# Baldur's Gate 3! {finally Released August 3rd, 2023} **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games\ **Created:** [February 28, 2020, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681 "2020-02-28T23:42:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/221 "2023-08-01T18:46:16Z")
You’re not wrong but I really don’t like Diablo-style click-to-move control schemes. It kills my carpal tunnel. I can live with holding the mouse button where I want to go. The option to use WASD movement would be even better. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/222 "2023-08-01T18:51:31Z")
It’s also releasing on console, so playing with a controller is a possibility if the mouse is no good. Not in the sense that you should buy it on console, but that they’ve already considered how to make the game work with a controller. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2023, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/223 "2023-08-01T18:57:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > It’s also releasing on console, so playing with a controller is a possibility if the mouse is no good. Sure, you can use it with a controller on PC. You’re just moving the cursor with a control stick instead of a mouse, I don’t know how much of an improvement that is. One thing to remember is that this isn’t an action game. You are moving a character a precise amount of distance per turn. It’s trying to recreate a tabletop game. That’s the genre. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2023, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/224 "2023-08-01T18:59:29Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Do you have other games you could move to the HDD instead, though? Yes! For those in a similar situation, there are pretty clear instructions here for moving games from one drive to another through Steam. It’s easy. (This is in “Storage” under Steam Settings.) Fortunately for me I didn’t have any other games needing major processing power. I’m now up to 341GB free! > **[How to Move a Steam Game to Another Drive, The Easy Way](https://www.howtogeek.com/269515/how-to-move-a-steam-game-to-another-drive-without-re-downloading-it/#step-one-create-a-second-steam-folder)** > > You can easily move a game from one hard drive to another without downloading it all over again, ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2023, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/225 "2023-08-01T18:59:55Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Yes! For those in a similar situation, there are pretty clear instructions here for moving games from one drive to another through Steam. It’s easy. That’s a cool tip, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/226 "2023-08-01T19:44:18Z")
I found this video with tip and tricks based around the 9 basic skills everyone has (like jump, hide, etc.). It also talks about using the environment. If you are using ranged attacks, you can gain damage bonuses by being at an elevation, and you can create your own height advantage by stacking boxes (as few as 3) and then climbing on them. As an experiment, someone stacked 100 boxes into a giant tower, climbed to the top, and threw a shoe on someone doing more than 80 damage (because the damage increase gets raised the higher you go). [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Rz90AMvpM64/maxresdefault.jpg "Baldur's Gate 3 - Tips and Tricks For The 9 Skills Every Class in The Game Has") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz90AMvpM64) It’s pretty funny. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/227 "2023-08-02T01:38:21Z")
If you are on the fence about a character class to play a Larian dev detail each class and subclass in the video below. No story spoilers. Just a description of how a Fighter works or a Warlock and so on. It has a few interesting insights about some classes. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/D0bXIC_FCBs/maxresdefault.jpg "Baldur's Gate 3: Larian Guide to All Classes | D&D") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0bXIC_FCBs) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/228 "2023-08-02T01:53:18Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > You can get good SSDs pretty cheap these days You can get a 1TB SSD for $35 these days on the low end and a ‘name brand’ (Samsung, Western Digital, etc) 1TB SSD for $50. Even the cheapie $35 job is going to be far better than a platter drive. For $15 you can get a 250GB drive which isn’t really worth it since you can buy a 1TB from above but would still hold this game and a few other more modest titles. Storage is cheap these days – dump those hard drives, people! ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/229 "2023-08-02T02:03:20Z")
Question (I have not played any BG3 yet): Is the character you create at the start of the game always the “face” of the party (as in, the one who engages in all dialog, talks to animals and so on)? Or, can your companions fill that role if they have better stats to engage in dialog or have the speak with animals or dead thing? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/230 "2023-08-02T02:46:12Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Or, can your companions fill that role if they have better stats to engage in dialog or have the speak with animals or dead thing? Has to be the latter, right? No one character can speak with both animals and the dead outside of some funky multi-classing, as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/231 "2023-08-02T04:10:31Z")
This game sounds so big, I can not ever picture playing it. It took me 145 hours to beat Tears of the Kingdom and that is the longest a single-player campaign has ever been for me. I wonder what time will be for completion of this game. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/232 "2023-08-02T04:13:01Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I wonder what time will be for completion of this game. > Larian Studios has announced that it will take between 75 to 100 hours to finish just the main story of the game and skip all the side quests and optional areas. - [SOURCE](https://thenerdstash.com/how-long-baldurs-gate-3-takes-to-beat/) That seems a minimum. And, of course, this game seems very replayable as you try a good playthrough and an evil playthrough and try different classes and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/233 "2023-08-02T04:23:27Z")
From reading some reddit posts, other companions can act as the party face. In fact, some people were complaining because (no idea if this has changed) sometimes a companion would be closest to the NPC and initiate conversation instead of your desired face companion. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/234 "2023-08-02T07:28:47Z")
In early access I spoke as other party members. When you’re moving around outside of combat, you can choose which character you’re controlling, and the others tag along behind. It can be any party member. You can engage in conversation, trigger a cut scene, pick a lock, advance a quest, etc. as the person you’re currently controlling. From the little I did in early access (I was careful not to go **too** far to not spoil things) every now and then the game forces the focus back on the main person, but you can make your companions do just about anything. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/235 "2023-08-02T12:15:51Z")
Is there a grid overlaid on the combat map? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/236 "2023-08-02T14:33:09Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > This game sounds so big, I can not ever picture playing it. In all likelihood I will never finish the campaign. I never do with these types of games, but it doesn’t stop me from having fun going down every rabbit hole I find interesting. I think I put 200 hours into Skyrim just walking around doing interesting stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/237 "2023-08-02T14:57:49Z")
This is why there is no pre-load (also, be sure to delete your early access version and all mods and save games before installing the new version): > ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/238 "2023-08-02T15:08:12Z")
24 hours to go!! …then 6+ more hours for the download to finish most likely. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/239 "2023-08-02T15:14:58Z")
For those interested here is a Larian developer talking about the challenges they had making BG3 true to D&D 5e. It’s actually really interesting and shows how much effort went into this game (kinda nuts). No spoilers at all. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/BiIBqIqij2c/maxresdefault.jpg "Baldur's Gate 3: Larian on Capturing the Essence of D&D") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiIBqIqij2c) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681/240 "2023-08-02T15:19:41Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I think I put 200 hours into Skyrim just walking around doing interesting stuff. I played about two years ago again and I finished the main storyline. I had forgotten a lot of the last 25% of it or so since I rarely do it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baldurs-gate-3-finally-released-august-3rd-2023/848681.md?page=13)