What did you think of it /tg/? I know people on here really hate 5e but were you still able to enjoy it?
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 Nothing Ever Happens Shirt $21.68 |
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Baldur's Gate 3
What did you think of it /tg/? I know people on here really hate 5e but were you still able to enjoy it?
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Nothing Ever Happens Shirt $21.68 |
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Why would I have bought it if I hated 5e?
I fricking hated combat and not because it's 5e but because it's so fricking slow sometimes. Like jesus christ, playing the real thing can be slow but at least you can shit talk people for being slow, in this fricking game you'll have encounters that have 20+ npcs taking turns and it takes a solid minute before you can do actions
Also, when the one of those 20 NPCs gets caught having a heuristic stroke and takes another minute trying to figure out how to use all their available actions. Especially when they've been physically or magically stopped from doing so.
Yeah I enjoy turn based combat but I HATE long animations so usually what I do is use cheat engine to heavily speedhack the game during combat, I'd recommend you do the same imo.
Impatience correlates with low IQ.
believing in IQ correlates with severe moronation
>He doesn’t believe in a well studied and documented measure which is consistent across the lifetime
>One that predicts mortality
You are clearly low IQ if you don’t believe in science.
IQ has not been very consistent and the only reason why the meme is getting propped up is because highly educated middle class white people want to inflate their social status and value.
>Do you have a sou-
Shut up homosexual
>well studied and documented measure which is consistent across the lifetime
Go look into hard sciences.
Like, actually look and try and understand something as hard as lets say physics and realize that physics itself is barely understood and that simple things rely upon unproven theories and ideas that noone truly understands, but merely acknowledges the results of. Realize for a example that thermodynamics, a science that studies heat and movement, is divided into three areas because no single area is capable of explaining reality, simply accept that all our knowledge of something as concrete as movement is extremely shallow and how humans truly know nothing.
Do that.
Then tell me how IQ is a well studied and documented measure.
It's is not well-studied and documented in the same way well-known physical phenomena are, but it is certainly well-studied and documented enough to make it hard to take anyone claiming that IQ isn't real or doesn't matter seriously. Whether it's a perfect measure of intelligence or captures all facets of intelligence - pretty much any psychologist would say that it obviously isn't - is a different matter, but it's a useful measure with practical applications in recognizing learning disabilities and such.
It's real and there is correlation between it and actual intelligence, however it is not a measurement of intelligence, merely of the capability to solve the IQ test. You also could drill a less intelligent person into being better at solving IQ tests than a more intelligent one, which is a documented scenario aswell.
Also about the IQ being consistent across a lifetime.
The global average is fixed to a score of 100 IQ points despite the fact that global IQ has been decreasing.
>but it's a useful measure with practical applications in recognizing learning disabilities and such.
*specific kinds of learning disabilities
I test very well on IQ tests despite the fact that I am developmentally disabled. There are many things that normal people take for granted that I have extreme difficulty with, I didn't learn to read until the 6th grade. But IQ tests, once I was actually able to understand the questions, think I am significantly above average. I can handle logical problems and perform spatial transformations like turning an object inside out in my head like its a child's toy, but I'll never learn a second language or learn to read music. The idea that I am to be considered 'intelligent' simply because this test says so, with no regard to my many other failings, is absurd.
And you have to take my word for that, because I test well on IQ tests, which means my opinion must matter more.
So you're smart but dyslexic? That's not terribly rare, and it's hardly an argument against the validity, reliability or usefulness of IQ tests. Or do you have more general trouble with language? Either way, the existence of specific learning disabilities doesn't make IQ tests any less useful for their intended purpose.
>So you're smart but dyslexic? That's not terribly rare, and it's hardly an argument against the validity, reliability or usefulness of IQ tests.
My point is that the very idea that you would call me "smart but X" purely based on the results of the IQ test is fallacious and insulting. That is you actively ignoring my other failings and inability to learn broad ranges of skills purely for no other reason than a specific test said I'm a special boy.
I quite explicitly said that IQ tests aren't perfect and don't capture all facets of intelligence, but that they are useful for identifying learning disabilities. That there are also some specific learning disabilities that don't have anything to do with IQ doesn't change this. You don't even seem to be disagreeing with this, so you don't really have much of a point. Unless you acquired those IQ tests beforehand and specifically practiced for those tests - which I hope you didn't do - performing well in them definitely indicates some form of intelligence, regardless of what your failures are. Do you, yourself, feel like you ability to handle logical problems and perform spatial transformations has no practical applications, ie. that those things aren't meaningful intellectual capabilities?
>Then tell me how IQ is a well studied and documented measure
IQ is the most reliable and replicatable AND predictive product of any of the social sciences.
But yes those are soft sciences.
I am well aware of the so called
>hard sciences
They are just as full of bullshit
Smart people understand different people like different things.
Which explains why you don't know this.
I wasn't able to enjoy it because I didn't buy it. I don't plan on buying it. Instead of playing the big releases, I just started another campaign.
It's terrible because it's 5E.
The best parts of the game mechanically are ripped from 4e anyway.
Which ones? Genuinely curious.
Mediocre crpg with better than average combat.
I can't tell the difference between any of the penis options. I was hopimg for something with a little more flare.
Reminded me I need to play BG1.
So I did that instead.
shit game
How do you get past BG1s godawful combat?
>you can't frick goblins
>can't frick dragonborns
>can't frick halflings
>can't frick gbomes
shit game
I really enjoyed it. The story was nice enough, the combat was easy, but the animations and mechanics were engaging enough to keep me hooked, and I think Karlach is very cute and deserving of a better finale than the options she's got. The third act was a bit rushed, definitively the weakest, but I've played through far worse and only say that in comparison to two amazing acts that preceeded it.
Overall a solid 9/10 game all around. Among the best I've played all year.
Karlach comes off as the dullest self-insert in the game. Literally bench or kill each time. Did her quest once for the achievement.
I like her. She's cute, energetic, easily amused and generally just fun to have around. I don't really get the angle of self-insert though, what makes you think that way?
It's always had trolls, anon, but I do feel like there's a lot of unnecessary hostility towards pretty much everything. Not that every interaction should be all nice and rosey or whatever, but by the same token not every interaction should be spiteful or contemptuous, and I feel like things are moving that way over time.
The degeneration toward chronic contrarianism was inevitable, given the nature of the site, but damn if it wasn't a good ride down. Props to this board for falling apart way slower than the rest of the site.
It makes a lot of sense if you consider that A LOT of people are here because they literally can't survive in any other social environment. I'd say tg's main problem is that people tend to be really aggressive. You can't really have conversations if they go on long rants about what a brain-dead piece of shit you are if you disagree with them on anything.
Which is tragic, because this by far one of the most interesting and creative boards, and it's certainly the one most pertinent to my interests. There's stil plenty of good ideas to be found here, I just wish the culture were better. Dudes here need to take a chill pill.
>most interesting
i dont really see it, it feels like the rest of Ganker good and ill
it’s not like /f/ or some of the other places where nothing has stirred the glass for a while
I agree and I think it's really telling that /tg/ hates on this game so much. This place is now little more than a den of nogames trolls except for the generals which are rarely helpful. The trolls have also begun to shit up the generals now too.
>I agree and I think it's really telling that /tg/ hates on this game so much
Telling of what?
Apparently she gets a new/restored ending in the latest patch.
>I think Karlach is very cute and deserving of a better finale than the options she's got
You want a Disney princess perfect ending where everyone lives happily ever after!111
Sorry. I feel the same way and I'm just bitter about how all the gays at reddit who think anything better than going to hell or burning alive is a perfect happy Disney ending and everything is "bittersweet."
Hello, one of those gays there! (not reddit, do agree with them here though potentially). Karlachs current endings are bittersweet, she saved the day and got to enjoy her lease of freedom in company she cherished (sweet) but ultimately met her inevitable doom (bitter). Is it possible to do an ending where he engine is truly fixed well? Never say never, but I do think an ending where you just magically resolve it at no "narrative cost" would be too much and frankly cheapen her story.
Something like you giving her a heart transplant or something could work maybe? Or else making some other kind of link between the two of you. A price has to be paid to save her in the end, but she gets to live her normal life.
The ironhands only make bombs, and I dont think you want to power your heart with explosives. But sure, it is a bit silly that the foundry does nothing for her (or that dammon is the only smith who can tune her engine).
She seems affable enough, shes simply nice and upbeat while at the same time having that "crass enjoyment of violence" that means shes generally high energy and keeps her from seeming like she has a stick up her ass. I think liking her is entirely understandable.
Karlach is also not unique in terms of "no perfect ending". Astarion either becomes a monster or has his newfound freedom stripped from him and is once again confined to a pathetic existence in the shadows, literally running off to cry in a corner under some tarp.
I think that
is that way
I also think that the endless BG3 spam since premiere is fricking tiresome. All it's achieving is dead-setting me AGAINST the game, not to play it.
In the old days /tg/ would regularly talk about video games. In particular games like King of Dragon Pass and crpgs. But modern /tg/ is very different and would prefer to b***h about D&D compared to a nebulous "play other RPGs". While the election tourists talk about how much they hate israelites and ethnics.
I don't give a shit if you buy the game or not it's clearly successful and will probably get many goty awards. You can do whatever you want with your own time and money.
>Wasting trips of 7 to larp as grog
Black person, I'm on /tg/ since there is /tg// All BG3 threads are doing is completely misguided shilling. Those threads aren't discussing anything, it's just "LOOK HOW COOL THIS GAME IS!". If I wanted to play video game, I wouldn't be sitting on a board dedicated to tabletops
>Muh KoDP
Actual old /tg/ barely knew this game existed, because it wasn't re-released yet on iThings and by GOG, so there was less than a handful of people aware of its mere existence. But please, larp more.
Misguided shilling is the opposite of what most /tg/ BG3 threads have been, unless those threads have been false-flag operations intended to make people who dislike the game seem dumb as frick.
>Larping
I was here from the start homosexual. I don’t care if you believe me or not. I was one of the main instigators of the edition wars and the mod even pinned my ban once. Deal with it.
Why are you taking credit for something I did, homosexual?
>Actual old /tg/ barely knew this game existed
We had multiple board let’s plays of KoDP that went on for dozens of threads.
He was definitely a newbie.
>2014 is old
Hello newbie
>inb4 so why are you posting
Because I forgot to hide this thread and curiosity was bigger than reason when noticing the post count increased. Don't worry, already hidden, enjoy your masturbation
If a game is getting awards it's a good reason to avoid it for at least a decade or two.
This is your mind on Ganker. I have no issue with you choosing what you do and don’t want to play but at least admit you’re being a contrarian just for the sake of it.
Friend, while his reasoning may be gay as hell, it's not Ganker specific. Ganker just sticks out because of the demographics here.
Generally across every thing we're seeing more and more of People Who Have Been There versus New People.
Ever since BG3 came out every Forgotten Realms specific location on the web has become more antagonistic towards WotC and their practices because the flood of new people know nothing, and quite a few of them are confident in their partial knowledge, my favorite was seeing someone say that the only reason people complain about modern drow is because 5e "finally" gave them nuance.
With videogames we've seen general ebbs and flows with this mindset where especially around big releases you have grogs getting angry that yesteryears mediocrity is this years GOAT because new people have no standards, as they're too new to know what came before and typically don't care to learn.
To take it to a real world example, as more and more people get priced out of the housing market in cities, they're starting to look more to rural areas with lower costs of living, and this has led to quite a few clashes and harsh feelings as once more new people bring their own expectations based on typical city life without caring about the standards and situations of those that were there before them.
I much prefer when everyone and everything can be judged on a case by case basis, but I understand why people make blanket assumptions and also understand it's not so much a Ganker thing as it is a backlash against the general "normie" culture.
In what way is that contrarian?
This. Game awards are a hilariously dumb thing to use as a positive.
>look how much the industry is advertising it
>ethnics
What the frick is an ethnic? Who is and isn’t an ethnic?
I haven't played it and I don't intend to. 5e is just not something I'm interested in and I've nothing to suggest that the story or the characters would make it worth playing either.
>WotC sells Larian the license for Baldur's Gate years ago and forgets about it
>WotC starts pumping money into a new VTT with an "AI DM" function that will probably just be automated dungeons and story-less skirmish battles with basic enemy AI
>Larian finally released BG3
>They've overhauled and reinvented 5e in every way that matters
>Spergs fricking love BG3 because they can do autistic character building and theorycrafting and find stupid uses for random spells
>WotC is still fumbling their totally-not-a-new-edition update for 5e
>BG3 is making every 5e player say "WotC should do this! I stole all these mechanics from BG3!"
>WotC getting their nuts put in a fricking vice because they got caught subcontracting an AI tech company to make AI shit for their new products
>They're going to release some god awful VTT that's less functional, less user friendly, and less appealing than BG3 in every way and then try to charge a monthly sub fee for it
I don't even care about BG3, but I find the whole situation highly amusing. WotC refused to make any meaningful changes to 5e for so long because they've cultivated a loyal customer base of morons, and it backfired on them pretty hard.
All Larian has to do now is the same thing they did with divinity - release a map maker and stock characters for players to, well, play with. Imagine if you could use the bg engine to actually cobble together a campaign. WoTC would be dead in a year.
I think I recall Larian saying they don't plan to release a creation kit because 'its too difficult to use', though I suspect WotC has made a noncompetition demand on them.
I haven't quite finished Act 3, but so far I've enjoyed the game. I'd say it's 8+/10 or 8.5/10, not a masterpiece but a good game. Story so far has been firmly "pretty alright" tier, nothing amazing but it serves its purpose. Act 2 was great but that was more thanks to the details and overall atmosphere of the area than any of the big plot reveals. Characters are alright, pretty interesting. Combat is good otherwise, but bigger fights with a lot if enemies are slow as frick. Outside combat basic movement on the map feels clunky, because the camera's finicky and because it's pretty common for some member of the party to refuse to jump over some chasm others cross and therefore get separated. Class-specific and race-specific dialogue options are cool. Leveling up and building characters is very underwhelming because it's 5E. Praise for the game us overblown as frick, but a lot of the criticism I've heard is also both overblown and misguided. The game has been maybe 25% as quirky and quip-filled as /tg/ led me believe before I gave it a try myself.
Still a lot of resorting to fairly modern swears delivered in modern feeling ways instead of more clever Fantasy Invective.
Not like, game destroying levels of modernism, but not great either.
I don't know about the seriously retro games, but there'd be some BG2 and NWN stuff, and lots and lots and lots of DOW1&2.
>instead of more clever Fantasy Invective
Fantasy conlangs just to swear without swearing too often come off as sniffing one's own farts to me.
Not him, but I always find it weird thinking to various RPGs I have played.
In almost all of them, contemporary swearing took me out of it, in part because it felt like contemporary swearing.
Meanwhile both Witcher 3 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance the swearing felt like it was just naturally flowing, and I honestly can't put my finger on why they felt appropriate as opposed to other games.
Maybe the direction of the voice acting? I really don't know.
You need to know how to swear properly, especially in slavic languages to not look cringey. For example, when I swear in everday life with my friends, they don't pay attention since it flows naturally.
I gave myself a word at some point that I never gonna play a 5e game
So i will be skipping it
>What did you think of it /tg/?
Cool concept and obviously a very well made game, but can't get past the first act because there's an overwhelming amount of stuff to do. Whenever I boot it up I just look at the quest log and realize I don't want to commit AT LEAST 3 hours to getting nowhere and making no progress.
So it's a lot like a real tabletop D&D game.
It's fun. Like with 5e tabletop, the developers put in plenty of work to tune up many of its glaring RAW issues and shit balance. Tempest Cleric is fricking awesome now with unlimited Wrath of the Storm.
There was way too much of a focus on the romance and overall the writers weren't especially clever.
>Standard Larian studios writing: Overtly silly without of any trace of good versus evil. Instead, your choices will range from 'sensible pragmatic' to 'violent moron'
>The goblins were all just tiny humans in facepaint that would talk you to death but all the kobolds were kino
>Shadowheart is universally hated by every woman that plays the game and it's really funny to notice
>Karlach dying from her infernal machine would have been a fine ending, but too many people got butthurt so the writers added a goofy & terrible-looking cutscene at the end if you convince her to return to Avernus. Everyone, writers included, are too moronic to realize The House of Hope solves all her problems.
>Astarion is basically only in the game to get you a potion of permanent +2 strength in act 2.
>Minsc becomes a dexgay the instant you recruit him to your party
>Halsin is too busy hitting on you at your camp to bother trying to find a solution to the shadow curse on his own, even though that was literally the entire reason he wanted to join you on the journey to Moonrise Towers.
>The three main bad guys do nothing for all of act 1 and 2 until they show up at the end to explain the entire plot and then wait patiently for you to kill them one by one
>When you kill them, the boss fights are laughably easy
>The whole game is fairly easy and only gets easier as it goes on, even on tactician difficulty and without using the illithid powers
>The Emperor was not nearly as cool as the writers thought he was, but he was one of the most moronic characters. A purple Sheldon Cooper spending the entire game acting indignant when you don't do what he tells you.
I could go on for hours.
Women fricking love Astarion though my dude, holy shit. Basically every fanfic of the game is Astarion x female Tav or Astarion x the literal reader. It’s not remotely close in the husbando game, and he is pretty much the only unambiguously pointlessly straight-up evil character.
>If you cheat on anyone else, even Halsin (who is a man-bawd), with a literal fricking devil, they get fairly upset at the least and outright tell you you broke their heart and they'll never forgive you at worst
>Astarion just goes "I would have done the same thing, honestly. How was it?" like a high school girl gossiping in the bathroom
>You can punctuate him trying to be sexy and domineering after completing a fiendish ritual to become an ascended vampire lord by kicking him in the balls, whereupon he squeals like a stuck pig and waddles away
I can't blame them.
>they get fairly upset at the least and outright tell you you broke their heart and they'll never forgive you at worst
Shadowheart just seems really insecure about it. Clearly upset, but also coping hard and trying not to show it.
>i-im not mad
>o-of course we both have our n-needs haha
>Minsc becomes a dexgay the instant you recruit him to your party
This was really weird to me. I don’t know what WotC tied them to but BG characters always had ridiculously improbable ‘rolled’ stats and Minsc had a custom kit to rage while being a ranger. It was weird they restricted every NPC to point buy and thus made it so Minsc couldn’t have appropriate stats, and didn’t give him any custom rage ability. Mods are already out to do this so it’s not like it was difficult.
>The whole game is fairly easy and only gets easier as it goes on, even on tactician difficulty and without using the illithid powers
Yeah Tactician just jacking up defenses and not or only very rarely adding extra enemies was not a good execution.
>without of any trace of good versus evil
You know, its generally considered good manners to play the game before talking about it.
>Overtly silly without of any trace of good versus evil.
The primary conflict in act 1 revolves around you potentially risking your life to save some refugees and druids because its the right thing to do, not because it necessarily offers any pragmatic benefit. There are almost always "good" choices opposed by "evil" choices - do you free or kill Dame Aylin, do you doom or help last light, do you side with Minthara or the grove, do you kill you become the unholy assassin or help the flaming fist take down the cult of bhaal...
As for silly? The comedic elements stay in their scenes. The world isnt dreary and joyless, when you save a companion from torture and mental erasure you dont have them go "well that just happened", Kethric isnt out there quipping about his wife and daughter.
>The goblins were all just tiny humans
But they werent, they had vaguely human mannerisms but they were presented as spiteful, stupid little gremlins. Near human perhaps, but definetly not human.
>The House of Hope solves all her problems
The house of hope in Avernus? That house of hope? The one that doesent actually resolve the issue she iirc returns to avernus to solve, but rather could just provide a temporary place to stay?
>Astarion is basically only in the game to get you a potion of permanent +2 strength in act 2.
Also an act 3 summon, and some very good damage potential vs non necrotic immune things. Also his story arc I guess, if youre into plot in your RPGs.
>A purple Sheldon Cooper spending the entire game acting indignant when you don't do what he tells you.
Hes trying to control you. no shit hes not happy if you dont listen to him. The emperor isnt your friend, hes trying to manipulate you, and if you repeatedly prove resistant he tries to just "brute force" it by flatly threatening you
Minthara and Laezel are also both about as evil as him (if not more so), and shadowheart is also evil if she doesent do her out of nowhere heel turn in act 2
Lae’zel isn’t really pointlessly evil, though. She consistently despises weakness or submitting to what she views as lesser authority but there are ways to get her to approve of some good actions when they’re framed right. She’s basically a Klingon, she sees everything through the lens of battle and her personal honor code.
Also she gets props from me for being the only companion that is honest with you from the start and isn’t hiding any ulterior motives. Hell, she’s trying to be helpful by insisting on you seeking out a Githyanki crèche, and whenever she’s pissed off about you dicking around rather than heading for a crèche….well, she’s got a point. You’ve got tadpoles in your head that could start eating your brain and turning you into a soulless monster at any moment, it really should be your highest priority.
So yeah. I wouldn’t really call her particularly evil, at least not when compared to Minthara.
Dunno about Astarion, he really rubs me the wrong way and has from the start so I told him to frick off after meeting him.
Laezel certainly has her reasons for being how she is, but so do all the evil companions (and the good ones too really)
>I wouldn’t really call her particularly evil, at least not when compared to Minthara.
I find the distinction interesting because really the only differences between the two are maturity, they have incredibly similar outlooks on life and morality, but Laezel is more servile and inexperienced while Minthara has been through more and is less interested in serving other peoples goals any more.
They both see what they do as nothing wrong, seeing strength and its pursuit as something which justifies the trampling of the weak and being far more concerned with pragmatic benefit than protecting innocents or "doing whats right".
Theyre also both incredibly honest and loyal under the right circumstances, they have that LE "code of ethics" thing where they operate by a very harsh worldview but at the same time make for very steadfast allies once youre on the right side of it.
Astarion isnt like them, not least because unlike them Astarion at one point knew a different life. Laezel enjoys violence because she thinks war is good because thats how she was raised, Astarion enjoys violence because its a measure of control after centuries of having none, power after so long without any. Its very much a cycle of violence/the abused becoming the abuser thing, where the harsh treatment by his master has made Astarion vindictive and uncaring towards the plight of others and while - I assume - you can influence him towards a better path he can ultimately become just like the monster who made him.
>Everyone, writers included, are too moronic to realize The House of Hope solves all her problems
The actual answer here is that we know from datamining that there is an entire second half to act 3 that got cut, featuring an entirely cut zone of the upper ward of Baldur's Gate. As such, a lot of character have their personal storylines cut short because their stories required them to talk to people and do stuff in those cut zones, in particular Astarion and Karlach got the shit end of the stick on the cut. Karlach was *supposed* to have a possible happy ending, but it got lost in the cuts.
After reading through the cut content details, I basically just stopped playing the game on the spot. Whether its larian themselves in a DLC or modders picking up the slack, its basically inevitable that this content will be re-added into the game later. I'll play the game when its actually complete.
>we could have had a minthara pregnancy plotline
We were robbed!
How did astarion get shafted? he gets a cool ending to his storyline where he usurps his master and everything
Its my understanding that there was going to be a lot more stuff with Astarion, his master, and his 'siblings' in the upper ward because thats where they all actually lived. The endings we got were rushed and the road to get there was cut short and stitched together.
Then it turned out rather well imo, Czarr manor is a bit short, but its a solid enough fight and a good payoff.
Which is a shame. From what I've heard, the reason all of Karlach's endings suck is that the resolution to her storyline was found in the upper city, so we're locked into a failstate no matter what. The greatest sin in the game if you ask me, you bend over backwards to do the impossible and defy fate to save your companions, but Karlach gets shafted for no good reason despite having multiple possible solutions to her heart problems readily available?
Considering that most of the minthara stuff is actually in the game, just disabled, I fully expect her plotline to get added in by modders if nothing else. Especially since people have already demonstrated that with voice AI tools they can generate new dialog lines from any script.
Last week I even saw someone post a video of replacing Astarions voice with some vtuber's voice, and it worked with his dialog surprisingly well. It was done as a joke, but it means that we could even have modders make 'genderswapped' versions of the characters and they would still have full voice coverage in dialog. Thats pretty wild.
Please continue
The thing that pisses me off about Karlach's ending is that they throw a solution right in your face and don't let you explore it. You get a forced conversation where a Steel Watcher stops you, tells Karlach her engine is a prototype of its own new, perfectly functional one, and sends you to a foundry where there's a Gondians who have intimate knowledge of how to work with these new perfectly functional engines, a quest to save them and get them on your side as allies . . . . and nothing.
Even if you blow up the foundry, there's lots of Steel Watchers just lying around after whose engines you could jack for Karlach. The Gondians have a huge church in Baldur's Gate with all kinds of workshops.
There's also the Ironhands, who talk a big game about being hot shit inventors who are better than the Gondians, who you can also get on your side as allies . . . and nothing.
It's just shitty forced drama.
I haven’t finished yet. Overall my impression is it much more similar to a Divinity Original Sin game than an older Baldur’s Gate title, both characterwise (no real comic relief characters for example, every character has a very significant backstory) and mechanically (haste straight doubling attacks, very abusable environmental mechanics) but I don’t think it’s a bad game. The first act is a really nice contained low level area you could almost transplant directly into a PnP game and the escalation of stakes has been pretty good in Act 2 so far. Some of the companions don’t really interest me, like Karlach and Astarion, but I’ve really liked Lae’zel and Shadowheart’s backstories so far. I kinda disliked the Origin mechanic (also from DOS) but having played a bit I’m now curious what the Origin reactions to certain events are. Dark Urge playthrough is really absurd and over the top, so for me that was a miss.
I didn't bother with it.
Larian games all start by throwing 500 ideas at you, then refine it to a dozen ones that have curious implications.
Then horrifically shit themselves when the writers realize they have no idea what they're doing and decide to subvert expectations without realizing that the subversion needs to feel clever to be rewarding.
I've been on this rodeo twice before, I'm not doing it again.
I heard the goth elf waifu will frick over guys if you romance her and that makes me sad.
er, other guys
All of the waifus had bad ends or at least implied cuckery but due to complaints that was changed.
Seriously? Why the frick would they do that?
Because Larian is eager to cave to pressure from fans.
Yes. if you romance Shadowheart and go to the brothel she will talk about how much she wanted to ride Halsin the buff elf driud wiener so much and that she wants a threesome with him. If you kill Halsin and talk to Shadowheart she talks about how much she misses Halsin. If you romance Halsin and kiss him in front of her she seethes furiously. the both share the same writer btw
Okay but her seething at the PC dating Halsin is so fricking funny I’m kinda alright with the other stuff.
>If you romance Halsin and kiss him in front of her she seethes furiously.
LUL
only happens if you yourself have been with multiple people while also romancing Shadowheart. But thats a detail mindbroken culture warriors and poltards forget to mention when pushing their agenda. Simply remain loyal to her and all is fine.
Yeah but she really likes Halsin tho. more so than your Tav
Only if you bring it up first (so you have to like being cuckolded), and only if she is a Sharran.
No. She states that the Shar cultists that kidnapped her as a child basically imprinted not to be prudish about sex on her so she openly discusses the topic whenever it comes up and isn't afraid to say "that guy is attractive".
I had such a high level of hatred for one of the companions I stopped playing halfway through (I assume), made a new character, and outright murdered the b***h in the tutorial section just to remove the prostitute from the game almost entirely.
Lost interest when i got to baldurs gate, felt like the game wanted me to rush things through, so i booted up dos2 instead, lizards are way sexier then dragonborn.
And durge playthrough is literally just Lohse's story transplanted into bg3.
You think that, but its not. You arent playing lohse, youre playing fane
Better than 2020s average. Despite that, the dialogue is aggressively bland on an ideological level - engineered in very pervasive but non-specific ways that I think we'll look back on as a sign of the times.
I like 5e and old Baldur's Gate. Everything I've seen or heard about BG3 seems terrible.
/tg won't like or enjoy it because it's popular.
No i hated it because it was 5e and it fricking shows. plus only 12 lvls are ass
I feel like I'm becoming a prude looking at this game
I don't want to play dating simulators
I want to have adventures
>play game for 200 hours
>each companion asks you like 2 or maybe 3 times if you´re interested in romance (so brainlets dont miss it)
>spend 5 minutes out of these 200 hours to click the "no" opion
>spend the other 199 hours and 55 minutes adventuring
Its literally that simple
for something that barely takes up any time in the game, its all people will talk about. the journalist drool over how progressive it all is, most fans either go googoo gaagaa over them or talk about how annoyed they are with the romances, even larian studio themselves based that one statistic sheet they posted on romance stuff and silly options like "did you pet the doggo" instead of actual gameplay.
couple this with the fact that not even half the players who bought it on steam reached act 2 and it feels like gameplay takes a seat to all the romance stuff.
this with the fact that not even half the players who bought it on steam reached act 2
Thats entirely normal for a game? Especially since act 1 is frankly massive, easily over 20 hours of content on its own.
>online fandom is about shipping characters and drawing fanart and pornography that means the game is ruined
Is this your first day online?
NTA but he didn't say that. His point that the sex/romance aspects are a major part of the game and it's interaction with players is true.
If you had a real argument you wouldn't need to strawman.
He said the gameplay takes a backseat to the romance, that's obviously ridiculous. I played for 120 hours and there were only 3 or 4 romance scenes with Shadowheart. BG3 is not short on gameplay.
So? It's still the salient part of it.
Orange Trainer is hours of gameplay grinding to get 30 second sex scenes.
It's grinding towards those sex scenes, though. Sex scenes are the goal and the thing that's supposedly on the player's mind when he grinds. BG3 is almost entirely about things completely unrelated to sex or romance.
>BG3 is almost entirely about things completely unrelated to sex or romance.
Your dick has more polygons than most NPCs
>salient
You're shifting the goalposts. He said the romance took precedence over the gameplay, which simply isn't true. If anything the romances are underdeveloped. The companions run out of lines in Act 3.
Fair enough. He did say that.
But the romances/sex are a much larger part of the game than you're presenting.
No, they really arent. Companion romance is a very small part of the game, the sex scenes doubly so given you get maybe one per companion.
You didn't make it to the end of act 1
I did, got head from the drow lady.
>couple this with the fact that not even half the players who bought it on steam reached act 2 and it feels like gameplay takes a seat to all the romance stuff.
Studies for years have found that the majority of people never play a game past like 6 hours.
That's part of why studios are so desperate to keep casuals in the videogame market, as long as they're around a game doesn't need longevity to meet sales goals.
Fandoms talking about the characters more than anything else isnt new, especially since BG3 has a fairly "normie"/"tumblr" fanbase. Its a much easier touchstone for conversation than "so how did you approach the kethric bossfight" or "you know you can cheese the dragon ansur using some boxes and an owlbear", and frankly the party members are quite a bit part of what makes the game too.
RPGs have been dating simulator for years, funny enough that's mainly thanks to BG2
But now its entering erotic game territory
Especially with the narrator
The only game to do romances right.
the constant need for having romance shit in every game unironically is what made me stop playing RPGs. its in everything now. i dont want to play house with NPC dolls.
Its a good thing they successfully gatekept you. Stay out.
>gatekeeping
>bg3
homie it the most normie game made by the most normie systems
The only thing that isn't normal there is amount of writers fetishes that got greenlit
In a 80+ hour playthrough you will spend maybe half an hour on romance, probably less.
Big mood.
It genuinely feels like a WEG sometimes. The very first settings tab is all about options for hiding your coomer choices from your friends.
I would never admit to playing it in public.
It does, in that WEGs tend to also be low on actual sexual content.
It's light but the sex stuff is the central selling point. If it weren't there, the entire game and it's reception would be wildly different.
This. It might not actually be a big part of the game, but Larian chose to both push this are part of their marketing for the game and to explicitly have you pick your preferred genitals independently as part of character creation. For some of the race options, you have more options for your dick than you have options for your body. You can't make yourself any taller or shorter, leaner or more muscular, but here's 5 options for penis. If that doesn't prime the player to expect this to be something they are going to be seeing up close and personal, I don't know what would.
Was there sex in BG1 2?
BG1 has some prostitutes but you can't interact with them that way IIRC, its expansion has Bioware's first try at romances to my knowledge. In the werewolf island you get a npc that is the opposite sex of main player, it's horribly written with actual m'lady dialogue and it doesn't go anywhere. BG2 basically starts with Minsc telling you he put his hamster in his ass and has full romances, also more content with stuff like prostitutes
I think you're just trying to find something to be angry about, anon. You don't really have to engage with that aspect of the game if you don't want to, or engage with the game at all if you don't want to.
You don't have to engage with that poster either. Were you looking for something to be upset about?
Touché! Guilty as charged. Comes with the website I feel like.
Does this game fall off hard in the final act like OS2?
Yes.
Everyone is expecting another DEFINITIVE EDITION that will be marketed as fixing the ending when it doesn't really do much.
Act 3 was horribly optimised and still is for the most part. It doesn’t have the upper city just the outskirts and lower city. It amounts to the villains asking you nicely to kill the other villain then waiting patiently for death or help. Finally you kill the netherbrain at the end and can only do this with someone turning into an illithid for some reason. They claim there are a bunch of endings but it all just comes down to killing the netherbrain or taking its power and being evil. Then you have an exposition scene down by the docks. Whoop de fricking do. There are no penalties for using the illithid powers btw, so they built that up for absolutely nothing.
The initial idea for the illithid brain parasite was so much better than what they went with. Now two of the defining songs in the soundtrack make no sense to boot.
What was the initial idea?
That the tadpole would tempt you with power, and if you overused it you would be tempted to give up your consciousness entirely as you transformed into an Illithid, leaving your old self “down by the river”.
That certainly seems to be what the game is building towards, or at least some kind of negative consequence, but there never comes one.
Should have given the final boss a permanent dominate person aura with a save DC equal to your number of tadpoles used on the person
So 0, in my case. Or DC 1 if the initial tadpole you’re infected with counts. I honestly can’t think of a reason for my PC to ever put more of those things in her head.
or DC 26 if you activate all the powers, hence the point, the more you succumbed to the power the easier you are to control by the emperor or the elder brain or whoever else
>leaving your old self “down by the river”.
To explain this anons point further: you were supposed to meet your illithid brainworm manifestation in a recurring dreamspace near a river. where you would occasionally look into the water and see memories and shit. Every time you go to the mindspace the illithid persona is waiting there for you. Unless you get the bad ending, in which case the illithid persona is the one that leaves at the end of the scene and YOU are the one left standing by the river, presumably forever.
So that's why the dream visitor thing felt so weird the first time I played. I genuinely laughed for a solid half minute at the idea of a mind flayer turning into an elf babe just to convince me to do what it said.
>spend all game avoiding tadpole powers
>being a completionist autist so end up with a whole pile of specimens in camp storage from killing every far flung true soul
>find out it literally doesn't matter how strong you make the tadpole or how often you use it and I skipped out on cool powers for zero reason
I'm mad.
Those sorts of decisions don't matter. What matters is who you're fricking in camp.
The tadpole presented itself as the incarnation of your desire and met you in a dreamlike riverine setting.
It falls hard immediately at the end of act 1. It's unfinished and very frontloaded.
That being said, act 1 is bretty good and they had the resources to really allow alot of choices. It's just that the gameplay model doesn't scale beyond the scope of an act.
Act 2 was better than Act 1, though. I found Act 1 somewhat boring, myself. It hinted at interesting things going on or waiting in the future, but nothing particularly interesting happened in Act 1 itself.
monk changes make no sense (jumps like shit, takes damage from falls, can wear armor without penalties, etc)
the "we're now level 1 but our ASI even if it's attribute boost suddenly disappear" makes no sense
tavern brawler is broken
vampires in D&D don't need blood to survive, did they change this in 5e?, and if he lost his powers why does he keep the blood dependance?
And other stuff
He was also walking around in the sun and walking through running water. They said it was probably because of the parasite. When you kill the netherbrain he starts burning in the sun and runs away.
I know it's the tadpole, the thing is why lose everything but misteriously keep the blood dependance also fangs
Everyone still needs to eat at camp and it doesn’t alter anyone else physically. I don’t see how blood and fangs are that weird.
physiology changed when they got the tadpole, most were higher level and had different physical and mental stats and now are back to the begining (below 17), so clearly the tadpole reverts you to lvl 1 including your body, so again why does he have fangs or why does he have blood necessities if he lost all his other vampiric traits. It's inconsistent
>inconsistent
There's that chud word again, I knew I had to start filtering internal consistence and shit like that
Ability scores seem to mean very little compared to biology in this. When your character is strong they don’t appear more muscular.
overcame its handicap as a 5e based game to become something special, i thought the voice acting was really good and being dark urge made the main plot more tolerable
The plot of Bhaal, Bane and Myrkul using the elder brain to become gods again, despite already being gods is so convoluted it's moronic. Larian writers aren't nowhere near as clever as they think they arw.
They're quasi-gods, not real gods. Shitter-tier. They want to use the elder brain to become super-gods while in the process erasing all other gods through lack of worship.
They're supposed to be dead
Bane’s been alive for 23 years now. Myrkul, we learned, never truly died back when NWN2 came out. That leaves Bhaal, who at least came back to life through a method established decades ago as being a potential way to bring him back, rather than him being alive again just ‘cause like some of the gods who came back to life with 5e, such as Eilistraee and Vhaeraun.
Yeah keep telling yourself that from outside of the gate (the Baldur’s Gate, if you will), if it makes you feel better.
They have only become quasi-gods via the last second retcon, because the plot of BG3 needed to happen. Bane in particular used to be a greater god even in 5e, until the recent hastily done retcon.
Also, using illithids to mind control the population to worship them is a moronic leap of logic, given. And Ao would just step in and tell them this shit doesn't count.
The entire plot is just pointless, because it won't work according to the rules set in FR setting. And "Dead Three are just moronic" is a pretty crap hook for an epic storyline.
BG3 addresses all this, when Jergal himself calls them morons for thinking it will work. The moron 3 are just that, morons. Jergal regrets ever even giving them his job in the first place. Meanwhile Kelemvor he actually likes.
That's why I despise Larian meme writing. The fact that the game hangs a lampshade about how stupid the plot is, does not make it less moronic.
It's moronic because you wrote it this way, Swen.
Don’t pretend for a second that people don’t do shit of at least equal-level moronation in the real world. It’s perfectly believable that the Dead Three could do something monumentally stupid.
The issue is - The Dead Three aren't stupid. The least clever of them was Bhaal and he came up with a pretty foolproof resurrection plan. Bane himself was a Darkseid-tier master strategist that even Shar was intimidated by. The fact that the story relies on "haha, they are idiots" explanation, does the disservice to both FR lore and player's intelligence.
And Myrkul was pulling Jergal tier "In case of emergency" plans, that basically made sure that even if he's destroyed he'll come back.
And we still don't know what happened with the child he created while possessing laeral's body.
> Bane himself was a Darkseid-tier master strategist
That’s how he *presented* himself, but I’m not sure that he ever really lived up to that. He was the moron who kicked off the Time of Troubles in the first place by thinking he could steal from frickin’ Ao, for example, a being described as so powerful that all the other gods of the Realms working together wouldn’t be able to even scratch him.
He did fine, given that he came back to the living few years later, outmaneuvered Cyric and became THE greater god of evil WITHOUT resorting to cheating (I am looking at you, Lolth).
He and Myrkul were able to hide the tablets from Ao, that's a pretty great feat.
Bane got wrecked though because he didn't realize Torm was an anime protagonist.
I’m nearly certain Ao wasn’t even trying to look for them, which probably made “hiding” them pretty easy.
Again, this comes across more as him failing upwards. Him “outmaneuvering” Cyric has a lot more to do with Cyric being *actually insane* than it has to do with any cleverness on Bane’s part.
Look, you don't have to headcanon 30 years of lore just because you have to defend BG3's idiotic plot.
Waterdeep (2003) expressly describes the Tablets as having no actual power over Ao nor containing any of Ao’s power despite Bane’s irrational belief otherwise. His plans for them were never going to work, and this should have been obvious to him but he pushed ahead anyway. Meaning that the whole flawed-from-the-start plan in BG3 is completely in-character for him.
And given the level of power gap between Ao and literally everything else, it is completely believable that he knew where the tablets were the entire time.
Face it, Bane was “smart” in the same way that The Joker in The Dark Knight was “chaotic”.
>Tablets as having no actual power over Ao nor containing any of Ao’s power despite Bane’s irrational belief otherwise.
It wasn't irrational. The gods all thought Ao honestly used them to manipulate what power the gods could tap into.
That's why the big twist in the Avatar Trilogy is Ao just crushing them into dust and revealing they were meant to be a reminder to the gods as he has no need for such things.
I suppose next you'll say they accidentally sought out and destroyed the 7 lost gods (who weren't lost before the three met them) and lucked into Jergal's domain.
You can say a lot about the three, that their ambition was too great, or that they deluded themselves into thinking they could conquer all, but they had plans within plans and accomplished a great many tasks the likes of which would make many an adventuring party jealous.
I think that the Dead Three are, unironically, like the Nazis. Not in a moral sense - well actually yes in a moral sense - but rather in the sense that like the Nazis they were able to very effectively use propaganda to make themselves look far more badass and capable than they actually were, and that their initial sets of victories had a lot more to do with indulgence, unwillingness, division, and weakness on their enemies’ parts then their own strength. I think that strength was real enough, but I think that they depended too much on it and are at a loss when raw strength isn’t enough to deal with a problem. And I think that every plan they’ve ever carried out has consistently been portrayed as having missing steps or ultimately relying on luck.
Like when they got to Jergal in the first place. They didn’t defeat him in combat or a debate or anything, Jergal just happened to not want to be a god anymore and so agreed to let them have his power. They never “earned” it and it’s not clear that they’d have been able to kill Jergal if he’d just said “no”. Not to mention that even with him saying “yes” they immediately fell to infighting: they hadn’t even planned on how to split up the power.
Bhaal saw a vision of his own death and so set up the whole Bhaalspawn thing. But it depended on two things he had no control over: that Bhaalspawn would want to kill each and that Amellysan would be loyal. Somehow he didn’t anticipate that his Evil followers wouldn’t hijack the plan, and meanwhile he just plain got lucky that Viekang went insane and tried to kill Abdel; Abdel certainly had a lid on any murderous urges and Viekang could have too.
I’m less familiar with Myrkul but, again, if he’s anything like Bane and Bhaal then his plans almost certainly have missing steps reliant on dumb luck.
Myrkul's plan was to corrupt powerful mortals as part of his Crown and assume their powers. He managed to get himself onto the head of Laeral Silverhand, only for that to backfire when his essence wasn't compatible with Mystra's essence in her, and all it did was drive her insane for a while before she was healed and Myrkul had to run the frick away.
So he was a frickup too.
Well, Bane still did manage to act a full and working plan to ammass more power (of course he knew the risks in doing so, and unfortunately died).
He prepared a pretty effective plan B, which worked (his reincarnation).
And then he pummeled Cyric into giving back his portfolio, which yes, was insane, but also terribly powerful even by god standards
Beating up Cyric is like beating up the autistic kid on the playground. As a god he's weak, ineffectual, and incompetent.
He didn't hide them. Ao knew where they were. The point was to try and get the gods to actually give a shit about mortals. When Ao got given them back, he had an entire rant about how pointless the entire thing had been.
>The least clever of them was Bhaal and he came up with a pretty foolproof resurrection plan
It was delayed for over a century because ONE of his kids decided to not be an butthole. Or, in the evil end to Baldur's Gate 2, it failed outright because his kid decided to just take the power. After killing his High Priestess, who also betrayed him to take the power.
Bhaal was a moron who only resurrected through sheer dumb luck.
You both dont understand the plot of the game. The dead 3 arent morons because their plan was inherently doomed "as a plan" but because their plan was doomed because all their worshippers could never work together to accomplish it.
The goal isnt to get more worshippers, its to deprive the other gods of worshippers and kill a lot of people in the process (while conveniently furthering their mortal worshippers as a power upon the world).
They never intended to try and get mind controlled slaves to worship them or to have mindflayers do it.
...then why are the mindflayers even in this game? because swen likes tentacles, or because someone had the idea about the tadpole and he wasn't willing to let go?
Because the mindflayers are the tool the dead three plan to use to do it? They use the elder brain and mindflayers to make an army, and they can further turn the worshippers of other gods into soulless mind flayers thereby depriving them of power. They then use this army to kill/conquer the world (depending on if you listen to Myrkul/Bhaals plan or Banes).
The inherent issue is mostly about how their chosen would never work together properly and all planned to betray each other, and how controlling the elder brain was itself a pretty daft plan all things considered. But those just fall under "they were too ambitious and wienery" and not some particularly big miscalculation.
>They use the elder brain and mindflayers to make an army,
...why. why such a random thing.
you know what also fills in their criteria? undead and zombies. if only they knew a god of death that can... OH, WAIT.
i guess myrkul just picked illithids at random instead of trying obvious path first, because the dead three like to make things complicated for them.
Well last time Myrkul relied on undead he basically wiped out every super mage who came before him and took over Waterdeep with ease and it wasn't until a random chick empowered by Mystra's death essence showed up that he was defeated.
He wouldn't want a repeat of that.
Yeah, this shit would be too easy, they need to make their plot more moronic. Random aliens from outer dimension it is!
>...why. why such a random thing.
Because it gives them a means of almost perfect infiltration and controlling all manner of creatures into serving them as they build their cult? They literally created more or less perfect mind control that works on anyone.
The army of the absolute also very much DID have undead, quite a lot of it, it just also had quite a lot of other stuff.
But sure, they could always just rely on direct divine intervention on the dead 3s behalf, im sure that will be much easier for them than having their mortal worshippers do it (in myrkuls case in exchange for basically just one girl)
The plan wasnt made by the gods, they just told their mortal worshippers to work together because all three of them had cults on the ascendant in more or less the same area (the cult of bhaal under the dark urge, the cult of bane under gortash and the cult of myrkul in moonlight towers under an undead ketheric thorm).
The idea to use the mindflayer colony found beneath moonrise towers was thought up by the mortals (alongside some inspiration found inside the vault of Mephistopheles when they stole the crown of karsus). As for why they tried using that instead of just brute force conquering the world on their own power? Because they couldnt do the latter? This isnt Myrkul summoning his full power, its necromancers worshipping Myrkul sending out their zombie hordes.
No, THEY don't control their worshippers, the elder brain does. The Dead Three get frick all from this deal and because illithids don't give a frick about the squabbles of human gods, they immediately get fricked over by the elder brain, like everybody with a half of a brain could've predicted. It's like hiring Thanos to rob a bank for you - you are banking on the wrong powerset and you just know it's going to backfire.
In hindsight, zombies would be a better idea, because at least it would play into their strengths. The plot that only works on "everybody's moronic" rule is a shit plot.
> The plot that only works on "everybody's moronic" rule is a shit plot.
I can point to no less than five events in the 20th century that only happened because everyone involved was moronic, from the siege at Waco to World War II.
I guess it’s true what they say: fiction is hard to write because unlike reality, fiction has to make sense.
Well, until you realize that your villains are such idiots, the PCs don't have to do anything, because the "le scary bad guys" will just defeat themselves even without the player's involvement. So why am I wasting my time with this story and why should I care?
>why should I care about this tadpole in my head?
Type of homie to pick up a cursed item and walk off with it if you don’t die as soon as you touch it
The tadpole is a phlebotinum that does everything the plot requires it to do. They don't seem to do any harm to the PC, so frick it.
>They don't seem to do any harm to the PC, so frick it.
They actually give you super powers at no cost and if you decide to become an illithid (because that's a choice now) you retain full control of your character.
It doesn't kill you by eating your brain and then puppet your corpse to the whims of an elder brain, it just changes how you look and gives you some more psychic powers. You're still in control the entire time.
Because you, the PC, don’t know that, and have a tadpole in your head that should probably be removed.
Also even if the grand plan fails there’s still a lot of harm it can do in the meantime. The refugees in the druid grove, for example. Even if you don’t care about the main plot, there’s tons of side plots that you can decide to not be an butthole about. Or to BE an butthole about, if that’s more your thing; the game is pretty good at giving you that option.
I mean this guy’s plan was doomed to failure from the moment he conceived of it too but I still enjoy watching the season. Just because the bad guy’s plan is inherently flawed it doesn’t mean that the story can’t be good on its own.
It’s about the journey, not the destination, Anon.
You don't even know what a tadpole does and what it is, because 99,9% of Faerun inhibitants don't know what illithids are. The only explanation you get from Lae'zel and she's another alien that's not trustworthy.
You can find out what a tadpole is and what it does from any number of people, including druids at the nearby grove.
>The only explanation you get from Lae'zel and she's another alien that's not trustworthy.
You have not much reason to suspect shes lying.
Because you dont know that.
Because you need to stop them soon to not become a squid. B
Because what happens when they do fail is worse.
Because theres hot drow pussy that way.
The fact that the chosen were going to implode on each other because they arent good team players without the dark urge to tardwrangle them doesent mean they dont need stopped, because the elder brain taking back control of the army they gave it (and empowered by the crown of karsus) is a fricking horrifying thing and will be bad news for everyone.
>the elder brain does
The elder brain their chosen control. The one they could have kept under control forever if their chosen didnt self implode with backstabbing (and being murdered by adventurers). The plan fails because the chosen were selfish pricks (and you happened to be in the right place at the right time), not because it was an inherently doomed plan.
>the Dead Three get frick all from this deal
They frick over the other gods and therefore become proportionately stronger. They also end up with a lot of death/dead people/tyranny going on which is nice, and their cults in positions of great power.
If you genocide a population you also grant a surge of divine strenght to their divine patrons, since a lot of souls go to them, and they usually retilate
And turning people into mind flayers doesn't give any boon to the Dead Three, because they weren't murdered, they aren't dead and you no longer control them.
It does, since it's unilateral resource destruction. It strips powers from their adversaries without weakening the three.
And how does empowering the enemy that wants to kill/take over EVERYTHING IN FAERUN benefit you, exactly? You really think illithids won't mindrape your stupid Death Three cult next?
You can LITERALLY talk to bane and find out his perspective on it. "its not about reaping your own field, its about burning everyone elses". Mind flayers dont have souls, so they deny other gods their power.
They cant as long as they control the elder brain that controls the illithids, which they can do for as long as needed assuming nothing goes wrong (something goes wrong). The mindflayers arent allies or recruits, they are themselves mind controlled into obedience.
And then Ilsensine steps in, thanks you for your service of providing an illithid army free of charge and takes over your idiotic cult. You really think you can control an alien hivemind for long, until their eldritch abomination hivemind daddy turns it on you?
That's why this plan is moronic. Illithids are the worst thing imaginable to control. Seriously, zombies are million times more reliable, because at least you don't get mindraped by an eldritch horror the second you get out of line.
>And then Ilsensine steps in
Then your chosen press the "have a nice day" button and all the mindflayers die.
>Seriously, zombies are million times more reliable, because at least you don't get mindraped by an eldritch horror the second you get out of line.
Zombies offer far less opportunity. If you happen to be the kind of wizard who can conjure the zombie apocalypse on a dime, good for you, but those are fairly rare.
The absolute was risky and had catastrophic ramifications if it failed, but also offered far more potential than what the various cults could accomplish on their own. And all they had to do to avoid the downsides was just not fail, which for a megalomaniac seems fairly easy.
>If you happen to be the kind of wizard who can conjure the zombie apocalypse on a dime
I am pretty sure that FRICKING MYRKUL would have no issue with that.
but also offered far more potential than >what the various cults could accomplish on their own
No, it doesn't provide anything of value, outside of empowering mindflayers and their eldritch deity. You either need a shitton of mindflayers to starve other gods - which means Ilsensine would definately take notice and take over the elder brains you presumably "control", or you have to work under the radar, but that means you won't have the numbers to even challenge one god, not to mention all of them.
This plan was a failure because the chosen (and Larian) forgot that illithids are controlled by something greater than three quasi-deities that can't even get their shit together.
It's like trying to take control of the drow. Motherfricker, how do you think this is gonna go and are you ready for a divine intervention from Lolth herself?
FRICKING MYRKUL isnt doing anything one way or the other. The dead three are not themselves literally waging war on faerun, their worshippers are. Its also why Mystra or Tyr or whoever arent just deleting their cult the second it becomes an issue.
...so, in the end of the day, the cult of Absolute isn't a threat to anyone, we are wasting our time and Elminster is just being a drama queen?
Yes, like every other plot in DND
Except they are a threat? To baldurs gate if nothing else. Even at the lower end of what they might accomplish you end up with the cult of bane ruling the city with an iron hand or the cult of bane/myrkul butchering it for their god.
It also ignores the potential of the cult to grow and assimilate more true souls (or expand through other means). Or that even just them losing control of the illithids ends up with a newly empowered illithid colony trying to conquer the world like the good old days, this time with netherese magic helping them out.
> I am pretty sure that FRICKING MYRKUL would have no issue with that.
No, he probably wouldn’t. But FRICKING KELEMVOR, HIS BOSS WHO IS CONSIDERABLY MORE POWERFUL THAN HIM AND HAS GREATER COMMAND OVER THE DEAD, might. Among other gods.
The plan with the Absolute doesn’t require the direct intervention of the Dead Three, which means it doesn’t set off any divine alarm bells that basically let the rest of the pantheon know that some god is attempting to upset the status quo, directly, and thus the gloves are now allowed to come off to deal with them.
I mean that’s a missing step that’s large enough for even the Dead Three to spot.
>which means it doesn’t set off any divine alarm bells that basically let the rest of the pantheon know that some god is attempting to upset the status quo, directly,
Since when the deities give a frick about divine interventions? They've been micromanaging mortals since forever.
Another lazy 5e retcon?
Micromanaging mortals is one thing. Personally summoning up a massive undead horde for the express purpose of wiping out the followers of other gods is an entirely different matter. Quite on top of that Ao’s entire point with the Time of Troubles was that the gods need to care more about their followers and be more mindful of what’s happening on Faerun, as well as do a better job enforcing their portfolios.
Basically, can you come up with a reason why Kelemvor, lord of the dead, former mortal himself, a pretty nice guy by nature, and guy who’s in charge of Myrkul and thus responsible for his actions and conduct, WOULDN’T get involved directly if Myrkul tried to summon a zombie apocalypse?
Umberlee and Tymora and Gond have huge followings in the Gate; why WOULDN’T they get invovled, either?
>why dont the dead three just do divine interventions all the time
Because thats a fricking stupid idea and going to end with mystra or someone else hitting them in the face very hard.
Lolth gets away with it.
Shes cute so its fine.
Lolth acts through mortal agents the way gods are supposed to, like when she tricked Grmoph into summoning demons into the Underdark. She didn’t personally send them there.
>The plot of Bhaal, Bane and Myrkul using the elder brain to become gods again
Except they arent doing that at all, you are blatantly told what the plan is by Bhaal, Bane and Balthazar. The goal isnt to make the dead three stronger, its to bring everyone else down to their level by turning people into soilless illithids/killing enough people to weaken the other gods.
It's probably the best CRPG in years which is more of an indictment of how lazy and shit the developers of rpg games than it is on BG3's quality. I'd laugh if I told myself from 20 years ago that BG3 was the shining beacon of a game being 'polished' in the year 2023.
I thought it was worth a play, but hey.
I love it. I played a lot of 5e but never really cared about D&D as a setting and just used the rules but BG3 made me apreciate some of the official setting.
Why would I play this dogshit when I could play real D&D?
Why would you ever play real DnD when you can pkay better TTRPGs? A bunch of actually pretty good cRPGs are the best thing related to DnD.
tg’s worst troll is back again. Do you actively seek out anyone saying something even slightly positive about D&D or are you just a bot at this point?
Everything good with you, autistc moron bro?
>Ad hominem attacks
I’m fine, looking forward to my 5e game on Sunday. It’s been going for over a year now.
>muh fallacies
No one is trying to debate you, you absolute and utter weenie.
It's just an objective description of the sort of person who dedicates his life to whinging about imaginary trolls with the oddest catchphrase ever to grace this earth.
>More ad hominem insults
>Lol if you disagree with me you’re just a troll LOL
You are pathetic
No, homosexual. I'm in this thread because I'm in the middle of playing Baldur's Gate 3 and I'm interested in the topic. Pointing out that there are better games than DnD, but that there are several good DnD-based computer games, was both on-topic and an appropriate response to a guy suggesting that there's no point in playing DnD-based cRPG instead of real DnD.
Why not get her to stop worshiping Shar, anon?
hate 5e. had alot of fun playing. first time i really got immersed into an rpg since playing planescape torment
Not really. Feels like D:OS. I am waiting to my friend to play together because by myself I get bored in the first hour of play. BG 1&2 are better.
I played a bit of it during prerelease. I got bored with it pretty quickly.
What ever happened to that d&d dlc for Minecraft? I remember seeing the article on mojang's site and the the pdf with the 5e stats gor some mobs, but the bedrock dlc seems to have never been released.
>no limit to number of bonus actions per turn
big mistake
there's a weird ass combo in the meta that makes like 9 attacks every turn, and no is not using action surge, you can only do that once per short rest. I mean every turn
>What did you think of it /tg/?
Its thoroughly solid but has flaws, mainly related to a lack of polish/payoff in the later parts of the game. Its ambition exceeds the resources present to complete it and it shows. Its also on the easy side frankly.
The overall plot is pretty good (if with some issues) and the characters range from generally solid if with flaws in their story (shadowheart) to downright fantastic (minthara) - but not all of them are as fleshed out with content as they frankly ought to be. You also have minsc shoved in there for some reason and hes still minsc, meaning hes terrible and I want his writer garroted with a barbed wire.
The game is generally rather good about presenting choices and remembering them (and paying them off later) except for when it isnt, which makes those moments feel all the more dissapointing and shitty.
Also the ending sucks on several levels, mechanically its too easy, elements of character writing end up being very rushed and silly if you do certain things, the final boss is too easy for what its supposed to be, and the final ending decision is both pathetically limited and also rushed in terms of presentation/resolution. The general concept there is solid, but it just doesent make the pieces work together properly and ends up as a letdown.
The game is however unequivocally worth playing, because those issues mentioned are only so noticeable because they stand in contrast to most of it, they are blemishes on something that could have been a masterpiece but was instead just "good". It has a rather well made world, plot and characters with some interesting combat encounters that can be approach and resolved in different ways, allows for solid build variety (even if obviously some are far better than others) and in general also just feels very "genuine" in spite of some of the more humorous elements people may seethe about. Also the voice acting is downright fantastic.
A lot of people praise Act 2 but I disliked it compared to the other 2 acts. Sure, Act 3 has a somewhat unfinished feeling but Act 2's map is just terrible. It's all one note, slight variation when you hit the ruins of the town but basically the same otherwise. There's no real under-level and the temple of Shar is a fricking snooze of a "dungeon". The map actively discourages exploration not only by having to have a way of dealing with the curse at all times, but also by scattering some truly obnoxious combat encounters that either seriously endanger you or become a chore because every enemy explodes when they die so if you try and push through it quickly with an over-leveled party you get punished by chain explosions. And then your rewards for exploring are... unfulfilling. A couple uneventful NPCs scattered here and there outside of the two main hubs, and a couple admittedly entertaining boss encounters.
I did not buy it. I am instead playing MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!! (techno music)
>NPC party members not joining the party again/unable to be dismissed
>same for multiplayer characters that aren't logged in
>multiplayer character randomly becomes main character after joining
>game mistakes which character is speaking
>escape key stops working
>save file corrupts if you put too many items in a container in your inventory
>NPC party member pathfinding is dogshit, they walk straight into known hazards
>lazy frog b***h attacks you in a cutscene, you fight back and it cuts to combat screen but it never starts and she walks back to her tent amd is then unavailable for the rest of the game
>You can get Minthara to join your party without attacking the druid grove but her dialogue will be stuck there for the rest of the game
Game is too buggy to be enjoyable and that's before you consider the forced diversity dogshit and the le so random xD narration (e.g. Volo's operation on your eye)
They should have just done the plot of the Illithiad adventures instead.
Literal morons claiming to gatekeep the most dogshit setting
How do I get Minthara without losing Karlach, Wyll and Halsin?
You don't.
You dont.
You can keep karlach and wyll if you just dont do the grove questline, but you need to do her act 1 scene for a romance afaik and you also cant do karlachs questline since dammon dies to goblins
>guise what did we think of the latest israeli propaganda video game
Why do israelites suck the blood out of baby penises?
Karlach is amazing, she saved my ass in more than one occasion. Srly all my party unconscious and she was still kicking. I gave her the gloves of arrow catching and I'm currently at 5th level and the girl is the mpv by far
Also Astarion is gay but nobody can steal and open locks like him yet, is impossible to fail. Expertise was a mistake
I'm playing a Paladin
Astarion if you give him a dual wield build and the right gear becomes the best damage dealer in your party. Find a way to generate Advantage for him, let him sneak attack, receive a dead enemy. Its that easy.
He already has two short swords and yeah is pretty good but staying conscious have been a problem for him (ring that deals more damage after dash is good too when I need him to move)
I made Kalarch berserker though and gave her the throwing ring (and the returning javelin) but she mostly uses the fire sword that we got from the cambion in the nautiloid. Can only imagine how strong would be if I picked a good path instead
There's a scale armor somewhere, I forget where, that gives 16AC and allows +3 from your dex mod. Add feats and dual-wield fighting style from one point in fighter, with thief rogue as the subclass, and he becomes a monster.
Paladins are great, my first playthrough had Minthara just exploding every boss once I got her. Balthazar? Crit smite.
Kethric? Crit smite.
Kethrics boss? Crit smite.
Undead dragon? Crit smite.
Big demon? Crit smite.
Dragon? Crit smite.
Just demolishes.
Playing a paladin is like playing a chad.
Playing a Selunite Paladin and romancing Shadowheart is like playing gigachad.
>Romancing the girl who literally worships the goddess of cuckolding and wants to hop Halsin's bear dick.
Yes, because you fix her.
Just kill the druids like god intended, halsin throws a hissy fit about it and then you kill him too.
>Shar
>secondary scum focus on one random line of cucking in a random book
Tell me the culture war broke your buck without telling me it did
You literally have a cuckold scene in the game, anon. Don't be such a reactionary moron.
>She literally cucks you with Halsin in the game at the brothel.
It's not just one line, Shar's entire portfolio points to cucking. Loss, trickery, lies, nightmares, hatred, seduction and treachery are just some of the portfolios she's held.
I wanted a Vampire GF companion. Why did they have to make Astarion a guy ffs.
It's a major upgrade to 5e
in which way in our opinion?
I wanted to play monk but it got some weird nerfs (jump and fall damage) while not getting any benefit. I heard they cut him some slack with some good magic items for them
Pretty sure monks are disgustingly OP in bg3
>str tavern brawler thief with full armor
>monk
I'm going to say no, that's not a monk
This is the same as in kingmaker or wotr monk dip and the rest in sorcererer and paladin. But worst
If you have one level in monk you're a monk, deal with it
I mean, you can call it whatever you want. The classes are just labels really, I just want someone that punches with strength effectively and tavern brawler monk does that job just fine.
They're going to frick them over with the next patch. Armor having no effect on their features was some weird mistake
It nothing else, initiative letting you re-order player turns that have consecutive initiative placement is a really easy and smooth change that makes player cooperation way, way easier. Someone is going to go "*akshually* you could always do that by 'holding your turn', hyuk hyuk" but thats basically a houserule anyway because no DMs agree on how holding your turn works because its so fricking vague. Explicitly saying "if your players would have their turns back to back, they can choose who does what first on a turn by turn basis" is gold.
Astarion and Lae'zel are fricking unbearable. I cannot stand these two characters.
Does anyone like them?
I enjoy them well enough, but I can see why someone wouldnt like laezel, shes loud and comitative and very rude. Not quite sure what astarion would do to piss you off though.
He only mopes around and likes evil things and just has a bad attitude.
Mopes? He always seemed like hes having quite a bit of fun in my playthrough, usually at someone elses expense.
I agree with Anon. I don’t hate him, he’s just boring and lame and written like a wet piece of paper.
Lae’zel is the one character who never lies to you (intentionally - she’s hardly responsible for repeating Vlaakith’s lies that she herself believes to be the truth) or hides anything from you. More to the point, while the first thing she does is try to kill you, it’s only because she thinks you’re a mind flayer slave. The *moment* she realizes you’re not, which is basically instantly, she immediately stands down, offers to team up to get you both off the nautiloid, and promises to help you get rid of your mind flayer tadpole as soon as possible, instantly seeing you as an ally at worst, and not one she has any intention of betraying.
She’s HONEST. Compare her to Shadowheart or Astarion or Gale or Will in that regard. Of the other infected only Karlach is as open and honest as her…and guess what, the two of them actually get along pretty well as a result despite Karlach being the poster child of Chaotic Good and Lae’zel being pretty typically Lawful Evil.
I mean, I honestly don’t get how someone could NOT like her, or at least respect her.
>the two of them actually get along pretty well as a result despite Karlach being the poster child of Chaotic Good and Lae’zel being pretty typically Lawful Evil.
Laezel respects strength enormously and Karlach can toss her like a bean bag, it makes sense
>Of the other infected only Karlach is as open and honest as her
the drow is ironically very honest and open
Is that a cutscene or something? If not, that's really impressive, especially the hair, I didn't realize video game graphics has come this far.
The game is very expressive, the acting and facial animations are outstanding since they mocapped the VAs as they did their lines.
Yeah. It really makes the 'bioware face' in other modern games like Starfield look like shit in comparison.
The companions and constant NPCs are amazing, the main char? not so much, it's good but it suffers from generalized facial expressions so sometimes looks weird depending on what you picked
Oh but yeah, I hate Astarion. He reminds me of the reason Imoen exists - a thief was pretty necessary for any D&D party but early Baldur’s Gate 1 only had Montaraun as an easily-accessed thief at low levels, and he’s an evil little bastard. There were no “good” thief options (Safana existed as a neutral option, but my she’s hard to get to at low level without running afoul of sirens, and has a quest that requires killing flesh golems inside of 10 days of recruiting her - a big ask for 1st level parties, especially if they’re new players). So Black Isle invented Imoen to fill in the low-level, easily-recruitable, good-aligned thief gap.
In BG3 a skilled thief is still pretty necessary for a smooth playthrough. Your options are: Astarion (a smug evil bastard), restatting one of the other companions (which some players might not want to do, especially if it messes up their storyline or clashes with their personality - Gale, for example), having Withers follow you around puppeting a thief body (and be a totally blank slate), or rolling own up yourself (which you might not want to do).
I don’t think I’d hate Astarion quite so much if he was just something other than a thief, and there was a more neutral thief character filling that role. As it is, I went with option D, being a thief myself. In a second playthrough I might restat Shadowheart as a thief or something, but I still resent having to do that.
Cant you apply that logic in any direction? "I hate that wyll and gale are good people, I wish there was an evil wizard option" or "I hate that karlach is good, barbarians are a good frontline and I wish there was an evil one"
Sure, but that wasn’t a problem I’m BG1 so the situation isn’t reminding me so directly of something that already came up in BG1.
If I were on the design team I wouldn’t have had Wyll and Gale available from the start, it would have been one of those two plus anactually-implemented Dark Urge. Shadowheart is at least morally neutral and can work in just about any party. Karlach is good but you’ve also got Lae’zel as an evil warrior right from the start, and Minthara is an option too.
So that just leaves the thief slot with no obvious fill-in from the existing cast. Maybe that tiefling bard? Volo for something truly unexpected? The deep gnome so there’s an actual shorty companion?
Durge cant be a companion, it just wouldnt work.
>minthara is available
Minthara is, like halsin, quite far down the line. Same for Jaheira and Minsc.
> Durge cant be a companion, it just wouldnt work.
Fine, then either implement a new evil early game arcane caster, or rewrite Gale or Wyll to be more morally ambiguous. The point being that I think the game should be set up so that if you’re trying to be heroic, you shouldn’t find yourself forced to take along an evil companion for a balanced party; or if you’re evil you shouldn’t be forced to take along a good one; or if you’re just sort of neutral you should be able to find people who are themselves either neutral or at least not trying to be Dudley Doright or Snidley Whiplash.
>The point being that I think the game should be set up so that if you’re trying to be heroic, you shouldn’t find yourself forced to take along an evil companion for a balanced party; or if you’re evil you shouldn’t be forced to take along a good one
I disagree. That sort of conflict is fun.
because its a journey. You all start out as mistrustful strangers with shady backgrounds, thrust together by mindflayer abduction and the common cause of finding a parasite. Over the course of the adventure, you´re supposed to learn why these people are the way they are, have them open up, change and ultimately fix them. Its called character progress in a video game
I think one of the designers said that the companions were intentionally designed as people who’d probably never adventure together under ordinary circumstances.
>Lae'zel
She's fine, but admittedly I didn't use her much. Astarian comes off as a /misc/ parody of a gay man though. I'm genuinely surprised there isn't a backlash about it. He's offensively gay in a 90s stereotype way, and an actual predator with a lot of coded sex predator/groomer (his vampire situation) stuff added on
Astarion is a foppish dandy, but the important thing is that its all an act. The moment you get to learn anything about his actual circumstances you start to realize just how shitty his past was, how happy he is to be free of it, and how TERRIFIED he is that he might lose that freedom.
All you really need to do to win Astarion's trust is not be a frickhead, once he is in your corner he is ride or die.
He's a flaming homosexual in the most offensive use of the term. Being groomed and abused n a sex coded way by another man doesn't change that, it amplifies it.
I mean, other than the fact that he fricks women. Every companion is mandatory bisexual, because Larian are cowards.
Bisexual, or "Playersexual" in that they'll be magically into the Players sex exclusively or in addition to their primary form, but only if the player chooses a sex not in line with theirs.
Kinda reminds me of BG1 where NPCs either were in relationships or would form them with each other under the right circumstance but the player didn't get romances till BG2. So BG3's in this awkward place.
I mean ehhh, that's again one of those flexible canon things, how canon is that love for Halsin if you don't create the trigger situation for it by being a sleaze and "Opening the Relationship" first? Are we to assume it's always there, or just that it was lurking.
Ah, a Lemmywinks joke. I wonder which Black Isle people were working on BG2, and which of those went on to Obsidian where they actually added Lemiwinks levels to the Southpark Game.
(Yes, I know exceptionally degenerate homosexuals actually do that shit IRL. I'd rather not think about it)
Any nude mods yet?
>no Blade Singer
>no Hexblade
>no way of the living weapon: forged heart
>>no Hexblade
Pact of the blade is fine anon. Lockadins dont need to be even better.
lacks medium armor and maybe access to shield to not just die in melee
And still MAD because you need now Cha, Dex/Str and Con
Lockadins can use heavy armor, and pact of the blade means you use Cha for melee instead of Str.
I don't want a lockadin I want a full melee warlord
This is the problem with 5e, it shits on classes due their fear of multiclassing
warlock*
Well you won't get it because you could multiclass into Paladin and be stronger, so you now get a worse Warlock.
Having played a full melee warlock on my first run, its still entirely fine. Its maybe not optimal compared to what various multiclasses can do, but its got solid melee DPS and decent casting utility. Theres also enough goof light armor options for you to be fine. Also one super good end game armor that gives 21AC and free proficiency with it (and a slightly less good medium armor version that does similar)
100%. Ill sacrifice not being able to force my -1 int dude through a DC25 arcana check if rogues dont have a chance to fail a -1 to pass pickpocket.
Yeah I have my doubts you can play a longsword/greatsword melee warlock with light armors as a front liner and not fall unconcious on every encounter ever. You'd need to go fiend for false life because they don't seem to get access otherwise
I did just that and it worked fine. 14 dex, 14 con is enough alongside stuff like darkness/blur/whatever, and you get lots of temp HP from the fiend pact boon (which gives decent HP on kill)
Well of course you have to be one of those gaylocks with a rapier
The game is the polar opposite of what 5e advertises itself as. You have billions of incredible broken magic items, you'll be fine. Before you land level 2 you have already all your party in magic armors and weapons
But it's currently bugged where you can't use your Warlock Spellslots for smites like you actually can in 5e.
You can, at least on reaction/crits. It is however bugged, your deepend pact attack stacks with the normal bonus attack so you get 3 per turn.
Overrated and overhyped. Buggy as frick. Act 3 barely playable in some areas. Cyberpunk was less shit on launch but got review raped whereas this gets a free pass?
The difference is that cyberpunk was more evenly distributed with its bugs, you didn't have to be playing for very long before it started going haywire in your face.
BG3's first act is the most stable, most polished part of the game and for most players you'll spend like 3-4 days there. So the game makes a very strong first impression before it begins to fall apart.
Very different situation.
It's kind of funny to see games now making use of the fact that 60% of people never get past the opening third of a game, and only 20% actually see the ending.
So they really don't need to give a frick about anything after the half-way point.
I like the fact that it plays more like 4e than 5e but for the love of god I hate the fricking Natty 1/20 skill check homebrew rule they added during Early Access.
If you go on the forums literally all the posts when that update was made was people saying it's fricking stupid or should just be a toggle.
Haven't played, but I bet they allowed monk to use dex for jumps and athletics to be able to do actual martial arts, you know shoves/trips/leglocs/headlocks/etc right? It's only logical
I think there's better CRPGs (Divinity, Pathfinder WOTR, fallout disco elysium etc) but it's a very comfy and technically impressive game.
I feel like comparing any of those games to disco elysium is just wrong, its such a different experience to any kind of conventional fantasy or action game.
I wanted to like Disco Elysium but couldn't ever get into it. Most of the reviews I saw were just praising it because capitalism bad. How'd you find it?
NTA, but DE aint a "capitalism bad" game. It's something that needs to be played and it's the only game that made me reconsider my take that video games aren't art.
It's a game that shits on everything (or nothing, depends on how you build your character) and lets you do what you want. I ended up being a fascist-commie thug on my first playthrough.
Its one of the best experienced ive had with a video game. Ironically the actual "game" part of it is kinda lacking, its not very mechanically complex, the movement is wonky and the equipment system isnt very good imo, but the narrative is fantastic. Im going to sound pretentious as all frick for saying it, but its very much "art".
>muh capitalism bad
It certainly doesent necessarily shy away from criticizing capitalism, or communism, or that other mysterious third thing for that matter. But ultimately the political side to it is more a backdrop to the more tangibly human aspects to everything, its not a game about politics as abstract philosophical ideas or concepts, but about people living in some shitty bombed out city and how they relate to various things (including political ideologies).
You have royalists and communists both pining for some idealized past that probably never was and seething at the present that left them behind, the broken and the bitter doing what they can to spite the system that oppresses them while being the same dirt that stops it working properly, people who cope with the world through hatred of outsiders or hedonism or a calm acceptance in the name of some promised future...
Everyone I know who played Disco Elysium quit after an hour or two, then tried the game again in a couple months and played 20 hours in one weekend to finish the game. You should give it another try, it didn't click for me the first time either.
Yeah, I mostly use it for an example of deep narrative, feel BG3s is fun but a bit shallow.
The game is very political but more comments on ideologies than endorses any specific one (Communists mean well but are dogmatic and prone to mass murder, liberals/centrists try to be above it all but still do massive acts of violence for protecting the status quo etc). Story is more about moving on and trying again after a big fall. Didn't really like it on the first go but after reading into the history behind it I love it.
WOTR is basically kingmaker but better written, deeper and with more stuff.
Only big hurdles I'd say is they have a lot of HOMM style fights which are fun but very shallow and one chapter is a bit of a slog. Definitely the better game and worth a play.
>WOTR
>Good
Possibly the most mind numbingly boring crpg in existence. It's only good if you care about build autism and absolutely nothing else.
I haven't played WotR, but Kingmaker at least was great.
Wotr is good tho. All the companions were likeable, the classes are great and the Mythic path incentivizes multiple playthrough thanks to alt scenarios and OP mythic powers. Overall i like it better than bg3 but Bg3 combat and abilities are better.
>All the companions were likeable
I felt the opposite. Besides Regill, which was one of the most well written companions in recent years, I found all of them to be either boring (sosiel, woljiff, arue, lann) or aggravating (cam, daeran, nenio and the paladinduess). Cam was especially terrible with her constant "teehee I'm totally not a psychopath" interjections. Even Deadfire had better companions and that's saying something.
Arue, Daeran and Lann are alright tbqh. People hate Lann for being a boring goodie two shoes but he has some of the best dialogue and moments in these game with Regill and Daeran. Arue is hit & miss as a character, i wish the game focused more on her struggles with her demonic nature than made her this cutesy moronic anime girl but overall her redemption quest is also okay even without romancing her which the game really wants you too. What did you find aggravating about Daeran? He is pretty alright once you tell him to frick off with his flirts
>In his opinion, Regill was well written
Into the trash it goes
The game was fine, I had fun with it, but it had some glaring issues. What kept it from being perfect were the difficulty drop, the weird samey companions and the obviously cut content.
I don't know if it's like that in 5e, never really played it, but the level 5 power spike was ridiculous and the difficulty dropped to the floor.
>full casters get level 3 spell slots (wizard gets haste and fireball)
>martials double their damage output with a 2nd attack and then quadruple it because they're hasted
>half casters double their amount of spellslots
It's crazy how much stronger you get and how little the game does to accomodate that.
The companions were strange. They were mostly fine on their own, but after a while it's becomes painfully apparent that they all share a theme of having their story centered around conflict some powerful entity that has, or had power over them.
Wyll is owned by Mizora, Gale served Mystra, Shart got mindbroken by Shar, Karlach was owned by Zariel, Frog serves Vlaakith, Astarion was owned by Cazador. And in all except Gale's the personal quests are about how those entities are buttholes and you have to cut yourself off from them. It's like all writers had daddy issues, or something. To my surprise, my favourite companion ended up being Jaheira because of this. She was so normal compared to the others, it was such a breath of fresh air. The game could use a
Act 3 reeks of cut content at every step. It really sours the whole experience.
>, but after a while it's becomes painfully apparent that they all share a theme of having their story centered around conflict some powerful entity that has, or had power over them.
Agreed. I can see the appeal of having a strong core theme, but after a while it just feels lazy and there is no variety to the characters. If I had to choose which ones to keep, I'd say that Shadowheart and Laezel need to keep their backstories for plot reasons, and Astarion's story is overall good enough to be worth keeping. Thats half the characters, and their relationships and resolutions with their patrons are different enough to be worth keeping. But the rest of the part members could have been something else.
No one likes Wyll, the situation he is in is much more interesting than he himself is as a character. He's fricking bland. An unapologetic warlock that is 100% on board with this would have been better.
Gale is awful and I don't know anyone who isn't put off by either his "my greatest sin is that I am TOO AWESOME" backstory or the fact that he's a sex pest that wont stop fricking hitting on you no matter how many times you turn him down. You could replace him entirely with a new character and everyone would cheer.
Karlach is fun, but mostly due to her personality. You don't need to have her follow the same beats as the other characters to keep what is good about her.
>I can see the appeal of having a strong core theme
The problem is they didn't follow through on it. There is no proper route to spite the gods. You can either clean up the illithid mess and let this psychotic pantheon continue to rule, or you can get a 3 second cutscene of you becoming chaotic evil and killing everyone if you take over the elder brain. Even siding with Gortash ends with Gortash dying anyway in the next cutscene.
I dont know if thats quite accurate, karlach for example doesent need it revealed that Zariel was awful, nor wyll with Mizora (or Astarion with Kazador).
Its true that most companions have had or continue to have some issue with a figure who had authority/power over them (even someone without a questline proper like Minthara has her whole "revenge vs the chosen/absolute" thing), but thats such a broad and common trope that its only a step up from "someone wronged me in the past".
Laezels story is about her devotion and obedience towards someone, and what she does when faced with the possibility that the very basic conception of the world is wrong on its most fundamental levels.
Astarions is about him dealing with his newfound freedom and how his past abuses have shaped him into a monster little better than the master who hurt him.
Shadowheart is about an out of nowhere rejection of everything you know because deep down youre actually interently good/losing yourself to your devotion.
Karlachs is about her trying to save her life and coming to terms with a failure in that regard (I assume, I killed her in all my games).
I dont know what wylls story is, nor do I particularly care (also killed him)
>Gale is awful and I don't know anyone who isn't put off by either his "my greatest sin is that I am TOO AWESOME" backstory
Except thats not actually the backstory, his sin isnt being too cool for school but thinking hes too cool for school and then flunking the test at the end of the year (and then blaming the teachers).
Gale is a nice dude, but his ambition runs deeper than even the actual evil "I wanna take over the world" companions. And his story is either about him making amends for his ego or getting a whole lot worse and doubling down, pulling a karsus 2.0 and being exploded by Mystra for his efforts.
>karlach for example doesent need it revealed that Zariel was awful
I didn't say anything about reveals. I said that they are awful, whether that's apparent to the characters, or not is another matter entirely. And yes, they don't all share exactly the same story, but all of them, every single one having that authority figure as a central point of their plot. On top of that they're all single, young, pretty and playersexual and only have the most human shaped races (no shorties, horcs, dragonborn etc.). They're too similiar. It gives the party an unnatural, almost engineered vibe, not like it's a group of random people who got stuck together in this mess.
It really does seem weird that out of every available companion, only one of them isn’t some kind of human or elf.
It’s just damn weird that there are no halfling, dwarf, or gnome companions, especially since there’s a dwarf druid healer who probably could have comfortably slotted in (instead of Halsin), as well as a deep gnome artificer who could have been the “good” rogue I harped on about, both in the existing cast.
I dunno, it just seems weird.
Neither Halsin nor Minthara are young, and im not sure I would call laezel pretty, shes a fricking gith. And once again, the similarity of "there was a powerful person related to their story, there is some conflict there" is so broad it could be applied to almost anyone.
>only one
Two, theres a tiefling and a gith.
Nettie can be slotted in in the same way you can slot in ssaza the goblin or (insert any other NPC with a name here). The alternative druid in terms of "who could actually be a reasonable companion" would be kagha.
Halsin and Minthara not the main cast (origin characters), they're secondary companions who only actually join up halfway through Act 2. Also Lae'zel is a cute frog and I won't be disputing that.
>"there was a powerful person related to their story, there is some conflict there"
It's not really that vague though, is it? They all have specifically a powerful supernatural authority figure, which either controls them or did control them, and their relationship with that authority figure is antagonistic (whether they're aware of that, or no). It feels very intentional to me.
>people in the forums wanting to nerf monk into oblivion only for a mistake build
lol
this insane, monk is already shit. Larian fricked it up and gave them no penalties for wearing armor and now everybody wants stun to const 2-3 ki, for them to never go pass 1d6 in damage and other shit
>but were you still able to enjoy it?
Larian is talented enough at CRPGs that I loved the game despite Faerun being a dogshit setting, 5E being a dogshit game system, and D&D having a dogshit aesthetic in general.
It really speaks to how talented they are that they made GOTY with such handicaps. DoS3 will be great.
Shame that they forgot to make the ending though.
Does Shadowheart have cute feet in-game? Does she show them off?
You control what shoes your party members wear, if any.
I mean does she show them off like put them near my face or sexy things.
If you romance Shadowheart and visit the brothel, the drow twin prostitutes will offer to sleep with both of you at once, and it ends up with Shadowheart sitting in a chair with you and the drow twins kneeling worshipping her feet and calling her Empress.
That scene isn't animated though.
How the frick can anyone stand Karlach. If you don't frick her her entire character is "hey there's that person I know here's their exposition"
Go back to Ganker, redditor.
Withers makes the game too easy. Revives were a precious resource in Divinity, now the cleric and a weird skeleton can spam them.
Can any of the monsters or animals frick/rape female characters?
Why in the holy frick are the male elf models so fricking ugly? Or is it just me.
Not just you. All the faces except the base high elf are horrible.
That face is ugly as well. It’s like a 80s action movie star. Not an elf.
Is Shadowheart this hot and cute feet in-game?
While you can avoid sex scenes if you want, there are a LOT of sex things and fetishes inserted into the game. It even offers to hide your sex choices from friends and customize your genitals more than your height or build.
It's not exclusively and erotic game, but it is a game with sex scenes as a primary selling and grinding feature/reward.
Cool, so it’ll tide me over until Carnal Instinct is done? Good to know.
That game is fricking cheating, by the way. Sex, fantasy adventure, and an ancient Egypt-style setting? Like any one of those things would have drawn me in, it’s cheating that it has all three.
Are Gnolls really born from dead Hyena in DND lore? Or this a BG3 thing?
New 5E lore. It’s lame and also weird, considering it seems like it was created to handwave why gnolls never got to be an official playable race.
Weird because 5E has tieflings as base race and Volo’s Guide (the book that introduced the new lore) had stats for every other classic playable monstrous race.