Both sides are right, but combat format isnt only what BG means to me.
RTWP is better in some situations, TB is better tlin others. Just because the old BG games were RTWP doesnt mean it was the best choice, and as long as the combats are balanced appropriately TB will be fine. You can't have moments like running through the gnoll tower to save dynaheir, mowing down countless gnolls in TB and that experience is valid and shpuldnt be scoffed at.
Both sides are put on the backburner if the agency and the story are at risk. Despite combat style, the reason i played BG countless times and restarted many campaigns is because of choice. I could never decide which class to be and i loved it. So many different combinations that i had to try. The early alpha game they demo'd wasnt enough for me to make a decision on yet, but if it follows DND ruleset, has the all powerful BBEG to chase down with demonic connections, and has the options to choose basically anything, thats is BG to me.
On top of the options hopefully the story will have agency as well. Making truely meaningful dialogue and choices is important.
Posted Feb 28, 2020, 6:59 PM UTC
The dialogue and characters, and aesthetics are also nothing like BG, so that argument also falls flat. Baldur's Gate is basically the athesis of a Larian story. This game opens essentially the same way DOSII did, so I doubt the beats will be all that different.
You aren't one, lone character in a world, set apart but not sure why. Subtly finding the clues to your heritage which really aren't all that important to the plot. You're someone in a group of three or four people that are all exactly alike. Given god powers in the opening scene. Without these god powers, you wouldn't even be relevant, and there you go, on the rails, from one place to the next fulfilling some destiny. Kind of like ToB. Which was not exactly the pinnacle for BG.
Dialogue charactors and aesthetics i feel cant be judged in an alpha. Maybe im wrong but i feel the art can get tweaked a lot between alpha and final so im holding out hope for that
And sorry if im remember incorrectly here, but in BG and BGII you had god powers/traits that set you apart and if it werent for them you wouldnt have been relevant either. Saying that, i do agree this early itteration seems to show signs of D:OS2, but we also knew that this wasnt a direct sequal to the first two games so i wasnt sure what to expect about the story other than mindflayers will probably play a part
Dialogue can't be judged in an alpha? Are they going to radically rewrite the game? Or did they decide on how it would work early on and went from there? And I really, really doubt the art is going to change in any major way before release. The best you can hope for is changing around of animations and icons.
Then you do, in fact, remember incorrectly. For one, I didn't say god powers within themselves are a bad thing, they aren't; I said that the opening of the game told you that you were super special and the chosen one. Second, you being a Child of Bhaal is all but irrelevant to the plot of BG. It explains why Sarevok attacked you in the opening. That's about it. All the rest of the story happens because Gorion raised you to not sit idly and you decide to see what the Iron Throne is doing. You being a Child of Bhaal has nothing to do with that plot, and anyone else could have taken part in it. Anyone else could have killed Sarevok. Hell, Bhaal designed his children to be killed by heroes.
The problem is not that the game isn't exactly like Baldur's Gate. Even if the title itself is a claim of being a direct sequel. The problem is that it's exactly like DOSII. I really don't get why people don't understand that.
i said i can hope damnit!
great points and i agree. Even when i argued that there were god power similarities, the way those were implimented into the game and how the plot was progressed was very different. So i was just trying to deflect i guess.
I'm hoping that the alpha is just to show things off and not the actual game story that will release. You think with WOTC creative team would be available to give their input or at least Descent into Avernus would give some direction so that Larian wouldn't have to make a carbon copy of their last plot line. Ill still be happy with the game though, to my original point, if there are a vast amount of options... especially in char creation. Will i have all the PHB races at least, will there be all the DND classes /subclasses? Are there going to be enough diverse dialpgue choice based on class/background/race etc. For me the game will hinge on those options. If not, i guess ill wait for the new PF game