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Got through a couple of hours, and the game feels like something designed by people who understand neither Baldur's Gate nor D&D very well. The turn-based combat sucks all the momentum out of the game, the companions are awful, the glowing marks on the floor telling you where to go are just awful (maybe those stop appearing later?). The idea of starting where you do and surviving at level 1 is ludicrous, and the "lol time bomb in brain" trope is just tired. It's really the combat that gets me, though. It's probably just my taste, I vastly prefer RTWP, but it seems so slow and sluggish compared earlier BG titles. Obviously, I understand it's Early Access and I'm not writing the game off or anything. But so far, it doesn't seem promising as a BG sequel.
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Oct 7, 2020 07:38
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Eddain posted:I mean, Descent into Avernus, the supposed prequel campaign book to Baldur's Gate 3, has level 5 players literally go to Hell. Also how is "time bomb in brain" a tired trope, what other games have used that recently? And it's one of my least favorite 5E campaigns. But the hoops the opening has to jump through to have you not be immediately turbo-murdered by the much, much more powerful entities aboard are just unbelievable to the point of being laughable. "Uhhh...all the big bad guys are conveniently dead? Or not attacking you for...reasons." The trope isn't video game specific. Time Bombs, specifically "you're the time bomb!", are a lazy way to insert urgency and motivation into a story. It goes right along with "aha! I've poisoned you, but I have the antidote so you have to do what I want within a time frame!". Both tropes can work, but more often they fall flat and the time frames involved subvert the initial urgency. And that's not even digging into Larian apparently being unable to conceive an opening other than "ship going down". It's not a bad game. But I don't think it's going to be a good BG game.
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Oct 7, 2020 10:51
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Hakkesshu posted:This game seems cool but god the companions suck so much rear end. They need a complete redo so I never have to interact with any of these loving people. Each one is an edgier try-hard than the one before them.
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Oct 8, 2020 10:52
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cheesetriangles posted:That's not true at all. The warlock is really chill and easy going. Shame about everyone else. Sorry, I meant their concepts. It's like an entire group of That Guy who is level 1 but has the backstory of an archmage. Though most of them have pretty awful personalities, too. Deltasquid posted:Actually the wizard seems nice enough as well, but kind of a tool Jesus
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Oct 8, 2020 11:36
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Blockhouse posted:Anyway my take is the companions are fine in a vacuum but they really frontloaded characters who are just going to inherently be abrasive - Githyanki are aggressive and no-nonsense, anyone who worships Shar is going to be an rear end in a top hat almost by definition, and Astarion's just had a life that's primed him to be a dick. If they had spread them out a little better, it'd come off as less off-putting. As long as I still had like six other companions to replace them with in the first couple of hours, I'd be fine. Xan, Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, Imoen, Edwin, Dynaheir, Garrick, Kagain, and Branwen are all accessible pretty quickly in addition to Xzar and Monty.
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Oct 8, 2020 14:34
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A 50S RAYGUN posted:while a 'good dm' is subjective, i would say they generally wouldn't - and it's pretty contextually obvious in game if stuff will be hard or not In 33 years of playing D&D, I've rarely encountered a DM that didn't at least provide some context to the difficulty of a check. The few times I have, their games have been dumpster fires and I've left those groups quickly.
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Oct 12, 2020 04:38
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FuzzySlippers posted:I hope we get more companions earlier in the full release. I don't like that if the PC isn't a cleric than I just don't get any healing without Shadowheart and she's my least favorite character so far. I'd honestly rather have more companions with less fully realized edgebro back-stories, if that's the trade-off that must be made. Jan Jannsen was more interesting than any companion in the EA, and his backstory was just "wizard from a turnip farming family". Give me Dwight Schrute, Beet Expert Druid.
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Oct 12, 2020 05:24
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DancingShade posted:I kind of just long for days of playing an utterly broken high level 2nd edition monk murder machine. Level 12 (single class) isn't really "epic" by any stretch. And I think most single classes max out at ~30 unless you're doing a solo run. There's likely XP to get higher, but a lot of XP is lost to the "one level at a time" 1E rule the GBG followed. And, of course, there's racial level limits to consider. One of my favorite of the GBG, to be sure.
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Oct 12, 2020 09:12
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DancingShade posted:Well there is a lot of charm to playing low level stuff too - I think the BG3 intro on the nautalis is fantastic. It all comes down to encounter design and how interesting the set pieces are. Oh, I wasn't attacking your post in any way. I like all levels of play (though D&D does tend to fall apart at high levels, which is why you were pushed to retire to a keep at level 9 in the earlier editions). DQoK is just one of my favorite games, and I've played the Krynn trilogy about three dozen times from start to finish. I couldn't resist sharing nerd facts about it when I saw it mentioned.
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Oct 12, 2020 09:26
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mitochondritom posted:wait, does this game have that lovely MMO style of marking loot "green" "blue" "purple" etc. How does that even work with how magic items exist in DnD? That's how they're quantified in 5E. Common (grey), Uncommon (green), Rare (blue), Very Rare (purple), Legendary (gold).
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Oct 12, 2020 16:03
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Funky See Funky Do posted:Which stat should I hex people with to make them more vulnerable to eldritch blast? Dexterity since it's a ranged attach or charisma because that's the stat its based on? Neither? Unless Larian changed things, Hex doesn't affect Saving Throws, as they aren't Ability Checks.
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Oct 14, 2020 11:09
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goblin week posted:That sounds really childish of them Her chosen name is Shadowheart. That's not a name a mature person gives themself.
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Oct 19, 2020 13:57
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Dexo posted:yeah I think moving the disengage/jump to everyone as a bonus action makes the system better. Just need to add something else to rogues I disagree pretty hard. D&D combat is fiddly enough without adding in the ability to just...never be stuck in. A BA isn't a particularly high value resource, and giving every class the ability to spend it as a Get Out Of Combat Free Card just screws with the flow of combat too much. Also, without more feats to lock enemies down, it really screws over melee classes. Nothing is less fun than every enemy running circles around you with no repercussions as a Fighter.
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Oct 23, 2020 15:37
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Dexo posted:the NPC's can't do it without burning disengage as an action. NPC's in the game follow different rules to players. The extra mobility doesn't give them a single new option other than maybe "punch two people" and "move farther", both which can already be achieved with a feat. If you think martials just stand still and attack in 5E, I really have to question if you've ever played it. Either you haven't, or you're pretending that's their only option because it supports your argument. If NPCs have different rules, it's whatever...but so far I don't like the addition at all. It doesn't add much while simultaneously loving over rogues.
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Oct 23, 2020 16:01
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Underwhelmed posted:They are apparently stopping at 7 classes though, which is disappointing. Last I saw, they want to add the full gamut, but may have to do it as DLC.
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Oct 23, 2020 16:17
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This might be the dumbest detail of all time. Maybe they don't want the temptation of it sitting on their drive. Maybe they want the money for something else. Who cares? I don't understand why it's so offensive to some people that they chose to refund until release. You'd think they bought it with y'all's money.
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Oct 25, 2020 06:39
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Bussamove posted:Druid for wildshape and paladin for smite both seem like they could throw up some problems. Though smite could easily be implemented like sneak attack is now, a hotbar action instead of something decided on after the fact. I'd hate Smite to be that way. One of the major strengths of Smite is that it can be used after you know you hit or crit. Unless they make it an unlimited resource like SA.
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Oct 25, 2020 09:10
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Nephthys posted:I mentioned it a few pages ago but a game that just released in EA, Solasta: Crown of the Magister, has the perfect implementation for things like Smite or Shield where it just pauses in the middle of the action and gives you the option of using them. The attack roll is also shown so you can just wait until you crit for Smite. It's really practical and intuitive and in a turn based game its not like it interrupts the pacing. I absolutely love how Solasta handles it, and I hope Larian is taking notes. Reaction spells are actually useful. I also like having the grid.
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Oct 25, 2020 10:52
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Open Source Idiom posted:As someone who bounced badly off Divine Divinity Original Sin 1, and who's growing increasingly frustrated with Fort Joy in 2, how different is this? It's a Larian game set in Faerun, with all the baggage of previous Larian games. I'm pretty ambivalent toward D:OS, and don't really care for BG3. It's just too much like D:OS in too many ways. Including the writing.
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Nov 15, 2020 12:44
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What happens if I don't want every single entity in the game to be supermodel beautiful? It's honestly pretty annoying that there's not even really an average option, much less ugly.
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Nov 30, 2020 12:14
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I do think that only having a single concentration slot is too restrictive, especially considering how many spells are concentration at high levels. There should be a 2nd concentration slot awarded at some point. But it's not, like, game-breakingly restrictive. Just annoying when I want to be invisible and cast any other concentration spell at the same time. Casters are still streets ahead of non-casters, even with concentration mechanics.
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Jan 28, 2021 12:02
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Deltasquid posted:It feels like every character is some nerd’s overwrought level 1 yet secretly saved the world twice already character with 5 pages of backstory the other players haven’t read, and the player goes “nu-uh, it’s what my evil character would do” whenever they act like a stick in the mud and pout at doing the quests the gm dangles in front of them It's like you're at a table where every other player is That Guy, and it's equal parts boring and eye-rolling.
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Feb 28, 2021 11:33
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steinrokkan posted:I mean in BG2 half the characters were hard-coded as horrible unusable thief multiclass abominations. 4 out ~17 of the original companions had a Thief class, and one of those was one of the best and most useful companions in the game. I think Nalia is the only one that's truly awful. EE brings it 5/21.
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Feb 28, 2021 13:15
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Funky See Funky Do posted:I wish this would get finished sooner rather than later. I need a big meaty RPG to sink my teeth into and Pathfinder: Kingmaker is just that little bit too amateurish. I really want to like because all the pieces are but gently caress me some of the writing and voice acting is straight out of a 16yo kid's original character backstory. Have you seen the backstories for the companions currently available in BG3? Because if you're hoping for something that rises above "tennage OC backstory", you might be disappointed.
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Mar 27, 2021 10:49
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Mescal posted:
You'd have to roll a 12 in the latter case. D&D is fun in that the number of the stat doesn't matter...the bonus it provides does. A 13 is a +1. Proficiency bonus also factors in, making it 11 and 9 to hit AC 13 respectively at level 1 with a weapon you're proficient in.
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Apr 5, 2021 11:34
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Mordaedil posted:It used to be even more obtuse with THAC0 and the ability scores not even giving bonuses until they were 15 or higher. The bonuses were weird, but THAC0 was pretty easy to grok. I figured it out at 8, and never saw anyone struggle with it past a couple of sessions in 15 years of using it in 1&2E. It's literally just Attack Bonus baked into a Target Number. I still use it a few OSR games, and people are always shocked at how simple it is after years of seeing memes about it. I've honestly seen players have far more trouble calculating the bonuses of their multiple attacks in 3.x.
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Apr 6, 2021 09:31
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Mordaedil posted:I literally can't do THAC0 as a grown-rear end adult without referencing a matrix sheet. You learned it at 8 because it was all you could play with and it became integral to learning. Can you tell me without referencing it what the system shock/resurrection survival chance is for a dwarf with 7 constitution? What does Res Survival have to do with THAC0? I'm not saying old D&D had no clunky or bad rules. I'm not even saying THAC0 isn't clunky. But it is pretty simple. A 15 THAC0 is effectively a +5 Attack Bonus, just built into a Target Number instead of expressed as a bonus. If you have a 15 THAC0, and you roll an 18...you hit 3 degrees above 0, a -3 in the (clunky) -10 to 10 AC system. You rolled a 12? That's 3 degrees below 0, or AC3. Like I said...I introduce people to it fairly often with very little issue, in today's world where there's dozens of competing systems. Is it my go-to? Not really. When I play OSE, I use their non-THAC0 rules. But it's simply not as difficult as the memes make out. inthesto posted:The math of THAC0 is quite simple. It's that the way it's designed is isn't even counter-intuitive; there's barely any logic there at all. It's a system that was ported over from naval wargames, and it shows. 100% agree with this. The biggest problem with 2E and earlier is how inconsistent it is, in the weirdest ways. Devorum fucked around with this message at 12:32 on Apr 6, 2021 |
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Apr 6, 2021 12:29
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deedee megadoodoo posted:there were a few that were not obvious like "3 - 11" which I'm fairly certain was either a typo or someone who didn't realize that you'd have to actually be able to roll these numbers on dice. On the plus side, it definitely helped me learn algebra. Obviously it's 1d6+1d4+1, that super common dice combination that everyone knows and uses!
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Apr 6, 2021 13:12
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Mordaedil posted:If you know math you also know how pluses and minuses interact, yet how does AD&D handle it when you pick up a +3 longsword and wield it? You subtract 3 from your attack. You equip a +5 full plate, what direction does your AC go? That's right, it goes down. An ally casts shield of faith on you, another ally casts bless and you get armor cast on you. 3.x did do us a favor in that regard. No one is saying otherwise. A +3 sword, as with all bonuses To Hit, adds +3 to your role, or subtracts 3 from your THAC0. Whatever works best for you. Armor bonuses always lower your AC...easy. All those armor bonuses wouldn't stack in your other example. None of the math falls on the DM. "Rolled a 14, that hits an AC 2." "Okay, you hit." "Well I rolled an 8, which hits AC 8." "You missed." No DM math necessary. It's a simple equation, if more clunky than what came after...idk what to tell you.
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Apr 7, 2021 06:49
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Skwirl posted:I think the World of Darkness (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, a bunch of other mystical creatures) games do something similar. Different types of damage are worse for different types of magical creatures, and you can get powers and abilities that let you further lessen them, but everyone just has 10 levels of health. The problem with systems like this is that they can easily create "death spirals", where once you start incurring a penalty...the likelihood of you failing increases as well of the likelihood of incurring further penalties. It becomes a feedback loop that leaves players feeling helpless to prevent it getting worse. I still prefer it to the damage sponge HP system, but it can be an issue.
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Apr 9, 2021 05:39
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Skwirl posted:I think the point is, in terms of game narrative, if you're at the point where your health is incurring penalties you should either get the gently caress out of there or have a move that will stop the fight instantly on a good roll. Sure, except the penalties typically apply to all rolls, not just combat related. So "getting the gently caress away" also becomes more difficult, as does getting that "move that will stop the fight instantly" to go off...even on a good roll. Like I said, I prefer this style...but it needs to have something to ameliorate spirals or provide options to disengage once things go south.
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Apr 9, 2021 06:36
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Skwirl posted:Sounds like a lovely loving module. In my opinion, it's the worst first party module to both run and play. Which is saying something since they're all pretty bad.
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May 7, 2021 14:59
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DourCricket posted:If you take Frostmaiden, tinker with the story/characters just a bit to not come out of nowhere, spread the missions out to be even more freeform than presented, dial up the horror and environmental effects about 10~20% and baby you got a stew going. Frostmaiden is, hands down, the worst put together "sandbox" module I've laid my hands on this century. We ditched it because it was less work to just write my own campaign. It's especially egregious when you compare it with what Goodman Games did with Keep on The Borderlands.
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May 7, 2021 17:34
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D&D has reached a point where stats aside from the one for your class are effectively meaningless and so divorced from the fiction that it would make more sense just to give every character a Better At My Class number that scales with level automatically and completely ditch traditional stats. Like Proficiency, but replacing stats altogether. It would streamline the game and make it far less fiddly. But it'll never happen because the Grogs would lose their drat minds. It'd be 4E all over again.
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May 14, 2021 18:48
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Judging from video examples of the desktop 1030, I'd say you'd probably get around 45 FPS in the tutorial at the absolute lowest settings with regular drops and chugs when there's a lot going on. In the more open-world sections, I'd be shocked if it maintained 40 FPS.
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Jan 18, 2022 06:30
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EclecticTastes posted:Yeah, that's a shame, I guess, but it's not like there's a shortage of CRPGs lately, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a console release once BG3 is finished. Just wanted to make sure it was a no-go on getting it now. Though, really, I'd be a little hesitant anyway since there's been no word on whether or not there'll be content from Xanathar's included, which is where a lot of my favorite subclasses are, plus I kinda bounced off of Divinity: Original Sin due to the writing and based on some comments in the thread it doesn't sound like that's improved much. Thanks for letting me know. So far, the game is far more "Divinity: Faerun Sin" than it is Baldur's Gate, in my opinion. It's really not great for me, but other people love it.
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Jan 18, 2022 07:12
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Deltasquid posted:I have to say I don't really understand that criticism a lot. I didn't play BG1 or 2 until just a few years ago and I find BG3 definitely has a similar "feel" to it. You're in these big zones, wander around and find interesting things. Certainly, the opening is very high energy what with the mindflayer abduction and whatnot, but everything from the crash landing onwards just feels the same to me. For me, it's mainly the art style, turn-based combat, and the companions. It all combines to feel far more like I'm playing D:OS than either BG game. I'm not saying it's a bad game, I'm just saying that it doesn't feel like BG to me, personally. And that's fine...I'm glad people are enjoying and I'm looking forward to playing the finished product.
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Jan 24, 2022 12:46
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AlternateAccount posted:Eberron is just mechanopunk/steampunk/whatever. Oh boy, less magic, gears, guns, and robot dudes. It's not even necessarily a bad setting, it's just such a hard swerve. Eberron isn't any of that. It's pulpy Dungeonpunk and is filled with more magic than you can shake a stick at. Like, everything is magic... including the robot dudes and the postal service.
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Jan 25, 2022 02:39
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BrianWilly posted:In fairness, every description of Eberron I've ever heard does make it sound like a completely different setting, and that's coming from someone who read all the rulebooks. Yeah, that's all very Dungeonpunk. Hell, Eberron basically solidified the sub-genre and set down most of its tropes.
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Jan 25, 2022 02:51
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In a way, MC in 5E is similar to DC in 2E. The best bet is usually to have a target level for a class, then multiclass into another class at that breakpoint and stick with the second class. The difference being you're never locked out of abilities or taking levels in the first class.
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Jul 2, 2023 16:53
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