Yeah the game's kind of weirdly misleading about that. The only way of reaching the Shar Temple is via the Mausoleum in the North West of the Shadowlands map in Act 2. I'm not even sure that what you glimpse from Grymforge is that temple, as it's on the other side of the world map for that area - but that temple is huge so I guess it could be, and was probably intended to be, at least at some point.
I had to ask a friend about accessing that temple before I felt it was OK to move on from that area. So yeah it's kind of silly; there's a quest goal to get there, there's a bridge to take you there; unfortunately you find said bridge broken. Obviously you need to find a way around, but the game does not tell you that the detour is very significant and the quest just got recheduled to the end of the next act.
Overall, spellcasters seem nerfed compared to the unlimited melee and range attacks. Though I suppose there is enough food to rest often. SH is my only spellcaster.
Yeah once the high level spell slots are expended and you have ran out of scrolls, casters are dead weight in the party. You can swap them out for another caster though with how easy it is to access camp, even if you don't want to rest just yet.
Vampire one was funny, I couldnt throw him far but I managed to chain roaring arrows to push him off the ledge quickly
Not much into the whole looting aspect of the game then?
3 got more problems. Its like completly different game. a1 and a2 got this ballance of small settlements, wilderness explorations and combat.
In a3 suddenly you are to enter every single door and it just drags. On top of that yeah, fights are no longer challenging and there is no progression since everyone is max lvl anyway
My biggest pet peeve with act 3 is the sheer tedium of talking to everyone. So many named NPCs, and they all have a line or two of dialog for you, and some of them will have a quest, or progress an existing one, possibly only if you have the right companion in the party.
I think most of the named NPC banter is fun (with the exception of the whole "refugees good, citizens bad" narrative, can you tell this is an EU game from the 2020s?) and adds depth to the game, like when you kill a guard at the Foundry, you'll remember that you talked to his parents at the inn who were celebrating him getting that job. It's great stuff but why can't you tell at a glance who's important to talk to and who's just there to provide fluff?
Oh and if you talk to the wrong person or read the wrong poster on a wall; congratulations, you're now on a timed quest, and it may or may not be clear to you that you are. Converesely, sometimes when you're told you need to hurry, you can literally spend a tenday just eating and sleeping at the inn with no consequences.
You can tell that they didn't have time to finish Act 3 properly. It's Larian though, and at least it's not as fucked up as the final chapter of DOS2 was. They somehow had time to make sure your character can respond with "Baldur's Gate is the most diverse city ever and diversity is our strength" please kill me now thanks.
