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

[SteelPlatedHeart]

I think in Gale’s case, the idea was that he needed to learn som real humility, but they tired that humility in with going back to Mystra, which can easily be seen as a different kind of bad.

Honestly, the main thing that made me opt to have him return the crown and get the orb out of his chest was the difference in how he interacted with that jerk as Wizard in the tower. He was acting a bit too “”evil smug” for my liking when he was keeping the crown for himself.

I like the idea of “God of Ambition” Gale, but it is definitely him fully embracing the worst parts of himself.

 

[Cheeseknife]

Slightly on the topic of durge bard. I was hoping to start a run and play into the "musician makes a deal with the devil" trope.

Does taking Raphael's offer when you first encounter him actually have any impact or is it a fake "choice".

I don't need any more details than a yes or no, I just don't want to commit to that character if it's a no.

You never really take anything Raphy has to offer until Act III.

I think this was one of the EA stuff compared to the game's release and, admittedly, it's pretty frustrating. Raphy is all bark no bite until Act III. There's some flavor choices in the dialogue beforehand, there's Astarion's personal quest in Act II and that also works into how you deal with the demon in the Gauntlet. But, ultimately, nothing really matters until Act III.

 

[CharcoalChkn]

You never really take anything Raphy has to offer until Act III.

I think this was one of the EA stuff compared to the game's release and, admittedly, it's pretty frustrating. Raphy is all bark no bite until Act III. There's some flavor choices in the dialogue beforehand, there's Astarion's personal quest in Act II and that also works into how you deal with the demon in the Gauntlet. But, ultimately, nothing really matters until Act III.

That is quite disappointing but thank you for the answer so my time will not be wasted.

I was kind of hoping if you took his deal it would open up some fun interactions with him earlier on in the game and have some potential drama with the party. (Wyll, Astarion and Gale come to my mind of people that would be particularly interesting to force to cope and seethe with Tav going down this route.)

 

[Betonhaus]

So, are there furry and hyper dick mods yet? I know there's a manpreg mod but i will not be touching that.

 

[Neurotic]

I think in Gale’s case, the idea was that he needed to learn som real humility, but they tired that humility in with going back to Mystra, which can easily be seen as a different kind of bad.

Honestly, the main thing that made me opt to have him return the crown and get the orb out of his chest was the difference in how he interacted with that jerk as Wizard in the tower. He was acting a bit too “”evil smug” for my liking when he was keeping the crown for himself.

I like the idea of “God of Ambition” Gale, but it is definitely him fully embracing the worst parts of himself.

I didn't recruit Gale at all in my first playthrough because he seemed so wildly incompatible with the character I was playing. Second playthrough with a different character, Gale meshed so well that I went for the romance. Once the crown came into play that was almost the end of that.

My character has a similar vibe, using wild ambitions to hide personally perceived inadequacies. Seeing someone do the same stupid shit you do is horrifying. You worry for the person. They don't see it. You get deeper in your insecurities. Everything gets worse.

I've seen enough to know god-Gale is an option. I dont know specifics of other outcomes or how to achieve them. Currently every choice seems to be some varient of "Not technically wrong, but not good either". Like, "Follow your dreams but not that dream but don't let me decide for you but also please listen to me."

Ended up promising the crown to Raphael as a means to just wash our hands of it completely. Seemed like an appropriate, emotional response for the character. Not sure if Gale's following dialogue was romance specific or not, but he had a line like, "Do you really trust him over me?". Also an appropriate response but damn does this sideplot feel hopeless at this point. (In a fun way?)

Also does the stuff with Lorrorakan not trigger if Gale is romanced? I didn't get anything new when I brought him along.

And uh, for the sake of not double posting, did Cazador with playthrough #2. Did not Ascend. Send the spawn to the Underdark. Was surprised to see that pretty much every concern I brought up was mentioned throughout the dialogue if Ascension does not happen. Don't understand why it wasn't brought up in the other path.

First playthrough I made a Drow, and was very pleased with the Drow specific dialogue choices. (There is an absolutely heartwarming moment with Nym for example that I would have never thought of myself but was overjoyed to see.) Would love to know if he could have had a chance to comment on Astarion going "Just send em to the Underdark no worries" but, alas.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

Also does the stuff with Lorrorakan not trigger if Gale is romanced? I didn't get anything new when I brought him along.

The dialogue triggers when you go up and talk to Lorroakan, but you have to have gone down into the secret library and triggered the conversation with Gale about the crown beforehand. If you talked him down out of the idea of being god, he’ll recognize he had been acting the same as Lorroakan and feel embarrassed. If you agree/say you’ll think about it, he’ll basically have a smug-off with the guy, which while funny, told me exactly why God-Gale was gonna be a bad idea.

You may also need to have him talk with Mystra first, I can’t quite remember.

 

[girldaniel]

I am about to beat it for the first time. 200 measly hours in. I want to do a Durge run next. I know he's a dick but I am the Emperor's biggest fan. I took the astral tadpole so I wish we could fly of into the Astral Plane together at the end. (I'm on the last push as we speak)

 

[Cheeseknife]

I am about to beat it for the first time. 200 measly hours in. I want to do a Durge run next. I know he's a dick but I am the Emperor's biggest fan. I took the astral tadpole so I wish we could fly of into the Astral Plane together at the end. (I'm on the last push as we speak)

I mentioned this earlier, but I'll add onto it here...

Try to exhaust some dialogue options with Minsc in order to gain his perspective about the Emperor. He says something very insightful about how the Emperor's ability to coax others into doing what he wants is based on showing them exactly what they want to be shown. That's where Minsc, as retarded as he appears to be, shows how insightful he truly is. Minsc tells you that the Emperor showed him a vision of his old wychlaran, Dynaheir (from OG Baldur's Gate). The problem, however, is the Emperor showed Minsc a vision that was far too ideal.

This is another theme throughout the game: denying what you want and striving for what you need. Sometimes, what you want and what you need do not necessarily align...

Ascension is what Astarion wants but it is not what he needs.
Becoming a Dark Justiciar is what Shadowhear wants but not what she needs.
Becoming Vlakkith's kith'rak is what Lae'zel wants but not what she needs.
Taking the Crown of Karsus and becoming a god is what Gale wants but not he needs.

This is also why mind flayers are so insidious and also why I'm miffed about there being zero in-game consequences for consuming more tadpoles.

Every interaction with the Emperor has him responding exactly the way he knows you want him to respond. And much of this is due the fact that he has all the memories of one of the world's greatest adventurers: Balduran. But, as Minsc points out, the fact that everything aligns so perfectly is all the evidence you need to know you're being deceived. Mind Flayers are basically the organic equivalent to ChatGPT or some other AI.

They have no souls, as Withers is keen to point out. Even if the PC, a companion, or Orpheus decides to become one, they still die. At that point, the mind flayer is basically a snapshot of whomever the person was before. They have all the memories, but none of the soul.

 

[Male Idiot]

So, are there furry and hyper dick mods yet? I know there's a manpreg mod but i will not be touching that.

There is an endless tirade of pooner scar mods so your dude can be your DOOD. I just want a bigger level cap damnit.

I kind of think early drafts were about the deal with Raphael being done early as you could get rid of the tadpole.

But as the tadpole became a permanent feature, that had to be altered.

 

[Neurotic]

The dialogue triggers when you go up and talk to Lorroakan, but you have to have gone down into the secret library and triggered the conversation with Gale about the crown beforehand. If you talked him down out of the idea of being god, he’ll recognize he had been acting the same as Lorroakan and feel embarrassed. If you agree/say you’ll think about it, he’ll basically have a smug-off with the guy, which while funny, told me exactly why God-Gale was gonna be a bad idea.

You may also need to have him talk with Mystra first, I can’t quite remember.

Spoke to the doughy ginger both before (reloaded, then) and after going through the vaults. Spoke to Mystra after all that, and after the boat scene too. Considered not letting Gale talk to her at all.

Thank you for the info.

 

[Cheeseknife]

No alphabets was recently updated.

 

[A Sentient Cloud]

It's a tiny thing that only giga-autists like me will notice, but I gotta give Larian props -- all of the Latin used in this game, usually used in spell incantations, is completely fluent. (For example, when a character casts Firebolt, they say arde which means "burn!" or ignis meaning "fire." Command uses impero tibi, "I command you") There are certain incantations used in cutscenes that use more complex grammar and word order that indicates whoever wrote this text wasn't just using Google Translate, they knew their shit -- for example, if Gale decides to go on his suicide mission, he says fugamus inferni blanditia, "let us escape the caresses of Hell." The pronunciation is pretty good, too.

I have no idea how much of this is a carryover from previous games or DnD, but I have to assume a lot of it is the result of having a dedicated Latinfag on the writing staff to go to the extra effort. Ave, you freak.

He says something very insightful about how the Emperor's ability to coax others into doing what he wants is based on showing them exactly what they want to be shown.

The game drops an absolutely colossal hint to this right during character creation, by allowing you to create your own ideal waifu/husbando in the form of the Dream Visitor.

The current version says You need a guardian. Choose one. An earlier version had different dialogue: What do you desire?

You literally begin the game by telling The Emperor what you want to see.

(Also, one of the dialogue options for an Illithid character to give a speech to your allies before the final charge is something like "Don't say anything -- search everyone's mind and motivate them individually." There's no skill roll associated with this. Your character just touches their temple, there's silence for a moment, and then everyone starts wildly cheering. It's pretty creepy.)

 

[Cheeseknife]

It's a tiny thing that only giga-autists like me will notice, but I gotta give Larian props -- all of the Latin used in this game, usually used in spell incantations, is completely fluent. (For example, when a character casts Firebolt, they say arde which means "burn!" Command uses impero tibi, "I command you") There are certain incantations used in cutscenes that use more complex grammar and word order that indicates whoever wrote this text wasn't just using Google Translate, they knew their shit -- for example, if Gale decides to go on his suicide mission, he says fugamus inferni blanditia, "let us escape the caresses of Hell." The pronunciation is pretty good, too.

I have no idea how much of this is a carryover from previous games or DnD, but I have to assume a lot of it is the result of having a dedicated Latinfag on the writing staff to go to the extra effort. Ave, you freak.

Did they always work this way? I think the Harry Potter series did something similar. Only thing I remember in the past was Neverwinter Nights where they said some gobbledygook that sounded like "Ortano for Digimon!"

 

[A Sentient Cloud]

Did they always work this way? I think the Harry Potter series did something similar. Only thing I remember in the past was Neverwinter Nights where they said some gobbledygook that sounded like "Ortano for Digimon!"

You asked for autism, and autism you shall receive.

I love my TERF queen, but she gets way too much credit for the use of Latin in the Harry Potter series. Half of the spell names are basically Biggus Dickus-tier gobbledygook ("wingardium leviosa" "sectumsempra") while the ones that are technically accurate are very simple first-person singular verbs that you'd find by just plugging the English into a translator (reparo, "I repair"; crucio, "I torture").

I have never before in modern fiction seen actual grammatically correct Latin prose, let alone fluent use of things like the potential subjunctive or deponent verbs, both of which pop up in BG3. Latin's a tough language for English speakers to learn (Russians and Germans have an easier time, in my experience), people bullshit it all the time and only losers like me will sperg about it, but it's very obvious when they're doing it. Whoever wrote these lines studied Latin composition at a very high level, I wouldn't expect someone with even just an AP background to pull this off.

If anyone wants to screenshot any of the Latin used I'd be happy to translate it for you. Obviously no worries if that's too much sperg for even the Farms.

 

[girldaniel]

In my game Jaheira died fighting at Moonrise Towers and I didn't really care enough to save scum it. Minsc just wanted to kill me even if when I toggled Non-Lethal. Boo made me want to cry though.
Soul or no soul, I love the Emperor, even though I know he's using me and it will be my doom. I did "romance" him in my game and honestly it would have been cool to actually have a separate questline for that. Illithid's are pretty neato. I immediately took the astral tadpole because I wanted to, and my character would. Despite cosmetic differences.
I also found myself really wanting to side with Gortash (I know you can), I like his character a lot even though he's not properly fleshed out imo he's a pretty likeable villian. Wish there was more of him.

Unrelated but I really wish we could save Lann Tarv the bugbear merchant at Moonrise Tower. I loved his character and he had 100% approval with me so trade was more rewarding. He was one of my favorites from Act 2.

Trying to finish the game tonight, who knows I might completely change my mind.

 

[PAM Cooking Spray]

Minsc just wanted to kill me even if when I toggled Non-Lethal.

game falls apart a lot in terms of reactivity in act 3, gotta wait for them to actually finish the game and release the DM cut or whatever they'll call it this time

 

[Kane Lives]

game falls apart a lot in terms of reactivity in act 3, gotta wait for them to actually finish the game and release the DM cut or whatever they'll call it this time

I believe it's intended that you cannot rescue Minsc no matter what if Jaheira is dead or isn't recruited, especially given how her quest revolves around rescuing Minsc specifically.

 

[A Sentient Cloud]

game falls apart a lot in terms of reactivity in act 3, gotta wait for them to actually finish the game and release the DM cut or whatever they'll call it this time

Plus, a lot of late/endgame dialogue trees are completely fried. Wyll kept toggling between "Duke Ravengard" and "Blade of Avernus" lines after the Ansur fight. Lae'zel went back and forth from friendly to hostile in the final dock scene. And my Illithid character was able to somehow both choose self-imprisonment and going with Karlach to Avernus, getting both scenes.

 

[Neurotic]

The current version says You need a guardian. Choose one. An earlier version had different dialogue: What do you desire?

You literally begin the game by telling The Emperor what you want to see.

Small correction. The earlier version said "Who do you dream of at night?". This could be interpreted as "What do you desire?", and most likely would see it that way. Most people made a waifu I'm sure. But the phrase could also be interpreted negatively, instead creating a nightmare. Creating someone your character would fear or despise obviously makes it a different experience, but from experience I can say it still works well.

Was quite unhappy when I saw that text changed. The original line gets you thinking about what occupies your character's mind, regardless if it is positive or negative. "You need a guardian" leaves no room for interpretation.

 

[ZMOT]

Russians and Germans have an easier time, in my experience

fun fact, in germany latin still gets taught in schools (after english, usually you can chose between french and latin). mostly for reading and translating from it, but also a bit linguistics (how did language evolve etc). it's not even that hard, the grammar is pretty simple and logical, but then you'd still have to grind the vocabulary, although for most euro's it's often easy enough to trace back. for example: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amicable

east germany, until unification, had russian and greek (poor suckers, at least latin uses the same alphabet).