Baldur’s Gate 3

[DisturbedSwan]

Bit of a clickbaity headline, but I do get his points, I would like to try it on PC for myself at some point though but know that's unlikely to happen.

 

 

[one-armed dwarf]

I've used controller and keyboard/mouse and there's drawbacks to both I think. I don't like moving through the world on M&K, the lack of WASD control is strange because this isn't actually an isometric RPG so no real need to always feel like an omnipresent authority figure over your party, really. Could just be Mass Effect for half of the time

 

On the other hand, the UI for dealing with skills and stuff on high level characters with lots of scrolls and other items seems like hell on controller. Wheels all over the place. Like he talks about clutter, but it's also a game where you have a ton of different available actions per turn later on in the game. So the clutter becomes a tradeoff for interacting with fewer menus and being able to see everything needed to complete a strategy

 

In my view, both UIs have things that really need improving and brought closer to each other. Though I suppose neither are totally bad either

[DisturbedSwan]

1 hour ago, one-armed dwarf said:

On the other hand, the UI for dealing with skills and stuff on high level characters with lots of scrolls and other items seems like hell on controller. Wheels all over the place. Like he talks about clutter, but it's also a game where you have a ton of different available actions per turn later on in the game. So the clutter becomes a tradeoff for interacting with fewer menus and being able to see everything needed to complete a strategy

 

I'm still getting used to pretty much everything including the controls but the way all the spells and combat actions are all on L1 which then brings up about 4 different wheels to select from all with spells is not intuitive to say the least, but it does work, it's just a bit of a faff really, especially having all the spells nicely laid out in the PC version with KB&M. 

 

But yeah, I get his point about feeling more involved with a controller than more of a god game/isometric cam on PC with KB&M.

[Craymen Edge]

I'm in the office today so can't watch it, but theres a Twitch stream of D&D with the voice actors for Lae'zel, Asterion, Gale, Wyll, Shadowheart and Karlach.

 

https://www.twitch.tv/highrollersdnd

[radiofloyd]

I’m back on this after a long break due to life getting in the way.

 

About 20 hours in, currently exploring the Goblin Camp. 
 

One thing to note, the most recent patch is a whopping 65GB which is way more than I had left, which initially made me panic. But then I realized that you can simply delete and reinstall the most up to date version of the game and the file size is much more modest (107GB total). Still took a while to download though…

[Craymen Edge]

 

140hrs. I haven't played a lot in the last few weeks. I reached a point of no return warning in the last act on my last session, but there are some questlines I want to finish up before moving on.

[radiofloyd]

Getting really hooked on this. Currently going with a party of Gale, Shadowheart and Karlach. I’ve made decent progress at the Goblin Camp.

 

(very minor spoilers)

 

Spoiler

Rescued Halsin and defeated the Princess Gut. Explored her bedroom and discovered an entrance to an underground cavern called the Underdark. I’m going to continue exploring the Underdark for now.

 

[radiofloyd]

The Underdark is a really cool area. Passed 30 hours now. In my first post I said that the opening gets off to a better start than Original Sin 2 and I would say that that comfortably holds true for the first 30 hours. I’m looking forward to spending the rest of December and beyond playing it.

[shinymcshine]

I'll be quite interested to see what they've done with the Underdark and Drow - as WotC made an announcement back in 2020 about removing racist stereotypes from D&D (and Drow were notably mentioned).

 

https://www.polygon.com/2020/6/23/21300653/dungeons-dragons-racial-stereotypes-wizards-of-the-coast-drow-orcs-curse-of-strahd

[radiofloyd]

Had a marathon session in the Underdark tonight. Starting to get a grip on combat and what works and what doesn’t work (and how useful shit like dashing and shoving can be). Exploration is done really well in this game. I know by the end of it I’ll be sick of it, but right now I love it so much it’s making want to go back to the Original Sin games too.

[mfnick]

Made a start on this. Holy shit there’s a lot to it. I have no idea what 90% of the terms mean. Genuinely to the point it may as well be a completely different language. The PC origins are very easy to see too with the menus being very cumbersome and confusing on console and with a pad (seen the PC version and looks a lot easier to navigate). I’m just picking up a shit ton of loot too. Never a fan of that. Too hard to keep track of what’s useful and figuring out whether a new jacket I’ve just picked up is better than the one I’ve already got takes way too much effort. 
 

Combat is blowing my mind, partly because of the cluttered radial menus and partly due to all the options and status effects. How the hell do you keep on top of them all? Takes me an hour to do a turn while I read through what each thing is and does. 
 

However, despite all this I’m already loving it!! Instantly intrigued to what’s going on, already a fan of the characters I’ve met. Shadowheart already has my heart. In the opening minutes I smashed a guys skull in and got a pet brain then shortly after stuck nut on an elf. Amazing. I also blew up and set fire to a load of enemies accidentally while trying to put some goo down. Didn’t know it did that and it made me laugh a lot. 
 

Just hope after a few hours all the menus get a bit easier to navigate. I need some sort of compendium or need to print off a cheat sheet with all the terms and status effect descriptions. Don’t suppose anyone’s got a link to a good one? 

[Craymen Edge]

Something I didn't figure out with loot until quite a while into the game: you can send stuff to camp and it will appear in your camp chest. Don't bother carrying camp supplies with you, just send it to camp and it's still available when take a long rest.

 

Mark stuff you intend to sell as 'wares' and you can filter to view that stuff in the trade screen. Also use your party as mules to avoid encumbrance.

[mfnick]

23 hours ago, Craymen Edge said:

you can send stuff to camp and it will appear in your camp chest. Don't bother carrying camp supplies with you, just send it to camp and it's still available when take a long rest.

 

Mark stuff you intend to sell as 'wares'

All very useful thank you. 
 

Played a little more tonight and reached my first settlement/town. Accidentally tried looting a corpse while trying to talk to someone and all Hell broke loose. Not happy! Managed to escape and left it at that for tonight. 

[Jimboxy]

10 hours ago, mfnick said:

Accidentally tried looting a corpse while trying to talk to someone and all Hell broke loose

It's a tale as old as time

[shinymcshine]

Sometimes these RPGs need a 'do-over' mini-rewind option for when the game engine does something weird - or unintended.

 

I'm not talking avoiding deliberate consequences - but things like; when you're examining an inventory then accidentally click to pick-up / steal; or attack rather than talk to an NPC; or if you have your whole party 'sneak' and set off traps when you thought you'd  just selected your rogue etc.

 

So kind of controller based faff things - which wouldn't really occur in a TTRPG but are caused by the interface - as otherwise you just end up having to spam save just in case.

[shinymcshine]

On 18/12/2023 at 22:40, mfnick said:

I need some sort of compendium or need to print off a cheat sheet with all the terms and status effect descriptions. Don’t suppose anyone’s got a link to a good one? 

 

It tends to be a problem with CRPGs that they don't particularly highlight conditions & effects clear enough (often just a tiny icon on the character portrait that's barely visible) and no clear notification as to whether it's something you can live with for a bit, or a poison type damage over time that'll kill you (I've had some games where if you rest whilst poisoned you'll die) - so an occasional check & run through of character sheets is recommended.

[one-armed dwarf]

This game makes a case for bringing back manuals. It's why I thought that special edition they announced recently was very underwhelming. That is the thing that would really add a lot to the package

 

There are in-game tutorials and things you can read, buried somewhere in the pause or inventory screens. Can't quite remember.

[shinymcshine]

Yes, and if they were really smart about it, they could have done a tie-in with WotC that segways into an introduction into the D&D TTRPG ruleset - so you could take your party on to further, offline, adventures.

[radiofloyd]

Had a long session on this tonight. I was worried in midweek when the game crashed twice in quick succession but it must have been something that they patched quickly, because it hasn’t crashed since. I’ve been exploring the Underdark.

 

Spoiler

Discovered the Adamantine Forge. In the process of getting there my party leveled up to level 5. I have mithril ore and I have a bunch of moulds but for some reason I can’t interact with the forge at all. Maybe I need to move further ahead with the story.

 

[mfnick]

About 11 hours in now. I may have to just say this game isn’t for me. I love so much about it, in particular the characters and all the little stories I keep coming across and interesting choices.
 

But I just can’t get on with the combat at all. I basically just don’t know what I’m doing and most of it doesn’t make sense. I keep looking ant videos and reading stuff but it’s still not clicking at all. And I’m not finding getting about particularly enjoyable. It also doesn’t help I’m “woefully under levelled” for the next area and the way I dealt with the Goblins basically means I can’t access that area at all anymore. 
 

Im going to try and pluck away at it a bit more but I’m feeling more and more like I’m done unfortunately.