Gaming Baldur's Gate III by Larian Studios (PS5, PC, Mac, Xbox Series X|S)

[pacifictheme]

Glad to see that update, not that I thought it was needed but I am nearing the end of the game for the first time and it will be good to experience it.

Had the game since release and have been playing it slowly, only got a few quests left now in act 3, namely taking out the steel watcher factory, and then killing gortash and orin to get their netherstones, I assume those are the missions that trigger the end sequence of the game where I guess you fight the netherbrain etc. real outstanding game, act 3 felt really overwhelming at first but it's actually been a really enjoyable section overall. I think probably still my least favourite sequence just because I really enjoyed the exploring in the wilderness of the first two and felt the balance was better.

 

[Irwin99]

Spoiler: Depressing act two spoiler -last light inn

I just got everyone killed. It’s like the red wedding from GoT in here. I’m kinda hoping someone will comfort me and say that’s what happened in their playthrough too . Oh well. There’s a lot of loot to be had, though I feel bad about stripping the corpse of Jaheira .

 

[DWelbz19]

Spoiler: Depressing act two spoiler -last light inn

I just got everyone killed. It’s like the red wedding from GoT in here. I’m kinda hoping someone will comfort me and say that’s what happened in their playthrough too . Oh well. There’s a lot of loot to be had, though I feel bad about stripping the corpse of Jaheira .

... How?!

Glad to see that update, not that I thought it was needed but I am nearing the end of the game for the first time and it will be good to experience it.

Had the game since release and have been playing it slowly, only got a few quests left now in act 3, namely taking out the steel watcher factory, and then killing gortash and orin to get their netherstones, I assume those are the missions that trigger the end sequence of the game where I guess you fight the netherbrain etc. real outstanding game, act 3 felt really overwhelming at first but it's actually been a really enjoyable section overall. I think probably still my least favourite sequence just because I really enjoyed the exploring in the wilderness of the first two and felt the balance was better.

I think when you realise Act 3 isn't as immediate as the initial quests make it seem and you actually go around exploring Baldur's Gate, the experience massively increases.

I see them like:
Act 1: the truest version of an absolute open world with the autonomy to do whichever quests in whatever order and your choices massively tweaking how things go. Huge map, so many dialogue options etc.
Act 2: A little more concentrated and linear, huge character development missions for some, big plot progression, and the coolest boss fight;
Act 3: Typical of final acts - lots of conflict resolution in a massively concentrated map. Feels a bit immediate, feels a bit rushed.

 

[DWelbz19]

Another big thing the new update did was allow you to recruit Minthara without being on an evil path, and without relying on janky glitches/exploits to do so.

 

[Kinky Melinky]

Bought this game a few months back. Been playing it slowly. Its really beautiful

 

[Solius]

... How?!

I think when you realise Act 3 isn't as immediate as the initial quests make it seem and you actually go around exploring Baldur's Gate, the experience massively increases.

I see them like:
Act 1: the truest version of an absolute open world with the autonomy to do whichever quests in whatever order and your choices massively tweaking how things go. Huge map, so many dialogue options etc.
Act 2: A little more concentrated and linear, huge character development missions for some, big plot progression, and the coolest boss fight;
Act 3: Typical of final acts - lots of conflict resolution in a massively concentrated map. Feels a bit immediate, feels a bit rushed.

Clearly you never fought Raphael.

 

[DWelbz19]

Clearly you never fought Raphael.

Good point, actually. I think it's a toss-up between Raphael and his amazing theme music and Ketheric / Myrkul

 

[Irwin99]

... How?!

I was exploring the map and disregarding the main mission for a time and came across that place. They let me in, all seemed friendly after a shaky start and then

Spoiler: Chaos

Isobel is attacked by some winged guy and his minions. I try to fend him off but he knocks her out and takes her away and without her the spell protecting the place turns everyone into shadow creatures except that heroic lady who ends up dying and Having her corpse stripped after battle by me (needed the loot)

maybe I should just give up on playing the hero and embrace a darker path. Everything has gone very wrong for my character in act 2

Think I’m nearing the end of act 2. Actually can’t wait to do a second run as the replay value seems insane.

 

[bosnian_red]

Clearly you never fought Raphael.

Just got to him last night. Spent a good hour on it and died. Pain. Though I definitely didn't prep before hand, wasn't aware of the whole radiant damage problem and forgot to restore my spell slots at the faucets before fighting him. I also tend to just keep all my stuff in the camp so my menus aren't cluttered, but that means now I can't reallocate for this fight and have to more or less stick with the builds I entered the house of hope with.

 

[DWelbz19]

I was exploring the map and disregarding the main mission for a time and came across that place. They let me in, all seemed friendly after a shaky start and then

Spoiler: Chaos

Isobel is attacked by some winged guy and his minions. I try to fend him off but he knocks her out and takes her away and without her the spell protecting the place turns everyone into shadow creatures except that heroic lady who ends up dying and Having her corpse stripped after battle by me (needed the loot)

maybe I should just give up on playing the hero and embrace a darker path. Everything has gone very wrong for my character in act 2

Think I’m nearing the end of act 2. Actually can’t wait to do a second run as the replay value seems insane.

Damn. In your defence, that is a horrible battle. So many characters on multiple floors as well etc.

Lessons to learn for the next playthrough!

 

[pacifictheme]

Act 3 spoilers beat Raphael today, horrible fight and had several crashes during it too, like three game freezing crashes. Also beat the dragon, much more enjoyable battle but not sure about that reveal at the end of it with the emperor.

Question for people, did you free that guy from the prism?

 

[Solius]

Act 3 spoilers beat Raphael today, horrible fight and had several crashes during it too, like three game freezing crashes. Also beat the dragon, much more enjoyable battle but not sure about that reveal at the end of it with the emperor.

Question for people, did you free that guy from the prism?

I didn’t free him no.

 

[DWelbz19]

Act 3 spoilers beat Raphael today, horrible fight and had several crashes during it too, like three game freezing crashes. Also beat the dragon, much more enjoyable battle but not sure about that reveal at the end of it with the emperor.

Question for people, did you free that guy from the prism?

Your question: I did. My rationale was that I just didn’t trust the Emperor at all. The more backstory we got the clearer it became he was manipulative and a bit of a twat. He’s not evil or anything, just shady.

I think there’s logic and/or an argument to be had either way.

 

[harms]

Question for people, did you free that guy from the prism?

I did in my first playthrough (and didn't in my second for variety).

Spoiler

The Emperor leaves you if you do.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Sweeped up at the Game Awards, and well deserved too.

 

[unplayable]

The Deluxe Edition for Xbox is available for about €17. Crazy price considering it released less than 24 hours ago.
https://www.gamivo.com/product/baldurs-gate-3-xbox-xboxseries-eg-en-deluxe
Just need a VPN and the code can be redeemed anywhere as fas as I'm aware.

 

[Irwin99]

I’m on act 3 and despite a few minor issues such as frame drops that weren’t noticeable in the other acts and an invisible wall in the city, the game deserves all the praise it’s been getting. I’m blown away by how much choice there appears to be in the story quests. I’m only on my first playthrough but I bet my second will be vastly different.

Incredible game. Deserved the GoTY.

 

[Klopper76]

Started this on Xbox last night. Love it so far and the combat seems like it won't get dull fast. Made a Bard character.

 

[Irwin99]

Started this on Xbox last night. Love it so far and the combat seems like it won't get dull fast. Made a Bard character.

Seems to be the go to class for new players and it's what i picked too. Combat is still really fun, i'm near 80 hours in and i'm deliberately doing all the side content to make it last.

 

[Klopper76]

Seems to be the go to class for new players and it's what i picked too. Combat is still really fun, i'm near 80 hours in and i'm deliberately doing all the side content to make it last.

Yeah I had a quick search and that seemed to be the go to class for new players, so I picked that. I think Paladin was high up on the list.

 

[Irwin99]

Finished it! What a game. Other than a few bugs i can't really see what was wrong with Act 3- i enjoyed it more than Act 2 and i thought the pacing was decent. Final boss was tough but i got there in the end.

Time to play it again and maybe do a psychopath run.

 

[bosnian_red]

Finally beat this yesterday. Great game. Took forever though, probably had 115 hours into it before I beat it.

Finished it! What a game. Other than a few bugs i can't really see what was wrong with Act 3- i enjoyed it more than Act 2 and i thought the pacing was decent. Final boss was tough but i got there in the end.

Time to play it again and maybe do a psychopath run.

When I first got to Act 3 it was unplayable with all the bugs, but the patch a couple of weeks ago fixed it. Act 3 definitely the easiest, your characters just a bit OP by then.

 

[bosnian_red]

My favourite builds were:

1. Monk/rogue split (9 monk I think), tavern brawler unarmed attack beast (on my main)
2. Gloomstalker assassin for Astarion, range and stealth focused
3. Abjuration wizard using armor of agathys (or whatever it's called), basically any time anyone hits you they take a bunch of damage (Gale)
4. Lore bard/cleric mix for Shadowheart
5. Laezel just pure fighter

Didn't like druid builds, was whatever about barbarian build. Wasn't a fan of warlock either. Youtube was a life saver for finding these combos and the best builds

 

[pacifictheme]

Got this on release and think I will finally finish it today. What a game.

 

[Redplane]

Got this on release and think I will finally finish it today. What a game.

I've been denying myself for two reasons:
I figured a game so complex would have a fair amount of bugs (seems like some of that was justified with the massive patches they have issued since release) and because im now conditioned to never pay full price for any game anymore. Keep waiting for it to drop into the 30s or so. Even key resellers still have it at full price. And yeah I get it - it's probably worth it. But it's a mental block.

 

[caid]

I've been denying myself for two reasons:
I figured a game so complex would have a fair amount of bugs (seems like some of that was justified with the massive patches they have issued since release) and because im now conditioned to never pay full price for any game anymore. Keep waiting for it to drop into the 30s or so. Even key resellers still have it at full price. And yeah I get it - it's probably worth it. But it's a mental block.

I'd make an exception with paying full price for this game. Yes its worth it but beyond that they kind of earned it with their general behaviour and approach. I played it on release, there was some bugs and probably room to refine act 3 but it was relatively fine i think. A lot of the patches are adding stuff or changing parts based on feedback since release rather than bug fixes.

 

[AnotherLondonManc]

My favourite builds were:

1. Monk/rogue split (9 monk I think), tavern brawler unarmed attack beast (on my main)
2. Gloomstalker assassin for Astarion, range and stealth focused
3. Abjuration wizard using armor of agathys (or whatever it's called), basically any time anyone hits you they take a bunch of damage (Gale)
4. Lore bard/cleric mix for Shadowheart
5. Laezel just pure fighter

Didn't like druid builds, was whatever about barbarian build. Wasn't a fan of warlock either. Youtube was a life saver for finding these combos and the best builds

Haha yeah, that's all pretty meta. I used all of these builds at some point across my 2 playthroughs.

Monk is objectively the best mele build after the nerfs to action economy in honour mode.

Full warlock is pretty pointless, but taking 2 levels into it for the eldritch evocations, then 10 in bard or sorcerer is pretty much the best ranged striker in the game.

Agree with you on Druid. 3 owlbear attacks per action is nice, but not as interesting to play. Spore Druid is meant to be good, but I can't be arsed with summon builds.

 

[BayernFan87]

Finished this last week.

The characters, dialogs and the world itself were outstanding. Combat was good, but could also become a little tedious, especially in fights against many smaller enemies.
I was very satisfied with the ending i had (i played a typical good guy, tried to save everyone, trusted the Emperor less and less, freed Orpheus, killed the Emperor and the Netherbrain and lived happily with Shadowheart) but i'm really curious about all the other endings and will definitely look them up on YouTube. If someone has any recommendations for a good video, please let me know.

WHAT A GAME.

My game of the year and as a huge Zelda fan that loved Tears of the Kingdom I didn't expect any other game to be even better this year.

 

[Irwin99]

Started my second playthrough as an evil duergar dwarf and i still have to think about my choices even when picking the psychopath options (Astarion approves).

 

[Donut]

I know I’ll probably love this game but watching it on stream it doesn’t seem THAT amazing. The main character not speaking the text seems especially jarring, but I realize that would be difficult to pull off with the amount there is.

 

[pacifictheme]

In this sort of game a non speaking main character is a much better way to play it

 

[pacifictheme]

From my previous post about this game being great I am really struggling to enjoy the end dungeon. all the way through there have been loads of ways to tackle any situation but this is just a slog of combat and it's not doing anything for me. As soon as you walk in it's a battle v about thirty enemies at once, which isn't hard but isn't fun either. Then after that you have to fight another seemingly mandatory battle against a load of enemies with a ship firing down on you. Turned it off.

Am I doing it wrong? Is there another way in or is this unavoidable?

 

[The Cat]

From my previous post about this game being great I am really struggling to enjoy the end dungeon. all the way through there have been loads of ways to tackle any situation but this is just a slog of combat and it's not doing anything for me. As soon as you walk in it's a battle v about thirty enemies at once, which isn't hard but isn't fun either. Then after that you have to fight another seemingly mandatory battle against a load of enemies with a ship firing down on you. Turned it off.

Am I doing it wrong? Is there another way in or is this unavoidable?

Spoiler

There is another way by using a character with the extra jump distance and invisibility pots/scrolls.

 

[Bebe]

Going into the end-game after work today.

Spoiler: Act 3 spoilers

Done all the companion sidequests except Laezel's, as I don't think I want to free Orpheus. I don't trust the Emperor much (especially after finding out he's Balduran) but nothing Laezel or any other Githyanki has said makes me want to give them power. It's unfortunate that I can barely remember some of the lore from earlier in the game because now all these decisions have some real story implications.

I left Cazador for last and found that fight to be very underwhelming. I really wanted to simply betray Astarion and give him to Cazador so I wouldn't have to hear the guy speak again.

The sword you get for killing Sarevok is boss.

Overall, easily one of the best games I've ever played. Maybe the best, full stop. I'm tempted to start up again right after I'm finished and do a Dark Urge playthrough, but I might save that for when I upgrade on PC. The PS5 port runs well and is impressive overall, but I still think this is best played on PC. It'd really help if they added a way to search your inventory by keywords or typing on console (or just enable keyboard and mouse on console).

 

[Shane88]

I think Karlach fingered my bum.

I've never loved a video game character this much.

 

[pacifictheme]

Spoiler

There is another way by using a character with the extra jump distance and invisibility pots/scrolls.

Not sure if they patched this but whatever I tried the battle with the nautiloid always happened, even when invisible and crouching. Either way as soon as you bash the door in you can fly to the room that triggers the climb so worked out pretty well anyway.

 

[DWelbz19]

I know I’ll probably love this game but watching it on stream it doesn’t seem THAT amazing. The main character not speaking the text seems especially jarring, but I realize that would be difficult to pull off with the amount there is.

Gameplay wise it’s not particularly spectacular - it’s a turn based RPG, after all. But all the things it’s great it, it’s genuinely elite tier.

I don’t think I’ve ever played a game which has this much autonomy in how you approach quests and then follows it up with actual quest line permutations and dialogue options that follow the path (however niche) you’ve taken.

Not really sure how the main character not having a voice is a problem — this is almost always the case unless you have a preset main character, no? But the game compensates with the amazing voice acting of every companion and major enemy, so hey.

 

[Irwin99]

Second playthrough and things have gotten a bit freaky storywise with two of my party members calling me an evil bastard and leaving me forever. Was not expecting that

I will say that although the game has so many different paths for characters and storylines to take, it can be confusing and difficult to manipulate at certain points.

Spoiler: Act 1

Even though i'm doing an evil-ish playthrough i didn't actually want to side with the goblins against Emerald Grove. I was planning to lure them into an ambush, kill the drow elf leader and loot her corpse but when i went back to warn the grove there was no one to tell, no marker on the map etc. I thought if i slept at camp for the night maybe a marker would appear but when i went back the camp had been raided and everyone was dead. Karlach and Wyll basically told me to get fecked and left forever

 

[Irwin99]

Beat Raphael on only my second attempt with ridiculous luck . Couldn't even make out the mechanics of the boss fight too well but i fluked a win with potions and the right equipment. Compared to the three hours it took me to beat Shadowheart's final quest it was a cakewalk

 

[Shane88]

And finished.

Played a lot of games in my 35 years and this is right up there. Just outstanding, one of the greatest games of all time, and I say that as someone who has never touched a CRPG before this and had zero interest in them.

A part of me just wants to play it endlessly because I feel each playthrough could be so massively different. Different builds, using different party members, different choices but I started it back in August, time to try something else but I will definitely be back for another playthrough at some point.

I got the good ending, I think;

Being rode to death by Archducess Raphael is the good ending, yeah?

But really, I think I just got the vanilla good ending. I'm a completionist so I had loads of help to call on for the final battle, including a fecking armoured Owlbear cub. Actually pumped my fist seeing that. Killed The Emperor, didn't trust him. Killed the Netherbrain with Mindflayer Orpheus and then gave him the honourable death he wanted.

Sent Lae'zel off to help her people.

Astarion ran off after the sun started burning him.

Told Gale to give up his hunt for the crown.

And then the one I really cared about; Karlach. I thought she was going to die and was actually upset but Wyll said he'd to go Avernus with her. Nice guy.

But I'm in a relationship with Karlach and I'm the jealous type so I wasn't leaving Karlach and the smooth-talking playboy go to hell together so I went too. So it's Me, Karlach and Wyll tearing up Avernus for eternity.

Have the epilogue party to wrap up now.