For such a large game, there is a lot of ground to explore, but here are some pointers to get you started on your quest.
Baldur's Gate 3 is now available worldwide after spending six years in development and three years in early access. It will take some time before real evaluations start appearing due to the game's enormous size, claims that claim it has 174 hours of cutscenes and over 17,000 different endings, and an impossibly short review timeframe (The Verge received our copy on Sunday). (Or at least it should, because inevitably there will be some sites that mainline the game in support of a callous SEO machine.) However, due to the little amount of time, I did spend with Baldur's Gate 3, I am able to share some advice, strategies, and ideas that will help you get through the first 20 or so hours of the game.
Minimum System Requirements:
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 / AMD Radeon RX 480 (4GB+ of VRAM)
- CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 / AMD FX 8350
- RAM: 8GB
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- Storage: 150GB available space
- DirectX: Version 11
- Notes: SSD required
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super / AMD Radeon RX 5700 xt (8GB+ of VRAM)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- RAM: 16GB
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- Storage: 150GB available space
- DirectX: Version 11
- Notes: SSD required
Check that you satisfy the required specifications
Baldur's Gate 3 is a huge game that takes up about 120 gigabytes of space. My machine is only around three years old and runs an Intel i5-10400 with 16 gigabytes of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660. With these specs, I'm clearly between the minimum and what Larian suggests. While I haven't encountered any severe performance difficulties, it's clear from the continuous whirling sound making of my PC fans that BG3 is a resource-intensive game. So make sure you have a system capable of running it beyond the basic needs. Alternatively, you could simply wait till the game is released on consoles. The PS5 will be available on September 6th, whereas the Xbox will be available much later.
Forgot your early-access in-game progress
According to a Bloomberg story on the game's development, BG3 has been under early access for three years, which has been a successful method for fans to sample bits of the game while providing creator Larian Studios more time and money to finish this massive undertaking. However, now that the game is available, Larian recommends that you remove any early access saves to avoid game files corruption disaster.
"We've taken measures to ensure a smooth transition into the launch version of BG3, but we still recommend deleting your in-game Early Access save files if you still have access to an Early Access version of the game," a blog on BG3's Steam web page stated.
Larian also suggests removing any mods and uninstalling the game's early access version before reinstalling it now that it's online. There's no news yet on whether early access mods will work with the live game.
Save early, save frequently, and be prepared to die.
My main gripe with BG3 is how seldom the game autosaves. This, along with how simple it is for your party to just perish, makes for a really miserable early-game experience. Many games employ early encounters to onboard the player, allowing you to go from fight to fight, mowing down foes with nary a scratch. In Baldur's Gate 3, using this strategy will result in your death. Often.
In essence, Baldur's Gate 3 is a Dungeons & Dragons game.
Players shouldn't approach fighting in the video game the same way they would in a game that isn't based on D&D. Having just defeated a group of goblins, I came upon three extremely low-level goblins indulging in some day drinking in one of my earliest adventures. Even though my group wasn't fully functional, I reasoned that there were only three of them, four of us, and I had shocked them. It ought to be simple labour.
LMAO. LOL.
One goblin was able to get to a higher height, throw something at my grouped-up party, strike an exploding barrel I couldn't see, and completely kill us all after my team missed three of its four surprise round assaults.
Within the span of one unlucky dice roll, I went from being OK to FUBAR. Even better, Baldur's Gate doesn't restart an encounter at the beginning of it (WHICH IT SHOULD! ), and my most recent autosave was around ten minutes ago. Since it is quite simple to say or do the wrong thing in front of the wrong NPC, and suddenly a bear is gnawing on Astarion, frequent saving is your friend even when you are not in combat situations.
Save frequently — even in the middle of a battle! Your mental health and the party members who fell out would appreciate it.
Don't worry about the little things, or the big things, for that matter.
BG3 may be quite scary if you've never played D&D or Baldur's Gate (and, heck, even if you have). It can be daunting with the variety of races, classes, subclasses, realms, archetypes, and spells available.
If I'm being really honest, I can only partially articulate what my party is meant to do. I only know that the pew pew is done by Gale, Wyll, and my sorcerer, the stabitty is done by Lae'zel and Astarion, and the heal-y is done by Shadowheart. Despite this, the game does a fantastic job at outlining my party's talents and the circumstances necessary to make them effective when I need them, so I'm still very adept at murder-hoboing my way through Faerûn.
Although I've never played a rogue, BG3 effectively taught me that in order to get the most of Astarion's abilities, his prey should either never notice him or be distracted by another party member. Beyond her healing powers, Shadowheart didn't appear to be very strong. She shouldn't take up a party spot, I reasoned, since potions already perform a respectable enough job of healing.
But the game showed me that I can utilise her Guidance talent whenever I need to talk my way into or out of a predicament, thus she right once became a crucial component of my group. Therefore, don't worry if you start to feel your eyes glaze over while reading all the descriptions of the classes, subclasses, feats, qualities, or spells. Choose your favourite option, and the game will teach you the rest. Additionally, the flexibility of the game is respectable. Building my group around fighting hasn't hindered my ability to role-play, I've discovered.
Baldur's Gate 3 deserves much more debate, but for those just getting started, this is a fantastic place to start. Good luck, have fun, and don't forget to save your game frequently for the love of Tyr.