Preliminary information about “Baldur’s Gate 3” that you should read before playing.How to walk through the Forgotten Realms, deciphered from related works and history

Turn-based RPG developed by Larian Studios“Baldur’s Gate 3”(PS5/PC, hereinafter referred to as BG3) Japanese version is available from Spike ChunsoftDecember 21, 2023It will be released on.
The overseas version, which was officially launched on September 6th, about four months ahead of the Japanese version, has received high praise not only on Steam but also on various review sites, and has even won the Golden Joystick Awards announced the other day. Now, the highest award“Ultimate Game of the Year”It continues to be popular, with awards such as the following. Many 4Gamer readers may be wondering the reason for its popularity.

In this article, we will delve into the fun of BG3 and what you should know before playing.Preliminary knowledge that will help you enjoy it more deeplyI will introduce about. We will introduce the Baldur’s Gate series in an easy-to-understand manner even for those who are playing it for the first time, and of course we will take care to avoid spoilers, so if you are looking forward to the Japanese version in December, please read on. I want you to see it.

*Terms and proper nouns that appear in the article are based on the English version and related works such as the Table Talk RPG version. It may be different from the one that appears in the Japanese version of Baldur’s Gate 3.

What kind of game is “Baldur’s Gate 3”?

There are various ways to talk about the appeal of BG3, but the first thing to remember is that this title is based on the tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (hereinafter referred to as D&D). I’m saying that. “Based on” here means more than just following a worldview. The rules of tabletop RPGs are almost faithfully reproduced, including game systems such as character creation, battles, and conversations with NPCs, and the scene production also gives a glimpse of an analog game.

In fact, the tactics and character builds that are effective in the Table Talk RPG version can be used almost unchanged in BG3, and conversely, you can even bring characters created in BG3 to Table Talk RPG and play with them. Even in conversation scenes with NPCs, for example when negotiating, a die appears on the screen and is used to determine whether or not it was successful.
In other words, it is important to note that the popularity of this work overseas is a reflection of the popularity of the original D&D. Furthermore, the fact that it has appeared as a work of quality that does not disappoint the expectations of many D&D fans is what supports its high reputation overseas.

As with previous series works, BG3 can also be said to be a title that focuses on incorporating the tabletop RPG D&D into a digital game.However, the difference is that while previous works were based on D&D 2nd edition (AD&D), this work references the latest 5th edition.

However, there is no doubt that BG3 is a title that you can enjoy even if you don’t know anything about D&D. In fact, I would recommend it as an introduction to the Table Talk RPG version, but here I would like to introduce the features of this work from two aspects from the context of a digital game.

1. A story that branches through a variety of choices

First of all, the first feature is“Many choices”is.
BG3 offers a huge number of choices for the actions and conversations that the player can take, and these choices have a strong impact on the development of the story later on. The differences between the individual options may be trivial, but they are intricately intertwined, creating unpredictable developments. Sometimes actions that are thought to be good can lead to the worst results, and it is really skillful to be careful about this.

In addition, the choices available to you will change depending on the race and class of the character you are controlling, so it is possible that the game will play out differently depending on the character you choose.
Therefore, it is said that there are 17,000 endings for this work, which is an order of magnitude higher than other titles. This could be said to be a characteristic of the game because it attempted to recreate the freedom of tabletop RPG in a digital format.

There are a wide variety of options for character makeup, from basic things like race and class to backgrounds such as what kind of life the player has led up to this point.All of these will affect your actions in the game.

Combat is turn-based, but there are a variety of tactical options available. Push enemies off cliffs, or throw barrels of gunpowder at them to make them explode.Sometimes he uses magic to freeze the blood that flows out, causing the opponent to fall.

2. Direction with voice acting and facial animation

Another thing is that this is also based on a tabletop RPG.Features of performanceI would like to touch on this.
In table talk RPGs, the game master (Dungeon Master in D&D), who is in charge of the game, describes the scenes, but in BG3, characters’ feelings and scenes are similarly described through the narrator’s readings. This is an element not often found in normal digital RPGs, but it gives it a nice flavor.

Of course, the lines of NPCs including friends areJ.K. SimmonsYou can listen to great performances by a gorgeous cast of actors such as “Mr. “, and the music and graphics are also wonderful and memorable. Particular effort is put into the characters’ facial animations, which richly convey the characters’ feelings. The world that is dynamically depicted through these productions can be said to be one of the major appeals of this work.

The companions who will be traveling with him are all dealing with difficult circumstances.Each of the characters is so attractive that they can be called protagonists (and can even be selected as protagonists), which is one of the reasons why this work is so popular.

Adventure setting, Forgotten Realms and Baldur’s Gate so far

I wrote that you can enjoy the game even if you don’t know anything about D&D, but there is no doubt that if you have some knowledge of the background world, the story will be easier to understand.From here on, it’s the stage for BG3’s adventure.“Forgotten Realms”Let’s take a look at information about Table Talk RPG and past works.

D&D has a variety of background worlds (called settings), but the Forgotten Realms can be said to be a relatively orthodox fantasy world of swords and sorcery. Baldur’s Gate, which is also the title, is the name of a town in the Forgotten Realms, in the Sword Coast, a coastal region in the southwestern part of the continent of Faerun on the planet Toril, and is home to a variety of races, occupations, and religious people. It is one of Faerûn’s most prominent port and commercial cities, where many people gather.

Baldur’s Gate overlooking the Sea of ​​Swords. By the way, Neverwinter, the setting for the PC game series “Neverwinter Nights” and the MMORPG “Neverwinter,” is also one of the major cities on the Sword Coast.Located north of Baldur’s Gate, it is also the setting for many adventures.

Its origin is ancient, and it dates back to a long time ago when the legendary human explorerBaldaranIt is said that it began when a man invested his own money to build walls and gates to protect his home village from foreign enemies.The name Baldur’s Gate also comes from this, and now that it has prospered through trade, it is ruled by four dukes chosen from the citizens, and is in charge of the city’s guard.“Flaming Fist”It is a relatively safe place, with a group of mercenaries called “Kyoto” maintaining the peace and order.

However, because the land is relatively tolerant of outsiders, there are many merchants and adventurers who have traveled long distances, as well as pirates and smugglers, so it is not a place where you can live in peace. That’s for sure. On the contrary, Baldur’s Gate has suffered many world-shaking crises.
One of them was depicted in the PC game “Baldur’s Gate” released in 1998 and its sequel “Baldur’s Gate 2”.Behar, God of SlaughterThis is an incident related to this.

I will omit the details for those who are about to play the previous games, but in the original Baldur’s Gate, the evil leader, the “bastard” who inherited the power of Behar,SarevokThe story depicts the battle of the main character, who is also Behar’s bastard child, but tries to use his power for the right thing. Sarevok controlled an organization called the Iron Throne and was trying to take over Baldur’s Gate.

In the subsequent “2” and its expanded version, it is revealed that the spawn is a mechanism to revive Behar, and a fierce battle between the protagonists who have won the battle against Sarevok and those who are plotting to revive Behar is revealed. A battle was fought.
The game had multiple endings, and what happened to the main character after these battles was left up to the player’s choice, but in the official history, this main character,Abdel AdrianIt is said that he resisted the blood of the god of slaughter and chose to live as a human. He then joined the “Flaming Fist” as a private, and later became the group’s leader and rose to the position of duke, but he lost his life in a confrontation with the last remaining bastard of Behar. Although he lived quite a long time due to the influence of divine blood.

BG3 is set in Baldur’s Gate 100 years later. Although Abdel is already deceased, the footprints of the characters who appeared in previous works can be seen in some way. Some characters, such as elves, are long-lived, so you may encounter them directly. Players of previous games should look forward to it.

The beginning of the story.Return from Hell and the Call of the Mind Flayer

The incident involving the God of Slaughter happened 100 years ago, but a comparable major incident occurred just before BG3.The city of Eltalel, located east of Baldur’s Gate, has fallen to Avernus, the first level of hell, along with its residents, and the leader of Baldur’s Gate and the leader of the “Flaming Fist”, who happened to be visiting there.Grand Duke Alder RavenguardHowever, he went missing.

Devil’s flying fortress conquers Avernus. Avernus is the first layer of Hell, which consists of nine layers, and is a world worthy of being called hell, covered in eerie clouds, a foul-smelling atmosphere, and a vast wasteland.There, a battle between the resident devils and the demons pouring in from the Abyss – a bloody war continues.

This incident, depicted in the table talk RPG version of the full-length adventure “Baldur’s Gate: Hell’s Battlefield Avernus”, is about a priest who was the leader of Eltalel, and the archdevil.ZarielIt all started when I signed a contract with.In the end, the situation was brought to an end thanks to the efforts of a group of adventurers – the player, of course – and the city and the Grand Duke returned to the surface… but as a result, they lived in Baldur’s Gate.Tieflings are subject to persecutionIt became.

Tieflings are the descendants of humans who made a pact with the inhabitants of hell in the distant past, and their appearance with horns and tails is certainly reminiscent of demons, but they are completely unrelated to this incident. It is. In hell, he is used as a soldier under Zariel in the war in hell, and when he returns to earth, he is chased out of the city, which can be described as a situation where he is literally stepped on and kicked.

The story of BG3 is Baldur’s Gate in such a situation,mind flayerThe game begins with a scene in which the film is attacked by Nautiloid, a floating ship controlled by an evil race called Nautiloid.However, a race hostile to the Mind Flayer…GithyankiThey are intercepted by a group of people and flee across dimensions. The main character of this work is a person who is captured by this floating ship and implanted with a mind flayer larva, and crosses dimensions with the floating ship and regains his freedom at Avarnus, the entrance to hell.
Afterwards, the protagonist takes advantage of the chaos and seizes control of the ship while fighting with the inhabitants of Hell and barely escapes Avernus with his life. He returns to the physical world and crash-lands near a riverside road halfway between Baldur’s Gate and Eltalel. This is the introduction part of this work.

And from here, the main story of the journey towards Baldur’s Gate begins. While expanding the stage of the adventure to dimensions outside of this world such as Hell and the Astral World, as well as the Underdark, a dangerous dark world that spreads beneath Faerûn, the story unfolds while resolving the fates left behind by Behar and Zariel. is moving in an unexpected direction. It is entirely up to the player to decide which route to take and who to form relationships with.

There are many elements that appear in the story that show the traces of the incident, such as a group of tieflings who were forced to flee the city and became refugees, and a person who has a connection to Zariel.What fate they will have depends on the player’s choices.

Monsters and various different races color the world

The Forgotten Realms, the setting for BG3’s adventures, is home to humanoid races with various characteristics and origins, as well as many terrifying monsters. As D&D created the basis for fantasy RPGs, well-known races and monsters such as elves, dwarves, goblins, and kobolds also appear, but there are also many that are unique to this game.
From here, I would like to briefly introduce the iconic D&D characters that appear in BG3.

By the way, when you think of kobolds, many people in Japan think of dog-headed monsters, but today’s D&D kobolds have reptilian faces. The source is a fairy, so it doesn’t mean which one is correct (related article)

The first thing we should introduce is the Mind Flayer, who also appears as the villain in the trailer. Mind flayers are just a common name, but they are actually a race called illithid, and they are evil beings who live in hiding in the Underdark and plot to control all life forms. It has a powerful psionic ability to control the minds of living things, and is said to eat the brains of living things to provide nourishment.

They also increase their numbers by planting their larvae in the brains of humanoids and feeding them, taking over the bodies of their victims and reborn as new mind flayers. In other words, the main character of BG3 is forced to run around the world in order to avoid the fear of becoming a mind flayer while fighting the fear that he might turn into a mind flayer at any moment.

The Mind Flayer, who also appeared in the drama “Stranger Things,” is one of the iconic monsters of D&D.In the drama, only his name was mentioned, but in BG3, his strange appearance and terrifying power are fully demonstrated.

And the race that is hostile to the mind flayers are the Githyanki, whose name was mentioned earlier in the story introduction. There was a time when they were slaves to the Mind Flayer, and after escaping its control, they made it their race’s mission to destroy the Mind Flayer. For this purpose, a large army was organized,Vlaakis 157Under the orders of the queen, they are said to be continuing their offensive by any means necessary.

By the way, this Vlaakith has turned into an undead — a so-called lich — in order to forever protect her throne as queen, and she doesn’t mind devouring the souls of others.While they are clearly bad guys, they are one of the main characters of BG3, the Githyanki.RayzelHe has sworn absolute loyalty to Vlaakith, and is also a person with whom it is difficult to communicate. Other than her, the Githyanki generally look down on other races, and if someone other than her is the main character, her first impression would be pretty bad. Well, the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.

Many Githyanki characters appear in BG3.They are a rare race in Faerûn, and have a deep connection to the mind flayers, so it would be interesting to see the story progress from a Githyanki perspective.

The races that can be selected as a player character include the Githyanki and the aforementioned Tieflings.11 races in totalis available. I think you can get a good idea of ​​humans, elves, half-elves, dwarves, halflings, etc., so I’ll briefly introduce the others.

　droware a sub-race of elves adapted to the Underdark. They are also called dark elves because of their black skin, and they are also skilled in magic.dragonbornis a race of humanoid dragons created by dragons, many of whom are proud warriors.gnomeis a small race that is distantly related to fairies. They are very curious and tend to particularly enjoy intellectual pursuits such as invention and exploration.half orcAs its name suggests, it is an entity that has inherited human and orc blood. He has an excellent physique and is highly suited as a warrior.

Each race has a long history and unique culture, and all of these things influence the story of this work. What’s interesting is that even though the setting is so rich, it’s up to the player to decide how to actually act.
For example, drow are generally considered to be an evil race, so if you go on an adventure with a drow character, you will often be treated that way by NPCs even in the story. But whether you actually act as evil is up to you. Again, this large number of options is what makes BG3 so appealing.

The same is true when dealing with monsters, and it is possible to communicate with them even if they are clearly evil. Sometimes it may be possible to avoid a battle through negotiation and even obtain some assistance. If you use a spell to talk to animals, you can get information from dogs and cats around town, and if you talk to a giant beast, it will respond in a very human way, even though it is an animal.
All of these scenes are quite interesting, so I’d like you to actually play the game and see for yourself.

Let me introduce another race called Hag from the category of monsters. This is an old woman who uses black magic to do evil things – she is a monster that is the embodiment of the so-called “bad witch”, and is a formidable enemy with amazing magical powers… but if you negotiate well, she will borrow your wisdom and strength. I’m sure they’ll do it for you.However, he is also a cunning opponent, so I want to be careful not to fall into his opponent’s tricks.

For those who want to know more about the Forgotten Realms

Lastly, I would like to introduce some related works for those who want to thoroughly prepare themselves for the world of Forgotten Realms before playing BG3. Of course, you can also use it if you want to expand your skills after playing BG3, so please use it as a reference as well.

The first one is, of course, the previous games “Baldur’s Gate” and “Baldur’s Gate 2.” Since the title was created almost 20 years ago, it can’t be denied that it feels old-fashioned when you play it now, but there is no doubt that it is a masterpiece. In particular, it has a reputation for its high degree of freedom in reproducing tabletop RPGs, and you should be able to enjoy the fun inherited from BG3.
You can now purchase the “Enhanced Edition” of the HD remake version on Steam, and especially since the original version is officially translated into Japanese, those who haven’t played it should take this opportunity to try it out.

“Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition”. By the way, since it is based on a different version of D&D, the details of the rules are different from BG3.However, since we share a common worldview, the atmosphere remains the same.

On the other hand, for those who want to get a general idea of ​​the world through visuals, we recommend the movie “Dungeons & Dragons: The Pride of the Outlaws,” which was released in 2023. It is an entertaining work with a comical feel and good tempo, and although the atmosphere is different from the more serious BG3, it is set in the Sword Coast region of the Forgotten Realms, and the place names and terminology that appear in it are quite similar.
It’s also a movie that you can relax and enjoy even without the preparation, so if you like fantasy, you should definitely check it out.

“Dungeons & Dragons: The Pride of the Outlaws,” in which bard and thief Edgun struggles with his friends to steal a magical item.In the movie, there wasn’t much explanation about the Harpers, a secret society that the main character once belonged to, but in BG3, it becomes significantly involved in the story.

Another comic work that is essential when talking about Baldur’s Gate is“DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Legend of Baldur’s Gate”(4 volumes, published by KADOKAWA). This is a comic featuring Minsk, a famous character who appeared in the original “Baldur’s Gate” and “Baldur’s Gate 2,” and depicts the great adventures of Minsk and the hero, a hard worker who is brought back to life by chance. Since the time period is set immediately after BG3, it can be said to be the perfect work to get a sense of the world.

Minsk is a character loved by fans so much that he made a surprise appearance in the BG3 trailer.A kind-hearted muscular idiot, he causes trouble wherever he goes.

And if you want to fully immerse yourself in the world of D&D, you can’t help but try the tabletop version of Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition. 4Gamer has introduced this many times, so please refer to that article for more details.Now available from Wizards of the Coast“Starter Set”or“Deluxe Play Box”I recommend starting with .

Although I have introduced various things, I would like to emphasize once again that BG3 is a title that can be thoroughly enjoyed even without such preparation. After playing the game, when you want to know more about this world, please remember this article. Beyond that lies a vast and dense fantasy world.