Baldurs Gate 3

[Blayze]

Most important question of the entire thread: Are the "Latin" spellcasting chants in yet?

[Cosmic Janitor]

Most important question of the entire thread: Are the "Latin" spellcasting chants in yet?

Your character certainly says the latin words related to fire and stuff when using fire bolt. Same for the frost cantrip. Those are the ones were I noticed it because I spammed them occasionally go clear patches of fire/vines.

[Warning]

Ah cool, thanks. Something like a game-mode option would be ideally what I want, nice to see that they are open to such things.

Yeah same, apart from the bugs and lack of polish in some areas I think RNG is the main thing hurting the game. Using dice to determine outcomes in a modern game like BG3 is like setting up a state of the art operation table, scanning the patient with an MRI machine, hooking them up to various electronic devices to monitor vitals... and then operating on them with a spoon.

[Easo]

Yeah same, apart from the bugs and lack of polish in some areas I think RNG is the main thing hurting the game. Using dice to determine outcomes in a modern game like BG3 is like setting up a state of the art operation table, scanning the patient with an MRI machine, hooking them up to various electronic devices to monitor vitals... and then operating on them with a spoon.

I am not against the dice itself (to be fair, for example "chance to hit percentage" is still dice of a kind, just called differently in other games, RNG is our god after all), but that often means you cannot get consistency and it usually evolves into this - hard at beggining, your characters cant hit for shit and fail conversation checks leading to rolling over everyone as living gods as your progress and mostly guaranteed to win persuasions with ease.
If you keep increasing the difficulty as game progresses - then there is no feeling of character improvement, if nothing becomes noticably easier. No one really wants to be max level uber wizard genius and then roll nat 1 trying to convice some lowly goblin to do your bidding. Of course, it is hard for devs to find reasonable balance.
Case in point - Pathfinder: Kingmaker - the more you level up and get items, the more stupidly OP you become. I had no idea what I was doing, whole d20 or whatever system never really clicked for me, game was overwhelming you with technical jargon about stuff like 1d8, hit dice, etc. In the end I just spammed every major buff which bosted shit which showed up on character screen and smacked stuff up (playing before getting Haste was pain, Haste is love, Haste is life), the dice rolls were just pretty much pointless spam in combat log, I looked at them only if I was missing too much.
P.S.
What I really, really find dumb is the whole system of spell slots/casts per day and preparing them: "Oh let me pray to my goddess so that she grants me 3 casts of Bless today and 1 Greater Healing". It is just so... urgh. It especially get's worse when you start going into lore and reading stories/novels where this action of "restocking spells" is specifically mentioned, it is just so jarring as it stands out too much.

[Biomega]

What I really, really find dumb is the whole system of spell slots/casts per day and preparing them: "Oh let me pray to my goddess so that she grants me 3 casts of Bless today and 1 Greater Healing". It is just so... urgh. It especially get's worse when you start going into lore and reading stories/novels where this action of "restocking spells" is specifically mentioned, it is just so jarring as it stands out too much.

While I agree with this personally, Vancian magic is one of the hallmarks of D&D and so I doubt it's going away anytime soon.

[Better]

I am not against the dice itself (to be fair, for example "chance to hit percentage" is still dice of a kind, just called differently in other games, RNG is our god after all), but that often means you cannot get consistency and it usually evolves into this - hard at beggining, your characters cant hit for shit and fail conversation checks leading to rolling over everyone as living gods as your progress and mostly guaranteed to win persuasions with ease.
If you keep increasing the difficulty as game progresses - then there is no feeling of character improvement, if nothing becomes noticably easier. No one really wants to be max level uber wizard genius and then roll nat 1 trying to convice some lowly goblin to do your bidding. Of course, it is hard for devs to find reasonable balance.
Case in point - Pathfinder: Kingmaker - the more you level up and get items, the more stupidly OP you become. I had no idea what I was doing, whole d20 or whatever system never really clicked for me, game was overwhelming you with technical jargon about stuff like 1d8, hit dice, etc. In the end I just spammed every major buff which bosted shit which showed up on character screen and smacked stuff up (playing before getting Haste was pain, Haste is love, Haste is life), the dice rolls were just pretty much pointless spam in combat log, I looked at them only if I was missing too much.
P.S.
What I really, really find dumb is the whole system of spell slots/casts per day and preparing them: "Oh let me pray to my goddess so that she grants me 3 casts of Bless today and 1 Greater Healing". It is just so... urgh. It especially get's worse when you start going into lore and reading stories/novels where this action of "restocking spells" is specifically mentioned, it is just so jarring as it stands out too much.

In 5e at least the early problems you bring up are countered by proficiencies, and expertise. A nat 1 on a skill check is not an auto fail (In Rules as Written at least, this is frequently house-ruled.). A character with expertise in a skill, let's say a bard for example, can succeed decently high checks with a 1. Additionally at high levels there are some classes that just flat out say no to rolling 1s for certain checks (I know rogue, and barbarian both do off the top of my head).

And as for spell slots, it's the only reason casters aren't the ONLY thing in your party at all times. It's meant to try to keep the physical damage dealers relevant. Casters are still better at higher levels 90%~ of the time, but at least there's some downside. Though if you mean preparing specific spells (3 casts of bless like in your example) that is gone in 5e.

[Warning]

I am not against the dice itself (to be fair, for example "chance to hit percentage" is still dice of a kind, just called differently in other games, RNG is our god after all), but that often means you cannot get consistency and it usually evolves into this - hard at beggining, your characters cant hit for shit and fail conversation checks leading to rolling over everyone as living gods as your progress and mostly guaranteed to win persuasions with ease.
If you keep increasing the difficulty as game progresses - then there is no feeling of character improvement, if nothing becomes noticably easier. No one really wants to be max level uber wizard genius and then roll nat 1 trying to convice some lowly goblin to do your bidding. Of course, it is hard for devs to find reasonable balance.
Case in point - Pathfinder: Kingmaker - the more you level up and get items, the more stupidly OP you become. I had no idea what I was doing, whole d20 or whatever system never really clicked for me, game was overwhelming you with technical jargon about stuff like 1d8, hit dice, etc. In the end I just spammed every major buff which bosted shit which showed up on character screen and smacked stuff up (playing before getting Haste was pain, Haste is love, Haste is life), the dice rolls were just pretty much pointless spam in combat log, I looked at them only if I was missing too much.
P.S.
What I really, really find dumb is the whole system of spell slots/casts per day and preparing them: "Oh let me pray to my goddess so that she grants me 3 casts of Bless today and 1 Greater Healing". It is just so... urgh. It especially get's worse when you start going into lore and reading stories/novels where this action of "restocking spells" is specifically mentioned, it is just so jarring as it stands out too much.

Yeah sure, a little RNG is fine but atm you can max out a stat to 20, have proficiency and be level 4 (current max) to get a total of +8. Since your dice roll is 1-20 your absolutely maxed out stat and proficiency still are only equal to 40% of a normal max roll. The actual attacks also roll insanely wide values, like 1-8 or 8-48. That to me skews the balance too heavily toward RNG. In other games like Divinity 2 we get things like partial resists via resistances which can be reduced by debuffs. Hit chance deficiencies can usually be entirely overcome by items or talent choices. It makes outcomes more reliant on character build and the players choices in combat, maybe not entirely but far more than 40% at least.

On the spellslots thing: I feel like its a bit weird and probably modern systems are better in general but the system can potentially offer something somewhat interesting in that you have to decide when and where you spend your resources over a larger campaign rather than a single fight. However currently since you have no limit on long rests that aspect is entirely lost. I'm not sure how they're going to address it but they need to in order to make it work and to maintain balance between Wizards and other casters. I think something like a 30 minute CD on long rest and having each long rest grant two charges of short rest might work. They could also having things like fights or important quest events skip the timer forward partially.

[Cosmic Janitor]

While I agree with this personally, Vancian magic is one of the hallmarks of D&D and so I doubt it's going away anytime soon.

5e is already an unfathomable improvment on older systems in that regard tho. At least you get cantrips now that you can spam, making you feel like a mage/wizard/caster-moniker-of-choice. They even upgrade at certain levels, keeping them usefull. I still can't get over the older systems where you could call down armageddon from the sky 3 times a day, but when you need to pling a goblin you have to fiddle around with shit like darts, crossbows or whack 'em with your stick, all with abhorent hit chances and no damage what so ever.

In the end I can see how people, especially those that came from video gaming, think that spell slots are a weird and arbitrary system. After all, something like the usual mana systems you find in video games since forever lend themselves way better to the topic imho and are way more natural to things we observe in nature. The concept of various descrete energy packages that come at various sizes seems just random and artificial imho (at least to the scale humans operate on, quantum world is a different beast).

[Northern Goblin]

I think as they raise the level cap closer to the intended one at release, and we get levelled up cantrips, the limitations of spell slots are going to be less impactful on newer players.

One thing I will say, healers aren't meant to keep people at 100%, and potions are made to be drunk. Between that and utilising your short rest/long rests properly you should find keeping your characters healthy isn't a problem.

[quras]

SNIP....

One thing I will say, healers aren't meant to keep people at 100%, and potions are made to be drunk. Between that and utilising your short rest/long rests properly you should find keeping your characters healthy isn't a problem.

Not just that but with the amount of food-stuff you can find that heals you in various amounts when eaten. It's been quite easy to heal back to nearly full, if not full health almost every time I felt like I needed to.

[Makabreska]

Ok, kinda lost track of EA, but latest patch implemented greater rewards for pacifist approach and creative use of environment when dealing with situations. Also companions are less cuntish now. So they basically fixed a more glaring issues from the first stages of EA. Thumbs up.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/202...d-fires-fewer/

[Orby]

Ok, kinda lost track of EA, but latest patch implemented greater rewards for pacifist approach and creative use of environment when dealing with situations. Also companions are less cuntish now. So they basically fixed a more glaring issues from the first stages of EA. Thumbs up.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/202...d-fires-fewer/

I am so iffy about getting EA of BG:3, I really wanna play the game, but I wanna play it when its done, but seeing everyone playing it as its in progress is testing my nerves lol.

[Fencers]

I am so iffy about getting EA of BG:3, I really wanna play the game, but I wanna play it when its done, but seeing everyone playing it as its in progress is testing my nerves lol.

It's worth waiting. There is not a lot to the EA yet. It's pretty thin.

[quras]

I am so iffy about getting EA of BG:3, I really wanna play the game, but I wanna play it when its done, but seeing everyone playing it as its in progress is testing my nerves lol.

I'm 50/50 on waiting or not.

The EA is pretty fun. Yes, it's unfinished and has bugs but EA has about 20 or so hours of play in some really nice areas and it's been entertaining so far.

However, if you know bugs and game issues will ruin it for you. Don't get it just yet. If you know quests you pick up but cannot finish will drive you nuts. Then don't get it yet. If you hate being capped at level 4 and weaker than most monsters in the later parts of EA. Then don't get it. It is early access after all.

I've ran into a number of issues on multiple play throughs but over all, it was a good buy in. Those 20 hours were fun. A fun and entertaining D&D experience (other than to much ground effect skill/spells given to so many). They did a pretty good job on the EA and for 20 hours of play, it was a good purchase. Can't wait for the final product but it is no where "done" yet.

[Makabreska]

Patch 4 stream tomorrow:

https://www.vg247.com/2021/02/15/bal...te-livestream/

Footage comes in:

[Rustedsaint]

Druid class in and 30+ new spells
Full patch notes it seems will be released next week just before patch.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Druid class in and 30+ new spells
Full patch notes it seems will be released next week just before patch.

Are these just for druids or will there be some for other classes? Personally I would mostly welcome an upgrade to the level cap and more zones, but I guess that isn't part of the scope of the update.

[thilicen]

That whole area revealed to be a swamp based on a dice roll was awesome. Love that entire areas and how you play them can be affected by checks.

[quras]

Are these just for druids or will there be some for other classes? Personally I would mostly welcome an upgrade to the level cap and more zones, but I guess that isn't part of the scope of the update.

The big reveal was for Druids only and I'd wager the spells mainly go to that class. However, I do not think spells are limited to those classes only right now. Any spellcaster can learn other classes spells off a scroll if you find it. I had Gale learn guiding bolt and heals.

I'm not really ever expecting more zones for EA but larian might decide we can see a little of Moonrise Tower because for a while you could get to it with a bugged method on from the underdark boat ride. Since people have seen it, they might allow us to play it later in EA

Like you though, I really think level 5 needs to happen. There is just so much change for every class at level 5, I would think it best to test it.

On a personal note, I'm hoping they change how DC checks are made. Mostly how it is visually seen. I'm not a fan of how they take player modifiers off the DC number, thus lowering it, instead of adjusting the players D20 roll. It's so backwards from the tabletop game.

At the end of the day it amounts to the same but as a tabletop player, it's a visual oddity I really dislike. There are a number of things I hope happens and we get for the game but I really hope larian changes the way DC checks are done and seen so it's more visually like the tabletop calculations.

[Makabreska]

I demand goddamn monk implementation already!