karaddin Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 I'm still hoping the extra attack "deepened pact" for "pact of the blade" stacking with martial extra attacks is intended rather than a bug, but I highly doubt it is lol. My current build is planned around it though, if I can't get that 3rd attack from 6 bard (college of swords) + 5 warlock (pact of the blade) then there's really no value in trying to melee at all instead of just eldritch blasting. I'm running with dual wield knowing that its weaker than a 2h, if we had an extra 2 character levels with the same class cap then it would be great to scoop 3 levels in thief for 3 action attacks and 2 offhand attacks from bonus action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leofric Posted September 5, 2023 Share Posted September 5, 2023 Man, this game can be unexpected brutal. Some time after my successful visit to the Foundry, I ran into a couple in the bar in the Elfsong Tavern where I was had rented out rooms. They were celebrating that their ne'er-do-well son Gaspar had finally gotten a real job with the Flaming Fist. The father was very proud, I knew this because I had seen a letter on Gaspar's body that mentioned this. The mother was also proud, but she chose this moment to tell her husband that she was leaving him, running off with the very Fist who had recruited Gaspar. I recognized the name of her lover too, as I had stood over her corpse as well. I just turned and walked away without saying anything, knowing that their pride and dreams of the future were now all ash. Since then I have tried to use non lethal damage on the lower level Fist soldiers, though there has still been some regrettable collateral damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luzifer's right hand Posted September 8, 2023 Share Posted September 8, 2023 Started an evil playtrough and it seems rather unrewarding when it comes to items. Spoiler Just Dammon dying locks you out of so many items and that is just the tip of the iceberg I guess. Maybe I will just kill the druids for the tieflings and still kill the gobiln leaders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaddin Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 I wanted to see Minthara so I had to go all in, but yeah it definitely is the "alternate" option with less resources in it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leofric Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 Finally, finished my first play through after 154 hours, loved this game and felt it was pretty epic. I don't have the complaints people had about the companions endings, mainly because, as I mentioned long ago, I walked out of the 1st act with only three companions, Shadowheart, Laezel and Wyll and did the whole game with just them (and Halsin for a bit). and the ends of their three personal quests were pretty satisfying. Spoiler I made the ultimate sacrifice and became a mindflayer in the end pissing off the Emperor. I was willing to given him the Netherstones, but not wiling to let him eat Orpheus' brain because I owed Lae'zel, so he left in a huff. Lae'zel killed the Emperor while my character was in the Mind of the Netherbrain, breaking its resistance. I chose to destroy the brain and free everyone and then stick around and grace the City with my new intellect and presence. Lae'zel rode off on her very own dragon alongside Orpheus to go overthrow Vlaakith. Wyll was free of his pact and back in his father's good graces and headed out for a drink. Shadowheart had freed herself from Shar brainwashing and freed her parents from their suffering and had embraced Selune. The rest of the companions I never met or I ended up killing them or getting them killed: Spoiler Astarion - I actually found but he died in the ancient crypt an hour later engulfed in the inferno from the traps and is still burning as far as I know. By the time Withers showed up in my Camp I accepted Astarion's death and never resurrected him. Gale is still trapped in the portal stone, because i gave the sputtering thing a wide berth. Minthara I killed without knowing she was a potential companion. Never saw Karlach, and Wyll stopped hunting her when we crossed into the Mountain Pass, which pissed off Mizora. Halsin joined after the Grove was saved, but he was ultimately kidnapped and killed by Orin, who was pissed that I stolen her chance to kill Sarevok. Jaheira and I parted ways after Isobel was kidnapped and we had to slaughter all her corrupted Harpers and tiefling guests. I found her body at the gates of Moonrise Towers when I came back from the Gauntlet of Shar. Minsc I had to kill to recover the gold he stole from the Counting House. I left Boo mourning over his corpse. This is actually a good thing as I have started a new game where I made sure to collect everyone as soon as possible and its opening up a ton more content for my next playthrough that I didn't see the first time around . So another month or so of entertainment to get my money's worth, let alone trying an evil playthrough later. Poobah 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luzifer's right hand Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 (edited) On 9/9/2023 at 4:01 AM, karaddin said: I wanted to see Minthara so I had to go all in, but yeah it definitely is the "alternate" option with less resources in it Well I already murdered 3 companions. I guess there is no point in stopping the evil train at that point. Edited September 10, 2023 by Luzifer's right hand karaddin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaddin Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 If you leave Halsin alive when you do that he isn't very happy about it all. at your poor Astarion Leofric. I remember your first post saying that had happened and the idea of him still being there after all this real world time is hilarious. Act2 spoiler below Spoiler After getting to the gauntlet again on my 3rd play through I was still confused how you manage to talk to Yurgir and had to look it up. Apparently I thought following the displacer beast was such an obvious trap I never even considered just following it lol. I'm still not sure why Raphael is scared of him though. Luzifer's right hand 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 Karlach's voice actress doing an Origins playthrough as Karlach is a brilliant idea. Luzifer's right hand 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luzifer's right hand Posted September 11, 2023 Share Posted September 11, 2023 That's nice! I really dig the narrator especially when I'm choosing weird or questionable things. Anyways I still have not reached the proper ending but I have done some alternative endings before reloading. Spoiler I nuked the elder brain with Gale. Now that is a shit ending. Shame on Mystra and Elminster! I also killed the Emperor. That you get another chance after downing him once is a big hint I guess. Probably an even worse ending than the nuke one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted September 13, 2023 Share Posted September 13, 2023 Poobah 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted September 14, 2023 Share Posted September 14, 2023 (edited) Right, here we go. 90 hours, and the game's been technically behaving (apart from a TPK when the collision mesh failed and I plummeted through the floors of a dungeon, but at least that was saved by a quickload). Just took out: Spoiler Viconia. That fight was total bullshit until I cheesed it by bunching on the entrance stairs and dropping multiple Walls of Fire. The followers of Shar, clearly not recruited for intelligence, came charging up through the flames and basically all killed themselves. The novices died instantly, the tougher justicar guys lasted 2 or maybe 3 rounds and Viconia alone survived, to be just butchered by my team ganging up on her. Nice way to shit on character development from BG1 and BG2, Larian lads, but okay. Now in the House of Hope. I don't think there's too much stuff left. I have to take down Orin and there's a few minor side-quests but otherwise it's then on to the finale. Edited September 14, 2023 by Werthead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaddin Posted September 14, 2023 Share Posted September 14, 2023 That's my favourite part of the game you're in now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leofric Posted September 15, 2023 Share Posted September 15, 2023 2 hours ago, Werthead said: Right, here we go. 90 hours, and the game's been technically behaving (apart from a TPK when the collision mesh failed and I plummeted through the floors of a dungeon, but at least that was saved by a quickload). Just took out: Hide contents Viconia. That fight was total bullshit until I cheesed it by bunching on the entrance stairs and dropping multiple Walls of Fire. The followers of Shar, clearly not recruited for intelligence, came charging up through the flames and basically all killed themselves. The novices died instantly, the tougher justicar guys lasted 2 or maybe 3 rounds and Viconia alone survived, to be just butchered by my team ganging up on her. Nice way to shit on character development from BG1 and BG2, Larian lads, but okay. Now in the House of Hope. I don't think there's too much stuff left. I have to take down Orin and there's a few minor side-quests but otherwise it's then on to the finale. Spoiler The House of Grief was a nasty fight. In my fight, we killed most of the Sharrans, but Viconia and a few others were still standing and everyone in my group was dead except Wyll, so he ran for it. He escaped, went back to camp, and had Withers rez the rest of us. We rested up and then returned and stomped the Sharran survivors from the first battle. House Hope is a lot of fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 Nice. Has there ever been a voice cast that's just become like instantly famous (relatively, anyway) so fast from a single game before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaddin Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 I think maybe a couple of the voice actors but not near as many as seem to be blowing up from this. I finally finished off my evil play through - the melee bard/warlock with maxed tadpole powers really came on line at 11 as it's just running around and popping 2-3 enemies per turn with its 4 attacks per turn and cull the weak kicking in as soon as they fall under 30hp. Also was the tankiest character I've had so far with >25 AC when defensive flourish was up. On the story side Spoiler Minthara still didn't really have much, she's got a fair bit to say about Orin but if she has an actual companion quest I failed to unlock it. I really liked that the game let's you genuinely stick to the deal you make with Gortash. We agreed we'd dominate the brain together and he shows up at the Morphic Pool to do so. He then dies to the Nether Brain but that's fine. I stuck with the Emperor this time then shanked him while he was distracted dominating the NB and decided to make myself the Absolute. Wasn't expecting my character to immediately mind control the other companions, but apart from that I'm sitting on my throne on top of the brain with all the Gith dragons slapped out of the sky and the mindflayers working for me. It felt a fitting ending for Ianthe Tridentarius. I expect that it's just making the same mistake as Gortash/Orin/JK Simmons and the brain will win in the end, but it seems to have decided our goals are pretty aligned for now. A remarkably "successful" outcome for the main character in an evil ending. Almost offsets how much content you lose by going evil. Poobah 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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