Baldur's Gate 3 in Early Access - Visiting Construction Site of Fantastic RPG

You think the biggest problem is the combat system and replacing turns with active pause? Fans of the original Baldur's Gate may indeed have much more serious worries. Let's imagine a situation. A 40 year-old, who's long given up on video games because, you know – life – hears that the follow-up to his beloved game from decades ago returns. Not thinking twice, he quickly heads to Steam, downloads the launcher, and... there it is! Baldur's Gate 3! The "Early Access" label doesn't mean anything, so pays no attention to it.

And what will happen after our 40-year-old already downloads the 80-GB-worth of game files? Shock and disbelief... Or at least a strong sense of being lost; not how we remember Baldur! And that’s if the game even runs properly, because Larian so far seems more occupied on motion-capture and modelling cute faces than optimizing the game.

Before you throw a stone at Larian, remember – it is early access, after all. Optimization is complex and labor-intensive, and optimizing an unfinished game isn't the smartest decision.

The game will bring both complex relationships and romance.

In any case, anyone who hasn't played isometric RPGs for 20 years may attempt to learn the game the same way they always did – their own wits, trial and arror, and any hints the game offers. They'll learn to control the team in full 3-D, explore dozens of tiny buttons and keys, and figure out the changes that happened between the second and fifth edition of D&D – both in terms of mechanics, and the world itself. That's one possibility. The other is this: the person buys the game, tries to play it for an hour, and then decides life is just too short for all that.

BALDUR'S GATE 3 IN EARLY ACCESS:

1. the prologue and the first act;
2. eight races and six classes (with variants) to choose from in the character wizard;
3. the mechanics of the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, based on the gameplay model from Divinity: Original Sin 2;
4. a relatively vast map, full of secrets;
5. hundreds of NPCs and cinematic dialogs;
6. no tutorial and only one difficulty level – Classic (quite high);
7. a flurry of technical mishaps.

The game is available in seven languages, but the localizations are reportedly rather sketchy.

Divinity: Baldur's Sin 3?

Alright, but what about the people, who have actually played some games in the past decades – should they get Baldur's Gate 3 now? Well, it depends. If they played and enjoyed Divinity: Original Sin 2, then yes, certainly. Larian Studios has achieved great things with DOS2 – and in fact, all these achievements are reflected in Baldur's Gate 3.

Three years ago, the developers from Belgium proved they know how to make role-playing games. They created a game that was at once complex and intuitive, as well as modern and true to the tradition. BG3 at first glance seems a game built on the same foundation – but it also tries to do a few things in its own way, and so it definitely needs more time in early access to figure out the right balance of ingredients... and tighten the loose screws, as there's quite a few.

Just like DOS2, Baldur’s Gate 3 offers a four-player coop (for now only online, in the future, also local).

WHAT IS THIS GAME ABOUT? AND HOW MUCH BALDUR IS THERE IN BALDUR?

The action takes place some two centuries after the events of the first two Baldur's Gate games. This isn't a direct sequel, and the knowledge of previous instalments isn't mandatory.

Our character – created or selected from among the five default adventurers (for now, Early Access offers only creation) – is introduced to us during a kidnapping by the horrific Illithids, also known as Mind Flayers. It doesn't last that long, as the boat crashes shortly after the prologue near the eponymous city. But we can't just enjoy our freedom – the flayers infested our brain with a "tadpole" that turns us into them – a problem that requires swift addressing. Thus begins another great adventure in the Forgotten Realms.

Do you wonder how connected the story from Baldur's Gate 3 is to the old games? To be honest, I don't know. The first act gives no real grounds for any surmises; I haven't noticed any familiar characters, I haven't heard the name "Bhaal" even once. However, the plot promises to be complex and multi-threaded, so the final version of the game may yet turn out to be full of references to the classics. Especially once we get to Baldur's Gate.

Isometric, or TPP?

The most striking novelty is probably the presentation of dialogues – or more broadly – of the plot. Larian breaks with the textual narrative and focuses on cinematics, giving us cut-scenes that theoretically wouldn't be out of place in games like The Witcher or Dragon Age. The Belgians were extremely ambitious – almost every line of dialogue was recorded in mo-cap sessions, recording not only the voices but also the movements of the actors.

Dice rolls are plentiful, but they're not as interesting as in Disco Elysium – they mostly end up with a fight.

Even the supporting NPCs, who utter just a few sentences, have to show artful animations. Combined with really good character models, the effect can be impressive. Unfortunately, at this stage, it often comes across as funny or even clunky. The transitions between statements lack fluidity, some faces look terrible, and the camera regularly loses touch with reality – this is particularly flagrant in more dynamic scenes that could really use a more inspired direction. Figuratively speaking, Dragon Age Origins handled cut-scenes better, despite overall ugliness and poor character animations.

Still, early access is just getting started, and Larian is a good company, so we'll almost certainly see more polish here... but I can't shake the feeling that all this cinematic action will backfire. Millions of dollars and thousands of hours of human labor will be consumed by – with apologies – trifles, while there are a lot more important problems to sort out.

The game could really use the option of UI scailing.

Camera! Actio- What's wrong with that blasted camera?

Navigating buildings, caves or even forests (that is, about three-quarters of the game) is a tricky task: the view is regularly obstructed by elements of the environment, and characters sometimes interpret our directions in a puzzling manner. Needless to say, it's quite irritating when the party walks into a spider nest like we ordered them to. Especially since loading a save, even on an SSD, takes quite a few, rather lengthy seconds. Some solution to the problem would be to adjust the camera angle, but this is not possible.

All you can do is zoom in and out (also resorting to top-down tactical view) to give precise orders. The same goes for exploration: the locations are so detailed that they're nearly illegible. It becomes necessary to hold the alt key continuously so that you don't miss anything important – for example, a beige note lying on a beige basket that has to be read to trigger a new mission. In fact, Divinity: Original Sin 2 already had similar problems, but only here, inspired by the cinematic qualities, I craved a real TPP, with a control scheme similar to Dragon Age: The Inquisition.

The soundtrack builds a nice atmosphere and harks back to the old days. Nice.

Camera work is such a problem in Baldur's Gate 3 because, in terms of exploration, the game offers even more freedom than D:OS2. This is mainly due to the fact that the characters can climb and jump. This allows us to overcome virtually any obstacle – as a result, being able to look around freely becomes all the more vital. On top of that, the program often gets lost in all this freedom, having a hard time figuring out which places are actually accessible. I have had to consult the minimap to determine whether the rock shelf I was looking at was a playable area or not.

Performance, performance and performance again

The camera isn't the first thing to focus on. Optimising the game should be a top priority right now. On a computer equipped with an Intel Core i5-9400 processor, 16 GB RAM and a 6-GB GeForce GTX 1060, I was constantly experiencing unpleasant stuttering in framerate, ranging between 30-60 fps, on ultra @1080p. The animation would sometimes freeze completely – sometimes lasting a few seconds – and after each loading screen (excessively long, as I said, even on an SSD) I still watched a nasty slideshow and textures popping in for a while.

As in Divinity: Original Sin, interaactions with animals are pretty interesting.

It would take a long time for me to list all these blemishes. The program kicked me to desktop several times (when trying to load a save during a cut-scene), once frozen during a dialog, or the opponent's turn in combat. I also had to load the game after a member of the team unexpectedly ranthrough a locked door and then dematerialized. All this was topped off with sound glitches, the camera penetrating textures, and all sorts of bugs, especially in cut-scenes.

You should wait for the release before venturing forth

I don't want you to get the wrong idea after reading this preview. Baldur's Gate 3 has the makings of a truly great, even sensational role-playing game – and, in all likelihood, it will become one before leaving early access – but for now, it's a mess. Be aware of this and be warned. It's also important to remember that Divinity: Original Sin 2 was released in early access in a much better condition, so the current state of BG3 may come as a nasty surprise to many of you.

If you had any doubts – Baldur's Gate 3 isn't a game for kids.

By releasing their latest work in early access, Larian invited us not to beta, but alpha tests. As long as you realise the risks and you still feel like playing, you're free to go. Otherwise, I recommend patience. This time, the price of the game will not change with the next stages of development, so there's no time pressure.

When, armed with patience, you sit in front of the screen after the official release, you'll see an RPG that may blow your socks off. The freedom that this game offers is amazing; it's actually an isometric immersive sim. There are many paths to each goal, and combat can almost always be avoided by stealth, diplomacy or – which is particularly impressive – clever manipulation of the environment. Beyond that, no one tells you how to live your life in this game. The intriguing plot unfolds nonlinearly, and in the conflicts between "good" and "evil" (I use inverted commas because the division is not that obvious), one can take different sides.

A favorable dice roll saved me the hussle of fighting these creatures, but if it didn't this wooden beam right there would provide an interesting tactical possibility.

Besides, avoiding a fight isn't a virtue in and of itself, as the mechanics of the combat are impressive, too. The tactical depth of Divinity: Original Sin 2 was expanded with a few more layers, such as dropping elements such as pillars and chandeliers on opponents' heads, making for a more creative combat, even more satisfying than before. There's nothing like using his jumping ability to get to an enemy sharp shooter and push them out of the tower into an oil spill on the ground to then ignite it with a fireball. You just have to count on a stroke of luck, because every action is based on a dice roll, to a stronger degree than in DOS2 – it's the result of using D&D mechanics.

Another strong suit of the new Baldur – and also a trademark of Larian Studios – is the superb world design. The first act offers a large map, full of interesting NPCs, elaborate tasks, guarded treasures or nooks and crannies where compelling secrets are hidden. Exploration in this game is pure pleasure.

The character creator also deserves credit. There is already so much to choose from in terms of races, classes and skills, or spells that thoroughly exploring each of these elements would take a few dozen minutes. What's more, the game seems to offer large replayability by letting us experiment with different options and starting the game again as someone new – for example to see what new interactions and dialog options will be available to, say, a halfling cleric, especially proficient in all kinds investigations and with natural animal abilities.

He should have thought about how long a way down there is before he climbed all the way up…

As you can see, Larian has more than one ace up their sleeve. Add to that their experience and quality of their games so far, there can only be one conclusion: Baldur's Gate 3 is a sure hit. In my opinion, however, it is not the among 2020's highlights. The game's early-access debut is surely rushed; it may even have abused the trust of fans by carelessly pumping up the "hype" bubble. I hope it doesn't go wrong, and that next year – or later, if necessary – we will all go to Faerun for an adventure so grand that even Minsc and Boo are not ready for it.