I've been looking forward to Baldur's Gate 3, but...

... after watching Larian's latest "Panel from Hell" Livestream...

... I think I'll forego it.

Sexual shenanigans and genital customization?

I'm all for companions and love interests... but... this feels like adventuring in dungeons and fighting dragons is now about...

... sexual conquests?

And on-top-of-that, there was a dark, disturbing horror tone to this "Panel from Hell."

While I understand scary elements in an adventure, this just felt "sick." Where was the fun adventuring?

I don't know... the new characters, the storytelling, the sex...

I guess this Baldur's Gate just isn't made for my tastes. I understand that some of these elements are optional, but...

... I just don't want to give Hasbro / Larian money for pandering to specific people and audiences.

I'll probably just play Solasta and the Pathfinders again.

And don't get me wrong...

... if Hasbro and Larian wanted to make a game with these elements for the "adult" audience, fine... but... Baldur's Gate!? Larian and Hasbro have brought new meaning to DUNGEONS & Dragons. *face palm*

I didn't watch this, but I'm getting the impression it was pretty wild.

They're just pulling a Todd Howard
"See that bear? you can f*ck it"

Yeah... it killed any interest I have in purchasing the game... and I almost bought it on here the other day.

In the "old days" this kind of content would be added by modders, not part of "the package." *cough*

It feels like game are moving toward two vices... gambling (where the Japanese industry began) and porn. Once we looked for how's the story and the basic conflict? Now... not so much...?

I haven't watched the panel (honestly, I find all these kind of "events" tremendously boring, no idea how anyone can watch that stuff), but I did see the "release teaser" that was almost entirely about... People kissing? And romance? And my only reaction was "what moron made that a trailer for a fantasy adventure"?

Maybe I'm just weird, but I honestly don't give a shit about romance in RPGs and tend to ignore that stuff. If I wanted a dating sim I'd play some shitty "visual novel". I play RPGs for grand adventures, amazing settings, outlandish wonder, wild exploration. Not to have a some fantasy version of Tinder with aliens or elves. The only exception were The Witcher games, and that's because it fits the pre-existing character of Geralt and Sapkowski's stories.

So yeah, it's a weird thing ot focus on, and even weirder for a D&D game. I mean, I don't know about you guys, or the BG3 devs, but my experience of D&D focused on big evil monsters, annoying puzzles, loot and stupid plans. It contained precisely... 0% of romantic relationships. And yes, I know there were handbooks for sex rules and stuff, but come on. It's the fringe of a fringe, and people who actually used those in a game are a fringe of even that.

I usually ignore a lot of the "adult stuff" in RPG's. Having said that, I loved both Divinity Original Sin and Baldur's Gate - but only as separate games. I don't want them stuck together, and I've read many comments who feel the same way I do that "Baldur's Gate" 3 feels more like "95% Divinity Original Sin 3 with a Baldur's Gate skin painted on". As well as 'You can't go back' in general when it comes to making sequels to classics +20 years later by a completely different team of developers, under new management, etc. So I'll probably stick with the originals too.

The bit with the gay vampire companion getting fucked by another druid companion in his bear form was quite the thing indeed. The official Larian TikTok account even got banned almost immediately after the fading out at the pivotal point of the cutscene, if I recall correctly.

Don't see a problem with the more sinister, almost grimdark tone of the segment they showed of towards the end (it was part of a questline taking place in the Shadowlands on behalf of Shar after all), I'm sure there's just as much of a more light-hearted positive atmosphere with unicorns and fucking rainbows going on in other segments/chapters to even things out (like the silly dinner sequence with the main character and the tiefling barbarian companion in the city of Baldur's Gate).
Keep in mind that they also purposefully demonstrated some of the vile shit you're able to do and pull off as part of a (chaotic) evil playthrough.

All in all, it looks like it's on track to set a new standard when it comes to choice & consequence and reactivity, and I'm all over that. And as long as you can just ignore the things that are not up your alley or to your personal taste - which also looks like is the case - I don't see why you should skip this.

Don't like certain companions from the get-go or later, after you've gotten to know them a little better, for instance? - ditch them, kill them (and optionally replace them with hirelings), sacrifice them to Shar or some other deity, Baldur's Gate 3 gives you the choice(s).

Had fun so far with the in dev version and it's finally official, you get to play as a half-orc...I don't need anything else. :)

I have the impression from some of the recent ID reviews that they're trying to over-sexualize the game, like it's some bizarre hybrid of Forgotten Realms and Cyberpunk. Sadly, Larian seem to be pandering to this recent media trend of having to place sexuality/sexual identity at the front and center of everything.

I'm quite liberal-leaning and I've been following D&D/Forgotten Realms for about 30 years. It's supposed be a medieval fantasy setting, not about a bunch of sexually-insecure teenagers pretending they're in a fantasy setting. Cyberpunk yes: focusing on sexuality makes total sense. Forgotten Realms, no. Please have some respect for a very well-established 40-year-old fictional setting.

I'm a huge fan of the original BG games and I had previously been excited about BG3, but I almost certainly won't buy it now I've seen more of the direction they are going with it (i.e. 're-imagining' the setting for a 'modern' audience).

russian bots are everywhere, starting shit like this thread.

So many companies are going down this route and adding totally unnecessary things like this into what should be fun games. To a certain extent, I can understand being able to set whether the character looks like (or is) a man or a woman, but specifying whether there's (for want of a better phrase) "junk in the trunk" is pointless as I can't see a reason for actually showing genitalia.

The problem is that these days, as soon as anyone calls it out, there's a massive pile-on and the complainer basically gets bullied by people that can't stand anyone legitimately disagreeing with them.

Needless to say, while I really enjoyed the Larian games from Divine Divinity up to Divinity 2, I can't see myself playing Baldur's Gate 3.

Get out of here with that bull. You are being a jerk for no good reason.

I disagree with your position, Tea. Being able to acknowledge and engage in sexuality is a part of being mature. Furthermore, D&D has been around long enough for multiple generations of humans to grow up with it, including the years of puberty and adulthood. Roleplaying can be part of exploring and affirming your identity.

Besides, the Forgotten Realms are not set in stone. They have gone through at least one reboot, and are being shaped by players who are very much not you. What you perceive as "normal", is simply a reflection of your personal circle when you played D&D. People find like people to play with, and "deviants" simply weren't in your group.

Do you think "I want to engage in my sexuality" when you hear "Dungeons & Dragons?"

My point doesn't come from puritanism... but from the place of "Not every game -- especially a series based on adventuring -- needs to engage in sexuality." I can almost see Amazon's season 2 of Rings of Power being about sexualizing Tolkien's MIddle Earth. *sigh*


Dungeons & Dragons should affirm your identity?

Could it possibly be that calling things -- things that other people might like -- totally unnecessary and pointless is not the most agreeable way to disagree?

That's the beauty of games that surpass a certain level of sophistication; people find different things they like about them. And most of the time, you can just ignore the things you don't find necessary. For example, I always play Deus Ex with the default skin and find the others unnecessary, but I don't see what is to be gained from going around telling they're totally unnecessary. Same goes for a few of the skills and augs as well... and many of the spells in BG2 .. and so on. I could even say that all the playable races and classes that I don't play are completely unnecessary and pointless.