Baldur's Gate 3: developed by Larian Studios

[Raid]

Ooh. I did think that they'd shift the release date because of Starfield (I think they're alluding to that being the reason on their dev diary) I just wasn't expecting them to make it earlier than promised.

I had been toying with the idea of running a party comprising the three characters I've played on the forum games plus a few of the origin characters, but lacking the Tabaxi race makes that less palatable. I suppose I could have made Opus as a halfling (which would probably be a better match for his size anyway), but that feels wrong somehow.

I've largely ignored the development of this, I wanted it to be as fresh as possible once it hit 1.0. Are the origin characters a set class? I ask because DOS2 let you choose the classes of your companions when you first recruited them. I'll have a decent idea of which classes I want to play with but it'd be nice to adjust things later if I find a weakness in my party.

[Wrathbone]

It's been a while since I last played early access, but I think the companion classes were fixed. That may have changed and it might let you change class if you play as one of the origin characters, but I always create my own character from scratch.

I'm not sure what class I want to play as. Wizard is my go-to and it'll probably end up being that, but I kind of want to go with a bard in the hope that there are lots of in-conversation schmoozing options.

[Sly Boots]

I played some bard in the EA... it was quite fun being able to persuade anyone of absolutely anything

I've tried out most of the classes released so far, they all felt good to me in different ways, not sure what I'll do in the full release

[DjchunKfunK]

I'm not sure if I am going to play this despite being a huge fan of Baldur's Gate and the D:OS games. There is something about the game that just leaves me cold and I'd have preferred if Larian had just kept making their own stuff rather than trying to make a BG game with all the baggage that entails.

[Animalmother]

These guys really seem to love their job

[Wrathbone]

On the Steam forums some are saying Larian have said that saves from 31st July to 3rd August will carry over to the full game... wonder if that means Early Access owners will get early access (lol) to the final build?

Apparently Larian have confirmed this won't be the case and early access owners will get the full game on 3rd August along with everyone else.

Also, they're saying the game files are different enough that having early access installed before release probably won't make much difference in terms of the amount being downloaded. Could be a long wait!

[Wrathbone]

I spent all week carefully considering various wizard character builds and then upon entering character creation this evening I declared sod it, I'm being a bard and nobody can stop me!

Since I last played EA, the interface has improved in subtle but impactful ways that make the whole thing simpler to play. It also feels bizarre that the whole game is finally here and that there's a vast amount to delve into past chapter 1. And I have tomorrow and all of next week booked off work to get stuck into it.

[Raid]

I've spent weeks trying to decide which class to pick, and in the end went with a Rogue, albeit one with a lot of points in Charisma. I *think* I've already talked my way out of one fight, although I then did something incredibly stupid (downing two of my characters in the process) and got myself into an entirely different fight with half my party on 1hp.

I've had to resist the urge to save-scum. At one point I reloaded having done the above stupid thing, realised that's not really in the spirit of D&D, and then reloaded the autosave back into the position I put myself in and fought my way out instead. I have reloaded after one failed roll, because it meant I ended up losing a character I definitely wanted in my party.

For wizard builds, I ended up going for Divination with Gale. Portent feels pretty powerful, so much so in fact that it's already saved two of my party within ten minutes of me meeting him.

[Wrathbone]

I too am trying to be as accepting of failed rolls as I can, not least because some failures supposedly end up more interesting than successes.

[Sly Boots]

Started my channel campaign, before promptly jetting out on holiday for a week

I've gone with Ranger, mainly as I want to play the Gloomstalker sub-class when I hit level 3, as it sounds really cool.

Custom character for me, but for a future replay I'll probably try an evil playthrough as the Dark Urge.

[Wrathbone]

Just watching your character creation now.

[Raid]

I have to admit I'm second guessing my choice of Rogue, particularly as you meet another within an hour of starting. Still, the thought of my pair of Rogues giving each other sneak attack is a little funny.

[Sly Boots]

Just watching your character creation now.

[Sly Boots]

I have to admit I'm second guessing my choice of Rogue, particularly as you meet another within an hour of starting. Still, the thought of my pair of Rogues giving each other sneak attack is a little funny.

Rogue is a fun class to play, and there are so many possible party companions in the game you'll be able to ditch Astarion and leave him in the camp before too long.

[Raid]

I know it's an option, but Astarion seems like he's going to be quite an interesting character so I'd quite like to keep him in the party. Any idea how long into the game you get the ability to respec your character? I'm a couple of hours in and I'm wondering whether I should start over.