I know some folks have been playing the beta release for awhile now, but as an FYI, Larian is moving the game's full, official release to 08/3. As IGN points out, probably to beat Bethesda's big release coming later that month.

https://www.ign.com/articles/baldur...forward-a-month-avoiding-starfield-clash


Article at PC Gamer that goes through the main aspects of the Dungeons and Dragons 5e Ruleset that Larian used in BG3:

https://www.pcgamer.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-dandd5e-to-play-baldurs-gate-3/

Thanks, Trail! It's mindboggling how many top-notch games are being released so close together!

Cool. I stopped playing the beta a while ago, deciding to wait for the full version. This will be fun!

P.S. Good to see you here, Trail, even if only for a moment.

Thanks Hoping to be getting back into the swing of things sometime soon. Even started building a new gaming PC. Yippee!

Woohoo!

Double woohoo! Sounds like a plan, Trail!

And the official full release of BG 3 has happened today!

Oooo... please share the specs on your new build, Trail! I want to live vicariously through you!

Oy! Wish I could dive in. Soon.

OK, so I'm just starting the gaming build, but I can show off a couple of boxes I'm building/have built for business purposes, but having fun while doing it

I call this one the "Cheese Grater Creator" because it's me thumbing my nose at Apple for charging a small mortgage for their Pro level desktops. For context "cheese grater" is the nickname that folks give the Apple Mac Pro because, well it looks like a big cheese grater. I basically emulated that using a similar case and chose white to further the connection:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mgdn...rlkey=0xd6bp078nqq93xvls3qn48h2&dl=0

This one is using an ASUS ProArt z790 mainboard with an i7 13700KF CPU (water cooled), ASUS 3060 Ti OC graphics card and 128gb of 6000M/Ts DDR5 memory. It has two, 2 TB M.2 SSD drives mounted directly to the Motherboard. No platter drives or gen 1 SSD's because I'm just finishing up (over) building a NAS unit (Network Attached Storage) that's got a total of 37TB (Although 32 TB are really dedicated to the NAS storage) There's one other special addition, let's see who finds it..er...him, LOL.

Here's the NAS that's in process. I've nicknamed it Lil' Naz, cuz it's the evil sibling of the Cheese Grater Creator The cable management isn't as pretty on this one cuz I was still working with it in this pic, and that's a two decade old case I'm reusing, it was the only one I had that could support all the drives I wanted to throw into it. Before I get razzed for using a gaming MB (Gigabyte Aorus) for NAS, it's only because I got it for free (long story), so it is totally overbuilt considering you can use a Raspberry Pi board for NAS if you wanted. It also has a Thunderbolt 4 card and an LSI Broadcom SAS to SATA card that allows me to manage 8 more drives over what the motherboard would normally handle. Will be running Open Media Vault in Debian Linux VM with VirtualBox to manage the NAS (it's main platform is Win 11).

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/g9gx...rlkey=vq63u91vb3j4sb0awcs58ynix&dl=0

To keep this posting on track ;), here's a video about how BD3 is upsetting the RPG gaming industry because the Devs at Larian actually did their job!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QNytX1VJ64

Giant post accomplished (I'm such a lousy mod)

Oh, be still my heart! I'm not gonna lie, as much as I love a sweet gaming rig, it's the Lil'Naz that is fascinating me! I saw the motherboard and was like... ummm... wow! I'm interested because my next NAS is going to be one I build. The one I have right now is an older Western Digital EX2 Ultra which works just fine for now. So far, I just ripped our hundreds of music CDs and sent to the NAS. Nice to listen to some of our music out on the pool deck with my Riva Arena speaker!

My case is in dire need of opening up for some upgrades. I want to replace my old SSD with a new Samsung EVO 4 TB M.2 SSD I scored during Prime Days. Going to hang in with my 4 year old ASUS GTX 2060 video card for now.

Found your little dude waving at me! Thank you for the giant post, you lousy mod, you!

Thanks for the details and for the links, TM!

Yeah, the NAS is a silly build, but really the only thing keeping it from being a gaming and / or editing rig is a decent GPU. Right now it's running off the same CPU that the cheese grater has, but the version with integrated graphics. I needed a NAS and that thing just sort of organically appeared .


So, any how. Interesting how some other game houses are calling Larian's success at releasing their wonderfully patched release, a fluke? It's somewhat disheartening how using customers as testers can be considered the norm by other dev houses after a full game release. I mean beta is one thing, everybody knows it's going to be glitchy, which is part of the fun. That's why BG3's was so long, they listened to their public, fixed big stuff and added cool stuff based on that input. I don't think it gets any better than that. Taking an honest approach to eliciting gamers' input is nice.

Speaking of more Baldur's gate 3, I find it hilarious that Larian actually sponsored this video: Life, but it's Baldur's Gate 3

Merging BG3 threads into one that we can use to talk about all things BG3.

Bah! I have no place to do any gaming! No desk, no bar stools for my counter, no nothing. Wishing I could dive in and play.

You need to make that a priority, hagatha!

That's right, I think I saw that you moved recently, right? Bummer, I hope it all comes together soon! Not to gloat, but I'm seriously enjoying this now, they really refined the appearance. Mechanics took me a bit to get back into, I'm so used to WASD for movement. Now that I've got the hang of the camera it's much easier.

Oh, if you're like me and have lousy eyes and a high-resolution monitor, I found out that BG3 is receptive to Windows scaling and cursor size adjustments. I had to go into Windows Display Settings and kick my scaling up to 350% and then to mouse settings to increase my cursor size to 6 times the usual. It makes it odd prior to starting the game, but once the game starts you end up with a much larger cursor and easer to view interface. I use a large screen 4k TV for a monitor, which I guess is part of my issue. The cursor was ridiculously diminutive when I first started playing, much more comfortable playing now with the aforementioned adjustments.

My desk doesn't arrive until early October and the bar stools won't be here until mid=September.

I think I'll have to put my laptop on the dining room table. Maybe I'll download the game tonight.

What character are you playing, Trail?

I like to mix up my characters attributes for fun. My first character is a Zariel Tiefling Warlock. While the Zariel line is suited for a warrior class, I thought it would fit well for a Warlock since they have limited spell slots, especially in the beginning. Plus I just wanted to see which direction I need to go to make that a successful build. I'm really excited about this playthrough (Yes, I am a geek), because earlier D&D based games gave Tieflings around a -1 deficit for Charisma, which made being a Warlock difficult since Charisma determines their spell casting ability. Now that they aren't doing that in the newer systems I can finally have a character with an Infernal background as a Warlock. It makes perfect sense, since Warlocks are known to have Infernal patrons. Not sure why they didn't promote that in earlier games. Oh, and awwww man do I love all the character appearance choices! Lots of fun building a character that looks kicka**

I think I missed a lot about the character creation since my character is pretty standard looking and I didn't see a lot of choices. I found it a bit confusing. Still, it's not the end of the world. Plays the same.

I made a bard, since there apparently isn't one in the game as a companion. So far she's been pretty useful. I haven't seen much difference from the beta version except that the Prologue is much shorter and that I really appreciated.

Bards rock, literally

Just checked over at the Nexus and modders have already been hard at work on BG3. That is awesome, shows that folks are enjoying the game and it's potential. I'm guessing they are based off the earlier release, so probably better to wait a few months before loading any mods. Definitely going to keep my eyes open for cool, new mods.


EDIT: Just came across a cool Twitch Stream. Felicia Day is hosting a Co-op BG3 play through with three other streamers. They're using that optional Twitch extension you can activate when first setting up the game. Twitch has set up an interactive menu system so those watching in chat can check out the player's character stats and can vote for which dialogue choices the players make.

I have to say, I'm finding the combat to be so difficult that it's not enjoyable. It's mostly to do with the camera angles. I can't target enemies that I should be able to, but the camera won't swing around to where I need to look, especially when fighting from above. Also, my party is bloody useless. Half the time the spells I need are greyed out; I've checked everyone's equipment and nobody is wearing anything they shouldn't. Shadowheart can't cast healing in combat for some reason. All very annoying. I guess I'll go off wandering for a while and leave the goblin Temple alone for the time being.

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but BG3 is holding pretty religiously to the 5th Edition D&D rule set. So you may have things like an enemy in partial cover that impacts your ability to target or they may just be out of range for the attack. That's also impacted by high versus low ground in combination with certain stats. I believe the camera is intentionally limited in some cases to accommodate the aforementioned. I also found that reversing the "Q" and "E" key binding for the camera helped me greatly. I tend to use those the most and the "A" and "D" camera strafing control the least, until I need to center a bit more. I'll use the "W" key to bring it in a bit and the mouse wheel to bring it in or back more.

As for the spells being greyed out, that may be due to your party needing some type of rest. Some spells have limited use and at the early levels, the party members may only have a couple of spell slots. That means they'll only be able to use the spell once or twice in combat and then you end up relying on cantrips and melee or range weapon attacks. Some of the spells will not come back after combat and may require a short or long rest in order to regain their use.

-----------------------

In case anyone is interested, there's a thread going on at Reddit's BG3 forum on the differences between the D&D 5e Rule set and the additions Larian put in place with them:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGat...he_rule_differences_between_bg3_and_dnd/

Thanks for the quick tutorial. That makes sense about the spells, though I'm surprised that the Bard song falls into this category.

I think I'll blast off to other places that might be easier to win instead of repeatedly losing battles in the Goblin Temple. I rescued the Druid and Sazza but that last Goblin Boss is a terror.

Yeah, I got the party killed by the first set of Intellect Devourers that we came across after the Nautiloid crash. Had flashbacks to the killer caterpillar from Morrowind

Or the first wolf after Candlekeep in BGTOSC, which ate my character and Imoen in about three bites.

I'm also not used to the combat style. I'm more accustomed to having my entire party unload spells and arrows all at once. My current party is more like: Wyll; 85% -- Hits! Miss. Shadowheart; 90% Casts spell! Miss.

I ran into a bug where inventory items just vanish. I had a stack of Disarm Trap tools that vanished on a reload and nothing seems to get them back, no matter how far back I reload. Those things are expensive!

My son has put about seventy hours into this game so far and hasn't come across any bugs like the one you describe, hagatha. I am sorry to hear about it. Hopefully there won't be any other issues like it.

The more he has played the game, the more he loves it. As soon as he is done, he is thinking about starting over and replaying, which is not something he often does.

I think once I get the hang of it I'll love it, too. I remember struggling with the first BG game and Zanthia came to my rescue, explained how the D$D games worked, and how to win at combat.

My son said that until you gain some levels, notably level five for some classes, the game is really hard, and it expects you to use every tool available to you and there are a lot of them. He said he died a lot in the early stages and the game is slow paced.

He just finished the game for the first time and puts it in the top CRPGs (turn based) that he has played.

I do hope you start to enjoy it more.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Between the effects, the visible dice rolls (I really like that, being an old Tabletop dude), the voice acting and writing, it really is shaping up to be an awesome game. Even with the difficulty of getting used to the mouse clicks and turn-based battle again, I felt very much like I was back playing the old Neverwinter Nights, which is one of my all time favorites. It would be soooooooo cool if Larian picked up the license for that one. It could use a revamp.

I had to take a break from playing around the whole Druid camp thing, but hoping to jump back in this evening and over the weekend. Got all my gamer snacks ready to go, woo hoo!

I hope you have a great weekend playing, Trail!

I'll be doing some wandering around to see if I can get my party to at least Level 4. Unfortunately. the Druid Camp attack is also next up. My first attempts at defending it ended up very badly indeed. I think I need to separate my party members and place them strategically for that one. So far, my Bard has been the most useful in combat, with Astarion second.

That particular encounter didn't go so well for the folks that were locked out. Our party survived, but at their expense. I'm sure we're going to pay for that later. I get this feeling Larian is sneaky that way with the storyline.

I saved everybody in the first encounter at the Druid Camp by attacking from above.

Anyway, I do remember some other areas I can get to now.

Edit:

So, I reloaded an earlier save, and the Disarm Trap items are not there, either.

Also, when did Steam remove the ability to verify the game files?

Hmmm, don't know about the disarm trap items disappearing, but the verify game files option is still there under the game's properties:

-Right click on the game listing in the library
-Select Properties to bring up the Properties Window
-Select "Installed Files" from the menu on the left
-One of options in that section is "Verify integrity of game files"

Right, I found it. Just a bit different from before.

I'm now battling the witch in the underground caves. Finally beat her, only to realize that the woman I was rescuing had died during the fight. Time to reload.

I haven't seen that quest yet. Decided to go back through the Druid Camp and see if there was anything I missed. Had some really poor rolls during dialogues, which was disappointing. My character is a Tiefling, so there was usually a "[Tiefling]" dialogue option during the conversations. Unfortunately, due to the dice rolls that advantage fell away and I'm sure I missed some juicy dialogue and information. I was tempted to reload, but I'm going to slog through and see how I can make up for the disadvantages I'm gaining and bridges I'm burning. It's a good thing they don't use an alignment system, because I'm all over the map (sort of mimics my real life personality, chaotic). Actually, now that I'm writing it out, I almost feel like going back to the crash and starting anew now that I have a better idea what I'm dealing with. Also, lost some gold out of my inventory when attempting to split out an item payment. The remainder after the spit was about 20 gold off, don't know where that went unless I was pickpocketed by one of those nasty little urchins.

My son has started the game for a second playthrough and is saying that in some ways it's even more fun this time around, due to the knowledge he has gained from the first time through it.

I'm still finding the combat far too difficult and the game is all combat, no exploration and very little in the way of party interactions. I'll give it a few more days, but honestly, this hasn't been a lot of fun for me. If I could find an easier area to get through and get to Level 4, it might be a bit better, but so far it's all slog now that I'm through the first few quests and the enemies all seem to have better initiative rolls and far more powerful spells.

EDIT:

Okay, so this is really weird. I just restarted an area because I'd made a critical mistake before I began the sequence and need to replay it.

In one spot, there are clouds of poison gas. In the first time through here, which was maybe two hours ago, I was able to cover the gas vents with large objects and proceed through the area.

This time, there are no vents to cover! Seriously -- no vents. It's bizarre. Can't cover the gas vents, no way to proceed. I'm at a loss...


EDIT: Yep. Stuff is vanishing from my inventory. I restarted this area, as I said, and went to use the Invisibility potion I used in the last try. Guess what? I don't have an Invisibility potion any more. It's just not there in my inventory.

I think that sometimes when I use a resource, the game registers it as being used when I reload. That's the only explanation I can think of. But my whole strategy to beat this big fight coming up was to start with that potion, and it ain't there any more. Very annoying, and exhausting, given that it took me hours to get back to this point.

Hagatha, did your Disarm Trap tools disappear when you were in the Druids Grove? If so, there is a reason for that and some inventory items can disappear there. I do not want to say more for fear of spoilers.

Just so you know, my son played the game for 5 hours yesterday and had 30 minutes of combat total. BG 3 has 170 hours of conversation between characters as well as cutscenes. There is plenty of party interaction overall depending upon what you are doing.

Marian, the items disappeared outside the Druid Grove.

It seems to me that if I use the items and then reload, the game still thinks the items have been used. The only common denominator when this has happened is that scenario; I used the Disarm Trap devices, didn't like the results, reloaded, and Presto! No Disarm Trap devices in my inventory.

Ditto with the Invisibility potion. I used it, didn't like the result of the battle, reloaded and replayed the sequence and again, the potion was simply gone.

Anyway, I did finally finish the difficult area I was in after about 6 hours of trying. Phew!

Now I really must see if I can find an easier area to work through.

Good luck! Glad you got through that difficult area!

Have you checked your other party member's inventory? I've heard that in some cases folks have transferred items over to other members of the party inadvertently. On a somewhat related note, I found my gold that was missing, the little urchins took it while I was splitting it. Apparently that's not uncommon, so watch your pocketses when around sneaky looking individuals.

I know Larian has some really ambitious programming around the game timeline never stopping. So if you divert from a quest after actually seeing the location and you decide to go somewhere else, the previous area will change as will the conditions around it and not always for the better. Not that this helps you, but I wonder if that's also hosing the inventory, because it's not going backwards in time to recover what you used. I did a few searches and found quite a few inventory complaints, several were recent. I guess they still have some patches to pump out. Hopefully they get that sorted out soon, I don't like to lose stuff like that either.

No, the items are simply nowhere to be found in any inventory, sadly. And no matter how far back I reloaded, even hours previously, the items were still not there. I had to brute force my way through the area instead of sneaking in and resolving things easily.

I'm also experiencing trouble with party members just standing around and not following, and at one point Astarion lost the ability to jump -- the icon wasn't even on the bar, plus he was stuck in the Sneakposition because that icon was also missing. In the last quest I tried I gave up because one party member refused to follow the group out of a danger area and she just stood there burning in a patch of fire.

I'm not keen on the timeline continuing if you've seen an area and don't go in and finish the quest right then and there, even if you lack the capability. In my opinion, that kind of penalty stifles exploration. Ambitious, perhaps, but fun? Questionable! The area I'm in is impossible right now so I guess I should go back to a much earlier save and avoid it altogether.

Anyway, I made it to level 4 and with that comes the chance to increase your stats by 2 points, so that's nice. Makes combat a lot easier. I've decided that Astarion and my Bard are essential in any party combo. Between the two of them they can get up to a whole lot of mischief, I rarely miss unlocking or disarming, and any Charisma-based conversation option is a breeze. I found a fifth party member and a doggie, too.

If I had a nickel for every time....

Ironically, the character in question is basically on fire all the time anyway, being a Tiefling with a boiler for a heart...

But I've managed to find some easier areas to get through, allowing me to level up, and the extra 2 attribute points make a big difference, especially with the fighters. I can see a second game being a lot easier, knowing where to avoid at low levels, and knowing which quests not to trigger too soon.

I keep forgetting to review my party's spells before levelling up, though.


EDIT: I finally made it to the Underdark, and that's where the fun really starts. My party is finally able to win most battles so the exploration is more fun. The Underdark area is really quite wonderful, with loads of quests and characters and decisions to make, plus at least a couple of merchants.

Awesome, glad to read that the Underdark is where it's at. Looking forward to it. Ended up getting side-tracked by work (stupid money, stupid food, stupid mortgage ) hoping to start up again this weekend.

I'm a bit lost now, but I've made it to level 5, so have a bit more firepower. Still in the Underdark. Loads of loot.

OK, snacks - check, drinks - check, Baldur's Gate 3 open and ready - check. Flaps up, runway clear, on to gaming, woohoo!

Annnnddd... we have LIFTOFF! Have fun, Trail!

Boooo, I ended up having to work through most of Friday night

On the good side, I did get all my yard work done in the afternoon and only have one appointment today, so fingers crossed I can get back into the game. I mean "Tal, Avatar of Zariel the Warmonger" needs some motivation after all.

Well, gaming delayed is still gaming!

I'm almost finished with the Underdark but have lots to do above-ground. And I have a few Goblins to tend to.

I made one big mistake early on, so my second defense of the Grove is much harder than it needed to be. However, my party is a lot stronger now. I've also learned that I have missed a few party members, so I'll be off looking for them, too.

It sounds like you are really on your way now, hagatha! I hope you get hours of fun out of it. This is also a very replayable game.

Well, will be jumping in later.

Larian dropped their first patch today, so hoping that helps with the inventory glitches that have been reported.

Here's the details: https://baldursgate3.game/news/patch-1-now-live_87

Oh, good. I'm far enough along in the game that losing a few things isn't a huge issue now, but it's pretty annoying when your entire battle strategy hinges on one missing Invisibility potion!

Missing invisibility potion - Is that irony or coincidence? I get those mixed up sometimes


I was able to play again last night, but decided to start from a save directly after the Nautiloid crash. Handled the Intellect Devourers (AKA "Brain Dogs") fairly well this time. Although, I did go down, but with only 10 hit points that's not too unusual for a novice Warlock. Shadowheart won the fight and was at least able to get me off the ground with a restoration spell. Had to stop before hitting the Druids though, will be continuing today.

Was doing some reading on multiclassing. Since the 5e ruleset is a little more forgiving than prior rulesets for multiclassing, I think I might try a Warlock Rogue build. They seem pretty much made for each other, depending on the character's background. They don't have an Alignment stat in BG3, I know it's not a well liked stat, but I was planning on making Tal (the name of my character) Lawful Evil since that was the alignment of his infernal benefactor in cannon D&D. Guess I'll just have to keep that in my head, like the parasite I'm currently carrying.

EDIT: OK, now I know why the stupid brain dogs and the battle outside of the Druid's glade was more difficult than it needed to be. I was missing a party member. Only just found Gale, the Wizard this time around. That helped quite a bit. Also, hopefully not jinxing myself, but my dice roles have been amazing this go round. Of course now that I've said that.... I'm also definitely seeing improvements in the game's leveling system and also better explanations around spells and spell slots. Now, they're actually listing the number of spell slots characters have per level. Some graphic details seem to be improved and I noticed that repetitive "AHHHHH, ahhh, AHHHHH, ahhhh" chorus at the start screen has been eliminated, thankfully, cuz that was really annoying.

I still haven't found Gale, so once I get back aboveground I'll be headed off to look, and for any other stray party members I may have missed. I did that first fight outside the gate with Lazeal, Shadowheart and Astarion, and my Bard and it was okay but that was because I came at it from high ground. It took me surprise but they were even more surprised!

I haven't found Lazeal yet, didn't in my first start of the game either. Only had Shadowheart and Astarion for the fight outside the gates. Surprised we didn't all go down. Now, I need to go back and see if I can locate her. I'm really interested in how they develop the Githyanki, they're such an interesting culture. First enslaved by the Mind Flayers and now their hunters, hold silver swords that can cut the virtual threads that hold you to your native realm and so on. So much they could do with them.

I like the resting system, too, where you get to talk to your companions and move your relationships with them along -- a page out of the Dragon Age: Origin playbook.

Lazeeal was on the ship and joined me right at the start. If you missed her there's a better fighter (in my opinion) available a bit farther on, too.

See for me, I did meet Laezel on the ship, but she wasn't anywhere to be found after the crash, only Shadowheart. After mentioning to Shadowheart that we should go and search for her, Shadowheart made the assumption that Laezel had run off - Fascinating Captain. I wonder if it has to do with something I did or said onboard the ship.

I just remembered -- if you explore a bit more close to the crash and the Grove you should find her. She needs help...

EDIT: If you really want to have her in your party:

Cool, thanks for the tip. Luckily, this play I've been investigating more around the area before going to the grove, that's how I found Gale.

I'll return the favor if you need to find Gale

Thanks!

I Hate the thought of leaving a party member out.

So far I'm really impressed by the voice talent/acting for BG3. They've really set the bar high for other games. "One-take Bethesda" could use a lesson from them

The characters are all quite different, too.

I think I'm getting close to where I have to leave the first area. I know i messed up a couple of quests but overall I'm close to level 6 and finally have some cash. In the last fight Gale was the hero who demolished the enemy from above and remained unscathed while the rest of the party perished. He seems to be a better spellcaster than Wyll. I'll have to see about tweaking Wyll at the next level-up.


EDIT: I just attended a party in my honour...in my underwear. Something I would avoid at all costs in real-life!

That's the only way I go to parties, it's breezy.

It's an odd quirk of the game, though, since most of the guests were fully clothed. Well, my character is a bard, after all. Performance is part of the gig.

Well Done The Bard !!!!

There was a fair bit of chatting up, too, I have to say. And to think she only just met Gale literally that day. My character is a brazen hussy, in fact.

Hagatha

Well, that explains the underwear. Woohoo!

And there is a fair amount of fraternization going on in camp, it seems. It's quite a bit different from romancing stuffy old Anomen.

I've made it to the Gith camp. Made some choices. I think they're mad at me now.

My son says that if you are in your camp and you open your inventory, there is a setting in the top right corner on the lefthand side, above where you equip your items, where it will toggle your armor on/off when you are in your camp (or maybe anywhere? he is not sure). Just in case you haven't seen this feature.

No, I hadn't seen that feature. The default is underwear, apparently. A little joke, perhaps?

Well, while hunting around for our neighborhood Gith got into combat with a group of baddies on top of the chapel ruins. They were a bit tough with our magic and rogue heavy group, but we prevailed without anyone going down with the help of a couple health potions. It's been awhile since I've had to engage the strategy side of my brain for turn-based gaming. Been playing Skyrim for too long.

My level 6 party is definitely doing better in combat. I'm finding that Misty Step is one of the absolute best combat abilities/spells -- when all else fails, a magical repositioning behind an enemy works wonders.

Yeah, I was getting lazy and relying too much on cantrips and shield spells. This was just the combat I needed to kick my tabletop game-brain back into gear. I need to watch my positioning to set up better for defensive spells. I've got a couple Fey oriented, area of effect spells that I keep overlooking and should have used in that last encounter.

I've finished everything I can in the first region and am cleaning up the Mountain Pass area. There's one quest in there I need to complete, I think, and then I'm moving on into Chapter 2.

I keep forgetting that my Bard has the Silence Spell. Just started using it all the time in my fights with the Gith. My newest tactic is to sneak as close as possible and blast that at a group of enemies. I'm still lousy at combat but Rarely need more than a couple of tries now, with the exception of a few battles with multiple enemies. I ran into a Beholder a while back and that didn't go well the first two tries.

I feel bad for some of my companions. I haven't used Shadowheart since I first found the Grove. Wyll has been sitting around since I picked up Gale. I go back every now and then to level them up, then move on. I might respec Wyll a bit next time.

Beholders are cool beasties. They're in my top tier list for cool D&D monsters right next to Displacer Beasts, which are right out of science fiction.

And just before I stopped playing last night I ran into a pack of Ghouls and other Undead beastlies. The loot is starting to get better, though my party still has only a small amount of cash.

I'm definitely having fun with this. Still haven't found that darn Gith though

Had a little fun under the chapel. We ran into a friendly Lich? Maybe? I think that's what they were. Seems like the combo of a Fey benefactor and Teifling Warlock is working out pretty good. Gale really is very squishy though. He's seems to almost always be at the verge of death.

I know it's been done to death with several different versions and an MMO, but I'd really like to see Larian redo Neverwinter Nights 1 with the expansions in this game engine. Is that too much to ask?

If you missed Lae'zel at the start of the game, before you get to the Grove, you can't recruit her, I believe. I find Karlach to be almost as useful as a tank anyway. I use them interchangeably, though Karlach is a much more congenial pal.

I find Gale to be enormously useful. I just load him up with healing potions and let him blast away with offensive spells. I find Wyll to be less effective, though he gets all his spells back with a short rest.

The character I find least useful is Shadowheart, which is a drag because a lot of Act 2 involves her. My Bard has an amulet that lets her cast two healing spells, and she has one of her own anyway, so she doubles as my healer in combat. I might respec Shadowheart to be a bit tankier.

I ran into a familiar face in Act 2. As barb-tonged as ever. And apparently there is another familiar face in Baldur's Gate city.

I'm at level 8 now. I have a feeling I'll max out long before I get to the last Act.

The only thing I don't like is that you can only change your spells at level up. I'd prefer to be able to do that before resting.

With only 4 members in my party I've been relying on Shadowheart as a tank/healer by equipping her with a torch instead of her mace. Actually does more initial damage and adds a chance of fire damage. Gale is talented, but with his low hit points it only takes one to drop him to near death. We do use healing potions, but those are limited right now. That's the only thing that's kept him going as I don't want to take too many Long Rests this early in the game, so Shadowheart's healing spells are on hiatus until our next one.

Regarding spell prep, Bards, Fighters, Rangers, Rogues, Sorcerers, and Warlocks can only prepare new spells at level up. Wizards, Druids, Paladins and Clerics can change spells anytime after a Long Rest, as long as you aren't in combat.


Also this is hilarious! Turns out your abyssal tattoos in Baldur's Gate 3 are...

Double posting to let folks know I've put a link below and in the first post of this thread to an article at PC Gamer that gives a fairly good primer on the Dungeons and Dragons 5e ruleset that Larian used for BG3. One thing to keep in mind is that Larian overlaid some of their own "house rules" as well, so there are a few differences here and there. For the most part though, they hold fairly tightly to the D&D ruleset.

https://www.pcgamer.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-dandd5e-to-play-baldurs-gate-3/

I actually had Gale in a set of Light Armour for a while until he levelled up a few times.

I have a very difficult battle coming up, one that I tried a few times a while ago and gave up on. Given the number of undead enemies I'm thinking mage power rather than fighter power. Makes me wish I had a Paladin in the party, though. That always simplified undead horde fighting.

I think Shadowheart has a turn undead spell available, maybe, or was that my character? Looking forward to the end of the work week, so I can jump in again. I really haven't had any good convo's with my party members yet. My game playing has been so abbreviated, I rarely hit camp. *Sigh* retirement cannot get here quick enough.

I highly recommend retirement.

I hadn't looked to see if Shadowheart has a turn undead spell. I should check.

I'm getting closer and closer to heading off to Baldur's Gate.

Yeah, if it weren't for health insurance I'd be retired right now. Stupid, flawed human body.


I just found out one of my favorite voice actors and all around persons is doing a voice in BG3. Matt Mercer is voicing the iconic Minsc, complete with mousey companion If you're not familiar with Matt, he's done a ton of voice work on games and anime, and is the Dungeon Master for the Twitch/You Tube series "Critical Role", which I highly recommend, especially their Campaigns 1 & 2, Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein (both of which are now animated series on Amazon Prime Video).

Yes, I can see how that's a huge concern. We do have it good here in Canada. That's one thing we don't have to plan for in retirement, and John's illness cost us virtually nothing. One less thing to worry about.


So I'm happily wandering around the Shadowlands, wondering which part of the quests I have I should do first, and also wondering just exactly how I'm supposed to go and talk to that guy I, um killed a long while back.

Yeah, that could be a problem

Actually, I believe your handy cleric should have a "Speak with the Dead" spell. Not sure if the guys body is still around or if will even work, but worth a try.

I have an amulet with that spell. I actually have a big collection of rings and amulets and other tchotchkes cluttering up my inventories because they come with handy dandy spells. Need to talk to a dead person? Slip on that amulet.

The bodies do seem to stick around. Anyway, I'm sure there's some way around it. And if not, there's always next time. I haven't done any tweaking of my party members in this game after all. At level 8 everyone seems pretty competent.

Level 8, you'd kick my party's collective butt We are still small.

Time to get a-gaming...after a nap.

I'm getting close to the end of Act 2 but it's one of those huge areas where you can't rest, so by the time I get to the boss battle I'll have no spells left to use. Hopefully I have enough scrolls to get by.

Yikes, thanks for the warning. I'll have to make sure we stock up prior to making it that far.

Act 2 is pretty complex. You can make moves that have major consequences down the road. I ended up playing a couple of big areas twice because the immediate result was very much not to my liking and in one instance, the quest was bugged; the only solution was to murder someone to get the quest back on track.

Turns out I killed a potential party member ages ago, too.

Yeah, seems that Larian is working out the bugs as they are reported, so they're being fixed in a loosely chrono order. Not surprised that the later parts of the game have bugs since folks are reporting as they progress through the game. I'll make sure I'm keeping a larger save list. Usually, I like to keep my saves down to about 4-5, but seems like it may be OK to let them build up a bit in the difficult areas. At least I haven't hit any inventory bugs since the last patches came through, that's a good thing.

I wanted to run this character as Lawful Evil, but Larian's Inspiration system doesn't seem to fall in step with the previous D&D Alignments. They seems to rely on the character's backstory and race attributes, though admittedly I haven't looked into it that deeply. Still, I'm tending to go the diplomatic route IF my character stands to profit from it, besides not getting bloodied. I do like having the high Charisma of a Warlock, that has given me some favorable rolls lately.

Went back an located Lae'zel who has been doing pretty well as a straight fighter. She likes to verbally spar and doesn't pull any punches, I sort of like that. Seems to be forthright though I'm getting the impression that she's fairly young and hasn't been out in the field that much.

Well, I came across a fight I can not possibly win, and after fifteen tries, that's it. Game over. Too bad. I was enjoying myself. But I had to use all my resources on the way to the fight, could not rest, so that's it. It's a two-shot, everyone dead fight.

What's really annoying is that they've made it impossible to backtrack so that you can go back to the previous area, rest, maybe grab different party members, instead of making you go through the area again -- and still use up all your resources. I reloaded an earlier save and went through the whole area with a different party and still never did get anywhere with the fight. It's just discouraging, and I have almost never reached this point with a game before, where the will to continue is just not there.

Maybe I'll start Starfield instead.

What fight is it? Just curious. There are some really tough fights in this game. My son says that even on "easy" mode it can be difficult.

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.