BG3

[Hawke64]

47 minutes ago, HoonDing said:

Wait - is there a button to speed things up

Unfortunately, no, but the animation speed in general is decent and a lot of the combat encounters are avoidable. Though, those that are not, may last long.

8 hours ago, ShadySands said:

It doesn't want to download so maybe I'll get around to it next year

It might be a Steam issue - if the game receives an update during downloading, the progress resets.

---

Staged 2 prison breakouts. Isolating and assassinating the guards one by one was the way to go. Wrapped up what I wanted in Act 2 and proceeded to the point of no-return.

Reached the final battle of Act 2. Relatively spoiler-free technical observations:

Spoiler

I was able to avoid the grand melee (which included snipers on the high ground) by going around through a back entrance and climbing a ladder, then some wooden structures, then roots. The temporary NPC companion refused to group-sneak (in retrospect, I probably could have switched to the NPC and do it manually) and was covered by the Invisibility field. At the main entrance the foes kept shouting to stop stalling.

Then a small group of opponents was camping next to the door to the boss battle (3 lvl 3 and 1 lvl 7 or 8).

After interacting with the door to the roof where the boss was waiting, the PC got teleported into the boss' line of sight (the door should have led a bit back) and a cut-scene started. I don't think that this battle against a large group with the lvl 11 boss is avoidable or can be resolved via skill checks. So far, I've tried only the Invisibility spell, which turns off after the cut-scene starts. Will try sending the temporary companion or a familiar to trigger the dialogue and get the rest of the party into a more favourable position or to pull the group with the PC (who might survive not acting first and run away). Or just to Misty Step and send the boss flying off the roof (might not succeed - the thing looks heavy).

In terms of the general quest structure, I am impressed how many quests are optional and how much effort is put into them.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

She's a cleric and she just fails at everything

That doesn't bode well. What class did you end up going with?

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

So I took a page from KP and did The Dark Urge instead. I especially enjoyed my character waking up covered in a small pool of somebody else's blood.

It's a good choice. I did enjoy the scene where you cripple the intellect devourer by popping a thumb into it, even if it's not DU exclusive it fit the character like a glove.

I will try to play more of this tonight, I was too sore and exhausted the past couple of days to do anything.

[Humanoid]

Shadowheart suffers a bit with a weird stat allocation that's neither here nor there (13 Str 13 Dex) and the unpopular Trickery domain. But you unlock the ability to respec for a nominal fee very early in the game, as soon as the first couple of hours and at level 2-3. You can therefore change her fairly early on to whatever you like really - whether class or stats - so that alone isn't a big reason to ditch her.

I understand that's not the only reason for wanting to restart of course, and they're perfectly valid.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Humanoid

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

57 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Shadowheart suffers a bit with a weird stat allocation that's neither here nor there (13 Str 13 Dex) and the unpopular Trickery domain. But you unlock the ability to respec for a nominal fee very early in the game, as soon as the first couple of hours and at level 2-3. You can therefore change her fairly early on to whatever you like really - whether class or stats - so that alone isn't a big reason to ditch her.

I understand that's not the only reason for wanting to restart of course, and they're perfectly valid.

I think I'd respec the stat allocation if only because 5e makes Str and Dex a suboptimal combo for non-medium armor martials, but I would want to keep Shadowheart as a Cleric with a domain associated with Shar for lore friendly purposes. Maybe on a hypothetical 2nd playthrough I'll go with different things.

[Humanoid]

Shar had Knowledge as well in 3E and 4E, but yeah, no Death domain in BG3 for some reason. Though it might be something ripe for a mod?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Shar had Knowledge as well in 3E and 4E, but yeah, no Death domain in BG3 for some reason. Though it might be something ripe for a mod?

We'll have to wait for the modding community to perfect genitals first.

It appears that BG3 sources mostly from the 5e Player's Handbook for classes and only draws outside of it when classes have less than 3 subclass options.

[MrBrown]

I respecced my companions ability scores, but otherwise kept them the same.

Wyll's scores are the most stupid. He's supposed to be some kind of sword expert, but has Str 9 Dex 12.

[BruceVC]

34 minutes ago, MrBrown said:

I respecced my companions ability scores, but otherwise kept them the same.

Wyll's scores are the most stupid. He's supposed to be some kind of sword expert, but has Str 9 Dex 12.

Have you initiated any flirting  or Romance with Wylls hot Patron Mizora?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

22 minutes ago, MrBrown said:

I respecced my companions ability scores, but otherwise kept them the same.

Wyll's scores are the most stupid. He's supposed to be some kind of sword expert, but has Str 9 Dex 12.

If think the intention was to have him go with Pact of the Blade and use Cha instead of Str or Dex for weapons. Problem with that is Warlocks get stuck with only light armor proficiency so he'd need to invest in Dex anyways for the AC or dip into something for armor proficiency.

But Wyll's stats are a mess. He will never use Int and Dex is a good fit for initiative even if he does go for weapon combat.

[BruceVC]

 

Here are some really interesting Larian stats about this game 

Edited August 11, 2023 by BruceVC

[Hurlshort]

Huh, I'm surprised Wyll is one of the least popular choices. I thought he was a pretty easy one to jump into as a character. I also realize that I make unpopular choices, since my 2 created characters are a Human Templar of Tempus named Garret the Pale, and a Halfling Bard named Devin Eleven Toes.

[Bartimaeus]

4 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

That doesn't bode well. What class did you end up going with?

The mind flayer warlock. Wanted something Charisma-based, and I did want to be a caster but I don't enjoy failing dialogue dice rolls all the time.

I didn't know there already was a warlock in the game, guess I won't be using him much. Maybe I'll murder him, I am "the Dark Urge" after all.

4 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

It's a good choice. I did enjoy the scene where you cripple the intellect devourer by popping a thumb into it, even if it's not DU exclusive it fit the character like a glove.

I will try to play more of this tonight, I was too sore and exhausted the past couple of days to do anything.

I'm not even sure what the point of crippling the intellect devourer is, but I also did that with this new character. I don't know, seeing my blood-covered character look with suspicion and hatred at it kinda convinced me to try it. I'm not a hundred percent sure how I'll play my new lady yet, it'll perhaps depends on how much blood I can bathe in.

4 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Shadowheart suffers a bit with a weird stat allocation that's neither here nor there (13 Str 13 Dex) and the unpopular Trickery domain. But you unlock the ability to respec for a nominal fee very early in the game, as soon as the first couple of hours and at level 2-3. You can therefore change her fairly early on to whatever you like really - whether class or stats - so that alone isn't a big reason to ditch her.

I understand that's not the only reason for wanting to restart of course, and they're perfectly valid.

Hmm, good to know. Honestly, I'm not sure what the right call is, it's difficult to know when you've played and know so relatively little. I'm bad at playing these long games - chances of me finishing it are probably pretty low to begin with, never mind replaying it again, so there's kind of that pressure to try to do things how I want to just right on the first try, even though that's kind of impossible.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[InsaneCommander]

I played a little more and noticed some problems, mostly minor stuff, but there is at least one major one:

- The formation system is really bad in this game. How do I put Lae’zel (the fighter) in the second position? My character has to be the first for dialogues (she barely speaks so if I don’t do that, she will become irrelevant) and I can’t choose the position of the others. When I can plan ahead of a fight, I can separate the party and position everyone individually, which is not that bad, but how bad will it be when the battle starts after a dialogue? Well, at least my Druid and Shadowheart have higher AC than Lae’zel.

Once I moved Lae’zel to the second position and it worked, but now she just comes last, probably because she joined the party after the others. Do I need to remove and re-add companions every time I wanna change the formation?

Not sure what would be stranger, nobody having complained about this during early access or Larian ignoring it.

- Thieves’ tools are spent even when they aren’t necessary. For example: the DC is 10 and I have +5 bonus and +1d4 from Guidance. Perhaps I won't use the tools, even if I can’t re-roll. But why waste them if I can try again and again? Do I need to put them in a container before opening a door, to avoid wasting them? Or am I only allowed to try again because I still have tools? I didn't check this last possibility.

- Reached the first dungeon and, despite its small size, I found multiple copies of the same books (6 “The Unclaimed”, 5 “The Curse of the Vampyr”, 5 “The Mortal View: Eyewitnesses Accounts of the Bhaalspawn Crisis” and 4 “Death & Divinity: A Godly Guide”). There were even some copies together in the same shelf. Who makes the loot tables?

- Hats mess with hair style and color. You don’t really notice it while not in a dialogue so just hide them in conversations or remove them.

Other things:

The two guys I shoved into a hole were actually alive and not friendly at all.

The Inspiration system is interesting. You can gain XP and an Inspiration point (that allows you to reroll a failed check) when doing certain actions that make sense for your background.

[Humanoid]

Didn't realise Paladins were that popular, I wonder how many of them became Oathbreakers, surely it's the majority of them. Over a third of players siding with the goblins is also a mild surprise to me. That's about it though.

55 minutes ago, Hurlshort said:

I thought he was a pretty easy one to jump into as a character.

I didn't like his intro cutscene, felt a little like they were trying too hard to be cool. Kinda similar with Lae'zel's gratuitous flip when she ambushes you. Astarion's is a bit annoying because there probably should be a third option where you're suspicious of him. Gale's, while a little silly, is charming, and Shadowheart doesn't get one.

I haven't actually met Karlach yet, or rather, I haven't since Early Access where she was completely different and non-recruitable.

 

EDIT: Granted the stat is about playing as them, but I'd already met them three years ago in the above contexts so that permanently colours my perception of them.

  

25 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Thieves’ tools are spent even when they aren’t necessary

Aren't they always necessary? I don't think you can pick locks without them, because what are you going to use, your fingernails? I guess it makes sense in that context, though having access to makeshift tools makes sense too, like say, a cut-off bit of Red Bull can.

  

25 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

- Hats mess with hair style and color. You don’t really notice it while not in a dialogue so just hide them in conversations or remove them.

Getting Shadowheart a hat ASAP is a good idea because of it, it's a feature.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Humanoid

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

19 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

The mind flayer warlock. Wanted something Charisma-based, and I did want to be a caster but I don't enjoy failing dialogue dice rolls all the time.

I didn't know there already was a warlock in the game, guess I won't be using him much. Maybe I'll murder him, I am "the Dark Urge" after all

Cthullu is a little bigger than a mind flayer.

I think the classes companions don't use are Bard, Monk, and Sorcerer.....but I can't find a good confirmation on what classes Jaheria or Minsc use. So (unless Jaheria has taken up music or martial arts) if you want to play a class companions don't, be a Charisma based caster who doesn't fail checks, and are cool with respec or rerolling I'd go with a Bard. Sorcerer is garbage in 5e, you get outclassed by the Wizard at practically everything and lack the versatility of Bard or Warlock. Bard also gets a bonus to untrained skills so you'll be better at rolls.

25 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm not even sure what the point of crippling the intellect devourer is, but I also did that with this new character. I don't know, seeing my blood-covered character look with suspicion and hatred at it kinda convinced me to try it. I'm not a hundred percent sure how I'll play my new lady yet, it'll perhaps depends on how much blood I can bathe in.

For me, mutilation was the point. But I am playing the character as someone really struggling with murderous urges and doing that by sometimes picking violent actions for the sake of violence.

[Humanoid]

I think failing the lobotomy procedure might technically be optimal because it yields the most XP. It turns hostile and you can then kill it for like, 10xp.

[Hurlshort]

I think thieves tools are only spent when you need to reroll. You need at least one to attempt, and more if you don't succeed.

[InsaneCommander]

15 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Aren't they always necessary? I don't think you can pick locks without them, because what are you going to use, your fingernails? I guess it makes sense in that context, though having access to makeshift tools makes sense too, like say, a cut-off bit of Red Bull can.

That is indeed the case. I shouldn't speculate when playing half-asleep at 2 in the morning. Though, if this is anything like D:OS, we should be able to do it with a couple of needles.

23 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Getting Shadowheart a hat ASAP is a good idea because of it, it's a feature.

I didn't try that because none of the hats I have suit her. I found the floppy, brimmed (wizard) and rufflesome hats.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm not a hundred percent sure how I'll play my new lady yet, it'll perhaps depends on how much blood I can bathe in.

Bloodless, from Bloodstained, will be proud.

[Bartimaeus]

2 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

I think the classes companions don't use are Bard, Monk, and Sorcerer.....but I can't find a good confirmation on what classes Jaheria or Minsc use. So (unless Jaheria has taken up music or martial arts) if you want to play a class companions don't, be a Charisma based caster who doesn't fail checks, and are cool with respec or rerolling I'd go with a Bard. Sorcerer is garbage in 5e, you get outclassed by the Wizard at practically everything and lack the versatility of Bard or Warlock. Bard also gets a bonus to untrained skills so you'll be better at rolls.

I think I've told a more detailed version of this story here before, but the very first Baldur's Gate character I played when I was a young and very stupid child happened to be a bard, and for various reasons relating to that experience, I will not play or even have a bard in my party ever again. @majestic irrationally hates AMD, I irrationally hate bards. Guess I'm sticking with warlock, and if a completely normal bard NPC even says a word to me in this game, I am going to disembowel them and eat their organs.

2 hours ago, Humanoid said:

I think failing the lobotomy procedure might technically be optimal because it yields the most XP. It turns hostile and you can then kill it for like, 10xp.

I feel like being able to kill both the mind flayer and demonic lieutenant at the end of the tutorial (which is what I did) with the help of the intellect devourer is even better, though. I guess you can kill everything, but it would seem to start getting a bit difficult - those two cambions come in and start making things difficult awfully fast.

1 hour ago, InsaneCommander said:

Bloodless, from Bloodstained, will be proud.

But her name is Bloodless, why would she be interested in blood? Maybe because she doesn't have any? Well, whatever, best not to question any of the nonsense that happens in anime games.

2 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Getting Shadowheart a hat ASAP is a good idea because of it, it's a feature.

When I was making my character, I was choosing between half-elf and tiefling, and the only hair that I felt worked well with a tiefling's horns was Shadowheart's hair style, which is what eventually made me go with the half-elf, as I didn't want two characters with the same hair style. Well, Shadowheart has the big braid or whatever the heck thing it is as well, which isn't usable by the player, but I mean the rest of it. I think I found a couple of zero effect hats from random loot and tried them on her and her hair became ridiculous and terrible with them, so they get yoinked off immediately. She can wear her circlet for the entire game if it means not having to see her hair spontaneously get longer and flattened out ever again.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

8 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I think I've told a more detailed version of this story here before, but the very first Baldur's Gate character I played when I was a young and very stupid child happened to be a bard, and for various reasons relating to that experience, I will not play or even have a bard in my party ever again. @majestic irrationally hates AMD, I irrationally hate bards. Guess I'm sticking with warlock, and if a completely normal bard NPC even says a word to me in this game, I am going to disembowel them and eat their organs.

If there's one thing I understand  and condone, it's irrational hatred. Godspeed on the Warlock.

[InsaneCommander]

Is there a way to check past reactions from the companions? Something happened and the reaction text was shown for less than a second. I have no idea who liked what I did and who didn't.

[Keyrock]

3 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

If there's one thing I understand  and condone, it's irrational hatred. Godspeed on the Warlock.

I have a hatred for elves*, but I'd say that's pretty rational, I mean we are talking about elves.

* Excluding Shadowrun elves, I have nothing against Shadowrun Elves.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Keyrock

[Wormerine]

16 hours ago, BruceVC said:

 

Here are some really interesting Larian stats about this game 

Hmmm, the numbers here don’t seem very impressive. We don’t get an exact player count but we now how many origins were created and that sum is 7% of all characters created. Unless my estimate is off around 1,645,386 characters were created in total. Even if we assume no one created two characters (like I did), that would mean max of 1,6m players at most. That’s, significantly less than 2,5m of early access players. 

[HoonDing]

Well, they sure were right to dodge Skyfield

[BruceVC]

35 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Hmmm, the numbers here don’t seem very impressive. We don’t get an exact player count but we now how many origins were created and that sum is 7% of all characters created. Unless my estimate is off around 1,645,386 characters were created in total. Even if we assume no one created two characters (like I did), that would mean max of 1,6m players at most. That’s, significantly less than 2,5m of early access players. 

The updated sales figures  are going be  the most relevant  data but  but they not out yet?

Sales figures are the most important  metric to determine the success of any game and its future

So it will be interesting to see those numbers and how they progress