Baldurs Gate 3

[The People's Hero]

What a huge download. I had hoped to play by tonight, but I don't know if it will be fully downloaded.

 

Who's playing and how are you finding it?

[moore_94]

Absolutely booted a squirrel that bit me

 

10/10 and will continue to put a lot of hours into this game

 

What classes, races etc have people gone for?

 

Edited 18 August 2023 by moore_94

[Guest]

It is an absolutely unbelievable game. I've gone for essentially a full support Bard throwing out crowd control and buffs so the rest of the party can batter every one. Between Cutting Words and Counterspell any halfway dangerous enemy just gets shut down.

 

About 30 hours in and just about to finish the first act but I'm already thinking about what sort of character I'll roll for my next playthrough.

[Zear0]

In a year of TOTK, to not have that as my GOTY is some going (not even forgetting the potential for Starfield).

 

Being an uber nerd I went full Wizard throwing everything into evocation.  I've just finished Act 1 but as Guest said above, already itching to try something different (and up the difficulty to tactician).

 

Extraordinary game.

[kingcarr21]

Never played a Baldurs Gate game. But looking at some clips it reminds of a bit like Dragon Age Inquisition. Am I well off with that comparison? It sounds like the sort of game I could get into. RPGs are my fave games

[Innovindil]

Not personally a fan of turn based games, but I sure am glad that this game is doing as well as it is. 

 

Someone needed to stand up and show that finished games with no micro money grabbing bull can still be a roaring success. 

 

Shite was getting out of hand. 

[Beliall]

first time baldurs gate player, dont normally go for these top down rppg style games,. but i saw the combat on twitch and thought "XCOM?" and bought it. story is picking up now, its been funny in places and im loving the fights. went straight in on tactician difficulty too

[Kyuubi]

Goty hands down, and I'm only on act 1 30 hours in and just reached the under dark. What a brilliant game 

[Zear0]

1 hour ago, Kyuubi said:

Goty hands down, and I'm only on act 1 30 hours in and just reached the under dark. What a brilliant game 

Same, probably my favourite game for a few years, let alone this one!

[syston_fox]

Not normally into these type of games but the Mrs started playing Dungeons and Dragons with a group of people every week and raves about it so tempted to give this a try. 

 

Will I be hugely out of my depth having not played something like it before? Frustration with the PS5 version is that it's digital only so an expensive gamble.... 

[Zear0]

2 hours ago, syston_fox said:

Not normally into these type of games but the Mrs started playing Dungeons and Dragons with a group of people every week and raves about it so tempted to give this a try. 

 

Will I be hugely out of my depth having not played something like it before? Frustration with the PS5 version is that it's digital only so an expensive gamble.... 

I'd highly recommended diving in. The difficulty settings can be amended at any time so if it becomes too overwhelming you can dial it down a bit. 

 

Have you played any games like this before? Old Neverwinter Nights, Divinity Original Sin etc? 

[syston_fox]

15 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

I'd highly recommended diving in. The difficulty settings can be amended at any time so if it becomes too overwhelming you can dial it down a bit. 

 

Have you played any games like this before? Old Neverwinter Nights, Divinity Original Sin etc? 

Nope. 

 

I'm a casual gamer, sticking to the consoles. Most similar thing is probably Diablo iv which I tried and got bored with. 

[Sampson]

Just finished Shadowfell in act 2. I think I’ve just got the Moonrise Towers left before I go onto act 3.

 

It’s such a brilliant game. Probably the best RPG I’ve ever played. Really great to have a proper Dungeons and Dragons computer game and one that’s *this* good.

Edited 15 October 2023 by Sampson

[syston_fox]

Well.... it's not an easy game is it? 

 

I get smashed in virtually every combat I enter. Think I might need to go down to easy mode! 

[Zear0]

18 minutes ago, syston_fox said:

Well.... it's not an easy game is it? 

 

I get smashed in virtually every combat I enter. Think I might need to go down to easy mode! 

You can change the difficulty whilst playing at least (I think).

[Finnegan]

16 minutes ago, syston_fox said:

Well.... it's not an easy game is it? 

 

I get smashed in virtually every combat I enter. Think I might need to go down to easy mode! 

 

Talk to me about your party. 

 

Who have you got, how have you built them and what's your approach to combat? 

 

I felt that BG3 was pretty easy really compared to DOS2 but then I watched by girlfriend try it on PS5 over the last week and two things struck me. Firstly, it's actually not great at teaching new players D&D and secondly the console version of the UI really isn't super intuitive, I think it makes it harder. 

 

It's a brilliant game but not very newbie friendly which is something I took for granted being a massive nerd that's been familiar with D&D for like 25 years. 

[syston_fox]

27 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Talk to me about your party. 

 

Who have you got, how have you built them and what's your approach to combat? 

 

I felt that BG3 was pretty easy really compared to DOS2 but then I watched by girlfriend try it on PS5 over the last week and two things struck me. Firstly, it's actually not great at teaching new players D&D and secondly the console version of the UI really isn't super intuitive, I think it makes it harder. 

 

It's a brilliant game but not very newbie friendly which is something I took for granted being a massive nerd that's been familiar with D&D for like 25 years. 

100% agree with that. 

 

Things are happening on screen and I have no idea what is going on - such as telling me I've failed to spot something. Play it again and still don't spot anything. Third time, my character does. No instruction that essentially it's chance rather than me doing something. 

 

I'll look at my party later but still very much in the early stages. (Just saved Halsin from the cage so only a few hours in) Very much picked moves / spells that sounded cool but in reality, are completely useless and seem to be too similar to my other characters. 

 

My wife plays D&D every week and so we have a co-operative game going too and she just knows what she is doing. Eg in combat, I had no idea you could throw things down to slow opposition etc. First thing she did was throw a snaring thing in front of the door and it left them as sitting ducks.  My approach was run through and try to fire a bolt of fire at anything and anyone  

 

What I'm really struggling to get my head round is in combat, I can have gotten behind someone, literally standing next to them, and then miss with a massive sword. Or when I do make contact, do 2 damage. Then the opposition glance at me and half my health vanishes. 

 

I'm also yet to revive someone in a battle and then have them still alive by the time their turn comes around again so feels like a complete waste to revive.  

[Finnegan]

2 minutes ago, syston_fox said:

I'm really struggling to get my head round is in combat, I can have gotten behind someone, literally standing next to them, and then miss with a massive sword.

 

That's X-COM Baby™! right @Beliall?

 

Yeah probability is a big part of D&D and a lot of tactical turn based games. As per the above gag, xcom is particularly famous for it. 

 

You just have to weigh up that risk. You should be able to hover your cursor over an enemy to be shown the chance you likely have to hit. If you're quite squishy it's worth not getting too close to something that can really fvck you up. 

 

The biggest general tip I would give absolutely anyone playing any tactical turn based game, though, is to always pay attention to who is next on the initiative order and to ask yourself at all times - can I stop them having a turn? Ideally that means killing them but if you can't, can you crowd control (hold person, Hideous Laughter, etc) them? If not, can I mitigate against their damage or debuff them (blindness, disarm, fear, etc)? 

 

I find that my girlfriend just sort of attacks whoever the closest person is (that should probably worry me) without really forward thinking. I've always got one eye on the initiative tracker looking at what is coming up and how I can stop it. 

 

Your girlfriend has the right approach to a point. Stop as many people as you can with crowd control, always be trying to minimise what is coming your way. Although the best form of crowd control is murder. 

 

If you do want some more specific build help later then by all means do ping up some more details about your party and what you're trying to achieve on here. I am what is generally referred to as a min-maxer or munchkin so I love this shit

 

I do think that's part of the problem though. Larian kinda assumed everyone would be and I think that's the level the difficulty is tuned to which is probably why I take it for granted. 

 

[Beliall]

3 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

That's X-COM Baby™! right @Beliall?

 

Yeah probability is a big part of D&D and a lot of tactical turn based games. As per the above gag, xcom is particularly famous for it. 

 

You just have to weigh up that risk. You should be able to hover your cursor over an enemy to be shown the chance you likely have to hit. If you're quite squishy it's worth not getting too close to something that can really fvck you up. 

 

The biggest general tip I would give absolutely anyone playing any tactical turn based game, though, is to always pay attention to who is next on the initiative order and to ask yourself at all times - can I stop them having a turn? Ideally that means killing them but if you can't, can you crowd control (hold person, Hideous Laughter, etc) them? If not, can I mitigate against their damage or debuff them (blindness, disarm, fear, etc)? 

 

I find that my girlfriend just sort of attacks whoever the closest person is (that should probably worry me) without really forward thinking. I've always got one eye on the initiative tracker looking at what is coming up and how I can stop it. 

 

Your girlfriend has the right approach to a point. Stop as many people as you can with crowd control, always be trying to minimise what is coming your way. Although the best form of crowd control is murder. 

 

If you do want some more specific build help later then by all means do ping up some more details about your party and what you're trying to achieve on here. I am what is generally referred to as a min-maxer or munchkin so I love this shit

 

I do think that's part of the problem though. Larian kinda assumed everyone would be and I think that's the level the difficulty is tuned to which is probably why I take it for granted. 

 

true dat. haha. although, xcom would be less annoying if i had a dice that i could see as it ****ed me over. i actually only bought this game after seeing the xcom style combat, and im addicted. such a good game. but yeah, as fin says, go for the biggest threat and try and remove any enemies that are between your squad in the turn order, even having 2 allies take  their turns next to each other, opens up combo options as you can choose who attacks first and set up some powerful attacks. also, theres no shame in using a website to discover a strong build for your classes, i have noo idea whats good and following one build and swapping oout spells and skills i dont use much to find my own style has really helped.

also play dark urge second unless you hate yourself and love chaos

[SpacedX]

.

 

 

Edited 20 October 2023 by SpacedX

[syston_fox]

On 20/10/2023 at 14:05, Finnegan said:

 

 

The biggest general tip I would give absolutely anyone playing any tactical turn based game, though, is to always pay attention to who is next on the initiative order and to ask yourself at all times - can I stop them having a turn? Ideally that means killing them but if you can't, can you crowd control (hold person, Hideous Laughter, etc) them? If not, can I mitigate against their damage or debuff them (blindness, disarm, fear, etc)? 

 

I

 

Absolute game changer!!  

 

It sounds so obvious now that you posted it but I was automatically going for anyone closer to me or the biggest enemy. Taken a much more strategic approach and started to actually win in combat. 

 

Successfully beat Dror Ragzlin and his horde of about 10 smaller goblins through actually thinking about things. Took out the drum to stop them calling reinforcements, burned down the wooden platform someone was standing on to take them out the game..... it's so rewarding when you actually negotiate some of these battles having had the approach previously of just trying to attack relentlessly. 

[Finnegan]

1 minute ago, syston_fox said:

Absolute game changer!!  

 

It sounds so obvious now that you posted it but I was automatically going for anyone closer to me or the biggest enemy. Taken a much more strategic approach and started to actually win in combat. 

 

Successfully beat Dror Ragzlin and his horde of about 10 smaller goblins through actually thinking about things. Took out the drum to stop them calling reinforcements, burned down the wooden platform someone was standing on to take them out the game..... it's so rewarding when you actually negotiate some of these battles having had the approach previously of just trying to attack relentlessly. 

 

Yeah man absolutely bang on, it's definitely rewarding. When you start thinking of combat as just another puzzle to solve you're on the right track. 

 

Honestly, I know guys that have been playing D&D for over a decade or more who still forget some basics like focus firing a target at a time or paying attention to initiative order or - a good one you've just pointed out - checking your environment! 

 

 

[Sampson]

Combat is difficult before level 5, after that it becomes quite easy. 
 

There’s a lot of stuff in early game that can kill you before you even get a chance with bad initiative roles. After level 5, as long as you have a couple of casters with good area of effect spells the game becomes quite easy

 

Or that’s my personal experience anyway.

Edited 25 October 2023 by Sampson

[Finnegan]

23 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Combat is difficult before level 5, after that it becomes quite easy. 
 

There’s a lot of stuff in early game that can kill you before you even get a chance with bad initiative roles. After level 5, as long as you have a couple of casters with good area of effect spells the game becomes quite easy

 

Or that’s my personal experience anyway.

 

What you're saying is, FIREBALL EVERYTHING 

[Sampson]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

 

What you're saying is, FIREBALL EVERYTHING 

Exactly