(video game music chimes) - [Announcer] The absolutely
massive RPG, Baldur's Gate 3, is out really soon, so let's gather up all
the information available, everything you need to know
about this game before it drops. We've got 10 things, so let's get started off with number 10. Baldur's Gate 3 is a
game that's actually been in Early Access for a while now, almost three years, in fact. I remember us covering it way back when it first dropped in Early Access. And yeah, we liked it
then, so there's that. And there's a lot of game here, and people have been playing it. So one of the big questions surrounding the game's final release date is if your Early Access character
will actually carry over into that final game. I mean, that's not an
unreasonable question. There are a lot of Early Access titles that seamlessly transition
into 1.0 without any issues. But it looks like things are complicated and very complex with Baldur's Gate 3 because it won't be one of them. This comes straight from the developers. In the final game, you'll have to start
over from the beginning. Early Access saves do not carry over. So if you're getting really
excited about this game, you see this video and you're thinking about jumping into Early
Access right before just to get a headstart, don't do that because it won't work
when the final game drops. So just kind of a PSA for you. Next over at number nine, let's get into the details a little bit. This game is meant to be the ultimate
Dungeons & Dragons sandbox. It's not just a top down
role playing game or a CRPG. It also strives to accurately replicate the Dungeons & Dragons experience. And a big part of that is how
it adapts 5th Edition rules. This is all to say that, no, the game won't be like
Larian's previous RPG, Divinity: Original Sin 2. And if you're a longtime PC RPG player who spent a lot of time with the original Baldur's Gate games, then it's not like those games either. The originals were based on
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, so this game is going
to feel quite different. It's also a turn-based game, rather than real-time with pause like the original Baldur's Gate games. Now, one interesting aspect of the game is that it doesn't just
directly translate the rules to a different format. The devs did make a few
changes here and there to better translate the tabletop
game to this unique medium. For one thing, every weapon has a few
different special actions associated with it, which gives melee
fighters way more utility than they normally would have. Also, everyone has access
to a few bonus actions that normally would be limited to certain classes in the tabletop game, you know, stuff like shove, jump, dip where you coat your weapon with some kind of damaging
substance, or hide. There's still the usual array
of class-specific actions and an entire spell casting system that may take some getting used to if you're expecting the
usual magic points systems of most RPGs. Instead, there's a spell slot system, where you can only cast so many spells in each slot depending
on the spells level. Basically, weaker spells
you can cast more often. Stronger spells have a more
limited section of slots, and once they're depleted, the only way to cast
them again is to take a, and I quote, "long rest." One interesting wrinkle to this system is the upscaling ability where you can cast lower level spells using a higher level spell slot, which can make certain
spells more powerful. So to make a long story short, there's a lot of stuff
you can do in this game. The amount of depth in the
combat alone seems staggering, at least from the sound of things. Now, next over at number eight, in most RPGs, there's not a
lot left to random chance, but in Baldur's Gate 3, the role of the dice is a
huge part of the gameplay. It makes sense. Understanding how dice
rolls work in the game is key to understanding
how to do well in combat. It can be complicated, but if you intend to
play this game seriously, then it's not a bad ask to take a minute and look at the Fan Wiki to get at least a cursory understanding on how things like attack rolls and critical hits and misses work. One new feature in 5th Edition D&D that plays a big part in dice rolls is advantages and disadvantages. In the tabletop game, these roll modifiers are more
up to the DM's discretion, of course, you know, a reward for role playing
or extra layer of challenge for a group of players that
are doing a bit too well. But Larian, the developers, have made this rule more systemic. Now, if you've got the high ground or, you know, you're attacking
enemies that are bound or frozen or attacking from stealth, you know, stuff like that, you get this thing called advantage, which makes it so instead
of rolling a single die, it rolls two and then takes
the best option as your number. Disadvantages work the
same way, but opposite. If you're attacked while disadvantaged, then it'll roll two dice and
pick the worst option instead, which can be very bad. Unlike Divinity 2, which
was much more restrained, there's a lot more full-blown randomness in Baldur's Gate 3. Of course, it's not like calculations are just all over the place. Most attacks and defensive rolls depend on not just the random
roll, but the ability score plus whatever proficiency
bonus you've got, which does a lot more to
skew things in your favor. So dealing with dice rolls
might seem kind of intimidating at first, but it evens out in the end and shouldn't make things too frustrating, at least with the karmic
dice setting turned on, which is on by default, which helps you if you start getting a
lot of bad rolls in a row. That sounds good, but it works both ways. Enemies also get a hand from the system, so it overall makes
combat faster and deadlier at least in theory. Nobody knows exactly how the
algorithm really works yet, but we know some people
are gonna figure it out. I mean, the fact that we're
talking this in depth, people are already
probably gonna be on it. Next, over at number seven,
one of our favorite innovations that Larian brought to the CRPG scene was that you could choose to play as any member of your party
and make their story your own. It wasn't just like a cool way
to flesh out party members. It also made it a lot easier
to just jump into the game without having to deal with the overwhelming
amount of options available in the character creator. For a long time, it seemed like
Baldur's Gate 3 wouldn't go in this direction and would go back into the old blank slate
style custom character stuff from the original games, but
nope, they brought back origins and they might be even better this time. You can play as any of the six
initial starting characters. And like Divinity, you can customize them
as much as you want. The only thing set in stone is their race and their backstory, which
is experienced differently when you play as them versus
when they're a party member, which is cool. There's also some non origin
party members you can get with a few returning characters
from the original games and a few more new ones. And these are companions that
you cannot choose to play as in character creation. Along with the six normal origins, there's also the seventh special origin called The Dark Urge, which is only available to
you as the player character. They are not recruitable. If you choose this character, it drastically alters your game and turns you into what
amounts to a serial killer. You'll wake up at night
with a dead body beside you with no memory of how they got there, and you get special prompts
to kill your own party members and often it locks you
into certain choices where you literally have no
control of your own actions and the urge takes over. It's a really totally
different way to play the game, but it's not something
that developers recommend for the first playthrough, obviously, unless you're a sicko. In fact, the developers have recommended that a custom character is the best way to play a first time game. The origins are better for replays and add that replay value, I guess. Of course, I mean you do what you want. You are the player, you're the customer, but if you wanna role
play however you want, then a custom character is probably gonna be your
best choice, long story short. Next over at number six,
like Larian's previous games, Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't necessarily have to be a solitary experience. You can play through the
entire campaign with a buddy if you choose, and the experience should
technically be seamless. You're not tethered together. Everyone can roam freely if they want, even if you do have to group
up again together to rest. Progress is set by the host, and only one player can be in conversation with an NPC at a time. You don't have to play with your friends if you don't want to. It's possible to just jump
in with random strangers if you want. That might not be the best idea however because loot works the same
way here as it did in Divinity. It's pure finders keepers,
and loot is party based. So if you want something, you
better hope the people playing with you have your best interests at heart and are willing to share because otherwise you're
totally out of luck. They're not even limiting
multiplayer to online only, even if you think that
will be a requirement for a game as complex as this. But they're actually going to
let you play it split screen on both PC and consoles. The hell of a commitment
to play a game this massive with a few people on the
couch, but if you're up for it, the game gives you a
lot of different options how to play with friends
wherever they are. How well it'll actually
work on day one though, that's another story. Early Access had some problems, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Next, over at number five, Larian is changing the multiclassing rules to ignore ability score prerequisites. A guide with multiclassing
rules as they may apply to BG 3, common sources of confusion, and popular tabletop multiclass
builds can be found here. One of the most intriguing
features of Dungeons & Dragons is multiclassing where you
can select a second class when leveling up and
obtain many class benefits. There are pitfalls to this of course. You know, selecting a class
that doesn't synergize well with your starting class
can make multiclassing feel like you wasted a level. But in 5th Edition, the mechanic is all around more forgiving. There's a lot of classes
in Baldur's Gate 3, almost an overwhelming amount. But in general the class
combos that work well in 5th Edition should also
work well in the game. While multiclassing isn't
in the Early Access version of the game, it will be an
option in the final release, along with some noteworthy
changes to the system. The two big adjustments
made by the developers is that there's no longer
an ability score requirement for certain multiclasses, so you don't need certain stats anymore, making it so you can multiclass
into whatever you like. The other noteworthy change
is how spell slots work. they've made it less
punishing to put points into mage classes, so you're not getting
only the weakest spells compared to if you were leveling
up your main magic class. How exactly this works
is unclear right now, but it sounds like they
want to encourage magicians to more freely experiment without as many debilitating downsides as in a standard game of D&D. Now, next over at number four, this may be a little bit spoilery, but it's introduced at
the start of the game and it's a major new game mechanic, so it is worth talking about. At the start of Baldur's Gate 3, your character gets a Mind
Flayer tadpole in their brain. Now listen, if you're not up on D&D lore, a Mind Flayer is a squid
faced race of psychic monsters who love to eat brains and reproduce by infecting other races with a tadpole, which when left unchecked will eventually transform the victim into a completely new Mind Flayer. These guys are awesome. That's the predicament though that your character starts out with. You got this thing stuck in your brain, and getting rid of it is the
primary motivating factor for a good chunk of Early Access. And while the tadpole is in your brain, it's a corrupting presence, and giving into its control will grant you these new Illithid powers and special Mind Flayer dialogue options. In the Early Access, these powers are granted based on class, but in the final game,
they'll be much more involved with a full skill tree associated with it. The whole point of the story is that your characters
want these things out as quickly as possible, and they'll eventually
transform you into a monster, so giving into the temptation to use the abilities they grant
you seems like a dangerous but cool choice. In Early Access, using these powers had no
negative effects on you or the story, but we like to think that abusing this power
will eventually come back to bite you in the ass hard. In the final game, the developers
can be pretty unforgiving with this stuff probably. So while they haven't said
exactly what will happen if you overdo it with these powers, I wouldn't expect the best. But hey it's up to you to figure that out. Next, over at number three, for a series of games
called Baldur's Gate, it's kind of surprising how
little time you actually spend in the titular city. In all the pre-release footage, it seems like the city
would be under siege and in ruins for the entire game, but with a recent trailer
that they put out, it looks like this game will actually have the biggest version of the city yet. It seems like it's going to be
one of the biggest locations ever seen in a CRPG and all set on a single connected map rather than split into two parts or multiple parts like most
RPGs of this type tend to do. According to the developers, the city was never originally
meant to be this big, but as the game got
more and more ambitious, the final city ended up
being significantly bigger than they originally planned. We're talking like three or
four times the original size. And we're looking forward to
seeing how it all pans out. Now down at number two,
if you played Divinity 2, then you'd know how long a
Larian developed RPG can be, and it sounds like this game
will go even further than that. In an interview with IGN, they said that the game would
be between 75 to 100 hours, and that's a normal playthrough. Apparently, if you're
more of a completionist it'll take around 200 hours. With any other developer we
would call that an exaggeration, but if their other games
are anything to go on, then it's probably a pretty safe estimate. There's a reason why
they're releasing this game a month early so it's not
competing with Starfield. And even a month almost feels
like it's not enough time for this one, even just
from what we've seen. Clearly the game is going to be massive because just look at the Early Access. it only covers a single chapter. There's a ton of it. and apparently with the
final release it's going to get a significant overhaul
with a lot of new quests and features in there. And that's just playthrough one, and this game is a game that
encourages you to play it again to see how things play out differently. I think it's safe to say that there's going to be
a lot of game in here, so hopefully you're
getting your money's worth. Now down at number one,
like we said above, the game's original release
date of September 6th has been pushed forward a
month to August 3rd on PC with the express reason given that Larian doesn't want
to compete with Starfield. It's a godsend for players
chomping at the bit to play this one on PC,
either through Steam or GOG, but if you're on console,
you're gonna have to wait. The game is also coming to PS5, but it's been delayed to September 6th. Xbox players will have to wait even longer as there's still no release
date for that version at this time. Apparently they said there's a problem with the split screen
co-op on the Xbox Series S, so they're working with
Microsoft to fix that issue. Until that's resolved however,
there's no release date. And for PS5 players if you get
the deluxe edition upgrade, all that stuff, you can start playing
the game 72 hours early. Unlike Early Access players on PC, anyone who plays the
game early on this period on console gets to keep their saves. Now, to make things even more confusing, PC players do not get a headstart. It comes out for everyone
on PC at the same time. To make up for that Larian
is offering a free upgrade to the digital deluxe edition with all pre-orders of the game. So basically PC players get
no headstart but free deluxe. PS5 players get three days early access, but they gotta pay for it. It's not the most straightforward
rollout by any means, but the important thing to remember here is that the game's coming out
on Steam and GOG on August 3rd and September 6th on
PS5, and Xbox eventually. So plan accordingly. We really hope they nail it with this one. We hope it's good. As of right now though, we haven't had our
hands on the final game. We're gonna be able to
judge that for ourselves with a before you buy video. But hey, this was 10
things you need to know, so let us know in the
comments what you think about Baldur's Gate 3. There's a lot with this one. It's pretty heavy stuff, so let us know what you're
looking forward to the most, your experience with Early Access. Anything Baldur's Gate
3 at all, let us know. And if you like what we do here, we just talk games every day, clicking the like button helps us. Thank you very much. But as always, thanks for watching, and we'll see you guys next time.
