It is more than I expected in the tutorial alone. I found a crafting menu and somehow made a 'toy crossbow' by whittling some wood. This then was used to maybe shoot some non-toy bolts into some unknown enemies flesh.
I always wanted BG3 to have random crafting like this 😁 no idea what's going on, but I can click things and stuff actually happens, so a good start.
So, it's basically Baldur's Gate 3. Or Baldur's Gate 3 is basically DoS2, anyway. Eerily similar start. I'd already recommend it for the paltry £12 they charge for it.
@Metonymy I do really enjoy the mysterious nature of it and how it's keeping me guessing! I do hope that by the end I'll have more answers on the major questions at least (such as what is the Collective exactly, who is the Warden, etc.). I might be disappointed if it leaves it rather open-ended, but that will all depend on the execution if so, so I won't judge yet even if you tell me it is on the more open-ended side.
Just finished another play session and saved right before the extraction of my next target at the Steelworks. That place was a bit of maze, but I seem to have gotten through it alright! Definitely some great level design like you mentioned though. The way it all folds back onto itself as you unlock new paths and abilities was very well done. I did piss off a few monsters that I did not have the ammo to handle, so there was one area I actively had to avoid in my back-tracking or risk being absolutely obliterated, haha. What can I say? I wanted that valuable item! The gravity boots are a little bit nausea-inducing for me though. I hope they don't become as big of a part of the future chapters where they expect me to fly around in 360s for five minutes again. I was so disoriented! I've also noticed how reliant I am on maps in other survival horror fare. It's been a shock to the system not having one here, but I've adjusted well enough!
@Ravix Ohhh, the start of a beast. Did you play the original Divinity: Original Sin as well, or is this your first dive into that particular series?
@Tjuz first dive, but I loved Baldur's Gate 3 and Larian do seem to get what I like about games. BG3 was probably my first ever CRPG and turn based game tbh, as it isn't an area I had any experience with despite loving fantasy in general and knowing stuff like it existed. The same way The Witcher 3 was my first real fantasy RPG, I think 🤷♂️ see, when I said I wanted to be a bigger nerd but never was, I meant it and i'm really making up for it now!
Is it a series you are familiar with? And are you an acolyte of Larian, perchance? (I would normally nosy at your game list to find out, but there's nothing on it 😅) but man, is it a similarly framed start point and design, i'm just doing it in reverse. So I imagine it was obvious going the other way too.
When it seems you're out of luck.
There's just one man who gives a f*************ck
⚔️🛡🐎
@Ravix The Witcher 3 was your first Fantasy Rpg?! 🤯
I played the first Original Sin, I enjoyed for the most part but the traversal felt so sluggish that I gave up. I still want to play Original Sin 2 before I get to Baldurs Gate 3, at some point by 2030 at this point lol.
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
Well, that's Margit the Fell Omen, felled! .Got him on my first try with my new Sekiro 'Wolf' Build. It's definitely op, as I've said before. Now, Godrick's up next! .
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
Thank you @HallowMoonshadow 😛 after the very familiar beach landing I did go on to fight some turtles (sorry turtles) and accidentally found a boat what feels like way too early, judging by how hard I got slapped by those on it 🙈 I will explore elsewhere and pretend that didn't happen.
As for a build, i'm kind of just getting a feel for it. May I enquire what kind of character you would roll? (Did I use that term right? 🙈)
But for me, I was just scrolling the creation screen and settled for a base of Inquisitor, and my idea so far is to be involved in the action up close, and therefore often stood in puddles of tasty, healing blood. I'll probably focus on Melee with some support or utility. Not sure exactly how it all works yet. But there was no bard option and this was the next coolest thing. Not sure if I will be the main tank or not, at the moment it feels like I would need a rogue, a cleric, and a mage type which would mean i'd have to be front line. Unless it is larger than a party of 4? I'm not sure. I'm literally treating it like BG3 at the moment.
Character so far is basically a mix of vampire/vampire slayer, a trained soldier and a jester, in my mind that was going to be dark humour to get by, but I imagine it will be more 'bard like' humour, so it may end up being a very unexpectedly goofy goth character 😁 I will see how it evolves.
@JohnnyShoulder it was, indeed. I don't think stuff like GTA, Red Dead Redemption are fantasy RPG's, so yeah 😅 I've since tried a bunch that i'd 'missed' by not even considering to play. Some I got bored of or fell off like Skyrim, DA Inquisition, some I stuck with like Dragon's Dogma 2, BG3. I admit it is mostly because thise games were already old/dated, but I do still struggle with Bethesda being too bloated and not enough importance on the main quest (something Warhorse did better with the non-fantasy KCD by using all the good RPG elements, but cutting out the endless factions and adding good side content, and having a main quest that is better paced and planned)
Go for it, Ser Shoulder. Join me in (Rivellon?) Although i'd probably still say just play BG3 god damnit. You can't put that off too long. I've already got Sol on to it, and he hasn't been seen for at least 400 hours of gameplay, I reckon 😁
I assume you're playing on the normal difficulty @Ravix?
My memories are a little fuzzy since I played this well over 5, maybe even 6 years ago now but it's a 4 person party for sure.
My main character was a female lizard and I went with Hydrophist and Necromancy. I think maybe I learnt a couple of the electric skills too?
I had The Red Prince who was warfare. I can't remember what else he had though but he was my tank for sure.
Fane had Geomancy skills and Pyromancy. I know that because I used the poison skills to heal him sometimes if he was desperate and did the oil slick and fire combo a lot.
And Sebile was of course a rogue... I can't remember what else she had either.
Cus of the armour split into Physical and magical I think the ideal way to play is to go all in on one type of damage but I managed to do just fine doing a mix of the two on normal (Though the final battle was ridiculous and I think I cheesed it a little).
DOS II does have some areas that are very clearly level gated so yeah... Be careful when you wander around as you can get wiped pretty easily
@HallowMoonshadow yeah, normal. When I started BG3 I had to start easy as it was my first game like that, but it became obvious early that it was too easy once I'd worked it out, and I feel i'm experienced enough now to at least try from the off. Although I think I will need to pay attention to specific A(P?) costs for movement and such, as BG3 displayed how far you can move a bit clearer and it wasn't linked to spending points. I'll probably start splitting my party (now that I have one) before conversations too. As I'm never sure if it is going to lead to combat. And having a rogue/archer/mage in good position at all times is always worthwhile to defend the party, just in case.
It's one of those games, I can already feel it. I've been googling at random points today to try and get my head around some of the things you mentioned, the magic types etc. So I can attack a session tonight with a little more knowledge. And have a basic idea of how building characters differs from D&D. Also, I took note of how to focus on specific skills, like I am not going to try and spread my main too thinly, I will let them deal mostly physical damage and specialise.
I need to look into more builds, but I have a rough grasp. I'll probably build Fane and Lohse as two different types of magic weilders to see which is best or whether both compliment each other. Focus on my main as the Melee. And then either Rogue/Shadowblade or a ranger for a mix of damage and sneaking.
If my main's own healing/draining magic seems good I can always bring in another melee class and tweak composition.
I guess when you tackle companion quests it will give you an idea of how worthy each are to keep in the party.
Any other beginner tips or advice on how it differs to BG3? If it's no trouble 😄
If I remember correctly... This isn't BGIII where you can take everyone and swap at your lesiure. Choose the 3 companions you like @Ravix as you will have to leave the other 3 behind.
I can't seem to put Elden Ring Nightreign down. Is this a sign that I need to seek professional help? It might be more than an obsession at this rate. 😅
@HallowMoonshadow nice. I haven't a clue what is going on, but I fought some crocodiles 😁 I've not really done many quests, so to speak, some quests appear and then seemingly melt away. But lots of stuff seems to be happening. I should probably pick a thread to follow soon...
Also, I'm casually hanging out with a cat and a noble skeleton hamster, so there's that, too 😅
The surface/environment mechanisms are quite useful. In particular lightning spells alongside puddles or steam can cause a stunned effect if I recall correctly? I think smoke can make it so you can't see anything ahead either if I'm remembering right? Ice can cause tripping too? So you'll wanna be careful of that/take advantage.
If you Fane's going to be one of your party members you might wanna just straight up take a poison barrel with you. Using empty glass bottles alongside the poison barrel can make poison bottles that can heal the snarky skelly boy.
@Ravix Happy to hear you're entering your nerd era! I've always fancied myself a nerd, but I'm often outshined by anyone else I run into with similar interests, haha. Glad that Baldur's Gate 3 served as a gateway for many to try out new CRPGs! My first was the original Divinity: Original Sin, so Larian is clearly doing plenty of heavy lifting on that front. But yeah, I've played both of the Original Sin games and personally vastly prefer the first. I know I'm in the minority on that one, so don't take that as gospel! I never actually finished the second. I played both in co-op, which was a blast either way. I just was more interested in the narrative of the first and much prefer the gameplay in it, despite it definitely lacking in more stuff such as characterisation of party members.
When I first got into the second one with my co-op partner, we actually bounced off of it after about a dozen hours. I think that's more my fault than his, because I absolutely despised the whole phyiscal/magic armor system of the second. One of the fun parts about the original was how chaotic the battles could get in terms of status effects, and the whole armor system mitigated that to a point I found the combat a lot more of a slog to get through. It also annoyed me how practically every battle was some version of ''the whole surface is on fire now''. We ended up going back to it some time later. Since we played on PC, we were able to install a mod that overhauled the combat mechanics, and this particular mod removed the armor system and instead treated it as just regular HP essentially. Instantly made the combat a lot more fun again in my opinion and we ended up getting to the start of Act IV. Never finished it like I said, since the story just didn't grab us enough and after dozens and dozens of hours were were a little over it. I don't think I'll go back to it, but we still saw most of the game and logged about 93 hours total. Hardly a waste!
I'm afraid I forgot we were able to add game collections to our profiles... that might be some fun busywork to do while at the office doing nothing else today, haha. It looks like I have some stuff on there, but that must've been last updated in like 2018, since The Outer Worlds is still listed under wishlist instead of having been beaten. Original Sin is definitely a lot like Baldur's Gate 3 mechanically. It was a point of contention for some I remember when it first launched into early access. They felt like the DND ruleset had been too fitted into Larian's signature combat, but it seems like that criticism has waned over time. Either they made many changes during Early Access to appeal those people or the quality of the game just overshadowed any issues you might have with it conceptually. I played it with this same co-op partner too, but we only made it about 10 hours in. I don't think we got out of the Grove. This time it had more to do with our schedules just not lining up as much as they used to though, so that was no fault of the game itself.
And since I know you like fun anecdotes, I'm going to link a post here that I made regarding something we experienced in Baldur's Gate 3 in the short time we played. It still makes me laugh to this day and remains an evergeen inside joke (to the point where I wrote and sang an oldie-style ballad about it to my friend)!
And I'm glad to hear you're enjoying Ser Loras! What a ridiculous, irrelevant side character, but a fun inclusion. I take it you took the trait to be able to talk to animals then? A Larian staple that I wouldn't pass up in any of their games! They're some of the funniest interactions.
EDIT: After going through my games and adding every single-player game I've finished to my ''Have'' category on my profile... I'm embarrassed it didn't even reach into the triple digits! Of course some non-PlayStation stuff I was unable to add (or older games like Hitman: Blood Money which are apparently not on the site), but I'm still upset it hasn't even reached the century mark in spite of that! The fact that 25 of them (give or take) are since last year September when I properly got back into gaming as a hobby, though, shows me that I am truly more into video games than ever again! 'twas a proper drought for a long, long time there, despite enjoying the hobby from a young age.
@Ravix, i have also played Divinity 2 and i enjoyed my time in this massive rpg. My first rpg was Eye of the beholder on the amiga, just brilliant. ANyways you can change teammates as long as you are on the first island so play around with them isnt a bad idea. I think i played the game on tactician mode and at times it was brutal to be honest. Dont underestimate the need of healing when in fights, and some of the surprise fights can be rough so stay hydrated/healing before moving. Yeah and put some spikes in your boots because it can get slippery often.
I defeated Godrick in ELDEN RING. The op Sekiro build is truly doing it's job. First try. Down. This is truly the dawn of a new age for me in Miyazaki's world of Souls .
"Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest. Don't be preoccupied with a single spot. See everything in its entirety...effortlessly. That is what it means...to truly "see." "
@HallowMoonshadow hehe, cheers. Yes, I already use his dual acid/poison? wands to heal him, or stand him in puddles of the stuff 😄 and Lohse tends to spend most of her time sopping wet. I think i'm going to find it hard to cut anyone from the team, as I already like the danger element of the two females potentially murdering everyone as it kind of fits my kind of hero with a darkness character. Fane is proving entertaining, but the Red Prince is showing signs of being quite interesting too. And my initial plan was to find and keep Beast, but he hasn't had a look in yet 😅 Ifan I initially liked but his default class is boring so I haven't tried him in battle yet. I suppose I will try to do all their companion quests if it let's me and then decide after all that.
Hamster/Squirrel yeah, probably 😛 I didn't have a very long conversation with him - he doesn't seem to like Ifan (the only animal speaker) I may have to enable the mod to give it to everyone if there are no animal speaking talismans.
@Tjuz ah, some of what you mentioned i've covered in reply to Foxy. But yes, the animal characters are usually awesome. BG3 was super accessible as my main was part elf and I started with Animal Speaking, then when I got the talisman I was able to let that do its thing when required and tweak. Judging by what i've seen the fact people seem to rue that it was a skill in Dos2 there won't be any talismans so the mod it may have to be.
What you maybe needed was 'Torturer' on your magic characters. Think that one ignores armour for effects so they still trigger.
I don't know if I will even finish the game, I haven't committed to it as such but it is definitely fun to play in the moment (i've had 2 really good sessions) and learning about new builds satisfies the nerdy itch via the google machine 😛
Oooh, I remember the Pandrina's box tale 😁That thread was so active I find it hard to remember all the different people that were playing BG3 at the time, especially as I was learning a lot about how to actually play that type of game back then. But I definitely remember the story. I now must note something down Tjuz: has psychopathic tendencies, consider avoiding 😛
@Skarasny nice! Yes, definitely going to experiment with companions on their quests to see which I prefer and see what styles work well. I can always respec my prefered characters if they don't gel as well on the battlefield as I'd like, too. I don't want to wash away Fane's poison with Lohse's water, for example.
So far. Apart from fighting Turtles and Crocodiles, i've casually watched someone brutally murder someone else with a hammer, the victim may or may not have helped his wife end her life (I don't know if there are clues to suggest that, but I got the feeling her 'stomach troubles' may have been aided' by the kind of culty tone with which he was trying to ease his worries) either way, the guy saying it was for the best met a brutal end just for being so casual about the death, there is a chance he had just been trying to comfort the guy in an awkward way and i'm reading too much into it. I healed a guy and won at cards with his aid, but then maybe took the card thugs magnifying glass off the table and had to kill them for their overreaction to that honest misunderstanding... they were mean sorts anyway and now my actions were justified in self defence! My main knows all the tricks to eliminate the bullies. Xp amd gold farming? no, no definitely not. I had to give Lohse a bit of a slap then pull on a big spear to free a skeleton, fought some poison frogs, found a hiding place (oh, I need to go back to that invisible kid as I know that is where they will be, I maybe forgot about him as Sebille decided to rob a lizard knight for some skill books and a magic dagger in that cave as I was distracting him right after the kid turned invisible. At least there's no frogs there now, so he should be fine) I Found a large stuffed orange that had been stolen, freed an elf, watched a lizard dream, ratted him out... and then saved him from being murdered, and then, well... next time I will let Sebille have a 'chat' with the dreamer, too. But I'm leaving that bit for a while 😛 I may have watched it happen once already, but I want to do some more questing before letting that happen for good, as it feels like a swift exit should follow and i'm nowhere near ready to escape.
@Tjuz oh, and you mentioned the co-op. How easy in reality is it to run a co-op game like that? My experience of online gaming has mostly been, at one time doing Battlefield/cod as a 2 person sniper team (fun but that was the younger gamer version of me and those type of games were so toxic outside of that) and sports games in a team, mostly football and mostly concerned with scoring sexy team goals and messing about. But never an RPG. I can't imagine it being easy to work out. I mean, I tend to leave turn based games 'paused/open while afk for long stints which wouldnt be fun for others for a start 😂 but I always think there would be lots of fun to be had in the moments where all players are actually active.
Do you ever plan stuff or would you surprise the other player with your actions and kind of improvise?
When it seems you're out of luck.
There's just one man who gives a f*************ck
⚔️🛡🐎
@Tjuz Sorry for the late reply, been a hellish couple of days at work…I actually felt the exact same way after that first foray with the gravity boots! It’s worth mentioning that I never had that level of disorientation with any of those sections again, and I thought they were actually used to great effect in a later boss encounter. Not sure if the sections were just better designed or what. Hopefully it works that way for you as well.
The game gives answers but just not necessarily definitive ones. For instance, you’ll find everyone seems to have their own idea of what exactly initiated The Change. At the end, I didn’t find answers frustratingly lacking but there are definitely aspects left open to interpretation. If you’re not into that you may be left somewhat unsatisfied. I don’t want to spoil anything but there is a sort of meta thing that’s cool with NG+. It’s worth exploring if you happen to fall in love with the game. Also, I’ll gladly swap theories around when you’re done 😄
Sometimes, if it’s possible, it’s totally valid to just leave enemies in the dust. I think I know the section you’re talking about and I did the same thing. Greedy hands 😬
@Ravix Psychopathic tendencies? Who, me? (Don't cross me like Pandirna did.) 😉
I didn't know that ''Torturer'' perk existed at all! Maybe that would've saved me the first time around, but alas... too late for that now, haha. I'm glad you're enjoying the game for now at least. It's gonna take you a while to get through if you do end up committing to the bit. Good luck with that and keep us updated on your progress if so!
As for the co-op, I think it's fairly painless as an experience as long as you have someone with you who is equally patient and interested in the role-playing of it all. It's definitely not the type of game where you just find someone online to play with quickly. It needs to have some structure, and more importantly, two people whose schedules fall in line! I think they're incredibly fun to experience together. Not much different from what I imagine having a weekly D&D session might be like with a group, just with more limitation on your narratives.
I found the way the first game handled choices in a group setting to be quite fun. Essentially, you both got to vote for whatever choice/dialogue option to choose. If you both agreed, perfect! It's gonna play out with that option. If you disagreed however, it would roll a dice to decide whose decision was chosen. It still is better to find someone who you will largely agree with of course, as to not get frustrated with the game constantly continuing with options you didn't want to choose. For the few times where you might totally disagree however, that was a fun way to handle the multiplayer experience that made sure you couldn't really get mad at each other for whatever was chosen. The game decided in the end and took all responsibility from the two of us! As I said though, it didn't happen often, and I'm sure it would be a lot less fun if you were not as like-minded. The second game instead just made it so that whoever initiated the conversation with their character got to decide and the other person practically just watched as it unfolded. Nothing necessarily wrong with that since it results in largely the same experience except for the times you might disagree, but I did like the first game's approach more where it felt like you were both actively involved in the conversation.
***
@Metonymy No worries! Hope everything's slowly but surely returning back to normal at work. I'm glad to hear that that experience with the gravity boots doesn't repeat. Not sure who decided to design the first ever exposure to that mechanic in that way, but they need to reflect on their life choices. I'm excited to see what boss encounter making good use of it!
I suppose I'm fine with receiving some answers, even if it's still left up to interpretation. As long as I have something to grasp onto narratively! I'll be happy to theorise about whatever is left up in the air once I get to it. I don't think I'll go for whatever (presumably) extra ending comes with NG+, but I'll definitely look it up once I roll credits. It would be fun if NG+ would be a new protagonist, where your first playthrough is now a Predecessor. I doubt it's that though, since that seems like a lot of overhauling for a new playthrough.
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