemented a proper evil path, not mega murder hobo or other mustache twirling comically evil path.
Even when I'm playing heroic character, I always hover over the option to kill the fag gnomes or kill the lesbos in Act 2.

i also hoped for the game to handle faffing about better, one of the harpers literally flirt with you but can you ask her for a quickie? nah fam, only the drow twins.

Anyway, what exactly is your contention? Boring is rather vague and subjective.

in my current playthrough i just noticed she is pretty much one sided on her entire development, doesn't grow or change at all and has little reactions or paths, sure you can't side with her because bhaalism demands blood and all but she does feel underdeveloped not to mention how the kidnapping works and her entire taunting dialogue, not even sarevok says much regarding her either but ragebaiting her is funny.
which is kind of sad because you can feel that the VA did put in some effort on her character.

it's kind of hard to shake off the feeling that durge was the only one completed and the rest of the bhaal-relations still needed some refinement, but again, WotC did a retardered.

 

[ElAbominacion]

What I hated most about this game was that Raphael's song is a fucking musical... and it plays on loop during his fight. I'm sorry, people who love musicals, but I found that shit to be anticlimactic as fuck.

 

[Estate]

What I hated most about this game was that Raphael's song is a fucking musical... and it plays on loop during his fight. I'm sorry, people who love musicals, but I found that shit to be anticlimactic as fuck.

Does it qualify as a musical? It's just the voice actor singing.

Anyway, as a first time experience I liked it a lot. It was so unexpected and so on brand (Raphael being so egotistical he's singing the song to his fight by himself) that I could only stand and shout "kino".

 

[StacticShock]

What I hated most about this game was that Raphael's song is a fucking musical... and it plays on loop during his fight. I'm sorry, people who love musicals, but I found that shit to be anticlimactic as fuck.

Does it qualify as a musical? It's just the voice actor singing.
Anyway, as a first time experience I liked it a lot. It was so unexpected and so on brand (Raphael being so egotistical he's singing the song to his fight by himself) that I could only stand and shout "kino".

nah nah nah (batman!), saints row gat out of hell does something similar too:

i don't know what's with these nu-devs and making musicals tied to hellish things, i also remember futurama's robot hell regarding singalongs.
i'm with abominacíon, i disliked the singing and drank the kool-speed-aid to kill raphael quickly to end the torment that was hearing his song.

 

[There Is Light At The End]

the hard 4 character party limit

There's a mod allowing more than 4 party members. You can set it at any number you want to

 

[Neurotic]

There's a mod allowing more than 4 party members. You can set it at any number you want to

It should be noted that more people in your party makes the combat significantly easier. There are mods to adjust difficulty for that very reason.

 

[Absolutego]

someone is forgetting the owlbear cub... she pets it and has dialogue regarding it too.

no other character has any reaction to the cub, although they do have voice lines for scratch under certain conditions.

A big part of why I liked her story more on a second play through is you can see Act II is just constantly moments of Jenevelle slipping through, dreaming about a cozy cottage full of pets and children, before the Shadowheart programming kicks back in.