It’s a helluva year to talk about romance, but a great one to talk about companionship. We’re all going through our own journeys, and each one is different to the next. We’ve all got our differences, but it’s our differences that make us interesting, and unique. And though sometimes differences cause friction, they also lead to friendship, and often love. Foundationally, companionship is the lifeboat that shields us from the elements.

D&D has always been about bringing people together. The table at which you sit is the canvas for adventure, and as the DM carves a tapestry of adventure in wood and writing, your inter-connected imaginations take you to a faraway land, in your kitchen, or your game room, or around the converted pool table.

                          


Who you journey with is as important as the journey itself. It shapes you, as you shape each other. Malleable, ever-expanding soft-shell adventure sponges brimming with potential, often mired by the enormity of what surrounds you. But that’s what friends are for! To tug us out of the bog, and free us from the dizziness of quick-sand.

Baldur’s Gate 3 aims to take all that binds us together, and offer authentic, reactive relationships from the moment you meet, to whatever eventuality. The road least travelled is best travelled with friends.

“At the end of the day this remains a D&D game and the most important character in a game of D&D is you.”, explains Sarah Baylus, lead writer at Larian Studios, in today’s new video.


Four “you’s” is a party of “you’s”, and a party of “you’s” is interesting because not all of them are you. In fact, the only one who’s you is you. (Hello, you). You are all the most important people in your adventure, whether playing alone or with friends. The ways in which you shape each other, as you shape the story, are tangible and varied. Let’s dig in.

Each of your companions have their own personalities, goals, and motivations. Bound by the shared problem of an Illithid tadpole buried in their head, they will join your party but you’ll all have to put your differences aside if you want to survive. The exact relationship you have with your companions, already marred by differences, will be shaped by who you are, what you do, who you side with, and what you say in conversation with them.

We’ve tried to create reactive systems all throughout the journey of a relationship; from the time of meeting a companion, to the potential romance with them. (Romance is a polite word we’re using for sex. But we’re not quite there yet, more on that in a moment.)

                          

Differences breed interesting party dynamics

In Baldur’s Gate 3, a 5e D&D game, creating a custom character will immerse you in the story just as much as playing as one of the Origin Characters. For example, playing as a Drow Wizard will give you different dialogue options than playing as a Githyanki Warlock. These differences will also be present in your relationship dialogues. As you play the game, and you begin to make choices in combat, exploration, and conversation, you’ll be presented with situations and scenarios that are unique to your playthrough. Not too long into Early Access, you will be having an adventure so specific to your character, that no other player is going to see the exact same content as you.

Just as in real life, the sum of character is determined by many factors, and continues to be shaped by your actions and reactions to the world, and the party you journey with. Frictions may test the party’s resolve, and romances might test the party dynamic. Not only will characters have opinions about you, but also about each other, and other factions in the game. Will you pursue love with one companion to the detriment of another? Or will you side with a faction a companion detests, putting feelings to the side to achieve your strategic goals? As with life, many decisions will have to be made, not all of them easy, and not every outcome obvious.

              

Campfires are where people are at their most vulnerable

Catch Gale at the campfire and you might find a lot of his bravado has been disarmed. Disarmed bravado is an opportunity for Astarion, a vampire. All of this sitting around may be a waste of time for Lae’zel. For you, it’s an opportunity to talk and interact with your party and followers on a more intimate level. But the conversation you have in the camp will also be a reaction to the day’s events, and what you’ve been up to in the world.

Through a mix of systems design, narrative writing, and cinematics, Larian is aiming to create three-dimensional relationships that feel as authentic as possible.

How intimate a character will be with you relies heavily on who they are, and who you become on your adventure. There are factions in the game you may side with, or revolt against. Your party will have opinions about that, and in multiplayer - once Origin Avatars have joined Early Access (not day 1) - the systems will technically allow you to have intimate moments with your friends. Talk about party dynamics!

The point is, no matter which race or gender you are, or which class you are, the levels of intimacy party members share will be defined by extremely in-depth, life-like evaluation of everything you’ve been up to together. We’ve tried to create an authentic, reactive relationship system where characters act and react like people. For better, and for worse.

On a totally unrelated note, Baldur’s Gate 3 has been officially rated M for Mature by ESRB, and that’s probably for the best.

Q&A TIME!

If I buy the game on GOG can I play with my friend who owns the game on Steam? How about if I play on PC and my friend plays on Stadia?
“Direct Connect” (yes) is possible between platforms - but all players must be on the same patch number in order for it to work. Note that in the first few weeks of Early Access there may be some minor version discrepancy between platforms as we move to fix and address issues rapidly, and in these cases you won’t be able to play between ‘stores’. Ultimately, you will.

Are there any plans for a physical Collector's Edition release?
Last time we admitted we had plans for something (cough: DOS2 on Switch) everyone took it as a 100% confirmation that it was about to shoot out of the void, so we wouldn’t say plans as such. What we will say is that we’re looking into a few cool ideas, but this isn’t for EA.

If I purchase the game in Early Access, do I have to pay again when 1.0 comes out?
Absolutely not, and we massively appreciate you joining our Early Access journey. Note: a purchase is linked to your account, and linked to that platform. So if you buy it on Steam, you get the Steam version. Stadia, Stadia version. GoG, GoG version, etc.

I noticed in the gameplay shown in Panel of Hell that the units of measurement for distance were in ft, but the gameplay at D&D live was in meters. Will I have the option to choose between the silly pathetic imperial system and the glorious and only metric system?
Yes, you will have the option. There's a toggle in the options menu that lets you switch between imperial and metric units, so if you get pulled over by the cops you can’t use that as an excuse.

Will companions be interchangeable during long rest?
Yes, at the start of your adventure your recruited companions will be at camp when not in the adventuring party, and can be swapped in and out at camp. Just like friends in real life! After the first act however you are going to have to commit, also just like in real life.

What's the DEAL with camp and camp followers?
Camp plays an important role in the game. It is where your party rests and recovers and where you can engage in dialogue with your companions, building your relationships with them. You'll also find NPCs on your adventure who join the camp temporarily or on a more permanent basis, becoming camp followers. Some will offer services, others have a narrative function. We don't want to give too much more away, as we want you to experience these things for yourself as you play.

Can I solve all of my problems in-game with fire magic?
You could even solve your relationship problems with fire magic, if you want. Fire tends to solve a lot of things, but Baldur’s Gate 3 doesn’t have the same approach to surfaces as DOS2. For example, you will likely kill less of your allies by accident. Still, when in doubt, fire the spout.

D&D lore says if you put a bag of holding into a bag of holding it causes a black hole. Will this happen in game?
Thankfully, there are no Bags of Holding in Early Access. We do feel like testing this theory may set the game, and the universe back, a few dozen millenia.

Can I play it without knowing anything about the franchise?
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a new story, and a new adventure, with new characters. We don’t want to spoil too much, but when you explore the world for the first time, you’ll enjoy the story from a fresh perspective, but if you’ve played the previous games, you’ll quickly start to join many dots. But those dots aren’t required to enjoy your own personal adventure in the Forgotten Realms.

How will stats be determined? Will they be rolled, Point Buy, Standard Array? Will we be able to choose which method we want?
In Early Access we're using Point Buy as the main way to determine stats in Character Creation, but we've heard that there are big fans of rolling stats out there. We will be showcasing more about character creation and the options available for you in our next update. One of the great things about Early Access is that we can test these things out, and talk to you guys about them.

Will there be romance in Baldur’s Gate 3?
DIDN’T YOU READ THE UPDATE? :D (c’mon guys).

“You’re telling your story, and we’re shooting it for you,” explains our Cinematic Director, Jason Latino. “We’re taking that camera down from being above the players, and down into the drama, right into the action.”

“I can’t think of another Early Access game that’s done cinematics, on this level. There’s a lot of games where the moment you add cinematics, they have to get smaller.”

“We didn’t want to do that.”

                          

Everyone - it’s time to talk about multiplayer. Cinematics, Crowd Choice, and Twitch integration. We’re creating a huge, sprawling RPG with all the tools you need to direct your own adventure, and weave your own tale. Or, weave that tale with your friends, or your audience online. No matter if you choose to play solo, with friends, or with your audience -- Baldur’s Gate 3 is a huge cinematic experience spanning over 1.5 million words, and that story can be enjoyed together through the games cinematics, in multiplayer, or as an audience in a stream.

If your character walks into a dialogue situation, the cinematic dialogue begins with you by yourself. If one of your posse comes close, they can choose whether or not they join you in the discussion. Once they do, they can tell you what options they would like you to select as you ponder your next choice.

Your party is of course free to roam around the world while you independently charm your way through conversation. They can even pick-pocket you while you’re in a dialogue. Or cause a fire. Or abandon you. Or, put an end to your waffling and kill the person you’re talking to.

Whatever you do, the game will react appropriately. Even if your friends aren’t.

                          

Our ambition is to make all of this as seamless and interactive as we can and during Early Access you can expect us to continue building more and more ways to interact, observe, intraject, and subvert expectations. Raising the level of drama, and expanding the level of depth.

As far as we know, there has never been an RPG this large, with multiplayer, attempting these intimate, character driven cinematic moments throughout the entire experience. We put a lot of effort in it and are super curious to hear your feedback. Applying cinematics to a multiplayer game, and one launched in Early Access, means that our cinematic ambitions can grow alongside all the other iterations and tweaks that come with working directly with our community and that can only lead to good things!


TWITCH / CROWD CHOICE

With Crowd Choice, a Stadia Enhanced Feature, you’ll be able to choose the next story path and alter what happens next during your favorite YouTube Creator's livestream.

Twitch integration works by numbering each dialogue option, which corresponds to the viewer choices. This feedback is seamlessly integrated into the game, where both streamer and viewer will see each percentage vote next to each dialogue option. What’s more, players will be able to interact with the Twitch overlay to access the player’s inventory, character sheet, skills, and spells.

                          

Both of these features are launching day 1 of Early Access respectively on PC or Stadia. This too is something we’re very excited about not only because it brings the community closer to the player, but also because due to the amount of permutations in dialogues, it enables streamers to “DM” their own adventure for their viewers, and have their viewers partake in their story regardless of whether or not the viewer owns the game.

You’ll be able to become a part of your favourite streamer’s own private canon. Or, as a streamer, or viewer, disable the feature entirely. It’s up to you. As always, the game reacts appropriately.

THE NEXT STEP


Today’s Community Update video begins with a memory of Divinity: Original Sin quite deliberately. Interactions in DOS1 were merely relegated to rock-paper-scissors (literally!), and dialogue moments between players were a wall of text that scrolled down the screen. We took this a little further in Divinity: Original Sin 2, as characters and players reacted to who you are, and what you’ve done, with many permutations spanning multiple races and tags. Still, dialogues between characters, and interactions in multiplayer were rudimentary though much evolved over DOS1.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is the next great leap and once you’ll start playing, you’ll find that the distance between DOS2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 is tremendously large, as we begin to push the boat out on not only cinematic dialogues, but also the ways in which you can interact with them.

In Baldur’s Gate 3 dialogues have more permutations, more depth, and a cinematic layer that reacts seamlessly to any situation using custom adaptive camera technology (see: elves and dwarves are nay the same height) as well as performance capture. Now, not only do we retain the narration our games are so well known for, but you’ll often see the action on screen - whether it’s a vampiric bite in the night, or a slip of the tongue on a goblin’s foot. Long gone is rock-paper-scissors, as we’ve built tools for debate not only within the multiplayer party, but also as an extension to the thousands of people who watch at home, all in the spirit of the D&D spirit of bringing people together. And we still have some surprises up our sleeve when it comes to multiplayer, but we’ll leave those for another time. There have never been a greater number of ways to gather your party in a single game. Now’s the time!



Q&A

Finally, thank you all for your organization across Reddit and Discord regarding the questions you’d like answered. We’re going to try and answer around 10 questions every update, which we’ll try and do quite frequently. Here are the answers to your questions for number 6. Having questions organized in this way gives us time to read them and respond to them, and also gives us a great sense of how to prioritize them based on how you all vote/rank them. We really appreciate the sense of community spirit and organization.

Will difficulty choices affect more than just enemy health and damage? e.g. increasing the DC on some rolls while exploring the world?
Yes there are many features planned for different difficulty levels, which we’ll go over in a future update - but EA isn’t launching with difficulty choices, as we prioritize everything you need to have an enjoyable experience.

How much of an impact will alignment have?
None, similar to D&D 5e we don’t have a strict alignment system. But your actions and decisions will have a major impact on how the world and people react around you. So you can be evil, or good, or something in between - but there’s no strict system. As we’ve mentioned, EA is about 25 hours of content “in a straight line” so to speak, but we’ve built everything you need to try many different types of characters, interactions, and combinations. The world in Early Access will react. Tell us what happens.

Will early access get modding support, like the steam workshop and its various modding tools?
We loved what our modding community did with DOS2, and we’re excited to see what they’ll do with BG3. Modding will be supported, but not before 1.0, not during EA. Again, we really need to focus on working with feedback and creating the game.

Is there a Lone Wolf mode planned?
This is actually a question already being asked by a number of our playtesters who are currently playing the game. A Lone Wolf mode is planned, but won’t be in the game at the beginning of Early Access. One of the many great discussions that come from people playing, and talking with us.

About how fast can you make an entire campaign now that you have the game engine made? I’m thinking it’d be absolutely amazing if you could make a few popular 5E DnD campaigns using the BG3 engine now that you have everything working.
This is a very interesting question. Indeed since launch a lot of our time has been put into creating the tools and pipelines (including entire new departments) needed to create a game much more ambitious than our previous games. All we can say at this point is that our pipelines are very much up and running, and we’re seeing the fruits of all that labour. Now that everything is plugged together, we’re able to work quite quickly when it comes to content - though many departments are involved, and many things are plugged into each other. However, it takes a long time to make a very big game with so many permutations.

Will there be ultrawide support?
Our previous games work well on UW so it’s something we’ll put effort in, we’re already taking it into account in cinematic dialogs so it's something we plan for the future. (Director of Publishing interjection here: I’ve been playing BG3 on UW at home and at the office since day 1. Ultrawide for the win! Let us know how you get on.)

Date + Time of release globally?
10am PST - assuming everything works out exactly as it should.
As soon as we hit the button you’ll be able purchase and install the game, or launch it right from Stadia without the need to install it.

What languages are coming for Early Access? And which will be included later?
We’ve confirmed English, Simplified Chinese, French, German, Polish, Russian, Spanish will be available in Early Access.
We have decided to include Brazilian Portuguese and Italian in 1.0, but not during EA. This is because it would be too cumbersome to add additional languages as we write the game during Early Access, but we want you to know that we will support you.

Will we be able to carry our characters over from early access into the full game?
Unfortunately, as with most Early Access games, there are changes, bug fixes and patches that dictate the fact that wipes will happen to saves. This is because certain fundamental changes to engine, story, etc create incompatibility issues. We will try and tell you when this will happen, in advance.

Will EA be available on GOG?
Working on that.

What integrations will be available for Twitch & Stadia streamers?
DIDN’T YOU READ THE UPDATE? :D

Hello everyone! We hope you’ve recovered from the Panel From Hell. We have a huge, bumper community update for you today. We’re going to talk about Early Access at some length, so get a cup of something ready, and maybe a snack. Nestled in? Let’s go.

What is Early Access? What are your expectations? Everyone has a different answer to this, depending on the experience they’re looking for, or their objectives that lead them to shipping a game into Early Access. Regardless how you define it, buying an Early Access game needs to be an informed decision and today we come here to inform.

We’re going to cover a bunch of topics discussed on the 18th’s Panel From Hell, where Geoff, Swen, Adam and Chris talked in some depth about not just Early Access, but also Avernus, first of the nine hells and the setting of the game’s tutorial.

The full Panel From Hell is a pretty lengthy watch, but it’s just below here.


If you made it all the way to the end, you learned we’re aiming to launch Baldur’s Gate 3 into Early Access on September 30. The Steam page has been updated to more accurately describe what we’ll be releasing first. While the content will be limited, there should be enough bells and whistles to make it a fun, engaging experience.

Early Access will feature around 20-25 hours of gameplay in a single play-through, with performance captured dialogues and cut-scenes, voice overs for most dialogs, multiplayer (but no split-screen for now), several translations available (but not all) and an Act 1 story that should feel fulfilling to play through many multiple times, with multiple characters. At the start of Early Access, support for custom characters will consist of 6 classes and 9 races, with several subclasses and subraces included. You won’t be able to play as an origin character yet but you will be able to recruit 5 of them as companions when your journey commences.

Here’s a little about who you’re likely to meet on the road to Baldur’s Gate:

                

Shadowheart
A loyal cleric of Shar, Shadowheart is the sole survivor of a holy mission undertaken for the Mistress of the Night. She alone must deliver a relic of immense power while threatened by foes on all sides, and a strange, untamed magic burgeoning from within.

Wyll
Noble by birth, Wyll made his name as the heroic 'Blade of Frontiers'. But to become a living legend, he made a bargain with a devil - and he now longs to break free before it consumes him for good.

Lae'zel
Lae'zel is a ferocious warrior, mighty even by the standards of a githyanki crèche. Faced with transforming into the very monster she's sworn to destroy, Lae'zel must prove herself worthy of rejoining her people - if they don't execute her first.

Astarion
Astarion prowled the night as a vampire spawn for centuries, serving a sadistic master until he was snatched away. Now he can walk in the light and has the chance at a new life, but how long can he keep his past buried?

Gale
Gale is a Waterdhavian wizard prodigy whose love for a goddess made him attempt something no mortal should. Blighted by the forbidden magic of ancient Netheril, Gale needs to undo the corruption that is overtaking him, a corruption that threatens to destroy the lives of thousands.

We’ll go into the exact available classes, sub-classes, and races a little closer to launch as we iron out some last-minute content planning, but for now I think the easiest way to open your eyes to just how huge BG3’s EA content is, we’ll compare that content to our previous game’s Early Access, Divinity: Original Sin 2.

• Amount of combats: 22 in DOS2 EA vs 80 in BG3 EA
  
• Amount of dialogue lines in english: 17.600 in DOS2 EA vs. 45.980 in BG3 EA
  
• Amount of characters: 142 in DOS2 EA vs. 596 in BG3 EA
  
• Amount of spells/actions: 69 in DOS2 EA vs. 146 in BG3 EA

These numbers are changing continuously as we’re actively developing the game and new content gets introduced daily.

An example of content coming in hot is an Intellect Devourer named ‘us’. The story of how ‘Us’ made it into the game was introduced during the Panel and showcases what’s possible when multiple disciplines at Larian come together. And this is still early footage! It’s only going to get better, and bigger, from here.

You could accurately state that BG3’s EA is 3x larger than DOS2’s EA, but that requires further context. The 3x multiplier essentially translates to density. More permutations. Many more permutations. It’s the deepest game we’ve ever made, and if you’re the type of player who played 100 hours in DOS2, you’ll see entirely different content on your second or third playthrough compared to your first, depending on the decisions you make. We wanted to create real, tangible storylines that permeate throughout happenstance and decision and so if you try out early access, it may be a good idea to try out what happens on an ‘evil’ playthrough and compare that to a ‘good’ playthrough.

Immense Scope

During the panel we gave a couple of examples of how the depth of Baldur’s Gate 3 made our numbers soar. We showcased the spell “Speak with Dead”. A spell that could (and potentially should) be easily sidelined or “gamified” because of the immense scope, but instead we’ve ensured that Speak with Dead is relevant throughout your adventures with every corpse that had something interesting to say. Can’t interrogate the living? Interrogate the dead!

              

The same goes for animal Handling, something many of you asked about. The skill can be used to calm down an animal, intuit an animal’s intentions, or potentially help tame it. You’ll find plenty of uses for this skill on the road to Baldur’s Gate but that’s not all. There’s also the spell Speak with Animals. During the panel we hinted that good use of these spells or skills could even lead to recruiting an owlbear companion!

              

In the stream, we showed another useful spell in the D&D arsenal - Find Familiar. This spell creates a spirit that takes the form of animal of your choice (Cat, Raven, Spider and more) to serve you as a familiar. The familiar becomes a controllable follower, and can be useful for a number of reasons. Thanks to the spell you can see and hear through the animal, so it's perfect to send it ahead of you and explore the region as a scout. While mostly combat ineffective, familiars can be used to spy and gain insight on situations before you can encounter them. Certain familiars also have other interesting abilities like a cat - who can use a skill to distract guards, making it much easier for your rogue to do what they do best.

              

The Early Access Experience

Early Access gets you all of the content you’ve seen us playing in our previous live-streams, plus everything we’ve still got to show you, and much more we’ve left for you to discover for yourselves (which is, to be fair, almost everything - we’ve tried to show you as little as possible).

However. September 30 isn’t going to offer a polished experience. Which brings us full circle to the introduction of this update. The purpose of Early Access for us at Larian is to make the game better. We want to iterate on the game, hear your feedback, debate internally and debate with our players. We don’t know how long Baldur’s Gate 3 will be in Early Access, but we do know that all your feedback will make the game so much better and ensure that the 1.0 launch will be so much stronger than if we were to do it just on our own.

                 

If you’re in it for the story, and you’re not interested in providing feedback or navigating some bugs, then Early Access may not be for you. However, know that even if you don’t provide direct feedback, you still help us make the game better by just playing a bit!

How?

Because we’re collecting all kinds of data behind the scenes that inform us how players are playing the game. Heat maps are a good example of this.

                 

The above example is taken from the Early Access of Divinity: Original Sin 2 and allows us to see the difficulty spikes. Literally, where people are dying. If it’s red where it’s not supposed to be red, it means the fight may be too tough. So then we can have a debate, and figure out what to do about it. You don’t need to tell us, you just need to die. I mean… or win. That’s cool too. Heat maps like this are also used to analyze loot distribution, exploration, and loads of other stats that help us to understand how you interact with the world.

The more of you playing in Early Access, the more data points we get to make better decisions about what to change. That’s of course on top of the forum discussions and the feedback we get via other channels. It’s a pretty amazing thing that has historically made our games better.

In case it’s not clear, we all really hope you’ll join us on our Early Access journey, but we want to make sure you know the game won’t be ready yet. If you want a full polished experience, wait until we release version 1.0.

You can read the whole Early Access blurb on the Steam page for more information, but to be honest we pretty much covered it all here.

Also - thanks for all the memes from The Panel From Hell, and thanks for the continued support.

              

Wrapping up!

OH - there’s one more thing. There won’t be pre-orders for Baldur’s Gate 3 and you do not need to worry about pre ordering to play with everyone else.

You’ll be able to buy it on launch day, and then start playing the content described in this update. There will not be limited quantities of keys.

That’s pretty much everything you need to inform yourself on Early Access. It’s going to be an awesome journey together. We’ll be sharing new content, features, and improvements with you regularly. We’ll be talking directly with you, and hopefully when COVID is done being a total asshole to the world, we’ll meet again at PAX, or EGX, or wherever else! We miss you!

We have more surprises in store for you up to launch. We’ll post a full, extensive breakdown of Early Access Day 1 content closer to launch, but until then stay tuned to our streams and community updates!

Mark your calendar for Tuesday the 18th August at 10am Pacific Time! Our Creative Director Swen will be joined by Geoff Keighley, Chris Perkins and Adam Smith on the Panel From Hell!



We’ll be deep diving into what you can expect from Early Access for Baldur’s Gate 3, there will be discussions about lobotomies, the permutations in gameplay and we’ll be showing the last part of BG3’s cinematic intro.

Check out the official countdown timer over at the Baldur’s Gate 3 website and we look forward to your company on stream next week!

And never miss any Larian, Divinity or Baldur’s Gate 3 news by signing up to the Larian Gazette.