Bummer, I understand what you're saying. That is discouraging when you've already come so far.

It's one of those things that's faced in real life D&D tabletop gaming. The possibility of a game ending total party kill is always there. It just sucks when it happens.

I might come back to it later. I just wasn't having any fun all of a sudden.

EDIT: So, I'm going to back to the start of the current mission, grab a different party, and try this again. The one issue I have is that there are no healing potions to be found anywhere. I've bought all the potions in every available store, and it's just not enough. I can't craft any for lack of ingredients.

EDIT: So, the battle was remarkably easy once I found out what the trick is. On I go, to Baldur's Gate!

I played on Tactician difficulty (highest) and just finished it in my first playthrough, after over 3 months and 400 hours of gameplay. I consider this a near-perfect game, and my only minor quibble is its cumbersome inventory UI.

The early Act 1 fights were tough when my party was still weak. As we leveled up and gained more powers, combat became more and more manageable.

One of the best abilities is an illithid spell called Perilous Stakes, which is perfect against bosses. It makes an enemy vulnerable to all damage types for 3 turns. A boss with 400+ HP would not last more than 3 turns when all our attacks dealt double damage to it.

One tip for those who have trouble with combat: flee. Your party members can flee one by one if they are at least 60 feet (18 metres) away from the nearest enemy. Enemies you have killed before you flee will stay dead. You kill a couple enemies, flee, go back, kill a couple, flee, etc. You whittle down the enemy force that way. I fled all the time in the early going. There is no shame in that. You do whatever you can to beat the enemies with minimal loss of spell slots and health potions.

I used multi-classing to up my companion's damage. I gave Astarion 5 levels of fighter class to go with 7 levels of rogue, his original class. This gave him Action Surge and Extra Attack, so he could attack multiple times per turn.

My Lae'zel had the "Great Weapon: All In" feat which added +10 damage per hit. At level 12, she could hit up to NINE times per turn (with Action Surge, Improved Extra Attack, and Potion of Speed). At about 30 damage per hit and 9 hits in a single turn, she could single-handedly cut 400 HP in half.

Spellcasters like Gale and Shadowheart can up their damage by using area-of-effect (AOE) spells like Fireball, Cloudkill, Ice Storm, etc. when enemies are bunched up together. Other AOE attacks include smokepowder bombs, smokepowder arrows, fire arrows, ice arrows, lightning arrows, etc.

Thanks for that great summary.

I had to stop playing when my mother visited for a month and now I'm wondering if I should simply start a new game. I had reached Baldur's Gate4 and was doing quests there when i stopped playing. I'm thinking that going back in after such a long absence will be difficult because I've forgotten the intricacies of combat. I could get hammered rather severely.

I didn't try multiclassing in my game. Maybe I should try that next. My party is at level 9, I think, so there may be time yet.

Baldur's Gate III took "Best Game of the Year" at The Steam Game Awards

Baldurs Gate III - Check out that Deluxe Edition. Click on "PREORDER NOW"

BG3 Board Game

Steam's - Over 440,000 reviews / 96%

GOG's

I saw that. Well-deserved.

There was some suspense when Alan Wake 2 took best direction, narrative, and art direction, the 3 biggest awards other than best game. (Best art direction is like best graphics, so it's a big recognition). At that point, I thought maybe it wasn't BG3's night.

I got Alan Wake 2 for free when I bought a new graphics card that came with a free game. I've played it a little bit, and it doesn't have the same holding power as BG3. Almost a month after finishing BG3, I'm still thinking about it. The Alan Wake games are sort of meh to me. But "Control" from 2019, made by the same company (Remedy), is a masterpiece. Horror games are a dime a dozen these days. The great ones have that something extra, whereas the average ones feel like same old same old.

I haven't finished BG3 yet. I played for a few days last week, got frustrated with the timed underwater quest, and decided to take a break. I do struggle with turn-based action. The game itself is so compelling and the party members so much fun that I'll finish it and start a new game, armed with a better understanding of the game's mechanics.

Hi Hagatha, if you meant the Iron Throne quest, I remember I had to use several Dimension Door scrolls (seven total, I think) in order to bring all the hostages closer to the exit. Instead of fighting those sahuagins, I cast Hold Person on them to incapacitate them. Potion of Speed also gave us extra actions. I think those are the general strategies I used. Some of the hostages are lightweight, so you could also "throw" them towards the exit. This is one of several rescue missions in the game.

Thanks, GP. I hadn't thought of those tactics. I haven't gone back to it because I kept rage-quitting. It's the first part of the game that I genuinely hated.

Hoping to pick this up again soon. Had a ton of family stuff to handle, which put a damper on pretty much everything. Then got hit with the flu, which I'm still recovering from due to my lack of a decent immune system. Just before getting sick I re-rolled my character as a Drow Rogue. Really tempted to build a Drizzt like character, I enjoyed those books soooo much. I am a little tired of the opening sequence, it's starting to get like the "You're finally awake...." from Skyrim Hoping the modders come up with an alternative choice starting sequence like they did for Skyrim.

I think I've started the game 6 times since the first release and I have to say I'm pretty sick of it, too.

I'm still hung up on the timed quest -- I HATE timed quests with a passion, especially in a game like this -- but I'll get back to it when I feel I can play through it without scaring my cats with all the shouting and swearing.

I'm really happy with my bard, though I wish I'd given her some fighter skills as well. Maybe next time.

Funny -- I hadn't thought about the Drizzt books for years and then happened to see one in a used book store here. I must have sold or donated my original books from back in the day.

Hi hagatha, here is my video playthrough of the underwater rescue mission in BG3. Tactician difficulty gave me only 5 turns (8 turns and 6 turns for the two easier difficulty modes). The main trick is using lots of Dimension Door scrolls. Some of the hostages could also get stuck on the terrain and miss a turn, unfortunately. That happened to me too in the video, and I had to compensate their missed movement with Dimension Door. Misty Step can be used as a bonus action, so a character can essentially teleport twice in a turn -- Dimension Door as action, Misty Step as bonus action. Another way to teleport is shooting "arrows of transposition," which teleports you to wherever you shoot the arrow at. Much of the challenge in this game is overcoming tough terrain and lack of movement. This underwater mission certainly has that challenge.

Thanks for that. I guess I'll have to restart the mission better prepared. It would be a shame not to finish this wonderful game.

I sort of envy folks who have BG3 as their first experience into RPG's. It will definitely be the source of great nostalgia throughout their time gaming. I've been jumping in and out of a couple different characters as I have time. Wish I could get a solid 4 or more hours in, but have to settle for a couple hours here and there, and those seem to pass in a heartbeat with this game.

BG3 took so much out of me (3 months and 400 hours in one playthrough) that I had to take one month off from playing games. It's a great game, one of the best of its kind, but it's just too consuming. Even with the hours I've put in, I've probably only seen 10% of the game's total content (due to the its numerous permutations). That is awesome and sad at the same time.