Baldurs Gate 3

[Wilian]

I thought this was a thread to talk about Baldur's Gate? Or is there an unspoken rule that any sort of negativity toward the game is not allowed?

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You agree with that decision, okay. Cool. I don't, though.

What a shame.

[Inoculate]

I thought this was a thread to talk about Baldur's Gate? Or is there an unspoken rule that any sort of negativity toward the game is not allowed?

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You agree with that decision, okay. Cool. I don't, though.

It's for discussion not someone repeatedly saying "It's my opinion, fight me!" You arent adding anything to discuss other than just negative trolly comments ad nauseam.

[Makabreska]

I thought this was a thread to talk about Baldur's Gate? Or is there an unspoken rule that any sort of negativity toward the game is not allowed?

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You agree with that decision, okay. Cool. I don't, though.

Don't play a victim here. You came to the thread, voiced your opinion (in a very entitled way), and people didn't agree with it. You didn't convince us, and you wont convince devs. Move on.

[Advent]

Just offer both options for the player character, one voiceless playthrough, one with a voice. I can't believe this wasn't suggested earlier. Let go of your skirts, people, geez.

[Ielenia]

It's for discussion not someone repeatedly saying "It's my opinion, fight me!" You arent adding anything to discuss other than just negative trolly comments ad nauseam.

Don't play a victim here. You came to the thread, voiced your opinion (in a very entitled way), and people didn't agree with it. You didn't convince us, and you wont convince devs. Move on.

Weird. Never said I wanted to convince anyone. I just got bombarded by people implying the way I would like to enjoy the game is somehow wrong, though.

[hulkgor]

Yeah Rolan is one of the few time sensitive quests in Act 2 (the other is joining the assault if you free the Nightsong but that is so obviously telegraphed so if you miss it, it really is on you)

The quest itself (for saving Rolan) isn't time sensitive. It just 'triggers' by proximity, so if you go near the spot, trigger it, but for whatever reason don't go to the fight immediately, Rolan will die in a matter of 10-20 seconds without your help.

Bit silly, but there are a bunch of moments like that.

[Wilian]

Weird. Never said I wanted to convince anyone. I just got bombarded by people implying the way I would like to enjoy the game is somehow wrong, though.

You're self-victimisim again. You weren't "bombarded". You were responded to by few people, then you responded to them(us) and got another response in turn.

[Nymrohd]

Trying to save everyone from the Iron Throne prison but no, their idiotic AI has them running to random areas!

[hulkgor]

Trying to save everyone from the Iron Throne prison but no, their idiotic AI has them running to random areas!

Did it a few days ago but they behaved "properly" for me, always dashing straight to the stairs.

I admit it must be funny watching them fumble their own escape

[Faldric]

Getting a little annoyed with companion chat bugs spoiling the plot...

Talking to Shadowheart this popped up: "Seems like Ketheric did everything for his daughter Isobel". Right after the attempted abduction at last light inn. I haven't even been to Moonrise towers. And just got the quest: "Resolve the abduction" that ended with the question: Why does the cult want her alive? Yeah.... wonder why.

[babalou1]

Trying to save everyone from the Iron Throne prison but no, their idiotic AI has them running to random areas!

Make sure no one is standing *any where* near the ladder

[Chickat]

This game has a lot of replayability?

[Nymrohd]

This game has a lot of replayability?

I'd say yes. First off, the tactics will change a lot depending on who your main group will be since you can only have four characters at a time. You cannot really do multiple romances at once (maybe two). Beyond that, you can try each of the origins and there are also so many different decisions you can make that significantly change how you approach the game. And ofc you can choose to play evil.
That said, some parts will probably feel very repetitive.

[Inoculate]

This game has a lot of replayability?

Usually I do one playthrough where I dont save scum and just accept my fate as I don't really know the best paths anyways.

You can do another run after for a 'perfect' playthrough, 6 origins, dark one/evil playthrough. A lot of stuff. I am finishing up my first run and will wait a few months to do another.

You can spend 100+ hours easily the first run. Skipping dialogue will significantly lower your playtime.

[Chickat]

Usually I do one playthrough where I dont save scum and just accept my fate as I don't really know the best paths anyways.

You can do another run after for a 'perfect' playthrough, 6 origins, dark one/evil playthrough. A lot of stuff. I am finishing up my first run and will wait a few months to do another.

You can spend 100+ hours easily the first run. Skipping dialogue will significantly lower your playtime.

Sounds good. Idk why anyone would skip dialogue in a game like this. I haven't bought it yet, im on the fence, but i probably will end up getting it. I tend not to buy games anymore unless I get North of 100 hours out of them.

[Inoculate]

Sounds good. Idk why anyone would skip dialogue in a game like this. I haven't bought it yet, im on the fence, but i probably will end up getting it. I tend not to buy games anymore unless I get North of 100 hours out of them.

Im at 120 hours and just starting act 3. I'd suggest skipping only for certain parts of additional playthroughs. Even then it's risky as small things make big differences.

[Nymrohd]

Oh someone already managed to mod away the romance limit. And I only just finished what I thought was a perfect playthrough

[Kralljin]

So i just finished the game, 150 hours for a single playthrough (with the attempt to be thorough) - not bad.

At first i wasn't too sure about the game, i felt it was "good" but not that amazing was people seem to hype it up, but the game really starts to catch in Act 2 my mind.
Some of this may be nitpicky, but take that as the simple lack of major points of criticism.
Post ended up being extremely long, but what can i say, i have a lot of thoughts on the game as the game is *huge*.

General:

• I really felt that the introduction could've been a bit better in terms of combat, telling you how spellslots work, highlight the difference between Action and Bonus Action, etc..
  Don't get me wrong, once you know, you know but the combat has *a lot* depth in this game and coming in as a new player is a bit daunting and frankly a bit confusing, kinda sucks when you talk into a fight and can use barely any spells.
• Quest Tracker, either tell me where to go or at least be more concise with instructions in the questlog, but it seems that the game at times flips a coin to choose whether the Quest tracker gives you directions or not.
  It's passable in Act 1 and Act 2, but Act 3 really had me running a lot pointlessly because despite having a ton of quests, because i didn't know where to start / continue.
• The whole Mind flayer stuff isn't really my thing, it's fine when it's done in smaller doses but the game literally starts off with a flying Squid controlled by Cthulu people.
  The personal motivation of your character is also directly tied to this.
  It's obviously personal preference, but i really feel like that lovecraftian aspect has kinda lost its shine to me and feels a bit out of place.
  Then again, the game isn't too overbearing with it outside of some places.
• The game also seems to be a bit stingy with good caster weapons / Items, Shadowheart was wearing the same gloves / helm from Act 1 throughout my entire playthrough.
  It becomes better in Act 3, but before that, i rarely swapped items on my casters, simply because i barely found anything.
• I think the game is also a bit stingy with giving you "fun" stuff early on, which may turn combat into a bit off slog.
  Casters also largely learning the same skills feels a bit odd, it gets better later on, but i don't need Ice Knive or similiar basic moves on every caster as an option (at least in my opinion).
• I feel later on the game becomes extremely reliant on AoE spells, unless your melee characters are able to dish out insane single target nukes, your casters will pretty much the star of the show from Act 2 and onwards.
• In areas leading up to bossfights, you encounter something called "Danger zones", preventing you from Fast Travel.
  I assume that done as to prevent the player from going on a long Rest, but there's literally nothing that stops you from just going back until you're out of the "Danger zone", take a long Rest and return.
  Sometimes there's even a Fast travel point located right next to a danger zone.
  At least in some areas, they were wise enough to put something that recovers your HP+Spellslots.

Just going to use Spoilers the rest since this will contain story information.

Act 1:

I think Act 1 starts off very wild, between the starting section on the Nautolid, the Tadpole, then your companions (and their secrets), the "Artefact" (a.k.a. Astral prism), the Cultists & Druids.
Act 1 throws multiple angles at you that in the result in the same thing: Go to Moonrise Towers, which didn't resonate as much with me for some reason.
I'm also a bit confused by the "Act structure", Act 1 (at least going by Steam achievements) is officially over once you enter the Shadow cursed Lands.
You're being told that you can reach that either via the Mountain pass or the Underdark, Halsin (who doesn't come across as unreliable) tells you to go through the Underdark rather Mountain pass.
I went through the Underdark first and that's one massive hike, first you have to get through the Underdark to the Forge (which isn't obvious) and then there you have to do some stuff there and then you finally enter Act 2 - nevermind all that content in the Underdark.
Meanwhile, when i backtracked to the Mountain pass, you fight like what? Two fights and then you're in the Shadow cursed lands.

I imagined that the Mountain pass and Underdark are two alternatives paths but you seem to miss out on a lot of content if you go through the Mountain pass (nevermind that it's a lot easier and less hazardous).
The Mountain pass is relevant for Lae'zel obviously but beyond that, it really me surprised how imbalanced it is between the Underdark and the Mountain pass in terms of content.

This also seems to turn the Cultist leaders into the Act 1 "Boss" (or, i imagine for an evil Playthrough, the Druids), which i think is a bit underwhelming.
My Paladin literally oneshotted Minthara with a Smite - and the surrounding guards didn't even join the fight.
The Hobgoblin and Priestess aren't too difficult either, just annoying because they're surrounded by a ton of adds and you barely have any AoE skills at this point.
I would've preferred a boss that really delivers "yep, that's the Act 1 final boss", for me Act 1 just kinda petered out while i was traversing the Underdark, which honestly felt more like Act 1.5, rather than being actually attached to Act 1.

Act 1 hooked me in, but i was still very much on the "it's okay but doesn't justify the hype" side.

Act 2:

I think Act 2 is arguably the best Act in the game, straight structured around a central issue, side quests that are obviously and directly connected to this.
The Act 2 "Ending" was well done in my mind, you've been told many times how dangerous Moonrise Towers is, then after rescuing Nightsong (at least i did) you finally get to charge in there and have a glorious fight, you know the big bad is, and you fight him.

My only criticism on the ending would be that they've overdone it with cramming secrets and stuff into every corner, i get that you can visit Moonrise Towers earlier, but after the first big fight at the central room of the Towers, i was ready to fight Ketheric Thorm, instead i went on a detour to solve puzzles in Balthazar's room.
Nevermind that there's later a literal puzzle in the Illithid Colony, which certainly feels out of place, the game here really forgets when exploring needs to take a backseat and hype you up for a bossfight.

I also think that Act 2 is a bit weird when you have Shadowheart in your party - ironically.
Just kinda weird when you see a Surgeon stabs someone's eyes out while talking about Shar and no one turning around to Shadowheart and going "really?".
Nevermind that this whole curse seems to be tied to Shar and the only safe haven is granted by a Sêlune Cleric.

I'm not sure why you can freely teleport between Act 1 and Act 2 areas, but once you're into Act 3, teleporting back is off limits?
I wouldn't be surprised if you were unable to go back to the previous Act every time, but just imposing that for Act 3 very much feels like it was done solely to not having to show the Shadow cursed lands...without the Shadow curse, which is a real tease because the final cutscene of Act 2 shows the land being healed.

Act 3:

Probably contains the best and the worst of BG3, it absolutely has its moment but i think just setting within a city and how it ties into gameplay makes it at times annoying to play.
Those Controls and camera were not made for moving your character in a city (or more specifically, houses), with multiple floors, stairs and such, you get used to it but early on it's very annoying.

The Quest tracker really starts to fail you in Act 3 many times, you often don't know where to either start or continue a quest and finding out can be tedious, especially if the game acts as if the starting point was obvious or hidden in a dialogue easily missed.

An example here would be the Shadowheart quest to find the House of Grief, right into start of Act 3, Shadowheart tells you that she would expect some Shar worshipper around here, but if you (by accident) enter dialogue (or be forced) with another NPC, that gets easily missed.
The Questlog then just tells you that you need to find some Shar worshipper, and honestly, i didn't find one until i looked it up, simply because i missed the one line from Shadowheart because i entered another dialogue when she said it.
Another example would be the Astarion quest, why couldn't he just tell me "that's how you get to Cazador's place"?
He should at least know that.
I honestly found the entrance by accident because i wandered up a small tower, connected to a wall that led to his place.
Also happens often by just exploring that you start a quest midway, which the game usually accounts for but really rubs me the wrong way because you obviously don't have the full picture and indirectly tells you that you've missed something.
Marking a big place on a map isn't helpful when the entrance isn't obvious.
As i said above, Act 3 was really a point where i constantly had to look up, i wasn't sure whether i missed something or was bugged (which also happened more often in Act 3).

The ending to the Nightsong quest just didn't need that twist.
I appreciate that they followed up on the initial premise of some wizard sending off adventurers to find Nightsong but honestly, the twist that he was aware off that Nightsong is a person *and* wanted to do the literal same thing (and was in contact with Balthazar on top of that) you freed her from just feels bad.
I would've expected some Wizard that didn't have a clue what Nightsong is or some Sêlune Cleric in disguise but he clearly knew what Nightsong is and thus very likely knew that this whole thing is a suicide mission for any adventurer he hands out pamphlets to.
It's supposed to get across how much of an asshole he is, sending adventurers off to die but still, the chance of regular adventurers suceeding was de facto 0, so the rationale of being an asshole is completely lost - he's just an ass for the sake of being on.

Act 3 also throws *a lot* bossfights at you, and those range from "pretty good" to "pretty awful.
Raphael was a cool bossfight, as was Orin.
Would've wished for a better explanation on who or what "Hope" actually is, how did Raphael capture her? Is she some sort of "good" devil?
Her sister just rolled over and died like a regular mortal, but it's obvious that Hope isn't a regular mortal.

Cazador was very questionable, the gimmick of the fight was to expose him to sunlight, but that in itself doesn't make the fight trivial because he and his skeleton can still fuck your party with massive nukes.
Nevermind that the fight gets harder if you Astarion bring along, which is just bad design in my view, i tried to bring the companions on their respective quests to some info and whatnot, but making this fight harder makes sense in theory but there probably should've been some buff to compensate.
Wasting 1-2 Turns just to get your party back to full size in this was didn't feel proper.

Gortash was a joke, the idea of a bomb dispenser was already out if you didn't know about the secret entrance to his throne (which also neither Wyll, nor his father tell you about), then you just lob the bombs at the devices mounted on the wall or his guards, the shield itself is also not a complete immunity, so you can also kill him without destroying the shield.

The final fight wants to be epic but the lead up is questionable, so you have to battle through a bunch of Mindflayers that are aided by...Act 1 Goblins?
Makes sense storywise but c'mon, they can't hurt and their turns just eat up time, especially if the game can't figure out what to do with their turns.
The fights leading up to the final Boss don't get you hyped up, they just eat your time and on top of that, the whole "reach the brainstem" section is tedious.
Especially because i assumed i had to get every companion to the door, then your character (or maybe any character) suffices.

The Final fight is also not so fun, i think the game should maybe communicate a bit better what the goal of the fight is, i had Orpheus as Illithid and he had a whole Arsenal of abilities, i didn't realize that i had to use his one special ability on the Crown to progress the fight, so i initially assumed the goal was just to kill all enemies before the Nautolid arrives (since a turn timer usually meant death if it runs out), but then the Nautolid makes the fight just harder *but* you have to kill the Brain as well.
Once i realized that, i ran into another issue, suddenly Orpheus was alone in the "brain room", while 3 other companions were on the other side of the platform.
So getting them over there was a huge pain because that platform is huge and even Teleport spells don't bring you over in a single turn, just felt like a massive cheapshot because in the previous section, a single character was sufficient to get your entire party ported.
Then in the Brainroom itself, i had to learn the hard way that the Negaton bomb(?) also destroys the platforms and merely your character being out of range doesn't mean they won't fall to their death.

It feeds a bit into what i said above, i'm not the biggest fan of this Cthulhu people / Illithid stuff, the final fight obviously couldn't avoid this but fighting a giant brain isn't up to my tastes, especially when the mechanics surrounding it are not that great to be honest.
Also, Raphael got lyrics for his bossfight, but the Netherbrain didn't?
I get that coming up with lyrics for a fight against a brain might be more difficult, but i think it vindicates me for not liking that whole Cthulhu stuff too much.

I also cannot wrap my head around the Emperor character, while evidence has pointed towards him telling the truth, when you however listen to dialogues and read some notes, it it strongly implies very shady actions on his part.
If you refuse to give him the Stones and free Orpheus instead, he outright turns on you and *aids* the Netherbrain in the final fight.
It just seems odd to me that he flips from being an ally to aiding the Netherbrain, that doesn't even make sense if he was right about Orpheus (which he's not, Orpheus will not attack you), so him siding with the Netherbrain comes across as purely spiteful.
So was his endgame to control the Netherbrain himself?
At least from i've read, it's not but him staying out of the fight would've made more sense than outright aiding the Netherbrain.

Also, not sure how i'm supposed to feel about the plot twist that he's Balduran, nevermind the revelation that the Illithid colony beneath Moonrise towers was seemingly there for ages and not a result of the cult's actions, i think there might bit a timeline issue here, but who knows.
The revelation came across as this big moment and i just sat there and went "okay", also stroke me as odd that Balduran statues show him as this heroic warrior and the Emperor flashback (in his human form) show him in simple rogue attire.

Ending

Well, i didn't become Absolute.
Killed Orpheus (he was asking, literally, for it).
La'zael goes on to fight her civil war.
Karlach and Wyll are in Avernus now.
Told Gale that pursuing the Crown wasn't the brightest of ideas.
Shadowheart is going to look after her parents.
Astarion's story is effectively over with his quest, first it made me feel better about him not choosing to ascend, but seeing him run off into the shadow kinda made the regret that choice.

I have some reading up to do but i guess that could've went better, at least Shadowheart got a good ending.

Also couldn't make sense out of the final scene with Withers, he just seems to berate the Dead Three and repeat that Illithid have no souls (which he brought up in an earlier conversation), which i think feels a bit random and is also brought into question by the existence of the Emperor, Orpheus and the player character possibly turning into Illithid but still retaining their personality.
I expected some twist that Withers was also actually some deity.

Would've wished for some final "playable" with the characters and having their ending resolved there, rather than it being presented in one large cutscene.

Companions / Romance

On the gameplay side, i think the game makes the mistake of throwing *a lot* companions at you early on, then stopping entirely and then throwing in some later on.
The problem is that once you've chosen a given comp, you're unlikely to change that, i think any companion joining later on is thus difficult to make it into your "regular comp".

Also weird that they give you two Druids (Jaheira and Halsin) as companions, would make sense if one of them was more tailored for an evil playthrough, but they're not, is Jaheira intended as "replacement" in case you let Halsin die?
I don't think any other companion has a "replacement character".
Nevermind that Minsc was probably just thrown in there for veterans of the series since he previously appeared but by the time of Act 3, i think most players are unlikely to change their existing roster and since i don't think there's any quest tied to him, i saw no point in ever recruiting him.
Having the only Paladin companion pretty much only for an evil playthrough feels like a weird twist and also makes the player pretty compelled to play Paladin themselves, because you don't get that class in your roster else wise.

On the romance / story side.
I think it's difficult to beat Shadowheart in either section, i think she has the most compelling story of all companions and also the most heartfelt aspect to it, the stuff with her in Act 2 hit pretty hard, Act 3 is no slouch either.
My only complaint would that changing her haircolour just "happens", i think some interaction with Selune (or a Cleric) to make her worship of Selune "official" alongside the haircolour would've been better.

Wyll's story just didn't vibe with me, he's basically Illidan without the selfish / brooding aspect.

Gale is quite charming, but flips from "to have to kill myself to save the world" to "fuck my previous goddess, i want godlike powers for myself" a bit fast.
I like the guy but i didn't trust him with the power of crown on a principle basis, never mind that at least for me, the story ends very much on a cliffhanger with him determined to find the crown.

Karlach's story is sad but i think lacks meat, you help her out during Act one, then have a cutscene or two during Act 2 and finally are presented with the fact that she either dies or goes to hell at the end.

Lae'zel, i guess i'm not alone when i say that her very dismissive attitude wasn't my favorite, but i think the ending she received is probably better than other characters.

Also, as someone who's into women, i would've wished for more human like options to romance, not shitting on anyone who's into Lae'zel / Karlach, but whereas on the man side, literally every romance option is human or elf, on the woman side it's just Shadowheart.
I think her story makes up for it, but still.

Bugs

Act 1 and Act 2 were prettty bug free as far as i can tell, but Act 3 had some unfortunate ones.

The gate to the guildhall didn't open to me, despite npc's tell me to enter, i had to use the sewer entrance and proceed from there.
Auntie Ethel just straight up bugged out for me, she transformed into her hag form in the middle of the blushing mermaid and then the dialogue broke off, healing her beforehand solved the issue.
I romanced Shadowheart and missed out on the bathing cutscene at the start of Act 3, seemingly there's a bug where that dialogue never appears.

[Faldric]

Act 2:

I think Act 2 is arguably the best Act in the game, straight structured around a central issue, side quests that are obviously and directly connected to this.
The Act 2 "Ending" was well done in my mind, you've been told many times how dangerous Moonrise Towers is, then after rescuing Nightsong (at least i did) you finally get to charge in there and have a glorious fight, you know the big bad is, and you fight him.

My only criticism on the ending would be that they've overdone it with cramming secrets and stuff into every corner, i get that you can visit Moonrise Towers earlier, but after the first big fight at the central room of the Towers, i was ready to fight Ketheric Thorm, instead i went on a detour to solve puzzles in Balthazar's room.
Nevermind that there's later a literal puzzle in the Illithid Colony, which certainly feels out of place, the game here really forgets when exploring needs to take a backseat and hype you up for a bossfight.

I also think that Act 2 is a bit weird when you have Shadowheart in your party - ironically.
Just kinda weird when you see a Surgeon stabs someone's eyes out while talking about Shar and no one turning around to Shadowheart and going "really?".
Nevermind that this whole curse seems to be tied to Shar and the only safe haven is granted by a Sêlune Cleric.

I'm not sure why you can freely teleport between Act 1 and Act 2 areas, but once you're into Act 3, teleporting back is off limits?
I wouldn't be surprised if you were unable to go back to the previous Act every time, but just imposing that for Act 3 very much feels like it was done solely to not having to show the Shadow cursed lands...without the Shadow curse, which is a real tease because the final cutscene of Act 2 shows the land being healed.

Just finished Act 2 myself and my feelings are a little different:

After Act 1 with multiple optional areas and quests with wildly different outcomes, I found Act 2 to be too much on the rails. It felt like the entire thing was massively cut down in scope. There is only one real order to do stuff here. There is also much less reactivity to player actions in Act 2. Almost no companion interaction either. Especially if you have Shadowheart in the group. Totally agree on that one. She reacts to almost nothing despite every second building in the area once belonging to a Shar cult. Also the bugs get more numerous. I had 3 major storypoints spoiled for me by camp discussions that happened too early.

The main quest is good, I enjoyed my way through Act 2. But I don't think it has the replayability Act 1 has. No going back was 100% so they don't have to show the healed land. Understandable IMHO.

[Katchii]

Trying to save everyone from the Iron Throne prison but no, their idiotic AI has them running to random areas!

I had the same issue but only happened when someone was blocking the ladder to exit....which is a really shitty thing to allow to happen. 4 people died because one of the NPCs who had their turn first but was farthest away got RIGHT next to the ladder but couldn't use it which ended up with people closer not being able to use it on the last turn.