Multiplatform BALDUR'S GATE III

[Madmick]

https://baldursgate3.game/
So it's been in early access release for a while, but the official release was first pushed up from October to September, and now from September to August (August 3, 2023). This game is generating a lot of anticipation due to the fact Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is regarded as one of the greatest RPGs in videogame history. They've also done a great job of putting out excellent non-gameplay cinematics promoting the game that rival the gold standard for cinematics in quality: those from World of Warcraft or Knights of the Old Republic.



But my feed pushed a headline today that raised an eyebrow:
Crikey, Baldur's Gate III Sounds Pretty Dang Long

On Friday, Larian Studios announced its Dungeons & Dragons game would have its release date moved up from September to August, in part to avoid getting swarmed by other games in that same timeframe. The studio also revealed some interesting statistics in regards to its narrative: namely, that this is gonna be quite a long game. Just on its own, the game’s cinematics are said to be “over 170 hours.” The studio bragged that it was over double the length of HBO’s Game of Thrones. (According to VG247, the eight-season series had a runtime of 70 hours and 14 minutes.) Similarly, dialogue during those cinematics is said to be triple the length of all three Lord of the Rings novels combined...

Length-wise, the game itself is said to average around 75-100 hours for a single playthrough. Naturally, that number’s going to double if you try to do everything the game has to offer, and Larian head Swen Vincke admitted to IGN his belief that players will find a way to extend that playtime. Citing the popularity of the studio’s 2018 game Divinity: Original Sin II, he said that players who form online parties with other people will “take a year, a year-and-a-half. They will make their regular sessions where they play, like D&D.”

Larian hasn’t made a “forever game” in the sense that Baldur’s Gate III is a live-service title in the vein of say, Destiny or Final Fantasy XIV. But game is built in a way that players are able to drop the game, play something else for a bit, and come back some time later.

 

[method115]

Yea been looking forward to this one for a while now. Been avoiding reading much on it. Did see they had local coop which was a surprise to me but a welcome one.

 

[GtehMVP]

Yea been looking forward to this one for a while now. Been avoiding reading much on it. Did see they had local coop which was a surprise to me but a welcome one.

Ditto man, I've kept away from this game for the most part, but looked at a deep dive recently, it's really shaping up to be a special and true RPG experience.

Thx @Madmick, this is great news, for PC players and PS5 owners (only) alike. Sure the PS5 is being delayed a bit, but this will mean a more refined game, and releasing on the same day as Starfield will take the sting off of it being on Xbox/PC only.

I'm probably going to pick this up day 1, but I really wish it had real time combat as an option, with a tactical pause. Some of the battles became slogs in Divinity Original Sin 1/2

They've come a long way since those early Divinity games. Any of you guys play Divinity 2? Outside Souls games, I don't think I've raged in a game as much as that, but kept coming back for more. They've gone from Eurojank to triple A finesse.

 

[rikwebb]

Ditto man, I've kept away from this game for the most part, but looked at a deep dive recently, it's really shaping up to be a special and true RPG experience.

Thx @Madmick, this is great news, for PC players and PS5 owners (only) alike. Sure the PS5 is being delayed a bit, but this will mean a more refined game, and releasing on the same day as Starfield will take the sting off of it being on Xbox/PC only.

I'm probably going to pick this up day 1, but I really wish it had real time combat as an option, with a tactical pause. Some of the battles became slogs in Divinity Original Sin 1/2

They've come a long way since those early Divinity games. Any of you guys play Divinity 2? Outside Souls games, I don't think I've raged in a game as much as that, but kept coming back for more. They've gone from Eurojank to triple A finesse.

There is an Xbox port as well just hasn't had a release date yet, they are having trouble with the Split Screen mode on the Series S but they have some Xbox engineers helping out.

 

[Madmick]

There is an Xbox port as well just hasn't had a release date yet, they are having trouble with the Split Screen mode on the Series S but they have some Xbox engineers helping out.

Yeah, they could release it day 1 on the Xbox Series X, but Microsoft has a policy against that, so they're going to have to spend extra time on a port that can properly run on the Series S.

 

[Batjester]

Hook it straight into my veins.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

https://baldursgate3.game/
So it's been in early access release for a while, but the official release was first pushed up from October to September, and now from September to August (August 3, 2023). This game is generating a lot of anticipation due to the fact Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is regarded as one of the greatest RPGs in videogame history. They've also done a great job of putting out excellent non-gameplay cinematics promoting the game that rival the gold standard for cinematics in quality: those from World of Warcraft or Knights of the Old Republic.



But my feed pushed a headline today that raised an eyebrow:
Crikey, Baldur's Gate III Sounds Pretty Dang Long

170 hours of cinematics? That doesn’t seem very “Baldur’s Gatey”. Could that be a mistranslation or something, that they meant to say 170 hours of recorded NPC dialogue instead? Because to me that would fit with the old Black Isle Studios lineage a lot better than 170 hours of actual cinematics.

 

[Luthien]

I got shivers when the dragons showed up Never played this before, don't know what it is But dang
Shivers!!

 

[Blayt7hh]

Yea been looking forward to this one for a while now. Been avoiding reading much on it. Did see they had local coop which was a surprise to me but a welcome one.

Ditto man, I've kept away from this game for the most part, but looked at a deep dive recently, it's really shaping up to be a special and true RPG experience.

Thx @Madmick, this is great news, for PC players and PS5 owners (only) alike. Sure the PS5 is being delayed a bit, but this will mean a more refined game, and releasing on the same day as Starfield will take the sting off of it being on Xbox/PC only.

I'm probably going to pick this up day 1, but I really wish it had real time combat as an option, with a tactical pause. Some of the battles became slogs in Divinity Original Sin 1/2

They've come a long way since those early Divinity games. Any of you guys play Divinity 2? Outside Souls games, I don't think I've raged in a game as much as that, but kept coming back for more. They've gone from Eurojank to triple A finesse.

I played the early access when it first came out like 3 years ago. It was really incomplete with a lot of dialogue place holders and still I was pretty enthralled with it. I haven't played it since because I dont want to ruin it, but in all honesty I think this is going to end up being the best game of it's genre ever when it comes out. I don't think it will even be a question people debate, it is that good.

 

[Blayt7hh]

I got shivers when the dragons showed up Never played this before, don't know what it is But dang
Shivers!!

That's the opening cinematic. That ship the dragons are attacking has your character you create on board as a captive to be turned into a Mind Flayer The game starts with you trying to escape the burning ship

It's fucking awesome. I can't tell you guys how much I am looking forward to this game.

 

[method115]

Ditto man, I've kept away from this game for the most part, but looked at a deep dive recently, it's really shaping up to be a special and true RPG experience.

Thx @Madmick, this is great news, for PC players and PS5 owners (only) alike. Sure the PS5 is being delayed a bit, but this will mean a more refined game, and releasing on the same day as Starfield will take the sting off of it being on Xbox/PC only.

I'm probably going to pick this up day 1, but I really wish it had real time combat as an option, with a tactical pause. Some of the battles became slogs in Divinity Original Sin 1/2

They've come a long way since those early Divinity games. Any of you guys play Divinity 2? Outside Souls games, I don't think I've raged in a game as much as that, but kept coming back for more. They've gone from Eurojank to triple A finesse.

Yea the things I've seen here and there have looked incredible. Not sure if this will be day 1 for me or not. The release schedule the second half of this year is absolutely insane.

 

[Zazen]

I appreciate that they still make games like this but they’re definitely not for me. It’s weird, usually kids are the ones with attention span issues but as a child I was way more patient with games like this, now I prefer stuff that has fast paced action and a reasonable completion time. Maybe it’s just the fact I’m intimidated by a 100 hour plus game since I’m busier than ever before in my life. It will probably be a PlayStation plus title for me in the distant future

 

[Bob Gray]

Variant human Oath of Vengeance Paladin with first level feat of polearm mastery BRING IT TO MEEEEEE

 

[DrakeEB2]

Still have my original BG 1 box set from 1998 that i bought as a kid at the local mall. I've played the trilogy modded probably 20 different times over the years.
So I'll definitely get this. Only issue i have seen so far is some of the character art really isn't to my liking. Overall looks solid.

 

[MidgardSerpent]

I never played the originals, but since BG3 seems to be slated as the ultimate cRPG, I'll definitely be getting it. In about 10 days they're going to release Jagged Alliance 3, another sequel to a very beloved and hardcore franchise from way back. So it's going to be a busy gaming period for me.

 

[Natural Order]

170 hours of cinematics you say?



Gotta be a typo. 17 hours would still be outrageous. Imagine the file size if true.

 

[Valhoven]

170 hours of cinematics you say?



Gotta be a typo. 17 hours would still be outrageous. Imagine the file size if true.

Minimum system requirements for available space: Yes

 

[Natural Order]

Minimum system requirements for available space: Yes

I guess the claim is true after doing some more reading. I'm a big RPG fan, especially lengthy stories....but this seems excessive. The cinematics outweigh the gameplay by nearly 2 to 1 if true.

And I'm still confused about file size...

Edit - looks like 150 GB file, absolutely massive but still smaller than I'd originally thought. Translated to 1997 RPG data, this equates to a game that came with 214 CDs to install!

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Cinematics

I'm pretty sure they're being very liberal in what they're counting as a Cinematic. They're probably including every strip of any character speaking and every time the camera breaks to show you an immersive viewpoint.

 

[method115]

Re: Cinematics

I'm pretty sure they're being very liberal in what they're counting as a Cinematic. They're probably including every strip of any character speaking and every time the camera breaks to show you an immersive viewpoint.

This is what I assumed they were doing.