Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

[gurugeorge]

I can feel it in my bones, I'm almost done. I'm about to start the Iron Throne rescue which I'm told is utterly miserable.

Man, Act III just tanks. There're some good battles but I feel my enthusiasm just dying completely. I got through Act 1 over the course of a weekend. I got through Act II in the course of a week. That was in mid-september. It's been a deeply aluggish stop-and-go grind to get through Act III.

I complained previously, a lot of quests are glass-fragile, do one thing out of order, ask the wrong question and the quest just breaks. Everything feels very disjointed too. Nothing connects to the broader narrative. There's bloody earthquakes for goodness sake and yet the Nethbrain feels as far away as Act 1.

Some of the quests are also just fucking awful. Screw any quest where you have to protect anyone. Larian can't do escort missions to save their lives. It sucked in D:OS 2 and sucks almost as bad in BG3.

I want to finish this, but here in the tail end I keep running out of energy the minute I boot up the game.

It's been like that for me. I had a lot of fun with it for a while, but somehow, by Act 3 it became one of those games where I like it for a while but then suddenly my interest drops off a cliff. I can't even pin down what it is, because objectively it's not that much worse in Act 3. Just something about the way it is and the way it's presented has gotten boring, or perhaps feels more like a chore.

Eh, I might just have overplayed it and need a break - but then when I think of picking it up at some future point and (because I'll have lost the thread of continuity) starting another character and going through Acts 1 and 2 again, I'm overcome by a feeling of ennui.

 

[Bigfass]

Barrelmancy so cool wow dude

It's not though. I made a point of hoarding every fuckin' barrel in the game, and when I decided to use them (emo boy's throne room with the 20+ steel watchers) it turns out they're immune to fire damage. Just go in with a bunch of EMP 'nades and chain lightning scrolls (stolen with Astarion over the course of a few merchant visits) and murder everything legit instead.

Could you use barrels elsewhere? Yeah, but it's not like any encounter is actually hard, especially in act 3. They're literally more trouble than they're worth.

Man, Act III just tanks.

It's the final act of a Larian game, so... yeah? It's unfinished. They cut the entirety of the upper city that was supposed to be an explorable area.

The Iron Throne isn't that bad. It's a puzzle-type thing that you can get in a couple of tries, or you can just steamroll it with haste scrolls and/or respeccing a few guys into 3 levels of thief for the bonus dashes.

One thing kinda saves the act though: House of Hope. House of motherfuckin' Hope. It's an alright quest, sexual degeneracy aside... but it has the best boss battle in any video game, ever. Mostly due to the music, but still. Oh and the loot's alright too. That optional dungeon is the best part of the entire game.

 

[Darkwind]

Very simply, Act 2 and Act 3 should have been swapped. Doing bullshit city side quests and just being in the city the whole time feels very anti-climatic after being in that sinister dark realm just prior. They should have put the two Act 3 bosses into Act 2 and saved Ketheric Thorn as the sub-boss of Act 3 then just took the whole Elder Brain end sequence and added it after that.

The pacing is super fucked in Act 3 and as many have mentioned it feels slapped together and half-ass overall. This would have been more forgivable (but not ideal) in Act 2, in Act 3 it drags everything that came before it down badly. It was a slog at the end and like others here I had to compel myself to finish at all.

 

[Lamiosa]

Very simply, Act 2 and Act 3 should have been swapped. Doing bullshit city side quests and just being in the city the whole time feels very anti-climatic after being in that sinister dark realm just prior. They should have put the two Act 3 bosses into Act 2 and saved Ketheric Thorn as the sub-boss of Act 3 then just took the whole Elder Brain end sequence and added it after that.

The pacing is super fucked in Act 3 and as many have mentioned it feels slapped together and half-ass overall. This would have been more forgivable (but not ideal) in Act 2, in Act 3 it drags everything that came before it down badly. It was a slog at the end and like others here I had to compel myself to finish at all.

From what I understand initially Avernus would be the final part of the game, but they decided to make Baldur's gate (the city) bigger and scrapped that.
About House of Hope, I think it was really cool, but it could have more things to do. More interesting characters (prisoners, magical creatures, etc.) and more background for Raphael and what he did to break Hope.

 

[Cryomancer]

People who say that act 3 of BG3 is bad, compared to what? To House at edge of time in Kingmaker + the optional chapter? To the chapter 5+ of WoTR? Late original campaign of Solasta? A drop in quality is normal in every long RPG. The exception to that rule is relative short RPG's. I can't compare with dos2 but for the people who finished dos2, does act 3 decay in quality more or less compared to dos2?

My unique two critiques towards the act 3 is that I fell lost in many times and spent at least 80% of the chapter on lv cap.

 

[Fedora Master]

The writing is completely inconsistent. Although the Cringe starts the moment you fight Ketheric in the colony.

 

[Sunri]

 

[ArchAngel]

So who is the bad guy in this shithole? Any characters like Sarevok or Irenicus?

 

[Hagashager]

There're three. The first and most memorable is Ketheric Thorm: an immortal Chosen of Myrkul. You meet and fight him in Act II. He's voiced by JK Simmons and has the most straightforward plan of action. All of Act II directly correlates to him.

The second is Orin the Red: Chosen of Bhaal. Her potential is really good, but they don't use her well. She's a changling unleashing dopplegangers onto Baldur's Gate in the style of her grandfather Sarevok. The Temple of Bhaal is surprisingly well-realized...which sucks because she contributes so little to the plot.

Laat is Gortash: Chosen of Bane. He's the most pervasive villain of the three but lacks the presence of Ketheric and bloody prose of Orin. It genuinely sucks that the weakest of the three Chosen is the only one you can have any civil conversation with.

 

[ArchAngel]

There're three. The first and most memorable is Ketheric Thorm: an immortal Chosen of Myrkul. You meet and fight him in Act II. He's voiced by JK Simmons and has the most straightforward plan of action. All of Act II directly correlates to him.

The second is Orin the Red: Chosen of Bhaal. Her potential is really good, but they don't use her well. She's a changling unleashing dopplegangers onto Baldur's Gate in the style of her grandfather Sarevok. The Temple of Bhaal is surprisingly well-realized...which sucks because she contributes so little to the plot.

Laat is Gortash: Chosen of Bane. He's the most pervasive villain of the three but lacks the presence of Ketheric and bloody prose of Orin. It genuinely sucks that the weakest of the three Chosen is the only one you can have any civil conversation with.

What about the Dragon and its riders that attacked Mind Flayer ship from trailers? They are just a setup for the start?

Also why are we fighting Chosen of anything with low level characters?!

 

[Strange Fellow]

Speaking of villains, maybe someone can clear something up for me. It is very possible that there is actually a good explanation for this that I missed, since I stopped paying attention around early act 2.

Spoiler

The plot of act 3 is basically that these three bozos have imprisoned a bigbrain using the infinity stones, and they use the bigbrain to control tadpole victims. We kill the three bozos, at which point it is revealed that OMG bigbrain wasn't bigbrain after all but rather hugebrain, which the infinity stones can't control. My question is, if the infinity stones can't control a hugebrain, how come the three bozos controlled it until we came along?

 

[blessed king of longing]

Speaking of villains, maybe someone can clear something up for me. It is very possible that there is actually a good explanation for this that I missed, since I stopped paying attention around early act 2.

Spoiler

The plot of act 3 is basically that these three bozos have imprisoned a bigbrain using the infinity stones, and they use the bigbrain to control tadpole victims. We kill the three bozos, at which point it is revealed that OMG bigbrain wasn't bigbrain after all but rather hugebrain, which the infinity stones can't control. My question is, if the infinity stones can't control a hugebrain, how come the three bozos controlled it until we came along?

Spoiler

iirc it was biding its time and controlling them all along in subtle ways they didn't notice until it was too powerful to be stopped

 

[lametta]

Speaking of villains, maybe someone can clear something up for me. It is very possible that there is actually a good explanation for this that I missed, since I stopped paying attention around early act 2.

Spoiler

The plot of act 3 is basically that these three bozos have imprisoned a bigbrain using the infinity stones, and they use the bigbrain to control tadpole victims. We kill the three bozos, at which point it is revealed that OMG bigbrain wasn't bigbrain after all but rather hugebrain, which the infinity stones can't control. My question is, if the infinity stones can't control a hugebrain, how come the three bozos controlled it until we came along?

as far as i understood it the Elderbrain evolved to a netherbrain because of prolonged contact with the crown of karsus.After you kill the chosen three it gets a "level up"

 

[Crichton]

Speaking of villains, maybe someone can clear something up for me. It is very possible that there is actually a good explanation for this that I missed, since I stopped paying attention around early act 2.

Spoiler

The plot of act 3 is basically that these three bozos have imprisoned a bigbrain using the infinity stones, and they use the bigbrain to control tadpole victims. We kill the three bozos, at which point it is revealed that OMG bigbrain wasn't bigbrain after all but rather hugebrain, which the infinity stones can't control. My question is, if the infinity stones can't control a hugebrain, how come the three bozos controlled it until we came along?

They were already losing control, once you kill Kethric and take his stone, everything rapidly spirals downward (earthquakes, etc). By the time you've reunited the three stones and try to re-establish control, it's way too late.

 

[Rhobar121]

There're three. The first and most memorable is Ketheric Thorm: an immortal Chosen of Myrkul. You meet and fight him in Act II. He's voiced by JK Simmons and has the most straightforward plan of action. All of Act II directly correlates to him.

The second is Orin the Red: Chosen of Bhaal. Her potential is really good, but they don't use her well. She's a changling unleashing dopplegangers onto Baldur's Gate in the style of her grandfather Sarevok. The Temple of Bhaal is surprisingly well-realized...which sucks because she contributes so little to the plot.

Laat is Gortash: Chosen of Bane. He's the most pervasive villain of the three but lacks the presence of Ketheric and bloody prose of Orin. It genuinely sucks that the weakest of the three Chosen is the only one you can have any civil conversation with.

What about the Dragon and its riders that attacked Mind Flayer ship from trailers? They are just a setup for the start?

Also why are we fighting Chosen of anything with low level characters?!

I wouldn't call level 12 low in 5e.
Level 12 in 5e is not equal to level 12 in previous editions.
Another thing is that the dead three are a bunch of losers who can't even be called gods in 5e.

 

[ArchAngel]

There're three. The first and most memorable is Ketheric Thorm: an immortal Chosen of Myrkul. You meet and fight him in Act II. He's voiced by JK Simmons and has the most straightforward plan of action. All of Act II directly correlates to him.

The second is Orin the Red: Chosen of Bhaal. Her potential is really good, but they don't use her well. She's a changling unleashing dopplegangers onto Baldur's Gate in the style of her grandfather Sarevok. The Temple of Bhaal is surprisingly well-realized...which sucks because she contributes so little to the plot.

Laat is Gortash: Chosen of Bane. He's the most pervasive villain of the three but lacks the presence of Ketheric and bloody prose of Orin. It genuinely sucks that the weakest of the three Chosen is the only one you can have any civil conversation with.

What about the Dragon and its riders that attacked Mind Flayer ship from trailers? They are just a setup for the start?

Also why are we fighting Chosen of anything with low level characters?!

I wouldn't call level 12 low in 5e.
Level 12 in 5e is not equal to level 12 in previous editions.
Another thing is that the dead three are a bunch of losers who can't even be called gods in 5e.

You are level 12 by end of Act 2 ?
Still low level, Chosen of anything need to be real danger, this just sounds like bad design. In BG1 we fought Sarevok that was not chosen of Anything, just another Bhaalspawn with a tiny bit of divine power. Chosen are supposed to be closer to Irenicus than Sarevok.

 

[Rhobar121]

There're three. The first and most memorable is Ketheric Thorm: an immortal Chosen of Myrkul. You meet and fight him in Act II. He's voiced by JK Simmons and has the most straightforward plan of action. All of Act II directly correlates to him.

The second is Orin the Red: Chosen of Bhaal. Her potential is really good, but they don't use her well. She's a changling unleashing dopplegangers onto Baldur's Gate in the style of her grandfather Sarevok. The Temple of Bhaal is surprisingly well-realized...which sucks because she contributes so little to the plot.

Laat is Gortash: Chosen of Bane. He's the most pervasive villain of the three but lacks the presence of Ketheric and bloody prose of Orin. It genuinely sucks that the weakest of the three Chosen is the only one you can have any civil conversation with.

What about the Dragon and its riders that attacked Mind Flayer ship from trailers? They are just a setup for the start?

Also why are we fighting Chosen of anything with low level characters?!

I wouldn't call level 12 low in 5e.
Level 12 in 5e is not equal to level 12 in previous editions.
Another thing is that the dead three are a bunch of losers who can't even be called gods in 5e.

You are level 12 by end of Act 2 ?
Still low level, Chosen of anything need to be real danger, this just sounds like bad design. In BG1 we fought Sarevok that was not chosen of Anything, just another Bhaalspawn with a tiny bit of divine power. Chosen are supposed to be closer to Irenicus than Sarevok.

In fact, few people care whether we are lvl 10 or 20. The level doesn't really matter.. The high levels in 5e are shitty and there's a reason no one wants to play them.

 

[Darkwind]

So who is the bad guy in this shithole? Any characters like Sarevok or Irenicus?

It is a giant floating talking ball sack basically. So kinda like this...

 

[Rieser]

Do summons and pets still make NPC's run away like faggots?

 

[whydoibother]

I'm about to start the Iron Throne rescue which I'm told is utterly miserable.

For casuals maybe. I consider it a game's highlight.

The game's highlight is the mission where you have to protect jihadist gnomes that love to teleport into explosions.

 

[Rhobar121]

I'm about to start the Iron Throne rescue which I'm told is utterly miserable.

For casuals maybe. I consider it a game's highlight.

The game's highlight is the mission where you have to protect jihadist gnomes that love to teleport into explosions.

Apparently they fixed it in patch 3.

 

[whydoibother]

I'm about to start the Iron Throne rescue which I'm told is utterly miserable.

For casuals maybe. I consider it a game's highlight.

The game's highlight is the mission where you have to protect jihadist gnomes that love to teleport into explosions.

Apparently they fixed it in patch 3.

 

[Fedora Master]

The game's highlight is the Ketheric Thorm fight and everything afterwards is just low effort Reddit fanfiction

 

[Padzi]

Ketheric is the best. The entire second act was dedicated to him, and I liked that.
Orin annoys me. I'm irritated by her storyline, her frustrating personality, her quest, and the whole plot surrounding her.
Gortash so far appeared in so small doses that I don't know what to think about him.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

What about the Dragon and its riders that attacked Mind Flayer ship from trailers? They are just a setup for the start?

Also why are we fighting Chosen of anything with low level characters?!

The dragon-riding githyanki who attack the illithid nautiloid in the opening cutscenes do reappear later in the game. There's even an entire optional githyanki section late in Act I.

As for the leveling in BG3, keep in mind that the game called "D&D 5th edition" gives characters of all classes an enormous jump in power at level 5, which can be reached in BG3 halfway through Act I (not coincidentally, the number of game hours to reach the next level increases greatly at that point).

You are level 12 by end of Act 2 ?
Still low level, Chosen of anything need to be real danger, this just sounds like bad design. In BG1 we fought Sarevok that was not chosen of Anything, just another Bhaalspawn with a tiny bit of divine power. Chosen are supposed to be closer to Irenicus than Sarevok.

A completionist will reach level 10 at about the end of Act II, leaving just two levels gained in Act III before reaching the level cap of BG3.