I’m not particularly worried about whether BG3 will be good or not since D:OS 1&2 were both excellent, but I’m a little worried about it feeling like a Baldur’s Gate game and not Divinity: Dungeons and Dragons.
How is the writing style and atmosphere? Does the story connect in any meaningful way? Are there any recurring major characters, hopefully even potential party members? In short, does it feel like a Baldur’s Gate game?
From the early access, I’m optimistic that they will meet this bar. The first two companions you can find hate each other (for complicated reasons, that they might be able to work through… if they don’t kill each other first), and the first thing the third (or fourth, depending on the order you explore) does after recruiting is flirt with the first one. :P They are all distinct characters, that play off of each other, as well as you. How deep that will go remains to be seen though, as almost everyone not under and NDA has seen at most ~20% of the game. :P
That sounds promising, at least. That sounds good. I’ve been spoiled that two certain characters return, as well, so I hope they’re written and voice acted close to the originals and feel familiar.
Many parts of the original “feel” will otherwise be hard to recreate and that’s just the nature of things. The aesthetic of the handpainted backgrounds, for example.
I was saddened to learn the spell incantations weren’t preserved, though. It’s a tiny thing but would have added so much for veterans of the old games. It’s going to feel weird and un-Baldur’s Gate to heal someone and not hear “Vita Mortis Careo”
There are still incantations, although due to the spellcasting changes (anything that doesn’t instant-cast is functionally useless in combat, nowadays, stuff is either instant, 10 rounds, or 600 rounds), they are a bit shorter. IIRC, the available heals in EA have “te curo” (single-target) “vita excellato” (aoe) and “dum vita est, spes est” (max hp buffs).
Oh, I was referring to the audio that played when casting a spell. Seeing as it’s turn based it shouldn’t interfere with BG3 combat either, and the Latin three-word phrases used in the originals were so iconic.
(I might be misreading, I haven’t had my coffee today, sorry if this was already obvious. :P) Just to be clear, these do play while casting the spell in BG3, it’s just not the same exact Latin phrases as before. Which I get is something of a missed opportunity for nostalgia, (I’m sure someone will mod OG incants in eventually), it does still do a good job with in terms of vibe.
It’s the little things like that that sells the familiarity for old fans and signals that the devs really loved and cared about the original games. I’ll see how I feel about the new Latin phrases but the original ones were so iconic that it feels like a missed opportunity as you say.