Baldur's Gate III: Pedz Meal Deals [PC/PlayStation 5/Xbox]

Zilnad wrote:I assume this is using 5e's ruleset as closely as possible? I need to try BG1 again but I was playing a lot of D&D IRL when I first tried BG1 and the different rulesets kept clashing in my brain.

Yeah, they've stuck as close to 5e as they could. Some rules and spells have been simplified a little to work better in a videogame, as you'd expect.

Nice

Zilnad wrote:I assume this is using 5e's ruleset as closely as possible? I need to try BG1 again but I was playing a lot of D&D IRL when I first tried BG1 and the different rulesets kept clashing in my brain.

Yes, BG1 and 2 use 2nd edition rules which are really quite different.
The magic system is totally different and the way armour class is worked out in 2nd edition is using negative numbers where -10 is the about the best you can get and hits are worked out using THACO (to hit armour class 0).

I can see how it would get very confusing to use both systems at once.

Two of the big changes are not limited to spells per turn as you as long as you have slots/action/bonus action, and if you haste someone with multiattace they get all weapon attacks not just one.

So Haste and Sorcerer in particular are OP. "Hello Mr Beholder one my first turn - 3 fireballs to the face!"

I wants it but I've got more than enough to be getting on with already at the minute. Sounds good though.

Peter Crisp wrote:
Knoyleo wrote:It's been a long while since I played BG2, and I'm unfamiliar with D&D as a game, but I'm wondering how frequent or essential combat is in this? The last TTRPG styled game I played was Disco Elysium, which had zero combat, which was pretty refreshing, so I was curious if this was the kind of RPG where its possible to play without actually having to do much fighting, or is it like The Witcher, where even though everyone says it has a great story, the resolution for every quest or side quest still involves you fighting a monster or a bad guy or whatever.

Stealth will be possible as rogues are pretty powerful and mages can cast invisibility and other ways to be unseen.
You could always use illusion spells to distract enemies as well or just charm them.

site23 wrote:
Knoyleo wrote:It's been a long while since I played BG2, and I'm unfamiliar with D&D as a game, but I'm wondering how frequent or essential combat is in this? The last TTRPG styled game I played was Disco Elysium, which had zero combat, which was pretty refreshing, so I was curious if this was the kind of RPG where its possible to play without actually having to do much fighting, or is it like The Witcher, where even though everyone says it has a great story, the resolution for every quest or side quest still involves you fighting a monster or a bad guy or whatever.

I noticed no-one really tried to answer this. I'm not very far in, but here you go.

A lot of encounters can be resolved by talking to people, and some of your companions do encourage this -- at least, I've personally noticed that you get positive comments from both Shadowheart and Gale for avoiding unnecessary combat. You can also sneak around encounters (there's a stealth mechanic, and an early game spell "Invisibility").

However, you will still end up in fights -- that's just D&D. The combats you do end up in can be quite "immersive sim" depending on how you play. It's possible to shove monsters off cliffs, fashion impromptu explosive traps by moving oil barrels around, make pools of water and then electrify them, and so on. Stealthing to an advantageous position and surprising the monsters is also really strong and a good way to finish combats quickly.

The game isn't very much like Disco Elysium to be honest. The writing is fine, but it's supposed to be an epic swashbuckling adventure, not a communist manifesto ( ).

If you do play, I would suggest playing a Bard. You'll have good charisma (for talking) and dexterity (for stealth), and Bards are good at a wide variety of skills. At character generation, don't choose proficiency in Arcana (magic lore), Intimidation, or Sleight of Hand (thieving) because you'll pick them all up at level 3 (still early) by choosing the College of Lore option. Then it's just a matter of choosing spells and cultivating companions that complement your play style as you progress.

Thanks both, good to know. Until recently I thought D&D was a catch all term that incorporated all pen and paper RPGs with dice rolls, rather than a specific ruleset, so I guess I was kind of hopeful that it might be a bit more free form, but after reading around, it looks like D&D is pretty combat focused. I guess I'll give D:OS2 a bit more of a playthrough, as it sounds like that uses a similar pacing and style of combat, to see if I get on with it or not.

DE definitely has me itching for another story rich CRPG, but it seems so hard to find anything that's even closer. Planescape often gets recommended, but that is also apparently quite combat heavy, and worst of all, even the game's biggest fans seem to think the combat is bad and just something you have to get through.

Will definitely keep an eye out for when this goes on sale, what I've heard about how the game plays out in terms of choices and consequences sounds brilliant. It'll be hard to keep spoiler free until then though.

Dark Urge is such a fun way to play this. :lol:

It’s 100% a dark comedy

jiggles wrote:Dark Urge is such a fun way to play this.

It’s 100% a dark comedy

That will be my second play through definitely. I always play good first time through (custom character) as somehow I feel good is the canon way to play. I always worry being evil kills off key characters and quest lines and limits the game, though Larian are good at anticipating such things.

In early access

The branching narrative and reactivity of the world is second to none.

It’s not really *evil*, you have the option to indulge or resist it. I’m playing a good guy monk trying to resolve everything I can peacefully and amicably, helping the downtrodden, man of the people. I’m just trying to quit all the murderin’

The three times my character has succumbed to the urge are:

Every time my character does something monstrous the narrator describes it like I’m unspeakably horrific, but because I know I didn’t mean to it’s more like “whoopsie daisy”

I hadn't realised that the PC version had splitscreen too :slol:

Will have to give that a go tonight! :toot:

Are the various quests in this time-sensitive, too? Just got to the druid grove where they're trying to evict the Tieflings and I've had about seven different quests thrown at me:

Somehow I haven't had the Gale encounter yet either so I'll probably spend a bit of time tonight wandering around trying to get him to appear :lol:

Sassed a God.

Party got Wished to death.

#NoRegrets.

Got myself into a sticky situation down in the wetlands. I rolled my way through the illusion and got to the tea house and decided “nah, it’s time to fight”. Quickly followed by “oh, no, that’s a lot of HP”. Probably gonna meet my end down here.

jiggles wrote:Got myself into a sticky situation down in the wetlands. I rolled my way through the illusion and got to the tea house and decided “nah, it’s time to fight”. Quickly followed by “oh, no, that’s a lot of HP”. Probably gonna meet my end down here.

Auntie Ethel bless her.

Did you fight the redcaps pretending to be sheep?

FatDaz wrote:
jiggles wrote:Got myself into a sticky situation down in the wetlands. I rolled my way through the illusion and got to the tea house and decided “nah, it’s time to fight”. Quickly followed by “oh, no, that’s a lot of HP”. Probably gonna meet my end down here.

Auntie Ethel bless her.

Did you fight the redcaps pretending to be sheep?

I didn’t let on I knew, no.

I am finding I’m probably ignoring stealthy approaches too much. It’s not always just sneak past or backstab, legit stealth approaches can also be just moving some explosives in place before the fight starts. Would have been an excellent idea for the ogres.

I need to be more creative.

I regret opening the barn door near the windmill gnome

Reviews are great for this at the moment (95 on Metacritic). If the PS5 version is a respectable version of the game, it'll be interesting to see how this stacks up to Starfield.

Lagamorph wrote:I regret opening the barn door near the windmill gnome

Prude

Lagamorph wrote:I regret opening the barn door near the windmill gnome

Not enough sentences are this good.

Went round to try and find the other party members I missed on my journey between the shipwreck and the druid grove, and thought I'd have a look at how well the stealth works, using the goth rogue fella to rescue the gith woman.

Currently halfway through a fight in the goblin camp with an ally bear that I'm really hoping is the guy I'm after. If it's not, I've wasted so much time :lol:

I didn't realise this had split screen. Is anyone playing it that way? Wondering if it might be a good game to play through with the Mrs.

Baldur's Gate III: Pedz Meal Deals [PC/PlayStation 5/Xbox]

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