Baldur's Gate 3

[Linkens Mastery]

GOTY baby

 

[Jussi]

Apparently it's now on Series X/S.

 

[flyersnorth]

Picked up BG3 last week. I'm about 6-7 hours in.

So far, it feels closer to Pathfinder than Divinity Original Sin. The combat has been fun, but not sure I have a full grasp of magic yet. The Concentration mechanic is ... interesting. It does force you to make some more difficult choices, which I like.

Question for folks who've played a Paladin ...

Spoiler

Anyone end up going Oathbreaker? I did kind of by accident based on an early combat choice (freeing Laz'ael), and wondering if Oathbreaker is a solid path to follow. What's the major gameplay / RP change?

 

[Unholy Diver]

Has anyone been playing it on a console? If so, are there any issues

 

[Commander Clueless]

Has anyone been playing it on a console? If so, are there any issues

Depends. Do you like radial wheel menus?

 

[Unholy Diver]

Depends. Do you like radial wheel menus?

I don't think I like or dislike them, not something that would make me feel strongly one way or the other

I meant issues more like performance or bugginess, like it seems to be more of an issue of going from console to PC that there are those issues, but does the game run well on consoles

 

[flyersnorth]

Has anyone been playing it on a console? If so, are there any issues

No issues for me so far (Xbox Series X).

Re: the radial menu comment, I honestly feel it works well. I've played every other cRPG on PC or Mac (DOS I & II, Pathfinder, PoE I & II, Shadowrun, etc), and the console controls are surprisingly intuitive and fluid.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I don't think I like or dislike them, not something that would make me feel strongly one way or the other

I meant issues more like performance or bugginess, like it seems to be more of an issue of going from console to PC that there are those issues, but does the game run well on consoles

I play on PC and my wife plays PS5.

The performance seems good on console. Both certainly have some bugs but I wouldn't say there is any issue there.

Biggest difference is the control scheme. PC has tons of toolbars, console has wheels on wheels

Oh and it looks like console is limited to 5 quick saves, whereas on PC it goes up to 50. If you're a total save scummer like me, well...

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Does this game make bad rolls worth it?

I loved Disco Elysium and the way it encouraged you to keep on through a failed or bad roll, and part of what made it work was the lack of combat because then I didn't have to worry about missing out on loot or whatever.

 

[RandV]

Does this game make bad rolls worth it?

I loved Disco Elysium and the way it encouraged you to keep on through a failed or bad roll, and part of what made it work was the lack of combat because then I didn't have to worry about missing out on loot or whatever.

I've been playing for about a month now, and this sort of thing doesn't bother me but I know what you're talking about in your case for BG3 I'd say it's probably 'tolerable'.

Typically the only thing I've missed and reloaded on is there are buried chests that someone in your party needs to pass a check on to see, but there's never anything significant in them. For everything else between what I'm assuming is a more lenient/casual/etc AD&D ruleset, whichever the newest one is that I'm not familiar with, and overall good game design you can generally hedge your best in story encounters where you roll a D20.

The baseline for rolls is typically 50/50. There are usually several options covered like Persuasion/Intimidation/Deception/etc, and you can hover over to see which category you have the best bonus for. If you have any spells/potions/scrolls on hand to give you a boost there's the option to use it first, and a Cleric has a cantrip spell that can always be cast to give you an extra 1D4. If you fail a roll, you stockpile an 'inspiration' point that can be used in any future encounters to re-roll a failure. And finally, while you have your main character if you're currently controlling any of your companions they will in control of the event and their skills used in the rolls.

Like an early encounter among a group of refugees you come across a group of thieving kids that swindle the hell out of my Paladin. But reload and let Astarion your rogue companion handle it and he'll breeze through it opening up all the options you would have otherwise missed.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Picked this up for PS5. About 4 hours in so far. The only other CRPG I've ever played is Disco Elysium and that was recent. Having a blast with DE encouraged me to give this a shot.

Definitely feels a bit overwhelming early. I feel like I'm just kind of wandering around aimlessly discovering quests.

I'm a Bard because I wanted to focus more on charisma/dialogue after loving DE but early on it still seems like a lot of combat. Having fun tho. I can tell why its got such critical acclaim.

 

[PALE PWNR]

Finished my Bard Durge Honor mode run. Holy what a ride. At one point versus Orin I had 3 companions down with just shadowheart up with 10 up and Orin with almost a full healthbar.

 

[Sad People]

Finished my Bard Durge Honor mode run. Holy what a ride. At one point versus Orin I had 3 companions down with just shadowheart up with 10 up and Orin with almost a full healthbar.

Would love to hear about how you dug yourself outta that hole. Im just making my way to her in my playthrough (not honor mode though)

 

[PALE PWNR]

Would love to hear about how you dug yourself outta that hole. Im just making my way to her in my playthrough (not honor mode though)

In hindsight I should have just used shadowheart divine intervention and stabilized the party that way, but I was worried I may need it in the final fight and held it. Instead I used a haste potion, cast globe of invulnerability and resurrected my durge, action surge haste pot, resurrected the other two. Used mass cure wounds, mass healing word and pots on the other characters for a turn, and then started killing the surrounding NPCs that were giving her unstoppable with AOE scrolls.

I finished my first playthrough with a ton of scrolls and consumables in my inventory. I made a point to buy all the rare scrolls I could find and use them relatively liberally this time and it outright trivialized some fights.

 

[Sad People]

In hindsight I should have just used shadowheart divine intervention and stabilized the party that way, but I was worried I may need it in the final fight and held it. Instead I used a haste potion, cast globe of invulnerability and resurrected my durge, action surge haste pot, resurrected the other two. Used mass cure wounds, mass healing word and pots on the other characters for a turn, and then started killing the surrounding NPCs that were giving her unstoppable with AOE scrolls.

I finished my first playthrough with a ton of scrolls and consumables in my inventory. I made a point to buy all the rare scrolls I could find and use them relatively liberally this time and it outright trivialized some fights.

This is good to know. I use some potions but not a ton of them and have told myself i need to use potions and scrolls more often because i have a crap ton especially Scrolls. Id like to do a couple more playthroughs one in Tactician and the other in Honor mode (hopefully). Id like to do a Druid and a Dark Urge run.

Do you have a lot of experience in 5e or turn based games? Beating the game in honor mode is pretty impressive.

 

[PALE PWNR]

This is good to know. I use some potions but not a ton of them and have told myself i need to use potions and scrolls more often because i have a crap ton especially Scrolls. Id like to do a couple more playthroughs one in Tactician and the other in Honor mode (hopefully). Id like to do a Druid and a Dark Urge run.

Do you have a lot of experience in 5e or turn based games? Beating the game in honor mode is pretty impressive.

Nope! I had played DND 5e before but I barely understood what was going on and frankly didn't even like it. The only other real turn based game I've played is KOTOR way way back when that came out.

I bought a new PC and it came in the day bg3 came out and I was just looking for a newish game that would push it a bit and ended up on baldurs gate, and I have absolutely loved it. I've been just going at it by the seat of my pants. I probably spent like 30 minutes trying to figure out what the best way to get the party up during that fight was. But for this specific playthrough especially if there were rare scrolls on a vendor or good arrows I bought them. It felt like I had an answer for every encounter. I just needed to take note of what I had and make sure I used them when I had to. The other hardest fights I had were Ansur and I accidentally triggered a fight in moonrise earlier than I wanted without any help.

My party was mostly martial, as I was using laezel, karlach, shadowheart and my swords bard, and in a decent number of situations even with all the extra attacks karlach and laezel had I still found it useful to have them cast AOE spells rather than kill stuff just with their weapons.

 

[PALE PWNR]

I could not believe when I looked at the achievement list on steam after I beat it that only .3 percent of players had the honor mode achievement

 

[Sad People]

I could not believe when I looked at the achievement list on steam after I beat it that only .3 percent of players had the honor mode achievement

Yeah not a lot of people have gotten it. You get that golden 20 sided die too for completing it which is cool.

Nope! I had played DND 5e before but I barely understood what was going on and frankly didn't even like it. The only other real turn based game I've played is KOTOR way way back when that came out.

I bought a new PC and it came in the day bg3 came out and I was just looking for a newish game that would push it a bit and ended up on baldurs gate, and I have absolutely loved it. I've been just going at it by the seat of my pants. I probably spent like 30 minutes trying to figure out what the best way to get the party up during that fight was. But for this specific playthrough especially if there were rare scrolls on a vendor or good arrows I bought them. It felt like I had an answer for every encounter. I just needed to take note of what I had and make sure I used them when I had to. The other hardest fights I had were Ansur and I accidentally triggered a fight in moonrise earlier than I wanted without any help.

My party was mostly martial, as I was using laezel, karlach, shadowheart and my swords bard, and in a decent number of situations even with all the extra attacks karlach and laezel had I still found it useful to have them cast AOE spells rather than kill stuff just with their weapons.

Damn thats impressive! Congrats on that accomplishment. Another thing ive made a mental note of myself is taking my time with fights and thinking about my moves more and more. Did you enter Turn based mode a lot before fights as well and placed your party in certain advantageous spots before starting the encounter?

Also a hell of a first game to play on the new rig. People are sayings its the greatest RPG ever made and im sorta inclined to agree with them. Also Larian deserves all the credit and success theyve gotten and continue to get.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

I need to remember that shoving people off cliffs is an option. I'm still pretty early in the game and the bosses are really tough. I fought Auntie Ethel and went to shove her so I can run away without getting hit and it launched her off the cliff, winning the fight. I don't know what kind of loot I lost out on but I was having issues with the fight anyway, probably too low level for it, so I took the win.

 

[RandV]

This is good to know. I use some potions but not a ton of them and have told myself i need to use potions and scrolls more often because i have a crap ton especially Scrolls. Id like to do a couple more playthroughs one in Tactician and the other in Honor mode (hopefully). Id like to do a Druid and a Dark Urge run.

Do you have a lot of experience in 5e or turn based games? Beating the game in honor mode is pretty impressive.

A problem common to RPG's is that you can create all these neat systems but if they become tedious to operate and don't provide a significant advantage over just mashing attack then it kind of becomes pointless.

As great as BG3 is this comes to the main issue I have with the game, if I were to create a pie chart of what my activities are in it then due to design and poor UI the biggest piece would probably collecting, sorting, and managing junk.

Like with the way the merchant barter system works is best to have everything on one character. When you open something lootable, there's the option to send to character, send to 'wares' where the character holds it for quicksale, or send to camp, but only one 'take all button' which goes to the first option so you're usually right clicking each item in the container to send it to the proper place. Regardless of how you do it you tend to end up with one character having a bloated inventory, and if you want to divy up potions & such you have to right click, split, move the slider, and hit okay, then repeat for each party member you want to have a stack.

So making things optimal just becomes too much work when you can just shoot a crossbow bolt instead and unless you're on the hardest difficulty I guess that's probably good enough.

 

[PALE PWNR]

Yeah not a lot of people have gotten it. You get that golden 20 sided die too for completing it which is cool.


Damn thats impressive! Congrats on that accomplishment. Another thing ive made a mental note of myself is taking my time with fights and thinking about my moves more and more. Did you enter Turn based mode a lot before fights as well and placed your party in certain advantageous spots before starting the encounter?

Also a hell of a first game to play on the new rig. People are sayings its the greatest RPG ever made and im sorta inclined to agree with them. Also Larian deserves all the credit and success theyve gotten and continue to get.

Here and there, it depends. A lot of the biggest fights start with dialog, and while I am all for meta-gaming to get through something on its most extreme difficulty, there is so much story to do that I couldn't get myself to just outright attack people before interacting and going through the story in a different way than the first time. I didn't do Cazzador at all my first play through, this time I did so I had no idea what to expect. When you get to him hes kind of just standing in the middle of this giant circle so I knew the fight was coming and prepped by making sure I had elixirs on everybody, getting summons out like Elementals and the cleric Planar Summon and having Scratch out etc. rather than casting those in combat. Summons last until long rest or until they die in a lot of cases so its better to have them out beforehand.

 

[PALE PWNR]

A problem common to RPG's is that you can create all these neat systems but if they become tedious to operate and don't provide a significant advantage over just mashing attack then it kind of becomes pointless.

As great as BG3 is this comes to the main issue I have with the game, if I were to create a pie chart of what my activities are in it then due to design and poor UI the biggest piece would probably collecting, sorting, and managing junk.

Like with the way the merchant barter system works is best to have everything on one character. When you open something lootable, there's the option to send to character, send to 'wares' where the character holds it for quicksale, or send to camp, but only one 'take all button' which goes to the first option so you're usually right clicking each item in the container to send it to the proper place. Regardless of how you do it you tend to end up with one character having a bloated inventory, and if you want to divy up potions & such you have to right click, split, move the slider, and hit okay, then repeat for each party member you want to have a stack.

So making things optimal just becomes too much work when you can just shoot a crossbow bolt instead and unless you're on the hardest difficulty I guess that's probably good enough.

The inventory system could definitely be improved upon. What I've found myself doing is turning whoever my packmule is into the main person I run around with when not in combat to pick up everything I want then sorting by Type in the inventory and divying out things that way. So I would have Shadowheart hold all the scrolls, and my character hold all the arrows and consumables, all camp supplies sent to camp and then Karlach and Laezel took turns hoarding all the equipment and junk that was sold.

 

[Sad People]

A problem common to RPG's is that you can create all these neat systems but if they become tedious to operate and don't provide a significant advantage over just mashing attack then it kind of becomes pointless.

As great as BG3 is this comes to the main issue I have with the game, if I were to create a pie chart of what my activities are in it then due to design and poor UI the biggest piece would probably collecting, sorting, and managing junk.

Like with the way the merchant barter system works is best to have everything on one character. When you open something lootable, there's the option to send to character, send to 'wares' where the character holds it for quicksale, or send to camp, but only one 'take all button' which goes to the first option so you're usually right clicking each item in the container to send it to the proper place. Regardless of how you do it you tend to end up with one character having a bloated inventory, and if you want to divy up potions & such you have to right click, split, move the slider, and hit okay, then repeat for each party member you want to have a stack.

So making things optimal just becomes too much work when you can just shoot a crossbow bolt instead and unless you're on the hardest difficulty I guess that's probably good enough.

The invent system could definitely be better. Thats probably one of my few complaints about the game. Its another reason why i think i havent used scrolls or potions a lot on my playthrough because its a pain in the but searching for them even with the "search" function.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Game is 75-100hrs long for a standard completion? Easy pass, that is so ridiculous. Who the hell with a job/responsibilities has time for that shit? Probably so much garbage filler stuff jammed into that that isnt even fun.

When a game costs $90, which they do in Canada That's what it it should be.

I don't want to pay $90 for something I can beat in a day or 2 if not sooner.

I know the physical edition is coming between now-April, when it it does I know I'm going to buy it,and I know It's going to cost $90 and for that money I want 2 things.

A quality game, and by all accounts this is incredible, it sounds so good that I'm legitimately wondering how it could possibly live up to the hype But I can't wait to find out when the physical version drops.

The other thing I want so something I can sink my teeth into, give me a 25, 35, 45, 60 hour story any day.

I wish all games were AT LEAST 25 hours because as much as I enjoyed games like Rachet and Clank rift apart or the switch port of Links aweakening, or will enjoy Mario RPG and Mario wonder when I get a chance to play them, those are very short games and I know I wanted more out of both Rachet and clank and Links Aweakening and I will want more out of both Mario RPG and Mario Wonder.


BG3 being 75-100+ hours That's a game I don't mind spending $90 for.

 

[flyersnorth]

BG3 being 75-100+ hours That's a game I don't mind spending $90 for.

The biggest thing for me is that Larian games treat me like an adult and respect my time as a player.

BG3 rewards my creativity, provides for a ton of depth and tactical thought, and gives me a fully-baked game without microtransactions. The sheer number of ways you can approach any given situation is astounding.

It's not for everyone - I get that. But for those who enjoy D&D/RPG games, this is the pinnacle.