Topic: Baldur's Gate 3

I’m genuinely shocked Pushsquare gave it a 10/10 and didn’t mention that the completely falls apart at the end. This would have been so easy to fix by making it two games as well. Act 1 &2 were well enough to release a game. Spruce those a up a bit, then make act 3 it’s own game. If this game set the standards for future RPGs we have a bad future. A very bad future wherantnif the important most exciting narratives lead to absolutely nothing

To all those 'newbies' to CRPGs / DnD / Larian etc...

I am soon to commence my playthrough of BG3, having never played a Larian game prior. Aside from Disco Elysium, I have little experience with this genre...

I don't mind doing some homework/reserach prior to playing (And during) but I'd like to keep my focus on immersion within the game as much as possible.

My question, mainly aimed at those new to the franchise, how much can I 'pick up and play'? Are there in-game tutorials that teach me 'most' of what I need to know? Any particular beginner YT videos you would recommend?

I remember having fextralife open every day whilst playing ER, and would like to avoid a similar circumstance!

@CJD87 The tutorial could have been better, but I was fine since I played a prior game from the Dev and play DnD 5e. If you look up rules if they don’t explain well enough you should be fine.
However, I would highly recommend that you do not play the game right now. I just got to the end and it is incomplete and was frankly, sold on lies. The studio in the past has released a definitive edition about a year or so later, and gone through and fixed later portions of the game. With all of the 10/10s this game was getting, I thought that wouldn’t be the case here where it was needed, but they’re big things in the game they just didn’t put in, they promise, but just left unfinished and release anyway. More than one of the companion questlines (starting companions you can choose to play as) just have their questline finished with two lines of clumsy dialogue referencing the future at the end instead of actually showing/doing some of the coolest things they hyped up in the game.

@CJD87 steep learning curve, some of it is just learn by doing yourself. For the first week or so I just looked up various class progressions, and got myself used to the terminology and what it relates to gameplay wise. I'd say the terminology and mechanics are the steepest curve, but once you've sussed it, you're golden and it's very rewarding.

There's a lot of help built in in terms of being able to respec your class after a certain early on moment, and you can change difficulty at any moment etc. I just started on easy. Got used to all the terminology and combat mechanics by playing and learning what i wanted to learn from wiki type pages, then when I knew what I was doing I realised I could cope easily on the regular setting with fewer HP etc. You keep learning all through the playthrough tbh though, by seeing different uses for spells and attacks in action etc.

I found deciding on my class and RP elements before playing made it a lot easier to just immerse myself right away, without having to spend hours choosing in the menus and reading all the different character types and classes and races you can create in game, as the variation is so massive and overwhelming otherwise.

In essence I thought about and planned things and absorbed what was going on when I wasn't playing the game, which meant more time in game was just spent enjoying the game and the vast array of characters and stories and quests

@Jaz007 @Ravix
Thanks both for the responses, appreciated. I think I'd like to start with a Rogue class, the whole stealth angle really appeals and sounds a lot of fun?
I might start on easy, as this seems to be a good grounding until the mechanics click.
I am genuinely really excited to play though!!!

Not sure if it will top Lies of P for my personal GOTY though

@CJD87 Rogue is good for stealth, and it can be really good for talking too. If you get expertise in persuasion and deception, you’ll be an amazing talker. Expertise doubles your proficiency bonus for a skill. I would also recommend the actor feet for that, which gives you proficiency and expertise in deception and performance. Just make sure your background doesn’t overlap with a feat or racial skill.

Cool thing I realised quite late was of you want to test how well set up your characters are, you can target you or your party in camp or wherever, and you will see the hit percentages for your melee, range or spells or see the chance that you can be hit by their spells and attacks.

For example, right now if I wear a certain combo of gear then Shadhearts offensive cantrips have a 1% with disadvantage chance of hitting me, and guiding bolt has a 12% chance with disadvantage.

Considering how much these percentages matter it's a cool way to see if you're building your character right if you're new and wondering why you're getting hit a lot or missing too many of your own attacks. Get those percentages and advantages in your favour 😁

So after 244 hours my grand adventures in Faerun came to a conclusion last night. Truly epic game and firmly cemented among my all time favourites now. Would love an expansion to follow on with a few of the characters as they finish in some interesting places.

Some pretty challenging fights near the end have me questioning doing a Tactician run but I feel like I could probably optimise my characters better in future playthroughs. Plus hopefully I'll finally learn to pay closer attention to concentration spells, I got annoyed with myself a few times near the end when casting a spell that unintentionally swapped what my character was concentrating on. Also knowing what works best for certain battles now means I can plan what to take into them.
I'm going to use some of my save files to go for a few trophies on certain fights, will probably have to look up how to do the 'G' one as that was chaotic as hell and I only just scraped through.

I'll probably play something else next but eager to go back and try a more evil playthrough soon.

How are you getting on @Ravix? We were playing at a similar pace so guessing you might have finished or are very close to it.

@BearsEatBeets niiiiiice!

Ooh yeah. Forgot to tag you in my last game update post. Since last week I've not played a huge amount anyway, but I have done the House of Hope, Mummy Lord Mansion, Steelwatch Foundry

and most recently I did The House of Grief, which I was surprisingly okay at, I had to restart once as I used Shadowhearts Divine Intervention, but it accidentally killed 4 ghouls Astarion had summoned, which was an unexpected effect, and those Ghouls promptly exploded and wiped out 3 of my party's HP to next to nothing, before they got either bone chilled or hidden in darkness by the Shar tw**s so I couldn't revive or heal anyone haha.

I didn't have my optimal party either, as I was giving Astarion a run out instead of Gale or another offensive caster like Jaheira. So Astarion spent most of the Grief fight dead on the floor after some initial offense. But me, Karlach and Shadowheart were good enough to do it ourselves, with good positioning, and well placed Hunger of Hadars to eat away at their support group fighters and funnel everyone towards Shadowheart slowly for some properly executed Divine Intervention. By the last few foes it was pretty close, but I started hitting them with Eyebite to make sure they couldn't attack until I was in a position to wipe them out

Funny thing I realised after the fight my Tav was somehow completely hatless, so I'd done the whole thing without my Heldusk Helm with the "see through magical darkness" buff, which would have made it a bit easier as a fight, as they just cast darkness over and over. I had been switching between that and the Weave Hood for various fights and aesthetics, and must have unequipped my head gear by mistake 😅

I think all I've got to do now is The Legend of Ansur, Cazador's Palace and the main boss fights, and I may do visit G before some of that 'side' stuff, I haven't decided whether to do all those big bits at the very end or break it up a bit.

Well.... finally taken the plunge and have begun BG3 - even after a few days playing I can already tell this is my GOTY (previously I'd given this to 'Lies of P', an incredibly pleasant surprise and a great Souls-fix for anyone seeking such!)

BG3 is incredibly rich, albeit somewhat overwhelming. I got to a point where I became tired of research/preparation and decided to.... 'just play the game' (weird right!)

I have chosen Rogue as a class but messed with stats so I can play him as a face character... 'Charismatic Rogue' - 16/14/14 in Dex/Con/Cha

So far have recruited SH, Gale, Lae-zel and Astarion - the latter who is particularly entertaining!

Combat seems to be a bit of a sticky point for me, but I am determined to keep the difficulty on 'balanced' throughout, and try hardest not to drop down to easy.

Any combat tips or general starter tips would be great..... loving the game so far.

Will it mechanically get easier as I play more? I feel I am learning daily but there is just so much to do/see/grasp!

@Ravix That darkness spell can be super annoying if you don't have the means to clear or get out of it easily.
I had backed my characters up the stairs in the House of Grief and tried to funnel the enemies to hit them with AOE. At one point I had put up one of those invulnerability domes not realising the enemies could walk into it too, plus they had cast dark cloud all around so there was about a full round or two with neither side being able to do very much to each other. 😄
When I used Divine Intervention it did end up wiping a lot of SH's health as well as load of enemies. Not entirely sure why, as sometimes a load of reactions all just go off in quick succession but thankfully the others were okay and it definitely helped in the fight.
The Steelwatch Foundry wasn't too bad but I struggled to keep many of the lower area workers alive as they didn't seem to have a great deal of self-preservation in their actions. I did reload on that one as they all died on my first go and felt I could do better. I think I saved a couple of them on the next go and left it at that. The final battle in there got tricky just because SH & Gale pretty much ran out of spell slots near the end.
I actually had Barcus take over control of the Ironhand Gnomes and he banished Wulbren from the city.
I did Orin after that as I wanted Lae'zel back and it wasn't until she returned and re-equipped her stuff that I realised she was carrying the big bomb for the Foundry. Good job you can do that quest without it.
I won't say much about the O fight other than to say it was another one that took a second attempt. And that I'm not sure I could have done it without giving Gale a potion for higher Initiative to make sure he went first.
I thought still having the big bomb would be super useful but the 2 times I tried using it (against Raphael and final Boss) I ended up doing way more damage to my team than the enemy so had to redo each time and leave it.
Looking back at your post about the House of Hope did you not discover the taps that give you the effects of a long rest? I went back to them a couple of times clearing the way to the final fight.

Probably loads more I could discuss but this post would go on for too long. Let me know how you get on when you finish. I'm curious how it all plays out for you. I redid the end a couple of different ways from saves for a couple of the trophies.

Also finally, after getting Lae'zel back she had 2 level ups it had been so long. I took her along for most of the rest of the way and I'd forgotten how powerful she is. With a few perks she could do 7/8 actions in a turn and demolish enemies. Wish Halsin had gone like you and many others. From the little bits I've read it only ever seems to be one of those 2.

@BearsEatBeets magical demon taps? 😬😬😬 I feel disgraced to have missed such a thing. But like I say, I had my potions of Angelic Slumber, so that did the trick. But I can't even think where these would be? Was it from the Jacuzzi or something? 😅😅 I literally stood in the Jacuzzi to wash the blood off my outfit, so I hope it wasn't right there in front of me 😅😅

@CJD87 I did the exact same thing with my character. Whilst it meant I was rarely the most effective in fights it did mean I could open/unlock/disarm everything and could also persuade anyone most of the time too (barring terrible dice rolls but inspiration is super handy). I did split a couple of levels into Ranger around level 6/7 to expand my armour/weapon options but having now finished the game I'm happy with having played my character that way.

There is certainly a complexity to it all and I felt I was learning and becoming more effective through the whole game but still enjoyed that aspect. I played the whole game on default 'balanced' and got through and certainly feel the game can be played a lot more expertly than I did.
Not sure how much advice I could give but I found it handy to have my characters have high Initiative so I always had at least a few of my characters get to do stuff before the enemy can do anything. Removing opponents from the playing field as soon as possible is very handy. Always 'examine' all your opponents in a fight to determine what might be a weakness and what might be useless and a wasted turn. I sometimes learned that the hard way early on. Also don't be afraid to long rest often as things are rarely as time sensitive as it may seem and you don't want to go into fights without useable skills/spells. Plus there is tons of food all over the place. Near the end I think I had enough for about a 100 long rests.
That's all that springs to my mind other than if a fight seems too hard maybe try exploring somewhere else and come back later after maybe finding cool gear or more xp somewhere else.

Oh yeah and the touchpad to better explain spells/skills/affects got used a lot by me. Even though I did still google the occasional thing to understand better what certain terms meant.

Not sure if that helps but best of luck and hope you continue to enjoy it.

@CJD87 I mean general tips for combat I guess would be to not always focus on damage output, which can be tempting if coming from action games. Find any ways to get your party advantage (99% hit chance) be it via stealth, invisibility, high ground, or inflicting status effects on enemies like paralysis, sleep, slowed, general stuff that makes them an easy target.

Always have one dedicated healer. Throw potions for more healing a party member if you don't have spells available or your healer has had their turn.

Use weapon coatings. Something I did not do much of as I was hoarding items. But you find and can craft so many potions, just coat those blades and arrows and go for it for a good bit of extra damage or status effect.

Early on I would split my party a lot for obvious ambushes and things like that, so two or three party members could surround an enemy or an area before combat begins, then if one enters combat, you can switch to control another out of combat, and as long as you aren't within the red sight lines (press r3 pr crouch to see them) you can range attack, or throw some aoe bombs, or cast a spell to help you start with a good advantage.

Try to group enemies together and use AOE spells with your caster, as they will hit for the most damage. And use surfaces to make AOE stronger. Water x Lightning, Grease x Fire. Something I always wanted to do more of, but never did.

Keep an eye on your attack bonus. Attack bonus is added on to your roll to determine whether you will hit a target with an attack. Using gear you are proficient in and making sure every party member is properly effective just makes things easier as you will land more hits and avoid more attacks.

Another general tip would be to take out enemies from the fight, rather than mildly damage each one, as less enemies means you get more value from each turn. So the sooner you take one or two out, the better for the whole fight. Whether it be taking out by killing them outroght, or taking out a group of enemies, or a powerful enemy, for a turn or two with a good spell.

The absolute most satisfying way to take out a group of enemies or a boss is via a spell that creates an ice surface too! But throwing or casting grease can be just as good for that. If the enemy slips over, that's a turn missed, and the surface will stay there for a good few turns. And it's just funny as f*** 😁😁😁

In fact, my next playthrough I might just focus solely on making enemies slip over as it's just too damn funny. A party of 4 ice storm casting and grease wielding wind up merchants would make for a fun Co-op

@Ravix Yep the big bath in the Boudoir had 2 taps that gave you a free 'long rest' as often as you wanted. 😁It was one of those times the 'use' prompts come up and I think 'should I save before touching that'.

That's reminded me. Did you have any problems with the painting in that room? I had my game crash/stall every-time I tried looking at it. Thankfully I managed to finally disarm and open the safe without looking at it (cursor wise) on the 3/4th attempt.

@BearsEatBeets nope, it just blew me up a bit 😅 I also repeatedly got blown up a bit on the inner doors to the contract room, as I was just being stubborn with my lock picking/arcana which again, made the lack of long rests even more daunting, if only I'd stepped a foot further into that damn bath 😅😅

@Ravix Not sure I would have got got through that area without the taps, I didn't have any/many angelic slumber potions at that time (best potion in the game). Plus I somehow jumped my character into the abyss after releasing Hope so foolishly lost my 'well fed' and 'anointed in splendor' buffs for the rest of that area.

Your contract mention has just reminded me of something else. I wish the game would sometimes tell you when you can only say one thing. I went to Mol after getting it but said something else first, so the convo finished without me being able to say I had killed Raphael. When I tried speaking again the option wasn't there anymore ☹️. I wanted to know what her response would have been.

@BearsEatBeets I'll let you know, as I still have to go see Mol if I remember, as it's not in the actual quest log, I don't think. Just one of those you do yourself.

@BearsEatBeets @Ravix
Thanks both for the kind words of encouragement and tips!

I am amazed by how quickly I am falling in love with this game... and can only imagine how much richer the experience is on PS5/PC (I'm on Deck, plays well enough mostly 30fps with some chugs in busy areas)

Balanced mode is perfect for me now, and I am scumming/re-loading some failed combat encounters so I may learn and improve upon where I initially went wrong. The scale of this game is insane as well, and the level of quality with the voice acting and personality within each character is great! I currently have Gale, Shadowheart and Lae'zel in my party... the constant bickering between the latter 2 is hilarious.

Wish me luck....

But for sure, this is now my absolute GOTY. I'd always assumed that TOTK would be my shoe-in, but I'd probably have that ranked #3, behind Lies of P #2 and BG3. (Honorable mention for Blasphemous 2, loved every second)

@CJD87 Some of the dialogue has genuinely made me laugh at times. Although I couldn't bring myself to have my character say some of the options but will definitely try them in my next playthrough. I think I would have loved the player character be voiced but I understand a lot don't like that, especially with how flexible the character can be played. The companions are stellar though. Mass Effect is the only game I can think of that creates a similar level of personality but I think this has surpassed even that.

I hear there is another big patch incoming so maybe that will help Deck play too. Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy it. My playthrough lasted well over 200 hours and I loved every minute.