don't touch my dog
Sep. 25th, 2023 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sidewaysI finally made it to Act III of Baldur's Gate 3 today, and immediately ran headfirst into what I refuse to believe is anything but a very deliberate prank constructed by the developers... and it got me so bad I had to walk away and lie down for a while because I was crying with uncontrollable laughter and couldn't see the screen. It was like getting cursed by Tasha's Hideous Laughter in real life. Devastating critical hit.
(For the curious, this article describes much the same situation I ended up in.)
• Overall I'm really enjoying the game! Wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others on the grounds that even if it turns out to have a really crummy ending (which I don't imagine it will), it's been 50+ hours of high quality gaming so far and that's good enough for me.
• I am greatly appreciating the lack of boring miniquests - which is to say miniquests exist, but I've found none of them boring. There has been SO much work put into designing an enormous array of unique maps and NPCs and creatures and flexible interactions and it's kept me unfailingly entertained. The balance of combat to non-combat activities is probably one of the best I've run into in a while, at least as far as my own tastes go.
• The combat's taken some getting used to, but I'm digging it! I've seen some criticism thrown at the underlying random dice mechanic, and I'd accept it's more 'fun' to deal with back and forth status effects as a battlefield complication than it is straight up missing your shot, but I haven't found it too frustrating as is. That said, I am playing on easy, so the dice probably aren't as merciless as they could be.
• Because I'm playing on easy mode I can get away with a lot, which is good because I'm pretty much running my druid as a spellcaster AND a rogue AND a tank AND the requisite silvertongue. Is this logical? No. Am I accepting criticism? Not unless you want to eat my OWLBEAR ORBITAL BOMB.
• As always, investing in at least one type of speech check is a guaranteed shortcut. Feels a little bit like cheating but, eh, I'm a sucker for a speech check.
• My personal pledge to accept whatever outcome the dice give me did not last long. Save scumming foreverrrr.
• I really like that each companion's personal journey is deftly bundled up within the story itself, compared with BioWare's notorious flavour of "okay I know we're on a time critical mission to save the universe, but if you don't help me sort out my daddy issues I might kill you". Several of these personal journeys have been KILLER so far, I'm delighted and stressed.
• The latest patch added a magic mirror for character aesthetic changes throughout the game. Phew! Nice to have an escape from the curse of "I liked this face until I saw it in action".
• Based on what I've seen so far and some discussions with friends, releasing all of Act I as early access may have resulted in the narrative pacing being a little muddled. Reserving final calls until I've finished the game myself of course, but while the early access model has its perks for developers, it seems like it has its traps as well.
• Solid queer representation! Pretty good racial variety! Oh no the only fat body models are monsters and villains, why this.
• I have rolled exactly one 30 so far and it was to tell someone that if they touched my dog I would gut them. Apt.
(For the curious, this article describes much the same situation I ended up in.)
• Overall I'm really enjoying the game! Wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others on the grounds that even if it turns out to have a really crummy ending (which I don't imagine it will), it's been 50+ hours of high quality gaming so far and that's good enough for me.
• I am greatly appreciating the lack of boring miniquests - which is to say miniquests exist, but I've found none of them boring. There has been SO much work put into designing an enormous array of unique maps and NPCs and creatures and flexible interactions and it's kept me unfailingly entertained. The balance of combat to non-combat activities is probably one of the best I've run into in a while, at least as far as my own tastes go.
• The combat's taken some getting used to, but I'm digging it! I've seen some criticism thrown at the underlying random dice mechanic, and I'd accept it's more 'fun' to deal with back and forth status effects as a battlefield complication than it is straight up missing your shot, but I haven't found it too frustrating as is. That said, I am playing on easy, so the dice probably aren't as merciless as they could be.
• Because I'm playing on easy mode I can get away with a lot, which is good because I'm pretty much running my druid as a spellcaster AND a rogue AND a tank AND the requisite silvertongue. Is this logical? No. Am I accepting criticism? Not unless you want to eat my OWLBEAR ORBITAL BOMB.
• As always, investing in at least one type of speech check is a guaranteed shortcut. Feels a little bit like cheating but, eh, I'm a sucker for a speech check.
• My personal pledge to accept whatever outcome the dice give me did not last long. Save scumming foreverrrr.
• I really like that each companion's personal journey is deftly bundled up within the story itself, compared with BioWare's notorious flavour of "okay I know we're on a time critical mission to save the universe, but if you don't help me sort out my daddy issues I might kill you". Several of these personal journeys have been KILLER so far, I'm delighted and stressed.
• The latest patch added a magic mirror for character aesthetic changes throughout the game. Phew! Nice to have an escape from the curse of "I liked this face until I saw it in action".
• Based on what I've seen so far and some discussions with friends, releasing all of Act I as early access may have resulted in the narrative pacing being a little muddled. Reserving final calls until I've finished the game myself of course, but while the early access model has its perks for developers, it seems like it has its traps as well.
• Solid queer representation! Pretty good racial variety! Oh no the only fat body models are monsters and villains, why this.
• I have rolled exactly one 30 so far and it was to tell someone that if they touched my dog I would gut them. Apt.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-25 09:43 pm (UTC)I'd agree with all of this entirely! I've dumped some 170 hours into it (...thus far...) and I keep finding new and delightful things to do/NPCs to talk to/sidequests to complete/main quests to complete in many, many, many alternate ways. It really is a joy to play and I'm enjoying it to the intensity that I enjoyed BioWare games as a teenager.
I'm also really enjoying the combat! I play D&D irl, too, so I'm playing on hard, and it's really challenging while still being possible to do. The dice rolls are significantly less generous, but it's still fun. I'm also sincerely super impressed by the amount your character's backstory affects how the world reacts to you, and playing as the Dark Urge changes the narrative entirely again--like, damn. The only thing I worry about is for the Larian devs here, ngl, but if more games were like this I would be entirely lost to the depths of Steam with little reason to resurface. Bar, as you say, the lack of fat people... like, man, if I can be a beefy eight foot tall elf, why can't I be a fat elf? (I'm fat myself, so this one Irritated me.)
Also, OH MY GOD CLOWN SEX. That is so fucking funny. I find clowns creepy so I was like "I Do Not Want Facepaint", but THE CHARACTER YOU'RE ROMANCING... Nooooooo......
I'm so glad you're enjoying it! It's such a wild ride and is actually often funny enough to make me laugh aloud (!!!), which feels like a miracle.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-26 12:43 am (UTC)The amount of detail in this game is really incredible at its best, I've just been blown away time and time again. At the same time it's undeniably wobblier in other places - by Act III the companion banter has basically vanished for one thing? - and part of me wishes they'd had another year to really polish up everything and make a game that's all round exceptional. But I can't cry too hard over it being merely 'very good'.
That said yeah, it seems inevitable crunch was involved. I wish it was easier to get the mix of input and output just right.
The clown sex was so mortifying TAT Like I'd had this slow, chaste romance with Shadowheart for SO LONG and then we finally get to the next big shippy scene and I can't appreciate it even a little because I'm in sobbing hysterics. The developers did this on purpose.
Tell me about your Tav! :D Name, build, overall narrative thrust?
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Date: 2023-09-26 10:20 am (UTC)OH, YES. Definitely over multiple playthroughs. I'm playing a few co-op playthroughs with friends, too, so that really inflates the numbers as well.
I definitely agree with you on the wobbliness! I also expected the actual city of Baldur's Gate to be More, but apparently they had to cut an entire area for time. Act III feels like it's on the shakiest ground. I also find that a lot of the characters glitch by that point, too; I had Gale reprimanding me for making a decision, when I hadn't actually even spoken to the NPC at all yet, and didn't realise I needed to find them! But exactly as you say, it feels kind of meaningless to moan about those sorts of things when considering the wider scope and size of the game.
OH NO WITH SHADOWHEART?????? That's so 😭😭😭 Noooooo.... But I agree; it was absolutely on purpose. Larian know what they're doing.
My main Tav right now is a drow! Her name is Rena, she's a warlock (because I find warlocks super fun to play), and she's kind of good aligned with a nice side helping of pragmatism (i.e. fuck you pay me). I've already romanced Astarion, but Shadowheart is my best girl; I actually intend on writing a no-tadpole AU for her and Shadowheart! (Where Shadowheart, upon being denied justiciar-ship, decides to take a vow of silence and refurbish the Shar temple in Act I.) How about you?? Name, build, narrative thrust--any other thoughts? I LOVE talking about this game, hah.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-26 09:50 pm (UTC)I've def been noticing more bugs, where there had been almost none before. Had to restart a sequence last night because shifting to camp and back (to grab a party member) accidentally loaded us in on the wrong floor and thus threw me into a cutscene I didn't have any context for. Also failed a roll because the bonuses I selected just didn't register! At the same time, I'm not too worried about this sort of thing, because it can be patched up over time. It's harder to... hmm, rebalance the main plot flow-through. Act I was so much fun but, as a friend pointed out, once you find out who the main players are it feels a bit like a very extended prologue.
Yes... with Shadowheart... literally the scene from the article, but I was the one in clown paint. Could be worse. A friend had an emotional scene with their LI, Astarion, and they were both clowns.
Niceeee! And ooh, I love the sound of that fic 👀 "Vow of silence" little miss discretion above all would, lol. Thank goodness she can say so much with an eyebrow.
I decided not to overthink my first character in order to just get through the game; Rumi the druid is a very straightforward nice and heroic type so I can make friends with everyone and save lots of people. I've been brooding a bunch on a proper RP playthrough though, feat. a half-drow Dark Urge named Irruit, who'll be a bit more complex >:) I like building on canon bones sometimes, so even though the game itself won't necessarily let me pull it off in the game itself, I'm headcanoning her as an urban druid (aka probs a ranger/druid multiclass) who grew up in Baldur's Gate and [cough] was maybe childhood mates with a certain scrappy red tiefling. Alas, they'd argued heavily around the time Karlach went to work for Gortash; when she disappeared Irruit was left with the impression she'd up and done a bunk without a word, and she spent the next ten years being really normal about it.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-25 11:07 pm (UTC)Yeah, I don't think I've come across a single quest that felt like pointless filler! I'll grant that I haven't finished Act I yet, but that's still a pretty solid track record. The maps are so well-thought-through - I tend to dislike mazey underground dungeon areas in video games, but the Underdark is so weird and gorgeous it ended up winning my heart. I'm playing on explorer mode as well - I did my time in BG1/2 where there were FIVE difficulty levels and none of them were easy! You're not getting me again! The combat is fun enough to keep me engaged without being challenging (yet), which is just how I like it.
Your druid's playstyle sounds like a delight (I wish the owlbear cub would show up for me so I too could have an orbital bomb... /sob) ♥ What species did you go with? I'm assuming they're not Dark Urge-y?
Yeah, I was just thinking about the lack of fat representation/body type diversity in general (because I ran into a quest where they managed to make a [spoiler-redacted nonhuman entity that didn't even have body fat] into a stereotypical greedy fat villain). It really stands out in games like this where - as you say - they're clearly Trying in other areas, even if they don't always get it right.
(The dice know what's up. We will protect Scratch with our LIVES.)
no subject
Date: 2023-09-26 12:56 am (UTC)Even the quests that are 'pointless filler' insofar as they're not heavily linked to the main plot are still just really fun! Is Auntie Ethel a plot critical encounter? Nah. Is it still a hugely memorable and interesting sidequest? Hoo yeah!
As someone who gets lost very easily, the maps have been pretty darn good really! I don't find myself feeling unhappy and claustrophobic, which is nice.
Oh, the cub isn't the bomb. I'm the bomb. Owlbear is by far my most utilised wildshape, haha. Rumi the vanilla hero protag is a half-drow Circle of the Land druid, and she is not embracing her tadpole. Player 2: Dark Urge Boogaloo will be a little more adventurous I think >:)
The lack of body diversity is def one of the more disappointing features :(
Scratch is the sweetest of peas.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-26 11:49 pm (UTC)Yeah, all the quests feel fun and fleshed-out whether they're main-plot-relevant or not. When I think of RPG filler, I think of the sort of quests that only seem to be there to pad/grind out XP (Dragon Age 2, I still love you after all these years, but I am not returning anyone else's lost pantaloons). Auntie Ethel was fantastically creepy and horrifying. That poor drow prisoner. :(
I share the getting-lost curse, but haven't found these maps to be too maze-like so far. (I do invariably manage to find the most awkward route to any destination, though. How many times have I struggled through a series of difficult and injurious jumps that only half my party members can make without a githyanki psionic boost before realising there was a bridge right around the corner? More than once. /sigh)
Oh, the cub isn't the bomb. I'm the bomb.
That makes SO much more sense than the picture I had in my head. I was imagining the owlbear cub as some kind of battle summon that you would yeet at the enemy like a grenade (and wondering why the internet had failed to give me a heads-up about this mildly concerning scenario!!) Even more excited for my second druid-or-ranger playthrough now I know owlbear wildshape is a thing. All the druid subclasses sound like so much fun.
I love Rumi's name! /fistbump of Not Embracing The Tadpole solidarity Have you run into any interesting bits of half-drow reactivity/special interactions? Act I has been consistently good for that on the githyanki front and I feel like drow & half-drow should get at least as much.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-26 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-26 04:42 am (UTC)Unfortunately I can't make this promise. You can talk to animalsss Hoke. There are mushroom peopleeeee. Join ussss.