Baldurs gate 3 RELEASED IN SECRET!

[Standup]

I guess part of it is different playing styles or expectations.

I'm only in chapter 2 so maybe some of the decisions will become more apparent but so far they do feel cosmetic.

In Chapter one you can only wander the outskirts, in chapter 2 the temple district and eventually the swamp. Presumbly chapter 3 will be the Merchant district or similar. You can't get to other areas or go back to old ones. So in chapter 2 perform certain tasks and you get to go to the swamp. Perform another task and character A disappears. These sorts of triggers are in all RPGs but I'm just much more aware of them which why it feels quite linear. There;s (so far) little choice in the quests and your motives. You can accept them yes/no but there's no role playing options, so I've decided I want to help people but in a quest option I'm demanding 200 gold from a poor person or I won't do it. There's no roleplaying decisions to be made there.

You can do stuff in chapters in a different order and presumbly in different ways but you still seem to be heading towards the same trigger points. I say seem as its quite easy to break the dialogue tree. In one instance I got a successful quest message to annouce I'd proved someone innocent and to tell character B which I did only to be told I had to kill the just proven innocent character as i couldn't prove his innocence. I'm trying to get into the cemetary and the quest tells me to speak to A or B about a certain topic but I don't get the options to do so. i think this is because the trigger is about proving someone's innocent but I've broken that quest as well.

I've probably not played enough but the choice decisions seem to be limited to big set pieces. It's not like Fallout or Arcanum where you can be good/evil etc and play accordingly and neither is it like Morrowind where you have lots of freedom.

I know I've sounded negative but I am really enjoying it most of the time but I enjoyed Fable as well because I knew what i was getting. I probably will replay at somepoint if only so I can get things right (or in the right order).

[Dis]

Originally posted by Standup
arghh! the cut scenes...will they never end?

To me a cut scene is to move the story along occasionally or as a reward for starting a new chapter or finishing a big event but here they're just getting in the way. It doesn't help that the dialogue is via a cut screen as well. It slows it down but also makes it easier to identify whether or not that person is relevant. Taking the dialogue out of it the experience so far has been quite disjointed especially as you can come out of a lengthy cut scene and straight into combat. Or even from one cut scene straight into another (although I guess technically that;s one scene! )

A few other things spoil the immersiveness. You can't jump over anything or even off 6 inch high walkways. So in areas like the village at the start you have to follow the paths all the way round the house rather than step up/off a few inches. Not in itself a big issue but it just adds to the feeling of being limited in options. The game it reminds me off most in structure is Fable although less twee.

I may sound as if I'm not enjoying it but I actually am. It's not, however, the game i was expecting reading previews and interviews. I guess I was hoping for something freeranging like Morrowind but with an actual RPG element like Fallout or Arcanum.

It's not, which is why it reminds me more of Fable where you go to an enclosed area, do all the quests, fight the big boss and then move on collecting your upgrades along the way.Repeat.

Oh and it doesn't seem to like Vista much. Several crashes which seem to be related to the way Vista handles memory or virtual memory.

I take it you've never played any of the Neverwinter games? The phsyics is very similar (same engine in fact). It's frustrating, but it was something they had to do to make the games moddable. So it's not a 3d environment like a mmo or Oblivion/Morrorwind.

[Standup]

I did spend the other day installing NWN 1 (and numerous add ons) but I haven't got beyond the tutorial yet and I'm concentrating on Witcher for the time being. I did do a bit of background reading on the tiles but I didn't realise the compromise was a limited environment.

Is NWN full of cut scenes?

Anyhow...still on chapter 2 and with a couple of broken dialogue quests I'm struggling to move it forward.

SPOILERS AHOY.......
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Just started Shani's party but nobody has the vodka i need. I'm hoping that the barmaid's stock changes each day.

Killed the golem but still one stone short. Raymond is waiting at the tower and I'm suppose to entice kalkstein but he refuses to talk to me.

Hopefully opening the tower will move all the broken quests forward. Just need to find the last stone.

[Dis]

not many cut scenes in nwn1. It mostly concentrated on creating a tileset that was usable by fans, and they didn't devote a lot of time on the story. And it shows, but the story isn't bad. The trial is kind of interesting, and the betrayal. But I don't remember much else about nwn1 oc. The expansions are better story wise.

Nwn2 has more cut scenes. It's a lot more story orientated. Not too surprising as it's from a different developer that is noted for "deeper" games. Sometimes the cut scenes annoyed me as I wanted to get to the action, or I was worried about my buffs wearing off . But it's a sacrifice you make for a deeper story. Nwn2 also had a more difficult tileset to use than nwn1. With the Witcher they cut the tileset out entirely in order to customize the game to achieve the settings they wanted, and no multiplayer as well.

Same goes with a linear campaign (which nwn2 is guilty of as well). But it allows for telling the story more coherantly. And from what I hear, The Witcher is even more story orientated than nwn2- which already has a lot of lines of dialogue. Seeing as its from a book, it's not surprising.

[Nostromo]

Originally posted by Dis


I take it you've never played any of the Neverwinter games? The phsyics is very similar (same engine in fact). It's frustrating, but it was something they had to do to make the games moddable. So it's not a 3d environment like a mmo or Oblivion/Morrorwind.

The engine was heavily modified, though. NWN always looked like dog ****, even the year it came out, whereas The Witcher looks quite good. Look at post 54 above.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=171323&perpage=30&pagenumber=2

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Standup
Anyhow...still on chapter 2 and with a couple of broken dialogue quests I'm struggling to move it forward.

SPOILERS AHOY.......
>
>
>
>
Just started Shani's party but nobody has the vodka i need. I'm hoping that the barmaid's stock changes each day.

Killed the golem but still one stone short. Raymond is waiting at the tower and I'm suppose to entice kalkstein but he refuses to talk to me.

Hopefully opening the tower will move all the broken quests forward. Just need to find the last stone.

About the vodka, any vodka will do.

Do this before getting the last stone.

Track the quest and it will tell you what stone you are missing. It is most likely one in the swamp that you get from giving an offering of food in one of the altars.

[Standup]

For some reason I didn't need the last stone. I Only had nine but after killing the Golem the tower was open. I'm not complaining though Grandma almost got a witcher sword in the head again though at the party (well that or something through the monitor as I stared at the load screen).

Moved on to Chaper 3 but the game is crashing every ten minutes or so. Seems to be the memory problem and the sheer number of NPCs in the Trade District.

Probably going to have to park it and wait for the next patch which is due "before Christmas". Frustrating as I'm hardly playing on a low end PC. Tempted to take Vista off and put XP for the near future.

[Apocalypse]

I'd keep with it a bit longer. Find a book to read during load times.

[Apocalypse]

I just finished it. The story was great throughout the ending.

It was probably the best RPG I've played since 2001.

[Standup]

Messing around with my virtual memory settings I seem to have got some stability. Ten minutes to load my save game at the start means I'm getting through my book quickly.

It is getting better though the more I play as it does open up more.

How do I use bombs? also my potions seem to keep changing in the quick access slot and I'm wondering If I'm hitting a key that does this or is it just a bit buggy?

SPOLIERS....



I'm on chapter 3 now though and just cleared out the sewers. The boy is with Shani. I was going to give her a ring but she was really sniffy about my coming back drunk from the brothel so I'm having second thoughts there.
I've also sided with Siegfried on all the squirral issues on the basis that I'm here to protect people. It would be nice if some of the quests allowed you to continue the role play rather just than the crunch points.
Off to see the guy who runs the fisstech although I might go and see the blue eyed courtesan on the way.

[Standup]

OK the keyboard is so close to going through the window and the game being uninstalled...the kikimore queen.

I've read the walkthroughs and if you ignore the dodgy collision detection there still seems a lot of luck. And having spent the last 90 minutes on this i think I've had enough.

[Apocalypse]

Aard each of the 4 supports and the kikis disappear the more of them to destroy. They all disappear right before the final one.

I tried to igni them for the first 90 minutes before trying aard finally.

[Standup]

After many more attempts and watching a video on youtube finally got past this stage.

Frustrating on two accounts. Firstly because I found it so difficult but mainly because it didn't fit into what is suppose to be a RPG. A big boss monster with no way of avoiding and only one solution. There's no other solution or tactics and nothing that takes account of the way your character has been developed. At least in games like Baldur's Gate you could try different tactics if you got trounced in a combat.

Anyway....straight into another cut scene and into chapter IV. A sudden change of pace in the village of Murky Waters.

All so peaceful until the giant centipedes took me apart. That'll teach me to be admiring the flowers.

[Nostromo]

Mmmm, I lost interest a short while after I got in Vizima... I haven't played the game since then.

[Apocalypse]

centipedes are weak to fire IIRC