Baldur's Gate III

[Sarafan]

Can't wait to see the full release. The development of the game is taking quite a lot of time. The hype has fallen down a bit, but trailers such as this one pump it up high enough. Larian has targeted a very difficult year to release the game. Lots of great games coming in 2023 and it'll be hard to compete for the attention of gamers.

 

[mainer]

Can't wait to see the full release. The development of the game is taking quite a lot of time. The hype has fallen down a bit, but trailers such as this one pump it up high enough. Larian has targeted a very difficult year to release the game. Lots of great games coming in 2023 and it'll be hard to compete for the attention of gamers.

Between BG3 & Starfield I know where at least 4 months of my 2023 gaming time will be spent. I actually spent $60 USD on the early access version of BG3 even though I haven't tried it yet. I'm torn between wanting to try it and wanting to wait for that excitement that comes from playing a game for the first time. I will always support Larian as they truly care about the player's experience with the games they make, and that's rare today, so I have no problem giving them my money.

Swen Vincke has been wanting to make BG3 for a long time, and Larian, now with 7 studios worldwide, has spent a lot of time, money, and passion to make this game. I look forward to seeing what information they reveal at the Panel from Hell on December 14th.
Baldur's Gate 3 (baldursgate3.game)

 

[Zloth]

Between BG3 & Starfield I know where at least 4 months of my 2023 gaming time will be spent.

2024 for Starfield for me. BG3 might have to wait until 2025 - Larian likes to do "director's cut" versions.

 

[Sarafan]

I look forward to seeing what information they reveal at the Panel from Hell on December 14th.
Baldur's Gate 3 (baldursgate3.game)

I bet it'll be an initial release date. If they won't reveal it, I'll be disappointed.

 

[mainer]

BG3 might have to wait until 2025 - Larian likes to do "director's cut" versions.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but weren't the "directors cuts" versions (or whatever they're called) free updates or options for the Divinity games if you owned the originals?

 

[Zloth]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but weren't the "directors cuts" versions (or whatever they're called) free updates or options for the Divinity games if you owned the originals?

Yep, they were - but they were fairly major improvements. I missed out on those improvements because I played the two Divinity:OS games early.

That wouldn't matter nearly as much if I was a game that I was likely to play through twice. It's possible (especially if Minsc is there), so I might buy "early" if it seems likely I'll play it 2+ times.

 

[Zloth]

Official release date: August 2023

 

[mainer]

Official release date: August 2023

I'm even more excited for BG3, because Minsc is back!

View: https://youtu.be/NOWGnC3h9WQ

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I'm excited to play the game when it gets a full release, but I havent been over the moon for reasons I've gone over before. But Minsc coming back definitely did perk me up quite a bit more.

 

[JarlBSoD]

I am a bit hyped i must admit, I am not happy about Minsc returning though seing as i realy disliked him in BG2, but i am kinda aminority on that one i think

 

[mainer]

Interesting article on BG3 and the new voice actor for Minsc:
Critical Role's Matt Mercer will voice Minsc in Baldur's Gate 3 | PC Gamer

At first I was dismayed that Jim Cummings was going to voice Minsc, because Minsc has such a distinctive voice and personality. But after listening to the Matt Mercer (short video in article), I've got to admit that he has the voice & tonal inflection nailed; Minsc sounds like Minsc. I'm still curious why Jim Cummings wasn't hired for the voice, but I think Matt Mercer has the emotional involvement to make it succeed.

Also, the most recent Panel from Hell video released on 12/14 in case you missed it (it's over an hour and a half in length, but is always fun to watch if you have the time):

View: https://youtu.be/5XXSB5e7oVM

 

[Sarafan]

At first I was dismayed that Jim Cummings was going to voice Minsc, because Minsc has such a distinctive voice and personality. But after listening to the Matt Mercer (short video in article), I've got to admit that he has the voice & tonal inflection nailed; Minsc sounds like Minsc. I'm still curious why Jim Cummings wasn't hired for the voice, but I think Matt Mercer has the emotional involvement to make it succeed.

The problem I have with Minsc's voice is that I simply can't imagine any other actor than the one that voiced Minsc in the Polish version of BG2. From what we know, BG3 won't have Polish voice-over, so it's a bummer. I hope that I'll get used to the new voice. Do we know whether Minsc will be a full-fledged companion in BG3 or rather an episodic appearance?

 

[Zloth]

The top brass at Larian's acting skills are improving much more than your typical top brass.

How is Minsc alive: 11:40. Jehera is recruitable as is Minsc. You can antagonize both and have them work against you - I would very much advise against that. Your party's butts will be kicked liberally.

He also said the voice actor for Minsc isn't for sure? This was just posted yesterday!

 

[Sarafan]

How is Minsc alive: 11:40. Jehera is recruitable as is Minsc. You can antagonize both and have them work against you - I would very much advise against that. Your party's butts will be kicked liberally.

Wow! They're bringing back not only Minsc, but also Jaheira! So maybe we'll even get some tasty bites regarding the canon ending of BG2. So it looks like two slots in my team are already reserved... Give me Viconia in a DLC and I'm all in!

 

[mainer]

Wow! They're bringing back not only Minsc, but also Jaheira! So maybe we'll even get some tasty bites regarding the canon ending of BG2. So it looks like two slots in my team are already reserved... Give me Viconia in a DLC and I'm all in!

If Minsc & Jaheira are both recruitable they'll both be in my party, no matter who I have to bump out, and a tie-in to the end of BG2 would be great. But we're looking at 300 years after BG2 (I think), so how will that be explained? Minsc looks like he was trapped inside a Mimic (which is such a Minsc thing to do), so I could see that as an explanation, but that leaves Jaheira.

Regardless, having some of these previous BG 1&2 companions & personalities is making BG3 seem more like a true BG sequel. Makes me wish even more for a party composition of 6, rather than 4.

 

[Sarafan]

Minsc looks like he was trapped inside a Mimic (which is such a Minsc thing to do), so I could see that as an explanation, but that leaves Jaheira.

She's a half-elf, so in theory it's possible that she lived for so long. Swen Vincke pointed out that she'll be much older than in BG2, but I agree that half-elves have probably a shorter life expectancy than pure-blood elves.

 

[Zloth]

He mentioned that she's 150 right now, and how Minsc comes back.

View: https://youtu.be/5XXSB5e7oVM?t=700

 

[Sarafan]

Well then, there's nothing left than to buy the game on the release date. I only hope that the difficulty level will be lower than in Divinity Original Sin 2 and the game will be less linear. I really don't want to switch the difficulty to the lowest possible level again. Nevertheless, I'm intending to buy it a few days before the release and I hope for at least a few dozens of hours of entertainment.

 

[mainer]

He mentioned that she's 150 right now, and how Minsc comes back.

My bad there, I somehow missed/forgot about Jaheira's age being 150.

I only hope that the difficulty level will be lower than in Divinity Original Sin 2 and the game will be less linear. I really don't want to switch the difficulty to the lowest possible level again.

Same here. DOS2 was a great game, but the difficulty in some places was just way over my sill level. I turned it down to the lowest possible level as well just to survive somewhere just past the midway point. Some battles in Arx, and especially the final battle were brutal.

Hopefully the exploration and choices of where you can go will be a bit more open, as they were in both BG1 & 2 where you could travel from map to map freely, no matter your level or what quest you were on. You could die really quick in some areas, but that feeling of exploring unknown areas was always fun for me.

The problem I have with Minsc's voice is that I simply can't imagine any other actor than the one that voiced Minsc in the Polish version of BG2. From what we know, BG3 won't have Polish voice-over, so it's a bummer. I hope that I'll get used to the new voice.

I thought about this last night for some reason, and I wonder, how do game developers handle fully voiced characters when a game is published in multiple languages? If a game has voice overs for, say, 12 different languages, do they have to hire 12 different voice actors for each character (and the rest have to deal with subtitles)? It's something I never really thought about before as I only hear about and experience the US English voice actors.

 

[Sarafan]

I thought about this last night for some reason, and I wonder, how do game developers handle fully voiced characters when a game is published in multiple languages? If a game has voice overs for, say, 12 different languages, do they have to hire 12 different voice actors for each character (and the rest have to deal with subtitles)? It's something I never really thought about before as I only hear about and experience the US English voice actors.

If the company doesn't have a local branch (only big companies can afford local branches), usually they hire a local subcontractor who ports the game to the specified language. So in terms of practical implementation - yes, they have to multiply voice actors. But in most cases it's the subcontractor's part to do all this. When it comes to Poland, 10-15 years ago most of the titles had Polish voice-overs. Now it happens rarely and usually in games from bigger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft, Bethesda (also Microsoft ), Activision-Blizzard, sometimes EA. In other cases, only the subtitles are translated. The reasons of this are costs and the fact that a lot of people here really prefer original voice-overs.

It's even more interesting when it comes to movies. In cinemas Polish voice-overs are reserved mostly for movies that are targeted for younger audience. The rest of the movies are translated through subtitles. In TV however we love lectors. The original voice-over is left in the background while it's translated by the voice of one person. Imagine someone that reads the subtitles for you and is good in doing so. Of course these days it isn't a problem to turn off the lector completely and switch the subtitles on, but... we really love our lectors.

Now I'm thinking that something like this could be a truly unique experience for someone from the US or the UK. You can get a hang of it by launching any STALKER game in Polish version. It has Russian voice-over (for atmosphere reasons) covered by Polish lector. Quite unique when it comes to gaming even in my country.

 

[Zloth]

I've never heard of a lector before! That would be nice when I'm watching a foreign film with subtitles, but I want to eat at the same time. Glance down at your food at the wrong time, and you miss something important!

 

[Sarafan]

And here’s the new Jaheira: https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-reveals-new-jaheira-actor/

 

[mainer]

Rather than start a new BG3 thread I'm resurrecting this one as there doesn't seem to be a need for an additional thread, at least until the game is released.

A couple new items of interest I thought, the first being a new update, release trailer and an actual release date (8/31/2023) announced yesterday:

Baldur's Gate 3 - Community Update #18: Baldur's Date - Steam News

Baldur’s Gate 3 releases on August 31, 2023 for PC, Mac, and PS5.

store.steampowered.com

I'm usually a bit skeptical about actual release dates, but Larian seems to be really focused and unified on how BG3 is developed, so I feel pretty confident that they'll hit that date.

The second bit of news, is that the minimum & maximum PC specs have been slightly increased, as also noted in this PCG article: Baldur's Gate 3 increases system requirements 'to better reflect the realities of the launch version' | PC Gamer

They're upfront about it to let people know ahead of time, and even with the increased specs, I still think they're very reasonable. Minimum graphic card is a GTX 970 (2014), and I've got to believe that the majority of gamers have progressed beyond that. Even the recommended graphic card is a 2060 Super, which is two generations below Nvidia's current line.

There are two, what I consider to be "landmark" RPGs, being released this year that could greatly influence the status of the game studios. BG3 for Larian, and Starfield for Bethesda. It could be an excellent year for RPG players.

 

[Zloth]

A little blast from the past, when Larian was first announcing BG3 to the world:

View: https://youtu.be/LI4v6hC_rjM

 

[Brian Boru]

Good luck to all you Impatients tomorrow! May your foolishness be exceeded only by your enjoyment