Baldur's Gate III News

[Chronicler]

It's my personal view that Boo is a disability assistance animal for Minsc.

After his head injury, he couldn't handle a lot of the brain work of his profession like he used to. He found a particularly moral and trustworthy companion in Boo, who he can rely on to handle a lot of that stuff.

Most people wouldn't want to rely on a "dumb animal" to do that sort of thing, but Minsc knows animals have an intelligence of their own, not understood by most, and knows Boo won't lead him astray. He trusts Boo with his life and with his blade.

I figure it's kind of like that, when a druid starts romancing critters.

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

I was thinking more in the direction of "Hey maybe Jaheira is an owlbear shapeshifter, can you see the resemblance?"

What you say makes sense to me though. Ultimately, in a fantasy world, the lines are a bit blurry anyway between dumb but sentient "monsters" and animals, because there the difference is more like "look humanoid and can speak" than anything else, so if you are capable of talking to animals, and even spending time as one of them, you might find having more in common with a bear than with an orc.

Then with DnD things get more complicated anyway, with all those categories like beasts, monsters, monstrosities, feywild etc... some look humanoid and others don't, some are magical, so who is to say where you draw the line which of them count as "people".

On owlbear shape itself, I found this:

So it's not something usually allowed/possible in DnD, which bears (pun not intended) the question:
Was it a fan request, has it been planned all along and only announced now, or was it just a reaction to the DnD movie, to ride the wave of new popularity and create a link?

Either way, it was a smart move to announce this feature just a few days after the movie start. The DnD movie launching in cinema just a few months before the game release is an excellent opportunity anyway, as it will increase popularity of and broader interest in/knowledge about DnD, and the non-serious tone of the movie is in line with the "Larian humour" image (even if BG3 is, at least from what I have seen so far, more serious than Divinity games).

 

[Antimatter]

Jaheira could shapeshift into a bear in BG2. So now a hundred years later, she can be an owldbear.

 

[Zaxares]

Yeah, when I saw Larian's tweet I was like "Owlbears CAN'T be Nature's mistake... Because they were never natural creations to begin with." They were the result of an unnamed wizard's magical cross-breeding experiments dating back to at least 2nd Ed (they might have shown up earlier, but I'm not sure.) Whoever the wizard was, they also created the Carrion Crawler and Bulette.

All that said, there is precedent for allowing Druids to Wild Shape into things other than Animals with the appropriate build. Druids in 3rd Ed could Wild Shape into Beasts (which include Owlbears), Plants, Elementals, Vermin and even Magical Beasts and Aberrations with the appropriate feats (some of them epic level), so I personally have no objection against allowing Druids an Owlbear shape with some appropriate balances put in.

 

[Antimatter]

WolfheartFPS started a series of videos about the BG3 lore.

 

[Cahir]

WolfheartFPS started a series of videos about the BG3 lore.

It's great, looking forward to seeing more. The first part is not something that would be a novelty for me, though (except the second Sundering part, since it's 5e). Basically, he summarized what was written in BG1/BG2 lorebook about the Dead Three. But it's fun to hear him as a narrator, so I'll definitely bookmark this series.

 

[Antimatter]

While we don't have any news about a shifted release date, there is a confirmation directly from Larian's Director of publishing about the release period issue.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1646172465167585281

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1646173789217062919

The thread is about Redfall, a game that has a lot of problems regarding the release period as well (plus a similar Xbox issue). More context:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1646202881014366209

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1646167712094117891

 

[Cahir]

A new FR lore video from WolfheartFPS.

 

[Cahir]

A new lore video courtesy of WolfheartFPS, this time with a very special guest.

 

[O_Bruce]

Apparently, Baldur's Gate 3's price has been rised in several countries just recently. Notably in Poland, its price rose from 199 PLN to 249 PLN. This concerns PC version.
Source: gram.pl

As for me, if Larian goes with eternal early access, then raises the price shortly before the release day, then I guess I'll just wait for some sale.

 

[Cahir]

Apparently, Baldur's Gate 3's price has been rised in several countries just recently. Notably in Poland, its price rose from 199 PLN to 249 PLN. This concerns PC version.
Source: gram.pl

As for me, if Larian goes with eternal early access, then raises the price shortly before the release day, then I guess I'll just wait for some sale.

Yeah, noticed that too. I wouldn't be that concerned, if they were open about it, not squeezing this price increase silently. Original price was very competitive and I guess longstanding inflation going up was a factor to make that move.

 

[Antimatter]

So, to just give some insight from the game industry here. Regional pricing is a totally different subject and usually being handled based on the platform's recommendations (in this case, Valve's). Sometimes, publishers want to pursue substantial fluctuations of USD vs local currency.

If I could make an assumption, I think it's the following.

Considering there haven't been any major fluctuations between USD/EUR just now, the recent change for BG3 might look weird, but in reality, I think it's Larian just catching up and preparing for the full release in August. After all, 3 years ago the regional pricing was very different, see

https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/jg7og6
And a lot has changed over these 3 years:

You can check regional pricing for BG3 here, including the best historical results. Obviously, the economic recession in Europe (caused by things like the war, etc) led to decisions like this, as the Polish currency is tied to Euro as well.

From their Steam FAQ for BG3:

"Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
“The price of the game will remain $59.99 USD / £49.99 GBP / 59,99€ EUR at launch. As Steam makes periodic changes to their recommended regional pricing to reflect changes in purchasing power and currencies around the world, the price in other currencies may change to reflect Steam’s most recent recommendations.”

 

[Antimatter]

We've suspected for quite some time that there won't be a lvl 10 cap in the game, now we have the confirmation (lvl 11 at least):

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1663938780816916480

 

[Zaxares]

Woah, August 31 is precisely my birthday! XD

 

[Antimatter]

Yesterday it was revealed Jason Isaacs had joined the cast of Baldur's Gate 3 as Lord Enver Gortash.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1666900766802468871

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

Yesterday it was revealed Jason Isaacs had joined the cast of Baldur's Gate 3 as Lord Enver Gortash.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1666900766802468871

Jason Isaacs is a cool and convincing actor, many know him as Lucuis Malfoy, or as Captain Lorca from Star Trek: Discovery, and it's great that more movie actors participate in video games, because it's just as much a form of entertainment and art.

What I really don't understand is how the marketing folks at Larian couldn't come up with a more catchy, convincing and especially more generally directed trailer clip for the freaking Summer Game Fest introduction stream 2 months before the freaking game release that has spent years in Early Access.

I could totally understand showing that video on one of their own panels, to people who have been following the (scarce) news about the game.

But Gods and Nine Hells, for a general gamer audience? How on Faerun is this video going to tell people what Baldur's Gate 3 is about, what's so cool about it, why they should play it, if they didn't have it on their radar until now? It's completely out of context, showing a seemingly random snippet of the game. Sure, with an actor's name and all, but Jason Isaacs isn't enough to simply catch the attention of everyone.

Now would have been the time to show something on par with the announcement trailer, or the release date trailer, with big images, and an overview of companions, classes, a story teaser, whatever. Something flashy that tells people to remember this is happening soon, and why they should want it.

Such a niche video says nothing to anyone except for those who have been following anyway.

Seems like a missed opportunity to me.

 

[Antimatter]

Yeah, sounds like a missed opportunity. For some reason, they decided to focus on their own show instead.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1668021029732593667

"Baldur’s Gate 3 is much, much bigger than we had envisioned when we started this journey roughly 5 years ago. Looking at what’s in Act 1 Early Access right now, it’s fair to say that you’ve really only seen a glimmer of the full experience to come. In July, you’ll begin to get a more complete look not just at how far Baldur’s Gate 3 has come, but where it’s been heading all these years in development. We know you’re really eager to hear about all the playable races & classes in the game. It’s coming."

Baldur's Gate 3 - Community Update #19: Mechs and the City - Steam News

Return to Baldur's Gate for the first time in 20 years as the city prepares for war

store.steampowered.com

 

[Antimatter]

Does this sound like the main character will be getting full VO?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1672203005255647234

 

[Cahir]

Does this sound like the main character will be getting full VO?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1672203005255647234

If your assumption is correct, then... HELL, YEAH!!!

The prospect of silent protagonist was (is?) single the most jarring issue I had with BG3 (without playing the game, of course). With Larian's focus on cinematics and voice acting, it felt completely illogical to ruin the effect with a silent main character. It just... it looked amateurish.

It's just weird... they haven't advertised this at all. This is why I'm a little bit concerned if Antimatter's guess is correct. Looks like, but I'd be calmer if Larian confirms this.

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

Does this sound like the main character will be getting full VO?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1672203005255647234

Of course it's very vague, but yes, that's exactly what it sounds like. If it were only interjections and battle cries, it would have been less text?

So maybe it's not fully voiced, but as long as we don't have the mutely gesticulating puppet in cutscenes, it would be so great. If there are long text dialogues in other parts, I'd be OK with having the first lines voiced only, but of course fully voiced would be best.

I just can't understand why they never mentioned that before. It only confirms again that they don't seem to be monitoring community discussions at all, neither on their own forums nor reddit etc, because it has been heavily discussed for a long time.
I mean, we have realized that apart from the unidirectional communication style of their panels, they seem to have been focusing on Twitter and TikTok, but it really, really makes me wonder what their PR and marketing people are doing, because surely they must have them.

Not saying a company should do what the fans want, but wouldn't it be normal to keep tabs on the most discussed topics and throw them a bone now and then?