What are you going to be doing during the initial planned launch window for Endwalker

[SturmChurro]

I very fondly remember my hours and hours playing NWN1 and 2 way back in the day, and I honestly didn't really feel that vibe from BG3, personally. (...)

Larian's certainly a good studio, I agree! That said, I still think Obsidian or the people in charge of Solasta would have been a better choice to hand over such a beloved franchise to.

Pillars of Eternity was practically a love letter to the glory days of cRPGs, and Solasta's done a much better job of 1:1 translating 5e's ruleset into a game.



My issue with the story isn't so much a lack of connection to the older games beyond name drops and etc. I actually like where it's going so far, I just think some of the writing needs polishing. (..)

The issue with focusing on cinematics and gorgeous graphics comes from a place of concern over the writing and roleplay elements being a secondary thought to those. I don't need my game to push the limits of graphics and look photorealistic - I just need a good RPG that offers tons of roleplay variety. I got that in WotR and Pillars, not... really feeling it in BG3 so far. :x

(...) the mostly-evil party we have access to right now can kinda grate on people who play good-aligned characters (like me). I liked all of them except Wyll

And compared to DOS2, BG3 definitely got a lot more serious in and less campy than the former - which I do appreciate! I prefer less goofy stories and more well-timed comedy sprinkled within an otherwise serious tale, and BG1 for all its silliness actually hit that balance pretty well.

All that said, I've basically swore off the EA after getting through to the start of the Underdark. I don't want to burn out too soon on the game and not have any enjoyment out of it when it's fully released (...)

Mood though. My bad, I just wanted to share my thoughts in more detail since you took the time to type all that up! I tend to exclusively be playing various cRPGs, western RPGs, or jRPGs in my spare time during content lulls in FFXIV - so I hear where you're coming from. xD

I should have clarified, I meant the way the movement and how the camera is feels like NWN*, rather than the isometric BG1+2. The gameplay is definitely turn based like DOS2, and yeah some aspects can for sure be cheesed. I think one of the biggest issues, was/is how elements work, like on the ground, if I recall? It's still in EA though, so everything is still subject to change.

I also stopped at the Underdark, as I didn't want to go super deep into it. My 150 hours in that game is from me making new characters and playing around with the different choices up to that point - which the game for sure has a lot of. I stopped playing BG3 about two updates ago (around 6-7 months ago). I do want to see who else they plan on adding for companions, supposedly Minsc is on the way - that should be interesting. I don't think what we have are really evil necessarily, it feels more like a party of neutrals to me, except for Lae'zel (who I'll probably play as, as an origin character at some point). Wyll is the one I dislike the most as well, coincidentally..

I have heard of Solasta being quite faithful to the ruleset, Larian with BG3 have definitely taken some liberties. I do understand why other studios weren't chosen, Obsidian were bought by Microsoft, and have their hands full working on their own Skyrimlike, Outer Worlds 2, and something else (if I recall), and BG3 would probably be too big of a project for an indie studio (at least how it was envisioned), so Larian is a pretty obvious choice. They have the resources and experience to make a large crpg. Funnily enough, I actually never really got into OS2.. I never liked it that much. I have maybe gotten to the middle of the second act, but that's about the extent of my experience in it. Pathfinder, I haven't bought yet. I've been meaning to buy Kingmaker on sale one of these days (for like two years), and I like to play stories in succession, so I can't play WoTR unless I have played Kingmaker. Plus I heard it had launch issues, and yeah I have heard that of Pathfinder, if you don't build your character right, you can find yourself unable to complete sections of the game! I'm sure minmaxers love it though..

Anyway, I really hope BG3 lives up to it's namesake, and Larian can continue their quality of writing, into further acts. At the very least, before the mods decide to delete all of this, this is a deeper look at some of our opinions outside of FFXIV, and what we do and will be doing during the extra two weeks until Endwalker!