Baldur’s Gate 3

[JirinPanthosa]

Such a huge release I thought I’d create a topic. I’m only a few hours in but it seems incredibly good so far. Faithful to D&D but transitioned to a video game better than 1-2 ever did with 2nd Ed. Cool story characters plus great customization. And much better balancing than Divinity: OS2.

I’m playing as Dark Urge, Dragonborn sorcerer with unconscious urge to violence. I like the storyline, I’m playing him as someone who tries to resist his violent urges. I’m just worried his unconscious behavior will make it hard to maintain a party.

Does anyone else think that the company called attention to the bear thing just hoping news stations would come out morally against it to drive up sales?

 

[FPAlpha]

I bought it 3 days ago and didn't even at first ( or way later since i still have so many unfinished good games).

Thoroughly impressed by the scope of it ( as much as i've seen with only 10 hours played) and the amount of possibilities - i've had multiple situations now that i could resolve either by fighting or dialogue and it's always fun to ponder what answer might get me out of a tight spot. I was a big roleplaying gamer in my 20s, not D&D though, so anytime i get to actively roll dice is exciting to me including the nailbiting if i'll succeed.
I also like the finality of failed automated checks like perception - i entered a house once and my entire party failed their perception so an entire quest line was out of reach for me ( i learned of this while i was checking some tips online). It's an interesting experience to be denied something and have no chance to repeat this ( other than reloading the game).

I also play Dark Urge with Urge to Violence, though this was rather unvoluntary as i completely missed the options during character creation to fine tune these - that is my currently only gripe with the game. It seems the developers assumed some kind of familiarity with D&D and the pen & paper rules because the explanations are rudimentary at best, if there are any at all ( or i have disabled them). I'm having a bit of a hard time grasping the concepts and rules of magic for my Sorcerer with all these Spell Slots and the rest, it's not very intuitive and the studio could have explained this a bit better or maybe even included official D&D rules, that would have been a nice bonus.

There's also been a couple of crashes occasionally but Larian releases Hotfixes almost daily it seems and that's good and bad to a degree. Obviously i'd want a perfect product from the start but i'm realistic enough to know that games this complex and large will have some kinks even after a 3 year early access phase but it's in a far better state than many modern games i've played early after release, which is something.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

My biggest gripe with the game is I think quest lines in the journal need 'Recommended level'. It's the same gripe I had with Divinity: Original Sin 2. If I am level 3, and I try to further a questline where all the enemies are level 5, the game has just wasted my time. Not being able to forsee that kind of thing forces me to save scum which makes me feel dirty. But there's no way to tell if a quest is overlevel for you except for trial and error.

Put a recommended level on the questlines so I don't waste my time, the game would be nearly perfect.

 

[FPAlpha]

My biggest gripe with the game is I think quest lines in the journal need 'Recommended level'. It's the same gripe I had with Divinity: Original Sin 2. If I am level 3, and I try to further a questline where all the enemies are level 5, the game has just wasted my time. Not being able to forsee that kind of thing forces me to save scum which makes me feel dirty. But there's no way to tell if a quest is overlevel for you except for trial and error.

Put a recommended level on the questlines so I don't waste my time, the game would be nearly perfect.

I'm not sure i agree because it is quite "realistic" not to know the actual strength of someone until it's go time. We as gamers are simply not used to withdrawing and trying again later when we are stronger and more experienced.

However i've read about similar complaints that the game at times simply ramps up the difficulty at certain spots and makes it unnecessary hard. I have not encountered that yet even if i had some tense fights that if it would have went on for more than a round or two my group would be dead ( once it happened but that was more my fault for rushing in too unprepared and without a plan).

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'm not sure i agree because it is quite "realistic" not to know the actual strength of someone until it's go time. We as gamers are simply not used to withdrawing and trying again later when we are stronger and more experienced.

However i've read about similar complaints that the game at times simply ramps up the difficulty at certain spots and makes it unnecessary hard. I have not encountered that yet even if i had some tense fights that if it would have went on for more than a round or two my group would be dead ( once it happened but that was more my fault for rushing in too unprepared and without a plan).

It’s a video game, fun trumps realism. Most of the time this hasn’t happened in situations where withdrawal is possible. So it’s just “Unavoidable TPK” and forces you to save scum. It turns exploration into brute force trial and error.

I had a really frustrating TPK that really pissed me off because it could have been avoided if the follow AI sanely avoided damage floors or if it automatically went to turn mode any time someone is in death saves or taking damage.

Basically, I just won a fight against enemies of Karlach, but Karlach and Gale went down so they had 1 hp. But, Karlach sets fire to the house while I’m trying to loot, and Gale walks into the fire and death saves out before I realize he’s even down. And he, to my surprise, creates a cloud of narcotic damage when he is dead. Before I even realize where the damage is coming from two more people are down.

This kind of thing seems like they should have systems in place to prevent that kind of crap. Follow AI should never get itself killed just by walking through damage floors and any time that time sensitive events are occurring it should pause the screen and give you the option to go into turn mode. Now because of systems I had no control over, I have to redo a tough fight.

 

[FPAlpha]

I just love the flexibility of combat and character interactions in this game - you can solve many situations in quite creative ways.

Earlier in i managed to recruit 3 Ogers in a goblin camp to help out when i blow a horn the leader gave me. Later there is a quest where i have to kill 3 Goblin Leaders, the first 2 are rather easy as they are either alone or not many goblins around to support their leader in the fight. The 3rd one though is a tough nut to crack - many life points and quite hard. My sorcerer has an ability though that creates a sort of shockwave around him able to push people around - if a character is being pushed into a chasm he insta-dies. Guess what? That leader was close to such a chasm.

I positionen my other team members in elevated positions and my character shoved the leader to his death, after which i blew the horns and it was an easy fight then on with 3 huge Ogers turning the Goblins into mincemeat.

Best part though was that the Oger Leader demanded payment for his one time support but i managed to blindside him by promising even more loot in the next fight so i got to keep their services for the next big fight

 

[BillJ]

My wife already has about 40 hours played on the Steam Deck.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I have about 14 hours played now. I just did the goblin camp part. I was already level 4 at the time, with Dark Urge, Lae’Zel, Karlach and Wyll. I was able to sneak in the front door and get to the ritual before aggroing anyone. I was able to kill all the leaders and save Haslin. I am wondering if it would have let me do a long rest in the middle of the goblin camp.

My set up for Urge is he has a mantle that lets him turn invisible if he kills anyone, so he can rush into a crowd, thunder wave, then move out safely. Then Lae’Zel and Karlach beat down the bosses while Wyll does crowd control with Shatter.

I haven’t settled on a fixed party of 4 yet. I don’t like Gale because if he ever dies he drags my party down with him. I have trouble using Astarion well because it’s usually hard to hide enough to leverage sneak attack. But hard to leave one behind between Lae’Zel, Karlach, Wyll and Shadowheart.

 

[SPCTRE]

This is the best video game I have ever played.

 

[FPAlpha]

I have about 14 hours played now. I just did the goblin camp part. I was already level 4 at the time, with Dark Urge, Lae’Zel, Karlach and Wyll. I was able to sneak in the front door and get to the ritual before aggroing anyone. I was able to kill all the leaders and save Haslin. I am wondering if it would have let me do a long rest in the middle of the goblin camp.

My set up for Urge is he has a mantle that lets him turn invisible if he kills anyone, so he can rush into a crowd, thunder wave, then move out safely. Then Lae’Zel and Karlach beat down the bosses while Wyll does crowd control with Shatter.

I haven’t settled on a fixed party of 4 yet. I don’t like Gale because if he ever dies he drags my party down with him. I have trouble using Astarion well because it’s usually hard to hide enough to leverage sneak attack. But hard to leave one behind between Lae’Zel, Karlach, Wyll and Shadowheart.

I haven't been able to find Lae'zel but i got Karlach, Wyll, Shadowheart, Gale and Halsin. My party consists of Dark Urge ( me) as a Sorcerer, Karlach ( Damage Dealer and Tank), Shadowheart ( Supporter and Healer) and Astarion ( annoyance in combat but very good lockpicker). I had Gale in the party for a long time in Act 1 but with him i had 2 squishy magic users and replaced him with Karlach as soon as i found her and it works much better, especially if i beef her up with Shadowhearts protection spells.

You can rest inside the goblin camp safely but just don't go outside the front doof after you've killed the 3 leaders - for some reason the Goblins outside are pissed at you

Currently in Act 2 with about 40 hours played and just lost a major battle with major story implications, so i cheated the first time in a major way and used a previous save until i had a favorable battle outcome. Could have used the first outcome but it was just too depressing

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I have Halsin in my camp, can he actually join your party?

At this point I'm at level 5 at the start of act 2. I did the business with the creche. Looked around the monastery but could not find the fourth ceremonial weapon. I hate these segments where you have to choose between spending hours looking for tiny nearly invisible items and cheating looking it up online. So decided to go back and find the selune temple route instead of mountain pass.

 

[FPAlpha]

I have Halsin in my camp, can he actually join your party?

At this point I'm at level 5 at the start of act 2. I did the business with the creche. Looked around the monastery but could not find the fourth ceremonial weapon. I hate these segments where you have to choose between spending hours looking for tiny nearly invisible items and cheating looking it up online. So decided to go back and find the selune temple route instead of mountain pass.

Yes you can, you just have to start talking to someone in your party and choose the option of asking them to stay in the camp. Then talk to Halsin and ask him to join the party ( had to google that though, the game doesn't explain that at all).

At some point you just want to move along. I spent around 30 hours in Act 1, did many side quests and just explored the map. I have missed some things which later found out online while checking for something else but the game is so vast that it's ok. You can always replay it with a different character and party set up and make even big changes like how you want to end Act 1 and move on, the game has a high replayablity factor.

It's a good game for players that want to enter D&D world, but in it's very basic form. I mean the game doesn't even have Alignments. So super basic form of D&D, not that it matter if you are enjoying the story.
The only questionable part is amount of porn they added to the game, while calling it " Romance ".

I was a hardcore pen & paper roleplaying gamer in my 20s ( though not D&D) and back then in Germany there were regular conventions all throughout the year. I was part of a big online chat group and we often met at these conventions for gaming and just to hang out in person and let me tell you - these conventions were always also centres for "interpersonal relations", so in comparison BG3's romance options are rather tame compared to what went down in part at these conventions at night when everybody went to their hotels or where they were staying for the time

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Alignments are being phased out from D&D too, most people playing 5th don't or hardly use them just because they're too simple to represent interesting moral choices.

I didn't know there were controllable characters who were not starting characters. I'll have to try him out. Is Volo playable too? A lot of my expectations about how the game works come from my experience in Divinity: Original Sin 2 where there were no playable characters who were not main story characters.

For my first playthrough I'm trying to go completely pure, no guides. Save scumming only to avoid losing progress for an OP fight, not for outcomes of choices and rolls. The only questions I'm even asking people are "This puzzle, can I solve it with the things I have right here right now?" so I avoid wasting hours on something I can't solve yet.

If I do a second playthrough I will read all the guides.

The romance options are one of my biggest nitpicks about the game. I'm not a big fan of the 'Everyone is bi' stuff to begin with, but if they're going to do that, they need to give non-romantic choices for all the characters that are not "Screw you I hate you". I feel like I can't ask to share a beer with a guy without him taking it as a come on. Give me a chance to pursue platonic friendships with the male characters should I so choose.

 

[FPAlpha]

Alignments are being phased out from D&D too, most people playing 5th don't or hardly use them just because they're too simple to represent interesting moral choices.

I didn't know there were controllable characters who were not starting characters. I'll have to try him out. Is Volo playable too? A lot of my expectations about how the game works come from my experience in Divinity: Original Sin 2 where there were no playable characters who were not main story characters.

For my first playthrough I'm trying to go completely pure, no guides. Save scumming only to avoid losing progress for an OP fight, not for outcomes of choices and rolls. The only questions I'm even asking people are "This puzzle, can I solve it with the things I have right here right now?" so I avoid wasting hours on something I can't solve yet.

If I do a second playthrough I will read all the guides.

The romance options are one of my biggest nitpicks about the game. I'm not a big fan of the 'Everyone is bi' stuff to begin with, but if they're going to do that, they need to give non-romantic choices for all the characters that are not "Screw you I hate you". I feel like I can't ask to share a beer with a guy without him taking it as a come on. Give me a chance to pursue platonic friendships with the male characters should I so choose.

Volo is a pure NPC but as i described it's easy to find out if you have a dialogue opton to invite said character to join your party. As far as i know for Act 1 companions can be Dark Urge, Lae'Zel, Astarion, Gale, Halsin ( after a huge quest), Shadowheart, Wyll and Karlach. Unfortunately i failed somehow to find Lae'Zel in my Act 1 playthrough and was not able to free her in the Nautiloid ship in the beginning, maybe i'll get a second chance in Act 2 or later but it doesn't look like it now.

Romance option became a thing since Mass Effect did it first and well, i.e. in ME it became a huge thing and entire guides were written how to romance certain characters. Ever since then most AAA RPGs had this, it seems like the studios believe players expect this now as a game element. Personally i don't care and don't romance anybody - i'm a grown man and don't see the point in starting a virtual relatonship ( that's basically just an affair to get a sex cut scene) just to have the illusion i'm actually role playing. However Astarion is quite funny because of the voice actor, who is doing a marvelous and hilarious job walking the tight rope between ridiculous and charming ( and there is the now infamous romance option that had the internet going nuts for a while ).
He's a racist and speciest though as he directly rejected my Dragonborn Sorcerer without me even hinting at anything - he just flat out refused any kind of romance on his own

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I don't mind the existence of romances, but Mass Effect had characters with their own distinct sexual identities instead of 'Everyone is bi', and also had *clearly marked* romance choices, and separate 'Only friends' choices. In BG3, you may be talking to a character you have no interest in, and the choices are romance, romance, romance, and "Go away I hate you". As a heterosexual male, I'd like to be able to tell the male characters "Come on let's go have a beer" without worrying I'm initializing a romance.

For me, Shadowheart was the one who had to be rescued from the pod on the ship, and Lae'zel just joined me automatically on the ship then I found her stuck in a cage.

I thought Dark Urge never joined you if you didn't choose his background.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I just realized that whereas in tabletop D&D Haste only gives you one extra attack, in BG3 it gives you a whole extra action, doubling your attacks.

Starting a fight with having Urge twin Haste on Lae'zel and Karlach is *incredibly* powerful.

 

[ashleytinger]

I've been playing this since beginning of September or so. Ran through once with a Tiefling Bard playing mostly good choices or trying to. Let most of my rolls land as they went and romanced Lae'zel.

I've since started a Dark Urge (probably deleting and starting over), a Wyll to romance Karlach, a 'Succubus' Tiefling Warlock/Bard build that really works well in combat and socials (haven't decided romance), an Oath of Vengeance Human Paladin (leaning Karlach), an evil Lolth Priestess Cleric build (it's definitely a VERY different playthrough going full on Evil based on Lolth Priestess choices and trying for a Minthara romance), a Half-Elf Evoker wizard based off of one of my tabletop characters from like 20 years ago (romancing Shadowheart), and then an Elf Wild Mage Sorcerer designed to nuke everything and romance Astarion.

I absolutely LOVE how this manages to capture the chaos of some of the best tables I've played at over the years and engages me on so many levels.

 

[SPCTRE]

 

[jenji120]

I just realized that whereas in tabletop D&D Haste only gives you one extra attack, in BG3 it gives you a whole extra action, doubling your attacks.

Starting a fight with having Urge twin Haste on Lae'zel and Karlach is *incredibly* powerful.

As a non-D&D player, a metric ton of this game has been a complete mystery to me. Not just skills like haste (wtf is that - i can walk faster?) but simple things like 1d4 +3 looked like an algebra equation to me. It's made things far more difficult at times and I've made a ton of mistakes because I simply had no clue how D&D systems worked. I think when I get around to my second playthrough it will be closer to a D&D player's first playthrough.

That said, I feel like I've been stuck in Act 3 forever. It feels way more directionless than the other acts and as such I haven't accomplished much more than Gale's personal quest ans Astarion's personal quest.

 

[jenji120]

I was a hardcore pen & paper roleplaying gamer in my 20s ( though not D&D) and back then in Germany there were regular conventions all throughout the year. I was part of a big online chat group and we often met at these conventions for gaming and just to hang out in person and let me tell you - these conventions were always also centres for "interpersonal relations", so in comparison BG3's romance options are rather tame compared to what went down in part at these conventions at night when everybody went to their hotels or where they were staying for the time

I'd be more surprised if you told me it was chaste. Dragon*Con in Atlanta alone has probably given the world enough children to take down Sauron's Army. Sex and bad music/barding will forever be a part of D&D and similar activities. They just will. It's like the Sun rising in the East.