Baldur's Gate 3: On the Highway to the Nine Hells

[Rhom]

8 hours ago, Werthead said:

There is a mod - I say a mod, I think it's a tiny file you just drop into one directory - that allows you to play with anything from 5 to 8 characters. In fact, Larian seem to have designed the game to actually allow this, as there's already a slider in the code to move the party list on the right hand side of the screen up and down to add more characters to the party. It also doesn't confuse the game's dialogue system (unlike similar mods for other games where 2 or 3 characters' dialogue can trigger simultaneously). 

The only problem is that it just unlocks extra characters, it doesn't rebalance the game for having that many characters, so especially with 8 characters it can become a total curb stomp. 6 isn't too bad, apparently.

That’s interesting.  How does that work when you move around from various systems?  Like if I had that mod on my PC and then went and played the game on my Steam Deck?  Does that crash the game?

[Fez]

2 hours ago, Arakasi said:

So is this a schtick here with Larian games or do they always start with a ship wreck and getting washed up on shore? Like they are really going out of their way to echo the original sin 2 plot.

Also I’ve not figured out the UI yet but it seems awful so far. I have to bring up some wheel every time I want to use Eldritch Blast to choose it from the wheel instead of some button or something? This constant having to go to the wheel to do anything but basic attack is getting tedious. Hopefully it’s just that I’ve not figured out hotkeys or something.

Are you playing with a controller? Because yeah the radial wheels are how the UI functions with them. It's what I'm doing and it's not great, but it's not terrible either. At least, it's not since I spent a bunch of time customizing the wheels rather than the awful auto-add system they have by default.

The UI is much more intuitive, and faster, with mouse and keyboard. But I just prefer playing games with a controller whenever I can.

[Arakasi]

51 minutes ago, Fez said:

Are you playing with a controller? Because yeah the radial wheels are how the UI functions with them. It's what I'm doing and it's not great, but it's not terrible either. At least, it's not since I spent a bunch of time customizing the wheels rather than the awful auto-add system they have by default.

The UI is much more intuitive, and faster, with mouse and keyboard. But I just prefer playing games with a controller whenever I can.

I’m playing on a steam deck so yeah controller is my only option. No hot keys here is going to kill me.

[ASOIAFrelatedusername]

10 hours ago, IlyaP said:

Did they not get any user feedback about this when doing testing? This just seems like SUCH an obvious thing to address early on.

*shrug*

People were also asking for an option to designate a face for the party so they wouldn't be forced to roleplay another character and/or be stuck with the dumb, uncharismatic Barbarian when dialogue is started automatically and Larian didn't manage to implement that either. Or an option for party members to help with or take over skill checks in dialogue (besides guidance and bless).

On yet another note: Shoving really should have been a full action, not a bonus action. It makes putting your enemies to sleep rather pointless.

Still I am very much enjoying this game.

Edited August 8, 2023 by ASOIAFrelatedusername

[Corvinus85]

I don't know when to decide to go for a long rest. Is it just based on everyone having exhausted certain abilities? I wish the game had a day/night cycle. Would have made it more immersive that way.

Edited August 8, 2023 by Corvinus85

[IlyaP]

11 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

I wish the game had a day/night cycle. Would have made it more immersive that way.

Is it just always day time? 

[Corvinus85]

10 minutes ago, IlyaP said:

Is it just always day time? 

That's what it looks like. Except when you do go to the camp, then it's night all of a sudden. 

[ASOIAFrelatedusername]

46 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

I don't know when to decide to go for a long rest. Is it just based on everyone having exhausted certain abilities? I wish the game had a day/night cycle. Would have made it more immersive that way.

I have yet to discover any drawback the long resting and no time limit for quests. In theory you are limited by the amount of camping supplies you have, but practically it does not seem to be a concern so far. You are free to rest whenever you feel like you need to. Actually it might be better to rest more and than less since certain story events happen at night and you might miss them otherwise. That was even more the with Early Access where

Spoiler

for example Raphael would show up in your camp only at night. The dream visitor would also show up whenever you had used your Illithid powers the previous day, but, since one use was sufficient, resting and refreshing the power meant you didn't waste any of its uses.

Edited August 8, 2023 by ASOIAFrelatedusername

[Fez]

54 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

I don't know when to decide to go for a long rest. Is it just based on everyone having exhausted certain abilities? I wish the game had a day/night cycle. Would have made it more immersive that way.

Generally yeah, it's when you've run out of spell slots on your casters or run out of short rests to refresh martial abilities and heal (you generally don't want to use potions outside of combat to heal, they're a bit too limited and pricey for that).

 

9 minutes ago, ASOIAFrelatedusername said:

I have yet to discover any drawback the long resting and no time limit for quests. 

There actually are a small number of triggers that can go off, apparently without warning. And, once they do, you are on a long rest timer for things to happen on their own. E.g., Act 1 goblin spoilers..

Spoiler

I don't know what the trigger is. But, after a certain point, if you long rest too many times Halsin simply frees himself from the goblin camp.

It seems like usually you're safe, and the game certainly encourages long resting since most companion events are tied to it. But sometimes it can cause unintended quest advancements.

[Relic]

2 hours ago, ASOIAFrelatedusername said:

*shrug*

People were also asking for an option to designate a face for the party so they wouldn't be forced to roleplay another character and/or be stuck with the dumb, uncharismatic Barbarian when dialogue is started automatically and Larian didn't manage to implement that either. Or an option for party members to help with or take over skill checks in dialogue (besides guidance and bless).

On yet another note: Shoving really should have been a full action, not a bonus action. It makes putting your enemies to sleep rather pointless.

Still I am very much enjoying this game.

All of these would have been good, true. How does it work in multiplayer, do you have any idea? I'm going to be playing this game with 3 buddies pretty soon, and im curious how conversations with NPCs work.

[ASOIAFrelatedusername]

37 minutes ago, Relic said:

All of these would have been good, true. How does it work in multiplayer, do you have any idea? I'm going to be playing this game with 3 buddies pretty soon, and im curious how conversations with NPCs work.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/view/3655285307835439472

Quote

On the topic of doom and chatter, we get a lot of questions about how conversations work in a party of four, so we thought we’d lay out some scenarios that explain how it’s handled.

Typically, the character who initiates a conversation (in both single player and multiplayer) hosts that conversation. In multiplayer, the other players can witness the conversation by clicking on the appropriate icon or character, which will allow them to vote on the host character's choices in dialogue. The host is free, and often right, to ignore them.

“What if I enter a conversation with a character who has the wrong proficiencies for the choices I’m dealt?” This depends on a few things. When a conversation is started unexpectedly, the character who initiated whatever led to the conversation will host the conversation. That character's proficiencies will therefore be the ones used to decide the fate of the conversation.

To give you an example, if you run around a corner and bump into someone unexpectedly, you’re the person who’s going to have the conversation.

[...]

In multiplayer, you will also have the option to set certain dialogues to private, so your teammates won't be able to listen in on them. Perfect for romance... or betrayal.

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by ASOIAFrelatedusername

[karaddin]

One area it falls short of Cyberpunk 2077 is in having all the different orders you can do things taken into account. A few times now I've wound up with a later stage of a quest/conversation that is meant to follow from something else.

It all gets sorted by the end as it doesn't break anything, but it seems the kind of thing they were really going for and Cyberpunk doesn't get enough credit for just how good a job they did with that.

I did get stuck in a loop of being arrested then the guard for the prison still having the negative opinion of me and triggering the arrest dialogue again while I'm in a cell. I didn't want to fight at that time but was the only way to get out of the loop.

Still having a blast, I've hit max level now and continue to run into interesting encounters. Favorite so far (act 3 spoilers)

Spoiler

Rescuing the Duke and the Gondian hostages from the underwater facility that collapsing. Took a few tries to get it done in a way I was happy with, but the way it required splitting up the party and move so fast while fighting was great. Dimension door saved the day.

 

[Werthead]

NVidia has dropped new drivers for BG3 just today, which is oddly late. I don't think I've had too many graphics problems, but if anyone has any visual bugs, that should help.

Limited time to play the last few nights but I've managed to make moderate progress.

Spoiler

Taken down the Phase Spider Matriarch - spiders are definitely weaker than they were in BG1 - and made my way through the wrecked village, picking up the Ogre Rumble Squad along the way. I've gone searching for Karlach but gotten sidetracked into fighting gnolls. There's three guys trapped in a cave but when I try to help them, the gnolls just kill them all instantly. I called in the ogres, but they killed all the humans instead before thinking about tackling the gnolls. Trying to work out if this fight is winnable or if I need to retreat, maybe try to come up behind them, split their attention away from the guys in the cave.

 

[Luzifer's right hand]

Anyone who disliked the combat in the Original Sin games around?

I'm still unsure about this game because I did not enjoy the game mechanics of those games.

[Arakasi]

42 minutes ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

Anyone who disliked the combat in the Original Sin games around?

I'm still unsure about this game because I did not enjoy the game mechanics of those games.

Me? But I just started. It’s not that I disliked the combat it’s just that it was very repetitive. It got old fast with all the surface and height play. I’ll give more updates as I get further into the game if this falls prey to the same thing.

 

Edit: but I think the d&d nature and the story will carry me through a play. Doing dark urge Warlock with a character that looks surprisingly like Willow.

Edited August 8, 2023 by Arakasi

[IlyaP]

5 hours ago, Arakasi said:

Me? But I just started. It’s not that I disliked the combat it’s just that it was very repetitive. It got old fast with all the surface and height play. I’ll give more updates as I get further into the game if this falls prey to the same thing.

Same. I just really didn't enjoy DSO2 at all. Also, I found the voice over narration thing really distracting. (There is, thankfully, a way to disable it.)

But like @Arakasi said, the surface and height play just didn't work for me either.  

Terrific music though! Borislav Slavov did some fantastic work on that score. 

[Relic]

Man, im level 4 and havent been to Baldur's Gate yet. Tons of things to do in the opening zone. Even found an entry to the Underdark?? 

[Fez]

2 hours ago, Relic said:

Man, im level 4 and havent been to Baldur's Gate yet. Tons of things to do in the opening zone. Even found an entry to the Underdark?? 

I just hit level 5 and I'm still in that opening zone too. I am trying to be a bit completionist though. I think I've only got a couple things left, then check out the underdark, and then move on to the next zone. 

Game is massive, especially considering I know there's alternate paths for some of the big quests I've finished. But even setting aside that aspect, I don't understand how Larian estimated a playthrough would be only 40-50 hours. I guess you can skip a lot of stuff, but it feels like you'd be too underleveled for the critical path fights if that's all you did.

[Relic]

3 minutes ago, Fez said:

but it feels like you'd be too underleveled for the critical path fights if that's all you did.

Spoiler

Yeah i tired clearing out the big room in the Goblin Enclave at lvl 3, when i first got there, and got stomped like 5 times. Left to lvl, got the bear druid, came back at lvl 4 and destroyed it. I'm already like 15 hours in...

 

[IlyaP]

Was speaking with someone today who's already racked up 100 hours of gameplay. 

This whilst working in IT and having long work hours. My theory is that he doesn't sleep much.