What's the latest with Baldur's Gate?

Keeping up with the Illithids. 

I've really slept on Baldur's Gate 3, intentionally I might add, for the better part of the year or so since I first mentioned it. But that's only because I was so enamoured by what I saw that I wanted to wait until the game was out and I could play it for myself. Well, of course things aren't that simple and Larian have the tendency to hit a prolonged state of early access before the big launch , so there's actually gone quite a few months of everyone having a pretty good idea what this game looks and plays like, at least in it's first act. and up to level 4. Meanwhile I've been anxiously glimpsing from afar, looking at the odd patch note or sneaking a peak at the trailer, letting the need to play this game slowly creep up on me. But then came the time when I played another big CRPG in Pillars of Eternity (Which I'm getting the desire to play through again, honestly) and now I just can't hold back anymore. I really want to look at what is honestly one of the coolest feeling party-based games in a long time and just smother myself in that D&D goodness.

To that avail I've been catching up on a lot of what I missed, following threads on the months development from the eyes of the community, reading pages of information on what the game currently holds and how they want to expand upon that and, to cap it all off, watching the two hour Panel from Hell that Larian put together in order to celebrate their big Patch 4. (I've even dived a little bit into 'Baldur's Gate: Decent into Avernus': the tabletop prequel to Baldur's Gate 3) Does that make me the preeminent source on all things BG3? Of course not, not even close. The best possible experience I could shoot for would be playing the game for myself, but I'm just so not in the mood to be stuck playing the first act of a grand story over and over in perpetuity (There's enough of that in every Live service, afterall.) so I've restrained myself. Plus, paying full price for a quarter of a game... that just ain't me, you know? At least not intentionally... I may have confidence in Larian to deliver, they've done it with the exact same development path twice before, but I wouldn't be true to my penny-pinching ways if I relented. (Which just means you can go play it for yourself if you want ever more insight.)

So first of all I should reintroduce the game now I know it a bit better. Baldur's Gate 3 is the long awaited successor to the famed Baldur's Gate series though, as far as I'm aware, narratively unlinked to those first two games aside from in setting. It goes for a CRPG style similar to the originals, but distinct at it's core in that this isn't a free-action combat game but a turned based style more similar to Larian's own Original Sin series. This allows for the introduction of elements like Initiative into the raw gameplay (A concept from D&D that decides the order of turns based on rolls and/or stat bonuses) and a greater reliance on powerful abilities that feel like they shake up the battlefield. Most notable in BG3 is the way in which Larian have thrown their absolute all into making this undeniably the most AAA CRPG experience being worked on at this moment, with no equal. Every line not spoken by the player is voice acted, (amending a common short falling of this genre) every interaction is rendered with a cinematic flair onpar with Bioware, (Except with much better lip-tracking from what I've seen) and the whole thing is created with this beauty that's only improved upon with each update. Visually the game is just a star.

Larian have tasked themselves with really bringing Baldur's Gate 3 to a new level as far as this genre is concerned, and the storied nature of the series is fuelling a lot of that passion and desire to perform to their utmost best. The core pillars of this type of classic RPG games, character classes, roleplaying and levelling are all upheld or reiterated upon with gusto, and they've even gone so far as to institute one of their own pillars, utility, in a way that I really hope picks up steam. If you're unfamiliar, I'm referring to the way in which the world is constructed to allow for abilities that have use outside of combat scenarios, such as to ignite a cloud of poison to dissipate it. Utility is one of the most unique aspect of Larian's development style and it's an absolute credit to the creativity of it's customers, championing that makes Baldur's Gate 3 genuinely one of the most promising role playing games to date, in my eyes.

Development of such a grand idea in a game is going to take more than a bit of ingenuity and iteration, which is why I get so excited to see the team take this seriously and work in early access alongside the community to nail everything down. It's the sort of relationship that Early Access was built for but one we see too frightfully lacking in most examples of the service. Already this collaboration between developer and player has resulted in everything from bug fixes, to balance tweaking and even a few pivots in design direction that I think have really been a credit to the genre at large. For instance, and I'm unsure how much of this is fan suggestion and how much is something they were aiming for to begin with, but the Patch 3 change to make avoiding combat reward equivalent experience to engaging, is genuinely gameplay affecting. I remember my entire approach to Deus Ex shifting on a dime when I realised they had a similar mechanic. Great stuff so far.

As for Patch 4, their most recent and the focus for the Stream from Hell that Larian did a showcase on, there's some cool goodies to talk of there. The headliner though, the thing which got everyone talking, is the Druid class which harkens back to classic D&D. With a playstyle shaped around embodying the wild extremes of nature and magic, Druids posses the singularly awesome ability to 'Wild Shape'. I.e. Morph into an animal with all the benefits of that animal and a separate health pool to top it off. So far we've seen giant polar bears who can barrel into smaller foes, a badger who can tunnel under the earth and a bird which can soar to hard to reach places, all of which obviously comes with as must utility value as they do combat efficiency. For a treat the livestream showcased a solo run of what looked to be a difficult dungeon using the utility of a level 4 druid and it was genuinely impressive for the array of tools and abilities available to one single class. From flying past traps as a bird to stealthing one room as a cat and even quickly saving an NPC's life by porting around the battlefield in badger form. And then the entire thing fell apart as key saving throws were missed and the team ultimately wiped (as can happen in truly live events) but the showcase was impressive and fun regardless, really showing the extent of love and care which the team is dedicating to every playstyle. (All these CRPGs of late are reminding why I used to love RPGs as much as I did, I'm telling you.)

And even beyond the gameplay itself, I must voice that I positively adore the presentation of this game; it looks genuinely stunning. One of the new upgrades with this latest patch went towards the lighting and that alone breathes new life into already impressive looking scenes, allowing for dark to play off of light appropriately. (Something I hope they have fun with in the later acts) The effects of the abilities to, have this great punchiness to it that I wasn't really expecting. Other titles tend to have these whimsical and mystical effects with all but the biggest of spells, but BG3 with it's visuals and sound-design invokes a weighty feeling whip to all the attacks that I'm really coming to appreciate. It perhaps robs a little of the whimsy but it feels fast, electric and modern; matching the tone of this whole Baldur's Gate project nicely.

Baldur's Gate 3, with it's robust skeleton and fanciful frills, has the potential to really set a new bar for the RPG community and I'm absolutely here for it. Even as someone who never played BG 1 and 2 back in the day, there's enough here to really ignite the ol' fire and have me drooling entirely without the steel hook of nostalgia to rope me in. (Although, admittedly, that might be somewhat due to my known love for all things turn based) Everytime I see more of this game I fall in love all over again, and I'm at the point now where I can't even decide what I'll end up being on launch day. (I know I'll play Teifling, but 'Tiefling' Druid is sounding pretty cool around about now) I'm actually excited for the long road to launch and all the stops along the journey in the knowledge that, with the map editor tools that'll likely come to, this could very well be the next modder haven game too. Let me call it now that Baldur's Gate 3 is going to be the best it can be, and accept that I could very well be eating those words if things go Projekt Red-shaped a year or so from now. (It won't though. Right?)