Baldur's Gate 3

[rusty_shackleford]

Game is seriously lacking any towns.

[Gunnar]

I mean, I wouldn't want to play Diablo either if all the male NPCs were written by feminists to be gay and begged me for sex every time I entered Tristram to sell my loot. It's just embarrassing and would make me uncomfortable, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with it which I feel is a natural and normal reaction for a self respecting straight man to have. Why would you put up with that just to play a video game no matter how good it was? It's at least a little bit gay, and makes me honestly think those who are playing this must have latent homosexual tendencies themselves on some level or are so reeking of desperation they are willing to play along. Like imagine you wanted to drink a beer so badly you were willing to go to a gay bar and hang out with a bunch of gay dudes and endure their advances, and say this is okay, this is fine, I'm just doing this because I really want a beer, I can just ignore the guy in chaps grinding on me. It's alcoholic behaviour... what's next, are you guys willing to suck a little bit of **** to play the next good CRPG? All this white male fighter stuff feels like cope, what will you do when they take that away and force you to play as a mexican ******? They are already talking about it. Will you not play the game then, or will you find a new cope and go along with it? What's the line?

[rusty_shackleford]

Why would you put up with that just to play a video game no matter how good it was?

I just kill them and then never have to interact with them, pretty simple tbh.

[Goth-Girl-Supremacy]

I mean, I wouldn't want to play Diablo either if all the male NPCs were written by feminists to be gay and begged me for sex every time I entered Tristram to sell my loot. It's just embarrassing and would make me uncomfortable, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with it which I feel is a natural and normal reaction for a self respecting straight man to have. Why would you put up with that just to play a video game no matter how good it was? It's at least a little bit gay, and makes me honestly think those who are playing this must have latent homosexual tendencies themselves on some level or are so reeking of desperation they are willing to play along. Like imagine you wanted to drink a beer so badly you were willing to go to a gay bar and hang out with a bunch of gay dudes and endure their advances, and say this is okay, this is fine, I'm just doing this because I really want a beer, I can just ignore the guy in chaps grinding on me. It's alcoholic behaviour... what's next, are you guys willing to suck a little bit of **** to play the next good CRPG? All this white male fighter stuff feels like cope, what will you do when they take that away and force you to play as a mexican ******? They are already talking about it. Will you not play the game then, or will you find a new cope and go along with it? What's the line?

I think it's actually way gayer to hate Codex but still use Codex.

[J1M]

companion choice is way too limited

you can respec them but it's not the same
half the companions are flat out annoying edgy tumblr writing tier

Have you tried the generic ones from Withers?

[rusty_shackleford]

companion choice is way too limited

you can respec them but it's not the same
half the companions are flat out annoying edgy tumblr writing tier

Have you tried the generic ones from Withers?

No, going to guess they have zero reactivity.

[J1M]

There is a "DO YOU WANT TO SEE NUDITY YES OR NO" prompt at the start of the game.

This feels like someone bitching that their hand hurts after touching a hot stove.

The important distinction is whether the ****** NPC's keep flirting with your character after turning the nudity off.

It's like with Dragon Age, there was Zevran in the first game but his romance dialogus was low key and if you turn him down he will never bring it up again, while in the second game pretty much every party member flirts with you all the time.

Anders was basically a sex pest in DA2 and you were stuck with him.

Vampire guy in BG3 is basically Milo Yinnapolis.. he's super edgy / broody / self-absorbed and constantly flirty. Luckily you can just poke him with a knife a few times until he stops moving.

I am not very far in the game, but it seems lampshaded that he flirts with everything because his job used to be luring bloodbags back to his master's lair.

So far he has been the most useful character for me due to how hide, cunning action, and sneak attack interact with a bow. Or maybe I just like him because he can unlock things.

[J1M]

Just explored the well in the goblin town. Wasn't expecting teleporting spiders with ranged attacks. Eliminated a lot of strategy, but was still able to inflict some falling damage by burning the webs. Probably the only reason I was able to kill that level 5 queen while at level 3.

[rusty_shackleford]

33 hours in and I haven't found a single town yet, they really messed that part of the game up.

[Segata]

33 hours in and I haven't found a single town yet, they really messed that part of the game up.

You guys shilled BG3 endlessly and now every RPG is gonna copy it, from the constant sex obsessed gay companions to no towns. Enjoy the new golden era of ar pigs

[1998]

33 hours in and I haven't found a single town yet, they really messed that part of the game up.

After 12 hours that doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. But yeah, would have been nice to get the Blighted Village in a non-Blighted form...

[Humbaba]

Cursory companion review:

Astarion is a High Elf Rogue who has prowled the night as a vampire spawn for centuries, serving a sadistic master until he was snatched away. Now he can walk in the light, but can he leave his wicked past behind?

Bargain bin Woljif. Yawn. Vampire spawn is even edgier than Tiefling and somehow even gayer.

A High Half-Elf Trickster Domain Cleric, and one of Shar's dark disciples, Shadowheart was sent on a suicide mission to steal an item of great power. While wrestling with her faith and strange, untamed magic, Shadowheart has enemies on all sides - and a long-buried secret to uncover

We already had a cleric of Shar with enemies and a secret past as a sex virtuoso. BOOOOOOORING.

A Human Wizard, Gale has one ambition: to become the greatest wizard Faerun has ever known. Yet his thirst for magic led to disaster. A Netherese Destruction Orb beats in his chest, counting down to an explosion that can level a city. Gale is confident he'll overcome it, but time is not on his side.

Alright, nuke wizard sounds pretty funny but only if you can have him actually explode. However in all likelihood the "good" ending to his companion quest will be defusing the bomb. Snoooore.

Lae'zel is a consummate Fighter, ferocious even by the standards of a Githyanki creche. Faced with transforming into the very monster she has sworn to destroy, Lae'zel must prove herself worthy of rejoining her people - if they do not execute her first.

Evil fighter lady can work if she's not written to be LOUD AND BRASH STEREOTYPE, HMPH HUMAN WEAKLING **** YOU YOU ARE WEAK I DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH THE WEAK I MUST KILL BECAUSE I AM STRONG AND NOT WEAK.

A Human Warlock, and Noble by birth, Wyll made his name as the heroic 'Blade of Frontiers'. He keeps his pact with a devil well-hidden, and is desperate to escape the hellish bargain - even if that means rescuing the seductive creature that made the deal.

"But you see he's a GOOD satanist!"

Karlach is a Barbarian Tiefling that was sold young to an Archdevil in order to fight in the blood wars, the never-ending battle that rages on in the nine hells. Now that she is free, she seeks revenge on the one who sold her in the first place.

Two action ladies is one too many. One of them should've been a man. Not happy with this lack of male representation.

Halsin is an NPC and Potential Companion in Baldur's Gate 3. Halsin can be found as a prisoner at the Worg Pens, deep within the Shattered Sanctum. Halsin is the first Druid of the Druid Grove, but has been missing since he left with Aradin's expetidition. There is a massive amount of NPCs in Baldur's Gate 3, and their ideals, needs and way of living are strictly related to the actions they perform during the course of the game. Their attitude towards you and your party may be affected by the deeds and decisions you and your party taken on.

Is that the bear?

Minthara is an NPC and potential Boss and Companion in Baldur's Gate 3. Minthara can be found at Shattered Sanctum. Minthara is a ruthless Drow that is preparing an assault on Druid Grove. Bosses in BG3 are powerful enemies that have increased health and pose a bigger challenge for players.

Is that a man?

Minsc was a kind-hearted—but rather addled— Rashemaar warrior that enjoyed many adventures across the Sword Coast and beyond. He joined many adventuring parties throughout the 14th and 15th centuries DR, including the Heroes of Baldur's Gate. Minsc was famously known for his habit of talking to a hamster called Boo, whom he believed was a miniature giant space hamster, despite no one else ever witnessing any evidence of this.

Of course le ebin funny hamster man is here. Was never funny and never useful because Korgan ate him for lunch.

Jaheira is a potential Companion in Baldur's Gate 3. Companions assist the player by joining their party and have their own backstories and unique characteristics. They all have their own Classes and starting equipment. Some of the companions can also be selected in the Character Creation screen, allowing players to play from their point of view. Jaheira is not available as an Origin character, but rather as a party member.

Why her?

tl;dr: No Paladin, no stunty race, no strong male (Minsc being a ****** doesn't count), 2 elves for some reason, no good aligned Cleric and every single one has le ebin tragic backstory. Wrathfinder has the better lineup.



-Humbaba

[Humbaba]

Also just found out that they removed race associated stat bonuses because it was deemed "racist" lmao. I never want to hear any one of you BG3 **** call Wrathfinder pozzed ever again.



-Humbaba

[Acrux]

Cursory companion review:

A Human Wizard, Gale has one ambition: to become the greatest wizard Faerun has ever known. Yet his thirst for magic led to disaster. A Netherese Destruction Orb beats in his chest, counting down to an explosion that can level a city. Gale is confident he'll overcome it, but time is not on his side.

Alright, nuke wizard sounds pretty funny but only if you can have him actually explode. However in all likelihood the "good" ending to his companion quest will be defusing the bomb. Snoooore.

This sounds like a game story I read about years ago. That guy should have been captured and used as a weapon already:

I had an idea for YEARS about a cult of mages that had a “Doomsday Spell” which was devastatingly powerful, but also reasonably cheap in character-cost points because it was uncontrollable and only triggered on the moment of their death.

The idea was that this band of “doomsday mages” had a scarred magic symbol written on their palms that designated them as possessors of this Doomsday spell. Killing them would trigger this effect, which was a colossal explosion that covered over a kilometer radius.

These mages would make no secret of this symbol, raising their palm to those they’d meet so that everyone would know NOT to mess with these guys, as killing them would almost certainly guarantee the death of whomever killed them. They would be feared – and, grudgingly, protected, by anybody they came into contact with. They were the ultimate emissaries of evil. And perfect fodder for recurring villains – the enemies who would smile smugly KNOWING that the heroes wouldn’t dare attack them.

I waited for a long time to bring these guys to bear against the players. I came up with the concept YEARS before I got to use them. And oh, boy, was I prepared for their dramatic appearance in a campaign. The forces of evil were invading the nation of good, and had occupied a fair portion of the eastern territories. They had a gigantic encampment around one major city they had just seized, and were getting ready to move again.

The attacking army sent one of these doomsday mages (whom they were in alliance with) to negotiate a surrender with the defenders – who were in turn joined by the player characters. I’d put a lot of time and effort into this doomsday mage. I expected him to be a recurring villain, a thorn in the player’s side for some time, as I was sure they’d hate not being able to kill this guy.

He appeared. I played him up cocky and oily and just rubbed it in. Nobody could touch him – he knew it, and the players knew it. The players hated him INSTANTLY.

And so they jumped him on the edge of town. And beat the crap out of him. But they did not KILL him. They knocked him unconscious, and kept him alive with healing spells. Just barely.

So now they had an unconscious Doomsday Mage that will self-destruct if he dies. What would you do with him?

Well, one of my inventive players had a summoned mount that could fly. It could carry both him and this unconscious mage. So they flew up to an altitude of about 5,000 feet, flew off to the invading orcish army encampment, and let the unconscious mage drop.

Even assuming a terminal velocity of 20d6 damage, the mage didn’t have many BODY points left to live. He hit the ground and died instantly. The explosion was kind of a Hiroshima / Nagasaki type thing. The flying PC and his mount were too far above the explosion to take any damage, but the orc army was DEVASTATED, as my entire campaign was about to be. I sat in stunned silence as the players looked at each other, grinned from ear-to-ear, and asked, “Where can we find more of these Doomsday Mages?!?!”

After years of expectation, my great plans for the Doomsday Mages were ruined. Overnight, they become nothing but a mere footnote in the history of my campaign world. The Doomsday Mages found themselves hunted to be uses as involuntary weapons of war. Those without means of flying them to their death could kill them with slow-acting poisons. The Doomsday Mages scattered to the winds, seeking magical means to remove the awful doomsday spell and the scar on the palms of their hands.

The orcish advance was halted by the devastating blow to their front lines, allowing the defending kingdom to finally mount a solid counterattack (with the players’ help, of course). Dropping the mage-bomb was the pivotal point in the war and in the history of the world.

[J1M]

Considering restarting the game. Was expecting better reactivity when I picked a Dark Urge Paladin. Maybe some tough skill checks to avoid slaying someone and a redemption quest to restore a broken Paladin oath. Instead my avatar murdered someone while asleep and the path to restoring an oath is just to pay 1000g.

Anyone particularly happy with their character? 5e character building options all seem so boring.

Was considering going assassination rogue with high STR so I can avoid fumbling between characters when looting and initiating combat, lol.

Fighters being limited to 3 action surges a day makes them feel more like casters than martials. Wizard spells feel weak with HP limitations on them.

Eldritch Knight weapon bond looked interesting, but it would require a good STR thrown weapon. Anyone found one?

[Shillitron]

Considering restarting the game. Was expecting better reactivity when I picked a Dark Urge Paladin. Maybe some tough skill checks to avoid slaying someone and a redemption quest to restore a broken Paladin oath. Instead my avatar murdered someone while asleep and the path to restoring an oath is just to pay 1000g.

Anyone particularly happy with their character? 5e character building options all seem so boring.

Was considering going assassination rogue with high STR so I can avoid fumbling between characters when looting and initiating combat, lol.

Fighters being limited to 3 action surges a day makes them feel more like casters than martials. Wizard spells feel weak with HP limitations on them.

Eldritch Knight weapon bond looked interesting, but it would require a good STR thrown weapon. Anyone found one?

The reactivity to being a Drow in the first Act is pretty impressive IMO.
It almost feels unfair content-wise but because of the story around the goblin camps, they all **** their pants when they see you.

Caveat:
If your expecting a completely different game from the jump based of your race / origin though, you might be disappointed.

I also love playing a rogue because:

A) They are pretty OP (Sneak attacking is so fun)
B) I'm a edgey ****** who likes to play a "heh, not my problem kid" character
C) It lets me kill *** vampire and not worry about who's gonna open locks

D) Just as an aside, my playstyle as a rogue is sneaking around this dungeon and picking off patrolling NPC's one by one with single kill sneak attacks. I'm basically playing the game in Act 1 as a Hitman game. You can even poison drinks that they drink on the AI routine and kick them off high cliffs into "Chasm" areas for a insta kill. NGL this has "Solo playthrough" written all over it.. although in later acts will probably needs to shotgun invis potions to make this work.

--
I plan to do a Small-PP-Dark-Urge playthrough next after this one just to see what all the humbub is about but I don't think I'll ever play a paladin - I have Matron Mommy for those smites and in general I don't like the class.

[Shillitron]

33 hours in and I haven't found a single town yet, they really messed that part of the game up.

They took the 15 settlements you should of got and slammed them into one giant city that's locked off until the end..? Major decline if true.

Also crafting got kinda butchered. I don't hate the alchemy system although recipes being auto learned from collecting different herbs vs finding books in D:OS is kinda lame / lazy. Also not being able to craft other stuff like weapons / tools / etc kinda sucks as well.. although that **** was game breakingly OP in Divinity games so I guess I understand why they didn't wanna do it in 5E.

It does mean a lot of the low value junk I'm finding doesn't really have any use, my brain tells me to collect this **** in a D:OS game because you can mash things up in previous games to craft really important items or assfuck the economy. Dunno feels like they dropped the ball here.

[J1M]

Thanks, but are you sure the goblins are reacting to drow and not just the parasite? There seems to be a lot of effort put into giving you options to avoid goblin genocide.

Was doing something similar with my party rogue. Agreed it is the best part of the game so far. How do you get the rest of the party to join the fray without losing actions? If I have everyone hide they don't role initiative. Also, have you tried using the battle master manoeuvre to grant an attack to your rogue to sneak attack more than once a round?

Party size of 4 is so restricting. Worst decision they made by far. I suppose you could use a non-rogue for locks but you'd need to know that and pick up the skill with a background choice. There's too many to use spell slots on them.

Plus you probably want a cleric for ranged character revive and guidance for skill checks. Might be possible to cover these with racial cantrips? Again, you'd need prior knowledge.

Plus a caster for crowd control.

Plus a meat shield of some kind. This might actually be optional.

Should have allowed at least one more party spot.

[GhostCow]

Crafting is gay and I wish they didn't even have alchemy. All those weapons you see laying around should be picked up to be sold for gold.

I don't understand why people like Rogues in D&D. Having to sneak around to backstab is too much work. I kind of liked how in wotr you didn't have to think about that kind of thing if you wanted to backstab.

[J1M]

Crafting is gay and I wish they didn't even have alchemy. All those weapons you see laying around should be picked up to be sold for gold.

I don't understand why people like Rogues in D&D. Having to sneak around to backstab is too much work. I kind of liked how in wotr you didn't have to think about that kind of thing if you wanted to backstab.

5e doesn't have flanking. To get the extra damage you need advantage. Which rogue can get by using their bonus action to hide in combat. Would expect to almost exclusively use a bow on a rogue, which implies picking elf or another race that grants a better ranged weapon proficiency.

Edit: or dip into a martial class for the proficiency. The reason a shortbow sucks is because you'll have disadvantage beyond 30 feet.

[Shillitron]

Thanks, but are you sure the goblins are reacting to drow and not just the parasite? There seems to be a lot of effort put into giving you options to avoid goblin genocide.

Yes, 100%.

Many of your standard skill checks don't even happen because you are a Drow. You can still waltz through the camp as a True Soul instead.. but if your a Drow you don't even need to do that.

Again the story is basically 100% the same. There's no unique Drow-Only content or anything - it's just the world reacting to you differently. I've also ran into a few spots where I needed to skill check because I was a Drow to get out of slaughtering people. (Waukeen's Rest I think was one place)

This is all Lipstick on the pig reactivity though which I'm perfectly fine with. I hated when Witcher 2 branched into 2 completely different areas. That kind of content just doesn't scale and that's when your truly missing half the game over CnC reactivity.

[Shillitron]

5e doesn't have flanking. To get the extra damage you need advantage. Which rogue can get by using their bonus action to hide in combat.

You automatically get Advantage if someone else has engaged the enemy in any way and your attacking them. AKA free sneak attack, don't even need to hide.
It's essentially flanking and it even applies to long range sneak attacks.

The real OPness for Rogues comes from dual wielding though. You can absolutely dumpster someone in a single turn by hitting them over and over with sneak + offhand.

Also Drow get Faerie Fire which is an AOE "Give Me Advantage" spell that's on Long Rest (CHA) but I rarely find me needing it.

Also Fighter dip for Action Surge is feeling almost mandatory on everyone.. A bonus action on short rest just feels like too much damage being left on the table. That's technically double sneak attack right?

[Shillitron]

Was doing something similar with my party rogue. Agreed it is the best part of the game so far. How do you get the rest of the party to join the fray without losing actions?

Depends if the area is even hostile or not.. but I'm usually moving "Room to Room" and abusing Misty Step + Jump.
Usually though I am killing things in one shot by themselves..

Just FYI - one of the coolest ******* things in BG3 is that you can pick dead enemies up and hide them in other rooms. If an enemy sees a corpse they start looking for you / going hostile if your nearby - but you can literally drag corpses away and hide them.. (Picking up a corpse and being seen = also flags you as a murderer so I usually pick it up in stealth)

You also get stealth benefits for being in the dark and you can knock torches out with water arrows / ray of frost.. (Or just destroy them)

I'm telling you.. play BG3 as a Hitman / Thief game - It's Kino.


---

EDIT - just realized I triple posted and @rusty_shackleford nazi-like obsession with post purity won't let me merge & delete them.

Sorry I'm ********.

[J1M]

5e doesn't have flanking. To get the extra damage you need advantage. Which rogue can get by using their bonus action to hide in combat.

You automatically get Advantage if someone else has engaged the enemy in any way and your attacking them. AKA free sneak attack, don't even need to hide.
It's essentially flanking and it even applies to long range sneak attacks.

The real OPness for Rogues comes from dual wielding though. You can absolutely dumpster someone in a single turn by hitting them over and over with sneak + offhand.

Also Drow get Faerie Fire which is an AOE "Give Me Advantage" spell that's on Long Rest (CHA) but I rarely find me needing it.

Also Fighter dip for Action Surge is feeling almost mandatory on everyone.. A bonus action on short rest just feels like too much damage being left on the table. That's technically double sneak attack right?

In 4e sneak attack is limited to once per turn (but not once per round, so you can do it again with a reaction). It appears the same here by reading the BG3 wiki, but I haven't tried it.

One level of early fighter dip is possibly worth it for the +2 ranged attack from fighting style.

If sneak attack is not limited to once per turn, then you'd probably want to multiclass into fighter for 5 levels to get extra attack. That's two attacks on a normal turn and 4 attacks when you use action surge.

[J1M]

I'm also curious if the spell sniper feat stacks with the keen effect from fighter champion. Would make crit fishing more viable at lower levels. (Half orc)

[Nemesis]

The actual tweet, which is even funnier.

[Shillitron]

In 4e sneak attack is limited to once per turn (but not once per round, so you can do it again with a reaction). It appears the same here by reading the BG3 wiki, but I haven't tried it.

One level of early fighter dip is possibly worth it for the +2 ranged attack from fighting style.

If sneak attack is not limited to once per turn, then you'd probably want to multiclass into fighter for 5 levels to get extra attack. That's two attacks on a normal turn and 4 attacks when you use action surge.

I'm a ****** when it comes to 5E.. Do sneak dice get added the same way as 3.5E?
Max level isn't high in BG3 (another complaint I have), Dipping 5 for an extra attack would lose me a lot of sneak damage no?
Dipping Fighter 2 for a bonus action though.. that seems perfectly doable.

Also another, selecting Fighter as a multi option does not give you full proficiencies as if you took it at level 1.. that makes me wonder if every Barbarian should just start as a Fighter, take 2 levels then swap back to barbarian?

I know they can apply their Con modifier as AC but that drops off late game doesn't it? Unless there's armorless AC they can rob from monks / wizards.

(I did find "Bracers of Defense" for my barb that gives +2 AC as long as your naked and have no shield.. Items like this might push a High Con barb over the line of needing armor at all... just run around *** naked caving in skulls - which means the fighter proficiencies are less important)

[The_Mask]

tl;dr: No Paladin

Minthara is a Paladin. But then again, a Drow Paladin is like the dumbest **** you can come up with.

[Humbaba]

Question: Do you get cool starting weapons based on race or weapon focus like in Wrathfinder? Or does everyone start with Short Sword and Leather Armor?

Minthara is a Paladin. But then again, a Drow Paladin is like the dumbest **** you can come up with.

Paladin of Lolth? Or just anudda "good" Drow Paladin of Talos or some other boring ****?



-Humbaba

[The_Mask]

I don't know. I think I'm going to reload a save and throw the Tieflings under the bus, however. And get her in my party.

I don't want any sort of faggotry in my party, so I'm not getting any male companions. And if I save the Grove I get the Druid companion, but if I don't I get the Drow.

So, what I think I'm going to do, is I'm going to reload and I'm going to go full ******.