110
Baldur’s Gate 3 had to be scaled back for the Series S, but the console still has a right to exist (www.vg247.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/gaming@beehaw.org
83 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

It'll be the cheapest place, by an absurd margin, to play Baldur's Gate 3.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 50 points 3 years ago (36 children)

Series S is the cheapest way to play the game by an absurd margin? Steam Deck is only about $100 more and it plays the game just fine.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 36 child comments
    •
  • [–] 31 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Absurd is too strong of a word, but 100$ ain't nothing. Not for everyone.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago

    It's literally 1/3rd more expensive and thats not an insignificant amount. If your rent increased by 1/3rd tomorrow you'd probably be pissed and if you had a 33.33 percent chance of getting struck by lightning by stepping outside tomorrow you'd probably stay indoors that day.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    $100, plus the cost of the mandatory microSD or SSD you'll need to add to even install the game on Deck, plus the $50 discount for the Series S if you have a modicum of patience. The difference is more like $175-200, and last year the Series S was $100 off for Black Friday. Assuming the game is targeting holiday 2023 for Xbox, you could potentially grab the Series S + BG3 for under $300.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    I've played this on my deck, and it is playable, but the frame rate was not stable unless it capped it 30 and the graphics had to be dialed back a bit. If the S can hit 60 then it's already a better version.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 child)

    I play at 900p60. Turn literally everything to low or off except textures at medium. Enable the AMD upscaling to the highest quality setting (forget what it's called). Be sure to turn off Antialiasing (don't really need it at high resolutions) and God rays. Turn off all optional things but those two are the most important. Also, if BG3 is installed to an SD card, then enable slow HDD mode.

    It still stutters a little when transitioning to cut scenes, but I believe that exists in all PC versions.

    Edit: And I have made it (what I think is) mostly through Act 2. I've also hosted an online session with my friend (who also plays on Steam Deck using my settings) and my husband (gaming laptop) with no issues.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago

    It's only able to hold a relatively stable 30fps in act 1. As soon as you hit act 2 it struggles to escape the teens, even on low settings. It was so bad that I had to abandon playing on Deck and move to my PC.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago (8 children)

    Asking out of genuine ignorance here: is there a setup that allows a 100+ GB game to be played on the 64GB Steam Deck?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
    •
  • [–] 17 points 3 years ago*

    You can plug in an SD card and install it there, it will have longer load times but shouldn't affect gameplay much otherwise.

    Edit: You can also expand the USB slots and get an external SSD

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 13 points 3 years ago* (2 children)

    128GB micro SD cards are like $12. 512GB is maybe 40$. Can get a 1TB SD card for $100 but I think the 512 is a good middle ground between price and storage.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Yeah, 256 is around $20 last I looked, too. Not bad. Been considering getting one, probably not for anything with an install this large, but it's nice to know I'd have the option.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago (2 children)
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago (10 children)

    Not currently, no. They burned enough dev cycles trying to get split screen co-op on the S that now BOTH the S and X versions are delayed, which I guess is better than "not happening at all."

    The S has every right to exist, but as soon as it starts interfering with Series X development (which has been for a while now), it's time for it to go.

    Microsoft needs to cut it loose like the boat anchor it is and just release a discless Series X and call it good.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 10 child comments
    •
  • [–] 10 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    It's one game. By and large developers have managed to get games running pretty well and feature complete ok the S. Some really impressive attempts like the Cyberpunk version. Everyone is thowing the baby out with the bathwater over one game.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    It's one game that actually utilizes the power of the series x, and isn't watered down to work on the S.

    Think of all the games that were made worse because they HAD to run on lower quality hardware

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago

    Quite frankly, I don't think that's true.

    We've got games coming out at the moment that use Unreal 5 and it's next gen features that are still coming out on the S like Immortals or Remnant 2. They have reduced fidelity on the S as expected but they still run fine there. BG3 is literally held up over one issue, the split-screen, that they're apparently still working on to see if they can patch it back in post launch, MS clearly just let them launch without it to take a win back from Sony.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Wait until you hear about all of the dev cycles spent getting games on the Switch.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    In most cases, Nintendo platforms are ignored by 3rd parties. Non-Nintendo games rarely sell well there:

    https://www.vgchartz.com/article/449937/the-switchs-growing-third-party-problem/

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago

    All sorts of "impossible" poets were being made to switch a few years ago. Witcher 3, Doom, Wolfenstein 2, etc. The games have moved on to the point it's not feasible anymore, but they would put them on there if they could.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Good luck installing BG3 on that 64GB eMMC, mate.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Am I misreading your comment? You're saying Series S is not the cheapest because Steam Deck is more expensive? Did you have a typo? Am I suffering CO poisoning?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •