BG3

[Sarex]

3 hours ago, ShadySands said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

You must have an AMD CPU. Well known issue that quotes mess up on AMD.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

ive never heard intel being bad about amd, but maybe u right

intel's badness transcends (corporate) borders

I was thinking about random spikes in cpu usage causing cooler fans to max out. I heard from few people having that issue on Ryzen, although it could just as well have been the MB.

Maybe @majestic should try another brand of MB and see if it makes a difference.

[Hawke64]

13 hours ago, majestic said:

Uh, right. So first impressions:

• Larian jus can't make exploration not feel weird for me. I have to zoom in all the way and invert the Q/E default camera controls to make it work... somehow. By pretending that I'm playing a third person game where walking forward is boud to the left mouse button. Sigh.
• The game, for no apparent reason, has severe spikes in CPU load. I suppose that is what was mentioned as poor performance in this thread. It only lasts a second or two, with the annoying effect of making my case and radiator fans spin at maximum for all but two seconds.

That's pretty much all for now. Went Dark Urge, obviously - who wouldn't.

But... it is good to see the tried and tue cRGP approach: we're on a really urgent main quest, but also spelunking through dungeons. Because why not. Not like you're literally being consumed from the inside at the start of the game, right?

I've throttled my CPU to ~60% due to overheating (it's still 6 x 2.2MHz), so can't comment on the spikes, but the only time where I had FPS drops was in Act 3 with the Daylight spell on.

On 8/12/2023 at 1:41 PM, HoonDing said:

Every Larian game I've played has an impressive opening part then falls apart completely as the game progresses. This is very apparent in Divinity: Original Sin but also exists in Divine Divinity and Divinity 2.

After several hours of spelunking through the sewers and googling, I have to agree. The combat balance has become 4 vs 8+, the map markers have disappeared (except one), a certain quest that is critical for progression is not marked as such (haven't finished it yet, because I don't know where the public place the NPC mentioned is and I can't ask anyone else about it).

10 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I haven't learned if there's any time-keeping in this game yet, or any kind of calendar system, or...pretty much anything, because I haven't needed to rest yet. Haven't needed anything more than cantrips so far, and I'm not even save-scumming at all. Well, okay, I save-scummed a bit to make sure I could kill the demon lieutenant guy in the mind flayer ship again, but that's a special time-limited battle that's mostly out of your control.

There are time-sensitive quests, but I don't know what their triggers are (location, main quest progress, travelling between areas, long rests, etc.). On the other hand, some events in the camp progress only during long rests. I suppose, Pathfinder: Kingmaker at least had clear and visible timers.

---

Seeing Larian's interpretation of certain companions, while possibly not inaccurate considering the context, still is as pleasant as getting kicked in the face. Then again, in BG2 some of the BG1 party members died unavoidably and stupidly.
Progress-wise, hunting 2 bosses I need to end the act. If anyone knows where the smokepowder barrels are in Act 3, the information would be most welcome.

Some spoilers for companion quests (mostly technical parts):

Spoiler

Astarion:

Spoiler

I defeated Cazador by using the Daylight spell on the cleric and sitting behind the vampire. Then he retreated into his casket in the middle of the arena and when I interacted with it, the battle with the rest of his group triggered. The rogue acted first and was able to retreat before getting hit by the Sleep spell or being surrounded. I had to interact with the casket again in order to stake Cazador. Astarion did so, while the PC was sitting safely out of view but close enough - below the platform, but teleported in for the cut-scene and returned to the original under-platform position afterwards. Astarion, on the other hand, was not able to escape the foes and had to be resurrected at the camp.

Shadowheart:

Spoiler

Got to her objective under the Invisibility spell - I went first and unlocked the 30DC door, then she joined. Then we both fast-travelled to the camp. Why only her "objective" was in the room, but no one else, I do not understand.

Also, the Wizard's Hand was able to trigger the dialogue with the High Priestess and distract her for a minute.

The rest of the party seems to be bound to the main quest and just completing it should be enough.

On another note, Withers helpfully informed me that I do not have any romance active. Alas, I was unable to confess my feelings to him.

[MrBrown]

Traveling between main areas and long rests seem to used for counting time:

 

[HoonDing]

The way some BG2 characters are treated in this game... kinda gutsy tbh.

Edited August 14, 2023 by HoonDing

[Wormerine]

I finally ventured outside Early Access are, met one of the legacy characters. Nothing to blow my socks off. I feel like Larian is struggling to write compelling characters, who aren't over the top like Astarion. Karlach, who seems to be the only semi normal in the party, is also a total bore. It's probably due to characters being as deep as a puddle. They still didn't evolve beyond a one minute intro that game gives you during the character creation. So far, even Minsc in BG2 had more going for him than any of this lot (not in terms of content, but in terms of narrative potential).

I have been cooling off on the game. In my time with early access I generally enjoyed opening=>grove=>goblin camp, and after that my attention have been waning. Same is happening in this playthrough - I hoped things will picks up once I reach act2 but it still hasn't happened yet. I think lack of narrative drive is to blame. I am pursuing the same objective for about 20h. Narratively, nothing of note has happened in quite a while.

I was wondering if writing got better in BG3 or I got desensitized to it- I think a little bit of both. I was getting along with act1 just fine, but act2 really feels off to me so far - like as if Larian have done act1 for Early Access, and now they are just making stuff up as they go along. It feels like the game is not going anywhere - just another chunk of content to go through.

I am running into more and more issues with reactivity. Mostly small stuff, but some really odd ones, considering I feel like I am good boy and following paths set out by devs. The most recent example, is Gale crit. NPCs (oh gosh, Gales story somehow became even more idiotic) whom we met on a road, and sent him out to camp to chat with him later. Instead of being there, he appeared a new after I woke up, and the encounter played out as if we never met before, covering the same lines as before. Just... very weird, as in the first conversation "go to the camp and we will chat there" is an option, that the game gives you.

People harp on how much choice the game gives you - and I am just not feeling it. I can't recall when was the last choice I made - outside the big good/bad path. Sure, I get a choice to murder everyone I meet, but that's not a real choice, is it. I also don't like that the game lacks guts to restrict content. I already traded off "speaking with animals" from my PC. It's a worthless skill to own, considering how easily it is acquired from other sources. It' a real shame, speak with dead/animals etc. could provide nice spins to individual playthroughts, but the game is incapable of rewarding those choices - instead it's choose to make everything available to everyone, making everything feel rather bland.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I'm not very far in to the game, just recruited Karlach. It's very much DOS with 5e, which means it's often very silly and handles out of combat exploration better than most games. So far I've found that to be quite fun, but Bards seem generally well equipped for the game.

General thoughts:

-I'd prefer a 6 man party, because a lot of enemy parties seem to run with more than 5. I will definitely be using a mod for that in future playthroughs.

-I like Wyll, or at least what I like what I think his arc is going to be. He's very much someone playing the role of a hero rather than being a hero, with some obvious dark secrets and a lot of impostor syndrome. It's nice to see that instead of a classic Paladin for the "heroic" companion. Warlock is very good to boot.

-Laz's projection of competency is laughable )no magic or skills lmao) and Karlach is better. They're both frontliners who hit roughly the same but at least Karlach doesn't piss off half the party or npcs.

-Shadowheart is way too nice to be a Cleric of Shar, something is up with that. She's been very useful though, clerics are always nice to have around even if Trickery isn't a great domain.

-Astarion has been pulling a lot of weight, sneak attack hits hard and he fills out a lot of the space left by my Bard's bigger focus on being a face.

-Gale is great because Wizards are great, but the man is much too horny. Definitely a guy who doesn't take precautions.

-Dark Urge goes perfectly with the narrator, who also voiced Nyrissa and Wenduag for any Owlfinder connoisseurs. There's a sinister vibe about her performance that I love.

-That Druid lady is evil and I know I'm gonna find some **** on her.

[MrBrown]

46 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

People harp on how much choice the game gives you - and I am just not feeling it. I can't recall when was the last choice I made - outside the big good/bad path. Sure, I get a choice to murder everyone I meet, but that's not a real choice, is it. I also don't like that the game lacks guts to restrict content. I already traded off "speaking with animals" from my PC. It's a worthless skill to own, considering how easily it is acquired from other sources. It' a real shame, speak with dead/animals etc. could provide nice spins to individual playthroughts, but the game is incapable of rewarding those choices - instead it's choose to make everything available to everyone, making everything feel rather bland.

I think most of the "choice" it gives is reactivity to skills, classes etc other traits. Meaning you can approach something in many different ways. In this respect I think BG3 does better than most RPGs.

It doesn't change the overall narrative at all, outside of that one big good/evil choice.

There seems to be lots of variation on how various quests play out, but these seems to be mostly on a successful vs not-so-successful axis.

[lobotomy42]

Quote

make everything available to everyone

"Everything available to everyone" is definitely the ethos of the game, from romances, to quests, to skills, to tactics, to dice rolls.  It's similar to Bethesda games in that way -- no real limits on anything, so you can pretty much experience all there is to offer on one playthrough. The only limits are the ones you impose on yourself for role-playing purposes. The game certainly isn't going to force you to role-play.

From a sales perspective, this seems like a good strategy. Everyone who plays finds that they are good at whatever they try to do, and have success at everything. What a great time! No one ever has to feel like they are failing.

[InsaneCommander]

Wanna change your character's appearance after character creation? Apparently it's coming.

[Wormerine]

5 hours ago, MrBrown said:

I think most of the "choice" it gives is reactivity to skills, classes etc other traits. Meaning you can approach something in many different ways. In this respect I think BG3 does better than most RPGs.

Do they though? I can't speak for 1.0, but I replayed early access with every patch, and I never noticed much difference (again, aside from big good/bad path, which it seems you can switch back and forth throughout the playthrough, at least for now). Between team help inspiration point skill checks are mostly passable by any character regardless of their skill set, and I haven't really seen class/race options leading to unique outcomes. At best you might not have to take a roll for a skill check, but I dont' find those particularly valuable.

There are some good bits - the quest to kill goblin leaders is fantastic, and there are some nice sidequests with neat follow ups like rescuing Z. from gnolls. Unless I am just not very perceptive, most quest, though are not very sprawling. There is plenty of ways to break quest progression and for the game to march forward - like pickpocketing item before a characters hands it to you. But while cute, those tend to be too meta to make them interesting to me.

[majestic]

Kicked a squirrel to death for no reason. Game was worth the price of admission just for that.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

22 minutes ago, majestic said:

Kicked a squirrel to death for no reason. Game was worth the price of admission just for that.

If it's the squirrel I'm thinking of, that mother****er bites you first.

[Bartimaeus]

22 minutes ago, majestic said:

Kicked a squirrel to death for no reason. Game was worth the price of admission just for that.

I'm really torn between doing things how I normally do and being an utterly psychotic murderer. I snapped a totally helpless woman's neck for no reason and the rest of my party silently looked at me in horror with "what in the absolute hell is the matter with you...and are we also in danger?" expressions and it was kind of amazing, but like, it's really hard for me to stick with such egregiously insane choices.

Edited August 14, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

4 minutes ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

If it's the squirrel I'm thinking of, that mother****er bites you first.

No, it did nothing of the sort. The narrating lady even alled it the most adorable creature I've seen. I could tell Lae'zel was really impressed by it too, she said she'd call me if she's ever beset by rodents. Or something to that effect, anyway.

4 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm really torn between doing things how I normally do and being an utterly psychotic murderer. I snapped a totally helpless woman's neck for no reason and the rest of my party silently looked at me in horror with "what in the absolute hell is the matter with you...and are we also in danger?" expressions and it was kind of amazing, but like, it's really hard for me to stick with such egregiously insane choices.

I had similar problems with some of the choices in Planescape: Torment when I did an evil playthrough. Noticing the "drunk" prostitute trying to pickpocket you, then exorting money while she's stammering an apology and finally snapping her neck anyway felt pretty bad.

Not sure yet how I want to play my character, but so far I've lied to send some weirdoes to their death, but also made a bunch of children happy.

Things progress really slowly though. Constantly walking around checking every nook and cranny and reloading dialogues several times just to see what happens. No idea how large the game area is, but it'll take me a long while to get through the game even once.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

33 minutes ago, majestic said:

No, it did nothing of the sort. The narrating lady even alled it the most adorable creature I've seen. I could tell Lae'zel was really impressed by it too, she said she'd call me if she's ever beset by rodents. Or something to that effect, anyway.

The only squirrel I've come across I talked to with Wyll (using Beast Speech) and the ****er bit him. It backed off when he threatened to fry it. Did not talk to it with my PC tho, is this the one by the Druid camp?

48 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm really torn between doing things how I normally do and being an utterly psychotic murderer.

What's the difference?

So far I've found it easy enough to not be.....naughty, but I reckon there's going to be some forced **** down the line. By far the funniest moments haven't been in actually doing violence, but in telling my companions about the Dark Urge and see them kind of wave it off.

[majestic]

4 minutes ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

The only squirrel I've come across I talked to with Wyll (using Beast Speech) and the ****er bit him. It backed off when he threatened to fry it. Did not talk to it with my PC tho, is this the one by the Druid camp?

Yep. I walked over and talked to it, then trampled it to death. Actually the game didn't even give me a choice, it just happened. Not having Wyll in my party at the moment, and I usually do all the talking with my PC.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

4 minutes ago, majestic said:

Yep. I walked over and talked to it, then trampled it to death. Actually the game didn't even give me a choice, it just happened. Not having Wyll in my party at the moment, and I usually do all the talking with my PC.

Well then if your Dark Urge is the kind to regret, take comfort in the knowledge that could the squirrel talk to you, he'd bite you and then call you a bitch. It had the kicking coming tbh.

[ShadySands]

I'm also playing as a

 

Bhaalspawn

, I mean, Dark Urge. I'm curious and often do pick the psycho option then reload and pick the good guy option.

All the rolls are getting annoying to the point where I feel like I'm just playing the dice. Meh, f5 and f8 to victory.

Edited August 14, 2023 by ShadySands

[Hurlshort]

1 hour ago, ShadySands said:

I'm also playing as a

  Reveal hidden contents

Bhaalspawn

, I mean, Dark Urge. I'm curious and often do pick the psycho option then reload and pick the good guy option.

All the rolls are getting annoying to the point where I feel like I'm just playing the dice. Meh, f5 and f8 to victory.

Your problem is you just played Jagged Alliance 3. I knew this was going to happen. We are ruined for games because nothing can match JA3.

[bugarup]

What's with Larian and squirrels? DOS2 had a delusional squirrel (riding a cat of all things) that not even death could rid you of. Judging by its ~wacky antics~ I think I was supposed to find it endearing, whereas all I wanted is an option to say "Hey cat, want me to kill your parasite?"

[kanisatha]

16 hours ago, majestic said:

Kicked a squirrel to death for no reason.

15 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I snapped a totally helpless woman's neck for no reason

Whereas these are the kinds of things one can do in the game that makes the game attractive to many, for me as someone who would never under any circumstances do any of this stuff I cannot justify paying for such a huge amount of content and systems in the game that I will simply never engage with.

Edited August 15, 2023 by kanisatha

[Humanoid]

The "system" involved here being the dialogue system.

[Gorgon]

It's part of a serial killer origin story, so something you picked at character creation

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, kanisatha said:

Whereas these are the kinds of things one can do in the game that makes the game attractive to many, for me as someone who would never under any circumstances do any of this stuff I cannot justify paying for such a huge amount of content and systems in the game that I will simply never engage with.

You should avoid Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous like a plague then, because the Lich, Demon, Devil, and Swarm are evil enough to make the worst Dark Urge look like Mr. Rogers. Not to mention Camellia.

15 hours ago, ShadySands said:

I'm also playing as a

  Reveal hidden contents

Bhaalspawn

, I mean, Dark Urge. I'm curious and often do pick the psycho option then reload and pick the good guy option.

All the rolls are getting annoying to the point where I feel like I'm just playing the dice. Meh, f5 and f8 to victory.

I've been rolling (hon hon hon) with the dice failures and it's been pretty fun. I tried to cow an Owlbear by roaring at it and instead it just attacked me.

Anyways I did part of Karlach's quest and paid an undead guy 600 to repsec the companions to a stat array of 16,16,14,10,10,8, which has been a good move. Also woke up bloody and saw someone had been brutally murdered, which I assume my character did while under the influence of

Spoiler

Bhaal, The Lord of Murder

I decided to come clean about it. The companions were freaked out, but they think it's just the parasite.

[Bartimaeus]

I feel having content you don't want to engage with is or at least can be a positive, not a negative. I do not want a sixty hour long game full of repetitive and homogeneous content that everyone who plays will rotely go through because making anything but the obviously correct choices is just plain stupid (if there even are any real 'choices' to be had in the first place, seeing as games almost never have any real choices beyond some mild window dressing before the game railroads you right back down the same path everyone else has to go). That kind of thinking flies pretty hard in the face of the literal meaning and spirit of "role playing game", and I'd rather have a 30 hour game full of variability and interesting content and options that makes second playthroughs actually worth bothering with in the event of not wanting to make the same exact choices that you did during the previous playthrough. Heck, look at what KP is saying regarding failing his rolls and just rolling with them: failures in a game system like D&D can and should be used as an opportunity in of themselves to create interesting and different content/situations. This complaint is also kind of hilarious given that BG3 is pretty darned inclusive in terms of making sure that certain character types and builds do not ever miss out on much content - so long as you explore, talk, and engage with the game enough to find alternatives. Like, there were literally just multiple posts complaining about how way too much is available to everyone!

Then again, I prefer my games to be on the short and sweet side, and I don't mind making hard choices so long as I feel like I understand those choices. The latter can be frustrating when not handled properly/clearly, I will grant, but otherwise...

(Also, see Undertale for a great game with radically different situations, content, and writing depending on how you play it, and which I would contend did the most interesting thing that I've ever in any game ever in terms of handling this idea with its alternative route - even if there was relatively limited variability within each of the two main routes due to the indie scope of the game.)

4 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

Anyways I did part of Karlach's quest and paid an undead guy 600 to repsec the companions to a stat array of 16,16,14,10,10,8, which has been a good move. Also woke up bloody and saw someone had been brutally murdered, which I assume my character did while under the influence of

Everyone's stats having odd numbers when odd numbers contribute absolutely nothing to their effectiveness is basically hard encouraging you to respec everyone, which I think is kind of stupid. But the way stat distribution in 5E is handled appears to be rather lousy in general, so I guess it's whatever.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Bartimaeus