Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

[Haplo]

On side note, itemization so far is being really weak. Level 4 on Act 1 , going to Moonrise Tower and i'm yet to found actual good unique Gear.

The itemisation is actually rather solid. Maybe except actually unique weaponry. Although only in Act 1 there's Sorrow, Unseen Menace, The Blood of Lathander, Phalar Aluve, Larenthian's Wrath, Intrasingent Warhammer, Hammarhraft, Skinburster, Spellsparkler, Jorgoral's Greatsword, Thorn Blade, Sussur dagger or sword and Mourning Frost.
Oh wait, that's actually a lot.

Actually the problem is... too much. Too much of everything. Waayyyy too powerful.

Also you're not going to Moonrise at level 4... or in Act 1.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

If theres's one thing that hope all CRPGs going foward to steal from this game is all the Thievery and Stealth aspect. Spliting your group and , taking enemies one by one and stealing actual good loot from NPCs is the best aspect of Larian's game.. The verticality too.

The issue is the complete lack of investigation that shopkeepers have. Like I just stole half their inventory for the 50th time and they aren't reacting?

"HELLO PERSON WHO JUST ENTERED THE CAMP FOR THE FIRST TIME A FEW DAYS AGO, GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN AND I'M SURE IT'S JUST A COINCIDENCE THAT CRIME RATES JUST WENT UP BY 5000%! WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU? MORE USELESS JUNK FROM PEOPLE YOU'VE KILLED? SURE I'LL BUY THAT FROM YOU! BREASTPLATE THAT LOOKS SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE THE ONE I HAD STOLEN FROM MY SHOP YESTERDAY? SURE, I'LL BUY THAT TOO!"

Please, this is not good game design

I mean, you're not wrong.

Is there actually any game that does this differently, though?

In BG1 and BG2 stolen items are marked and only unscrupulous merchants will deal in them. You have to go to a thieves guild or find a fence at select locations at night. I think this was a good enough solution, even if it's implausible for the merchant to know its stolen.

 

[Hagashager]

Started a playthrough with three Milqtoast Normie friends who have no history of RPGs whatsoever. It's been an enlightening experience, though I doubt this'll keep up.

We just reconciled the issue with Kagha and the Grove by finding the note that reveals her to be a Shadow Druid puppet. The three friends are all typical Californian Neoliberals with unflappable loyalty to the state and mainstream media. The responses were thus:

Normie #1: Totally tuned out. Doesn't even know what's going on. He's playing a Male Dwarf Fighter. He's likely going to drop out.

Normie #2: Surprisingly into it. Pretty reasonable actually. Of all the people, I thought HE would bow out soonest, but no, he's down for the long haul. He loved there being three different routes regarding Kagha. Didn't know games could be that complex. He's playing a Male Human Sorcerer.

Normie #3: The most dynamic and frankly unhinged. She wanted to kill Kagha, would absolutely not hear about non-violent solutions. She wanted to  kill Kagha. This sparked a really stupid and uncomfortable argument about determinism. Later she decided she didn't like Astarion because he kept hitting on her PC. She wonders why other women like him so much when he's clearly a "womanizing misogynist." To her credit though, she was taken aback by the choices and consequences. Turns out attacking the mean, nasty, lady who hates the poor red-skinned devil people is a no-no, despite her insistence murdering big bad racists is right. Likewise, she hates Lae'Zel and dislikes, vehemently, that the game forces you to have her at camp. That all said, she's up for pressing on. Like Normie #2, she's morbidly curious to see all the various avenues quests can go. At this rate though, I expect her to hate Jaheira because she has five kids and I assume she'll see nothing wrong with Gotash's robot army as long as they kill the right people. She' playing a female, Elf Rogue and acting as the party face.

Also worth noting, they know nothing of Forgotten Realms or DnD. Had to explain to Normie #3 that "The Bitch Queen" is not an insult, and Normie #1 was ready to kill the Tieflings on sight because "They look like fucking devils!"

Reddit Mod #3 sounds like a super delightful person. Xe definitely won't like Gortash though, he's a FUCKING WHITE MALE :aidsskrillex:

Not for nothing, but they are friends I know personally from high school, moddle school and college respectively. They're decent people in person.

Normie #1 is married and works a high-maintenance job though so I don't blame him for being half-heartedly into the game. Usually, the four of us play some really slow, pensive game like Civ where we can unwind and bullshit. BG3 is a bit out of routine. For him, our gaming sessions are a chance to unwind from work and the missus, which a CRPG wont do that for him at least.

Normie #2's a massive gamer, bigger than anyone else. He's the one who suggested we try BG3 together because he saw all the hype. He is NOT an RPG fan. This is the first CRPG he's ever played, purely from the hype. Credit where it's due though, he's chugging right along.

Normie #3 is a very nice and intelligent person but she is also intense. She really likes our gaming sessions because it's one of the few times she can relax too on account of working a job that forces her to travel a lot. It is honestly very rare that her politics or views become a centerpiece of argument, but BG3 being what it is, definitely piques her attitude. She herself is not White, I was half kidding about liking Gortash she'll more likely want to kill him immediately and aggro all of Baldur's Gate like she wanted to do with Kagha. She's definitely a redditor, but not THAT reddit.

In any event, I'll keep the saga updated if we continue. I am curious to see how this all goes down.

Another user offered to be the replacement for Normie #1. If these were internet goons, sure, but given my personal relationships with them, I'd rather keep to them.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Also you're not going to Moonrise at level 4... or in Act 1.

The current objective is to reach Moonrise. I worded that wrong, my bad.

Actually the problem is... too much. Too much of everything. Waayyyy too powerful.

Honestly, stealth and messing up enemies AI is just way too easy , so far.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Lae'Zel is probably the most reasonable companion in the game. She has character progression, takes the situation seriously and changes her mind after certain developments.

Then i must have missed them. I going to give her a chance but honestly, i didn't killed her or Astarion because it would mean losing content and my only Rogue.

One aspect that i quite like is how Companions are tied to the main plot.

 

[Jeskis]

Honestly, stealth and messing up enemies AI is just way too easy , so far.

Yep, managed to outcheese the otherwise tough boss fights with just one rogue (thief).

 

[Old Hans]

Is there a way to recruit Minthara without slaughtering the Grove? I‘ve read about knocking her out but that sounds pretty much like an exploit. What if I won’t do any actions regarding the Grove quest and just depart to the act 2?

I managed to get through the goblin camp killing everyone, but I left Minthara unconcious. You are supposed to encounter her later in the game by doing so, but I read that in previous versions of the game that wasn't a chance. Why not? The game has an obvious in-game mechanic to defeat enemies in a non-lethal way. If that's true then it was a big oversight imo. Anyway, I have a bad habit of always pressing the "loot all" button. So this happened.

Spoiler

Dark elvussy

I had to defeat her twice, because she woke up after I took a long rest at the camp, and Halsin wasn't continuing the quest. In the second fight she couldn't do anything, she had no gear. Only some spells (The paralysis one, one for healing and one for motivating near enemies).

So have you managed to recruit her later after leaving her unconscious? I am playing single save so no chance for trial and error argh. I’ve initiated raiding the grove though already, so there’s no turning back except help repel the raid and knock her out in the process hoping she’ll pop up later and won’t be too mad at me.

the way I did it without feeling TOO guilty was make a really obvious attempt at stealing the idol for Mol, which causes the druids to go on a homicidal rampage against the Tieflings. That way I can be all "I was trying to help" sadly the game acts like you're the one who killed them all.

 

[Jeskis]

Lae'Zel is probably the most reasonable companion in the game. She has character progression, takes the situation seriously and changes her mind after certain developments.

Hopefully she’ll stop hissing at me at some point.

 

[Orutrus]

Gith plot spoiler

Spoiler

I visited the astral plane and if the massive skeleton you can see in the background is the dead remants of the Myrkul we killed in Mask of the Betrayer, thats a nice touch.

 

[Old Hans]

Honestly, stealth and messing up enemies AI is just way too easy , so far.

yea its way too easy gain access to areas and have free reign to plant exploding barrels everywhere

 

[Rhobar121]

Honestly, stealth and messing up enemies AI is just way too easy , so far.

yea its way too easy gain access to areas and have free reign to plant exploding barrels everywhere

Sure, you can do it, but only for the memes. It's faster to kill everything than to play around with placing barrels.

 

[Desiderius]

Lae'Zel is probably the most reasonable companion in the game. She has character progression, takes the situation seriously and changes her mind after certain developments.

Asia is a big market

Hopefully she’ll stop hissing at me at some point.

It’s a come on.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

So Baldur's Gate 3 is no more the most successful RPG of the decade. A pokemon clone is.

 

[Haplo]

...with guns.

 

[Orutrus]

Gith plot spoiler

Spoiler

I visited the astral plane and if the massive skeleton you can see in the background is the dead remants of the Myrkul we killed in Mask of the Betrayer, thats a nice touch.

Spoiler

Nevermind that, it seems that everyone in the new Forgotten Realms is alive, even gods killed several times. For fucks sake.

Also, why, WHY there has to be a massive dungeon or underground facility under every fucking building in the game? Those are starting to get annoying to explore because for some reason I can't figure out all underground maps are very messy to navigate and filled with too much stuff that doesn't really add anything to the experience.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

So Baldur's Gate 3 is no more the most successful RPG of the decade. A pokemon clone is.

...with guns.

On the one hand, it's decline because it's real-time survival garbage and early access vaporware.

On the other hand, it doesn't have bear sex or trannies.

On the other tentacle, it's pervy Jap crap with furries, vore and slavery.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Oh wow this Ketheric fight part 2 is a real drag. It's been hours of scratch damage undone by the fella eating his own followers. And for a game with such bigass and shiny maps it feels more like I'm going encounter after encounter Blackguards style rather than mucking about in a proper world like solasta.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Warlock is dreadfully boring.. I had to respec into sorclock. Much better , even if miss my pet.

Also defeated the Hag using silence after 4 tries. How Silence works is by far my favorite implementation of it in a long time in a game.

 

[Rhobar121]

Warlock is dreadfully boring.. I had to respec into sorclock. Much better , even if miss my pet.

Also defeated the Hag using silence after 4 tries. How Silence works is by far my favorite implementation of it in a long time in a game.

It's a pity that 5e practically pushed the warlock to the position of a mobile turret spamming eldritch blast.
It's a very good turret, especially in bg3 where you can add your charisma modifier twice when you get the special robe in act 2, but it's still boring as hell.

Silence can also be used to silently destroy an obstacle, such as a wall.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I started up this game today for the first time since Aug 30. I was at that point in Stop the Presses where they make you leave the building, and your objective is to prevent the printing of the article.

Once you are thrown out, the door gets locked behind you, via scripting. Of course, the first thing I did was circle around the building, jump from the street onto the balcony of the Baldur's Mouth building, and get into a fight with the guard there. This alerted all the other NPCs inside, but since both the door to the balcony and the door of the building were locked by a script, and NPCs in this game can't lock and unlock doors, the NPCs started hacking at the building's front door to break it down in order to reach my party.

Genius quest and area design. Emergent gameplay

 

[Old Hans]

two things that are starting to drive me up the wall - constant texture loading and glitches during cutscene transitions AND numerous sound issues, like sounds playing 5 seconds after you do an action.

also playing on the xbox series s, the battle at last light inn is a real treat running at sub 20 fps

 

[Rhobar121]

two things that are starting to drive me up the wall - constant texture loading and glitches during cutscene transitions AND numerous sound issues, like sounds playing 5 seconds after you do an action.

also playing on the xbox series s, the battle at last light inn is a real treat running at sub 20 fps

You only have yourself to blame for buying the shittiest console ever.

 

[Old Hans]

two things that are starting to drive me up the wall - constant texture loading and glitches during cutscene transitions AND numerous sound issues, like sounds playing 5 seconds after you do an action.

also playing on the xbox series s, the battle at last light inn is a real treat running at sub 20 fps

You only have yourself to blame for buying the shittiest console ever.

I didnt realize series s was so unpowered. I can get better performance in Mechwarrior 5 on my 10 year old fx-6300 with a 2 gig 660

 

[Rhobar121]

two things that are starting to drive me up the wall - constant texture loading and glitches during cutscene transitions AND numerous sound issues, like sounds playing 5 seconds after you do an action.

also playing on the xbox series s, the battle at last light inn is a real treat running at sub 20 fps

You only have yourself to blame for buying the shittiest console ever.

I didnt realize series s was so unpowered. I can get better performance in Mechwarrior 5 on my 10 year old fx-6300 with a 2 gig 660

Series S is the biggest piece of crap that M$ has released, the console is not much better than the previous generation and M$ forces developers to make the versions for both consoles almost identical.

The funny thing, they allowed Larian to gut the S version of the game just to prevent BG3 from being a PS5 exclusive.

 

[Desiderius]

How Silence works is by far my favorite implementation of it in a long time in a game.

Making it a ritual out of combat is a very nice touch.