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Baldur's Gate 3 in preview - Pen & Paper & Gamepad

2020-02-27T21:12:13.738Z


Baldur's Gate 3 wants to connect atmospherically to the role play series of the 90s. The preview shows whether this works even without BioWare's participation.


Baldur's Gate 3 wants to connect atmospherically to the role play series of the 90s. The preview shows whether this works even without BioWare's participation.

  • Baldur's Gate 3 : the successor to the legendary BioWare role-playing game is in the starting blocks.
  • Part three takes classic pen & paper role-playing games as a model.
  • Baldur's Gate 3 is expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 2020 for PC and Google Stadia .

Ghent - In order to finally lift the curtain to Baldur's Gate 3, which was eagerly awaited by fans, developer Larian Studios invited in proper style to a rustic tavern. In addition to mead and small brawls, there was a first glimpse of the third incarnation of the popular role-playing game series . You can find out whether a longer stare is worthwhile in our preview of Baldur's Gate 3 on the PC

Baldur's Gate 3: The preview of the mother of all role-playing fairy tales

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Baldur's Gate 3: A dark fantasy role-playing game as it is in the book.

© Larian Studios

For a long time it was quiet around the Baldur's Gate games, which had once been brought to BioWare 's legendary status. Almost two decades after the second part was published, the Belgian Larian Studios are now trying to revive Baldur's Gate from the realm of the dead. With Divinity: Original Sin, the team has recently made a name for itself with role players . The latest Lazarus project, however, is not, as is so often the case today, a half-baked attempt to chase after the quick buck with a well-known brand like a dog on the next tram. On the contrary, you want to take your time.

Baldur's Gate 3 should feel right. To take up the heavy heritage, it seems only reasonable to pluck all superfluous roots from the ground, but to make the tree intact, that is: The story of Baldur's Gate 3 plays a century after the events of the second part. A new story is told in the same world, but the BioWare story is considered complete. Of course there will be healthy references to the beginning of the series, but in principle Larian wants to give the game a whole new lease of life.

Baldur's Gate 3 in the preview: Blinded by the Light

In the demonstration that we were able to attend, lead actor and Larian leader Swen Vincke took on the role of Astarion, a so-called vampire spawn, the ward of a vampire. Batwing-typical for Astarion sunlight is an absolute no-go zone and even in unfamiliar houses it must first be asked before it can be entered. But after only a few moments it becomes clear that something cannot be right when the nice vampire from the neighborhood trudges across meadows in broad daylight or takes a break on the wild river.

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Astarion - just one of the many heroes in Baldur's Gate 3.

© Larian Studios

That's because of the Tadpole, a mysterious worm that was injected into Astarion's eye by an even more mysterious Cthulhu tentacle head. The Tadpole gives Astarion special abilities, but in return it eats part of Astarion's suspect personality in return for its position as a nasty parasite, for every advantage that it creeps. A dubious contemporary who both knows how to use but also has to learn to fear. In search of a solution to this dilemma, we are quickly joined by the usual ones, such as a cleric or a warrior.

We have not yet been able to get a really deep insight into the core of the game, i.e. the basic story. However, what we saw came across as very promising and written with wit against genre conventions that have been out of the picture for decades. For example, a vampire walking in the sun is a fantastic idea that has a lot of potential. Baldur's Gate 3 looks rock solid. This is not meant badly, but also not enthusiastic praise. With its Divinity 4.0 engine, the game simply joins the current canon of Larian role-playing games. The bell wouldn't ring at Hau den Lukas, but it doesn't have to. Anyone who expects the graphic qualities of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt here will be disappointed, but you really can't complain. Especially because so far only a very early version of the game was available, which had already got a crisp Polish.

Baldur's Gate 3 in preview: Pen & Paper & Gamepad

The major unique selling point of Baldur's Gate 3 is its game system. Anyone who has ever been immersed in the world of Dungeons & Dragons with dim candlelight and salami pizza will immediately feel at home here. Because Baldur's Gate 3 is not only based on the rules of the notorious Pen & Paper, but also actively uses it in the game. All naselang it means to pass dice tests and really empathize with the role of your own character - clichés and bright heroes are rarely found here, elaborate characters are in the foreground. Conversations offer countless dialogue options, which the hardworking writers at Larian (headquarters: Ghent) must have driven insane.

And the combat system is also more in the direction of a hybrid of P&P role-playing games and tabletop, in which every movement should be carefully considered. Turn-based you fight your way through enemy hordes, but you can also try to sneak through enemy lines like a weasel. Unfortunately we could not put our hands on the pad ourselves, which is why we could only watch the action from a distance. There it looked wonderfully chaotic in any case and that is meant positively through and through.

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Turn-based battles with dice samples: Baldur's Gate 3 relies on pen & paper virtues.

© Larian Studios

Unlike in today's dominant action RPGs, an action with a bad D20 throw can sometimes go wrong and the player has to adapt to a completely new situation. This unpredictability affects tremendously refreshing and crystallized now as the great USP of Baldur's Gate 3 out. An AAA video game has never been so close to a real pen & paper. The icing on the cake is also that the group of companions can be occupied by real friends. The whole D&D group can therefore enter digital land and experience adventures together.

Conclusion of the preview: first impression of Baldur's Gate 3

At first glance Baldur's Gate 3 looks like a fresh attempt to breathe new life into the nerdy branch of the RPG genre. Graphically rock solid, the game offers more freedom than a classic role-playing game for a long time. Part Three quickly turns out to be an ambitious project to digitize a pen & paper. In addition, the whole thing seems to be written with love and dignified awareness of its roots. If this first presentation by Larian delivers what it promises today, it should be a real work in progress for all tough roleplaying fans who like to take on complex scenarios. Especially for pen & paper veterans, who might not otherwise have too many points of contact with video games, Baldur's Gate 3 could turn out to be a must have and door opener for the medium.

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Graphically solid, but with room for improvement: Our first impression of Baldur's Gate 3.

© Larian Studios

Rubric list image: © Larian Studios

Source: merkur

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