Baldur's Gate 3 Playthrough Discussion

[OsaX Nymloth]

After 15+h in Baldur's Gate3 here's what I think.
My opinions is probably more controversial than most.

In general, it feels and plays like a Larian game. Which is both good and bad - people familiar with their systems and design should feel right at home. On the other hand, those who didn't enjoy Divinity (not talking the oooold games) will have rougher time.

Good
- writing is better than expected from Larian
- Dialogue options seems to offer quite few possibilities for different playstyles, cool
- some characters seem potentially interesting
- References to Bhaalspawn saga, which I wasn't even sure will be there (yes, that's how much hope I had )
- generally, looks good. At times, very good (amount of facial animation is through the roof)
- for players loving the chaos and silliness like stacking multiple boxes, this is a playground (I am not one of them)
- combat offers lots of options and allow for creativity both from the devs and for the players
- too early to say, but at times NPCs react to what I did and other times are oblivious to my actions
- it clearly took an INSANE amount of work to create
- some mini-boss fights are actually quite cleverly done

Bad
- no way to pause the game when I want aka. when I discover a trap or I am blind?
- I may not like the 5th edition of D&D (spell preparation and spell slot limit irks me a lot)
- fights with all the jumping can look like a circus
- ALLOW ME TO CONTROL ALL CHARACTERS AT ONCE, DAMN IT
- Larian still tries to be "funny" too often and this comes off as forced
- the game feels really horny for some reason
- genital options and underwears are useless addition. Can't change my mind.
- the amount of fluff is too damn much, too much junk everywhere, hard to know if something may be useful or not (you know that the moment I throw away that brain in a jar I WILL find something requiring it)
- the design of verticality-must-be-everywhere is tiresome to me personally
- jumping is meh. All it requires is ONE button click and done, there's barely any depth to this
- voice selection is.... just meh
- give me back 6 party squad and proper controls, damn it
- companion AI while following can be dumb enough to trigger EVERY trap possible
- all those dice rolls are tiresome. At least some could be easily hidden or relegated to background check

Bugs
Game is definitely polished, but I still got some bugs. Some funny, some not. This is especially funny when compared to my experience with Pathfinder games, which were very buggy at the time of the release and yet I had mostly smooth ride.

- bug prevents me from finished quest and getting some stolen stuff from me
- the sound volumes are off, from what I heard in EA it was fine and somehow broke on release
- cool bug - disarmed all traps in a corridor, went through, save & loaded. Went back through the corridor. Traps were back there, armed and invisible.

At the same time, I am still in the first area, but has it mostly mapped. Shall see how it goes from here.

 

[Frindis]

Bad
- no way to pause the game when I want aka. when I discover a trap or I am blind?
- ALLOW ME TO CONTROL ALL CHARACTERS AT ONCE, DAMN IT
- all those dice rolls are tiresome. At least some could be easily hidden or relegated to background check

I have not dabbled with it much myself, but you can enter turn-based mode and it should help with spotting traps. I normally send one person in first with a perception bonus and let her disarm.

You can control all characters at once using toggle group mode [G] and you can also chain them together by dragging their avatar. This way you can decide who goes first easier also.

You can skip the dice rolls by pressing either the left or right mouse button (forgot which).

 

[JarlBSoD]

18h played roughly and if the game continues like this it will enter my best games of all times list together with games like Fallout 1-2, Deus EX, Old Xcom 1-3, Morrowind, diablo 2 etc. Man i love this thing!

 

[ZedClampet]

Had problems downloading the video driver. GeForce Experience claimed I already had it, which I didn't, so I went to manually download the driver, but it wouldn't download. It said there were network issues. After reloading GeForce Experience several times, it finally decided that I did, indeed, need a new driver, so I'm finally ready to get started.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

I have not dabbled with it much myself, but you can enter turn-based mode and it should help with spotting traps. I normally send one person in first with a perception bonus and let her disarm.

You can control all characters at once using toggle group mode [G] and you can also chain them together by dragging their avatar. This way you can decide who goes first easier also.

You can skip the dice rolls by pressing either the left or right mouse button (forgot which).

An idea to use turn -base may be a good one... will try!

And no, [G] key is not what I meant. I want direct control over everyone at the same time, like simple box-selecting party members. With grouping on, they just follow and swarm currently selected character, at times entering traps or bad terrain.

And yes, I know I can skip SOME parts of the animation - it doesn't make it any less tiresome to encounter all the time.

Another weird bug I guess that I encountered yesterday (outside of invisible jar )

https://twitter.com/x/status/1689027250681696257

View: https://twitter.com/osaxnymloth/status/1689027250681696257


Yesterday's session left me wanting more, so hey, it's kinda "clicking" with me after I got used to some mechanics and UI.

 

[ZedClampet]

I've decided to scum save like my virtual life depends on it (it probably does). For the first time ever, I've bound F5 to one of my extra mouse buttons

 

[Ryzengang]

- the game feels really horny for some reason

I think you meant to put that in the "massive win" category

 

[ZedClampet]

Only 3.4 hours in, but enjoying it quite a bit. I made my usual, boring character--a human wizard. Of course, the second companion I found was a human wizard, so that's not helpful.

Combat has been fun, though I haven't fought many battles yet. I just now finished those ruins you come to immediately after finishing the mind-flayer ship. The final battle there was frustrating because they kept silencing my group of spellcasters.

There's a room there

Spoiler: a room in the ruins

where everything is trapped and I have no trap disarm tools/spells, so if I find some way of disarming them some time soon, I'll come back to it. If I get too far along, I suppose I'll just let it go. I suppose I could save the game and set them off and see what happens, but that feels like cheating.

 

[Brian Boru]

When you need to chill after a great dose of exquisite pain, why not let your mind wander the dungeon of Baldur's Gate anagrams. There are a few nice ones, I'll start you off with:

Durable stag

 

[Alm]

I don't think the website I went on understood the assignment:

https://imgur.com/a/8f6goVB

View: https://imgur.com/a/8f6goVB

 

[mainer]

There's a room there

Spoiler: a room in the ruins

undefined

I ended up going back because I didn't have any trap kits either.

Spoiler

You'll eventually find them as loot, and there are a couple merchants who sell them. With that room I found iit best to ungroup my party and just let the character with the highest perception & slight of hand skills maneuver around the traps by himself. The only one you really need to disarm is the one on the sarcophagus to get the loot. You might also want to pick up a shovel when you find one, it comes in handy sometimes.

I'm only level 4 in the first area (after the ship crash), and I'm finding quite a few traps, and they're no joke if you set them off , some can kill your entire party. Secret doors, levers, and loot stashes are also scattered around quite frequently. It really pays to explore every inch of the map.

I've decided to scum save like my virtual life depends on it (it probably does). For the first time ever, I've bound F5 to one of my extra mouse buttons

I save a lot. A hard save every 1-2 hours, and quick save frequently. It's way to easy to wander into a situation that you're just not ready for and your party can be wiped out in one combat round. Also because of the frequent conversations that affect companions and decisions you make.

 

[Frindis]

Secret doors, levers, and loot stashes are also scattered around quite frequently. It really pays to explore every inch of the map.

I picked up a pretty decent amulet hidden under a rock. Just a random rock placed on the map and my guess is it was linked to a quest I did not have at that time.

 

[Sarafan]

I've been kidnapped by the hype and decided to start the game. The gameplay is of course fantastic, but there are things that bother me on the graphical side of things. I can't get rid of feeling that the final game received a graphics downgrade. The EA version looked sharper (better textures?) and probably had higher quality lighting. There was clearly something wrong when I first saw the nautiloid in the final game and I suspect that it may have something to do with the downgrade. I'm not 100% sure about the textures, but I'm almost certain that the EA version looked better.

Also there's clearly a problem with anti-aliasing. TAA blurries the game heavily. The AMD sharpness filter mitigates that a little, but doesn't fully solve the problem. DLAA has better sharpness but introduces pixelated traces on character hairs and mouse movement when an interface option is activated. SMAA has great sharpness, but doesn't help with aliasing much. It looks only slightly better than with completely disabled AA. I still have to test the game on AA forced through graphics card drivers, but clearly SMAA should have higher sampling. It amuses me that the developers didn't implement the option that modifies this element.

The game also appears to have slight performance problems. I play on a Ryzen 7 5700X and GeForce RTX 4070 and a little stutter appears from time to time, which I'm pretty sure didn't appear in the EA version. This is especially visible when transitioning to combat mode. Maybe the Vulkan renderer will perform better. Anyway, in a game such as this the little stutter doesn't bother. It's more of a cosmetic problem.

I decided to pick my favorite class - Sorcerer. It has a cool variant which gives the free levitation ability after casting every spell starting from level 1. You can blow your enemies with a Fireball and retreat to a safe location afterwards, even if the terrain is higher. This is an addition to standard movement points, so you basically get 2x higher movement range after you cast a spell! I was also considering Dragonborn Sorcerer, but didn't like the look of face modification.

 

[ZedClampet]

I've decided to cheat and use a companion guide. I'm already full up on companions, but apparently there are at least two more I can get in the starting area, so before I get too far away, I'd like to go find them.

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

Yesterday's session in one meme:

Also:

Spoiler: Volo

Do not allow Volo anywhere near your eyes.

 

[ZedClampet]

Unlike in every RPG I've ever played, I've decided to be morally neutral. Want to kill the goblin hostage? Want to imprison the little girl thief? The game seems to want me to be the den mother for every NPC in the game. Well, it's actually none of my business. I'm just passing through. You take care of your business. I'll take care of mine.

I'm sure there are penalties for letting NPCs go through with their bad choices, but it's been non-stop so far, and I'm really just trying to get the tadpole out of my brain. You do what you got to do, buddy.

 

[Zloth]

Baldur's Gate stats from Larian (which seems to have given rise to a few articles today)

Baldur's Gate 3 - Community Update #23: Here's To You - Steam News

Hello, everyone! During the launch weekend, you played a combined 1225 years of Baldur’s Gate 3 – almost as long as it took to make it. And 368 of you managed to finish it within that 3-day weekend. We salute you. We’re about to enter the second weekend of launch, and thanks to you, it’s looking...

store.steampowered.com

 

[Pifanjr]

Baldur's Gate stats from Larian (which seems to have given rise to a few articles today)

Baldur's Gate 3 - Community Update #23: Here's To You - Steam News

Hello, everyone! During the launch weekend, you played a combined 1225 years of Baldur’s Gate 3 – almost as long as it took to make it. And 368 of you managed to finish it within that 3-day weekend. We salute you. We’re about to enter the second weekend of launch, and thanks to you, it’s looking...

store.steampowered.com

I'm surprised Clerics are so much less popular than the other classes. From what I understand you don't need a dedicated healer in Baldur's Gate 3 because you get plenty of consumables, so maybe that's why, but Clerics in 5e typically don't do much healing during combat anyway.

Edit: upon further investigation, it seems there's a popular companion, Shadowheart, who's a cleric. That might explain why cleric as a player class is less popular too.

 

[Zloth]

Edit: upon further investigation, it seems there's a popular companion, Shadowheart, who's a cleric. That might explain why cleric as a player class is less popular too.

Seems likely. When there's a big RPG like this, I always look up the companions' class and alignments then try to plan my class accordingly. Looks like the cleric is the pretty one, too. so a lot of people will be making sure she's in the party.

 

[mainer]

I'm surprised Clerics are so much less popular than the other classes. From what I understand you don't need a dedicated healer in Baldur's Gate 3 because you get plenty of consumables, so maybe that's why, but Clerics in 5e typically don't do much healing during combat anyway.

Edit: upon further investigation, it seems there's a popular companion, Shadowheart, who's a cleric. That might explain why cleric as a player class is less popular too.

Shadowheart is probably the main reason as she's good at melee or ranged combat, has a good range of offensive and buff/healing spells. Of all the companions that I've found so far, she's the only one that has always been in my party, the others I've swapped in and out, depending upon the situation.

I also seldom use healing spells during combat (as you mentioned) unless someone is near death, there's just not enough memorized spell slots to justify loading up on various healing spells. Plus, clerics spell slots don't regenerate during a short rest like the wizard or sorcerer. Having only 4 members in your party (including yourself) instead of 6 also makes a difference. It makes it much more challenging to get a good balance.

Healing potions are also available as loot or in stores on a frequent basis, but there's also a dice roll (behind the scenes) to determine how much they actually heal. There's also a simple alchemy screen where you can make your own if you have the ingredients.

 

[JarlBSoD]

I've been kidnapped by the hype and decided to start the game. The gameplay is of course fantastic, but there are things that bother me on the graphical side of things. I can't get rid of feeling that the final game received a graphics downgrade. The EA version looked sharper (better textures?) and probably had higher quality lighting. There was clearly something wrong when I first saw the nautiloid in the final game and I suspect that it may have something to do with the downgrade. I'm not 100% sure about the textures, but I'm almost certain that the EA version looked better.

Also there's clearly a problem with anti-aliasing. TAA blurries the game heavily. The AMD sharpness filter mitigates that a little, but doesn't fully solve the problem. DLAA has better sharpness but introduces pixelated traces on character hairs and mouse movement when an interface option is activated. SMAA has great sharpness, but doesn't help with aliasing much. It looks only slightly better than with completely disabled AA. I still have to test the game on AA forced through graphics card drivers, but clearly SMAA should have higher sampling. It amuses me that the developers didn't implement the option that modifies this element.

The game also appears to have slight performance problems. I play on a Ryzen 7 5700X and GeForce RTX 4070 and a little stutter appears from time to time, which I'm pretty sure didn't appear in the EA version. This is especially visible when transitioning to combat mode. Maybe the Vulkan renderer will perform better. Anyway, in a game such as this the little stutter doesn't bother. It's more of a cosmetic problem.

I decided to pick my favorite class - Sorcerer. It has a cool variant which gives the free levitation ability after casting every spell starting from level 1. You can blow your enemies with a Fireball and retreat to a safe location afterwards, even if the terrain is higher. This is an addition to standard movement points, so you basically get 2x higher movement range after you cast a spell! I was also considering Dragonborn Sorcerer, but didn't like the look of face modification.

Strange that you suffer from stuttering issues when even my GF on a 980gtx and an I7 4790k never runs in to these issues. I have personelly never had any such issues either and Im on a 2070super. Only thing i have noticed realy is that on rare occation some textures start out as blurry and low ress before they popp in to normal textures but that is somehting i have only noticed in a cutscene here and there. Try reinstall your Grfx Drivers?

 

[JarlBSoD]

Ok so here is a thing. I wasn't all that happy with diablo 4 once i was done with the main campaign, I still thought it could be okeyish to play in COOP with my Gf but in general I found the game to be a bit boring. What i did not expect was that playing Bg3 would make both my gf and me compleetly stop bothering with diablo4, we don't even talk about it anymore, we just discuss weird stunts we pull off on goblins in fights or how to get animal X to the camp or how to toss grenades at stuff to see what happens. BG3 is AWESOME! This is to me, about 35h of gametime, definetly one of the best CRPGs of all time and i have played CRPGs since the 80s so to me that is a big thing!

 

[OsaX Nymloth]

Searching for problems by force, but hey, life without a little bit of whining ain't life

What irks me ever so slightly in Baldur's Gate 3 - imagine putting a level 4-5 team to the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 2. Instant death.
In BG3 somehow we stroll around like it's some sort of a theme park and battle countless drows.

Yes, I am like that

 

[ZedClampet]

I've got to stop reloading saves every time I miss a skill check.

 

[JarlBSoD]

Searching for problems by force, but hey, life without a little bit of whining ain't life

What irks me ever so slightly in Baldur's Gate 3 - imagine putting a level 4-5 team to the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 2. Instant death.
In BG3 somehow we stroll around like it's some sort of a theme park and battle countless drows.

Yes, I am like that

Well to be fair, a DnD 4th lvl 2ed was allmost a child which is not the case in 5th ed