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[Exerosp]

I don't understand the popularity of Original Sin. I disliked the silly tone and bounced off it hard so I didn't get very far and had no interest in it's sequel. I enjoyed BG1&2 and ToB which all had their own bits of silliness but it was just bits, not the theme. I'm not enthusiastic about Larian having a stab at BG3 unless it is actually BG3 and not just a renamed third OS.

Just like I didn't understand the popularity of Skyrim. It was bland, and poorly written. Might as well could've played Dynasty warriors since it was more of a hack 'n' slash than a RPG game.
I'm curious about Larian studios making a BG game since they got me interested in the isometric genre. Div2 was the first isometric game I fell in love with. But I do feel like the story might be too grand a scale/you'll feel like too important a puzzle piece from the teaser trailer I saw, we'll see. (I don't know enough about the BG lore)

[Mech#4]

Lore of Baldur's Gate is more like the lore of the Forgotten Realms. The big event around the time of Baldur's Gate was the Time of Troubles which was when the gods were forced to walk the realm of Toril in their mortal avatar forms. This occured in 1358DR (Dale Reckoning). Baldur's Gate 1 takes place in the year 1368DR, ten years later.

Spoiler: More specific lore stuff. Spoilers for Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 (click to show/hide)

Bhaal, the god of Murder, having forseen his own death during the Time of Troubles, walked Toril before the event occured and fathered multiple children across many different races and species. The PC in Baldur's Gate is one of these Bhaalspawn. Ultimately the PC, officially known as Abdel Adrian, defeated many of the other Bhaalspawn and rejected the empty throne of Bhaal instead choosing to retain the essence of Bhaal within him to prevent Bhaals resurrection. (With every death of a Bhaalspawn, the small essence of Bhaal within them would gather in Bhaals plane, eventually causing his resurrection).

The PC, Abdel Adrian, returned to Baldur's Gate after the events of "Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal" and joined the Flaming Fist mercenary company, rising to the position of Marshal and being well liked amongst the population of Baldur's Gate. (The Flaming Fist act as the city guards for the merchant city of Baldur's Gate).

After Games:
This is from an adventure module for the tabletop RP game.
Around the year 1479, Abdel Adrian fought and was killed by another remaining Bhaalspawn called Viekang (He actually appeared in Throne of Bhaal, a thief/assassin who teleported with a lightning strike when he was scared).
Being the only remaining Bhaalspawn left, Viekang transformed into the Slayer avatar of Bhaal, was killed by adventurers with his essence returning to Bhaal and causing Bhaal's resurrection.


Note: I'm paraphasing quite a bit here from specifics. There's two different accounts of plot for the period 1368DR - 1369DR, one comes from the video games (Baldur's Gate 1, 2 and Throne of Bhaal) and the other comes from a series of books written of the same name. I only read the first book and that was about 15 years ago. Abdel is a very different character from the games and the plot differs significantly in quite a few places though the overall arc is the same.

I suppose Baldur's Gate 3 will feature references to the old PC being a figure of the Flaming Fist. From an article on VentureBeat "“It’s about 100 years after the game. We try to avoid giving specific years, because we have some amount of flexibility in our tabletop campaigns,” Mearls said. “Unless the precise year is really important, we don’t usually refer to it.”

That would place it around 1469DR. From what I'm reading 5th Edition takes place around 1484DR but I know basically nothing about more recent developments in the setting, if someone could fill in anything I've left out that they think is relevent?

[Rince Wind]

"You miss a lot in D&D—if the dice are bad, you miss," he says. "That doesn't work well in a videogame. If I do that, you're going to review it and say it's shit."

God forbid a dice rolling game features random outcomes from rolling dice. The horror of it all.

Yeah man bad reviews, like those other DnD games that stayed true to the system and ended up as the basic foundation for all PC RPG'S everywhere.

Just like that. We don't want to repeat that.

Still look forward to it, but sure as hell am not buying it at launch. Was burned on the last few DnD games.

To be fair: the combat system was not the games strongest suit.  PnP and CRPGs play differently, so I'm happy if they adjust the rules for that.
I wonder how they will implement rules such as only three stronger magical items per character, as you have to attune to them. And the power curve in DnD 5 is more of a gentle rise, which is good for game balance but might not translate very well into a CRPG.

[Dunamisdeos]

I may have given a wrong impression, I'm not avoiding it because of the dice and RNG thing, they just keep releasing awful games with a DnD logo slapped on them.

Not doin' it again.

[Mech#4]

There was a lot of missing in Baldur's Gate. Most of this would be since there's no halfway blocked-by-armour, instead armour/AC makes you miss so you only saw the hits. The enemies missed a lot as well so it balanced out in a way. Early on magic, like magic missile, was a powerful option since it gave guaranteed hits unless the enemy was immune to missiles or resistant to magic.

It did make having front line fighters annoying, since you'd see them swinging away, taking damage which you'd need to heal while they struggled to deal with 1 kobold out of 10. Taking bows and slings helped increase your attack output while spells like bless increased your to-hit chance.

It was frustrating but I did enjoy the difficulty presented. Early battles would sometimes require multiple tries due to bad rolls but there were options like retreating, splitting the attackers up into smaller groups and dealing with them that way, buying blessings from temples or a potion of firebreath.

It is easier than Pool of Radiance which pits your level 2-3 characters against a room of about 5 trolls and an ogre, or random tavern brawls that involve about 15 thieves.

[scriver]

There was also a lot of "missing" because Bioeare thought one or two attacks per turn looked much too unexciting or undynamuc or whatever and made the characters play extra attack animations even if the characters wasn't actually making any attacks.

[Stench Guzman]

It's probably going to be a fine game, but it's only loosely related to the original BG games and it's not being made by the same people that made the originals either.  It doesn't look like there are many other epic fantasy games due for release in the near term, so that works in its favor.  Just don't expect a masterpiece out of this.

I may have given a wrong impression, I'm not avoiding it because of the dice and RNG thing, they just keep releasing awful games with a DnD logo slapped on them.

Not doin' it again.

Daggerdale says hello.

[sambojin]

Should be fun to see how 5e translates (assuming they'll be loosely basing it on that ruleset). Cantrips, cantrips everywhere.....

Oh, and HD for healing, during short/long rests.

Will certainly remove the week-long rests and five-minute work days prevalent in many D&D games. Why wouldn't you go in with all your spells, if it's a matter of 1-2 clicks?

Shooting/blasting lines might be a thing now.

Oh god I hope we can be Moon Druids. Assuming a lvl1-2 start, that is.

[DG]

BG3 Community Update 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI4v6hC_rjM&feature=youtu.be

No wonder their games are silly. They are silly in real life.

[Rakonas]

That would place it around 1469DR. From what I'm reading 5th Edition takes place around 1484DR but I know basically nothing about more recent developments in the setting, if someone could fill in anything I've left out that they think is relevent?

If Ascent into Avernus is supposed to be a prequel of sorts to Baldur's Gate 3, we're looking at a date around other modules.

Lost Mines of Phandalin - 1481 DR (Whilst technically not 5e yet, it takes place a number of years after Mt Hotenow erupted)

Hoard of the Dragon Queen - 1489 DR

Rise of Tiamat - 1489 DR and potentially 1490 DR

Prince of the Apocalypse - 1491 DR

Out of the Abyss - 1485/1486 DR is when the Demon incursion starts (from the novel Archmage) - It's been mentioned by Chris Perkins that RoD overlaps with ToD and PotA storylines. However Demons like to plot a lot, so they can have been building up strength for a couple of years.

Curse of Strahd (Ravenloft setting) - This can be slotted in whenever as Ravenloft is it's own Demiplane.

Storm King's Thunder - Takes place after the ToD storyline (as there are references). Personally I'd go with 1492 DR.

Tales from the Yawning Portal (Collection of 7 previous editions adventures, rewritten for 5th edition) - As technically only Dead in Thay takes place in the FR, there isn't any timelines on these - they are just dungeon/adventures, with no over-arching storyline. Dead in Thay takes place directly after Scourge of the Sword coast (which starts in 1485 DR), so would most likely be 1486 DR.

[Dunamisdeos]

Daggerdale says hello.

I got a version of that game with no sound.

Not like oh ha ha the sound isn't compatible with your PC because it was released in poor condition, there were no sound files at all.

[wierd]

The ones that got criticism were ones that heavily weighted failure for early characters for simple things, like slashing a dagger. (Yes morrowind, I see you in the corner, Yes you are guilty. Put your hand down.)

One can use a diceroll mechanic, as long as their chance model is not horribly broken.  You can roll and fail, but when you fail 9 out of 10 times, repeatedly, there is a problem.  Baldur's Gate did not have that problem; It used actual D&D mechanics, which are designed to not cause that.

[Rince Wind]

Try starting as a mage.
ThAC0 of 20, so against AC10 opponents it is a 50/50 Chance. And who has AC10?

While not missing 9/10 it is not far off either unless you want to rest after casting your 2 spells.

[Dunamisdeos]

Yeah but that's the DnD universe, mages are piddly little apprentices when they start but gain unlimited cosmic power at high levels. Magic users are basically hard mode.

[Hanzoku]

Well, they convert into easy mode at higher levels when they have enough save-or-suck and save-or-die spells to wipe out small armies at their convenience. Particularly in games like NWN when a five second rest gives them back all their high level spell slots.