Eight of the 14 reviews in for Baldur’s Gate 3 are 10/10s. Nothing is below a 9.
80 hours in, still not out of the starter area. 10/10.
Haven’t played it myself but that sounds insane, what takes so long?
Its VERY dense. Both in terms of things to do and things to think about when building your character.
To be fair, I have very little dnd experience. Dnd vets probably have an easier time building their character/party.
The maps are huge and they do a fantastic job of turning, seemingly small tasks into lavish questlines.
I constantly find myself being like, “Ill just check out this little room in the back” Which turns into a 5 hour quest cause I discovered some button that opened a secret doorway behind a bookcase and took me to some whole new shit.
Can’t go wrong with a Wizard, a cleric, and a monk. Preferably a psionic monk. Once the wizard is level 5 anyway you will have no DPS issues, the monk can tank like a pro, and does a lot of DPS at lower levels. Cleric can be built to tank like a pro, and throw healing like mad.
That sounds amazing.
Well first you need to pick a race, and build your character 7 times. Then you need to pick a class which leads to rebuilding your character more times. Of course then you realize that your main character stats and background would really be better a different way with a different class, which means you need to readjust your look.
And Ect for 80hrs
There is a respec option in the first area. You don’t need to do this. :)
BUT MY GOLD hisssss
And my AXE!
Can’t respec race
True. :)
Also need to respec my haircut
Most of the time in the character editor is used on the name field.
It’s hard for me to believe this is a standard player situation. It’s a role playing game, play your stats and use your party’s stats as needed when your custom character doesn’t have what you want. If you don’t have what you want at that point, accept the situation and gain an advantage somewhere else in the game where your party’s stats permit. Also another person said this but you can respec if needed.
That said, folks can play however they want but I wanted to call this out in case it disparages any new players from trying out the game.
No I’m pretty sure 80hrs in character editor is pretty standard
Relevant username :)
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The first area is really big. I think I’m about to move on to the next area after 40 hours or so but I also thought that 6 hours ago but keep stumbling into new areas.
There’s a lot to explore.
It doesn’t have to take that long by any means, but there’s a lot to do, plus secrets all over the place. Some take a sharp eye; others you need to get a passive dice roll (affected by whatever skill) for your character to discover exists.
I didnt play early access, which point exactly switches from act1 to 2?
When you enter the cursed lands around Moonrise Tower.
This game made my F5 key get more use in one week than the previous 4 years combined
If you are talking about rerolling skill checks in dialogue, I urge you to embrace the failure, it will make for an interesting story anyway.
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Sounds like this may just not be your game then? D&D is all about randomness and making the best of what you get thrown at you.
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Yeah you’re right, my bad. It sounded like you were ranting about the game and being annoyed by constant reloading. I didnt mean to say you are playing it wrong, maybe I didnt use the right words. English is not my first language. If you are having fun playing your way, thats awesome.
There’s accepting randomness on one hand, but on the other hand dnd is also about player creativity and DM interpretation. In tabletop DND I can say whatever I want, not limited to a couple of unclear choices and Attack
Several times I’ve been presented with a dialogue that I have no options that I’d actually choose. One such example was the equivalent of “absolutely, I’ll go fight them for you” vs “no, I won’t fight them for you. FIGHT ME” and nothing else. In tabletop you can ask "can I do something else for you?"or say Sorry, I’m not strong enough, or you can TELL YOUR PARTY YOU WERE LYING. If I get pigeonholed by the dialogue tree, I’ll absolutely load a savefile and choose something else, even if that means rerolling a failed persuasion.
In the end I feel like it’s made up for by the amount of times I get unfairly screwed by clicking an invisible wall that the cameras looking through a d my character dies because they walk through a trap blasting em off a cliff or something.
You are absolutely right, the dialogue options are often terrible or have unpredictable outcomes. I was especially disappointed in the
!rushed character development after the grove arc. They went from ‘we’re total strangers, dont talk to me’ to ‘I want to f*ck you so bad’ in a single night, and for every side character at once.!<
By default, karmic dice are activated which should make bad dice rolls happen less often (at leasts streaks of them).
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But that’s just D&D isn’t it?
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It’s both. It is what it is and that’s why there’s a quicksave option.
As far as I know karmic dice only affects attack rolls. At least that is what I’ve read.
Nintendo managed to make an open world action-adventure more tedious than a turn based cRPG
Get your downvote ready everyone, I haven’t played the new Zelda but I did play and beat botw and it was just okay for me. I found it to be very over rated. It’s not even close to my top 10.
I definitely had to push to finish the game
Have no desire to touch Total if I’m being honest.
TotK makes BotW feel like an unfinished Beta. This is coming from someone who didnt complete BotW but beat TotK with all shrines and such. The fact that you can make a custom airbike and even use it in some dungeons makes all the difference, IMO.
There’s a bike in BotW… You just have to beat everything a super hard optional boss to get it! Oh, and it’s not an air bike.
Tears of the Kingdom is a lot better, from someone who also thought Breath of the Wild was overrated.
I thought BOTW was a glorified tech demo and TOTK was a proper game using the same engine.
I still didn’t get completely hooked, but it was a big step forward in terms of not being completely devoid of anything to do.
I’ve picked it up twice and it was a snore both times. The fact that you can’t continue after you beat the game is dumb and I absolutely despise the weapon durability bullshit.
Yea the weapon durability mechanic is so bad
I get the, your weapon breaks so you need to fight to get a new one, but then I was evading goblin camps because my good sword would break and all I would get was shitty clubs
Plus there was one of the bosses that I basically had to grind through because he would destroy all my weapons and shields. Very bad design
The combat is a downgrade from OOT. The lock on was less reliable and harder to switch.
GotY
GotD
Game of the Day? Not very high praise ^/s
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There doesn’t seem to be a Game of the Decade award. I nominate Pacman for the 70s, Either Super Mario Brothers, or The Legend of Zelda for the 80s, Chrono Trigger, or Final Fantasy 7 for the 90s, Castlevania Symphony of the Night for the 00s, and Skyrim for the 10s
Pac-Man came out in 1980. Space Invaders for the 70s. SotN came out in 1997.
Fair enough, I had SotN on PS2 so I thought it was the 00s, so I don’t have a 00s game
Game of the decade in 2023? This will be awesome if true.
Or sad.
The game still needs a lot of UX improvements to be considered perfect, but TotK did too. For everything TotK fixed from BotW it had new problems.
Is there a CRPG that is worshipped for the best UI in the genre? It seems like a UX nightmare to create a game that is so multifaceted.
Solasta is probably the closest for a 5e based system.
Solid UI for all of 5e’s base actions with popup menus for items and spells. It also has significantly better navigation for vertical movement/aim.
Love Solasta. The small company did a great job. I just filled out their form asking what their next project should be like.
I asked for more 5e D&D but with a gothic horror or Ravenloth setting.
I wish more RPGs were set in era reminiscent of late 19th century. Not many fantasy settings use it. One excellent book series that does use it is the Bartimaeus trilogy.
I dunno about worshipped but to me pathfinder wotr has so many good quality of life improvements and better ui overall. Pathfinder also feels more like a proper successor to baldur’s gate mechanically and the old infinity engine. I am still enjoying bg3 though.
I know I’m late to this thread, but I’m curious about the Pathfinder games. When you say they’re closer to the original BG’s, is it mainly mechanically or in writing? I’m loving BG3, but I miss the tone and writing style of BG2, especially the characters.
I also heard the Pathfinder games are prohibitively difficult. That’s actually the main reason I’ve steered clear of them thus far. What’s your experience been like?
It has been a while since i have played bjt it is closer in mechanics to start. It uses a real time time with pause system and parties of 6, so a lot of thr combat dynamics and tactics are similar as are the controls. As for the difficulty, it can be difficult but there are 6 difficulty settings so dont feel obligated to play in a hardcore difficulty. The character building can get pretty complex but that is a perk for me, and it does a very good job giving you all the information, altho it can be overwhelming at times, it is actually there so you can plan accordingly ( one of my big issues with bg3 is the lack of info in tooltips etc). Also, there is an ingame respec option so you arent locked in.
Thank you for the run through. I’ll keep it in mind and maybe give them a shot at some point.
I also agree about the tooltips in BG3. Some are even plain wrong. I have a ring that says the wearer gets Blessed when healing another, but it’s actually the target that is healed that also gets Blessed, which is way better. There is lots of little stuff like that
Yeah i just noticed that one too. Meanwhile i am still getting downvoted anytime i critique the game even though i still enjoy it and make it clesr that i like the game.
I get frustrated every single time I want to use a companion’s special power and I have to run around mashing the A button trying to click on them, often in the middle of combat. Put in a fucking selection wheel or something, please!
I realize on an intellectual level I live in a world where Zelda games are revered for some reason. Don’t play them, can’t stand console/j- rpg’s and don’t know anyone that plays them but especially online they seem to be the Alpha and Omega. THAT’s why this is such a big thing, you can’t compare games but to surpass the ultimate internet fanboy dream game by just making a great RPG is ballsy and just what gaming needed right now.
The reason they are revered is that over the last 27 years, the Legend of Zelda franchise has consistently put out one good game after the next with few, if any real blemishes on their record. After almost 3 decades of consistently putting out games that are fun, innovative, and kinda familiar all at once, the fanboys may have a minor point with their obsession of the games.
This is such a hot take I didn’t know I shared.
Zelda games aren’t bad by any stretch, in fact they seem great. But they’re treated as sacred to an extent I’ll never understand.
imagine Larian keeps putting out banger after banger for decades… that’s why Zelda is revered.
Exactly. How many games are even in the Zelda franchise at this point? Like 20?
Probably because they fill a niche that very few other games do.
It’s wild that I’ve experienced two of what seem to be the best games ever in a span of a few months. I don’t have any D&D experience, but I’m really using BG3 to learn more about it and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been a fan of the Zelda franchise since the original launched, and TotK is just incredible. Both of these games are amazing, even if they have different goals.
I haven’t played this Baldur’s Gate game yet, I will. Someone else will have to tell you if it’s using 5th or 6th edition rules. Bear in mind that BG has always been a really good [battle section] simulator for D&D. The storylines are always interesting, but there’s really no role-play, at least not like when playing with paper and dice. It should be a good primer for you though.
5th edition. Been in development too long to use 6th!
Oh well that’s good! The even numbered editions always seem to be the least popular rule sets
Second ed was great :)
There is not a 6th edition of d&d yet
Making a game that’s feature-complete with no MTX sets a completely unrealistic expectation for the AAA industry! /s
I wish this was sarcasm, but I bet if you ask EA or Ubisoft it’s exactly what they think. That’s the issue if there’s a business dude running a game company, not a game developer.
Meh, fuck Nintendo.
I took a huge break from early access and didn’t like the UI changes. But got used to them.pretty quick and got sucked in.
I’ve moved from desktop to PS5 since early access tho, and if controller support is better on PS5 than PC (it will be, that’s likely the cause of the different release times) I’m buying it again for ps5. Especially with cross progression
I haven’t played early access, only release and the controller support is stellar
That’s been my experience as well on the steam deck. If anything I think the keyboard and mouse interface could use some work after playing with the steam deck.
I waited for the PC controller support at release. I love the way the game plays with the controller. I like that the camera follows the player and looking around is easier. Hated mouse and keyboard. But I like to sit on the sofa and game with my PC on the TV.
Is there anything in the controller support that is still missing? In the ACG review me mentioned that they asked reviewers not to comment on controller support, and that some things were missing (like team sneak). I feel like waiting for the PS5 release where I think controller support will be more fleshed out, even though I have it on GOG already.
As far as I can tell, it’s all there. Team Hide is definitely there. Loving the controller support, Larian knocked it OUT of the park. Changes the game into a 3rd person behind-the-player RPG yet somehow mapping all the complexities of KBM isometric RPG play onto the game pad? Heaven! Can strongly recommend this way to play.
I’m excited then! Can’t wait to start!
Controller support is there in the PC. Works great.
Yes, it is, but… the DOS2 muscle memory is a big handicap, I have lost so many battles because Y is “next turn” here. Could have made it a bit more similar.
This takes a 0.02/10 off my rating, game is 9.98/10
Metacritic in shambles over the .02
Larian closing up shop.
My ONLY gripes with the game are the inventory management is a bit clunky, I’m in the middle to later parts of act 2 and still haven’t even whiffed the city, and a journal logging detailed necromancy experiments sells for the same amount as a piece of paper with a goblins grocery list.
You might know this already, but you can cancel the next turn action by selecting that character’s portrait and hitting B. Not sure if it works that way if it’s an enemy’s turn right after (haven’t pressed Y by mistake in that situation yet, but I’m sure I will at some point).
I mean, I got early access like the day it came out, and was away from it for at least a year.
So it’s more like stuff just didn’t work how I remembered it than it was bad. So I just went to mouse and binded what I used a lot to extra mouse buttons.
If id have stuck with controller and relearned it, I’d probably be fine. It just seemed like too much work to go thru the menus for actions on a controller. If there’s a way to bind a “default” action it wouldn’t have been so bad.
And it’s entirely likely there’s a way and I just didn’t find it.
I played Early Access and thought it’d be lame/boring to start again, but it felt totally different. They’ve changed quite a bit and there are obvious improvements. It’s really great. First game in a long time that I look forward to going home to play a bit more. Really does feel like an adventure in which you play a meaningful role.
This game isn’t all… death and darkness everywhere like Divinity OS2 was, is it? In that game, it felt like I was fighting the undead and horrible meat monsters everywhere.
Well… it is a Baldur’s Gate game (as much as I’ve seen claimed otherwise), so the story is centered around the usurper gods of death, their legacy and their attempts to gain power and influence in the world.
The first act is reasonably light (with exception of mindflayers and some light occular body horror :P), just normal dnd stuff, goblins, druids, etc.
The second… well, to avoid spoiling too much, let’s just say it goes dark. :P Haven’t seen the third yet, personally.
I lost both my eyes in the game lmao
I’m really saddened that they don’t let me play a complete idiot. And it’s a bit buggy, but not impossible. That’s my criticism.
I crashed like 2 times in my 20 hour playthrough thus far since release in the grove. But that’s about it as far as bugs go. I’ve seen much much worse games this close to release
It had some bugs the first 2 days. And weird interactions. Like the UI would sometimes completely disappear when you switched characters so you had to reload. For weird interactions: when I was in the goblin camp and befriended the spiders I could talk to the guards behind the gate and they reacted like I was not on the other side of the gate. I also had to spam click the lever there to be able to pull it since it just wouldnt work with magic hand until I spammed the click
You can befriend the spiders? Ok I need to get this game… And a computer that will run it…
Or a PS5. It’s coming out on that next month.
If you thought TOTK let you do whatever you wanted to destroy monsters, wait till you see what BG3 offers. 😃
I grab every explosive barrel I find out of combat to help when I get into combat. Little powder keg, a little fireball, poof. No more bad guys.
I fell in (more) love when I realized I could grab a goblin and attack another with it…but there was just the one goblin. So I attacked the ground. Gobbo took bludgeoning and fire damage because the ground was on fire.
I’ve seen water can douse fire, and electricity synergizes with it; however with all the dark and undead, I was wondering if I might bless water and make it holy. The bless spell is only targetable on creatures, so that ain’t it 🤷🏻♂️
Also, it can be hard to see with the camera being so finicky but chandeliers and other hanging objects can be attacked to make them fall, causing massive damage or even opening holes in the ground.
If I wasn’t so deep in my playthrough, I would start over as a monk and just Jackie Chan my way through combat.
A fantastic game.
