Wasn’t this announced as being an August date way back in December? I was already planning on this in my notes as an August release date, I can’t imagine I just guessed that back when I wrote this up?
Yes, August 2023 was mentioned upthread. But we didn’t know precisely when in August. Now we know that it’s the last possible day in August.
Oh, okay I see - that makes sense. I literally wrote in my notes August 31 - but I’m starting to think I did that sort of like how Amazon throws “Dec 31st” as the release date when only the near is known, and not because I am somehow able to predict the future.
Gah. I feel like this is the 17th time I thought a release date was one thing for BG3 and it was something else. I recall feeling put out by the fact that D4 and BG3 were releasing at the same time, but now I don’t know where that came from.
You’d think I could keep this stuff straight, since I’m tracking and interested in only a few upcoming games. Weird.
[Edit] Ah, initially it was ‘Summer 2023’ like D4, that’s where I got the connection. When the dates solidified, they split, but since D4 announced June first, I kept BG3 with it as if they were a tag-team. LIke, what’s even up with my brain?
Larian is still working on an Xbox release, but have not announced it yet due to technical difficulties in getting split screen co-op to work on it. No exclusivity deal with PS.
PSA: PC specs have gone up.
A note on Minimum System Requirements
One last thing: Baldur’s Gate 3’s graphical fidelity and complexity has improved quite a bit as it’s grown throughout Early Access. We’ve been keeping an eye on its minimum system requirements, and as the game nears release we’ve raised the minimum system requirements listed on Steam to better reflect the realities of the launch version.Baldur’s Gate 3 may be playable on systems below these minimum suggested specifications, but we believe this may hinder the player experience. Check our store page for the latest specs.
I’m feeling those are still pretty low specs and that it makes sense considering how long it’s been in development and EA. That my system still meets and exceeds the ‘recommended’ specs is something. My 2060 Super is the least of the bunch (expected upgrade to the 40xx series this year), so I’m feeling confident that it’ll still be good to go.
Thanks @Scrax. I’ve got a Series X in the living room and a PS5 is penciled in arriving for Christmas, but no plausible excuse to move it up to August. Of course this could mean Xbox gets delayed 6 months or longer anyway.
This game is kind of the shit. So far really, really liking it. I was pretty concerned it would be a re-skinned DOS2, because it certainly looked it a few years ago, but so far it feels pretty rooted in D&D and FR lore. My one quibble is the party size limitation of 4. A few hours in and I’ve already met four companions, but can only take three with me. Would love to see the party size bumped up to five.
Game looks great and runs really well on my i5 9600k + 3070. My gaming year is shaping up to be Diablo 4 followed by BG3 followed by Starfield.
Exactly, this is looking like one of the best years for RPGs ever.
I have no doubt there’ll be mods for that-- DOS/DOS2 had them.
Great year for fighting games too!
Why does the party need to be bumped to five? What’s missing?
I don’t usually mind the choice of party size that the devs make in games. When parties are too large, though, it’s hard to differentiate one from another in terms of skills/builds. Players tend to pick one of every archetype for balance and not to miss anything. That leaves the only difference being your own character and that’s often not enough to make it play significantly different.
As an aside, my games will also be D4, BG3, and Starfield, so watch for my shadow.
D&D crpg tradition demands it be bumped up to six!
I want a Fighter, Thief, Mage, Cleric, Ranger (archer), and a second Mage in my party!
A party of four can place limits on flexibility as you need to fill the essential roles and find you have no more room after that. (Especially for the all important second mage!)
See, to me six is a bit unwieldy in that it’s a lot to manage. Five is the sweet spot for me. Two tanks with a rogue, wizard and cleric fleshing out the remaining party slots.
A party of four is, by necessity, lean. There’s not much room to experiment with unusual classes or combinations with so little space.
5 or 6 are both fine by me.
I always want there to be a good opportunity to slide in a “non-standard” class such as a monk, bard, or druid to experiment and yeah; it often needs that higher party number.
My main concern with this game is that all the companions are varying degrees of shit. I hate them all.
Well, y’all have certainly proved my point. A party larger than four is there just to ensure you can get all the archetypes into one game. Party of four is going to force you to make the tough decision to leave something out.
I haven’t heard, but does BG3 force you to keep the same companions throughout the game or can you switch them up from your ‘camp’ at any time? The latter would certainly make a difference since you could still experiment with combos.
It’s an arbitrary restriction that limits what you get to do, see, and experiment with in the game at no benefit to gameplay. There’s no “tough decision” involved, as you can see from the previous discussion everyone knows which character classes to leave out. It literally just means there are huge portions of the character design space you never get to use.