this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
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Baldur's Gate 3

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All things BG3!

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)

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[–] [email protected] 93 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's worth noting that this guy is talking not of old Bethesda but modern Bethesda. The writing team behind Morrowind and half of Oblivion absolutely cared about the details that only 1% of people might see. Morrowind especially is a world built around you exploring the world building. It's not about levelling up (wowee I can miss the flying fuckheads 2% less now), it was about exploring the politics and cultures in the world.

At some point, Bethesda games became about the mechanical exploration, about going over there because that looks like it might be interesting, oh it's just a cave with combat in it oh well maybe over there will be interesting.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Skyrim was a blight on the games industry.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Skyrim is a great game.... for its time. Todd Howard is the blight on the games industry for putting so many resources toward so many Skyrim remasters/re-releases/money grabs. Even if he outsourced all that work, those are dev houses he could have spent their time helping Bethesda actually fill their huge open worlds and perhaps get the same feeling of "every decision actually matters" that Larion did.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

It's good in some ways. I was disappointed in the removal of attributes and how the equipment stats were kind of simplified and boring. The lack of proper stat scaling, since there's no stats.

I was also sad to see spellmaking go.

There's still plenty of good in it, don't get me wrong.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Skyrim is great if you want to be a stealth archer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Is there any other way to play?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

every build is viable. the stealth archer meme seems a bit overdone to me.

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[–] 768 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Skyrim is twelve years old.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And the stagnation it caused in the genre is evident, no?

[–] halvo317 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No. Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Baldur's Gate 3 all draw influence from Skyrim. I think open world games are better because of Skyrim.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (31 children)

Dragon Age: Inquisition and Witcher 3 both began development in the same year Skyrim released. I don't know if I can really say they were influenced by Skyrim because of the timing, but I haven't played either.

Baldur's Gate 3 drawing influence from Skyrim I will have to vehemently disagree with. That assertion just makes no sense at all.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Dungeons and Dragons is literally just a Skyrim knockoff that uses dice.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

That one was tough without /s, but ha ha. :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

FWIW, one of the lead developers of Dragon Age Inquisition confirmed that a lot of decisions around that game were EA wanting them to make Skyrim (for instance, the addition of mounts) Source: https://youtu.be/4Q5_RsII_Ho?si=a9CTmyHpEpgfuPTe

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[–] halvo317 3 points 1 year ago (6 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So many games wanted to be the next Skyrim, and so they brought over a lot of its systems and design choices. Including the bad ones.

The flood of games going open world, reliance on mods, and marketing through memes.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think Skyrim was a bad game, but I think it set a bad precedence for Bethesda. Oblivion wasn't terribly good, but with the success of Skyrim it showed they could simply reskin an older game and be profitable. Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas, and Starfield are all the same game reskinned.

[–] halvo317 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

To say Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Starfield don't have a place in Video Gaming is pretty absurd. I don't love any of them, but they aren't harmful and predatory like some other titles.

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[–] [email protected] 70 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Bethesda makes a buggy mess of a semi-passable base game and relies on free labor to turn it into a playable and interesting game.

Larian doesn’t.

There’s your difference.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Saved me a click. Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I think a very good distinction is the open-worldness of Elder Scrolls. When you have a virtual map spanning hundreds of acres, all of which you can visit, means the content gets thinned out and walking/climbing/riding around turns into a grind. Not every corner of BG3 has some amazing secret stowed away but I can't think of any place I've visited so far that felt like a waste of my time.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago

I think it's a symptom of the old trend of making games 'bigger'. Fallout 4 was four times bigger than Fallout 3 for example.

Bigger isn't better. I want a world where I don't feel the need to fast travel because I know I'll have fun getting to my destination.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Elden Ring had a hybrid approach, oh look a cave, but 80% of the optional areas had interesting enemies, layouts and loot.

Definitely over tuned some extras, but for such a big game it was way better than Shrines or Koroks in Zelda

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That’s one of the best parts about out Bv games- nothing feels contrived.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is it attention to detail? It’s attention to detail, isn’t it?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Read that as Astarion, so thanks! Lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Sadly I'm one of those people who doesn't enjoy turn based combat, so I always preferred elder scrolls, warts and all.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Balder's Gate 3 is so much more than combats

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[–] Angry_Maple 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Have you been able to try it? If a friend has a copy, or if you can rent/buy it and then return it, I would try it if you can.

I used to also be very against playing anything turn-based. I thought it was odd and unrealistic. In older games, that was definitely the case at times.

This game though, it draws you right in. You can be very creative with how you fight your enemies, and there is nearly always something new to discover. In my opinion, this game's turn-based mode is more of a strategy game than it is a click and fight. I kind of love that about it.

I initially started playing on my girlfriend's insistence, but sometimes I find it very difficult to put down.

I hope this doesn't come off as pressuring you to play. I'm still kind of shocked I like a turn-based game now, to be honest. I thought that I would always dislike them.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Love people down voting you for having an opinion. Some people don't like turn based, that's that. I enjoyed BG3 but I just can't bring myself to start another game, maybe in a couple months or a year. Trying to get through the main storyline in starfield so I can move on to some of the new games coming out, but I keep getting sidetracked.

I played DOS:2 so knew exactly how combat in bg3 would be. Just has a coat of d&d paint is all.

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