Speaking with at 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Summer Game Fest, Wizards president 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:and for🦹💞mer World of Warcraft veteran John Hight, clearly cognizant of the hunger for more Baldur's Gate, says a D&D game could be many different things, but "Don't get me ꦏwrong, we are going to do CRPGs that are going to be as serious as BG3."

With its partnership with developer Giant Skull, led by Asmussen a෴fter he left Re💞spawn following Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Wizards hopes to see a "manifestation" of D&D channeling some of the action greats.

After "50 years oᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚf [Dungeon Masters] coming together" to flesh out the world of D&D, creating "the things that form the dreams and the nightmares of people, from gelatinous cubes to owl bears," Hight says "it's really important that any manifestation of them in a game be as good as what's in our own minds."

"T♚hat's a tall order. And I think about what Stig and Patrick Murphy did on God of War 3, taking that pantheon of both gods and the crazy monsters from mythology and bringing them to life. It's like, wow, what 💦if we could unleash them on D&D?"

In an announcement statement, Asmu🉐ssen previously said Giant Skull's D&D game hopes to "craft a rich new DUNGEONS & DRAGONS universe filled with immersive storytelling, heroic combat and exhilarating traversal that players will fully embrace."

He revisits those pillars – storytelli☂ng, combat, traversal – here. "We're experts at melee combat, so that's something t🐷hat John got to see and it translates very well [to D&D]," he tells Polygon.

Asmussen is looking to build on what Star Wars Jedi established and demonstrated, acknowledging that "there's probably still legacy debt that's in the Jedi games from bad decisions that we made early on. Some of those bad decisions were based on momentum because we do෴n't get stuck. We just want to keep on moving forward."

With this new start at a new studio, and working with a storied IP, there's space to move on from those missteps and make something better, he suggests, hinting at "a motion model that's so much faster now, so much more fluid." It sure sounds like we're still dealing with third-person character action, Asmussen's specialty, but through the lens of D&D weapons and warriors, there's huge potential for a range of experiences t♏here.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard director is leading an unannounced game for Wizards of the Coast, which recently hinted at more Baldur's Gate

The critically acclaimed RPG 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 has had many updates – with its final one h🌠aving been released this past April – that have brought many new features and challenges to the game. One of the early additions was the unforgiving game mode known as Honour Mode, released with Patch 5 back in November 2023.

Honour Mode offers players a simple, yet grueling challenge: beat the game without dying, or forfeit. Since its introduction to the game, it remains the subject of the second rarest achievement for Baldur's Gateꦿ 3 on Steam, with only 2.5% of players having achieved this feat globally.

Despite its elusive nature, that doesn't stop players from engaging in the somewhat masochistic endeavor. One particular player, however, shared how their Honour Mode run came to a devas🎃tating end in a way that would undoubtedly cause many playe🦹rs to throw their PC out a window.

Redditor MmmYesCheesyBoi shared in the their tale of disaster: a 50-hour Honour Mode run ruined by a small oversiဣght. During ওthe battle against Ansur – an absolute tank of a dragon, mind you – the player made one critical error that they didn't even notice at first.

Explaining the☂ir fight strategy before the moment of demise, Karlach had managed to get Ansur down to 1 HP, but this triggered the dragon to gain another 100 HP and caused a Stormheart Nova. The Stormheart Nova causes the entire AOE to get hit with lightning. With everyone else's actions exha🌟usted for the turn and Karlach being the heavy-hitter, the player gave her an Elixir of Lightning Resistance, and figured with 97 HP left, she would make it out of the attack okay.

Well, MmmYesCheesyBoi failed to take into account one thing: Karlach was wet. In Honour Mode, the rain duꦇring Ansur's fight isn't cosmetic like it is in other difficulties, and has tangible effects. This meant Karlach was covered in a conduit for electricity and while the elixir grants resistance to lightning and protects from being shocked, electrocuted, or jolted, the wet status makes the player vulnerable to lightning.

That wet status had unknowingly sealed the player's fate, the elixir not powerful enough to counteract the wet status effect, and the rest of the party's HP was low enough that the attack would kill them regardless of extra protections. When MmmYesCheesyBoi was met with the dreaded Game Over screen, they were initially confused. O♏nce they realized their mistake, however, they took to Reddit to lament the tragedy, and stated, "Safe to say I'm going to cry myself to sleep tonight."

A devastating mistake that future Honour Mode hopefuls should take into account. Baldur's Gate 3's Honour Mode isn't for the faint of heart, and future players looking to try their hand should remember that water is far deadlier thܫan it appears🦩.

Baldur's Gate 3 dev says it's "too early to tell" if Larian's next RPG will be a new Divinity game

The first Baldur's Gate came out in 1998 and was developed by BioWare, the studio behind legendary RPGs 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mass Effect and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dragon Age. At the time, it was beloved by critics and soওld extremely well.

The sequel, Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, came out just under two years laterꦑ, in 2000. Remember the days when we didn't have to waitꦏ over a decade for sequels? How I miss those times. Baldur's Gate 2 also sold and reviewed well.

Both games, like Baldur's Gate 3, are top-down isometric RPGs. The first was remastered 🌟in 2012 and the second in 2013. A lot of the original gameplay is the same, but quality of life features such as cross-play for the multiplayer have been added.

The r🐈emasters both include more modern UIs, higher resolution graphics, and widescreen support, so you don't have to play in a square window. The first remaster also added classes, subraces, and class kits that were in the original Baldur's Gate 2.

All in all, these are a great way to play a more modern version of some absolute CRPG classics. Baldur's Gate 3 is never coming to Game Pass because "there's a fair price to be paid" for "a big game" like this, but at least you can try the original two for no extra cost, over a year since their arrival on t🐻he subscription service appeared to leak for a sꦦecond time.

You can find them on Game Pass, .

Or, you could check out our ranking of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs of all time.

Earlier this week, Larian's Twitter account was temporarily switched from 'Larian Studios' to '🍸Divinity'. It quickly changed back, but not before some eagle-eyed fans noticed. That swiftly brought publishing director Michael Douse out to quell any dramatic rumor-mongering, explaining that sometimes these things really don't mean anything.

"This is ju༒st part of the process to take stock of what we own," Douse . "Turns out it's a good idea to own the @'s relating to IPs tဣhat are yours. For examples, to prevent people scamming off the back of your brand." To help with that, he revealed that Twitter is helping Larian recover several of those accounts, "but inexplicably swapped out [the Divinity] one for the Larian account."

So no big reveal. Douse even admits that "I wis🍷h it were more exciting," but that Larian is "still working away on multiple proje✃cts," so fans "shouldn't expect any announcements any time soon."

That explanation didn't stop one excited fan from querying whether all this did, in fact, mean that a new Divinity game - or indeed a new Divinity Original Sin game - might be on the way. In response,ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ Douse said that it was still "too early to tell," but that Larian had "many pots on the stove. We'll see where the cookingꦬ takes us and when."

It's been more than a year since Larian made cle﷽ar that it was moving on from Baldur's Gate, but there's been no sense of what exactly it's doing instead. We do know that it's making 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:two "very ambitious RPGs", one of which director Swen Vi💜ncke saﷺys the team is "deep in the trenches" of, but whether those are Divinity-related or something new entirely is completely unknown. B🍎ut as Douse points out, when an announcement does come, it probably won't be through some Twitter admin at 2am local time in Larian's native Belgium.

One way or another, we're probably in for a new entry on our list of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPG games.

In an on the company's site, Wizkids noted that "the final product did not meet our expectations or that of our Wizards of the Coast partner." Considering the drubbing these Baldur's Gate 3 models 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:got online (one that would make Vicious Mockery feel like an encouraging pep talk), it's probably not surprising. It's hard to argue when comparing those initial renders with the less-than-ideal final result, so social media cast Cutting Words on the finished product for wince-inducing damage. As🔴 an example, BG3's senior cinematic artis❀t that the $50 price tag was "expensive for a 5 years old painting work."

Fortunately, anyone who put down cash on these💞 D&D miniatures will be able to get their money back direct from Wizkids. The update tells customers to contact the company if they bought the set through the official Wizkids store, or to ask for a full refund if it was purchased in-person from local retailers.

Either way, the situation has left Wizkids with a metaphorical black eye. It definitely won't be how the company expected this to go when the models were announced; after all, being able to transfer such beloved companions into your sessions of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best tabletop RPGs feels like a guaranteed money spinner. It's not even clear what went wrong here, but either way, Wizkids writes that it's "aware🥃 of the recent reports and complaints and [is] taking them seriously. Our team is currently investigating these issues and taking action to make this right for those whose purchases were negatively affected and to ensure these issues do not recur in future products and reprints."

To take your mind of all this, why not check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best board games or the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best D&D books?

YouTuber SlimX (via ) has been breaking down some of Baldur's Gate 3💮's biggest secrets. One of these revolves around the game's squad of tiefling refugees. Assuming you don't raze the grove to the ground in pursuit of a Minthara smooch, these characters can show up throughout the game - providing you keep them alive.

Except, as it turns out, perhaps you don't actually need to keep them alive. SlimX discovered that if you pull off a specific set of activities - save the tiefling🌳s in Act 1, leave the prisoners in Act 2꧙, give Balthazar the Nightsong, and then refuse to fight the resulting zombie tieflings in the Mindflayer Colony - those same zombie tieflings will show up in Baldur's Gate. What's more, they'll be standing in the exact same place as they would if you'd saved them, and they'll be acting as if they aren't thoroughly (un) dead.

Elsewhere, SlimX discovered another of Larian's hidden "endings." There are Game Over screens scattered through𒉰out Baldur's Gate 3, ran📖ging from the ridiculous (losing your saving roll against that dying Mindflayer in the wreckage of the Nautiloid) to the efficient (Gale blowing himself up in Act 2).

One particular ending, however, is one you should never get to see. Normally, if you try to enter the Upper City before the climax of Act 3, the Netherbrain will rebuff you with a series of stuns, which can only be ignored by rolling a natural 20 on a s🧸aving throw. That's simple 𝓡enough, but the brain will throw out these stuns every few seconds, meaning you'd have to roll nat 20 after nat 20 in order to get through the gate.

As SlimX approaches the gate in their video, they use some weighted dice to pass at least six saves in a row. The odds of that happening are around 1-in-64 million, but even if you were to somehow beat those odds, you'd immediately find yourself dominated by the brain, because you'd be lacking the Netherstones you need to resist it. It's similar to the ending you get if you manage to irreversibly throw those stones away - something Larian tried extremely hard to prevent, but which one dedicated Balꦑdur's Gate 3 player spent 1,400 hours trying to make happen.

SlimX's video is a treasure trove of cut content, dev tricks, and more that shows you just how much work goes into making sure a game l🍨ike Baldur's Gate 3 actually works. Helpfully split into three acts plus an entire section dedicated to endgame cutscenes, you're sure to find something new if you check the whole thing out.

Baldur's Gate 3 companions got official $50 D&D minis, and I am casting Vicious Mockery because what in the Nine Hells is this

Many of the past decade's greatest games, from 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Elden Ring to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, seem to feature something in common. Aliona Baranova, a Baldur's Gate 3 performance director , points out as much in response to a announcing that "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 scored a rare 10/10 from Edge Magazine," something which only five other titles have managed "in the pastಞ five years."

Of the six in total, which also includes gems like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Astro Bot and 澳洲幸运5开ꦇ奖号码历史查询♌:The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, one actor from Ba𝕴ldur's Gate 3 appears in three. Baranova writes: "Jennifer English is in half of them."

English plays the part of Latenna in Elden Ring, Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and, of course, Sha🌳dowheart in Baldur's Gate 3. Replying to Baranova, the original poster jokes 🌱that "everything she's in turns to gold."

Other fans seem to agree, for English to at least land "a Best Performance nomination at this year's TGA or Golden Joystick Awards." Another that "the true secret sauce of a GotꦫY" is to "hire Jennifer English."

Elsewhere, : "Jennifer Eng🔜♚lish, more like Jennifer Perfect Score." It's safe to say that the community feels that Baranova's deduction highlights English's talent.

As a fan of English myself, especially her role as one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions, it's nice to see some well-earned recognition of her skill circulating online. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for more of her work in the future – after all, she did previously admit that 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:she's "open" to returning for another RPG after L𒐪arian Studios' 🍌Baldur's Gate threequel, so there's good reason to hold onto hope.

New Baldur's Gate 3 update addresses Patch 8 bugs and reworks its subclasses, and Larian Studios isn't done with the RPG yet: "We're still fixing a few things"

The real, genuine, not-made-up photos in this article were taken by our own Rollin Bishop, who received a box of these creatures in the mail unprompted. And it's not like just his minis, specifically, were delivered in a cement truck; have shared their own minis with uniquely disturbing deformities. Your mileage may vary, but🦄 you'll be driving into a wall one way or another.

Lae'zel's hair is peeling off her skin. Withers looks like a half-melted, curmudgeonly snowman. Gale hasn't eaten any magic shoes in so long that his face is decaying. Astarion seems to have done his eyes and brows with a paint roller. Karlach is so hot that her mouth melted off her face and her axe fused to her hands. Wyll looks to be asking, understandably, what the hell? And Shadowheart has just seen some shit.

It'sౠ a gallery of horrors from top to bottom. The vibe is: failed Polymorph. I'll give these minis one thing: they had the entire GamesRadar+ team laughing this morning.

If you, too, wish to own the "D&D Icons of the Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 - Character Boxed Set," rather optimistically said to be "great for bringing your favorite Baldur’s Gate 3 characte🅠rs to the tabletop," . For my money, they're much better for practicing your Vicious Mockery, because holy crap, dude.

New Baldur's Gate 3 update addresses Patch 8 bugs and reworks its subclasses, and Larian Studios isn't done with the RPG yet: "We're still fixing a few things."

Hotfix 31 is now live for Baldur's Gate 3, and while it's no Patch 9, it does resolve some of the recent big update's most annoying issues. As detailed in Larian's official patch notes on , t꧅he hotfix "aims to tackle the kaleidoscope of colors that appears when changing locations, as well as various other bugs that have made their way into the game." These range fr💎om crash and toolkit fixes to subclass changes.

Some of the adjustments made to the RPG's new subclasses see hexblade warlocks being able to replace a spell at level two, the Fancy Footwork passiv♏e working even if a player misses, Vaprak's Greed now taking Human Versatility into account and increasing car😼rying capacity accordingly by another quarter, Arcane Shot: Grasping Arrow damaging Flying targets when they move, and Piercing Arrow's overall damage reduced by half.

The hotfix also targets subclass-related bugs, like those that cause Shadow Blade to lose properties when other conditions are removed, Curving Shot to hit both neutral parties and enemies alike, and Sneak Attacks to be triggered on Dirty Trick: Sand Toss. That's not all, though. It seems that Larian isn't done with Patch 8, either. "We're still fixing a few things, and will continue to release small hotfixes addressing🌱 bugs in the game."

As for the future of Baldur's Gate 3, Larian will move on to cook up its own 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"two very ambitious RPGs" now, with one of the mysterious projects having been 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:codenamed Excalibur – potentially pointing to an Arthurian game of sorts. Dungeons & Dragons stans don't need to worry, however, as Hasbro is also 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"talking to lots of partners" about the next Baldur's Gate game already and is working on a separate 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new D&D game, too.

Baldur's Gate 3 Lae'zel actor had no idea the RPG has nudity filters, which she definitely needed for the Minthara romance: "You see quite a lot"

Speaking in a recent interview with ReadyAimFire on , one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions herself recalls how "shocked" she was before discovering the game's optional nudity filters. Devora Wilde, the voice behind fiery Githyanki Fighter L🐓ae'zel, admits that in Larian Studios' beloved RPG, "we don't leave anything at the door – and sometimes, if you have the filters set to 'off,' you see quite a lot."

Wilde was left surprised by some of the… more NSFW content, to say the least. "I was shocked," she laughs. "I was shocked 'cause I didn't know this – I didn't know you could turn the filters, like the nudity filters, on or off." Such toggles are especially essential to Wilde as she's streaming the game, "so I have the filters on." Wi⛎thout them, however, scenes with more aggressive characters lik🧜e Minthara came on strong.

"Have you done the Minthara romance?" asks Wilde, quietly implying what all Baldur's Gate 3 stans who have indeed experienced the Minthara romance in all its 18+ glory already know: it gets quite hot and heavy if you make the correct choices, and it does so pretty fast, too. As a massive fan of the RPG myself, however, I'd wager that most players usually opt not to have the nudity f⭕ilter toggle💦d on – for science, of course.

Baldur's Gate 3 Lae'zel actor had a little chair in the booth because she was still recording 2 days before giving birth: "My waters broke after the session"

In an interview with Ready Aim Fire (via ), Wilde explaine🔥d that she was still at work until "two days" before giving birth. Being nine months pregnant does take a bit of a physical toll, so Wilde says that Larian gave her "a little chair" so she could have a sit down in-between lines.

To Larian's credit, i𒁏t does sound as though Wilde herself was the driving force behind keeping her in the booth. "It was getting towards the end, and they were like 'are you sure you wanna come ⛎in?' And I said, 'Guys, I'm gonna be here right up until the due date, just you watch."

In fact, she claims that Larian was ha🦹ppy to let her leave whenever she wanted, but she had the eye on the game's release date. "This was coming up to May 2023, the game was due out in August.🎐 So I knew like 'the game has to come out, come on guys, we need to get on it.'"

That week in May was right up to Wilde's due date, but she says she was still coming into the studio on a regular basis. One day, she told some sceptical Larian staff that she'd see them tomorrow – "and then my waters broke after the session." Undeterred, Wilde was still trying to get i🍌nto work the day after giving birth. "My husband went 'you're absolutely not going in... I think now's probably not the time.'"

Eventually, of course, Wilde returned to the booth to finish off her lines. Perhaps some of this explains why Lae'zel's lines were recorded faste🧜r tha🐠n any of the other origin characters – maybe Wilde was s🍬imply desperate to get things done before giving birth.

"An entirely new department is spinning up at Larian" focused on the Baldur's Gate 3 studio's greatest strength: RPG storytelling.

From an outside perspective, it seems a little redundant for a studio whose greatest strength is arguably its narrative writing and world-building to open up a sto♔rytelling department, but that's exa💖ctly what's happening. Over on Twitter, Larian posted a call for writers to join its "brand new storytelling department."

"Are you the type of person to carefully concoct a watertight tale, complete with world-building and pronunciation guide for that mysterious new stomach bug, all so you don’t have to go to w൩ork tomorrow?" 🍸the job claxon reads.

Larian publishing director Michael Douse followed up with a tweet that reiterates, "an entirely new department is spinning up at🗹 Larian."

The three new open jobs available at Larian are story depa🦄rtment lead, crea๊tive partnerships developer, and senior story editor. I looked through all three job descriptions and couldn't find anything juicy about the actual games in development.

We don't yet know what Larian's cooking up to follow Baldur's Gate 3, but 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:we do know it's not Baldur's Gate 4. The studio has confirmed it's working on two 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"very ambitious RPGs" simultaneously, and that one of them is 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:codenamed Excalibur, bu⭕t so fಞar the finer details are still under wraps.

Just this week, Baldur's Gate 3 direct💛or Swen Vincke said the studio is "deep in the trenches" with its next RPG and yet again called it "crazy ambitious."

Vincke added that the team is "trying to figure out how we're going to be making two games," and that, "I hope I can tell you five years fromܫ now, 'We cracked it. We figured it out. This is what we're doing now. Here's game one. We're making this completely different thing, game two, and when game two is going to be ready, we already have an𝔍other thing that's gonna come.'"

S꧙o, yeah, Larian's next two games r⭕emain mostly a mystery, but one thing's for sure: they'll have stories, as if that was ever in question.

Baldur's Gate 3 is done with updates, but it's still getting hotfixes - a new one says "it's only fair" drunk monk kills "count toward the Punch Drunk achievement."

"A small hotfix is now rolling out, bringing multiple cross-play fixe♊s and patching up someไ instances of crashing," the developer's new states.

"Certain betentacled individuals will now be more amenable to having their picture taken – give us a♋ smile, petal! While Patch 8 was the last major patch for Baldur's Gate 3, we will continue to release small hotfixes addressing bugs in the game."

Down the list, the developer has "fixed a ൩bug where, if you told the goblins at Moonrise Towers to sacrifice themselves, the subsequent cinematic wouldn't play correctly and the goblins would become uninteractable." So roundabout goblin murder is🥂 back on the menu.

The new hotfix also fixes a bug that prevented folks from "selecting T✤avflayer or Karlachflayer in the Photo Mode settings.

But perhaps the handiest ꦿchange for people looking to fully 100% the massive RPG is a fix 🔴for Baldur's Gate 3's Punch Drunk achievement, which asks you to defeat at least 20 enemies while one or more of your party members are wasted or woozy.

"Kills made while drunk as a Way of the Drunken Master monk no▨w count towards the Punch Drunk achievement," the studio writes. "It's only fair."

UI fixes, cross-play fixes, photo mode fixes, performance fixes, fixes fixes, and more fixes🎶 dominate the rest of the list as you might expect from a ho𓆏tfix.

Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke says Larian is "deep in the trenches" with its "crazy ambitious" new RPG, and that "I hope I can tell you 5 years from now" that "we cracked it"

The mod, which acts as a fan-created expansion bringing a bit of the Baldur's Gate 3 world and its quirky inhabitants to Stardew Valley, was reinstated 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:fol🦄lowing an ap🍰ology from the D&D publisher, much to Vincke and fans' delight.

According to Vincke, a mod like Baldur's Village only serves to keep games like Baldur's Gate 3, which recently received its final update in the long-awaited Patch 8, alive.

Speaking in a recent intervie🔯w with , Vincke explains that while "IP law is really tricky," companies can make room for mods, like Baldur's Village, inspired by their games.

"As a company that ow⛄ns IP, it's perfectly possible to give somebody a license," he says. "So you could just say, 'Hey, I think what you're doing is really cool. Here's a license.' And that solves it. I think that's what was done in this case. So, that's the easiest way of dealing with it."

While the concept of paid mods could complicate things further, "when it's free and when it's clearly fan-based," as is the case with Baldur's Village, players should be able to proceed with their inspired creations. In fact, mods can end up benefiting games in the long run. That's the plan with Baldur's Gate 3 – after seeing 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"mod support thriving" following Patch 8, Larian can instead shift its focus onto its 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"crazy ambitious" new RPG.

"If you're a company, especiall🔯y in games or in any entertainment [field], and you have a group of people that spends I don't know how much time on creating something in honor of your game," explains Vincke, "especially in another game, I think you should applaud that. It's really cool, right? It's passion, it's word-of-mouth, from a marketing point of view, and if it's good, it's a contribution to the entire game's ecosyst⛦em."

The director cites beloved 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:games like Skyrim as examples of titles "where modding made it hug𒀰e," as "many cool things happen w🍌hen you give people ownership over them and as a company you can perfectly profit from it."

Maintaining a solid relationship with a game's co☂mmunity and modders while allowing for player creativity to flourish is the way for companies to operate "if you want a game to live," he reasons.

As a fan of pretty much every one of these games – Baldur's Gate 3, Stardew Valley, and Skyrim – I'm inclined to 🌳agree. Mods are core to ꩵgames' longevity, and it doesn't seem as though that'll change any time soon.

It's not just Baldur's Village, either. Now that 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Oblivion Remastered is here, impressive mods like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Skyblivion and Skywind are re-entering the limelight, showing yet 𓆏again that dev⛎elopers can pass the torch to players.

Modder remaking Oblivion in Skyrim says the 13-year project "has already paid off tenfold," plans for "bug fixes and the DLC" are set, and Oblivion Remastered "changes nothing."

The studio previously unveiled that it has two 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"very ambitious RPGs" planned after Baldur's Gate 3, including one project 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:codenamed Excalibur, but not much else has been said about the mysterious games to come. Speaking in a recent interview with , however, Vincke opens up a bit more about the future now that Larian's beloved 2023 RPG has been wrapped up with its massive final updꦜate.

Explaining that Larian is "deep in the trenches" on its "next th🍎ing," Vincke jokes how he's now "painfully remembered how much work it is to make a game or a big RPG." Despite being a difficult undertaking, though, he calls the studio's current game-in-progress "crazy ambitious" and admits it's "shaping up quite well" already. As for the project set to follow, Vincke says it's hard trying to organize working on two titles at once.

"We're trying to figure out how we're going to be making two games," states the lead. It's all the more challenging as Larian prides itself on crafting user-driven experiences with a lot of depth, so i🐼t's "not the easiest thing in the universe, because we make very complicated games, lots of permutations, lots of agency for players." He wouldn't want the team to do it any other way, however, as too long a split between productions could spell problems.

"We are in a position where we can craft multiple RPGs side by side so that꧅ we don't have to worry about people going idle – that's actually the main reason we're doing mu▨ltiple projects right now."

It does make sense – especially when looking at recent situations like the reported layoffs across BioWare following 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dragon Age: The Veilguard as its developers were apparently left with little work to do as 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mass Effect 5 entered pre-production.

Despite the difficulties ahead, Vincke remains hopeful Larian can pull the two 🌳RPGs off – and then perhaps maybe even a third afterward, too. "I hope I can tell you five years from now, 'We cracked i🌟t. We figured it out. This is what we're doing now. Here's game one. We're making this completely different thing, game two, and when game two is going to be ready, we already have another thing that's gonna come.'"

If the studio "can make that work in a really good way, that we enjoy our lives, that's gonna be mission accomplished," describes Vincke. "In practice, we will probably be miserable, and there's going to be plenty of stuff that went wrong" – but the lead is optimistic that developers caꦦn take on both of their new RPGs, innovative ideas and all, and "executing them" as well "without killing ourselves" in the process.

There might be more to come of Baldur's Gate 3 yet, too, despite Vincke saying Larian hoped for it to "go out with a bang" with🎃 Patch 8, as he teases that one can "never say never."

If not, though, Dungeons & Dragons stans don't need to worry – Hasbro is currently 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"talking to lots of partners" about the next Baldur's Gate game and also has another shiny 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new D&D game in the works that stands separately from the series.

Baldur's Gate 3 "changed design direction at least two times" after Larian first tried a "cartoony approach" with the RPG, "closer to what we see in D&D books"

Speaking to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:CD Projekt Red, the studio behind RPGs like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Cyberpunk 2077 and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Witcher 4, Dubrovina says as much in a new .

"We actually changed design direction at least two times," the art lead recalls. "And it was not just polish, but it was like a complete turnaround. And at first, we tried more ♛stylized approaches, like I would say even a cartoony approach to match it closer to what we see in D&D books and D&D art."

That's when Larian moved onto the more realistic visuals closer to what Baldur's Gate 3 fans now know and love. "Then we tried a lit🉐tle bit of a more realistic, grounded approach, but then still keeping the stylized feel," explains Dubrovina. "Hard to describe, easier to show, I guess."

The studio wasn't satisfied yet: "And ♉then we did some trials with cinematics and we thought, 'It's going to the right direction,' but we still weren't happy."

Throughout the process, the art director says, "there was no concrete plan in pre-prꦑoduction." Larian was simply "exploring in pre-production" and "trying things" as the style evolved, having "no idꦺea, like, where, what we want to do," as Dubrovina puts it. She details the thought process each dev had at the time while designing the RPG: "Yeah, I want to make something cool, but we don't know how."

It's certainly a funny thought – the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions in a more cartoony style – and I wouldn't be opposed to seeing it myself, especially after witnessing similar, probably more extreme energy in videos like the official 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史𝔉查询:Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 animated sh🍷ort and its equally impressive prꦜeceding entries. I am, however, admittedly more than ple💫ased with what Larian ended up releasing in the end, aesthetically. Astarion is perfect as-is, after all.

Baldur's Gate 3 boss says Patch 8 was worth it: with 169k Steam players nearly 2 years later and "mod support thriving," Larian can "focus on making our next big thing as good as we can"

Countless Baldur's Gate 3 playthroughs and myriad Tavs later, monk-gone-wild Sweetling remains my favorite little menace. As the captain of my maiden voyage, a 65-hour test drive of the then-new 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 Dark Urge archetype and Monk class that had been added to 🍸the RPG at launch, she is also woefully mis-specced. Two years later, I'm righting the wrongs of my naive past with the homebrewed chaos of Patch 8, turning my Dark Urge into a grog-swilling Drunken M൲aster on a date with a wannabe archdevil.

Drink up

I begin my quest of righteous Bhaalist boozing shortly after opening the gates to Raphael's House of Hope. At this point in my 2023 adventure, Sweetling has accepted 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:her father's bloody inheritance, allowed Astarion to become the Vampire Ascendant, and aided in the kidnapping of ✨a certain Selunite cleric.

After all these atrocities and with more still to come, I reflect, her blackened soul is already bound for the Hells. Why not chug some ale and bring thꦡe party to Avernus early? But first, I know she'll have to look (and play) the part. I abandon the portal in Hellsik's diabolic little shop and return to camp.

Talking to resident bone-man Withers is the only way to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:re-♍spec your cla🃏ss in Baldur's Gate 3, but first, I steel my nerves and open my inventory. Time to assess the damage wrought by my past self, a sweet summer child who was still sussing out the RPG that would soon become her years-long fixation. Surprisingly, my build is not awful for a Level 10 Way of the Four Elements monk.

Sweetling is wearing clothing rather than armor (thanks for the robes, Viconia), her Bonespike Gauntlets ignore resistances to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, and she has both the Deathstalker Mantle and Amulet of Bhaal equipped – gifts fro🔥m her Murder God dad, those last two. But one loo🌞k at my companions and… oh dear. Karlach is wearing common leather armor, she does not have the Ring of Flinging (which is hidden too far back in the game for me to return to in Act 3, I note miserably), and she is trailing five levels behind the rest of the party. Underutilized and forgotten at camp, I'd sadly underestimated her in 2023.

But it's nothing I can't fix. I might have missed a lot of great loot during this first playthrough and owe most successes to having 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:cheesed my way through it, but by some miracle, Sweetling had amassed plenty of coin. After a quick visit to Sorcerous Sundries and Dammon's forge in the Lower City – first for the Vest of Soul Rejuvenation for Sweetling, then the Unwanted Masterwork Scalemail f✅or Karlach – I'm feeling much better about our chances against Raphael.

After arriving back at camp, I kick my annoying Bhaalspawn butler Sceleritas Fel as far as I can. He cries out his thanks for this great honꩲor, and then I finally corner Withers. "Thy wheel of fate turns ever to the dark," he warns ominously (yawn) before offering his class-changing services.

As a Drunken Master Monk who'll be relying on her fists to do most of the talking, I'll want to boost my🤪 strength modifier as well as my dexterity. This is especially important because I intend to take advantage of my favorite Feat, one usually reserved for Karlach alone: Tavern Brawler. Consequently, this is also my headcanon full name for the game's generic player name, Tav.

As I level Sweetling up, I marvel at how her new abilities replace old ones in the most delightfully inventive, thematically appropriate ways. Flurry of Blows? Meet Drunken Technique, my new go-to. I still have Stunning Strike, but more intriguing is its Intoxicating sibling variant, which has a chance to inebriate foes and deal necrotic damage. Meanwhile, Sobering Strike deals psychic on top of base bludgeoning damage to drunken enemies, snapꦬping them out of it with a start. Pair all of ♍this with reduced fall damage, and I'm already obsessed with how Larian has retooled the homebrewed Drunken Master D&D subclass to fit its own RPG format.

Give 'em hell, kids

With the party re-specced according to Patch 8's offerings, Sweetling's fisticuffs complemented by Karlach the Giant, Astarion the dual-wielding꧃ Swashbuckler, and Death Cleric Shadowheart, it's time to enter the House of Hope, rescue its eponymous prisoner, and rip up my contract with Raphael. I'll spare you the unpleasant visuals regarding just how Sweetling deals with incubus Haarlep – Bhaals🅠pawn gotta get her kicks somewhere, I guess – and skip to the good stuff.

Like any good barfight, I kick things off by insulting Raphael's sexual prowess. This has the intended anta൩gonistic effect. Showtime.

I'm delighted to find that, once locked into combat, Drunken Master Sweetling is near unstoppable. She can defeat most enemies in just two or three attacks, and with two punches apiece, there's something beautifully ridiculous about watching a diminutive half-elf p🐎unch a flaming boulder to pieces. I like to think Resident Evil 5's .

Unfortunately, Intoxicating Strike doesn't seem to bear much fruit against denizens of the Hells – so it's just as well that Giant Barbarian Karlac𒊎h can just boot away anyone dumb enough to swerve it.

I realize that while Karlach and Sweetling are having an unspeakably good time with their new subclasses, Astarion and Shadowheart are somewhat benched. Shadowheart's 🎀necromantic skills don't seem to hit as hard down here in Avernus, though Spirit Guardians and Guiding Bolt always come in clutch – doubly so, once Hope joins our ranks. Astarion's swashbuckling is only as useful as the foe he's pitted against. When faced with an unarmed enemy holding no rapier for him to flourish away, I'm back to Asty's usual tricks: stealth attack, bite, hide, repeat.

I'm especially annoyed with myself for not bringing Wyll when, upon reaching Raphael's Final Act, I remember that Raph's soul pillars are resistant to most damage except bludgeoning. How was ✱I going to make it through this withoﷺut force spells like Eldritch Blast? With Sweetling's fists, of course. And some runepowder bombs, courtesy of Astarion's hoarding.

I send Sweetling dashing about the place, delivering a solid one-two to each pillar until they crumble in turn. Elsewhere, Giant Karlach draws aggro from the enemy cambions, Shadowheart and Hope dole out the healing, and Astarion pelts bombs at everything. It might be cheating, but eventually I feel like letting my Bhaalspawn colors show, and unleash the Slayer upon Raphael to shred him to ribbons ahead of my final blow. With just three HP left, Sweetling delivers an Intoxicating Strike, kn🌳ocking him flying back🅰 into the arms of Mephitopheles for a bit of punishment. I feed Sweetling a few bottles of wine as a reward.

I might not have gleaned all I wanted from some of Patch 8's newest additions, but Drunken Master and Giant have thoroughly earned my re-specced party's respect. All of the above took me about six hours, and honestly, I felt ready to press ahead when all was said and done. But alas, it is time for Sweetling to retreat to the shadows and bide her time, having finally achieved the potential I knew she'd had bubbling within this entire time. All she needed was a little liquid courage ✅and a big gift from Larian to realize it.

Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs ever, but there are plenty more to choose from

Patch 8 is here, bringing everything from 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:cross-play to 12 new subclasses, such as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Circle of Stars Druid, to Baldur's Gate 3. It's the game's last big update, and while developers have said they could keep 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"making changes until the end of time" to the RPG gem, t൩hey'd then "never be able to create something new" – and that's exactly what Larian will now be doing. That doesn't mean the beloved Ba✤ldur's Gate threequel will die, however.

In fact, it's more alive now than it has been in a while, and it's all thanks to Patch 8. As studio head and game director Vincke writes in a recent , "Feeling good today about where we are with BG3." Attached is a screenshot showing the peak 24-hour Baldur's Gate 3 player count of over 169,000 users – the RPG's ﷽highest . "Patch 8 got a lot of people playing again. It took a lot of development effort, but I'm happy we did it."

The lead continues, stating that mod support is likely to keep Baldur's Gateꦿ 3 fans entertained for a good while. "With mod support thriving, I think the game will now continue to dꦉo well for quite some time."

This gives Larian the opportunity to s🍒hift its focus to a new project and time to make it just as much of a banger. "It g🉐ives us room to focus on making our next big thing as good as we can, and that focus is more than welcome. We've got big shoes to fill," Vincke adds.

Larian Studios previously revealed that it's cooking up its own 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"two very ambitious RPGs" after all, with one of the mysterious projects having been 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:codenamed Excalibur – potentially pointing to an Arthurian game of sorts. Dungeons & Dragons stans will be eating good regardless, though, as Hasbro is also 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"talking to lots of partners" about the next Baldur's Gate game already, and is working on a separate 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new D&D game, too.

As Patch 8 reinvigorates Baldur's Gate 3, Halsin actor reminds ship-happy fans that some pairs "CAN remain simply platonic you horny little f***ers"

One of the biggest reasons Baldur's Gate 3 is so beloved is its fantastic main cast of characters, and it got even✃ more popular after 𝓀everyone decided they were down bad for every single one of them.

Before Baldur's Gate 3 even released, Larian was letting players know that you could sleep with old friends, new friends, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:even a bear. And of course, the fanbase invented its own shipsꦏ along the way (Lae'zel and Shadowheart definitely fancy each other, though).

So now that 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3's eighth patch has finally arrived alongside an animated short that pretty much 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:canonizes Karlach x Shadowheart, the fans will not slow down.

The voice actor behind the previously mentioned shaggable bear Ha🎃lsin, Dave Jones, had a message to in response to sꦡomeone asking him about a ship in the Arcane TV series.

Jones says, "When some pe༒ople get the BG3 hammer, every couple they see thereaf𒈔ter becomes a nail," adding, "Not everybody needs to get banged."

After fans ran wild with Jones' anti-horny PSA, the actor returne⛄d✅ to the thread a day later to clarify.

He says, "I’ll say it a little plainer… not *every* pair of characters ꦅneed remorselessly clapping together like Ken dolls. Some CAN remain simply platonic♌ you horny little fuckers."

Of c🌞ourse, Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't really help prevent the 💟horny allegations. I still remember a moment in my playthrough, when my party killed an orphaned child's ghost parents (and ghost dog!) – seconds later Gale was trying to jump my bones. That awkward encounter had me pass on him as a potential love interest; it was just a touch too forward for my taste.

However, Marvel Rivals fans are working hard for the horniest gaming fanbase crown, as they are literally lining up to be chokeslammed by Emma Frost.

Patch 8 is here, bringing everything from 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:cross-play to 12 new subclasses, such as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Circle of Stars Druid, to Baldur's Gate 3. Amid all of the major new features are also countless bug fixes, addressing well-known issues like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:infamous armor nip slips – but there remains one u♈ndefeated bug even after the massive update, and it's the one that transforms Tavs' 🉐and their parties' portraits into what fans are aptly describing as "Zoom call" shots.

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A recent thread highlights the bug, which I've admittedly been experiencing myself since I first played Larian Studios' banger RPG back in 2023, with the poster announcing that "every♛one's favourite bug is NOT fixed" following Patch 8. Attached to the text is a funny screenshot showing Shadowheart's bugged portrait, her expressi♕on eerily emotionless and her face tucked into the lower corner rather than being centered as usual.

Comments see fans responding with their own amusing screencaps of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions and their bugged portraits, with one stating that they "look like a middle-aged white dude taking a selfie." Another playeꦐr jokes that the portraits remind them of being on a "meeting call with 3/4 cameras on." ⛄Elsewhere, a similar online sparks my personal favorite description of the silly bug: "They're on a group FaceTime."

While Patch 8 was Larian's "final" update, so to speak, the studio has made clear that it'll still release necessary bug fixes over time, which means there's still a chance that the portraits will look normal one day – although if I'm honest, I sort of hope developers leave just this one issue unresolved. How else will I stare into the soulless eyes o🀅f my party members, if not after leveling up when their portraits bug out?

As Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 arrives, Larian Studios releases a new animated short to celebrate the D&D RPG's final update – and it pretty much canonizes my favorite ship

Larian publishing director Michael "Cromwelp" Douse would probably agree, taking to a celebratory to honor the skilled developers responsible ꦯfor the game's newly integrated🏅 cross-play support accompanying Patch 8. "I wanna give a special shoutout to our engineers and backend team because cross-play is not trivial," writes Douse, "but in this increasingly eco-system driven world more important than ever."

Douse concludes with a statement I'd argue most fans of multiplayer experiences would agree with, that "you should be able to play the same game with your bros no matter which major platform they pick." He isn't the only person at Larian to think so, either, judging by the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:most recent animated short on the studio's official channel. Near the end of the video, a modern-day spin on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions play together on different devices.

Cross-play isn't the only big addition to come to Baldur's Gate 3 with Patch 8, though. There's plenty to look forward to from the massive final update, from its 12 new subclasses, such as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Circle of Stars Druid, to the unexpected surprise drops like speci🌃al Steam backgrounds, badges, emoticons, and trading cards. As for what's in store now that the last patch has come, there's a lot to look forward to from both Larian and Dungeons & Dragons.

The Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity studio previously revealed that it's cooking up its own 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"two very ambitious RPGs" in the meantime, with one of the mysterious projects being 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:codenamed Excalibur – potentially pointing to an Arthurian game of sorts. On the other hand, D&D stans will also be eating good as Hasbro is 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"talking to lots of partners" about the next Baldur's Gate game already and working on a separate 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new D&D game, too.

As Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 arrives and resolves some of the D&D RPG's more NSFW bugs, fans are declaring the game "literally unplayable"

As per Larian's official , the RPG's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:long-awaited final update brings a little bit 𝔉of everything to the game, from cross-play to 12 new subclasses. It also cleans up many of the most annoying Baldur's Gate 3 bugs, like modding issues and pathing problems – but not all of these fixes are welcome, according to the community. This rings especially true for those pertaining to in-game armor and clothing.

A recent thread proves as much, with the original poster joking that "Patch 8 has made the game literally unplayable." Why, you might ask? Attached to the post is a screenshot of one of the patch notes' highlights, coverinꦦg a bug fix that addresses the game's infamous nip slips: "Adjusted the Dark Justiciar Half-Plate for female characters, which, when worn without underwear underneath it, was letting the nips peek through."

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The OP isn't the only one upset about the NSFW bug's removal, either. The top comment on their thread sees a fan jest that the game is now "literally 1984," pointing to another Patch 8 fix that "adjusted the Adamantine Scale Mail armour on female dwarves so it better hides the chesticles" as a reason why. "Modders to the rescue," reads another response, while someo🔯ne else calls on Larian to "reverse the patch right now!"

Others are simply suggesting fans just "play with your camp clothes visible and no camp clothes or underwear equipped" – you know, for… gameplay purposes. "There is a no clothes at camp policy. If we are all going to be on the road together🎀, we all have to be comfortable wit⛄h each other. It’s the ultimate show of trust." As a hardened Baldur's Gate 3 stan myself, I can't exactly argue with that. My companions and I have seen much worse together.

As Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 arrives, Larian Studios releases a new animated short to celebrate the D&D RPG's final update – and it pretty much canonizes my favorite ship

In a new episode of his podcast (), Darrah makes the argument that "impact and sales are NOT the same," using the massive commercial success of Bal💛dur's Gate 3 and what he predicts will be a "muted" influence on the RPG genre as one example.

"Baldur's Gate 3 did change the landscape in terms of who wa🌱s willing to look at an RPG," he says. "It broadened the genre space quite significantly, which is awesome. But I thi🌸nk its impact on the way that games are actually developed is going to be more muted than people who are outside the video game industry might be expecting."

To be clear, it doesn't sound to me like Darrah is trying at all to downplay Larian's achievement, but it's true that Baldur's Gate 3 benefited from the enduring legacy of D&D and its ubiquitous name recognition, the financial backing of a major developer and 𝔉years of successful crowdfunding, and decades worth of RPG experience. It sounds like he's just saying other developers who might have otherwise been heavily influenced by Baldur's Gate 3 might have a hard time pulling off a similar feat, whi🧸ch would limit its impact.

"In the case of Baldur's Gate 3, what it looks like is a perfect storm of factors, working together, to make this game work, some of which ꦫare e🦋xternalities that aren't something that another studio can replicate," he says, using the D&D IP as one example.

"[Baldur's Gate 3] is able to do things that, at least from the [developers'] side, feel like they may not be allowed to get ꦍaway with," he says, citing the game's unvoiced pr💜otagonist and "simplified" cinematics that allow for "a much greater choice base to exist."

Darrah ꧟goes on to suggest that developers might be "wrong" about "what they can get away with," but argues that they largely still see Baldur's Gate 3 as a gam♉e "that very successfully executes on what it's trying to do, but what it's trying to do isn't something that a lot of other games would be allowed to do. So as a result, I don't think it's going to have the impact that you would expect from a game that has sold as well as it has."

With Baldur's Gate 3 being less than two years ol𝓀d, it's very hard to measure its potential impact, but to me the game is very much the culmination of many iterative successes over the series' long history, and Baldur's Gate 3 itself just feels like the most refined, expansive expression of a core design philosophy rather than something revolutionary. Whether or not it'll prove me wrong in the future is anyone's guess.

Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 is finally here, and devs say they could keep "making changes until the end of time" to the D&D RPG – but "we'd never be able to create something new."

Dubbed "The Final Patch," the animation's description on carries a bittersweet vibe with it: "After a lot of testing and a healthy dose of🎉 stress, the party is readying for one last adventure to mark the end of an era. But something feels different…" As it's accompanying the last Baldur's Gate 3 update, it also unfortunately stands as the last short to come from Larian, "To help us close the door on our last maಞjor patch."

The animation is just as chaotic and fun as its predecessors, though, starting with Astarion looking back at his adventures with fellow 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions Gale, Karlach, Lae'zel Shadowheart, and Wyll. The party then gets transported into Patch 8, where they each take on one of the 12 new subclasses – Arcane Archer Fighter, Bladesinging Wizard, Death Domain Cleric, Path of the 🌌Giant Barbarian, Swashbuckler Rogue, and Hexblade Warlock.

Eventually, Larian lead Swen Vincke himself swoops in, and the anꦜimation pans back to the party members in modern day, all playing Baldur's Gate 3 at home on different platforms (hinting at the new patch's added cross-play feature). Seeing each character "irl," so to speak, is🦂 fun in itself, but witnessing Karlach and Shadowheart living together is the cherry on top – a low-key canonization of the community's beloved Shadowlach ship, even.

As one commenter exclaims, "OFFICIAL SHADOWLACH CONTENT NOTHING ELSE MATTERS!" Another asks if the short means "Karlach and Shadowheart are canon now," because "HELL YEAH" if so. As a hardened Baldur's Gate 3 stan myself, I'm choosing to accept the animation as conf🌜irmation of Shadowlach – and nobody (not even Larian) can convince me otherwise now after watching The Final Patch.

As Baldur's Gate 3 fans uncover more of the D&D RPG's cut content, one especially dark scene has fans saying "75% of the playerbase would be killing Astarion" over it

How to play BG3 cross-play with friends

Baldur's Gate🍷 3 cross-play allows you to play multiplayer with friends on other platforms and consoles when you do the following:

1. Make sure you're logged in with a Larian Account on your copy of BG3
2. Select "Multiplayer" on the main menu after opening the game, and tab across to "Cross-play".
3. Select the option to "Enable Cross-Play".
4. From here you can create or join multiplayer games. However, you need to enter the Larian Account Username of friends rather than their PlayStation, Xbox, or Steam account name.
5. If entered right, you should then be able to connect with them as normal in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 multiplayer.

Cross-Play across platforms also applies to progression, meaning that if you log into your Larian Account on another platform copy of Baldur's Gat🌸e 3🎃, you should be able to sync and download your save data to keep playing accordingly.

Want to know more about Patch 8? Find out how to use the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 photo mode here, or check out all the changes made to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 classes and subclasses here!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Still, if you want to know how to use photo mode in Baldur's Gate 3, as well as all the new camera filters and options you can apply to them, I'll explain how it works and what you need to know about its functionality in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3.

Once in photo mode, you can then alter camera settings and angle, apply filters and stickers, or direct the characters in the picture to do specific poses and expressions. Once you've determined the layout you want, hold down the button marked in the bottom/middle of the screen to take the photo. This will send a copy of it either to your console or platform's built-in media platform or folder. Once you're finished, hold the Circle / B button to exit.

It's also helpful to keep in mind that, if you're more focused on the metagame, that the free camera controls given to you in photo mode let you explore the game a bit. It's something of a cheat, but you can scan ahead freely in frozen time and look at things in detail – just something to keep in mind, especially if you're struggling on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 honour mode.

Want to look your best? Check out where to find the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 change appearance option, or discover all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Baldur's Gate 3 classes in the wake of patch 8 here!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The hotly anticipated final Baldur's Gate 3 patch has arrived, bringing everything from new subclasses like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Circle of Stars Druid to cross-play support, allowing players to join pals on diff♕erent platforms. Larian Studios' official detail all of these features in-depth, starting with an overview of the n🍬ewly added photo mode and some unexpected surprises like special Steam backgrounds, badges, emoticons, and trading cards.

It's exciting news for collectors, but that's not all – Patch 8 also revamps ꦿmodding quite a bit with an update for the Baldur's Gate 3 Toolkit, letting players explore partial level editing. In other words, modders can now create their own NPCs, drop "a metric ton of ꦿcarrots across every existing level just for the sake of it," transform animals into other creatures, and more, effectively adding to or overriding template types in existing levels.

As a longtime Larian fan myself, I might just be projecting false hope here, but it truly feels like a step closer towards full-blown 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:custom campaigns – although only time w🏅ill tell. For now, the content included in the studio's final patch is more than enough to keep me busy, as bittersweet as its arrival is. While devs admit in a that fans' "passion could keep us tweaking things and making changes until the end of time," they have to move on.

After all, as Larian puts it, "we'd never be able to create something new" if Baldur's Gate 3 continued receiving major patches for years to come – and they're currently doing just that. The studio previously revealed that it's cooking up its own 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"two very ambitious RPGs" in the meantime, with one of the mysterious projects being 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:codenamed Excalibur. I know I'll be loo🦩king forward to those until they're here, but for now, I have a patc♚h to download.

As Baldur's Gate 3 fans uncover more of the D&D RPG's cut content, one especially dark scene has fans saying "75% of the playerbase would be killing Astarion" over it

I'm not the only one who can't stay away. For a game that was澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: supposed to be finished save for some final touches, Larian seems allergic to letting the ink dry. And who can blame it when BG3's Dungeons & Dragons setting has so much more to give? Larian's dedicated support of its blockbuster RPG has cemented Baldur's Gate 3 as a legacy already, turni🃏ng it into a living, breathing artifact that could well reach Stardew Valley levels of perma-development if the studio really wanted it to.

YOU get a subclass, and YOU get a subclass…

For certain Larian developers, Baldur's Gate 3 has become a labor of love more than anything else. Today marks the day Patch 8 will prove that to us. The latest batch of BG3 content is being unleashed upon PC and console players alike as we speak, and by the sound of those 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:48 page-long patch notes, this update is no mere bugfix.

With 12 new subclasses for each of its base game character classes (i.e. not including modded ones), Patch 8 looks set to change the landscape of future Baldur's Gate 3 playthroughs as we once knew them. Your subclass doesn't just dictate how you play the game; it comes with dedicated scripted moments, dialogue, spells, and more to set your myriad Tavs apart. This granular level of detail and customizability is part of the reason BG3 has 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:normalized repeat playthroughs more than any other RPG since Skyrim: no two adv🍎entures can ever be t🗹he same.

That said, after completing the game six times over, my hunger for back-to-back playthroughs has admittedly waned since early 2024. But w♛hat's this? Death Domain clerics are being added in Patch 8, along with an adapted take on the D&D homebrew subclasses like Drunken Master? Well, it's been nice knowing you all. To t🍨op it off, we're finally getting photo mode. That, paired with the fact that twelve new playstyles have officially entered the game almost two years since it first launched, solidifies Baldur's Gate 3 as my favorite never-ending RPG that unfortunately keeps flirting with said ending.

It would have been impressive enough for Larian to have pulled off a patch of this size with its whole cohort involved, but the fact that just a dedicated handful of developers are still working on Baldur's Gate 3 makes it all the more exciting. Patch 8 is just the latest f𒁃inishing touch being applied to the gargantuan RPG, and it's also b🐠eing pitched as the final big Baldur's Gate 3 update. But the amount of hype around it speaks to just how much this game still means to player and studio alike, and that itself is a stunning rarity.

It's a level of reciprocal passion only seen in a scant few games, and more often than not, it indicates something too good to let go of on either end of the creator-consumer divide. Look at Stardew Valley, for example, and how developer ConcernedApe (aka Eric Barone) is still churning out updates despite the shadow of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Haunted Chocolatier's expectations looming overhead. Or Terraria, which has been going strong since 2011 and is preparing to launch its sixth final update.

Lari🌊an might say it's done with Baldur's Gate 3, but a part of me will always pin an invisible "for now" onto the end of that statement. It's easy to turn a full stop into a semi-colon, after all.

It goes without saying that Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs ever, but it's in very good company...

Warning: the contents of this article touch on particularly violent scenes that readers might find distressing.

The scene in question resurfaced recently following players' datamining of the game, with a post highlighting its content. An attached clip shows the scene play out between the two beloved 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions, and admittedly, it's pretty brutal.

In it, Astar♔ion sneaks up on Shadowheart to bite her, much like he still does in the RPG's first act – except this time, when his unsuspecting victim wakes up and notices, his reaction is different.

After a surprised Shadowheart gets up, Astarion tackles her to the ground and strangles her as she struggles, leaving her dead. It's an animation I never expected to see as a hardened stan of the game (and the two companions) myself, and judging by the comments, it see🃏ms I'm not alone.

"If this actuall🐷y had happened in the game," speculates a fellow fan under the video, "then I imagine 75% of the playerbase would be killing Astarion immediately."

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Another simply eಞxclaims that the scene is "actually really dark," with more players agreeing undern💎eath their response.

"Well," writes someone, "I can see why they cut it." Fans also take to the replies with possible reasons why Lar💜ian Studios was cooking the scene up in the first place, with many guessing that it would fit well into an Origin playthrough featuring Astarion instead of the user-created Tav: "This animation is probably from an Origin Astarion PoV."

In that case, the scene would make sense as a reaction from Astarion during th♋e "bite night" moment in which he tries to drink a camp member's blood. Regardless, it's undeniably a heavy scene, and it's not difficult to unꦬderstand why Larian chose to axe it from the game's final cut.

"This made me uncomfortable," as one fan puts in a comment. "Glad they removed it" – and honestly, deꦿspite the RPG's other dark themes, so am I.

Baldur's Gate 3's long-awaited Patch 8 is finally releasing tomorrow as the D&D RPG gets 12 new subclasses, a photo mode, and more in its final update

"It's huge," Larian publishing director Michael "Cromwelp" Douse says our 澳🅰洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询ꦫ:previous coverage of Patch 8's impending launch. (Thanks, by the way.) "Detail🍌s soon. The ultimate Baldur's Gate experience! I can't wait to play through 🅷again, and again."

It's unclear exactly when those "details" are going to land, but they'll likely be in the form of patch notes – and what a might set of notes it's going to be, according to Larian CEO and BG3 director Swen Vincke. "I just read th🥃e 48 pages of patch notes on this," Vincke says . "If there were a Michelin guide to patches, I’d give this one ไ3 stars."

Patch 8 is set to be the final big update for Baldur's Gate 3, and it seems Larian is intent on sending the game off with a bang. The update has been available to players for stress tests over the past few months, so it's not a complete mystery, and we do know that it's going to add 12 new subclasses, crosspla🐭y, and a photo mode. Whatever other mysteries this update is h♔iᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚding, I guess we'll have to wait until April 15 to uncover them for ourselves.

"I hope I get to play him again": Baldur's Gate 3's Astarion would love to play the RPG's beloved vampire in a sequel, joking he'd "have to be dead" before being recast

It feels like an eternity and then some has passed since Larian first unveiled Patch 8, with two whole months passing since the studio's big reveal of what's set to be the final big Baldur's Gate 3 update. There's not long left to wait now, 🍨however, as Larian reveals in a new online . "Patch 8 will be ready to roll out on Tuesday, April 15th," exclaims the developer, much to the community's delight (it's me, I'm the community).

The studio also announces a special Twitch stream that's coming on April 16 to celebrate Patch 8 with senior systems designe♏r Ross Stephens, who will be testing out some of the 12 new subclaꦚsses dropping with the update alongside senior communications developer Aoife Wilson. That's not all, either – a special celebratory Baldur's Gate 3 sale is up on right now, docking a good 20% off the Dungeons & Dragons RPG's normal price.

Christmas is coming early for us Baldur's Gate 3 stans this year with Patch 8, if you ask me, between the subclasses, photo mode, ꦜand everything else included within the update. Players can expect to see new abilities, animations, cantrips, dialogue, summons, and more in-game come April 15 – and that's just the tip of the iceberg for the final patch. Cross-pla♊y is also finally going to be available between all platforms that can run the RPG.

While I personally can't wait to try out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Circle of Stars subclass myself, the arrival of Patch 8 feels bittersweet – after all, it does mark an end of sorts to the monumental gem that is Baldur's Gate 3. Thankfully, though, Hasbro is 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"talking to lots of partners" about the next Baldur's Gate game already and working on a separate 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new D&D game. As for Larian, the studio is cooking up its own 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"two very ambitious RPGs" in the meantime.

"I hope I get to play him again": Baldur's Gate 3's Astarion would love to play the RPG's beloved vampire in a sequel, joking he'd "have to be dead" before being recast

Speaking in a recent interview with during BAFTA's Games Awards, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 actor jokes that he'd "have to be dead" before allowing another voice to take over as Astarion in future games. While Newbon jests while saying so, he would seriously like to take on the role of the white-haired companion once again, if possible – and as Hasbro is 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"talking to lots of partners" about the next Baldur's Gate, it could happen.

"Listen, I have no control over that," explains Newbon, "so, ultimately, if somebody played him in something else, I'd just hope that they'd come at it the same way I did, in ter𝓰ms of looking at the core character and their life story and their history and their backstory, and honor that story as much as possible, and not run to a trope." He can't foretell the future, though. "I don't know what's goin🦩g to happen. I hope I get to play him again."

He's not the only one who'd be willing to act as one of the companions again in a new game, either. Shadowheart actor Jennifer English also previously admitted to having similar thoughts, saying 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:she's "open" to returning for another RPG. As a dedicated Baldur's Gate stan myself, I'd personally love to see some of the original cast make a comeback in Baldur's Gate 4 or whatever's next to 🧜release in the fantastical Dungeons & Dragons-inspired universe.

Anything is possible as of now, especially as Hasbro's cooking up the hotly anticipated sequel while working on another shiny 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new D&D game that stands separately from the series, too. Neither will come from Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios, however, as the company is focusing on its own original titles right now –澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"two very ambitious RPGs" with one project 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:codenamed Excalibur, as revealed by the studio last year.

The Baldur's Gate 3-arization of Dungeons & Dragons continues as Astarion gets 2 official mentions in the new source books

Baldur's Village, as the mod is aptly dubbed on , acts as a fan-created expansion, bringing a bit of the Baldur's Gate 3 world and its quirky inhabitants to Stardew Valley. The mastermind behind the mod, Xun, has had quite a journey since its release, as it caught the attention and approval of Larian Studios lead Swen Vincke, faced a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:DMCA takedown from Wizards of the Coast, and was reinstated following an apology from the D&D publisher.

Since then, Xun shared that work on the mod would 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"resume as scheduled" – and boy, has it. A recent from the creator showcases the latest Baldur's Village update, bringing the mod to version 1.6.2 with Astarion's previously teased 10-heart event and accompanying wedding reactions from some of the fellow 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions present. Other minor fixes to character dialogue and various visuals are also present within the new ver🔯sion.

The mod update is especially exciting to see after the DMCA debacle last week, and there's still more to come from Xun, too. As they wrote in a past Q&A on their , more Baldur's Gate 3 characters are planned for Baldur's Village, with marriage candidates aside from Astarion in the works as requested "based on feedback and crowdfunding" – and perhaps even Minthara, Jaheria, and Minsc, as their exclusion apparently "isn't set in stone" either.

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Baldur's Village, as the mod is aptly dubbed on , acts as a fan-created expansion, bringing a bit of the Baldur's Gate 3 world and its quirky inhabitants to Stardew Valley. After catching the attention and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:approval of Larian lead Swen Vincke, the mod was removed due to a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:DMCA takedown from Wizards of the Coast. Fans and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Vincke himself defended the mod then, before the D&D publisher apologized for "mistakenly" issuing the takedown.

Creator Xun stayed relatively quiet through the debacle – until now, that is. With the big mod back up and running, they've posted an official with a "full e☂xplanation" regarding the initial takedown and future plans. "Last week, due to copyright issues, the Baldur's Village mod was temporarily taken down from Nexus," it reads. "This unforeseen challenge caught our team off guard and led to confusion and concern among many players."

Now that everything has been "thoroughly clarified and resolved," though, Xun takes time to thank Larian Studios, the Nexus Mods team, and Wizards of the Coast as they "recognize that protecting intellectual property is a complex and serious responsibility." There's a lot more in store for Baldur's Village, too. "On the very day we received the takedown notice, we had just finalized Astarion's Ten-heart event, which was schᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚeduled for the next update."

Xun continues, explaining how the DMCA left them "disheartened as we thought that this content might never reach the community" – but work will continue as before with updates for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions and more. "Fortunately, we are able to move forward. In the near future, we will be releasing a minor update that includes bug fixes and Astarion's Ten Hearts event. Other planned content updates will also resume as scheduled."

Searching for more? Here are some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Stardew Valley mods to download now.

Baldur's Village, as the mod is aptly dubbed on , acts as a fan-created expansion, bringing a bit of the Baldur's Gate 3 world and its inhabitants to Stardew Valley. Upon creator Xun's release of the monumental mod, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Larian lead Swen Vincke himself approved, praising them for their "amazing work." It comes as no surprise, then, that when word of a DMCA takedown being issued by Wizards of the Coast arose, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Vincke defended the mod.

The Larian CEO, who wrote after the DM🍨CA that mods "shouldn't be treated like commercial ventures that infringe on your property," has now taken to the web once more to celebrate "a good ending" for Xun and the mod after Wizards of the Coast issued an apology explaining that the "Baldur's Village DMCA takedown was issued mistakenly" yesterday. "A good ending. Happy for Xun, Kꦦawaner, Yudeling, Haruka, and Sirris," .

"I hope they get to develop a lot more of it. And also good on WotC for fixing this swiftly." Fellow Larian developer, publishing director Michael "Cromwelp" Douse🔯, shares similar thoughts on the mod in to the initial DMCA takedown from Wizards of the Coast: "Long live Baldur's Village!" Long live Baldur's Village indeed – and as for Vincke's hopes, it's pretty safe to say there is in fact "a lot more" of the mod to come.

After all, creator Xun previously revealed that they've played over 1,500 hours of Stardew Valley and work on Baldur's Village isn't anywhere near finished as they "will continue to improve it even though our lives are really busy." As a fan of both the farming sim and RPG myself, I'm personally excited to see more 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions make their way to Pelican Town – although for now, Astarion is more than enough for me.

Searching for more? Here are some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Stardew Valley mods to download now.

The use of AI in voice acting has been a hot topic in the video game industry as of late, with the ongoing SAG-AFTRA video game strikes having protections against unauthorized AI replications of actors' performances as one of its main demands. It's not just kids on TikTok making Plankton from SpongeBob SquarePants sing Chappell Roan; giant companies are looking into ways to avoid using voice actors. This was seen with the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:recently leaked Sony demo of Aloy from the Horizon series in the mos🍸t crappy-looking Project M𝓀ilo demo ever seen.

And while the Aloy demo (and 99% of AI slop out there) looked and sounded like crap, it sets a terrible precedent, with Aloy actress Ashly Burch (whose performance data wasn't used for the demo) 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:saying she feels worried about "game performance as an art form." And Burch is hardly the only voice actor to express these concerns. Speaking to Edge Magazine, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil voice actor Newbon expressed similar conceꦰrns, saying, "AI will have𓆏 deep ramifications across all industries if not ethically regulated by people."

AI use is still in its relatively early days, so it's still the wild west in many ways without proper regulations, and given that 🐻generative AI programs are built off the back of actual people's work, it's in dire need of some. Of course, most of the results turn out to be as janky and awful as the Aloy demo, and it's clear art from actual people is far more likely to resonate with the public. Something Newbon echoes, saying, "As an artist, I believe in experiencing life and art through human expression, not software… AI, after all, is built on the work originally created by humans, and there is a fundamental difference between the two."

The irony of the AI Aloy demo was not lost on Horizon fans, as they commented that "The entire game is a warning against this kin🎐d of nonsens𒈔e."

Speaking to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Edge, Béart explains why such individuals employ AI – and unsurprisingly, it's money. "Essentially, [CEOs pushing AI] just want to save money," says the actor. "In the long term, it'll destroy their reputation, their company, everything." As f🍸or actors, Béart doesn't see a world in which they'll willingly back down despite game companies' increasing demands for AI – after all, it would effectively cost them their jobs.

"It's just not going to happen," continues the actor. "Why would you do it? You've just signed your way out of any sort of job or career." It's a bad situation all around, as creatives struggle to land roles when those in powe🦂r prioritize financial gain. "We have an industry of highly artistic people who've had a calling to do this stuff, and then you've got these people with money, who don't play games, who see it as an easy way to make a return on investment."

As Béart puts it, "Those two things are oil and water." They struggle to work together. "It's very difficult to negotiate with people on opposite sides of the spectrum. You don't show🍌 up on set and realize as you're filming that it's Marvel. You sign an NDA and then they tell you. Whereas in video games, culturally it seems to be they give you an NDA, and then they still don't tell you what's going on, which just doesn't help the performance."

What tech leads are doing with their own companies for financial gain is what's happening in games now, too, concludes Béart. "The dream of the tech industry is 🧜to sell off your company at an overinflated price and retire. And I feel that's being done with game studios right now. It's the same people who worship at the altar of [former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, who made loads of money off austerity, before the company tanked after his retirement]."

Just days after hinting at Ark 2, a new AI-generated trailer for Ark: Survival Evolved's upcoming aquatic DLC drops – and fans aren't impressed

The stress test has just received its third big update, as Larian reveals in a new , and it "targets several crashes and gameplay fixes." The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:first patch saw various bugs resolved, including one that rendered Gale constantly hungry for more magical items, while the second one namely 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:nerfed an OP subclass cantrip – whether for better or worse.

Th♓is most recent update might not seem as game-changing as the last two, but its implications ce🃏rtainly are.

As Larian writes alongside the update's patch notes, the update doesn't just squash annoying bugs – it also potentially marks the nearing public arrival of Patch 8, as it "brings us closer to r🌼elease." The subtle balancing adjustments to upcoming subclasses coupled with the fixes to all-new features, like the long-awaited Photo Mode, make it feel like Patch 8 is finally within reach, although developers have yet to announce an actual release date or launch window.

It's not the first time the community has been waiting a while for a monumental patch, though – 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Patch 7 immediately springs to mind, with over a month of stress testing prior to it♛s public☂ release.

So far, nearly two months have passed since the Patch 8 stress test began rolling out in late January, so there might not be all that long left now before everyone gets to dive into the update – and I get to try out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Circle of Stars subclass myself.

Baldur's Gate 3 and Larian Studios lead Swen Vincke declares that single-player games are, in fact, not "dead" at all – "they just have to be good"

Speaking to at this year's Game Developers Conference, Hasbro senior vice president of digital games Dan Ayoub suggested the company is still in the v𓃲e🍎ry early stages of working out where to take Baldur's Gate next, but added that it won't be long before we learn more.

"We're kind of working out our plans for the future aꦚnd what we're going to be doing with that," Ayoub said. "And actually, in pretty short order, we're going to have some stuff to talk about around that."

Right now, developer Larian Studios is gearing up to release the long-awaited Patch 8 for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 sometime this year. That'll add 12 new subclasses, full crossplay functionality, and a dedicated photo mode among myriad smaller changes. as recently as November that Patch 8 would be Baldur's Gate 3's final "major" patch, which makes sense as i♊t later said it has its "full attention" on its next RPG, which most definitely won'🔯t be Baldur'sℱ Gate-related.

Back in April 2024, Hasbro said it was "talking to lots of partners" about the next Bal💛dur's Gate game and expressed hope that "it's not another 25 years" before it comes out, which was the space of time between Baldur's Gate 2 and 3. I think we canꦬ all agree with Hasbro that, if anything, Baldur's Gate 4 should come out before 2048.

Otherwise, we might just have to play every game on our list of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs to kill the time.

Vincke makes the declaration in a recent online , explaining that people just need to "use your imagination" and try to see the bigger picture – single🦄-player games are still very much alive indeed, but, unsurprisingly, they've got to be good to actually gain significant traction. "That time of the year again when big single-player games are declared dead," writes the lead. "Use your imaginatio𒊎n. They're not. They just have to be good."

The Baldur's Gate 3 director's statement rings especially true in an era arguably boasting the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs to date, from Larian's own 2023 banger to more recent releases like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and a personal favorite of mine from last year, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Metaphor: ReFantazio. There's also 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Avowed, an immersive single-player gem from renowned studio 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Obsidian Entertainment our revie♛w describes as filling "a first-pers﷽on void" within the genre.

There's more to come from Larian Studios after the Baldur's Gate 3 developers wrap up their work on Patch 8, too, with the company previously admitting it's placing its 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"full attention" on its next RPG – which, while it won't be Baldur's Gate 4, doesn't mean a sequel isn't also coming. After all, Dungeons & Dragons' parent company Hasbro stated that it's currently 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"talking to lots of partners" about the next Baldur's Gate game.

Baldur's Gate 3 animation impresses Larian Studios, prompting one dev to say "mature" animation of the RPG "would pop the f*** off"

The , an 18-second-long clip of party banter shared between beloved 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions Karlach and Shadow🌸heart, was created by 2D animator Claire. It features dialogu🃏e between the two characters including the accompanying in-game voice acting from Jennifer English and Samantha Béart, as Karlach tells a concerned Shadowheart that "it might be all downhill from here."

As a hardened Baldur's Gate 3 stan myself, I replayed the animation about a million times and walked away wishing there were more – and it seems I'💫m not the only one. The official Baldur's Gate 3 account calling it "absolutely brilliant," with Larian publishing director Michael "Cromwelp" Douse leaving a separate himself in which he praises Claire's "great" clip.

"I maintain that a mature BG3 cartoon series would pop the fuck off if someone continued our legacy of those shorts," writes Douse. "This is great." Other fans agree, too, with one suggesting a show from "t𒀰he people behind Castlevania" – an idea that I would certainly ge🦂t behind. For now, however, I'll personally be keeping an eye on Claire's social media in case more party banter-oriented animations drop.

There's no better way to gear up for Patch 8 than by reacquainting oneself with why the community fell in love with the Baldur's Gate 3 cast in the first place, I'd say – and with actors like Shadowheart's own stating they'd be 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"open" to returning for another RPG and Hasbro previously admitting it's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"talking to lots of partners" about Baldur's Gate 4, we 🦂might even get to💙 experience it all over again someday.

Console players, good news – you might be able to play custom Baldur's Gate 3 campaigns soon, thanks to the D&D RPG's official mod manager

Dungeons & Dragons: Builders of Baldur's Gate is set for a June 2025 release, but you can . That's already $9 cheaper than the $64.99 MSRP. And honestlꦇy, it's a darn sight ch🌸eaper than a lot of WizKids games of the same ilk.

Recently demoed at GAMA Expo 2025 at the WizKids booth, Dungeons & Dragons: Builders of Baldur's Gate pits 2-5 players against one another in a city building twist on one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best tabletop RPGs around, D&D. In it, you'll play as the head of a powerful family trying to grow in notoriety and push your own agendas while building up Baldur's Gate however y💮ou see fit. You'll spend (around 90 minutes) play time building up new businesses within the nine districts of the iconic city ofꦆ Baldur's Gate, and creating temporary allegiances as you defend your home from incoming monsters.

Extending your hand across the three major factions of the city – the Council of Four, the Flaming Fist, and the Thieves' Guild – you'll slot your influence cubes into miniatures representing gates, keeps, watchtowe𝐆rs and the like to exhibit your realm of influence.

The game comes from the mind of Matthew Dunstan who, alongside Brett J. Gilbert, co-designed . Similar in its deep sense of political intrigue, Elysium is a well-regarded strategy board game of Ancient Greek heroes, demigods and lege🍸nds.

For more discounts, be sure to check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:D&D gift guide.

After unlocking moddiꦓng allowing for "level editing, save editing, 🧜and more" last year, fans have been conjuring up massive custom campaigns to keep Baldur's Gate 3 alive post-Patch 8. Most of these can be found in progress via platforms like Nexus Mods, which marks them as PC-only – but that may just change, and a c🥂ustom campaign dubbed proves as much with its recent appearance on the RPG's official mod manager.

Featuring loads of new backgrounds, items, monsters, and spells, the mod is impressive, to say the least. It all takes place in an entirely new area to Baldur's Gate 3, too – aboard the Space Galleon within the Astral Planes, navigating through different floating locations. As a hardened stan of Larian's base gem myself, I personally can't wait to sail the starry sea and finally experience something other than Acts 1 through 3 nearly two years later.

It's not available to play for console users just yet, though, but anything is possible now that it's up on the game's official mod manager. With custom campaigns in full swing and Patch 8 right around the corner, too, the community might even end up seeing Skyrim-level modding blossom for Baldur's Gate 3 – and I, for one, hope that's the case. As long as I can continue playing the Dungeons & Dragons RPG, I most certainly will.

If you're craving more D&D after Baldur's Gate 3, Critical Role is "hard at work" on a video game – and it'll be unveiled "any day" now

Speaking recently to , Critical Role co-founder Travis Willingham reveals that the band of professional voice actors turned adventurers has a video game in the works – and fans won't have to wait much longer to 🐻learn more about it. He explains that the team is "hard at work" on a game, an entirely new avenue for Critical Role. While he doesn't say what the mysterious project has been titled, it'll be announced "any day" now.

Until then, Willingham is referring to the game as the "interactive slate." As for its gameplay or setting, the unnamed gaming venture is set to expand on Exandria, the now-decade-old world created by dungeon master Matthew Mercer back in 2015. Unlike in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Legend of Vox Machina, Amazon Studios' animated Critical Role series, fans will play a much more significant part in t🐟he story thi♊s time around as the game places players in control.

"They'll actually𝓀 be getting their hand on the stick and controlling the outcome of the story," describes Willingham, "changing what might be possible from not just some of their favorite characters, but new offerings in the world of Exandria." He doesn't get into further details regarding said characters or when and where in Exandria the upcoming game is set to take place, but it's exciting – especially with so few modern D&D titles to play.

Dungeons & Dragons' parent company Hasbro is currently 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"talking to lots of partners" about the next Baldur's Gate game and also has another shiny 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new D&D game in the works that stands separately from the series, though, so it seems fans of the tabletop gem have a lot to look forward to. While Larian Studios isn't making Baldur's Gate 4 itself, the team does have another game up its sleeve – its 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:next RPG after Baldur's Gate 3.

The Baldur's Gate 3-arization of Dungeons & Dragons continues as Astarion gets 2 official mentions in the new source books

Our gilded he𒁏ro, Reddit user NnmnsP, first developed a taste for all things glittering after . Sadly,ಌ "Myrkul seems to be coded to not be permanently gold," they reported. "Every time he failed spell DC at stage 3, his 'turned to gold' condition is removed."

Their interest piqued, NnmnsP set about turning every Act 3 boss into a trophy worthy of the drawing room cabinet. A few bosses are immune to this particular status, so not everyone could actually be gilded. 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 tragically doesn't let you pick up and transport golden b🎀osses, either. (Get on it, Larian!) But that didn't stop NnmnsP from giving the Midas Touch to dragons, wizards, robots, 🌺demons, and plenty of other villains.

I reached out to NnmnsP primarily to ask the two questions that usually come up with player-created challenge runs like this: why and how? "At first, this [was a] Lae’zel origin run," they explain. "I didn’t intend to make it a Midas run but when clearing out scrolls, wares, and junks in inventory, this pink scroll I never ever used in my 2500ish hours playtime is still there, so I thought why not use it." Why not: the reasoning behind many of mankind's greatest advancemenꦓts.

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Asܫ you may have guessed, NnmnsP had to carefully reload saves after gilding bosses in order to collect as many gold trophies as possible. Flesh to Gold can only be used once and can't be learned by spellcasters since , and Flesh to Stone just doesn't have the same glam to it.

On top of that, it turns out solid gold is really hard – literally, as a material. Gold bosses have extremely high resistances and don't necessarily die from being gilded. Whittling them down the old-faꩲshioned way takes some serious patience, assuming it's possible at all, so NnmnsP opted to get their golden screenshots and then reload a save, recycling the same scroll boss over boss while still forming a digital gallery of trophies

"The most interesting target I could find is Myrkul," they say. "As you could see from my previous post, I really enjoyed it and the gold texture looks cool. The idea of turning every worthy enemy into gold started at that point. My conditions are easy, as long as bosses aren’t coded to be impossible to [be turned] into stone or gold (Raphael has special passive and Ansur can lose condition even fail saving throws 🅰like Myrkul), 🌱I have to reload every time they succeed saving throws.

"I’m a bit sad that I can’t collect them as gold staꦯtues," they add. "They can’t be moved by force at all. Once you kill them in gold form, their remains are like corpses [hit with] Disintegrate. I mean, I could try turning Elder Brain into gold too but that’s too risky."

Of all the gildable bosses, Viconia was apparently the most difficult to pull off. "She starts th✨e fight with Sanctuary and has tons of Sharran with her," NnmnsP explains. "Trying to bait her to get Sanctuary blocked while clearing Sharran is quite something. Normal bosses took around 5-6 turns of combat due to high spell DC and my attempt to reduce their saving throws (Phalar Aluve for example). This run is more like a speed run, about 35 hours. Golden challenge took maybe half of that. Act 3 is huge."

Niche runs like this are often fragmented, buried, or simply go unreported, so I'm generally hesitant to declare anyone the first to do something. But after some research, I certainly haven't found evidence of anyone else turning every feasible Act 3 boss in Baldur's Gate 3 into solid gold. Can't think why! To NnmnsP goes the crown. If anyone🅺 else wants to claim it, you'd best come equipped with a spell save bonu🍃s.

Stardew Valley player bringing a bit of Baldur's Gate 3 to ConcernedApe's farming sim, now with Larian's seal of approval, says they've played over 1,500 hours and will improve the mod.

Baldur's Village, as the mod is aptly dubbed on , acts as a fan-created expansion, bringing a bit of the Baldur's Gate 3 world and its inhabitants to Stardew Valley. While it only released a few days ago, it managed to catch the attention and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:approval of Larian lead Swen Vincke himself, as well as almost 20,000 downloads – and according to creator Xun, there's more to come for Baldur's Vil�🅺�lage and its fans yet.

Showing off 💜their total in-game hours in Stardew Valley in a recent , Xun reveಞals that the mod is still in the works with improvements to follow in the future.

"I wanna show you guys my playtime," they write. "I've been playing Stardew Valley since the day it was released, and now we finally have our own mod. So happy that such peop𒆙le like it, and we will continue to improve it even though our lives a🐟re really busy."

It's exciting, to say the least, as Baldur's Village is already massive, featuring six locations, more than 20 characters, dynamic events, various shops with unique items – and most importantly, romanceable 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 companions like Astarion. It already rivals some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Stardew Valley mods in sheer size, and there's no telling how it'll continue to expand as Xun brings more of the Forgotten Realms to Pelican Town.

Craving more farm sim shenanigans? Here are 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:10 games like Stardew Valley to play next.

As the lengthy wait for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Patch 8 rolls on, the RPG's cast is making appearances at conventions like Seattle's 💦recent Emerald City Comic Con. While there, Astarion actor Neil Newbon came face to face with a Funko Pop figure of his character – one that's about five feet tall – alongside Shadowheart voice Jennifer English and Lae'zel actor Devora Wilde. The cast🍨 can be seen posing beside the Funko masterpiece on , with Newbon looking to be in awe.

"Wow, it's amazing," laughs Newbon, beholding thꦓe massive fig꧙ure. "It's ridiculous!" The actor then falls into character, leaning against the adorably intimidating Astarion Funko: "Hello, darling. Hi, how are you?"

Before he can continue, the rest of the cast, along with performance director Aliona Baranova, ente🐭rs to poke fun at the figure. "As if your ego isn't big enough," jests English, holding the Funko's hand.

She proceeds to ask the question all Shadowheart stans are probably asking, too: "Where's Shadowheart?" Wilde chimes in, "Where's Lae'zel?" As a dedicated Baldur's Gate 3 stan myself, I'm inclined to agree – in fact, where's Gale? Wyll? Halsin? Karlach? We need more behemoth figures of characters from Larian Studios' Dungeons & Dragons RPG, stat – and none of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:$22,000 sex doll variety, preferably.

The Baldur's Gate 3-arization of Dungeons & Dragons continues as Astarion gets 2 official mentions in the new source books

Baldur's Village, as the mod is aptly dubbed on , acts as a fan-created expansion, bringing a bit of the Baldur's Gate 3 world and its inhabitants to Stardew Valley. Adding a big brand-new map north of Pelican Town with six locations, more than 20 characters, dynamic events, and various shops with unique items, the moဣd is nothing short of impressive – and it's not only excited players who think so, either.

The stunning creation has caught the attention of none other than Baldur's Gate 3 director and Larian Studios lead Swen Vincke, who prai💧ses modder Xun in an online . "So much love went into this," writes the developer. "Amazing work!" Xun's own to 𓂃Vincke shows just how much his words mean: "You have always been an inspiration, and your words mean a lot to us. We sincerely thank you for your encouragement."

Amazing work, indeed. The Baldur's Village mod went live just two days ago and has already managed to garner a whopping 11,000 downloads and over 80,000 views. Its popularity isn't all that surprising, considering how seamlessly it manages to bridge the RPG and farming sim together – and how it adds new romanceabl𓆏e NPCs to Stardew Valley, like Baldur's Gate 3's ever-beloved vampire elf Astarion, of course.

As a longtime fan of both games myself, I'd wager Baldur's Village might end up slotting well into the list of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Stardew Valley mods around –in my opinion, it's already right up there with the likes of Cornucopia and Stardew Valley Expanded with how much it adds to the sim. Hopefully, Xun continues building upon the mod, bringing more of the Forgotten Realms and their quirky inhabitants to Pelican Town.

Craving more farm sim shenanigans? Here are 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:10 games like Stardew Valley to play next.

The Monster Manual and Player's Handbook are arguably two of the most essential and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best D&D books to have🐼 on hand, and Larian's beloved vampire elf can now be seen in both – in artwork and in text. Astarion was first spotted in the 2024 edition of ‎Wizards of the Coast's Player's Handbook, where he makes a cameo appearance in an illustration of the Daylight spell – a spell that casts a 60-foot-radius sphere of light.

noted the easy-to-miss appearance, later reaching out to artist David Astruga, who confirmed that he intentionally included Astarion: "I added him on my own from the sketch of that image, and the art directors thought it was💦 fine to leave him there as a small Easter egg for those who notice. It doesn't have any further relevance, but it's good to remember that Astarion is a Wizards character, so he could obviously appear here or there."

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Since then, the iconic pale elf has indeed gone on to "appear here or there" agaꦍin – this time, in the 2025 edition of the Monster Manual. As highlighted by a fan on , Astarion is quoted on the guide's Vampire Spawn page. "Darling," reads the text, "you are simply delicious." The words are then attributed to "Astarion, vampire spawn."

It's certainly a fun find, and it's safe to say that other companions c🍰ould get similar 𒊎cameos in future D&D works.

New Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 stress test update nerfs one of the Dungeons & Dragons RPG's most OP subclass cantrips – and axes "physics for genitals in Photo Mode"

The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:last patch for the stress test saw various bugs resolved, including one that rendered Gale constantly hungry for more magical items, but the new one feels a bit bigger as it t❀ackles the upcoming subclasses and makes their a🅷bilities align better with their Dungeons & Dragons counterparts. For instance, as explained in Larian's recent , the now-infamous Booming Blade cantrip has been "limited" – much to many fans' dismay.

Prior to the update, stresꦦs test players learned that Booming Blade was overpowered as it was usable with Extra Attack – essentially allowing for free damage as the cantrip works by lettin💜g its caster strike with their melee weapon, dealing further Thunder damage if the hit target moves afterward. D&D fans acquainted with 5e spells know it's strong as is, but with Extra Attack? It'd be a surefire way to steamroll through Honour Mode.

After this update, stress test players will only be able to use Booming Blade once per turn, so it's still a strong choice for Rogue Tavs taking the Arcane ꦐTrickster route – plus, playing as a Sorcadin is viable nonetheless. As fans comment on an onlineℱ regarding the patch, "this is still a buffed version of Booming Blade compared to 5e" and "being able to use it on multiple attacks just seemed crazy OP." It's also not the only change.

The patch notes are arguably quite lengthy, detailing everything from such subclass tweaks to sillier quality-of-life adjustments like my personal favorite – the one that's "disabled physics for genitals in Photo Mode to avoid some distressing twisting and contorting when switching between poses." It's so very Larian of them, but as a dedicated photo mode screenshot taker in games myself, I'm grateful – I just can't wait to🔯 hop into Patch 8 myself.

Baldur's Gate 3 Lae'zel actor was "paranoid" about making the githyanki girlfriend’s voice "lower and lower" through Act 3 until she realized "it really works with her character development"