First off, I'm playing as Tammerine (pre-lich Tammy) a strongheart halfling archery ranger with animal focus. My go to familiar is the cat or spider, my go to animal companion is the wolf or bear (or giant raven).
Feel free to share your own life lessons, I'm currently in part 1.
1) being evil is super easy, barely an inconvenience. But it also means Karlach and I can never be friends... *restarts game*
2. Don't have your cat attack someone in a burn zone. *summons new familiar*
Being able to understand this thread might just get me to suck it up and buy this game.
The start of the game does seem to be threading the wire of "hiring all the cool characters from the memes and trailers" and "killing them off-hand thinking they're a random encounter."
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3. The more your companions whine about resting too often, the more you should rest. (Okay, this isn't really a life lesson per se, but make sure you rest a lot in Act I. Of course resting irl is always good...)
4. There are surprisingly many problems you can solve by having a barbarian throw something at it. You know, like a spear or a gnome.
5. The whole world can burn to the ground as long as Scratch and the Owlbear cub are safely at camp chasing each other around.
6. In the blighted village there is a gnome tied to the blade of a running windmill. There are two levers you can choose from to turn it off, lever on the right speeds up the windmill, launching the unfortunate gnome to his death.
I have no idea what the lever on the left does.
7. When you make a deal with a ogre mercenary company to fight for you in exchange for a thousand gold pieces (when I had 81 to my name, just having made it rain gold at the merchant) it's best to summon them for a battle they have no hope of walking away from *pours a 40 on the corner in memory of Lumpy*
8. I am now triggered by opening barn doors.
Being able to understand this thread might just get me to suck it up and buy this game.
Yes, you should.
I say that as someone that usually has zero interest in this type of game.
Some highlights so far.
I got the achievement for defeating something with an unarmed strike when my cat killed priestess Gut with a critical hit after Gut killed my wolf.
I was fighting giant eagles after I had to pillage their nest and the last one knocked Lae'zel off the rooftop with its gust ability and she was down to 1 hit point and was out of healing potions so she climbed the ladder and struck the killing blow.
Was fighting gnolls and the last one was on a tall rock and so Karlach was the only one that could climb up so she gets hit with a critical hit and is down to 5 hit points and she hits the gnoll with a critical hit knocking it down to 2 hit points and after her round was finished it was the gnoll's turn so the only thing she could do was shove him off the rock, which it failed it's saving throw and went splat.
I also found an encounter that was straight up ripped from my a~*@*@~ brother's campaign as a kid, including the set up and my character level.
I found the beholder at 5th level, it did not end well (though it did end quickly).
Fortunately it's just a spectator, not a full on beholder. But yeah... that's a little underleveled for that area.
One of my criticisms of Larian's world design (not just BG3 but the DOS games as well) is that they often design the world in a way that makes it look like you can explore anywhere you like, open world style, but in reality the world has monster walls you can very accidentally walk into and get torn to shreds. They either need to adjust their style or level adjustment for encounter design, or make more linear worlds where you're not going to wander somewhere you shouldn't before it's time.
Your story about Karlach (who is Best Girl, who my PC may have abandoned her love interest for at the end...) leads to another lesson:
9. If in doubt, Shove the m*&@%#@~*@#%s.
10. Unless you want to loot them. Then pickpocket, then shove them.
10. Stock up on Arrows of Ilmater (prevents whoever is hit from healing) for harder opponents.
When I fought Minthara I had Karlach and Lae'zel going around shoving her minions into the pit while my archer ranger picked her apart from the other side.
G%!!*!n stupid f~@&ing tests of Shar!!
I've never been good at stealth in video games.
Capn, have you gone to Moonrise first (after having been to Last Light)? If not, leave the tests of Shar. You don't want to get to the end of that dungeon until after you go to Moonrise once. (You will go back to Moonrise later).
I don't want to spoil anything, but this is an area where everyone telling you, "Go to this Quest Place" DOES NOT mean "do all other quests first before going to this place," as it often does in computer RPGs. In this case, you know how all the NPCs keep saying, "Hey, you should really go to Moonrise"? It actually means "Go to Moonrise right f&$%ing now."
Larian's area design is extremely horrible in terms of its relationship to plotting/pacing, and often you end up not heading toward the places where you should be going and/or even outright avoiding the one place you should be. I've been (re)playing DOS2 and it's the same problem... the plot and encounter designers very clearly want you to do certain things in a particular order, but the world designers apparently got an incorrect memo they were building an open world. (And meanwhile the sidequest designers are just f+%$ing a&$%!~~s and/or 13. Main quest: "The world is ending RIGHT NOW." Sidequest: "Please resolve this argument between a dog and a cat.")
As for stealth, IIRC the shift key will show you the vision cones without actually sneaking so you can get a sense of creatures' movement/line of sight. (If you are on console, I have no idea what button it is. While I've played with the controller (I play on SteamDeck), it is harder to figure out how all the commands map.)
Also, I believe for many of the tests, only one person needs to do them, you don't need to drag everyone through. So for example for the stealthy one, just have your stealthiest/can turn invisible party member do it.
Yes, I went to Moonrise Tower first. :)
Okay good. (You're moving fast!) (I didn't and then screwed up and had to replay about four hours worth of adventure.)
Yeah, my entire first weekend was basically a wash because I helped invade the druid grove and didn't find out that that would shut off Karlach until Sunday.
Okay good. (You're moving fast!) (I didn't and then screwed up and had to replay about four hours worth of adventure.)
I just rolled with that, it was too much work to go back and do it.
I also did the Goblin Camp completely arse-backwards, by sneaking into the heart of the keep via the underground passages, befriending the bizarrely Scottish spiders, releasing said spiders, then healing them as they tore through the goblin ranks.
That then made the entire camp hostile to me (it wasn't me, it was the spiders!) and I had to fight my way out instead of being able to poison half the camp first. I also couldn't save the owlbear cub doing it that way. I only barely survived by summoning the ogre reinforcement squad and letting them soak up a lot of incoming fire.
Yeah, Larian's quest design is pretty ropey. In both cases, doing the quests in reverse order broke some things, which seemed a bit lame given how much they're boasting about their interactivity.
Yeah, my entire first weekend was basically a wash because I helped invade the druid grove and didn't find out that that would shut off Karlach until Sunday.
The famous one glorious moment of drow sex versus Spend a satisfying rest of the game with Karlach conundrum.
Karlach is best girl, but I feel like I need to see what happens once going the other route. Especially since there are ways a good character can sort of accidentally annoy the druids and/or tieflings. (Like in a new play through, Zevlor attacked me.... For reasons I wasn't expecting him to attack me for.)
I started a Shadowheart origin play through and that's interesting. Some dialogues and extra content related to her being a Sharran show up.
Yeah, my entire first weekend was basically a wash because I helped invade the druid grove and didn't find out that that would shut off Karlach until Sunday.The famous one glorious moment of drow sex versus Spend a satisfying rest of the game with Karlach conundrum.
...I don't want to play this game anymore...Yeah, my entire first weekend was basically a wash because I helped invade the druid grove and didn't find out that that would shut off Karlach until Sunday.The famous one glorious moment of drow sex versus Spend a satisfying rest of the game with Karlach conundrum.
I will note that you can still recruit and romance Minthara (it involves knocking her unconscious) doing a good run and keep Karlach. You just miss That One Scene.
Oh yeah, the infamous softcover altar scene which is no doubt has a modded hard-core scene
I ended up looking up how to cheese it and I ended up having Astarion trap find his way through and then I triggered the trial and then switched back to Astarion and grabbed the mcguffin.
The other trials I figured out on my own and somehow got the devil a#@~*+@ to kill himself and his minions, which was hilarious!
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So, the bartender thought he'd drink me under the table and ended up exploding.
F#%%ing lightweight.
So, I got bored with my ranger, and there was some stuff I missed in parts 1 and 2, so I decided to try a different class, this time I'm a high elf blue dragon sorcerer (mostly because I can't stand Gale, and I hate wizards for personal reasons).
I mostly run with Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach.
It's going pretty good so far, sorcerer is definitely a fun class to use!
My current objective is to help Halsin rescue the kid from the shadowfell (I'm 6th level, but 2/3rd of the way to 7th).
For some reason, I want to try to defend Gale.
And I can't.
Yeah, it's all the name dropping, and his whole Mystra storyline, and I guess pretty much everything else about him that kinda rubs me wrong.
My strategy for defending the portal was dropping a wall of fire (scroll) in front of it and then having my sorcerer use her iridescent staff (free fireball!) and other crowd control spells like lightning bolt and Shadowheart using the sunbeam from the mace (I'm on the bus heading downtown so can't look it up) to hit as many targets as possible. Also a frenzied Karlach is truly devastating to unleash on a crowd.
So, choices were made, basements entered, and now Astarion is an unholy assassin of Bhaal.
He seems to enjoy the title so I'm not going to ruin it for him or anything.
Are you playing Astarion or was this just shenanigans?
Are you playing Astarion or was this just shenanigans?
Whoever lands the killing blow against the celestial gets to participate in the ritual. Astarion landed the killing blow.
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I jumped back into my Shadowheart origin playthrough last night.
I was probably underleveled, and I have my party with silly unoptimized subclasses and multiclasses because I was experimenting with stuff (and also because I needed someone to be my lockpicker because I may have sort of accidentally murdered Astarion)... but foolishly, I decided to go pay the swamp hag a visit.
On my first playthrough, I don't know how, but I completely missed the scene where the hag stops the fight to make you an offer...
On this playthrough, I thought, let's see if I can get that thing I missed. If for no other reason than to try something different.
And I am handling this fight badly (Lae'zel can't seem to roll higher than about a 4 and Karlach keeps getting trapped in hold person spells*), so I am relieved to see the hag stop everything to make this offer.
Only to get a unique dialogue option Shadowheart gets as a Cleric of Shar. This option is to refuse the deal, and it goes something like, "How about instead, I bathe in your blood as I offer it in prayer to my goddess?"
And it was so f!*%ing badass a line I had to take it.
I mean, I love secretly-loves-fluffy-animals derp Shadowheart, but ruthless edgelord Shadowheart has her moments.
Somehow, somehow, without dying, I pulled a victory over that fight. Lae'zel finally remembered how to hit things, and just as Gale was unconscious and Lae and Shadowheart each had about 3 hp between them, I revived Karlach for the third time for her to stand up and crit the b$&+&.
Now the only problem is the hag's victim we may have accidentally knocked unconscious. I mean, she's fine, but I think we're not triggering a dialogue we are supposed to trigger. But I might just live with that and move on.
* I mean, it's actually a kindness from the hag, as no one else can hold Karlach's person right now, but it was still making the fight hard. Also it sucks in current D&D that tieflings no longer count as outsiders so they're immune to the [do annoying thing to] person spells. At least in this instance.
Yeah you get some amazing banter when you have Lae'zel, Shadowheart, and Astarion in the same crew.
I was actually able to intimidate the hag into giving me both Myrina and the +1 (I put it into dex).
I had a funny moment when I ran into the monster hunter before the hag's house and I'd convinced the guy that I didn't know anyone and I absolutely wasn't traveling with anyone named Astarion and I finished the dialog with the "isn't that right, Astarion!" Line. So then that guy was dead.
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Yeah you get some amazing banter when you have Lae'zel, Shadowheart, and Astarion in the same crew.
This is true, but to be clear, you only get the dialogue option I mentioned if you're playing Shadowheart as the main character.
Also, everyone in my party approved when I said it. I am assuming Gale and Karlach approved more of not taking the deal with the hag than of me promising to bathe in a hag's blood while making it an offering to the goddess of oblivion. I assume Lae'zel approved of all factors.
I was actually able to intimidate the hag into giving me both Myrina and the +1 (I put it into dex).
I really was planning to negotiate but I couldn't resist the line.
I had a funny moment when I ran into the monster hunter before the hag's house and I'd convinced the guy that I didn't know anyone and I absolutely wasn't traveling with anyone named Astarion and I finished the dialog with the "isn't that right, Astarion!" Line. So then that guy was dead.
For one reason or another, I have never run into that guy. First playthrough, no idea why. Second playthrough, Astarion was dead so he just doesn't show up (I feel like he should still show up and you can tell him he's dead).
Which was another interesting moment in my Shadowheart playthrough. I'd recruited Astarion and I was actually using him a fair deal (far more so than in my first playthrough, where I generally kept him benched unless I wanted him for something related to his companion quest). But we'd had a long and difficult day with some hard choices, including some memory flashbacks and pain for Shadowheart. I'm trying to properly roleplay her both feeling empathy (and sympathy) for some characters (and animals) but also trying to remain duty-driven and focusing on survival. It's actually a really tricky balancing act.
The scene during rest where Astarion sneaks up on you happens. And I'm thinking, WWSHD? On one hand, Astarion's been useful to a point, and he approves when I do more ruthless or snarky things, which could help me stay on mission (or have some fun). On the other hand, I have other party members, and this is now the second time he's had a sharp pointy thing at my throat (as he also holds you at knifepoint when you first meet him). Which definitely gets in the way of carrying out my duty for Lady Shar.
I decide--she's frightened, in a compromised position, this guy has obviously lied to her, and it's the second time he's threatened her life. And she's been trained to react to threats as a Sharran would be trained to do so.
So I'm like... yeah, stab the f~!!er. My assumption is that it'll probably miss for plot purposes and it'll carry on the story in a different way, but...
No. For once in her f*~!ing life, Shadowheart successfully hits something, and kills Astarion in one blow.
She then goes back to sleep, and wakes up to the unintentionally hilarious scene of--the game engine has decided to put Astarion back on his bedroll (he was in my party), but he's still also murdered lying in a pool of blood while neatly arranged on his bedroll.
And then Lae'zel, who had been previously rather pissy with me (I am playing Shadowheart after all), decides now I'm hot stuff and propositions me. Apparently efficiently stabbing things to death gets her horny. Which, mind, is completely in character, so.
All of this was somehow so appropriate and darkly hilarious that I just decided not to reload. So it is an Astarion-free playthrough.
Yeah you get some amazing banter when you have Lae'zel, Shadowheart, and Astarion in the same crew.This is true, but to be clear, you only get the dialogue option I mentioned if you're playing Shadowheart as the main character.
Also, everyone in my party approved when I said it. I am assuming Gale and Karlach approved more of not taking the deal with the hag than of me promising to bathe in a hag's blood while making it an offering to the goddess of oblivion. I assume Lae'zel approved of all factors.
I was actually able to intimidate the hag into giving me both Myrina and the +1 (I put it into dex).I really was planning to negotiate but I couldn't resist the line.
I had a funny moment when I ran into the monster hunter before the hag's house and I'd convinced the guy that I didn't know anyone and I absolutely wasn't traveling with anyone named Astarion and I finished the dialog with the "isn't that right, Astarion!" Line. So then that guy was dead.For one reason or another, I have never run into that guy. First playthrough, no idea why. Second playthrough, Astarion was dead so he just doesn't show up (I feel like he should still show up and you can tell him he's dead).
Which was another interesting moment in my Shadowheart playthrough. I'd recruited Astarion and I was actually using him a fair deal (far more so than in my first playthrough, where I generally kept him benched unless I wanted him for something related to his companion quest). But we'd had a long and difficult day with some hard choices, including some memory flashbacks and pain for Shadowheart. I'm trying to properly roleplay her both feeling empathy (and sympathy) for some characters (and animals) but also trying to remain duty-driven and focusing on survival. It's actually a really tricky balancing act.
The scene during rest where Astarion sneaks up on you happens. And I'm thinking, WWSHD? On one hand, Astarion's been useful to a point, and he...
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Just started playing this on my new PS5. I got the itch after my old high school buddy came in for my nephew's graduation (he's the boy's godfather). He had brought his own PS5 in, and he and my nephew were playing BG3 when I visited briefly.
Anyway...I just started last night. It's a cool game so far. Pretty easy to pick up on the controls, and only a few times I had to look something up.
The lesson (more like a reminder) it's taught me already...it's been a while since I've gamed and had to think that strategically. I already had to delete one save because I was stuck losing a battle I was ill prepared for.
I've learned Baldur's Gate is pretty f&!~ing big!
Also it turns out treating an Aasimar with anger issues that was recently freed from Imprisonment as an object is not the way to go about a thing.
At least that's one less wizard I have to worry about, whatever his name was (I think it was Larry something).
Of course Baldur's Gate 3 can't keep me from a true cause this summer, Shadows of the Erdtree, the Elden Ring "expansion" which is basically a whole game onto itself, as well as a dump truck, and probably a bunch of mobsters eager to break some fingers.
That said, it is absolutely still the best game ever. (Elden Ring and the expansion or just the base game).
I actually wished they'd had a moment where you could actually send the characters in camp as a second party on their own mission (such as for the endgame)... a bit too complex, I expect, however. (I also wish you could give people camp jobs like in the Owlcat Pathfinder games, but that would probably also be an unnecessary layer of complexity in a game as huge as BG.)
Elden Ring is just a thing that is not for me. I've seen streams of it, it is gorgeous, and there is nothing I enjoy less in RPGs than grinding and boss fights.
Fortunately we are not at a loss for good games to play including replaying BG3 as needed...
Aberzombie, what are you playing in your playthrough? Custom Tav? Durge? Pre-set Origin character?
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Aberzombie, what are you playing in your playthrough? Custom Tav? Durge? Pre-set Origin character?
On this first run through I am playing as a half-elf (of the Wood variety) Warlock. So he’s my main magic user.
My party started off as Lae’zel, Shadowheart, and Astarion. Then I switched out Lae’zel for Karlach. Occasionally, I’ve found myself temporarily switching out Astarion for Halsin or Gale.
If I play through again, which is highly likely, I’d like to do a monk. Maybe a gold dwarf.
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Did you not recruit Wyll, or you just don't use him? (This is not a criticism, just wondering.)
Monk I think would be very interesting to play in BG3. Especially would be fun to collect and use all the Wondrous Item of Kushigo items.
I've sometimes wanted to respec Lae'zel into a monk just to do something different, and it suits the disciplined psionic warrior vibe, but I couldn't deny her the potential of using a silver sword...
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Did you not recruit Wyll, or you just don't use him? (This is not a criticism, just wondering.)
I have Wyll in camp, but just don’t use him. Saw him as redundant. I’ve got myself for arcane magic/backup locks and traps. Shadowheart is healing and cleric buffs/backup fighter. Karlach is my front line fighter. Astarion is ranged attacks/main locks and traps.
Monk I think would be very interesting to play in BG3. Especially would be fun to collect and use all the Wondrous Item of Kushigo items.
I’ve always liked monks. My second run through of Kingmaker video game (which I didn’t finish but might get back to) I had a monk. There seems to be a lot of monk friendly items in this game. That made me happy.
Indeed. In fact I got annoyed at one point at being able to find more awesome robes than I could find medium armor. Which mind, robes are also good for arcane casters, but many are particularly well suited to monks. Great for them. Annoying that I couldn't find something better for Jaheira to wear.