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[Gaelyon]

Swen Vincke is a great game designer and boss, fueled by passion. He's a real roleplayer for decades, play with his own kids, and he knows that letting players making their own choices with consequences, however niche, is the greatest reward in RPG.

 

[keefged4]

This fucking game man, GOTY. Easily. Best RPG I've played in years.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

1) I take it everyone's sort function/filters when at vendors is broken since patch 2? (very jumbled, but workable).
2) Did you know that if a box doesn't have empty on it, but it's empty, it's not empty? - Put an object in said box, watch loot appear - hug seemingly universal bug, but at least I can head canon it being a magic box trick of Bhaal.....or something? lol.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

The game is too overwhelming and hard. I have the PS5 version. I made it to the grove but there's just so much stuff to learn.

Drop the difficulty to Explorer till you're familier with it, then you'll have an aha moment with combat about 15 hours in... then you'll be wanting a difficulty between Balanced and Tactician - I reckon a Core difficulty could be the tahi there...

 

[ebevan91]

Hotfix #5 is live.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Hotfix #5 Now Live! - Steam News

Version Number: 4.1.1.3696083

store.steampowered.com

 

[Banjo64]

Off topic, but Divinity 2 is on a hefty discount @ Steam

 

[Mister Wolf]

Off topic, but Divinity 2 is on a hefty discount @ Steam

Decent game but plays nothing like BG3.

 

[calistan]

Hotfix #5 is live.

Baldur's Gate 3 - Hotfix #5 Now Live! - Steam News

Version Number: 4.1.1.3696083

store.steampowered.com

Another one! Three years of early access, but it still gets two major patches and five hotfixes in the first month.

 

[Markio128]

Seems to be reviewing well on PS5 - 97 on MC currently.

 

[ManaByte]

 

[VideoGameEnjoyer]

Game kicks so much ass.

I'm really hoping it wins GOTY, even with all the great contenders this really feels like the year of Baldur's Gate 3, specifically. If Zelda was BOTW, that's one thing, but giving it to TOTK is basically just giving it to BOTW again. Amazing game, but BG3 was just more important this year imo.

Wonder what the biggest challenger will be to those two as well.

 

[Macaron]

Don't think i've ever played a game more meant for PC over console lol still enjoying it but man it makes me wish I preferred mouse and keyboard

 

[Markio128]

I’m still only on act 1 but this is easily my GOTY. I’m so glad that I have a long weekend coming up because it’s a nightmare trying to squeeze in an hour here and there.

 

[twilo99]

This fucking game man, GOTY. Easily. Best RPG I've played in years.

I don’t think it’s got any competition really..

 

[Solidus_T]

Don't think i've ever played a game more meant for PC over console lol still enjoying it but man it makes me wish I preferred mouse and keyboard

Hearing this is interesting because I have played most of my playthoughs on PC with a PS4 controller and I thought it was fine, however there were many moments where I switched over to play on my keyboard and mouse. I'm hoping console players can do this too.

Also, yeah GOTY with basically no competition, which is a crazy thing because so many great games have released this year.

 

[Buggy Loop]

This kills me



Was so good in the game. Best boss fight in an cRPG. The buildup to get there, it fucking delivers.

 

[Macaron]

Hearing this is interesting because I have played most of my playthoughs on PC with a PS4 controller and I thought it was fine, however there were many moments where I switched over to play on my keyboard and mouse. I'm hoping console players can do this too.

Also, yeah GOTY with basically no competition, which is a crazy thing because so many great games have released this year.

It is fine. But its nowhere near as intuitive scrolling through five menus and using the L stick to move in combat than i'd imagine it would be with a mouse and keyboard and all those actions right at the bottom of the screen. Battles and searching rooms like the cellar early in the game also would take a lot less cumulative time.

 

[Sentenza]

'Sup mates, I was just witnessing a bunch of people on... another forum having fucking meltdowns because they were getting curb-stomped even in the tutorial fights where you'd need to get brain worms to achieve a party wipe.

I'm here to check if mental retardation is spreader evenly between communities.

 

[Macaron]

'Sup mates, I was just witnessing a bunch of people on... another forum having fucking meltdowns because they were getting curb-stomped even in the tutorial fights where you'd need to get brain worms to achieve a party wipe.

I'm here to check if mental retardation is spreader evenly between communities.

The fights are just kind of hard lol idk maybe I don't play enough "harder" turn based deep rpgs but I had no issues in games like Persona 5 or Midnight Suns but these fucking fights early in the game have been difficult for me even on the easiest mode. I'm maybe treating it too casually and could focus on better builds? I dont even know. But I just did the cellar fight which is pretty damn early and got wrecked.

EDIT I did manage to beat one of the three bosses in the goblin camp though so maybe theres some hope? Lol devil dude wreckeddddd me though

 

[ClanOfNone]

Ummmm, is there a back door out of the goblin fortress? I managed to off the 3 leaders and everyone inside, but when I exit via the main door I get swarmed by well over a dozen enemies.

 

[Doom85]

Ummmm, is there a back door out of the goblin fortress? I managed to off the 3 leaders and everyone inside, but when I exit via the main door I get swarmed by well over a dozen enemies.

You should just be able to fast travel to a waypoint you’ve encountered before. Open your map and check your button options, one should open up your waypoint list.

 

[calistan]

So I'm right at the start of act 3, and... what bastardry is this? I've got maybe five turns to reach an objective while defending myself against a swarm of fast enemies, and if I don't get there in time it's instant game over.

That's, well... a bit different to everything that came before. I've just seen as many game overs in this one scene - in my own goddamn camp, no less - as I have in the entire 88 hours I've played so far.

 

[Rivet]

Playing it on PC because it definitely fits better than PS5 here due to the massive number of spells and objects (although apparently PS5 version is great too).

I'm 100 hours in, it's a real masterpiece. Best CRPG for years. You can feel all the love and passion they put into that game. So many narrative branches, so many options. Characters feel alive, writing is top tier...

Outside of some performance problems in act 3 with my old PC, it's flawless.

 

[ClanOfNone]

You should just be able to fast travel to a waypoint you’ve encountered before. Open your map and check your button options, one should open up your waypoint list.

ayyyyyy, as it turns out I'm a fuckin moron. I had assumed that you had to be at a sigil to initiate fast travel.
Problem solved!

 

[Fools idol]

My friend who has never played a CRPG or 'PC RPG' game in his life fired this up on PS5 and is hooked.

He has no idea what he's doing but he's loving every second of it. Pretty much think's it's the best game he's ever played.

 

[Doom85]

This video had a few mild spoilers (I think, I’m a bit into what I think is Act 2 right now), but I had to watch it, because damn, Keef don’t miss:

 

[Doom85]

My friend who has never played a CRPG or 'PC RPG' game in his life fired this up on PS5 and is hooked.

He has no idea what he's doing but he's loving every second of it. Pretty much think's it's the best game he's ever played.

I think another element that helps make this game so appealing that nobody might have brought up: the plot hook was really damn good.

D&D Youtuber XP to Level 3 mentioned this when reviewing D&D campaign books: that he thinks it’s a hard sell for some people to have an adventure begin and it’s all, “oh hey, these NPC people you don’t know or only have gotten to know a little bit need you to help them, aren’t you invested?” And sure, for some players, that’s good enough. But others might question why their character would take such major risks even for a reward unless they’re playing a very altruistic character or such.

But he points out if the adventure begins with your characters kidnapped, gotten lost, etc. and need to begin a journey home, escape, etc., that’s something anyone would see the need to do. So by BG 3 beginning with your character being captured, escaping but being far from their home, and needing someone to remove a dangerous parasite in their head, and all your party members are in the same boat, well everyone gets the motivation. Even helping the NPCs often makes sense for almost any character as it could lead to a solution to your parasite problem. Helping to find Halsin helps the grove, but it could also help you. It encourages the player to be helpful and explore, as they are desperately trying to find a solution to their problem.

 

[Auto_aim1]

Drop the difficulty to Explorer till you're familier with it, then you'll have an aha moment with combat about 15 hours in... then you'll be wanting a difficulty between Balanced and Tactician - I reckon a Core difficulty could be the tahi there...

Yeah I cleared most of the stuff and need to go to underdark or mountainpass. I will do that after getting to level 5.

 

[calistan]

So I'm right at the start of act 3, and... what bastardry is this? I've got maybe five turns to reach an objective while defending myself against a swarm of fast enemies, and if I don't get there in time it's instant game over.

That's, well... a bit different to everything that came before. I've just seen as many game overs in this one scene - in my own goddamn camp, no less - as I have in the entire 88 hours I've played so far.

Oh my god. I came back to this in the morning, and got past the limited-time-or-game-over part (it's actually only three turns) by using dash, but the thing that comes after is even worse. No chance to rest or recover the damage I took running past all those ridiculously tough (unarmed!) enemies.

The beginning of act 3 is turning this game from one of the best things I've ever played into something I can almost see myself giving up on. It's so annoying. In a game that's all about choices, funneling you into something like this is madness. What the hell were they thinking?

 

[AV]

Oh my god. I came back to this in the morning, and got past the limited-time-or-game-over part (it's actually only three turns) by using dash, but the thing that comes after is even worse. No chance to rest or recover the damage I took running past all those ridiculously tough (unarmed!) enemies.

The beginning of act 3 is turning this game from one of the best things I've ever played into something I can almost see myself giving up on. It's so annoying. In a game that's all about choices, funneling you into something like this is madness. What the hell were they thinking?

I'm really confused with the issue. You just dash/misty step/fly/big jump past everyone in one turn without even bothering to fight, you only need to get one person to the portal to trigger the next scene. From what I remember this section doesn't start with combat and you can heal up with spells/potions before you move on, no?

 

[calistan]

I'm really confused with the issue. You just dash/misty step/fly/big jump past everyone in one turn without even bothering to fight, you only need to get one person to the portal to trigger the next scene. From what I remember this section doesn't start with combat and you can heal up with spells/potions before you move on, no?

Misty step! I'd forgotten about that one. I tried it again, and did make it to the portal in one go, but by the time I could activate the only character who has that spell, the enemies had swarmed me and done major damage. There's no avoiding combat there, they spawn close enough to start attacking on the first turn, and they get the advantage. I was trying not to waste spell slots for the next stage.

As for health potions, the boss fight at the end of act 2 took care of those, I have one small potion per person. My healing spells are weak. Fighting against a lot of enemies who deal multiple damage while evading half of my attacks is tough when your party starts like this:

 

[Buggy Loop]

Dayum! Uncanny cosplay

Reddit - Dive into anything

reddit.com

 

[Denton]

Finished. 240 hours on steam, 170 on save.

Just in time for Starfield.

It was great. 9/10. But at the same time,

Spoiler

the ending left me a bit...whelmed. There is a lot of stuff that I expected to be there that wasn't there. Ending slides. Being able to talk with all my party members. A bit more closure. I only got to talk with Shadowheart, Gale, LeaZel and Karlach, and even those dialogues were short and to the point. Not a lot of emotional payoff or catharsis, to be honest.

Is it going to be my GOTY? Right now I actually can't decide between it and Jagged Alliance 3.

 

[AV]

Misty step! I'd forgotten about that one. I tried it again, and did make it to the portal in one go, but by the time I could activate the only character who has that spell, the enemies had swarmed me and done major damage. There's no avoiding combat there, they spawn close enough to start attacking on the first turn, and they get the advantage. I was trying not to waste spell slots for the next stage.

As for health potions, the boss fight at the end of act 2 took care of those, I have one small potion per person. My healing spells are weak. Fighting against a lot of enemies who deal multiple damage while evading half of my attacks is tough when your party starts like this:

Any chance you can savescum to reload to an earlier save to reroll combat initiative on the portal part? Both playthroughs I started first and managed to just run myself over to the portal before they did anything.

What level's your party, what's your custom character? Is Shadowheart still trickery domain?

 

[AV]

Finished. 240 hours on steam, 170 on save.

Just in time for Starfield.

It was great. 9/10. But at the same time,

Spoiler

the ending left me a bit...whelmed. There is a lot of stuff that I expected to be there that wasn't there. Ending slides. Being able to talk with all my party members. A bit more closure. I only got to talk with Shadowheart, Gale, LeaZel and Karlach, and even those dialogues were short and to the point. Not a lot of emotional payoff or catharsis, to be honest.

Is it going to be my GOTY? Right now I actually can't decide between it and Jagged Alliance 3.

Re: your ending..

They've come out and said that originally they had more epilogue stuff, but they felt it was getting too long in the tooth so it didn't make it in. To which everyone said, huh? They've already added Karlach's bonus stuff back in and will be adding more over time. The inevitable definitive edition in 1-2 years will be way more fulfilling hopefully.

 

[Braag]

I'm nearing the end of Act 1 and I already feel like this is the best game I've played in years.
My only gripe thus far has been the UI. The inventory menu, storing stuff in chests and whatnot is kinda cumbersome.

 

[calistan]

Any chance you can savescum to reload to an earlier save to reroll combat initiative on the portal part? Both playthroughs I started first and managed to just run myself over to the portal before they did anything.

What level's your party, what's your custom character? Is Shadowheart still trickery domain?

I have a save just before the sleep that initiates the attack, so I could keep reloading that if it might eventually let me move first. Hasn't happened in 5 or 6 attempts so far. If I can't get by without potions, there's a save after the boss of act 2, about an hour ago, with one trader left for restocking. Worse, I could go back before committing to the end of act 2, 3-4 hours ago.

Shadowheart is still trickery, and everyone is right at the top of level 8 - killing three invaders is enough to level up. Maybe even dropping the difficulty would see me through this part, but I'm loath to do that because the game hasn't been remotely hard until this point.

 

[AV]

I have a save just before the sleep that initiates the attack, so I could keep reloading that if it might eventually let me move first. Hasn't happened in 5 or 6 attempts so far. If I can't get by without potions, there's a save after the boss of act 2, about an hour ago, with one trader left for restocking. Worse, I could go back before committing to the end of act 2, 3-4 hours ago.

Shadowheart is still trickery, and everyone is right at the top of level 8 - killing three invaders is enough to level up. Maybe even dropping the difficulty would see me through this part, but I'm loath to do that because the game hasn't been remotely hard until this point.

Reload the save before the sleep and respec Shadowheart to life domain. Trickery is kinda shit, life gives you cure wounds which you can upcast for more healing, an out-of-combat mass healing (basically extra short rests which use spell slots) and at character level 9 you get a big mass heal in-combat. Without knowing what your main character is I assume your lack of healing spells overall is why you have no potions left. This will be more than enough to get you through. Good luck!

 

[Denton]

They've come out and said that originally they had more epilogue stuff, but they felt it was getting too long in the tooth so it didn't make it in.

Spoiler

That's hilarious. You make 200 hour long game and in the one place where it counts and you should do as much as possible, you go "nah that's too much?" Well, I expect I will load my save in a year in some Enhanced Edition and maybe it will get me proper closure.

 

[AV]

Spoiler

That's hilarious. You make 200 hour long game and in the one place where it counts and you should do as much as possible, you go "nah that's too much?" Well, I expect I will load my save in a year in some Enhanced Edition and maybe it will get me proper closure.

Yeah, kinda silly. I already reloaded my first endgame save to check out the newly added stuff, will probably do it every time someone else is added just to see it. That said, the Karlach one felt super disjointed because...

I'd romanced Shadowheart fully, ready to spend our lives together, everything. Karlach's new ending triggers and I pick the option to run off to Avernus with her to keep her company. Absolutely no input whatsoever from the woman I promised to spend forever with then just abandoned on a whim - it all definitely needs work.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

'Sup mates, I was just witnessing a bunch of people on... another forum having fucking meltdowns because they were getting curb-stomped even in the tutorial fights where you'd need to get brain worms to achieve a party wipe.

I'm here to check if mental retardation is spreader evenly between communities.

I played on Balanced and had trouble up until my characters hit level 5 and got additional attacks. From there on (until the final fight) it was much easier. I probably re-loaded my saves more than most once my characters started dropping mid-battle and I wanted to avoid snowballing to a party wipe. I did it more to save time than to avoid "inevitable" party wiping.

 

[Denton]

Spoiler

I'd romanced Shadowheart fully, ready to spend our lives together, everything. Karlach's new ending triggers and I pick the option to run off to Avernus with her to keep her company. Absolutely no input whatsoever from the woman I promised to spend forever with then just abandoned on a whim - it all definitely needs work.

Yep I did the same, had a good laugh, reloaded and sent her to hell with Wyll.

Spoiler

Man, the ending being so unsatisfying is such a bummer. At the very least ending slides should be mandatory by law for these big RPGs. Fallout had the right idea in 1997.

 

[calistan]

Reload the save before the sleep and respec Shadowheart to life domain. Trickery is kinda shit, life gives you cure wounds which you can upcast for more healing, an out-of-combat mass healing (basically extra short rests which use spell slots) and at character level 9 you get a big mass heal in-combat. Without knowing what your main character is I assume your lack of healing spells overall is why you have no potions left. This will be more than enough to get you through. Good luck!

I finally got past it! That one section took my Steam playtime from 88 hours to over 91 hours. Basically got lucky at the start, they only attacked Wyll before I got to the portal, so I could use all my healing on him in the next stage. Then I bypassed a couple enemies at the start of that, by jumping onto a ledge, one character at a time, and creeping along the edge of their sightline.

Will definitely look into respeccing Shadowheart if it makes a big healing difference. Nobody else has healing spells that are worth more than a few points. I hope I wouldn't lose her spirit guardians though, that's been my cheat code in many a fight.

 

[Varteras]

It is said that there are two kinds of people who play this game. Those who think Karlach is the best, and those who are absolutely fucking wrong.

 

[AV]

I finally got past it! That one section took my Steam playtime from 88 hours to over 91 hours. Basically got lucky at the start, they only attacked Wyll before I got to the portal, so I could use all my healing on him in the next stage. Then I bypassed a couple enemies at the start of that, by jumping onto a ledge, one character at a time, and creeping along the edge of their sightline.

Will definitely look into respeccing Shadowheart if it makes a big healing difference. Nobody else has healing spells that are worth more than a few points. I hope I wouldn't lose her spirit guardians though, that's been my cheat code in many a fight.

Nice work - I was confused with the domain thing, any cleric can have both healing spells and spirit guardians (most broken spell in the game). The advantage is that the domain spells are always prepared i.e. don't use up spaces for spells.

Press K to change out her spells, you should have healing stuff in there that's well worth putting in. If not maybe you need to respec. Can't remember if you need to be at camp to swap spells for a cleric either - sorry, very vague, my cleric memory is hazy since I ran it on playthrough 1.

 

[Interfectum]

It is said that there are two kinds of people who play this game. Those who think Karlach is the best, and those who are absolutely fucking wrong.

I cut her head off for a sword. I don't even use the sword now. No regrets.

 

[Varteras]

I cut her head off for a sword. I don't even use the sword now. No regrets.

 

[ItachiSWE]

I finally got past it! That one section took my Steam playtime from 88 hours to over 91 hours. Basically got lucky at the start, they only attacked Wyll before I got to the portal, so I could use all my healing on him in the next stage. Then I bypassed a couple enemies at the start of that, by jumping onto a ledge, one character at a time, and creeping along the edge of their sightline.

Will definitely look into respeccing Shadowheart if it makes a big healing difference. Nobody else has healing spells that are worth more than a few points. I hope I wouldn't lose her spirit guardians though, that's been my cheat code in many a fight.

I first changed her domain to Life, but soon after respecced to Light domain which I highly recommend. Light both gives good healing but also makes her able to dish out some good damage.

 

[AV]

Just seen someone who made a Super Mario build. A ridiculous combination of multiclassing to achieve a ton of movement per turn, combined with monk's free jumping upon dash, combined with items that damage when you land next to enemies. By act 3 you can deal 2-3000 damage per round i.e. oneshot any fight in the game.

Love this game more by the day.

 

[calistan]

I first changed her domain to Life, but soon after respecced to Light domain which I highly recommend. Light both gives good healing but also makes her able to dish out some good damage.

Oh, I just saw this afer I finished changing her to Life. Never mind, I'll see how I get on with this version and maybe change again if she's not badass enough. It's good to finally have a proper healer, I really didn't know what I was missing.