2023-08-03 11:03:51
Baldur’s Gate is a screen role-playing landmark that hasn’t released new content since 2004. Many fans have worn their retinas on the pixels of the first episodes and are hoping to recapture the epic breath of their youth. As for new fans of Dungeons and Dragons, they will be able to make their debut along the Sword Coast.
Expected as the white dragon by role-players around the world, Baldur’s Gate III has finally opened its doors on PC. The cult series took its time to polish its new game, the first chapter of which had been available in early access for almost three years. With its “no limit” character creation, its hundreds of hours of gameplay announced and its 17,000 possible endings, the title has won superlatives in the specialized press. But the wait seems to have paid off and this memorable adventure in the Forgotten Realms could well be among the contenders for the title of game of the year. Here are ten facts not to be missed before embarking on this magical epic.
1It’s a game where you are free to make your choices
A role-playing game is above all a story that is built between a game master and players who like to have the freedom to choose their own destinies. Often absent from adaptations in video games, this freedom seems to be very present in the title of Larian studios which offers a very open choice from the creation of the characters. A century has passed since Baldur’s Gate II, you’re still in the Forgotten Realms but your hero has been forcibly given a parasite by mind flayers. Will you fight this parasite or, on the contrary, will you use this evil power to become the embodiment of evil? At all times it is you who direct the life choices of your character and you can completely finish the game by playing a valiant defender of the widow and the orphan or a psychopath ready to kill father and mother to achieve for its purposes.
Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios)
2 It’s a team game
A troop of adventurers composed of an elf magician, a warrior dwarf and a human priest fighting orcs or gelatinous cubes (yes, they exist) in a damp underground full of traps, this is the typical image of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. In Baldur’s Gate III you embody this shock team by choosing each of its members. You can of course play alone but if you have friends tempted by the adventure, they can join you with their own characters. Up to four players will be able to help each other online, but if you don’t have a network, a split-screen mode will allow you to host a single traveling companion.
3 It’s A Game That Uses D20 Power
Welcome to the world of role-players of the older generation, the ones who grew up with the sound of rolling twenty-sided dice on the table during games of Dungeons & Dragons. Here you will see and hear the dice rolling with every action, whether during combat or when attempting to interrogate a key character. A result of 20 on the dice is always synonymous with a critical success which will boost the result of the action, but a 1 inevitably results in an equally critical failure, even if you have very good skills. It may sound frustrating, but the original game relies heavily on this, although an understanding game master is probably easier to coax than a computer. A quick save system, however, allows you to retry rolls easily in order to succeed in certain actions that seem essential to you.
Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios)
4 It’s a game where you can create your own hero
Before going on an adventure, you have to choose a character. Thirty-three races and sub-races available and forty-six class possibilities should allow you to find your happiness. Add to that the countless cosmetic possibilities and it is unlikely that you will come across your double in the game. Baldur’s Gate III follows the rules of Dungeons & Dragons version 5, offers 400 spells and more than thirty gifts applicable to your hero. Freedom is absolute and you can, if you feel like it, give life to a half-orc bard or a proud halfling paladin (equivalent of Tolkien’s hobbits). But if you feel overwhelmed by the range of possibilities you can also choose one of the seven predefined characters who will have the advantage of having their own story and will allow you to experience additional quests. In any case, you can advance your hero up to level 12 maximum.
5 This Is A Game Where Fighting Requires Thinking
The fights are tactical, use the environment a lot and are turn-based, with each monster and each character acting more or less quickly depending on their dexterity rating. Your low level heroes are not war machines and often bear the brunt of a certain ignorance of the terrain. The decor isn’t just there to look pretty and many elements can be ignited, thrown or used by opponents to prevent you from expressing your talent. So you have to learn quickly and be able to both plan your attacks well and improvise in the heat of the moment. If you are not a follower of excessive carnage, the best thing is to avoid confrontations by making judicious dialogue choices in order to advance faster in the story. If, on the contrary, you are only waiting for the blink of an eye to start a fight with the first comer, then abandon the normal mode and try the “Tactician”. The artificial intelligence has been improved so much that Larian Studios has warned players that they will be humiliated if they dare to play it. A challenge that will undoubtedly appeal to more than one hardgamer.
Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios)
6 It’s a game where you can experience a thunderbolt between two balls of fire
In Baldur’s Gate III you will not only have the opportunity to get off with magical projectiles, you will also be able to meet naughty people. With a particularly polished communication, the Belgians of the Larian studio have distilled for a few months announcements which have made the buzz. The video of a sex scene between an elf and a druid in his bear form obviously ignited the web, prompting a significant increase in pre-orders for the game on the Steam platform. Be warned, the freedom of choice is almost total and you can go so far as to personalize your avatar’s pubic hair in anticipation of his future antics.
Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios)
7 It’s A Gargantuan Adventure
170 hours of cinematics is the figure put forward by the studio to give an idea of the extent of the work that has been accomplished. Of course, it won’t be necessary or possible to see all these cinematics in the same game since the choices you make close as many doors to you as they open to you. Between the decisions you make and the more or less favorable dice rolls, expect to live a unique adventure that you will not necessarily feel like you have mastered. Each encounter with a non-player character can be an opportunity to trigger quests based on your curiosity, popularity, or past actions. The developers thus evoke 17,000 possible endings, explaining that they have sought the same level of detail whether you choose to venture on the side of good or the dark side.
8 This Is A Game Made By Veterans For New Players
Larian Studios is at the origin of the Divinity license which already faithfully reproduces the rules and the universe of Dungeons and Dragons. His last opus Divinity : Original Sin II released in 2017 was very well received by gamers and critics. With a score of 93/100 on the metacritic site, it bodes well for Baldur’s Gate III. The scenario is independent even if some references are common and new players can enter the story without needing to know the whole series. The veterans of Baldur’s Gate However, they will find the universe of the Forgotten Realms and a few discreet nods to previous opuses, such as the possibility of meeting a certain Minsk… Finally, the deep theme of evil and its origins remains a priority. If in Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 you play as one of the sons of the lord of murder, here they are mind flayers who are responsible for implanting an evil root in you.
Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios)
9 This is a game where if you made Early Access, you’ll have to start all over again
That’s bad news for anyone who spent time on the early access version. Their heroine or favorite hero will not be able to teleport into the final game. They will therefore have to recreate a character and relive the same beginning, the opportunity no doubt to appreciate the changes made by the developers. Because this is the reason given by Larian Studios: the changes are so deep that it is impossible to keep the elements of early access.
10 This game is coming to Playstation 5 in early September
First game in the series Baldur’s Gate to be released on console, Baldur’s gate III will open on the PS 5 on September 6th, the same day as a certain Xbox and PC exclusive named Starfield. If you’re worried about playing such a game with a controller rather than a mouse, know that Larian Studios has already taken the plunge with Divinity : Original Sin II whose handling is particularly ergonomic on the console. So if you prefer to spend long hours of play on your sofa rather than sitting in front of a PC, it may be worth waiting for the start of the school year to embark on the adventure.
#adventure #Baldurs #Gate #III #legendary #video #game #based #Dungeons #Dragons #released #today