Maybe a mix or optional switching would be useful here? The demo of Baldur’s Gate 3 couldn’t capture the essence of the Baldur’s Gate saga in any of the fights shown. In terms of game mechanics, this may bring advantages from time to time. Just faceroll with your heroes over a bunch of bandits? No chance, each one has to be hunted down one after the other. In Baldur’s Gate, real-time battles with pauses could have been lengthy, but now, instead of a dynamic, fast, powerful discharge of planned and coordinated attacks by the entire group, there is only the processing of individual attacks. But everything happens one after the other and incredibly much slower. Sneaking is even easier because you can switch to turn-based actions outside of a fight. Single actions can be planned and executed brilliantly. Of course, turn-based battles have advantages, which the demo also illustrated wonderfully. Instead, the Divinity gameplay was brushed over tradition. That infernal action described above with simultaneous actions of all six (in Baldur’s Gate 3 probably only four) party members? Now impossible. The gameplay demo didn’t prove that this was a good decision either. I haven’t been able to swallow this pill yet. Real time becomes round strategy: A good decision?Īlmost casually, Swen Vincke, head of Larian Studios, explains in the presentation, “Dungeons & Dragons is turn-based, so is Baldur’s Gate 3.” I don’t feel involved, but strangely detached. What was she talking about?” Or, “I told her we needed to rest.” This separates my thoughts about the situation from the actual event in a strange way. Even the dialogue options are no longer straightforward, but written in past tense: “I feigned ignorance. The gameplay presentation of Larian Studios at PAX East shows a great looking game that was very familiar to me.Ĭharacters and their conversations are elaborated in cinematic dialogues down to the finest detail, leaving little room for imagination. Much of what I have just described won’t be present in Baldur’s Gate 3. Or I have to come back later because a dragon or a lich dominates my group in such a way that success seems impossible.Īnother great strength of Baldur’s Gate saga is that there’s a solution to almost every problem – even if it’s traveling across the world to buy the two potions that make all the difference in battle.ĭivinity kills the Baldur’s Gate atmosphere Nevertheless, fights often have to be retried because critical failures were rolled. Never have fights been more satisfying, never has overwhelming power been conveyed in such a simple yet impressive way. Press pause button again and all hell breaks loose. Pause is activated and here we go: Assign melee fighters with haste to the most dangerous enemies, a mage casts time stop and then all magic chain spells, area spells and devastating actions are strategically placed. I often burst with my heroes into a room filled with highly dangerous wizards, fighters armed to the teeth and deadly villains. Then there are the real-time fights with pause function. Time stop: When hell breaks loose in real time Portraits play an important role here: the appearance of the character in the painted picture is transformed in my head into a movie every time one of these guys gets involved in a conversation or when a decision has to be made. With its isometric view and fixed camera, the Infinity engine leaves plenty of room for imagination. What makes saga so great? An excellently told story, credible characters with personality, tough and tactical battles that are often decided on razor’s edge, powerful items with their own very well told stories and a coherent world. I’ ve been up and down the Sword Coast a whopping seven times, beating up Jon Irenicus, defeating Demogorgon and cutting down the Bhaal children to size. I’m one of those old guys who loves the Baldur’s Gate saga like no other game.
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