Baldur's Gate III
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Read Shadowheart's and Lae’zel VAs interview:
Baldur’s Gate 3 was more than both Jennifer English and Devora Wilde bargained for. Over four years have passed since the two actors began bringing Shadowheart and Lae’zel to life in Larian Studio’s upcoming RPG, and only now are the finishing touches being put on the leading ladies they’ve been entrusted to shepherd.
“My first job in video games was Divinity Original Sin, where I played about seventy different characters,” Jennifer English tells me, who describes her experience of taking on the role of Shadowheart as a baptism by fire. “I feel very different as an actor now and have learned so much from the process. As the characters have developed and changed so much throughout the game, so have we. Our imaginations are bigger, our craft is better and that’s been a real honour. How often can you play the same character over four years?”
Devora Wilde is brutally honest about how much she underestimated the undertaking of this project, but ultimately took the years of work in her stride. “I went into this whole project very naive,” she jokes. “I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know about the different ways things could go and I was discovering everything as I went along. It was a bit of a mindfuck.”
As is often the case in voiceover and motion capture, actors will often record scenes out of order or only be given the context required to understand their lines and characters on the day of shooting. While Baldur’s Gate 3 was no exception to this rule, the production cycle and collaborative directors allowed English and Wilde to make their mark on the material, bringing Shadowheart and Lae’zel in ways that not only reflected them, but influenced in ways in which they responded to the material or even responded to early access feedback. For example, both characters are morally duplicitous in their personalities, to the point where adjustments were made to ensure they were less mean and responded to the player in kind.
“[Shadowheart] used to be a bit meaner didn’t she?” English says. “Larian is amazing at listening to fans, and it’s been a real collaborative process across all areas. It’s always listening to feedback which I think is magical, and there’s something humble about it. It isn’t all, ‘This is our game and this is how we’re going to do it!’ but it’s also for us and all the people playing it, and I think that’s very beautiful. Shadowheart started off very different, and I think that what she wants and what she needs is still the same, but John [Corcoran] has created this character who is filled with so much nuance and depth. It’s the same with Lae’zel, and what I’ve seen from later in the game there is just so much too her.”
Wilde adds: “The core of the character is the same as it always has been, but we’ve had a lot of freedom within that to add on layers as we see fit while creating the performance. It was little things we’d talk about like, ‘Would Lae’zel like this? How would Lae’zel do that?’ and it was all the tiniest little details that helped inform the character.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game with countless permutations in its ending, characters, and the world you explore. As a consequence, actors portraying even a single main character are tasked with exuding a number of different emotional reactions across their narrative arcs. It seems this required a constant method of co-operation between writers, directors, actors, and developers wanting to do the material justice in the final product. It’s a real mean feat.
“It’s a team effort,” Wilde stresses. “It’s definitely not a medium where we’re able to single ourselves out and say we made this performance. At any given point it will not only be us, but a performance director, a movement director, a mocap engineer, an audio engineer. There will be five people already in the room, and not to mention the writers we’ve not really had much interaction with, obviously except for the words that they’ve written. Now the game is finally coming to an end, we'll have a little bit of interaction with them. Even if it’s through Twitter when I’m going, ‘Hello, you’re my writer!’”
“I think the writing is beautiful, and it really honours her story,” English says when touching on Shadowheart’s romantic path. “It wasn’t gross, I didn’t feel exploited in any way at all, and I felt very safe as an actor. The romance part of it is just another facet of these people that we’ve explored so many different sides of.”
“It’s never romance just for the sake of romance,” Wilde explains. “It’s running in the context of the character and it’s very specific. What Shadowheart would do in that sort of situation is so different to what Lae’zel would do. Because the writing really served that, it was really fun and exciting to film those intimate scenes because it’s within the character, and you can have fun with it. Yes, we had intimacy co-ordinators on set, so we never felt unsafe, and we never felt pressured. There was always a conversation about the script beforehand about whether we were happy with the lines or if there was anything they could do to make us feel more comfortable. We’ve all worked together and learned new things working on this game for the past few years, and I think for it to have intimacy co-ordinators is quite groundbreaking.”
“You’re creating a character that is an extension of yourself,” English explains. “So for people who aren’t necessarily ready to be out or aren’t safe to be out, it’s an absolutely brilliant way to explore that side of your life in ways you can’t always in real life. I wish I had a game like this growing up. I’d write things and explore other things creatively, but there wasn’t a role-playing thing I could take part in growing up as a teenager knowing that I was queer. It’s really beautiful that we’ve created that, that we’ve created a story where people can explore any part of themselves.
Baldur’s Gate 3 was more than both Jennifer English and Devora Wilde bargained for. Over four years have passed since the two actors began bringing Shadowheart and Lae’zel to life in Larian Studio’s upcoming RPG, and only now are the finishing touches being put on the leading ladies they’ve been entrusted to shepherd.
“My first job in video games was Divinity Original Sin, where I played about seventy different characters,” Jennifer English tells me, who describes her experience of taking on the role of Shadowheart as a baptism by fire. “I feel very different as an actor now and have learned so much from the process. As the characters have developed and changed so much throughout the game, so have we. Our imaginations are bigger, our craft is better and that’s been a real honour. How often can you play the same character over four years?”
Devora Wilde is brutally honest about how much she underestimated the undertaking of this project, but ultimately took the years of work in her stride. “I went into this whole project very naive,” she jokes. “I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know about the different ways things could go and I was discovering everything as I went along. It was a bit of a mindfuck.”
As is often the case in voiceover and motion capture, actors will often record scenes out of order or only be given the context required to understand their lines and characters on the day of shooting. While Baldur’s Gate 3 was no exception to this rule, the production cycle and collaborative directors allowed English and Wilde to make their mark on the material, bringing Shadowheart and Lae’zel in ways that not only reflected them, but influenced in ways in which they responded to the material or even responded to early access feedback. For example, both characters are morally duplicitous in their personalities, to the point where adjustments were made to ensure they were less mean and responded to the player in kind.
“[Shadowheart] used to be a bit meaner didn’t she?” English says. “Larian is amazing at listening to fans, and it’s been a real collaborative process across all areas. It’s always listening to feedback which I think is magical, and there’s something humble about it. It isn’t all, ‘This is our game and this is how we’re going to do it!’ but it’s also for us and all the people playing it, and I think that’s very beautiful. Shadowheart started off very different, and I think that what she wants and what she needs is still the same, but John [Corcoran] has created this character who is filled with so much nuance and depth. It’s the same with Lae’zel, and what I’ve seen from later in the game there is just so much too her.”
Wilde adds: “The core of the character is the same as it always has been, but we’ve had a lot of freedom within that to add on layers as we see fit while creating the performance. It was little things we’d talk about like, ‘Would Lae’zel like this? How would Lae’zel do that?’ and it was all the tiniest little details that helped inform the character.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game with countless permutations in its ending, characters, and the world you explore. As a consequence, actors portraying even a single main character are tasked with exuding a number of different emotional reactions across their narrative arcs. It seems this required a constant method of co-operation between writers, directors, actors, and developers wanting to do the material justice in the final product. It’s a real mean feat.
“It’s a team effort,” Wilde stresses. “It’s definitely not a medium where we’re able to single ourselves out and say we made this performance. At any given point it will not only be us, but a performance director, a movement director, a mocap engineer, an audio engineer. There will be five people already in the room, and not to mention the writers we’ve not really had much interaction with, obviously except for the words that they’ve written. Now the game is finally coming to an end, we'll have a little bit of interaction with them. Even if it’s through Twitter when I’m going, ‘Hello, you’re my writer!’”
“I think the writing is beautiful, and it really honours her story,” English says when touching on Shadowheart’s romantic path. “It wasn’t gross, I didn’t feel exploited in any way at all, and I felt very safe as an actor. The romance part of it is just another facet of these people that we’ve explored so many different sides of.”
“It’s never romance just for the sake of romance,” Wilde explains. “It’s running in the context of the character and it’s very specific. What Shadowheart would do in that sort of situation is so different to what Lae’zel would do. Because the writing really served that, it was really fun and exciting to film those intimate scenes because it’s within the character, and you can have fun with it. Yes, we had intimacy co-ordinators on set, so we never felt unsafe, and we never felt pressured. There was always a conversation about the script beforehand about whether we were happy with the lines or if there was anything they could do to make us feel more comfortable. We’ve all worked together and learned new things working on this game for the past few years, and I think for it to have intimacy co-ordinators is quite groundbreaking.”
“You’re creating a character that is an extension of yourself,” English explains. “So for people who aren’t necessarily ready to be out or aren’t safe to be out, it’s an absolutely brilliant way to explore that side of your life in ways you can’t always in real life. I wish I had a game like this growing up. I’d write things and explore other things creatively, but there wasn’t a role-playing thing I could take part in growing up as a teenager knowing that I was queer. It’s really beautiful that we’ve created that, that we’ve created a story where people can explore any part of themselves.
Update on the Xbox Version of The game:
Larian founder and CEO Swev Vincke posted on Twitter that a solution had been found that would allow the game to be released on Xbox Series X and Series S this year.
“Super happy to confirm that after meeting Phil Spencer yesterday, we’ve found a solution that allows us to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to Xbox players this year still, something we’ve been working towards for quite some time,” Vincke tweeted.
“All improvements will be there, with split-screen co-op on Series X. Series S will not feature split-screen co-op, but will also include cross-save progression between Steam and Xbox Series.”
Split-screen co-op had been a sticking point for Larian, with the studio seemingly struggling to get the mode running on the less powerful Series S hardware to a level that it was happy with.
Larian founder and CEO Swev Vincke posted on Twitter that a solution had been found that would allow the game to be released on Xbox Series X and Series S this year.
“Super happy to confirm that after meeting Phil Spencer yesterday, we’ve found a solution that allows us to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to Xbox players this year still, something we’ve been working towards for quite some time,” Vincke tweeted.
“All improvements will be there, with split-screen co-op on Series X. Series S will not feature split-screen co-op, but will also include cross-save progression between Steam and Xbox Series.”
Split-screen co-op had been a sticking point for Larian, with the studio seemingly struggling to get the mode running on the less powerful Series S hardware to a level that it was happy with.
Mc was able to PLOT Shadowheart's PLOT because dice rolls were really good lmao succeeded insight and persuasion checks, rolled 18 almost a critcial hit! , recorded the scene:
though it remains to be seen if Mc will be able to get the "happily ever after ending" with her, coz all depends on the Dice Rolls first and foremost amongst many other requirements lol ...
though it remains to be seen if Mc will be able to get the "happily ever after ending" with her, coz all depends on the Dice Rolls first and foremost amongst many other requirements lol ...
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- 229
- 2012
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- Credits
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I'm trying to stay as spoiler free as I can on this one. Have way too much on my plate at the moment or I would get it now, but I will definitely be diving into it in the near future. Looks like an absolute blast from the little I've seen and heard of it.
The gamer is me lol. and yes I use mods for her. making her looks and hair more like her initial reveal.
Use these 2 mods:
Shadowheart Alternate Hair - Updated for Launch
Changes Shadowheart's hairstyle to one closer to the promotional art
www.nexusmods.com
and
Read this from PCgamer lol
Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, the tabletop ruleset which forms the bones of Baldur's Gate 3, is mostly straightforward. Gone are the days of adding double-digit bonuses to every roll—you roll one die, you add an attribute to it, you sometimes add proficiency bonus, and in rare cases you add that proficiency bonus twice.
But its annoying linguistic relic, spell slots, has plagued even Larian Studios CEO and Founder Swen Vincke, according to a recent interview with D&D's video producer and go-to interviewer Todd Kenreck. The subject comes up when they're discussing Vincke's dislike of bards—Kenreck asks Vincke what class he actually likes, and he answers "Wizards, always a wizard."
This came with a caveat, though. "I hate the spell slots system, alright? I mean, my lead gameplay programmer had to explain to a really competent engineer—who has a PhD—what spell slots are. For an hour!"
Spell slots are "a bit complex," agrees Kenreck, doing an interview on Dungeons & Dragons' official channel. "When I was teaching my wife D&D it came up, and I was like, 'this is really hard to explain'."
Luckily, Baldur's Gate 3 is a video game, so its UI will often handle explaining things for you. If you can cast a spell, you can cast it. You never have to think about the rule implications behind the words 'spell slots'—but if you're hitting the pen and paper, then yeah, you need to fully understand how they work. Truthfully, I can see how even someone with a doctorate might be thrown through a loop.
You might hear the words spell slots and think, "ah, that is where I put my chosen spells", like equipment slots in other RPGs. This is a completely reasonable assumption, and it is also super wrong. Spell slots are more accurately described as "spell power charges" or something—any spellcaster in D&D gets a certain amount of them, burning them to cast magic. If you have four spell slots, you can cast the same spell with them four times.
To confuse things further, spell slots have levels, from one to nine. Spells also have levels from one to nine. To cast a spell, you need to use a spell slot equal to that spell's level or higher. You can also have multiple spell slots of certain levels. This leads to sentences like: "To cast a first level spell, you need to use one of your four first level spell slots, unless you have a slot that's higher—so you could also cast a first level spell with a second level spell slot, which you have two of."
While this explanation is rules-accurate, it's utterly cursed. Read it out loud, see if it makes any sense. Granted, there are simpler ways you could phrase it—but if you're trying to give an off-the-cuff tutorial to a new player, it's utter word salad. They'd be forgiven for thinking you were speaking in mathematical tongues.
Once the information's downloaded it's pretty simple, as Vincke concludes: "When you get it, it's straightforward, it's just hard to explain." But by Mystra, why do we have to go through hell to get there?
Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, the tabletop ruleset which forms the bones of Baldur's Gate 3, is mostly straightforward. Gone are the days of adding double-digit bonuses to every roll—you roll one die, you add an attribute to it, you sometimes add proficiency bonus, and in rare cases you add that proficiency bonus twice.
But its annoying linguistic relic, spell slots, has plagued even Larian Studios CEO and Founder Swen Vincke, according to a recent interview with D&D's video producer and go-to interviewer Todd Kenreck. The subject comes up when they're discussing Vincke's dislike of bards—Kenreck asks Vincke what class he actually likes, and he answers "Wizards, always a wizard."
This came with a caveat, though. "I hate the spell slots system, alright? I mean, my lead gameplay programmer had to explain to a really competent engineer—who has a PhD—what spell slots are. For an hour!"
Spell slots are "a bit complex," agrees Kenreck, doing an interview on Dungeons & Dragons' official channel. "When I was teaching my wife D&D it came up, and I was like, 'this is really hard to explain'."
Luckily, Baldur's Gate 3 is a video game, so its UI will often handle explaining things for you. If you can cast a spell, you can cast it. You never have to think about the rule implications behind the words 'spell slots'—but if you're hitting the pen and paper, then yeah, you need to fully understand how they work. Truthfully, I can see how even someone with a doctorate might be thrown through a loop.
You might hear the words spell slots and think, "ah, that is where I put my chosen spells", like equipment slots in other RPGs. This is a completely reasonable assumption, and it is also super wrong. Spell slots are more accurately described as "spell power charges" or something—any spellcaster in D&D gets a certain amount of them, burning them to cast magic. If you have four spell slots, you can cast the same spell with them four times.
To confuse things further, spell slots have levels, from one to nine. Spells also have levels from one to nine. To cast a spell, you need to use a spell slot equal to that spell's level or higher. You can also have multiple spell slots of certain levels. This leads to sentences like: "To cast a first level spell, you need to use one of your four first level spell slots, unless you have a slot that's higher—so you could also cast a first level spell with a second level spell slot, which you have two of."
While this explanation is rules-accurate, it's utterly cursed. Read it out loud, see if it makes any sense. Granted, there are simpler ways you could phrase it—but if you're trying to give an off-the-cuff tutorial to a new player, it's utter word salad. They'd be forgiven for thinking you were speaking in mathematical tongues.
Once the information's downloaded it's pretty simple, as Vincke concludes: "When you get it, it's straightforward, it's just hard to explain." But by Mystra, why do we have to go through hell to get there?