Topic: Baldur's Gate 3

@Bentleyma @KAIRU @Tjuz I'm a fan of turn based in some games, especially rpgs like this. I think that may be due to my D&D playing days. I do like how you can switch between characters when it is your turn if same intiative or if co-op have 2 go at once so it is not a completely turned based. An intuitive idea to have less waiting.

I’ve struggled to find enough time to play, although I had what appears to be a glitch (couldn’t speak to certain NPCs, seems other people had the same problem on other forums) so I rolled back on a 2 hour save. I’m struggling with the D&D lingo and the combat isn’t clicking for me like it did in the Divinity games either.

Gotta stick with it I guess. I feel like I will need to watch a few tutorial videos or something.

@kyleforrester87 ask away. I can try and help as well whether its more skill choice questions or combat.

@kyleforrester87 You need more jam on your controller, obvs. That will definitely make it stick.

@Elodin honestly it’s less specific questions as in what does this attack do, as much as it is getting my head around d20s, AC ratings, advantages, disadvantages, saving throws… to be honest it’s probably the terminology that throws me and I find it more intimidating than it actually is. A system like Divinity/Pillars just makes so much more sense to me off the bat, though..

It’s not that I am struggling to get through encounters, I am just not understanding everything that’s happening.

I have found a more comprehensive guide, I’ll just have to have a good read through it!

It's taken a good long while (10hrs+) for me to get my head around most (but definitely not all) of the game's more abstruse systems but now I'm fully invested and having fun almost all of the time. The world building, character design and writing is simply top notch. Resisting the temptation to save scum before combat encounters, crucial dialogue sequences and important dice rolls is probably the hardest part!

@LN78 Me and my brother will save before we think there will be an encounter because we’re not very good at the combat yet and the chances we’ll die are high, but for every other decision or dice role we’ve decided to just let it play out and never load the game to redo anything.

@Bentleyma I'm not very good at the combat yet, either! My one major complaint is that even with the tutorials switched on, the game doesn't do a very good job of explaining a lot of the mechanics - how to consistently get stealth kills is still a complete mystery, for example. Do you have the karmic dice on or off?

@LN78 Karmic dice? No clue what that is!

@Bentleyma It's a setting in the options where you can basically enable/disable a biased dice. With karmic dice, it'll make it so you can not go on losing or winning streaks with the dice. Eventually, it will always force the opposite outcome of what you had too much of recently no matter how much the odds are in favor of or against you. This goes for skill checks and in combat. I think it's cheating. Turning it off means the dice rolls are pure random.

@Tjuz Ah okay. I assume that’s turned off by default?

@Bentleyma I'm pretty sure it's on by default. I only found out about it because of the Eurogamer beginner's guide which recommended turning it off in the options menu.

I played a little D&D years ago and I don’t think my pals and I did it correctly, in the purest sense of how the game should be run. We had fun though. So I do wonder if I’ll have the first clue how to play Baldur’s Gate 3. 😅

I don't know what I did at Emerald Grove, I made some decision but didn't think nothing of it but everyone is dead, absolutely everyone not even the traders and I wanted to sell because i'm over encumbered

@Throb Haha. I did that too. Though, I made that decision on purpose. I even helped slaughter a few of them. 😅

This game is just too good. Great storytelling and amazing battles. I just took on a fight that I'm thinking I was too low level, but I survived on some timely misses by them and key hits by me, along with many many potions used. I went though quite the potion/scroll inventory. Leveled up after. A great cherry on top after the fight.

I restarted the other night. Same class and build but I wasn't being anywhere near sneaky enough originally. Also made a few decisions first time around that I kinda regret and have rectified on this new playthrough. Plus, now that I have a bit more of a grasp on the combat and how to play each character in my party, I'm having much more success.

Sneaking along and wiping out the Goblin Village inhabitants from the rafters above them was really cool, especially as I had destroyed the ladders so they couldn't get to me. Setting up ambushes and hiding around corners whilst luring enemies past for that glorious sneak attack is incredibly satisfying when it comes off — and is quite frustrating when you miss. 😅

Really enjoying this so far. I feel like I've barely scratched the surface.

I'm now in the "I'm going to buy it, but I definitely need to plan ahead so I'm not overwhelmed stage " I have no experience with anything quite like this game, the most RPG RPG's I've played are probably The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverence, Skyrim and Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Initially I was thinking, as I favour action games, to go with something front line, and pretty simple. But the more I've pondered in the back of my mind, I've finally come to the decision I want to be some form of Battle Hardened Bard. Someone with charisma that I can Role Play as being a leader through their words and tactics, but who doesn't completely shy away from action. I then evolved that to maybe thinking, instead of being a second wave attacker, and inspiration, it'd be cool to play as someone who, in battle, takes advantage of the parties hard work, to finish off enemies with final blows (maybe a glory hound) and then maybe brag about it quite a bit, but not enough to conpletely annoy everyone. This to me sounds like a fun RP, something between Dandelion (The Witcher) and Face Man (The A-Team) 😂 although it'd be more tempting to perhaps have a few Howling Mad Murdoch traits thrown in haha.

I'm now going off on a tangent and thinking was the A-Team really based on D&D? The 4 party member set up, each with their own skill set and weaknesses. It really seems like it was 😁

Anyway, the point of this post is to establish a place to chat about this game when I get around to it, seek advice, and to initially ask if this approach seems like something that could work out okay for me as someone new to D&D? A little stealth, a lot of charisma, some weapon proficiency, tries to weasel, charm or full on con my way through some situations, and take time to seek the humour and fun in a dire situation.

Also, I wanted to ask (as save scumming seems a hot topic) what happens if you do die in combat, how does the fail screen/game over take effect. Does it just reset to the previous save, or something more punishing ala Dark Souls. As I imagine I will perish a lot as I learn what the heck I'm doing

@Ravix Haha. Love the A -team reference. As for your ideas to Roleplay, they are doable. A swords bard if you want to melee, or lore bard/rogue for more range. You could go warlock as well, but it sounds more like a lore bard with a couple dips into rogue based your description. I'm going lore bard myself and will take a lvl dip into Cleric at lvl 7 for some armor proficiency. So far I'm at lvl 4. bards are fantastic. Not huge damage dealing, but crowd control/buff/debuff and conversation winning all the time. As for death. I'm unsure. I came close a couple times but no tpk for me yet."knocks on wood". Good luck!

@Ravix I think I died once in an area with traps where i couldn't find the way out. And from what I can remember it loaded my last save when I died. Didn't really check if there were other consequences. It's a good thing I save a lot for those cases. I'm also not that experienced in D&D or CRPG, so I do a lot of trial and error. Testing what stuff does -> reloading etc to see what other options would do.
I can understand that save scumming is being frowned upon for experienced crpg/D&D players, but IMO it can only help new players to D&D/CRPG's.