Baldur's Gate 3 Biggest Update: Studio Expansion, New Class & Game Improvements

 

As part of the live broadcast of Panel from Hell 2, the developers from Larian Studios have announced the largest update for Baldur's Gate 3. At the same time, the authors are preparing to increase the staff and open new offices. New teams in England and Malaysia will help to further develop the huge role-playing component of Baldur's Gate 3. The expansion of the studio is intended primarily to accelerate the development of the game. New updates will be released more often and will be even larger than the previous one.

One of the most important announcements at the second Panel from Hell was the announcement of a new class for Baldur's Gate 3, which became the Druid . Lead Systems Designer Nick Pechenin and Lead D&D Rules Designer Jeremy Crawford talked about what abilities the game adaptation of the popular class received and how it was implemented in the game. As in the original board, the Druid can choose one of the two presented Circles: the Earth and the Moon. Each has its own unique origins.

The new class will receive over 30 spells and abilities , along with the canon wild appearance. Possessing the strongest magic of nature, you can, at will, completely transform your appearance and take the form of a wild beast, capable of crushing your enemies or secretly sneaking through the enemy camp. At the moment, 8 available skins have been announced: Deep Rof, Cat, Dire Wolf, Spider, Polar Bear and Aberrant. Each character will react to the appearance of the hero, and the animals will be able to interact with you.

Larian Studios has not forgotten about the important narrative part of Baldur's Gate 3. The appearance of the Druid will herald the expansion of opportunities for interaction with characters and significantly affect the game's story. It will definitely include new dialogues and full voice acting. As an example of the influence of the added class on the game, the authors cited the location of the Grove of Druids from the first act. The local druids will be able to recognize him as their own brother or rival, from which many quest lines can change a lot.

Along with the Druid, Baldur's Gate 3 will receive a major update called "Nature's Power", which includes a ton of fixes and improvements. The authors have fixed some technical errors in the gameplay, improved overall optimization and game stability. In addition, cutscenes, character animation during dialogs and lighting have been improved. Finally, several changes were made to make the game easier to play during the cooperative playthrough of the game.

Main features of the update:

• Racking Dice : This optional feature will reduce the frequency of extremes of the random number generator. With it, rolling the dice, players will receive more or less random values, but they will be protected from streaks of luck or bad luck. In the game, dice rolls are used in two different types of situations - in dialogue and in battles. This setting will only affect d20 shots. Damage rolls will remain as fair as possible.
• Conversations with the Dead and Improved Cinematics: Cutscenes in special game situations such as “Talk to the Dead” have been significantly improved. The ability to join dialogs as an animal has also been added. In addition, the patch has improved the animation of the Grove druids when they cast spells and use other abilities. Overall the animation and lighting have undergone significant improvements, which ... may not be obvious in the press release, but the game looks great. In general, connect your imagination.
• Multiplayer: Those who go on an adventure with friends can now view character cards, equipment, spells, and inventory from teammates. And not only view, but also add items to them! Or take. Without asking. We will add a ban on this to the game in some future patch. But, we are sure, there is no rush, you are friends with them, and friends will never steal from friends. Right?
• Nice improvements: a number of long-awaited features have been added to the game. Players will be able to specify a target (both friendly and hostile) for their spells and equipment by clicking on the corresponding portrait. Now they do not have to look for the desired character and try to get into it with the cursor. To attack, it will be enough to click on it directly in the user interface. In addition, we added an escape button in the game - for those who ... well ... do not like to impose their society on opponents. And yet - using torches has become easier than ever. Now there is a separate button for this!
• Improved cinematics: With the addition of improved lighting, the cinematics have been significantly prettier. Now key moments in BG3's history are played out on a truly cinematic scale.

Baldur's Gate 3 is available on PC as part of Steam Early Access. The latest game from Baldur's Gate 3 has been well received by fans of the series and many publications. 

Full broadcast recording of The Panel From Hell 2: