Baldur's Gate 3

[Blackhawk]

I discovered a nice touch. Certain weapons only give a bonus to a specific race. But if you use Disguise Self (free to digital deluxe owners and can be cast by other classes) to become that race you receive the bonuses. Sweet.

Wow, that is a significant departure from D&D. Disguise Self doesn't change you physically, and doesn't change you're nature - it just makes you look different. If you make yourself look shorter, wider, and give yourself a beard to look like a dwarf, and someone comes up and tosses a ball over your head, it's going to smack you in the nose - your actual physical self isn't any shorter, you just look that way. And if you make your dagger look like a greatsword, you'll still only have a six-inch blade. Swing it from a distance and it'll just pass right through them.

[Jaymann]

Departure or no, I am all over it. I re-speced my fighter into an Eldritch Knight since they get the spell. I also found an EK gets Weapon Pact which was previously not available. Not sure when it kicked in, possibly at launch but was definitely not in EA.

[Blackhawk]

The magic exists in D&D, but it's a much higher level spell (I think it would take True Polymorph, which is a level 9 spell.) I mean, technically you could do it with a level 5 Reincarnate spell if you had someone to cast it on you and were willing to die a couple of dozen times, and spend a few tens of thousands of gold on exotic oils...)

[Jaymann]

Nice info re: food. You can send all you find to camp instead of lugging it around. It will be available when you rest, even though you get a message saying not enough food to rest.

[El Guapo]

Nice info re: food. You can send all you find to camp instead of lugging it around. It will be available when you rest, even though you get a message saying not enough food to rest.

That's helpful. I started doing that, although I didn't realize that the not enough food message was meaningless, so I just took to making withdrawals when it was time to rest.

I am a little confused about what the whole purpose of the food mechanic was, though. Why not just let people long rest without thinking about food?

[Jaymann]

Nice info re: food. You can send all you find to camp instead of lugging it around. It will be available when you rest, even though you get a message saying not enough food to rest.

That's helpful. I started doing that, although I didn't realize that the not enough food message was meaningless, so I just took to making withdrawals when it was time to rest.

I am a little confused about what the whole purpose of the food mechanic was, though. Why not just let people long rest without thinking about food?

I think originally you had to have it in your possession, but they changed that. But they forgot to change the message. Which is amazing in the land of 1,000 fixes.

[msteelers]

I had a cool and somewhat intense battle in Act 3 this morning. I had to reload a couple of times to get through the encounter, but I finally did it. The end of the fight triggered a cutscene, and then…

My game crashed.

Spoiler:

I had taken a submarine to the Iron Throne which Gortash promptly blew up. I managed to save Wylls father and most of the other prisoners, but it was by the skin of my teeth. Found out Wylls dad is a dick in the cutscene, and then it all went to black.

[hepcat]

I had my first crash in 70 or so hours of this game just the other day after patch 4.

[Jaymann]

Took another swipe at Ketheric:

Spoiler:

First of all, before you save Nightsong, you can enter Ketheric's lair. If you stay on the steps his minions will come to you and you can take them out without aggroing big K (his back is to you). Makes it much easier when you come after him for real.

I had a save where I failed to save Isobel so I carried on and let Shadowheart kill Nightsong to see what would happen. Since there were no minions I sent in one party member to talk to Ketheric and left the rest outside. Usually, even if you get Keth to yield, Nightsong will attack him. I passed two high dice checks to get him to yield. But it was a cruel hoax he attacked me anyway. I was able to sneak in with the rest of my party and get up close and personal.

When I got to the second battle I was surprised to see Isobel siding with Keth. Blood runs thicker than blood.

[El Guapo]

Took another swipe at Ketheric:

Spoiler:

First of all, before you save Nightsong, you can enter Ketheric's lair. If you stay on the steps his minions will come to you and you can take them out without aggroing big K (his back is to you). Makes it much easier when you come after him for real.

I had a save where I failed to save Isobel so I carried on and let Shadowheart kill Nightsong to see what would happen. Since there were no minions I sent in one party member to talk to Ketheric and left the rest outside. Usually, even if you get Keth to yield, Nightsong will attack him. I passed two high dice checks to get him to yield. But it was a cruel hoax he attacked me anyway. I was able to sneak in with the rest of my party and get up close and personal.

When I got to the second battle I was surprised to see Isobel siding with Keth. Blood runs thicker than blood.

Spoiler:

To be clear, in the second battle (if you don't save Isobel) Ketheric has infected her with a tadpole in the interim, so she's not choosing to side with Ketheric exactly.

[Jaymann]

I guess I didn't read the comments.

[Jaymann]

After over 1,200 hours of game time I am going to try tactician mode. Of course the YouTubers say it is still "too easy" but that's hogwash. What it means for me is I will have to actually start using potions and alchemy which I have ignored so far. I will still get all the best items, so we shall see.

[hepcat]

Sounds like you had a good ti....

1200 HOURS!?!

[El Guapo]

Pfff. That's only 50 complete days of game time. That's not even two months!

[Carpet_pissr]

Sounds like you had a good ti....

1200 HOURS!?!

LOL! I had the same reaction.

[hepcat]

In his defense, 1100 of those hours were spent on the character creation screen...

[El Guapo]

In his defense, 1100 of those hours were spent on the character creation screen...

Look, he has to have exactly the right penis, or what's the point.

[Carpet_pissr]

In his defense, 1100 of those hours were spent on the character creation screen...

Look, he has to have exactly the right penis, or what's the point.

Typically referred to as the tip, but whatevs.

[Jaymann]

In his defense, 1100 of those hours were spent on the character creation screen...

Now if they had only allowed stat re-roll...

[hepcat]

In his defense, 1100 of those hours were spent on the character creation screen...

Look, he has to have exactly the right penis, or what's the point.

"Dangle degree" is just an overly complicated slider...

And you want it large enough to be proud of, but not so large that it's the first thing that gets bitten in a fight with a GOP senator.

[Blackhawk]

Noskin, noskin, foreskin... where's the fiveskin?

[Carpet_pissr]

New Hotfix out today, and thankfully they are focused on the most important aspects, primarily romances and kissing:

Hello everyone,
We’ve got a new hotfix for you today, addressing several bugs, visual issues and blockers.
Have you ever had a romance so intense, that everything melts away? Well, sometimes that isn’t intentional. We’ve fixed an issue where Gale’s romance scene was playing in what looked like some kind of black void. Consider the ambience restored.
We are aware of an issue with kissing animations for Astarion, and are currently working on a fix. We expect this to be released in a future update. Thank you for all your reports and messages, and thank you for playing Baldur’s Gate 3! If you have any bugs to report, please reach out to our support team.

I'm a bit upset that they also didn't seem to spend any time on underwear or pubic hair this time around, though. They're probably too busy coming up with sexual innuendo titles for the upcoming DLC:
Baldur's Gate 3: Throat (full of) Bhalls
Baldur's Gate 3: Tales of the Horizontal Mambo King
The one I am looking forward to the most:
Baldur's Gate 3: Shadows of An Actual Fucking CRPG w/o the Adolescent Nerd Porn-lite, Because We Can Literally Get That Anywhere if we Wanted It, and don't need that Shit Cocking up our Beloved Game Franchises, Shame on You, you Horny, Ruinous Bastards.

[El Guapo]

Baldur's Gate 3: Shadows of An Actual Fucking CRPG w/o the Adolescent Nerd Porn-lite, Because We Can Literally Get That Anywhere if we Wanted It, and don't need that Shit Cocking up our Beloved Game Franchises, Shame on You, you Horny, Ruinous Bastards.

Hmmm, I think that one's too long.

[hepcat]

New Hotfix out today, and thankfully they are focused on the most important aspects, primarily romances and kissing:

Hello everyone,
We’ve got a new hotfix for you today, addressing several bugs, visual issues and blockers.
Have you ever had a romance so intense, that everything melts away? Well, sometimes that isn’t intentional. We’ve fixed an issue where Gale’s romance scene was playing in what looked like some kind of black void. Consider the ambience restored.
We are aware of an issue with kissing animations for Astarion, and are currently working on a fix. We expect this to be released in a future update. Thank you for all your reports and messages, and thank you for playing Baldur’s Gate 3! If you have any bugs to report, please reach out to our support team.

I'm a bit upset that they also didn't seem to spend any time on underwear or pubic hair this time around, though. They're probably too busy coming up with sexual innuendo titles for the upcoming DLC:
Baldur's Gate 3: Throat (full of) Bhalls
Baldur's Gate 3: Tales of the Horizontal Mambo King
The one I am looking forward to the most:
Baldur's Gate 3: Shadows of An Actual Fucking CRPG w/o the Adolescent Nerd Porn-lite, Because We Can Literally Get That Anywhere if we Wanted It, and don't need that Shit Cocking up our Beloved Game Franchises, Shame on You, you Horny, Ruinous Bastards.

While I also complained about some of the forced romance stuff early on, it really hasn't been that bad after the initial meeting with a companion. If I see the camp dialogue heading towards "Boom chaka wa wa" territory, I just choose the option "Welp, time to go" which is always there, and it ends pretty abruptly.

[Blackhawk]

Didn't we do "sex in video games telling adult stories to adults can be a good thing" a page or two ago?

[hepcat]

Sorry, Sheriff Blackhawk. I should have run that reply by you first.

[Blackhawk]

Sorry, Sheriff Blackhawk. I should have run that reply by you first.

No need, I wasn't responding to you. I was referring to the fact that we'd agreed that maybe sex in the game wasn't all that horrid of a thing (it's reasonable, it's standard, and it's better than the alternative), and now it seems to be horrid again.

[Punisher]

Toy Story 6ex. Woodys wild ride...

[msteelers]

I’m on my first real play through after testing a couple of characters early on. For this run my character is romancing Karlach.

Usually in games like this I put the role playing aside and try to make dialogue and story choices that let me see as much of the content as possible. But the romance element is so well handled, at least for Karlach, that I’m avoiding anything that might hurt their relationship.

Credit to the writers and actors. They breathed life into these characters. It’s definitely not a sex sim.

[Blackhawk]

Well, a quick search shows me that there are, indeed, sex sims with the BG3 characters if that's what people really want!

[Jaymann]

I don't pay much attention to romance, and the only ones to come after me are Wyll, and of course Halsin (and the dreamcatcher). I got my approval with Minthara up high enough, but she says she will join me tonight and never shows. Cock tease.

[hepcat]

She only shows up after 1200 hours...

[Carpet_pissr]

Didn't we do "sex in video games telling adult stories to adults can be a good thing" a page or two ago?

I was (re) triggered by their latest hot fix text and seeming focus.

[Blackhawk]

A lot of people put a lot of effort into the romance stories in these games. For example:

I’m on my first real play through after testing a couple of characters early on. For this run my character is romancing Karlach.

Usually in games like this I put the role playing aside and try to make dialogue and story choices that let me see as much of the content as possible. But the romance element is so well handled, at least for Karlach, that I’m avoiding anything that might hurt their relationship.

Credit to the writers and actors. They breathed life into these characters. It’s definitely not a sex sim.

That's how the role-playing aspect of an RPG is supposed to work. The reason for them pushing this particular fix is that the issue wasn't an incidental - it ruined the outcome of many, many hours of effort by many players. The romance element in these games is pretty important to a lot of players, and not because of the chance to see CGI sex.

It's almost like it would have been if the Game of Thrones creators wrote an episode that resolved most of the biggest plot points and character arcs of all of those years, then filmed it entirely in the dark with no lights.

[Jaymann]

Well tactician mode does ramp up the difficulty when you get to Act 2. It also costs twice as much food to long rest, but that is no big deal. It seems like I get a downed party member about every other battle.

Plus I finally got into Shadowheart's pants. It was tedious since I had to save before every conversation to make sure she approved. She is very fickle so there is no way to tell in advance. At least I don't have to hear Withers tell me I walk alone.

[Blackhawk]

Well tactician mode does ramp up the difficulty when you get to Act 2. It also costs twice as much food to long rest, but that is no big deal. It seems like I get a downed party member about every other battle.

Now that sounds like D&D 5e, especially the early levels.

[Daehawk]

This is about a game spanning quest involving a certain animal. Its an unannounced quest so spoilers.

Spoiler:

Even after 180 hours of Baldur's Gate 3, I never realized there's a game-spanning unmarked quest to find a stray cat a new home

[hepcat]

Crap. Looks like if you do something major in act 2, you lock yourself out of 2 other quests.

Spoiler:

If you fight to free Nightsong the game tells you you’ve lost the quest to save Wulbric (sp?) and the two Tieflings in Moonrise. I really wish they’d made that more clear in the quest log.

[Jaymann]

Crap. Looks like if you do something major in act 2, you lock yourself out of 2 other quests.

Spoiler:

If you fight to free Nightsong the game tells you you’ve lost the quest to save Wulbric (sp?) and the two Tieflings in Moonrise. I really wish they’d made that more clear in the quest log.

That's unfortunate, but logical:

Spoiler:

Once you save Nightsong you are persona non grata in Moonrise. I always 100% clear out Act 1 and 2 side content before saving her. I suggest if possible you go back to just before saving her.

[hepcat]

I also realized yesterday that

Spoiler:

I completely forgot about looking for Lae'zel. When I went back to look for her after Act II, I found her dead body.