BG3

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

19 minutes ago, majestic said:

Finally reached level 5, making the Goblin camp clearing much less tedious. Actually, it makes all the combat much less tedious.

Also, uhm, not sure if I'm wrong about this, but that Spectator battle was probably not meant for level 4 parties, right?

The extra attack and level 5 spells are truly game changers. It's a shame the Rogue gets screwed on that front.

No, I think the Spectator is meant for level 5 or 6 parties.

[majestic]

25 minutes ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

No, I think the Spectator is meant for level 5 or 6 parties.

Died all the same though.

Spoiler

Well, technically the Drow party killed it, Lae'zel just went in for the finishing hit. Sacred Flame cleanses charm even if it misses, for some reason. Shadowheart was really busy.  

 

[Wormerine]

15 hours ago, Humanoid said:

JK Simmons? Is that the person who wrote the Harry Potter books?

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Wormerine

[InsaneCommander]

I was playing late at night and the Dream Guardian not only wouldn't shut up, but also started to freak out near the Githyanki Créche. I was tired and annoyed, so I saved the game and decided to make some stupid decisions just to see what would happen. I found out it is actually much harder to have a game over than what should be expected.

Spoiler

I told the Githyanki I had the tadpole in my brain and they didn't attack me. I let Lae'zel do the "treatment" and even without interfering, the Guardian saved her. I gave the artifact to the Githyanki officer and it simply returned to me. The Guardian was not pleased. Specially when I agreed to go inside the prism and kill her.

Eventually I decided to just have a conversation to learn more about the story and guess what, now the Guardian didn't wanna talk.

Edit: to be fair, I did learn some things, but the big questions were not answered.

Edited September 8, 2023 by InsaneCommander

[Wormerine]

5 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

Edit: to be fair, I did learn some things, but the big questions were not answered.

Big question won't be answered until a pre determined time.

[InsaneCommander]

I replayed the Crèche and, ironically, ended up with the same results. In part because I failed some tests, but also because

Spoiler

the Githyanki captain knew that I had the artifact and didn't let me change the subject. I could have refused to give it to her, but it was pretty obvious it would end up in a battle. So, instead, I played along and went inside the artifact to talk with the Guardian.

I'm still cleaning the place and so far it's been very satisfactory, especially when I used Lathander's mace's sunbeam to fry the people who desecrated the place. Apparently they moved the young and children, so I can keep avoiding hurting the innocent. If you can call them that, since Githyanki kids look even worse than the Goblins.

Btw, I confess I did another experiment with save scumming and managed to get a game over by challenging a certain queen about her godly status.

[majestic]

Well, I missed out on the stat increase.

Spoiler

Because I trounced Ethel too quickly. She died before starting to speak because she didn't get a turn at low enough hitpoints. Ho-hum. Naughty Lae'zel, naughty.

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by majestic

[Wormerine]

I think this is it folks. My journal looks suspiciously empty, and I run out of unexplored houses to break into. I think it is time to start wrapping things up. We will see if the ending is as bad as people claim.

I clothed Laez in drops from edgy bosses. Suits her well, I say (Potential spoilers, open at your own discression)

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Wormerine

[MrBrown]

I wouldn't say the ending is particularly bad. I found it mostly boring, and not very original. Some decisions felt too forced to feel dramatic.

If you have specific ending you want for some NPCs, you might be disappointed.

[InsaneCommander]

So, the Githyanki younglings didn't leave. They were just there in the classroom, standing beside their arrogant teacher, so I had to fight them. It was a lesson to remember, like they will never have again. While that is literally true since they all died, it was a great lesson. I threw everything I could think about, except for exploding barrels.

I started by casting Spiked Growth, Glyph of Warding (Fire, so they can pay for disrespecting Lathander's temple), Web, Grease and anything else that wouldn't trigger the battle. Then Gale cast Confusion, affecting four students and, before they knew what had hit them, Lae'zel knocked the instructor prone. The battle begun and I closed the door, letting them practice on their own until my turn came.

The bad news was that it became so easy that there was no opportunity to cast Fireball. Well, you can't have everything, right?

Best part? Lae'zel probably approved all of it, despite the game not showing it. And so did the instructor, with all that talk about eliminating the weak.

[Hawke64]

1 hour ago, InsaneCommander said:

So, the Githyanki younglings didn't leave. They were just there in the classroom, standing beside their arrogant teacher, so I had to fight them. It was a lesson to remember, like they will never have again. While that is literally true since they all died, it was a great lesson. I threw everything I could think about, except for exploding barrels.

I started by casting Spiked Growth, Glyph of Warding (Fire, so they can pay for disrespecting Lathander's temple), Web, Grease and anything else that wouldn't trigger the battle. Then Gale cast Confusion, affecting four students and, before they knew what had hit them, Lae'zel knocked the instructor prone. The battle begun and I closed the door, letting them practice on their own until my turn came.

The bad news was that it became so easy that there was no opportunity to cast Fireball. Well, you can't have everything, right?

Best part? Lae'zel probably approved all of it, despite the game not showing it. And so did the instructor, with all that talk about eliminating the weak.

1. Very impressive tactics and it is poetic; 2. There is non-lethal damage. In most cases the game treats it the same as lethal and it also breaks some quests, but there is also 1 (one) side quest where it works as intended.

Edit. For melee only.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Hawke64

[InsaneCommander]

13 minutes ago, Hawke64 said:

1. Very impressive tactics and it is poetic; 2. There is non-lethal damage. In most cases the game treats it the same as lethal and it also breaks some quests, but there is also 1 (one) side quest where it works as intended.

Edit. For melee only.

I forgot about that. It would have been more appropriate for a good character and more humiliating for them. Well, as you said, the game doesn't care so I'll just pretend I didn't slaughter their youth.

It would have been another interesting battle, but unfortunately I just spent half an hour organizing my inventory, leveling up and dyeing, so I'm not gonna replay it.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I'm out of Act 2. Raided a mausoleum/gauntlet of Shar, saved a prisoner, resisted the imp butler's recommendations, and raided Moonlight Towers.

Thots

-Gauntlet of Shar is a very good dungeon. I did like the ruined architecture and the Sharran challenges were nice. Also I killed a whole party with Persuasion again lmao.

-The hardest fight in Moonlight Towers was in the front door and by Selune the Harpers are dumb as ****. It was funny though, my Bard's hypnotism got counterspelled and then Gale immediately threw one and cc'd the bulk of enemy forces.

-Swords Bard with Hand Crossbows is broken as hell. Combine it with an elixir of bloodlust and Cull the Weak and you can reliably use your bonus action to get an additional action, which you can use 4x Slashing Flourish with for a grand total of 8 attacks with a bonus d8 or d10 each. Hits like a truck in melee too.

-Shadowheart is a brainwashed Selunite. There were clues before like her memory with the wolf, but it's nice to see the suspension confirmed. Also the Sharran who kidnapped her had purple skin, so I guess Vicciona is still around.

-I killed Kethric with dialogue only for him to transform into an avatar. No reaction to it, like Myrkul being angry and assuming direct control. The fight itself was easier than Krell and her gang, but I think that's because Nightsong hit his ass very hard.

-Yup, it's the Dead Three plot. Gortash is the chosen of Bane and is the evil politician while Orin is an insane murderhobo who is obviously Bhaal's chosen. They all hate each other.

-More DU stuff, the Bonedaughter recognized me as her old toy so she probably did some weird brain stuff. And I found a letter from the Chosen of Bhaal before Orin, who wanted to kill the entire world for daddy Bhaal with a note from Balthazar about how Orin was right. So looks like more evidence that the DU is a Revan and a Bhaalspawn.

-The game continues to be extremely horny with Isobel and Nightsong/Dame Aylin reuniting and in camp Aylin telling you to leave because she has some "reuniting" to do with Isobel.

[Wormerine]

1 hour ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

-Gauntlet of Shar is a very good dungeon. I did like the ruined architecture and the Sharran challenges were nice.

Was it? I found it rather dull. Like a lot of act2 it lacked narrative drive. I am also not fan of Larian dungeons, that tend to look like alien spaceships.

[Wormerine]

On 9/9/2023 at 10:54 PM, MrBrown said:

I wouldn't say the ending is particularly bad. I found it mostly boring, and not very original. Some decisions felt too forced to feel dramatic.

If you have specific ending you want for some NPCs, you might be disappointed.

Finished! Yeah, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, considering what I have read over at Larian's forums. I did found it drag on for a bit took long.

The ending, I feel, is a fair representation of the rest of the game. You can go EVIL, but it feels like a false ending to me - there is no narrative backbone behind it, so the game has no idea what to do with it. Good ending felt better, if rather clunky. Sone unintentionally hilarious bits - like Astarion running away while being burn by sun, and absolutely no one in the party giving a single ****. I think the game could benefit from ending slides. While the game doesn't hint at character's future, it would be nice to have a wrap up on how their stories actually played out.

[InsaneCommander]

Act 2 is really buggy. I left the map twice and received a backpack each time. When I sent them to camp, the game crashed.

Later, I survived a tough battle after being ambushed, just to have everyone killed

 

Spoiler

by the Shadow curse, despite having Light and Daylight cast on two characters and Lathander’s mace’s blessing. There were no more enemies in the area, so even if they dispelled my spells, shouldn’t the mace still work? And wasn’t Shadowheart protected?

I had to replay the battle, but at least it was a good one.

Then there was a cutscene with the Harpers (apparently champions of Darwin’s Awards) and it ended in a combat far away from where I was. I rushed and spent haste potions to try and save them, but RNGesus didn't love them and I couldn't save all of them.

These might not be new things, but I can’t select an attack target for Scratch unless he is right beside the enemy. The highlight disappears. And when hasted, Gale can’t cast two fireballs at the same place for some reason. The second time he needs more movement. Go figure.

 

6 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

Harpers are dumb as ****.

So it is not a bug.

[Hawke64]

Just in case, if you have summons or wild-shape active, NPCs might react slightly negatively, and in the Shadow-Cursed Lands it might get really unpleasant.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Rested twice in a row and ended up meeting my guardian again, who was under attack by some ninjas. 

7 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Was it?

Yeah, I liked the balance of ruined temple and dark magic architecture a lot and 2 of the 3 individual challenges were fun, as was the fight in the silenced room.

2 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

So it is not a bug.

Unfortunately not, Harpers have been consistently dumb in every fight they've helped in. The one that takes the cake is when you first come out of the Underdark and have to fight shadows for the first time, the harper archer ran outside of the light and got turned into an undead.

[InsaneCommander]

Ok, apparently I lost the light spells when I switched from melee to ranged weapons. I can't be sure since I died when it happened. As for the others,

Spoiler

Lathander's mace and Shadowheart's immunity don't seem to work.

 

1 hour ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

The one that takes the cake is when you first come out of the Underdark and have to fight shadows for the first time, the harper archer ran outside of the light and got turned into an undead.

That is the one I saw. One of his friends passed through a Cloud of Daggers and another through a Moonbeam. I cast both spells.

Btw, I forgot to mention that I couldn't find a certain quest item* and, to improvise, I tried to play a Lyre to the guys you meet at the beginning of the act. They didn't like it and started throwing stones at me. I kicked one of them out of the "stage" and a battle begun.

*I'm talking about

Spoiler

Minthara's Spider Lyre. Not sure if I sold it since I always send unique items to camp, even if they seem useless, like other, non magical musical instruments.

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by InsaneCommander

[BruceVC]

On 9/9/2023 at 10:14 PM, Wormerine said:

I think this is it folks. My journal looks suspiciously empty, and I run out of unexplored houses to break into. I think it is time to start wrapping things up. We will see if the ending is as bad as people claim.

I clothed Laez in drops from edgy bosses. Suits her well, I say (Potential spoilers, open at your own discression)

  Reveal hidden contents

How many hours you spent  on BG3 Wormie?

[MrBrown]

14 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Finished! Yeah, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, considering what I have read over at Larian's forums. I did found it drag on for a bit took long.

The two fights before the final fight felt really long and pointless to me. I ended up checking online how to stealth through the second one.

[Bartimaeus]

13 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

Unfortunately not, Harpers have been consistently dumb in every fight they've helped in. The one that takes the cake is when you first come out of the Underdark and have to fight shadows for the first time, the harper archer ran outside of the light and got turned into an undead.

video game appearances of the harpers have pretty consistently made them out to be the most worthless secret superhero society that I've ever seen

give me batman over those jokers, at least he's good for punching people in the face

[Wormerine]

2 hours ago, BruceVC said:

How many hours you spent  on BG3 Wormie?

the save showed about 110h, though that doesn’t count reloading, though I didn’t reload much. Maybe add an hour or two at the most. 
 

2 hours ago, MrBrown said:

The two fights before the final fight felt really long and pointless to me. I ended up checking online how to stealth through the second one.

I don’t think they were pointless. The first one felt like “see how powerful you grew” - mawing through enemies you fought throughout the campaign.  There are a lot of enemies there, and enemy turns do take time. I think it would be better if I wouldn’t try to save up combat resources. How was I to know that Larian made a dungeon in which you can’t rest in, only to add full-rest machines after every encounter

 The 2nd one tutorialised a mechanic that final boss used, so I think it is somewhat necessary. It did feel off pacing wise - but I would blame the narrative side for that, over the gameplay.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

28 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

video game appearances of the harpers have pretty consistently made them out to be the most worthless secret superhero society that I've ever seen

give me batman over those jokers, at least he's good for punching people in the face

You're just saying that because they're disproportionately bards. Though you're not wrong, the dissonance between their secret agent hype and incompetent scrub in game reality is disappointing. I'm not expecting them to drop a big gun archwizard on every problem but when your idea for an iron crisis is to send a married couple to grab a teenager and then check it out later instead of a decently seasoned party then someone at your organization makes very poor decisions.

[Hawke64]

9 hours ago, MrBrown said:

The two fights before the final fight felt really long and pointless to me. I ended up checking online how to stealth through the second one.

They reminded me how much I liked Ukaizo - 1 boss battle, 1 short faction battle only and the resolution of the main story. Concise and elegant.

Spoiler

Though, the ones in Larian's D&D game were very optional and it was very amusing to activate Invisibility on the whole party before touching the area transition to the final Final Battle. Especially considering that you needed only one party member to be able to reach the brain rope thing (forgot how it was called), while the rest could stay in the safe area and auto-teleport on top of the brain.