Topic: Baldur's Gate 3

@Ravix Both the first times I played it I did Underdark first and then went back and did the Mountains. I will probably do the same here because I think Underdark is slightly easier and I'm underlevelled. Then when I've done both I'm the right level or over. Then in Act 3 I end up over because I do everything I can find. At least that's how I remember it. I'm sure the last time I played it I was something like 4 or 5 levels over the recommended for the big optional baddie at the end.

I might have another look at a guide now for Act 1 and see if I can pinpoint what I'm not doing that's leaving me underlevelled. I need closure. I've probably skipped half the game :')

edit: I've seen a few things I haven't done - small things. But I've done most of it. I have also discovered that I'm nowhere near the end of Act 1. What I thought was considered the end of Act 1 is not considered the end of Act 1 apparently.

@Th3solution The game is allegedly balanced so that you can talk your way out of trouble and you get comparable experience to fighting. You can also double experience by talking to people and then also killing them. I actually do that quite a bit, particularly in one of the big moments in Act 1 - I trick my way in, do the things I want to do trickery style, and then start taking everyone out.

@Th3solution interesting. Other such games with that classic branching RPG dialogue option style, and clearly created in very much the same way in that regard would be: TW3 and KCD very interesting, indeed 😛

I wouldn't worry about XP and combat, my Bard talked our party out of plenty of situations, but I still had to fight an awful lot of the time, and usually on a fairly large scale. I think you get a bunch of xp for just doing certain things too, discoveries, sticking to tasks, solving problems etc.

I won't try to convince you of anything in regards to any story or characters, nor should anyone else, as you are only just setting off on your journey and it is for you to experience. Everyone's journey is going to be different depending on what they do too.

All i know is it's a game I wish I could experience for the first time again

@Ravix So, just a question, do you think it best to stay true to one philosophy and morality throughout the story, or is it okay to flip-flop? (Like be evil sometimes and be good sometimes, or romance one character and then dump them and romance another). Usually I pick a role and try to stay consistent, or if the game allows, I might try to go all the way to the good on the morality meter, then after maxing that out go all the way evil on the morality meter. This way I get to see more of the game and all the different options.

The game is so long, it feels like I’m going to end up being a mixed bag of choices. And still not cover it all. Just wondering if I dampen my experience if I side with one person or group once and then go against it another time.

@Th3solution I'd just weigh up what you think at the time based on the events, what you've gone through, how the people around you start to influence your morality or views. There is literally no way to see everything in one play through. So as long as you feel it was right at the time yoir good, and you will get to see the consequences to deal with later.

Treat the characters as people and not game options, I'd say is the best thing in that regards.

I know for example you mentioned SH was a bit chippy, and I'm wondering if maybe you met her and then instantly exhausted her dialogue options without considering what they were and how she'd feel with the questions you asked, and maybe how you'd feel being put under a microscope as soon as you met someone in a very, very weird situation.

Go with your gut is the best advice, and I've probably said it in many different ways by now.

Hopefully it kind of makes sense with what you're wondering. Do things. Expect consequences. Treat people as you would (or your character would, in this case)

People can change based on their experiences (especially people with a case of the old brain parasites 😛) so some of what you say can be achievable, but I'd let it come naturally based on what you know and feel at the time rather than plot it out beforehand.

I actually used to make little character, story and motivation notes that I could refer to as well. Writing down my thoughts and theories at the time, and going back to them if something changed etc. So I could have a few notes of what I thought or knew someone's ambitions or plans to be in case something later on was relevant to that just to make sure I was making a decision by considering evidence I'd already gathered, or to gain greater understanding of what was going on.

@Ravix Ok, sounds good. In that case I’ll probably be fairly consistent-ish with doing a “good guy” playthrough. Some decisions and conversations are obviously more binary than others, and some seem to be larger watershed moments than others, so I can experiment on the fringes with the smaller events and then stay mostly true with my character’s role of trying to do the right thing on the big plot points. But some of these morally grey areas are harder to navigate. Sometimes I don’t want to side with any of the involved parties. And the game even gives that option! It’s just so fascinating!

I do wonder what it would be like to just be a jerk and kill everyone I come in contact with, like Withers and Astarion and Lae’Zel and just be the biggest jerk in Faerun. Can you beat the game if you kill off your whole party and try to solo everything? 😂

I swear with the amount of times you mention KCD all over this forum I reckon you're actually a plant by Warhorse @Ravix

Good to hear you're having fun with BGIII so far @Th3solution! Feels validating after banging on about Divinity Original Sin II a fair bit that Larian's got you hook line and sinker with this

Monk's a cool choice and not what I was expecting you to take (I honestly assumed you might go a bit more vanilla with a fighter, Rogue or Wizard ).

I'm definitely surprised to hear Gale's your favourite party member so far. Not surprised that you forgot(?) to put your opinion about Wyll beyond mentioning you have him. I haven't used him once myself. Give "It's not a phase mom!" ShadowHeart some time, she's more then likely to grow on you and her cleric abilities are especially handy. Though I'm eagerly awaiting to hear your thoughts about a certain someone you've yet to acquire~

And yeah it's gonna be quite the adventure for you Sol. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes you 50/60 or so hours like it did for me just to get through Act 1

As for the question you just asked Ravix I'd been keeping an internal logic and roleplaying as my character Ciara Léanach (A female Lolthsworn drow, warlock pledged to a Great Old one).

At the start she was a bit more pragmatic and was quite happy to do whatever she could for the sake of knowledge (That's the main reason why she was pledged to an evil spider goddess and then pledged herself to an eldritch abomination despite being neutral herself on an alignment scale) but over the course of the act definitely became more heroic and good in nature and willing to do more selfless acts after bonding with the team.

@HallowMoonshadow Yes, definitely having a blast and I will admit that as I was playing I did think about DOS2 more than once. In one sense I felt some relief that after BG3 I’ll have DOS2 to fall back on to satisfy the Larian appetite that I’m cultivating. In another sense I felt like I may have peaked too early and going back to DOS2 might feel like a let down after BG3. As you know I’ve purposefully taken the approach of trying to crescendo my Souls journey and am saving Elden Ring for the climactic project after first hitting DS 1-3, I wonder if BG3 should have been saved. BG2 is another that I’m curious about, although it’s not a Larian game, and going back to it would be interesting for see if it holds up as an all-time great.

But these games take for effin’ long to complete that I feel like in my current phase of life I can’t be investing hundreds (thousands?) of hours to play all the progenitors before feasting on the main course. Still, don’t be surprised if DOS2 shows up within the next year as a game I’m playing. Speaking of, @Ravix , have you considered Divinity Original Sin 2? Sounds like it would be right up your alley.

Anyway, back to my BG3 run, I actually like what I’ve seen of Wyll so far, but I’ve only just met him and had him join. I switched him out for Astarion for the time being, but I don’t want to abandon my lock picker for long though. Wyll does seem a good character with an interesting back story. I know he’s the forgotten step-child of the party, from what I’ve seen, but I’m not opposed to investing time with him. We’ll see. I did read something somewhere that he was a late addition or late revamp by Larian? Something about during play testing whatever character he replaced or grew to be was heavily problematic in the early stages, so they had to last-minute modify him into what he is now in the game. I’m not sure of the details and I stopped reading since I didn’t want to expose myself to spoilers. From a gameplay perspective I can see how he may not add a whole lot to the party as far as skills though.

I’m definitely using Shadowheart and agree that the cleric skills are handy and I very much like her combination of healing, defense, and both melee and magic options when attacking. I reckon she’ll be a regular in my party. It’s just I want to toss her sometimes when she gives me the pompous condescending holier-than-thou spiels. 😂 I’m sure she’ll grow on me, and I’m trying to keep her happy because I value her in combat. And I need to know what that little mysterious relic box is. 😛

Gale is just so well voice-acted and has some funny one-liners in the early moments. I don’t know much about his background, but the way he brushes me off to keep his past history a mystery is more humorous and less grating than the others, who all want to bite my head off for prying. 😂 But as Rav said, I need to consider them as real people and how a person might respond when I ask about them. I do like that the game really cultivates a relationship in a lifelike way where (at least it sounds like) you see characters develop naturally as you get to know them. And even with my own character (stayed with the generic “Tav” name) I’ll probably evolve as you have with Ciara. To start I’ve been mostly virtuous, fair, and trying to not stir up trouble. I’m trying to comfort people, and not escalate, but I have my principles and when someone crosses me, the fists come out! 😅 I’m doing well on the wisdom checks and have been trying to discern people’s thoughts and motives as often as possible. A lot of people don’t like you prying into their thoughts though, I’ve discovered!

Its my shtick and I'm running with it @HallowMoonshadow 😛 in a world where everyone loves TW3 and BG3, it is still massively underrepresented in the RPG space.

And you thought @Th3solution would be vanilla, and yet they are now asking me whether they can murder the entire party and carry on on their merry way 💀 how to admit you're the dark urge without admitting you're the dark urge, amirite? 😱

Yes, you could murder the entire party, although touch Withers and we will all hunt you down by sunset. But I wouldn't advise murdering the entire party in a first playthrough as 70%? of all the best content involves the party members and you would just be making the game much worse for yourself. But, you know, Dark Urge playthrough 2, go wild 💀

If you do want to murder everyone, maybe start with Gale, especially if he starts a-thirstin', if you want to see the game reward you for it in its own unique way.

If not, go back to the advice of, treat these people as people, whether you like them or not

Also, yes Gale is well acted, they all are when you get into the meat of their tales, and he's definitely one that has a more affable first impression. First impressions, pah!

@Ravix 😂 Sound advice. Yeah, I wasn’t actually planning to murder the whole party but I was just curious since the option pops up on nearly every one you meet, including Withers. What kind of psychopath just attacks everyone they come in contact with? Although the thought initially came to me due to Withers being quite creepy and scary at first glance so I wondered how often people just attack him not realizing how important he is.

But yeah, after I said that about recklessly executing the party, I thought that maybe that might be what the Dark Urge playthrough is supposed to be.

@Th3solution I think there option to be evil is for all, like a very paranoid person thinking all these other people are against them might be one to murder them before they murder them back. Or just killing like a crazy murder hobo because their character is pure evil. But Dark Urge is in some ways much more subtle, and in other ways very, very unsubtle. And it's not necessarily up to the player

Unfortunately the presentation is going to take a rather nasty hit in regards to Divinity Original Sin II @Th3solution.

Unless that PS5 port that got rated a while back significantly enhances the game with the tech they used/developed with BGIII (Not to mention the significantly higher budget BG had) it's gonna be a bit jarring.

Ahh fair enough about Wyll, wasn't sure how long you'd had him for. Unfortunately because I went in with no knowledge whatsoever about the party I didn't realise I'd basically overwritten his intended role so... He's purely relegated to only when the plot demands it

Yeah clerics are VERY versatile. Don't be afraid to switch up SH's spellbook significantly per encounter if need be (Though on the normal difficulty level you should be fine really). I was quite fond of spirtual weapon myself towards the end of Act 1.

Oh for sure I don't disagree about Gale and his first/early impressions (All the main cast have especially good acting and direction imo.) Just there's some clear fan favourites among the cast so I was pleasantly surprised by you bucking the trend so far

So... Alfira came to visit...

Asides from the mildly spoilery photo mode fun from my second playthrough above i'm actually a bit sad now. I'm very much glad that my Bard playthough was my one and only true canon playthrough, and this is just some random alternate universe with the Dark Urge in it. It's made even worse because my Drow Monk/Druid can't even play the damn Lute 😭

I might have to load my Bard save and have a listen to the songs in their full glory, as this is very much not that 😭

So I booted up BGIII last night from my save 3 months ago right before going up the lift to Act 2... And then I recalled the conversation up above regarding doing the mountain pass and the underdark.

So I went to the mountain pass and... Oh god.

I assumed it led directly into Act 2 from the way it was worded. I didn't realise that was part of Act 1 as well! I'm still not actually done with it!

Oh well... Should be full of easier fights so I can get back to speed with everything! 😅

You know that thing I said about being at the end of Act 1? I wasn't. I totally misremembered where Act 2 starts. I'm still in Act 1. I was way off :')

@HallowMoonshadow yes. Nothing but easy fights to come. Breeze right through and be done in no time 🙃🙃🙃

Is it just the one thing I'm thinking, or perhaps 2 things. I'm pretty sure the other thing i'm thinking will have triggered before for you anyway, but I'm trying to work out the layout. I know the main thing I was thinking is definitely that way.

Hint me what the that you mentioned was, or spoiler tag it bluntly, if you would 😁

I'm talking about the area Where you meet the Githyanki dude riding the dragon in the main Act 1 map @Ravix.

From the way the mountain pass map transition was worded when you click to go that way I had assumed that was a hard cut to Act 2 ... So I've still got a whole area to explore before getting to Act 2 properly 😅

@HallowMoonshadow ah yes, very good then. (I actually thought they patched the random text to make it clearer that it wasn't as final as it was initially made out to be) I remember it being a talking point at the time for many.

I assume you have met a very suave gentleman by now, I believe his main trigger is on that side of the map. If you have yet to meet him, then, well, I envy you having so much cool content still to come. (He may have been on the route towards the pass, and thus before it, tbh, I can't quite remember how it's laid out) I'm just remembering how much actual stuff is on the map in patchy flashbacks, it really is a content rich game 😁 and I'm now remembering why it took me 100 hours per act on average 🙈

Ah, this game is good.

I got a cape that turns me invisible after killing 😁 Capes are a necessity in terms of style, for me, and to have a very Dark Urge specific bonus is the cherry on top. And because I'm a drow I can also tell Goblins to 'do one' as I explore guarded areas. Which means acquiring le evil looking book was very easy. And as I have free run on this area I can also pick off any Goblins I fancy taking out for that extra XP without upsetting the whole area.

At the moment I'm basically just exploring the world to find cool gear for each party member, and as I have no idea where any gear of worth is, I get to explore blind as if it's the first time again. Even if I know the general theme of the area in terms of enemies, friends, encounters etc.

Shadowheart now has a cool purple spear (with a sick per turn bonus attack!?!?!) LZ has had her fire sword for ages, but now has a helm of momentum. I've got some gloves that build up lightning charges, which is good for the fist based monk attacks, and another pair that takes my unarmoured AC to 18, which is higher than every armoured member of the party so far (Karlach can probably have those though) And I finally found some actual decent robes/clothes so I don't have to walk around in Shadowhearts underwear 😂

Edit:

Look, guys. I'm not evil. I'm really not. I just had a bit of a makeover, read a scary book and adopted a friendly new pet.

I didn’t get to play as much last week as I hoped, but I’ve sunk another 5-ish hours into Faerun, and am still enjoying it.

I’m trying not to get frustrated though, as I have a lot of quests opened up at this point and this is where sometimes open world games get overwhelming for me. I’m a little bit of a completionist so a game like this requires that I just let things go otherwise I will drive myself crazy. I should be okay, because the last two games I played were open world with a ton of side missions and I was able to focus on doing main quests and just a few of the side activities that interested me to avoid getting bogged down.

BG3 is a special scenario though. The ‘side content’ is more veiled as main content. And the exploration into side areas of the map has proven important to pick up good loot and finding companions (the latest addition being Scratch).

Very mild early game spoilers:

Its the first time I feel like I wasted time, because after an hour or two exploring that area, only to find out I’m not really prepared to be here, I’m going to have to back up and spend time figuring out where I’m “supposed to” be.

I’ve got several quests open, a few of which say they are the way to find healers for my tadpole, and I’m not sure whether to abandon the exploration, try to get to the next main quest marked, or continue to faff about following every little side path. I wanted to find Karloch but I ended up in a bad way with that cave (although there was decent loot along the way; I’m flush with potions for once).

So, I guess it’s that feeling of making progress that I’m missing. I suspect this is all part of the intended process in a game like this, so I’m trying to not get distressed.

@Th3solution explore everywhere, but turn round if you get stuck, you can go back to it later when you are stronger and more adept.

I'd also suggest that those spiders and Karlach are in no way related or near to each other and you may have taken a wrong turn 😂 what was your original intention with going that way? I know what mine was, as I did that bit recently, but it was definitely not for Karlach. It was also still a struggle for me, and I knew my tactic going in was strong, so it is definitely more favourable to do that cave when you're stronger. So I wouldn't worry about not being able to do it 🫡

I'd also hint that you don't have to rush to conclude any conflict, you can leave it at the state it is, explore more and maybe gather more information and ways to solve it by doing so. And I don't remember feeling the need to pick a side, as such. But I suppose you can pick a side, try to help both, or simply screw both, as is the nature of the RPG, it's up to you, and the game will probably respond to your choices. There's no rush if you don't feel comfortable with picking though, just make sure you talk to everyone that is involved and find out as much as you can.

It's very much much a game where you keep quests open until you feel you know you can conclude them, or advance them sufficiently.

The best thing might be to ignore that cave for now, see what else happens in the local area in the village or to the north or south of it, have some chats, fights, camp and long rest a few times, talk to companions etc and if you're looking for Karlach, focus on going above ground 😛

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