Will the game be available in other languages? Voices will be in English but there will be several languages supported via subtitles.
How much of a placeholder was the UI and graphics art in the gameplay shown at PAX. Will it change significantly during Early Access or should we expect it to stay more or less as it is in the shown current state?
I was really surprised this was an issue but I can understand where people are coming from. There are still some placeholders as we’re still in development but I forget them because I’m a developer so I look at things with different eyes. Placeholders are planned to be removed somewhere during Early Access . As far as UI is concerned, I expect the UI will keep on changing until the day of release. Major parts of what we have now are already different than what we showed at Pax. Will there be any reference to the Twisted Rune plot that was barely scratched in BG2? We want more badass liches in the game! We like liches.
Did you add any epic dragon encounters, like Firkraag or the Shadow dragon in the Umar Hills temple? We like dragons. Do you plan to add subrace of elves, dwarves and halflings to the game? Do you plan to add human subraces as well? Subraces of halflings, elves and dwarves: yes, these are in.
Is there a chance that item descriptions would be as full of lore as in first two games? Items are hand made, and descriptions are very often unique, yes. Will there be lore books present in BG3 as they were in both BG1 and BG2 (as well as in IWD)? It would be a very informative to players who don't know FR setting or who are not familiar with the events that happened between D&D editions. These are planned. How closely are you sticking to the 5th edition rules? What rules are you adapting to fit the gameplay you envisioned for BG3? Can you name a few major differences between BG3 and the tabletop rules? If you are familiar with DnD 5e, you will immediately recognize most rules and mechanics and they will work the way you expect them to. If you are familiar with DnD 2e from BG1&2, the terminology and basic concepts will be familiar to you, though some details have changed. For spells and features that rely on the imagination of tabletop players, we tried to think of specific applications and tricks that a DM would allow at their table. We’re running a few house rules because they work better in the video game. They were discussed with Wizards of the Coast to make sure they follow the spirit of DnD. We consider EA release of BG3 as the grounds for experimentation and iteration over the finer points of our DnD 5e implementation For example, if you watched the BG3 gameplay presentation, you probably saw that Jump action had a large range for all characters. Since then we’ve made the Jump distance scale with the Strength modifier.. Is there any hope that we could see ritual casting, feats and multiclassing in BG3, as in D&D 5e? Feats and multiclassing: yes. Ritual casting not for EA, but we have plans.
How are you planning to compensate for removing most reactions and short rests? Reactions are not removed, they are available as actions, passives, or toggles. Short rest is not removed completely, you can still use the Hit Dice heal from the end of the short rest. With group initiative, are you concerned about alpha striking? How will you avoid battles being entirely decided by a single initial initiative roll?
One of the big themes of BG3 is the focus on party over individuals. As we were trying to encourage more cooperation between party members in combat, we had the idea to let them share their turn for total tactical coherence. Additionally, it provides a more comfortable co-op experience.
The introduction of the common party turns naturally leads to the changes for the initiative system - we need to compare the initiative of groups of characters instead of individuals. We have considered several ways to do that, some more complex than others, and for EA we’re going with taking the highest initiative roll outcome in the party or NPC group.
We chose this way because we want to explore the mechanical subtheme of allowing the entire party benefit each member’s personal excellence in some area. The same way an eloquent Bard can lead their entire party through a tough dialogue check, a swift Rogue should be able to give their party the best shot at going first in combat. On top of that, this way of resolving team initiative opens the way for the player to scout out the enemy with the top initiative and neutralize them before entering the combat
However, all of that said, it is something we are still working on and experimenting with. If we find it doesn’t work as well as we hope, we’ll tinker with it. It’s one of the things we’ll figure out during early access.
Can you confirm the party size limit is 4? Or if this is a variable number that can be adjusted? Since we want to keep combat pacing brisk, we need to consider the average number of enemies required to challenge the full party with summons and an occasional follower. 4 players in the party keeps the pacing of the larger combats manageable. For custom generated characters, what are the plans regarding voice acting? Will the player be able to choose from an array of various types similar to BG/NWN, or is it more of a fixed choice (e.g. male humans get one voice, female elves get one voice similar to Mass Effect/Jade Empire)? Will custom characters even BE voiced for dialogue outside of standard combat/spell casting barks? When you’re playing a custom character, you’ll choose a voice as part of character creation - and your character will be fully voiced, not just for barks! What is your favorite element of the classic BG games? The companions. Uncle Scratchy is concerned about that lack of turnip peddling merchants and their ilk populating the Forgotten Realms. It reminded me of the time when the twins, Tat and Tot had a flumph riding race and the damn things were just impossible to control, even with specially designed saddles made by the late Ben Jansen. Late as in he was never on time, not dead, he’s still alive and kicking but only with one leg because... the point? Where are the playable gnomes? Stop trolling us, Jan Jansen.
Ceremorphosis was only guaranteed with a few humanoid races (usually only human sized ones). How is this going to be explained with shorter races available for player selection already revealed such as halflings and any others you might add (like gnomes)? We asked WOTC this exact question. The answer was: “We’re fine with all humanoids being suitable hosts. No need for a workaround – under 5e all those races are regarded as suitable mind flayer hosts canonically. Boldly assert that new canon!” Will there be romances? If yes, can we romance a mind flayer? Will romances only affect companions? Are NPCs going to have their own sexual orientation? Yes there will be romances. Like in real life, it’s best to discover yourself how they work. Will the player be spending a lot of time dealing with the politics, threats, and affairs of Baldur's Gate and the Sword Coast? How much of Faerun will the player be exploring? The player will be very much involved in the politics, threats and affairs of Baldur’s Gate and the Sword Coast. We’re not talking yet about what other areas will be made available.
I read that BG3 will take inspiration from the "Murder in BG" and "Descent into Avernus" adventures, can we expect some NPC cameos from these modules? Are you going to take into account the different endings of these adventures as references in BG3? We do take inspiration from the story and settings of these campaigns, and yes: you can expect cameos. Is any kind of multiplayer planned at release? What tricks have you got up your sleeves to keep turn-based multiplayer fun and interesting? Is it just going to be PvE or will PvP be available too? Yes, multiplayer is very much in. The campaign is PvE. We have simultaneous actions in the new, faster, turn-based combat. This is a huge difference compared to our previous games.
Will there be any recognition of the characters or events of Siege of Dragonspear or the Enhanced Editions content? For example, Neera the Wild Mage. We do recognise Siege of Dragonspear as part of the BG story, but can’t go into specifics about characters or events that might be referenced at the moment.
Without being too spoilerish, do any events in the first two games play a role in how the story is shaped besides maybe featuring Bhaal or mentions of the Bhaalspawn? Without being too spoilerish, yes! The events of those games are part of the history of the city, and the wider world. They’re very important to our story. You’ve hinted at returning characters, what type of role are these characters going to have? Are they going to be recruitable? Do they play an integral part of the story? Are they just going to show up for a cameo? We’ll discuss this once they return. Roughly how many ‘legendary’ characters from the first two games are going to make an appearance in any role? Roughly between 0 and 100. Are these ‘legendary’ characters going to be fully voiced? If so, will the same voice actors be used from the previous games? We can’t comment on this yet. Besides Baldur’s Gate, is there any other location a player may stumble upon that they’ll recognize from the classic games? Yes. Will Noober, or one of his relatives be in the game? Hey ya. Would you really want them to be? How do you plan to resolve the contradiction that Bhaal is dead in BG2, but alive in 5e? In 1482 DR he was reborn during the Second Sundering. Is early access (EA) going to be available for both PC (both Steam and GOG?) and Stadia? Currently PC and Stadia. How much of the game is going to be made available during the EA? Eventually we plan on releasing all of the first act in EA, though we will probably split it in pieces because it’s pretty big in terms of content. (Bigger than DOS2’s Act 1).
If the full game is not going to be made available during the EA, how are you going to get feedback for late level abilities? We’ll be inviting many playtesters. Is their going to be a discounted price, or any other incentive for purchasing the game during the EA? No, people who choose to support EA are kindly choosing to support the game’s development process, and it’s highly appreciated. When is EA going to be available? When it's ready. Roughly how long to do you think the game will be in EA? Roughly as long as it takes to finish developing the game. Are there going to be stages to the EA (as in more of the game will be unlocked as you guys finish it)? Yes, there will be many updates to EA. What type of feedback are you looking for if a person buys the game in EA? As you play, we’re fine tuning the game. The feedback is invaluable, especially when it comes to the implementation of the D&D 5e rules, etc. Feedback will come in however people choose to let it flow, but it’s all valuable. During the gameplay reveal, Swen highlighted that some objects in the environment are interactive, such as that exploding machine part in the first battle. Are these instances going to be tied to proficiencies in any way or is it just going to be meta knowledge from the player? Is every placed encounter, or the majority of them, going to have these interactive objects? We will add skill checks where it makes sense. Can you use this? Are you strong enough to lift this? All encounters are hand placed. Roughly, we won’t hold you to it if time constraints make you cut one or two, how many recruitable companions are there going to be in the game? We don’t want to commit because others may hold it to us if we cut one or two. Are all recruitable companions going to have origin stories? Yes, but there will also be customizable mercenaries that don't have a story as well as companions. Is it going to be possible to create our own party and venture forth into the world? Besides party banter and quests tied to companions, if this was done, would the player ‘miss’ anything? Yes, you can do this. Apart from closure on their origin stories, you wouldn't "miss" anything.
In-game time- how much is it going to play as a factor? For example, if we take too long to do a quest or get to it, will there be any repercussions? Is it possible to lose the game by ‘timing out’? There are situations that if you don’t deal with them immediately will have irreversible consequences. Swen played an origin story involving a vampire thrall, will custom characters be able to be vampire thralls as well? We are currently not making vampire or vampire spawn something you can select during character creation, no. Will you be able to develop other types of relationships with NPCs besides romances? Absolutely! NPCs and companions might become friends, partners, uncomfortable allies… or your worst enemies. Are recruitable NPCs going to react to the choices that the player makes during the game? Will there be repercussions if you annoy a character too much? Will the recruitable characters all get along, or is there a chance for fist fights to break out like in BG1 or BG2? Yes - the party that slays together doesn’t always stay together. One of our key themes is trust; there will be plenty of inter-party conflict. Fist-fights might be the least of your problems if you let your companions see how cruel (or kind) you’re willing to be. How are magical items going to be handled? Are they going to be set pieces that the player stumbles upon or colour coded RNG drops or something in between? Will loot rarity and attunement limits be per P&P? They are set pieces. We are not doing generated loot.
Will any famous weapons from the first two games make an appearance? We can’t comment on that yet because we’re still working on the game. What weapons would you like to see make a comeback? What is the level cap going to be? Assuming the player plays with a full party, roughly when would the player expect to hit that cap in the story? Nick already spilled the beans and said 10 levels. Are there any plans for DLC? No there are no plans for DLC. When, during the design process, did you first decide on a combat mode? Day one and we never changed that decision afterwards. If implemented, will the official modding tools allow the community to create a RTwP Mod for BG3's base game campaign in theory? That’s up to them. Without using the words ‘Dungeon and Dragons,’ or ‘Forgotten Realms,’ what, in your opinion, makes BG3 a sequel to the first two BG games? What was the reasoning behind the title choice?
You can’t see this from anything we’ve shown so far because we don’t want to spoil it but we do touch upon the story of BG 1 & 2 in deeply meaningful ways and there are returning characters. The city plays a massive part and like in the originals, you’ll play an adventure in which the party is the heart and soul with protagonists who will be afflicted by the Gods against their will.
That said, you can’t separate Baldur’s Gate from Dungeons and Dragons. The goal of Bioware was to make a great Dungeons and Dragons game and that’s also our goal. We want to make a great Dungeons and Dragons game with lots of player agency, great depth, lots of iconic creatures, npcs and locations and which you can play in both single- and in multiplayer. We want to make a pretty dark game where you have to deal deal with lots of choice and consequence. We’re letting you do pretty terrible things (or god things). If I wouldn’t have died during the Pax Presentation I would’ve been able to show some of that so I think we’ll probably upload a video of what was supposed to be shown, and you’ll certainly see more the closer we get to Early Access.
I read that big PC Gamer article on the history of Baldur’s Gate and as I was reading through it, I was surprised by how much of what the original creators wanted to do with BG 1 & 2 matched what we are doing. The biggest difference in my opinion is the way combat is implemented and that we are using DnD 5e and they were 2e.
What plans do you have to bring BG3's look and feel closer to the classic BG series? When you jump into BG3 we want you to experience that same feeling of diving into an epic world that you felt when you played BG1 and BG2. We want you to experience the personal involvement and struggles of the party. The story, themes and tone are much darker than D:OS 2 and the choices you get to make have much higher stakes and more tangible consequences. You just haven’t seen it yet. You’ll get the heart and soul of the original BG games clad in a brand new suit of armour, forged from the same spirit. What would your parting words be for old school fans who are following the development of BG3?
"When, during the design process, did you first decide on a combat mode?" Larian_Swen: "Day one and we never changed that decision afterwards."
"If implemented, will the official modding tools allow the community to create a RTwP Mod for BG3's base game campaign in theory?"Larian_Swen: "That’s up to them."
Charming... I wonder why this makes me not reasurred at all? *sigh*
"When, during the design process, did you first decide on a combat mode?" Larian_Swen: "Day one and we never changed that decision afterwards."
"If implemented, will the official modding tools allow the community to create a RTwP Mod for BG3's base game campaign in theory?"Larian_Swen: "That’s up to them."
Charming... I wonder why this makes me not reasurred at all? *sigh*
Reassured of what? It was a loud and clear answer on something that wasn't in doubt anyway.
1. Of whenever or not an official RTwP mode will ever be added to the game in the future.
2. Of whenever or not official modding tools will indeed allow for more things than what D:OS2's ones had offered.
3. Of whenever or not I will even bother purchasing BG3 on a -85% steam sale. Or continue to ignore it for all eternity.
For better or worse: now I know the answers to all three things. Especially the third one.
@Kamigoroshi I am sad to hear that but not surprised. It’s a shame you will miss out on Baldur’s Gate 3 but if you don’t like it then you don’t like it.
I still don't like group initiative. I think someone else here mentioned it but the tadpole(s) are probably what will allow the characters to act as a cohesive unit. How it works now, only one character would need to focus on initiative, while the others can ignore it. I don't think its the same as having a Bard talk for the party, because only one person would be talking... unless a player had a low charisma score and they interrupted every 30 seconds... Noober. So I do think a slower character should have to act last.
I get the 'any race can become mindflayers' mindset that Larian has approached - why restrict the player. I just wish they'd explain it more on the how, and not as just a simple retcon, regardless if Wizard's allows it or not.
I didn't like this answer:
"Roughly between 0 and 100. Are these ‘legendary’ characters going to be fully voiced? If so, will the same voice actors be used from the previous games? We can’t comment on this yet." As in they better. If small independent beamdog can track most of them all down and pay them all, I am pretty sure Larian can.
I did like this answer (sorry @ThacoBell)
"There are situations that if you don’t deal with them immediately will have irreversible consequences." I don't like fake urgency, and this actually allows multiple replays and getting different results. As long as it isn't a game over screen, I am cool with it.
I don't like the follower or mercenary concept they came up with. I'd rather have fully fleshed out interactive characters with their own stories and motives. How they have it, every origin story character is going to start with tadpole dilemma. Now think of BG1 (or even 2) every NPC had their own motive. Yes most of those motives lined up with the actual main quest but in different parts of it. Kivan wanted revenge on Tazok for example. So I am less enthused on what they've come up with here, especially if they handle this the same way they did DOS2.
I think 'brisk' combat is still their problem to solve and limiting the party size isn't the way to do it, especially when he is saying that recruitable NPCs will be at their throats. Less slots for those, less likely it'll happen.
Level 10 cap seems decent. Enough for a sequel. Surprised at no DLC. I like DLC when it is done right and I think a company like Larian would be able to do it right. But if they are sticking to it... I am holding them to it.
Every other answer was the expected, "we can't comment on this now." Which is fine, unless he was the one who asked: "What weapons would you like to see make a comeback?" Besides maybe a flail of ages +2 (have the other 3 heads missing somewhere), I don't know. Level 1 - 10 is low enough levels that I don't want to be decked out in +3 or more gear. The Balduran equipment for sure...
I do do do do like that there is no RNG loot. Like, that is a selling point for me. A little more enthused but still a great opportunity to be let down.
On RtwP vs TB. If it was TB from day one, they should have said that from day 1. All this negativity about it is on them. If people weren't arguing about this for the last 6 months, many of the RtwP people might have come around especially with this reassurance:
You can’t see this from anything we’ve shown so far because we don’t want to spoil it but we do touch upon the story of BG 1 & 2 in deeply meaningful ways and there are returning characters. The city plays a massive part and like in the originals, you’ll play an adventure in which the party is the heart and soul with protagonists who will be afflicted by the Gods against their will.
That also should have been said since day 1.
They pitted the player base against each other because of it. Poor PR.
On RtwP vs TB. If it was TB from day one, they should have said that from day 1. All this negativity about it is on them. If people weren't arguing about this for the last 6 months, many of the RtwP people might have come around especially with this reassurance:
You can’t see this from anything we’ve shown so far because we don’t want to spoil it but we do touch upon the story of BG 1 & 2 in deeply meaningful ways and there are returning characters. The city plays a massive part and like in the originals, you’ll play an adventure in which the party is the heart and soul with protagonists who will be afflicted by the Gods against their will.
That also should have been said since day 1.
They pitted the player base against each other because of it. Poor PR.
@deltago I am also quite happy that there is no RNG loot. Don’t get me wrong I liked it in DOS but I think it was always something that I loved about Baldur’s’s Gate having items that felt special whenyou found them and not like you could find a more powerful version of the same weapon. Kudos to them for that.
1. Group initiative is here to stay, but if it seems it's not working as intended or if players don't like it during EA, it might be tweaked. Fingers crossed this means we MIGHT see individual initiatives return. I could probably get used to group initiative, but it just feels SO clunky.
2. Romances will be in. No further details provided (fair enough. Don't want to spoil stuff for people who don't like being spoiled).
3. Custom characters will choose a voice set during character creation. All voice sets are FULLY voiced, so you will get the same exposition and self-narration during dialogue scenes.
4. Party size is limited to 4. (That screenshot we saw of there being 5 people in the party was likely a temporary follower.) That said, Swen didn't say if the limit would be moddable or not (it depends entirely on how they coded it behind the scenes), so there's always hope.
I also REALLY like the fact that magic items are pre-set and not randomly generated. I like being able to know that specific enemies will always drop specific items and I can plan out my party's "final build" in advance on subsequent playthroughs.
I was NOT expecting such a low level cap for BG3, but eh, BG1 did it too, and the game was fantastic, so no plus or minus here.
I mean, a little bit of trust, a little bit of goodwill is needed.
This is how it looks to me.
Someone: This is not BG3, it's not related to BG1&2.
Me: Come on, people, let's trust the developers a bit, let's wait and see.
Developers (later): We don't want to spoil but even the events from ToB (!) will influence BG3.
Someone: This is bad, missing won't be present.
Me: That phrase was without any context, it didn't mean a thing, let's wait and see.
Developers (later): Missing in 80% cases on level 1 during the gameplay reveal.
Someone: This is so bad, developers didn't play classic BG.
Me: Actually, they played a lot.
Developers (later): We played BG on release date, this game changed us.
Looks like we haven't gotten even a single of our questions answered in the end. But received a lot of negative feedback instead, I dare say.
byrne20: I’ve seen plenty of positive feedback. All down to opinion at the end of the day.
Developers (later): WENT AND REPLIED TO EVERYTHING.
Etc, etc, it will just continue forever.
Yet time and again, the developers prove they are decent, prove they want to create an awesome game and they listen to the feedback. I wonder what made so many people begin questioning, criticizing and just not agreeing with a lot of things in yet-to-be-released game from the get-go? And this happens with nearly every developer and nearly every game being developed. Unlike that approach, I prefer to spread the word that what might seem doom & gloom now, is actually not that bad.
So far, everything related to BG3 and its developers - that is not gossip or broken phone, - has been very impressive, and the effort they put into it is as clear as day.
@JuliusBorisov I'm honored that you quoted me, but I stand with my negative feedback message. This AMA didn't bring me the feeling of getting impressed. Quite the opposite, in fact.
It's as @byrne20 has said: "All down to opinion at the end of the day."
So now that negative is migrating from "they didn't reply to anything" to "this AMA didn't bring me the feeling of getting impressed". In other words, this is a continuation of negative feelings towards the product and all that is related to it.
I ask again: what exactly made you begin questioning, criticizing and just not agreeing with a lot of things in yet-to-be-released game from the get-go? Is there anything that might make you change that approach? If the reply is "Make the game as I want it", then I can again repeat: there are plenty of games you already consider ideal and take pleasure from them, this is a good thing, a variety of offers.
So - if the game is not what you want, - will you continue to feel only negative towards it? Won't you even give it a go? Not to play the best game, not to play the game you adore more than anything, but just to play the game, to see what is good and what is bad?
I ask again: what exactly made you begin questioning, criticizing and just not agreeing with a lot of things in yet-to-be-released game from the get-go? Is there anything that might make you change that approach? If the reply is "Make the game as I want it", then I can again repeat: there are plenty of games you already consider ideal and take pleasure from them, this is a good thing, a variety of offers.
By the looks of things? Nope! Nothing at all! At least not until someone, somewhere, in the far away future will be able to sufficiently mod the base game campaign. Then I may take another look in Larian's general direction. This hasn't happened for either of their D:OS games since release though. So I won't hold my breathe in BG3's case either.
So - if the game is not what you want, - will you continue to feel only negative towards it? Won't you even give it a go? Not to play the best game, not to play the game you adore more than anything, but just to play the game, to see what is good and what is bad?
I did enjoy some their classic, real-time Divinity titles. But their newer games are nothing for me. Meaning I gradually shifted over the years from being interested, to feeling negatively, to ultimately becoming apathetic towards their games and the studio behind it. This is my personal opinion which won't change that easily.
From the Reddit thread itself: "Thank you Reddit for all the questions and thank you for all of the organization on your side, it really helped us to answer these questions concisely. We're looking forward to talking to you during Early Access!"
So now that negative is migrating from "they didn't reply to anything" to "this AMA didn't bring me the feeling of getting impressed". In other words, this is a continuation of negative feelings towards the product and all that is related to it.
I ask again: what exactly made you begin questioning, criticizing and just not agreeing with a lot of things in yet-to-be-released game from the get-go? Is there anything that might make you change that approach? If the reply is "Make the game as I want it", then I can again repeat: there are plenty of games you already consider ideal and take pleasure from them, this is a good thing, a variety of offers.
So - if the game is not what you want, - will you continue to feel only negative towards it? Won't you even give it a go? Not to play the best game, not to play the game you adore more than anything, but just to play the game, to see what is good and what is bad?
I have a saying:
Expect the worst and only better can happen. Unless the worst does happen, then you have bragging rights while the world ends
People are allowed to be sceptical. They haven’t proved anything, just attempted to reassure old school players that the originals are referenced in the game in a meaningful way. We don’t have to swallow the hype because others have. That is how people generally get let down.
WotC still isn’t given its fans a RtwP game using the 5e ruleset. Yes, we finally get a single player rpg game through Larian, but that game is (once again) being developed with multiplayer in mind first, so a lot is being restricted because of that. If what is being offered doesn’t interest people, no they don’t have to give it a go.
One can only hope, one of the next few games WotC releases will be a RTwP game much like all those games that got me back into gaming: Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights...
@deltago I never could get into Neverwinter nights.. I like Neverwinter Nights 2 but just couldn’t ever get past the first chapter In Neverwinter Nights without giving up.
I keep meaning to give it a go on my Xbox now that Beamdog have remastered it and see if I can get into it.
@Kamigoroshi and @deltago So did I understand you correctly: if the game is not RtwP, you are not interested in it and by default consider it a meh? Do you play only RtwP games? Or are there other factors?
In the first place, I do not limit myself to CRPG's. Real time action RPG's, Hack&Slash, JRPG's, Point and Click Adventure games, Sci-Fi exploration games, Horror games and Open World Survival games are all close to my gamer heart. Meaning I have a lot of variety to choose from.
I agree with you that CRPG's using RTwP are very, very few in number. Especially compared to those using TB - hence why I hold the small amount which does use RTwP precious. On top of my head the only western TB cRPG franchise I earnestly approved of was Drakensang. But that's more because The Dark Eye is less combat focused than its Northern American PnP counterpart.
Honestly, I couldn't care less about D&D as a TableTop ruleset: especially after the dozens and dozens of retconnings it went through. My interest in WotC's IP as a whole hit practically rock bottom level. So no, I certainly don't see myself as a hardcore D&D fan.
@Kamigoroshi and @deltago So did I understand you correctly: if the game is not RtwP, you are not interested in it and by default consider it a meh? Do you play only RtwP games? Or are there other factors?
No. I personally am disappointed that it isn't rtwp. IMO, Larian now has deliver higher on things like story for me to say "yes this is a true sequel." I will still give this game a chance, eventually. I am not going to pay to beta test it. But if it doesn't continue the story properly, I would honestly think WotC messed up by rewarding Larian with this franchise instead of letting them develop their own IP using the 5e ruleset and letting another company eventually take up the mantle of Baldur's Gate franchise.
IMO turn base combat is very jarring for me. Everything else is happening in real time from traveling, to conversations, to cut scenes only for it to switch it up once combat starts. It's even more jarring when it doesn't switch 'maps' to do it. For example, in Pokémon, when combat starts, the screen flashes a couple of times then you are brought to the combat screen. Combat is sperate from everything else that is happening so its pacing is less jarring because it is being presented as a separate mechanic. This isn't the case in games like D:OS series. Add in that every battle needs to be 'epic' (no trash mobs) that takes away from battles that should be epic. BG2, De'Arnise Keep, has a good example. The first floor you are fighting 'trash mobs' of trolls to get a grasp of how the AI works with them and what it takes to kill them. When you need to get they key to get into the rooms however, you have a miniboss battle with a giant troll that splits in two, a spellcasting Yuan-ti and two little trolls. That fight is more memorable because of the slight difficulty spike from everything you faced before it (who doesn't remember the WTF moment the first time you played it and troll split into two little ones). But doing 'trash mobs' in TB slows the entire game down, so developers don't do them. Each encounter is 3 or more enemies that the player has to fight off, to keep the game challenging. IMO it's poor design that makes battles less memorable and breaks the immersion when you are playing them.
@byrne20 The OC of NWN was horrible (it does get slightly better after the first chapter). It's two expansions, where the protagonist is connected (it is assumed the player is using the same character from SoU in HotU), is better. Also better was the ability for people to create PWs and other modules using the game engine to tell their own stories. I could never get into NWN2 because of the camera. The furthest I got in original campaign was a warehouse where I had to fight what seemed to be an endless wave of guards (because I was playing evil), which broke my immersion (which is highly important to me when playing RPGs or any game that is story driven) and I 'put it on hold.' That was four computers ago. I've reinstalled it countless times not being able to get past the first tutorial chapter because of the camera since then.
I have to give Larian credit for answering our questions. Props.
"We have hecka links and influence from the old BG games." (slightly paraphrased), is not reassuring on its own based on what we've been shown so far. But at least Larian has THOUGHT about it. Time will tell how accurate this is.
The "turn based" from day 1 is exactly what I expected and is just something I'm not interested in. Turn based isn't a deal on its own, but everything else in the writing and characters needs to be extremely good for me to put up with it.
I never even considered random loot as a possibility, was that something that could actually have happened?!
Bhaal being alive still sucks mightily, and "5e did it" doesn't make it any less bitter. I swear, WotC is the worst thing to ever happen to D&D.
Overall, I think the AMA went as well as it realistically could have. I'm still not really interested, but it might have tilted me from "hate" to "apathy". We'll see what happens as more information is available.
If you really doubt it will be any good then the only solution is to watch a let's play after the game comes out and then settle on whether you do want to play it or if you want to ignore it like the canon books.
Comments
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/fhk1u3/im_swen_vincke_creative_director_at_larian/fkc5vi6/
Will the game be available in other languages? Voices will be in English but there will be several languages supported via subtitles.
How much of a placeholder was the UI and graphics art in the gameplay shown at PAX. Will it change significantly during Early Access or should we expect it to stay more or less as it is in the shown current state?
I was really surprised this was an issue but I can understand where people are coming from. There are still some placeholders as we’re still in development but I forget them because I’m a developer so I look at things with different eyes. Placeholders are planned to be removed somewhere during Early Access . As far as UI is concerned, I expect the UI will keep on changing until the day of release. Major parts of what we have now are already different than what we showed at Pax. Will there be any reference to the Twisted Rune plot that was barely scratched in BG2? We want more badass liches in the game! We like liches.
Did you add any epic dragon encounters, like Firkraag or the Shadow dragon in the Umar Hills temple? We like dragons. Do you plan to add subrace of elves, dwarves and halflings to the game? Do you plan to add human subraces as well? Subraces of halflings, elves and dwarves: yes, these are in.
Is there a chance that item descriptions would be as full of lore as in first two games? Items are hand made, and descriptions are very often unique, yes. Will there be lore books present in BG3 as they were in both BG1 and BG2 (as well as in IWD)? It would be a very informative to players who don't know FR setting or who are not familiar with the events that happened between D&D editions. These are planned. How closely are you sticking to the 5th edition rules? What rules are you adapting to fit the gameplay you envisioned for BG3? Can you name a few major differences between BG3 and the tabletop rules? If you are familiar with DnD 5e, you will immediately recognize most rules and mechanics and they will work the way you expect them to. If you are familiar with DnD 2e from BG1&2, the terminology and basic concepts will be familiar to you, though some details have changed. For spells and features that rely on the imagination of tabletop players, we tried to think of specific applications and tricks that a DM would allow at their table. We’re running a few house rules because they work better in the video game. They were discussed with Wizards of the Coast to make sure they follow the spirit of DnD. We consider EA release of BG3 as the grounds for experimentation and iteration over the finer points of our DnD 5e implementation For example, if you watched the BG3 gameplay presentation, you probably saw that Jump action had a large range for all characters. Since then we’ve made the Jump distance scale with the Strength modifier.. Is there any hope that we could see ritual casting, feats and multiclassing in BG3, as in D&D 5e? Feats and multiclassing: yes. Ritual casting not for EA, but we have plans.
How are you planning to compensate for removing most reactions and short rests? Reactions are not removed, they are available as actions, passives, or toggles. Short rest is not removed completely, you can still use the Hit Dice heal from the end of the short rest. With group initiative, are you concerned about alpha striking? How will you avoid battles being entirely decided by a single initial initiative roll?
One of the big themes of BG3 is the focus on party over individuals. As we were trying to encourage more cooperation between party members in combat, we had the idea to let them share their turn for total tactical coherence. Additionally, it provides a more comfortable co-op experience.
The introduction of the common party turns naturally leads to the changes for the initiative system - we need to compare the initiative of groups of characters instead of individuals. We have considered several ways to do that, some more complex than others, and for EA we’re going with taking the highest initiative roll outcome in the party or NPC group.
We chose this way because we want to explore the mechanical subtheme of allowing the entire party benefit each member’s personal excellence in some area. The same way an eloquent Bard can lead their entire party through a tough dialogue check, a swift Rogue should be able to give their party the best shot at going first in combat. On top of that, this way of resolving team initiative opens the way for the player to scout out the enemy with the top initiative and neutralize them before entering the combat
However, all of that said, it is something we are still working on and experimenting with. If we find it doesn’t work as well as we hope, we’ll tinker with it. It’s one of the things we’ll figure out during early access.
Can you confirm the party size limit is 4? Or if this is a variable number that can be adjusted? Since we want to keep combat pacing brisk, we need to consider the average number of enemies required to challenge the full party with summons and an occasional follower. 4 players in the party keeps the pacing of the larger combats manageable. For custom generated characters, what are the plans regarding voice acting? Will the player be able to choose from an array of various types similar to BG/NWN, or is it more of a fixed choice (e.g. male humans get one voice, female elves get one voice similar to Mass Effect/Jade Empire)? Will custom characters even BE voiced for dialogue outside of standard combat/spell casting barks? When you’re playing a custom character, you’ll choose a voice as part of character creation - and your character will be fully voiced, not just for barks! What is your favorite element of the classic BG games? The companions. Uncle Scratchy is concerned about that lack of turnip peddling merchants and their ilk populating the Forgotten Realms. It reminded me of the time when the twins, Tat and Tot had a flumph riding race and the damn things were just impossible to control, even with specially designed saddles made by the late Ben Jansen. Late as in he was never on time, not dead, he’s still alive and kicking but only with one leg because... the point? Where are the playable gnomes? Stop trolling us, Jan Jansen.
Ceremorphosis was only guaranteed with a few humanoid races (usually only human sized ones). How is this going to be explained with shorter races available for player selection already revealed such as halflings and any others you might add (like gnomes)? We asked WOTC this exact question. The answer was: “We’re fine with all humanoids being suitable hosts. No need for a workaround – under 5e all those races are regarded as suitable mind flayer hosts canonically. Boldly assert that new canon!” Will there be romances? If yes, can we romance a mind flayer? Will romances only affect companions? Are NPCs going to have their own sexual orientation? Yes there will be romances. Like in real life, it’s best to discover yourself how they work. Will the player be spending a lot of time dealing with the politics, threats, and affairs of Baldur's Gate and the Sword Coast? How much of Faerun will the player be exploring? The player will be very much involved in the politics, threats and affairs of Baldur’s Gate and the Sword Coast. We’re not talking yet about what other areas will be made available.
I read that BG3 will take inspiration from the "Murder in BG" and "Descent into Avernus" adventures, can we expect some NPC cameos from these modules? Are you going to take into account the different endings of these adventures as references in BG3? We do take inspiration from the story and settings of these campaigns, and yes: you can expect cameos. Is any kind of multiplayer planned at release? What tricks have you got up your sleeves to keep turn-based multiplayer fun and interesting? Is it just going to be PvE or will PvP be available too? Yes, multiplayer is very much in. The campaign is PvE. We have simultaneous actions in the new, faster, turn-based combat. This is a huge difference compared to our previous games.
Will there be any recognition of the characters or events of Siege of Dragonspear or the Enhanced Editions content? For example, Neera the Wild Mage. We do recognise Siege of Dragonspear as part of the BG story, but can’t go into specifics about characters or events that might be referenced at the moment.
Without being too spoilerish, do any events in the first two games play a role in how the story is shaped besides maybe featuring Bhaal or mentions of the Bhaalspawn? Without being too spoilerish, yes! The events of those games are part of the history of the city, and the wider world. They’re very important to our story. You’ve hinted at returning characters, what type of role are these characters going to have? Are they going to be recruitable? Do they play an integral part of the story? Are they just going to show up for a cameo? We’ll discuss this once they return. Roughly how many ‘legendary’ characters from the first two games are going to make an appearance in any role? Roughly between 0 and 100. Are these ‘legendary’ characters going to be fully voiced? If so, will the same voice actors be used from the previous games? We can’t comment on this yet. Besides Baldur’s Gate, is there any other location a player may stumble upon that they’ll recognize from the classic games? Yes. Will Noober, or one of his relatives be in the game? Hey ya. Would you really want them to be? How do you plan to resolve the contradiction that Bhaal is dead in BG2, but alive in 5e? In 1482 DR he was reborn during the Second Sundering. Is early access (EA) going to be available for both PC (both Steam and GOG?) and Stadia? Currently PC and Stadia. How much of the game is going to be made available during the EA? Eventually we plan on releasing all of the first act in EA, though we will probably split it in pieces because it’s pretty big in terms of content. (Bigger than DOS2’s Act 1).
If the full game is not going to be made available during the EA, how are you going to get feedback for late level abilities? We’ll be inviting many playtesters. Is their going to be a discounted price, or any other incentive for purchasing the game during the EA? No, people who choose to support EA are kindly choosing to support the game’s development process, and it’s highly appreciated. When is EA going to be available? When it's ready. Roughly how long to do you think the game will be in EA? Roughly as long as it takes to finish developing the game. Are there going to be stages to the EA (as in more of the game will be unlocked as you guys finish it)? Yes, there will be many updates to EA. What type of feedback are you looking for if a person buys the game in EA? As you play, we’re fine tuning the game. The feedback is invaluable, especially when it comes to the implementation of the D&D 5e rules, etc. Feedback will come in however people choose to let it flow, but it’s all valuable. During the gameplay reveal, Swen highlighted that some objects in the environment are interactive, such as that exploding machine part in the first battle. Are these instances going to be tied to proficiencies in any way or is it just going to be meta knowledge from the player? Is every placed encounter, or the majority of them, going to have these interactive objects? We will add skill checks where it makes sense. Can you use this? Are you strong enough to lift this? All encounters are hand placed. Roughly, we won’t hold you to it if time constraints make you cut one or two, how many recruitable companions are there going to be in the game? We don’t want to commit because others may hold it to us if we cut one or two. Are all recruitable companions going to have origin stories? Yes, but there will also be customizable mercenaries that don't have a story as well as companions. Is it going to be possible to create our own party and venture forth into the world? Besides party banter and quests tied to companions, if this was done, would the player ‘miss’ anything? Yes, you can do this. Apart from closure on their origin stories, you wouldn't "miss" anything.
In-game time- how much is it going to play as a factor? For example, if we take too long to do a quest or get to it, will there be any repercussions? Is it possible to lose the game by ‘timing out’? There are situations that if you don’t deal with them immediately will have irreversible consequences. Swen played an origin story involving a vampire thrall, will custom characters be able to be vampire thralls as well? We are currently not making vampire or vampire spawn something you can select during character creation, no. Will you be able to develop other types of relationships with NPCs besides romances? Absolutely! NPCs and companions might become friends, partners, uncomfortable allies… or your worst enemies. Are recruitable NPCs going to react to the choices that the player makes during the game? Will there be repercussions if you annoy a character too much? Will the recruitable characters all get along, or is there a chance for fist fights to break out like in BG1 or BG2? Yes - the party that slays together doesn’t always stay together. One of our key themes is trust; there will be plenty of inter-party conflict. Fist-fights might be the least of your problems if you let your companions see how cruel (or kind) you’re willing to be. How are magical items going to be handled? Are they going to be set pieces that the player stumbles upon or colour coded RNG drops or something in between? Will loot rarity and attunement limits be per P&P? They are set pieces. We are not doing generated loot.
Will any famous weapons from the first two games make an appearance? We can’t comment on that yet because we’re still working on the game. What weapons would you like to see make a comeback? What is the level cap going to be? Assuming the player plays with a full party, roughly when would the player expect to hit that cap in the story? Nick already spilled the beans and said 10 levels. Are there any plans for DLC? No there are no plans for DLC. When, during the design process, did you first decide on a combat mode? Day one and we never changed that decision afterwards. If implemented, will the official modding tools allow the community to create a RTwP Mod for BG3's base game campaign in theory? That’s up to them. Without using the words ‘Dungeon and Dragons,’ or ‘Forgotten Realms,’ what, in your opinion, makes BG3 a sequel to the first two BG games? What was the reasoning behind the title choice?
You can’t see this from anything we’ve shown so far because we don’t want to spoil it but we do touch upon the story of BG 1 & 2 in deeply meaningful ways and there are returning characters. The city plays a massive part and like in the originals, you’ll play an adventure in which the party is the heart and soul with protagonists who will be afflicted by the Gods against their will.
That said, you can’t separate Baldur’s Gate from Dungeons and Dragons. The goal of Bioware was to make a great Dungeons and Dragons game and that’s also our goal. We want to make a great Dungeons and Dragons game with lots of player agency, great depth, lots of iconic creatures, npcs and locations and which you can play in both single- and in multiplayer. We want to make a pretty dark game where you have to deal deal with lots of choice and consequence. We’re letting you do pretty terrible things (or god things). If I wouldn’t have died during the Pax Presentation I would’ve been able to show some of that so I think we’ll probably upload a video of what was supposed to be shown, and you’ll certainly see more the closer we get to Early Access.
I read that big PC Gamer article on the history of Baldur’s Gate and as I was reading through it, I was surprised by how much of what the original creators wanted to do with BG 1 & 2 matched what we are doing. The biggest difference in my opinion is the way combat is implemented and that we are using DnD 5e and they were 2e.
What plans do you have to bring BG3's look and feel closer to the classic BG series? When you jump into BG3 we want you to experience that same feeling of diving into an epic world that you felt when you played BG1 and BG2. We want you to experience the personal involvement and struggles of the party. The story, themes and tone are much darker than D:OS 2 and the choices you get to make have much higher stakes and more tangible consequences. You just haven’t seen it yet. You’ll get the heart and soul of the original BG games clad in a brand new suit of armour, forged from the same spirit. What would your parting words be for old school fans who are following the development of BG3?
Parting words? We’re just gathering the party.
Charming... I wonder why this makes me not reasurred at all? *sigh*
Reassured of what? It was a loud and clear answer on something that wasn't in doubt anyway.
2. Of whenever or not official modding tools will indeed allow for more things than what D:OS2's ones had offered.
3. Of whenever or not I will even bother purchasing BG3 on a -85% steam sale. Or continue to ignore it for all eternity.
For better or worse: now I know the answers to all three things. Especially the third one.
I still don't like group initiative. I think someone else here mentioned it but the tadpole(s) are probably what will allow the characters to act as a cohesive unit. How it works now, only one character would need to focus on initiative, while the others can ignore it. I don't think its the same as having a Bard talk for the party, because only one person would be talking... unless a player had a low charisma score and they interrupted every 30 seconds... Noober. So I do think a slower character should have to act last.
I get the 'any race can become mindflayers' mindset that Larian has approached - why restrict the player. I just wish they'd explain it more on the how, and not as just a simple retcon, regardless if Wizard's allows it or not.
I didn't like this answer:
"Roughly between 0 and 100. Are these ‘legendary’ characters going to be fully voiced? If so, will the same voice actors be used from the previous games? We can’t comment on this yet." As in they better. If small independent beamdog can track most of them all down and pay them all, I am pretty sure Larian can.
I did like this answer (sorry @ThacoBell)
"There are situations that if you don’t deal with them immediately will have irreversible consequences." I don't like fake urgency, and this actually allows multiple replays and getting different results. As long as it isn't a game over screen, I am cool with it.
I don't like the follower or mercenary concept they came up with. I'd rather have fully fleshed out interactive characters with their own stories and motives. How they have it, every origin story character is going to start with tadpole dilemma. Now think of BG1 (or even 2) every NPC had their own motive. Yes most of those motives lined up with the actual main quest but in different parts of it. Kivan wanted revenge on Tazok for example. So I am less enthused on what they've come up with here, especially if they handle this the same way they did DOS2.
I think 'brisk' combat is still their problem to solve and limiting the party size isn't the way to do it, especially when he is saying that recruitable NPCs will be at their throats. Less slots for those, less likely it'll happen.
Level 10 cap seems decent. Enough for a sequel.
Every other answer was the expected, "we can't comment on this now." Which is fine, unless he was the one who asked: "What weapons would you like to see make a comeback?" Besides maybe a flail of ages +2 (have the other 3 heads missing somewhere), I don't know. Level 1 - 10 is low enough levels that I don't want to be decked out in +3 or more gear. The Balduran equipment for sure...
I do do do do like that there is no RNG loot. Like, that is a selling point for me. A little more enthused but still a great opportunity to be let down.
You can’t see this from anything we’ve shown so far because we don’t want to spoil it but we do touch upon the story of BG 1 & 2 in deeply meaningful ways and there are returning characters. The city plays a massive part and like in the originals, you’ll play an adventure in which the party is the heart and soul with protagonists who will be afflicted by the Gods against their will.
That also should have been said since day 1.
They pitted the player base against each other because of it. Poor PR.
They're not responsible for your behavior.
Sad news, but it´s good to know we would have multiclassing and feats as in PNP.
1. Group initiative is here to stay, but if it seems it's not working as intended or if players don't like it during EA, it might be tweaked. Fingers crossed this means we MIGHT see individual initiatives return. I could probably get used to group initiative, but it just feels SO clunky.
2. Romances will be in. No further details provided (fair enough. Don't want to spoil stuff for people who don't like being spoiled).
3. Custom characters will choose a voice set during character creation. All voice sets are FULLY voiced, so you will get the same exposition and self-narration during dialogue scenes.
4. Party size is limited to 4. (That screenshot we saw of there being 5 people in the party was likely a temporary follower.) That said, Swen didn't say if the limit would be moddable or not (it depends entirely on how they coded it behind the scenes), so there's always hope.
I also REALLY like the fact that magic items are pre-set and not randomly generated. I like being able to know that specific enemies will always drop specific items and I can plan out my party's "final build" in advance on subsequent playthroughs.
I was NOT expecting such a low level cap for BG3, but eh, BG1 did it too, and the game was fantastic, so no plus or minus here.
This is how it looks to me.
Someone: This is not BG3, it's not related to BG1&2.
Me: Come on, people, let's trust the developers a bit, let's wait and see.
Developers (later): We don't want to spoil but even the events from ToB (!) will influence BG3.
Someone: This is bad, missing won't be present.
Me: That phrase was without any context, it didn't mean a thing, let's wait and see.
Developers (later): Missing in 80% cases on level 1 during the gameplay reveal.
Someone: This is so bad, developers didn't play classic BG.
Me: Actually, they played a lot.
Developers (later): We played BG on release date, this game changed us.
byrne20: I’ve seen plenty of positive feedback. All down to opinion at the end of the day.
Developers (later): WENT AND REPLIED TO EVERYTHING.
Etc, etc, it will just continue forever.
Yet time and again, the developers prove they are decent, prove they want to create an awesome game and they listen to the feedback. I wonder what made so many people begin questioning, criticizing and just not agreeing with a lot of things in yet-to-be-released game from the get-go? And this happens with nearly every developer and nearly every game being developed. Unlike that approach, I prefer to spread the word that what might seem doom & gloom now, is actually not that bad.
So far, everything related to BG3 and its developers - that is not gossip or broken phone, - has been very impressive, and the effort they put into it is as clear as day.
It's as @byrne20 has said: "All down to opinion at the end of the day."
I ask again: what exactly made you begin questioning, criticizing and just not agreeing with a lot of things in yet-to-be-released game from the get-go? Is there anything that might make you change that approach? If the reply is "Make the game as I want it", then I can again repeat: there are plenty of games you already consider ideal and take pleasure from them, this is a good thing, a variety of offers.
So - if the game is not what you want, - will you continue to feel only negative towards it? Won't you even give it a go? Not to play the best game, not to play the game you adore more than anything, but just to play the game, to see what is good and what is bad?
I did enjoy some their classic, real-time Divinity titles. But their newer games are nothing for me. Meaning I gradually shifted over the years from being interested, to feeling negatively, to ultimately becoming apathetic towards their games and the studio behind it. This is my personal opinion which won't change that easily.
Did anyone honestly expect otherwise? lol
From the Reddit thread itself: "Thank you Reddit for all the questions and thank you for all of the organization on your side, it really helped us to answer these questions concisely. We're looking forward to talking to you during Early Access!"
From Twitter:
I have a saying:
Expect the worst and only better can happen. Unless the worst does happen, then you have bragging rights while the world ends
People are allowed to be sceptical. They haven’t proved anything, just attempted to reassure old school players that the originals are referenced in the game in a meaningful way. We don’t have to swallow the hype because others have. That is how people generally get let down.
WotC still isn’t given its fans a RtwP game using the 5e ruleset. Yes, we finally get a single player rpg game through Larian, but that game is (once again) being developed with multiplayer in mind first, so a lot is being restricted because of that. If what is being offered doesn’t interest people, no they don’t have to give it a go.
One can only hope, one of the next few games WotC releases will be a RTwP game much like all those games that got me back into gaming: Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights...
I keep meaning to give it a go on my Xbox now that Beamdog have remastered it and see if I can get into it.
No. I personally am disappointed that it isn't rtwp. IMO, Larian now has deliver higher on things like story for me to say "yes this is a true sequel." I will still give this game a chance, eventually. I am not going to pay to beta test it. But if it doesn't continue the story properly, I would honestly think WotC messed up by rewarding Larian with this franchise instead of letting them develop their own IP using the 5e ruleset and letting another company eventually take up the mantle of Baldur's Gate franchise.
IMO turn base combat is very jarring for me. Everything else is happening in real time from traveling, to conversations, to cut scenes only for it to switch it up once combat starts. It's even more jarring when it doesn't switch 'maps' to do it. For example, in Pokémon, when combat starts, the screen flashes a couple of times then you are brought to the combat screen. Combat is sperate from everything else that is happening so its pacing is less jarring because it is being presented as a separate mechanic. This isn't the case in games like D:OS series. Add in that every battle needs to be 'epic' (no trash mobs) that takes away from battles that should be epic. BG2, De'Arnise Keep, has a good example. The first floor you are fighting 'trash mobs' of trolls to get a grasp of how the AI works with them and what it takes to kill them. When you need to get they key to get into the rooms however, you have a miniboss battle with a giant troll that splits in two, a spellcasting Yuan-ti and two little trolls. That fight is more memorable because of the slight difficulty spike from everything you faced before it (who doesn't remember the WTF moment the first time you played it and troll split into two little ones). But doing 'trash mobs' in TB slows the entire game down, so developers don't do them. Each encounter is 3 or more enemies that the player has to fight off, to keep the game challenging. IMO it's poor design that makes battles less memorable and breaks the immersion when you are playing them.
@byrne20 The OC of NWN was horrible (it does get slightly better after the first chapter). It's two expansions, where the protagonist is connected (it is assumed the player is using the same character from SoU in HotU), is better. Also better was the ability for people to create PWs and other modules using the game engine to tell their own stories. I could never get into NWN2 because of the camera. The furthest I got in original campaign was a warehouse where I had to fight what seemed to be an endless wave of guards (because I was playing evil), which broke my immersion (which is highly important to me when playing RPGs or any game that is story driven) and I 'put it on hold.' That was four computers ago. I've reinstalled it countless times not being able to get past the first tutorial chapter because of the camera since then.
"We have hecka links and influence from the old BG games." (slightly paraphrased), is not reassuring on its own based on what we've been shown so far. But at least Larian has THOUGHT about it. Time will tell how accurate this is.
The "turn based" from day 1 is exactly what I expected and is just something I'm not interested in. Turn based isn't a deal on its own, but everything else in the writing and characters needs to be extremely good for me to put up with it.
I never even considered random loot as a possibility, was that something that could actually have happened?!
Bhaal being alive still sucks mightily, and "5e did it" doesn't make it any less bitter. I swear, WotC is the worst thing to ever happen to D&D.
Overall, I think the AMA went as well as it realistically could have. I'm still not really interested, but it might have tilted me from "hate" to "apathy". We'll see what happens as more information is available.
Actually, no I wasn't! I completely missed the second page! Derp
Thank you very much. Glad to read the reply to my question. I hope Italian language will be included.