That was just one such example. There’s also DC30 dialog checks here and there. Even in Act 1. But yeah, scumming it due to critical failures is an even better example. You’ve also got 25 quick save slots by default and you can increase it. So scummers can really spam F5 with peace of mind.
There could be more auto-saves though. I feel like they are randomly placed. Or to be more generous, curated.
That’s a good thing about it. Pathfinder games look similar but require obnoxious hoop jumping to get through. Going into BG3 I was afraid that its modern d20-ness would make it insufferable the way BG never was. But it’s similar to BG in that regard. I’ve completed BG2 as a teen not knowing what d20 was and it’s perfectly possible to do here - complete the game on normal difficulty without mastering the ruleset I mean, the game won’t allow you to not know what d20 is. You’ll have challenging decisions in applying the rules to manipulate the environment, while a game like Pathfinder uses vastly inferior UI to make you drown in internal terminology and math optimization without it interacting with anything on the screen.
On the other hand, I still remember Pathfinder WotR locations and characters despite hating the game and dropping it midway, BG3 is already an inoffensive blur in my memory.
DC 30 checks aren’t that hard. DC 99, now those are the doors you’re not supposed to lockpick!
The doors they don’t want you to pick just say Impossible to lockpick actually. You usually have to do a puzzle to unlock them. Hard pass.
For the record I always save scum when one of my idjit companions becomes the face of the party. Blast these flaky as fuck cutscene trigger plates.
You’d love playing co-op. There if you bring a story-related character but the conversation or cutscene is triggered by your co-op partner it’s like nobody’s there. In every single companion quest I’d hit at least one conversation where the wrong player was selected by a cutscene and someone said “Oh what a pity X is not there to participate in this important event” when X is just standing there.
It also means that I have never seen a conversation where more than one companion said anything, because I have 1 companion with me and my co-op partner has 1 companion and only one of us is “present” during any conversation.
I think this boils down to Faerun’s intended design to be generic and the history each person has with D&D. For example, my daughter and I have been playing Co-op and while I did expose her and her sister to various adventure locations as children I never exposed them to the Underdark, Drow or Lloth and they were never big D&D book readers so going through Act 2 in BG3 with her it has made a huge impression as well as the storyline arc with Shadowheart and Shar and even though it’s been over a week she is still a bit obsessed about it and I gave her the R.A. Salvator books and she’s already up to the Crystal Shard and can’t stop annoying her sister and friends about it, which makes me a proud papa :)
I do admit that BG2 did this far better, but I’m incredibly biased. The Asylum is one of my favorite levels and I think Amn is great, but BG1 is forgettable as anything else.
I still remember Xoti from Pillars 2 because I made her “wade into the darkness of her waking nightmares and reap the souls of the fallen” and she became even more crazy weird after that. It reminded me of Anomen from BG2 when you “make him” fail his trial. His entire personality changes after that. What was once a gallant gentlemen has become a bitter vindictive man. It’s hilarious.
BG3 character spoiler
Shadowheart feels the closest to that type of thing in BG3. Although it feels far less drastic of a change so far. Almost only cosmetic…
Saw a fun build on YT, a 6-6 sorc/tempest cleric caster blaster, wears heavy armor so somewhat tanky, and has great concentration checks so can maintain stuff like chain lightning, gonna give it a try.
Hilarity from the recent court documents:
Take as an example this May 2022 document accidentally leaked by Microsoft as part of its lawsuit with the FTC which dismissed Baldur’s Gate 3 as a “second-run Stadia PC RPG” that Microsoft figured it could get onto PC Game Pass for about $5 million.
Larian’s director of publishing, Michael Douse, said today in response to a Polygon article about the leaked comment that he wasn’t surprised by Microsoft’s expectations. “There just isn’t any existing data that could have told anyone how BG3 was going to perform,” he said.
As clarified in various articles since, “second-run != second-rate”. At the time of that document, BG3 was slated to be a Stadia exclusive. So by the time it became a contender for Gamepass, it would be a ‘second-run’ game and thus not a major draw to promote Gamepass since the hype would have died down by then.
Just pointing this out, as I misread this as a complete slam against BG3 when I first read it. It might still be a slam against it, but the context of the time was a little different. I suppose one could ask why things weren’t revised since then though…
Patch 3 supposed to come out tomorrow.
I now have three concurrent campaigns.
My main one has been parked in Act III. I really do not want to do the House of Hope fight so I keep putting it off.
The second one just finished Act II. (L9) I’m putting off this one because I do not like the way my MC (drow sword bard/thief) looks and really hope Friday’s patch includes the appearance makeover.
My third one is in the Underdark (L5)
That third one Laezal is a Vengeance Paladin (using the Silver Sword exploit. I wouldn’t recommend it.) and Karlach is a Eldritch Knight tavern brawler. Turns out the other two characters are superfluous lol. I swapped my MC from land druid to ranger (hunter) at level 5 but I have no idea where I’m going with her build. I have had lots of self-inflicted bugs with this play through, but that aside using the FOTM OP builds makes this is a different game in terms of difficulty. Granted I know the fights now and that alone makes things easier but Laezal and Karlach pretty much just kill things on their turn. But as many hours as I’ve put into this game I’m still finding new things.
You cray.
If I did a second playthrough, I would go for a “disaster” playthrough. Not evil. I’d try and be a pacifist actually, but bad things keep happening. Like…
The gobs attack and wipe out the druid grove…
Isobel is kidnapped from the assault on Last Night…
Patch 3 delayed to tomorrow. Larian says it’s a big one.
Well let’s hope it doesn’t break saves.
I’ll be sure to put 15 straight hours into the game right after it installs.
BG3 was never Stadia exclusive. If that’s what they thought, that speaks just even more poorly of their research.
Impressive that there are millions of gameplay hours so far and this…
Man, I just read the “correct way” to get the Blood and I have to say it’s bonkers. I didn’t notice any of the crap involved. I just took the damn thing and blew up the traps.