What happens when you kiss a mindflayer in Baldur's Gate 3?
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Baldur's Gate 3 takes place in the fictional world of the Forgotten Realms during the year of 1492 DR, over 120 years after the events of the previous game, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, and months after the events of the playable Dungeons & Dragons 5e module, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. The story is set primarily in the Sword Coast in western Faerûn, encompassing a forested area that includes the Emerald Grove, a druid grove dedicated to the deity Silvanus; Moonrise Towers and the Shadow-Cursed Lands, which are covered by an unnatural and sentient darkness that can only be penetrated through magical means; and Baldur's Gate, the largest and most affluent city in the region, as well as its outlying suburb of Rivington. Other places the player will pass through include the Underdark, the Astral Plane and Avernus.
The player character can either be created from scratch by the player, chosen from six pre-made "origin characters", or a customisable seventh origin character known as the Dark Urge. All six pre-made origin characters can be recruited as part of the player character's party. They include Lae'zel, a githyanki fighter; Shadowheart, a half-elf cleric; Astarion, a high elf vampire rogue; Gale, a human wizard; Wyll, a human warlock; and Karlach, a tiefling barbarian. Four other characters may join the player's party: Halsin, a wood elf druid; Jaheira, a half-elf druid; Minsc, a human ranger who carries with him a hamster named Boo; and Minthara, a drow paladin. Jaheira and Minsc previously appeared in both Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.
Unlike previous games in the Baldur's Gate series, Baldur's Gate 3 has turn-based combat, similar to Larian's earlier games Divinity: Original Sin and Divinity: Original Sin II; all combat is based on the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition rules. Most mechanics and spells are taken from the tabletop role-playing game version of Dungeons & Dragons, although few are modified or omitted due to the adaptation of the game into a role-playing video game format. There are 12 character classes, which are further subdivided into 46 subclasses. Each class focuses on a different aspect of the combat system, such as a Wizard who focuses on spell casting a large variety of spells or a Barbarian who focuses on unarmoured melee combat. The player can also select more than one class per character, which is referred to as multiclassing, allowing the player to build their character in many different and unique ways.
The game incorporates a roster of 10 companion characters who are available for players to enlist in their party. Each of these characters has a personal story and a narrative that the player can explore further. The player can develop relationships with companion characters based on plot and dialogue choices made. Some of the companion characters are only accessible provided that the player makes specific plot or dialogue choices.
All characters, both major and minor, are fully voice acted and motion captured, amounting to approximately 1.5 million words of performance capture.
The game features a limited free floating camera, allowing the player to play the game in any camera ranging from fully third-person camera to an isometric top-down view. The game's user interface has both a mouse and keyboard and a controller mode. In both modes, the player can use spells and combat actions, manage inventory, see the map, display player and companion character's statistics and select various gameplay elements such as allied and enemy characters.
The game has modding support, although not all features and tools are available at launch, and modding options are expected to expand with subsequent updates. Many mods are available from the community, allowing the player to change various aspects of the game.