Baldur's Gate 3

[freakdiablo]

So I picked up BG3 a few days ago which is surprising because

1. I've avoided paying launch price for a game since I've been burned by both Duke Nukem Forever and the early days of No Man's Sky.

And

2. I never really got into DnD or turn based RPGs in general.

But it's actually pretty addicting so far, got about 10 hours on my current playthrough. REALLY open ended, and I've gotten into the very not DnD habit of save scumming just because a skill check didn't go my way. Welcome to the PC world DnD players...

Some minor first week glitches. A couple minor graphics glitches - clothes on character models clipping, world models not moving like they should. Also framerate is smooth then will drop to <5fps for several seconds randomely, mainly during cutscenes. Multiple times now during combat, an enemy would make a move, all characters would sit at their idle animations for several seconds, then snap to where they should be. But the only thing I see that could be potentially game breaking is a quest marker wasn't functioning correctly. In the Infernal Iron subquest it would point to a trap door, then when the map changed it would point back towards the ladder I just climbed down. I eventually just looked up a guide and realized it wasn't even pointing to the right building.

Aside from that, gameplay is fun. NPCs will make occasional small talk when walking around - both party members and other NPCs in the world, they aren't just static. Character models have all been unique so far, with different personalities. Honestly a lot of work went into the general world building and it shows.

 

[rainless]

I thought this guy was dead-on. People SHOULD expect this level of quality from ALL developers. They should take the time to get a game right and not rush it out the door to meet some fictitious "release date" that they never wind-up making anyway. That kinda BS nearly bankrupted CD-Projekt.

Nice to hear Baldur's Gate 3 only has a couple relatively minor bugs. (Besides that quest thing... which doesn't sound nearly as bad as the Crystal Golem from Hexen.)

Yeah characters talking to each other has been a staple of all the Baldur's Gate games. Characters in your party with different personality types are constantly bickering with each other. It's hilarious actually...

I'm also with you on not paying launch prices. I only JUST got duped on the Matrix 4-style cash grab that was Diablo IV. Sixty or 70 bucks and I don't really even have ending. They literally went with: "Well... We'll just have to see what happens next..."

Well I'm sure "What happens next" will be a $60 expansion where you finally get to "finish the fight!"

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised...You didn't really get to beat Diablo II until you got the Lord of Destruction expansion.

Plus any Diablo game... WHERE YOU DON'T ACTUALLY GET TO FIGHT DIABLO... is questionable.

 

[QuantumCookie]

Fps has been really stable for the most part, and I mean, only once did I experience weird fps lows. Presumably some major glitch, perhaps a memory leak or something like that I am thinking (I have 32 GB ram), but it only happened once. Hm, maybe this very noticeable fps low happens after many, many hours of gameplay. I did see that reloading the game, fixed my fps issue 100%, iirc. All I remember is that the fps lows disappeared in an instant and went back to normal, when I left an area.

I have seen a glitch where one of my party members failed to walk down a hillside and got stuck beteween a road and a hillside, seemingly shaking alot at some impossible frequency. I fixed that by teleporting to some other part of the map and so the one party member got unstuck that way.

 

[Woomack]

I passed the game going the evil way (about 60h in total), but I guess it's not the best option as I missed a lot and there was too much fighting at some point. I started now one more time trying to pass it with more talking and less fighting, and also trying to do most side-quests on the way. The first time I picked the path through Underdark, now I went through the mountain pass. There are many different quests and dialogues change some quests too, so it's worth passing the game more than once. Sometimes I save the game and check various options.

I haven't seen problems in general. Some things are weird like some characters miss most attacks, or deal weirdly low damage. It's getting well almost at the end of the game. Picking mages or simply strong fighters seems like the best option if we have any fights.

 

[Kenrou]

Baldur's Gate 3 Review - The Final Verdict

Baldur’s Gate 3 Is Proof That We’re In a Golden Age for RPGs

 

[Woomack]

This statement in the title gives me mixed feelings. RPGs for some longer are repeatable and boring. There are single titles worth the time. With maybe 1k+ various games released each year, we can say maybe 10 RPG games that were worth mentioning in the past 5-6 years. What was so good from RPG that was released this year, or in the last one? ... BG3 and nothing else. At least for PC as for consoles was at least new Zelda.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a game that was made because of co-funding at the beginning in big part because of fans. They were doing it for like 10 years, if not more. It was supposed to be released a long time ago but was delayed (and good for them). They even changed the engine and many other things. Anyone who was playing the early beta saw that the game in the first version was closer to BG2 (no camera rotation or proper 3D modeling) than what we got after the release.
People are repeating that BG3 is how games are supposed to be released, without significant bugs and other problems. Well, it would be a total failure if they released a broken game after a couple of years of open beta, and a couple of months of early access. Not to mention how many people were working on this game.
I just don't think we need to hear weird stories and excitement about something that was released like it supposes to be. A working game should be a standard, not something to be excited about, but I guess that all recent AAA releases used us to be happy that the game even turns on and doesn't crash or doesn't require multiple patches. BG3 is a good game, period.

 

[Kenrou]

I just don't think we need to hear weird stories and excitement about something that was released like it supposes to be. A working game should be a standard, not something to be excited about, but I guess that all recent AAA releases used us to be happy that the game even turns on and doesn't crash or doesn't require multiple patches. BG3 is a good game, period.

Preach

 

[freakdiablo]

I just don't think we need to hear weird stories and excitement about something that was released like it supposes to be. A working game should be a standard, not something to be excited about, but I guess that all recent AAA releases used us to be happy that the game even turns on and doesn't crash or doesn't require multiple patches. BG3 is a good game, period.

Well I'm in the second act now and finding things a bit more buggy. Quest markers aren't completely unreliable, but a bit more iffy. Wyll now has a permanent "Talk to me" symbol above his head. The weird, glowing paladin dude locked in a side room? Killed him, but when I saved then reloaded. the character model was there and it isn't target-able.

But my biggest peeve so far? They're just gonna drop these Weber grills in and not let us have a cookout? Damn, that's just evil.

 

[Kenrou]

Could be worse, the gay bear could've found you by now

Baldur’s Gate 3 has a gay bear love scene and people are loving it

The reveal of a rather unorthodox romantic encounter in Baldur’s Gate 3 has given its sales a considerable bump on Steam.

metro.co.uk

"The scene in question involves Astarion, who is an elf vampire, and Halsin, who is a druid. If you manage to encourage them into a romantic relationship then a sex scene can result which involves Halsin turning into a bear – like Beorn from The Hobbit.

Although there are jokes in it – the bit with the squirrel is great – the scene isn’t played for laughs and is actually more romantic and adult than almost any other sex scene in gaming, not that there are many.

The explanation is that Halsin’s transformation is accidental, as he gets carried away, but Astarion is into it and they both carry on regardless. Or at least he is depending on which dialogue options you choose."

 

[QuantumCookie]

Btw, just wanted to mention that I saw this rather awesome video clip showing a druid having transformed into an owlbear (monstrosity), who basically skydived off a cliff and mauled a 400+ hp automaton in a single blow.

 

[EarthDog]

Btw, just wanted to mention that I saw this rather awesome video clip showing a druid having transformed into an owlbear (monstrosity), who basically skydived off a cliff and mauled a 400+ hp automaton in a single blow.

Cool story!

Link...?

 

[QuantumCookie]

I tried to find it the day after, but couldn't find the right one. The closest thing is the Owlbear attacking something else from a height, but not as epic.
Something about the Owlbear dealing 800 bludgeoning damage or something specifically vs the automaton.

 

[Woomack]

Could be worse, the gay bear could've found you by now

Baldur’s Gate 3 has a gay bear love scene and people are loving it

The reveal of a rather unorthodox romantic encounter in Baldur’s Gate 3 has given its sales a considerable bump on Steam.

metro.co.uk

"The scene in question involves Astarion, who is an elf vampire, and Halsin, who is a druid. If you manage to encourage them into a romantic relationship then a sex scene can result which involves Halsin turning into a bear – like Beorn from The Hobbit.

Although there are jokes in it – the bit with the squirrel is great – the scene isn’t played for laughs and is actually more romantic and adult than almost any other sex scene in gaming, not that there are many.

The explanation is that Halsin’s transformation is accidental, as he gets carried away, but Astarion is into it and they both carry on regardless. Or at least he is depending on which dialogue options you choose."

I could list many other things like that. I will only say the "devil" and the tentacle guy
I'm somewhere in the middle of the second pass, picking different quests and doing things that were previously locked because of dialogue choices. I don't want to post spoilers, as there are many surprising things on the way. I already know I failed something in the dialogues about 10h ago, so I won't go back. Maybe will pass the game for the third time ...

Going druid -> owlbear transformation helps a lot in fights, but you need 6 or 7 lvl. It's not very high damage, but the time you get the skill, most characters deal maybe 10-15 dmg per hit, while the owlbear is 20-30 and has a double hit + can move far and attack with his flight-jump. Not to mention the transformation has its own HP. If you pick everything right, then you can have 3 druids in the party (including you).
You can also have a cub owlbear in your camp. I got it, but I have no idea if it does anything else than sit there. When you get a dog then, it randomly brings you some junk.

I'm not using any guides, except for one thing when I had no idea how to get to the devil's palace. The game is made well enough for multiple ways to solve most problems, so if you think for a while, then you find a way. For example one of the trials (not a big spoiler) gives you a choice to transform into a cat (druid), hide with rogue (Astarion or your main character if it's rouge with higher stats), transform into a cloud (mages), or I think there are one or more ways. To pass most quests, can simply kill everyone, but I don't recommend that, as then you lock a lot of quests and you spend a lot of time, fighting with random groups that will hunt you.

 

[Kenrou]

 

[Woomack]

I found out what's about the owlbear cub. You can pick it to help at the end of the game when it's already grown up. The list of possible options includes characters that you helped on the way.





Edit:
it's useless, only 75hp, and looks like it's bugged, one time moved and then skipped all turns until the end of the fight and disappeared

Edit2:
I thought I had many more quests, but it looks like I finished all or blocked some with my activities. Anyway, I passed the game for the second time.

 

[QuantumCookie]

You can enlarge characters and an owlbear and then in free fall (jump onto something from a height), supposedly they gain a damage multiplier depending on the distance down to the ground.

I thought that druids could shapechange to being a owlbear, but not something I've tried myself.

 

[Woomack]

You can enlarge characters and an owlbear and then in free fall (jump onto something from a height), supposedly they gain a damage multiplier depending on the distance down to the ground.

I'm not sure where you could use it so it could be helpful and not only to see a higher number damage on a pretty weak opponent.

I thought that druids could shapechange to being a owlbear, but not something I've tried myself.

Yes, you can but you need 6 or 7 level to get the skill. I mentioned it in the previous post. If I'm right then in a regular story, you can have 3 druids in a party. You can also set LAN connection and add additional players. I guess it still works like when my brother created a character and stopped playing with me, then I could still use his character, so I had 2. Then in theory you can play with full team of druids and all changed into an owlbear.

I only wonder if there will be any expansion considering the game ending.

Btw. AI isn't the best if we consider attacking. Spoiler or not, but you can set a wall of fire, hide behind the corner/wall and look how opponents try to reach you running into the fire. Anyone without full resist to fire and less than 50hp will die instantly. At higher levels can add wall of blades and some more. It lasts until the end of the fight and some more.

 

[QuantumCookie]

Just saw this on youtube.I thought it was hilarious.

 

[freakdiablo]

Just realized if you let the story teller you rescued from the goblins essentially gouge your eye out you can see invisible characters. Woulda been handy against creepy swamp witch lady.

 

[Woomack]

I let him do that, but back to a previous save (I don't remember why), and later I didn't let him. I was wondering what it changes, so good to know as maybe I will pass the game for the third time .... I already started with a different race/class