No, she's still supposed to show up there. It's definitely a bug. Try reloading an earlier save? There will be at least two autosaves from the intro section.
I also suggest having a gander at whatever forum or site they want you to report bugs in and report your happenings there.
Yeah, I will try to reload when I get back to it, to see if bug persists. There are tons of bug report topics at Larian forums, so I'll post a note there.
I would wonder if this has something to do with poor optimization. My CHARNAME literally levitated for a second or two until the game allows me to move him around the surface map. Probably most of the creatures were just failed to load up. It was like the world was empty.
That review could very well have been written by me. A very painful read. Without even having played the game, this was exactly how I envisioned the game turning out. And just like the author, I also would find myself constantly save-scumming those endless D20 rolls, and that will get aggravating pretty darn quickly. Tedious combat - no surprise there at all. But most of all, the horribly written companions? I'll take the "empty" companions of BG1 over these oh-so-very-detailed companions any day. Feel very strongly now that my skepticism and pessimism were wholely justified and have been vindicated. Yeah it's EA. Maybe some of this stuff will get "fixed." But how do they fix the fact that this was their (the BG3 devs') first impetus? Their gut feel for how a BG3 game ought to be? Any fix, I fear, will be putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound.
In the spoilers regarding the first few encounters of the beginning of the game, the review author showed me that my sense of honor and morality was going to be horrifically offended at least three times. I would have rage quit the moment the game forced me to kill innocent people. I would *not* accept help from anyone who had just tried to kill me. And even the *succeeded* intelligence check leading to a main character death would have been very likely to cause a rage quit from me.
I wish I could say I was surprised, but I knew this was Larian's writing style. (Very edgy, very biased towards evil characters. Any good characters have to have something seriously wrong with them if they're included in the game.) I was hoping to be proved wrong, but all that hope has been immediately dashed.
Everything the reviewer points out confirms everything I was afraid this game would be. BG3 will be getting a hard pass from me. I don't want my money to go to support the creation of this kind of a game, even though I'm in a small minority of gamers.
Luckily I have a treasure trove of older games to keep me entertained.
To be fair, now that I have played it, that is one of several outcomes. I persuaded the innocents to leave. I didn't engage in a battle of wills with the mind flayer (suicide for a low level character of any type) but still killed it. Astarion never even tried to kill me. I've been playing as a good character and have not been forced into anything evil. Yet.
But I can't deny that there do seem to be more evil companions than good ones.
I'm so sorry for asking about exactly that and *then* noticing your post, which would have made my later question unnecessary. My brain was in power saving mode after 22h of work. Apologies for not paying attention and reading all the posts carefully before asking.
And thanks to all you people for sharing your experience with those of us who are still hesitant about the game itself, not fond of EA, or lacking the necessary hardware. I was (and still am) so curious about the game, but worried to step into a mine field in this part of the forum.
Hello !
Yeah that's very nice of all you to share your impressions, feedbacks, etc.
I read a lot this subforum so your feedbacks feel more legit to me than the ones I read on Reddit for example.
Thanks !
One thing I will stress from my point of view is that I do not find the characters I have encountered so far to be anything like the over the top (not my words lol) characters from DOS. I find the characters to fit much more in tone with what I was hoping. The only one so far that I think might fit more into the DOS style would definitely be Astarion. He does feel a bit exaggerated to me at times but he is the only one of the NPCs that I feel might fit into that catergory so far. It doesn’t help that I don’t like him in general though to be fair (vampires ?).
I think my favourite NPC would be Shadow Heart (minus her name). I quite like her blunt sarcastic tone. A few people have said that the NPCs come across as hating you in this game. I honestly haven’t got that vibe at all so far. A bit untrusting maybe? Yes. I think I would be as well if I got suddenly thrown into this situation. But I definitely don’t get a vibe that any of them hate me.
I’m quite enjoying Gale so far. He reminds me of a not quite so despicable version of Edwin. He clearly rates himself as a wizard. He’s cocky. But not quite evil to the point of being a total idiot like Edwin. I’ve only known the character a little while obviously so that may change lol I also must say that I’m enjoying using him as a mage. I feel the turn based format makes me more likely to take advantage of his spells. In BG1 and BG2 I was more of a cleric buffer. I didn’t often use Mages I often found myself forgetting to use them in the heat of combat. I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I’m enjoying using him in combat. I like throwing a magic Missile (which you can select each target that each missile hits ?) and then being able to retreat him a bit after he has used a spell. I know it’s a small thing but I’m liking being able to select multiple targets with one cast of magic Missile. It makes finishing off an almost dead enemy with one Missile and then dedicating the last couple to another enemy pretty cool. I suppose you could argue that I’m enjoying the class more then Gale as a character himself but either way he is fun.
I am loving the Ranger class so far (my main character). Loving the change to favoured enemies they have made. I feel the choice I made in the end for this was probably a poor one and might try a different choice with my next build but Ranger actually feels useful in this game. I feel like a Ranger can be useful in close combat (like back in the BG1 and BG2 days). Recent versions in other games always make them so focused on archery that they seem to be only good for that one purpose but it doesn’t feel that way currently in BG3.
A small note on Stadia. I have exceptionally fast internet and I have noted that on occasion there is still some major stream issues. Just something to consider for anyone maybe thinking of buying on Stadia.
As a bit of constructive criticism and something I’m hoping might improve with time and patches, that I find the camera to be a bit of a nightmare when spinning it around. The only thing I can compare it to is my experience with Neverwinter Nights 2. It makes me feel a little sick when it goes off on one ? I tried turning the speed down in the settings but it didn’t seem to do anything. Maybe I used the wrong setting.
Anyway just wanted to give a small update. I’m probably no way as far into the early access as some due to my limited time to play these days but have got to say that so far as a ‘game’ (and ignoring peoples different points of view on if this should be BG3) that it is shaping up to be fantastic once they iron out all the early access issues obviously. The combat is much faster than DOS. It seems to flow very nicely. I have died a few times In some very stupid ways that I shall not disclose ?
I hope everyone else playing early access is enjoying it as much as I am ?
I think my favourite NPC would be Shadow Heart (minus her name). I quite like her blunt sarcastic tone. A few people have said that the NPCs come across as hating you in this game. I honestly haven’t got that vibe at all so far. A bit untrusting maybe? Yes. I think I would be as well if I got suddenly thrown into this situation. But I definitely don’t get a vibe that any of them hate me.
Part of this I think is the approval/disapproval system. As you play further you'll see your responses getting more and more feedback using it from your companions. I find it to be a bit annoying myself. It would be one thing if I had significant choice over my companions, but at least at this stage (16 hrs in) I really don't. At least not compared to BG1/BG2.
@elminster it doesn’t really bother me to much as like I said, my logic is that no one is going to automatically trust a random person in that kind of situation 100%. But I appreciate your point. I have seen some approve and disapprove pop ups when speaking to them so I suspect you are right and as Shadow Heart for instance approves more of what I do she will become less sarcastic (which I will miss) and more upfront with info.
I think my favourite NPC would be Shadow Heart (minus her name). I quite like her blunt sarcastic tone. A few people have said that the NPCs come across as hating you in this game. I honestly haven’t got that vibe at all so far. A bit untrusting maybe? Yes. I think I would be as well if I got suddenly thrown into this situation. But I definitely don’t get a vibe that any of them hate me.
Part of this I think is the approval/disapproval system. As you play further you'll see your responses getting more and more feedback using it from your companions. I find it to be a bit annoying myself. It would be one thing if I had significant choice over my companions, but at least at this stage (16 hrs in) I really don't. At least not compared to BG1/BG2.
But isn't this ultimately based on how you have chosen to play the game? And by that I mean the choices (good v. evil) you picked for dialogue and events. If you constantly pick the evil or morally questionable options, then these characters warm up to you. But seems like if players go with the good options all the time, which is what I would exclusively do, then those players are in for a miserable experience of having to play a party-based game with companions who hate you and whom you hate right back. And don't tell me this is different with Gale and Wyll. From what I've seen so far in streams and read in reviews, even they are essentially assholes who I would not get along with, which makes me feel quite certain that the companions yet to be revealed will all also be cut from this same cloth. So, a party-based game with no companions that I like and whose company I enjoy. How would that work?
Sidenote: D:OS1 also had no companions I truly liked and enjoyed having in my party. At best, couple of them were tolerable, and that was the extent of it. Obviously, every person is going to have some NPC companions in every game that they dislike. But seems to me, Larian's companions are just across-the-board dislikeable, especially for anyone who strongly favors the 'good' side.
Well I'm not sure there are a lot of clear cut examples of the good or evil options. There are certainly some but there is a lot that is grey (and that isn't a complaint more of a response to your point). Like the helping the druid leader get the refugees out of the camp, by offering to escort them, could be viewed as being a good action. So could you killing that druid leader for casting aside the refugees. Point being there isn't any super obvious mechanism for you to even guess how these companions will respond (especially when you just met them).
Without the character sheets clearly spelling out what each characters alignments are (only the cleric gets any descriptor and even then its just "evil cleric") it's hard to guess how characters are going to react to your actions or dialog choices to begin with. Especially when they don't want to talk to you much. I get 5E was trying to dial back significantly on alignment but as a player there is something to be said for having quick to access insight into a party member like their alignment (regardless of whether or not it is realistic, because enjoyment should trump realism).
@kanisatha I disagree slightly on your comment about Larian NPCs all being across the board unlikeable. Whilst I very much don’t like Astarian so far I find Gale and Shadow Heart to be both quite likeable characters in their own ways. Gale isn’t giving me an Evil vibe so far. If I had to guess with Shadow Heart I’d be more inclined to say she is of a neutral alignment. The very fact that her first inclination is to get the tadpole out of her head compared to Astarian who seems to want to see if it is possible to find a way to control it would signify to me that she doesn’t automatically have evil thoughts. Obviously it also signifies self preservation but even so I get more of an Evil vibe from Astarian than I do Shadow Heart or Gale. Obviously it’s all down to opinion and personal preference on what we like in characters.
In chapter 99 of elminster gripes about this game, it really needs a means of sorting equipment. Because... well...
And yea I know I can use the buttons at the top. But I really shouldn't need to. At a minimum there should be a way to sort by weight, price, and time acquired.
Edit: And I just found it. The little square button to the top mid right.
In chapter 99 of elminster gripes about this game, it really needs a means of sorting equipment. Because... well...
And yea I know I can use the buttons at the top. But I really shouldn't need to. At a minimum there should be a way to sort by weight, price, and time acquired.
Edit: And I just found it. The little square button to the top mid right.
Yeah, I wish there could be a way to set default way of sorting, and those buttons on top would be the way to change default settings.
If I had to guess with Shadow Heart I’d be more inclined to say she is of a neutral alignment. The very fact that her first inclination is to get the tadpole out of her head compared to Astarian who seems to want to see if it is possible to find a way to control it would signify to me that she doesn’t automatically have evil thoughts
Would every evil person want to risk death for some minor possibility of a side benefit?
But that's a problem with 5th edition and, to an extent, also this game. Since nobody is good or evil, lawful or chaotic anymore, who is to really say which is which. Paladins can serve demons. Your good character can suddenly massacre a small village and there are no alignment changes or any other mechanical game changes to reflect it. I don't understand the world anymore.
Speaking of paladins, I hope Karlach becomes a companion later on. Heavily implied she will be given your conversation with her. Guess we'll see.
Gale is quickly becoming my favourite NPC -- out of the lot he definitely seems the most human. It might just be because he's constantly praising me, though, I don't know
Shadowheart also comes of as more well-rounded once you spend more time with her, but I still don't think the writer was aware of how she comes of with all the broody edges and darkness. So far she seems like a less harridan Morrigan and I think she shows promise, character-wise.
I haven't really engaged with Wyl yet. His introduction was a bit over the top. Then again, if I was allowed to make a character that shouts one-liners and third person "scriver to rescue!" battlecries I totally would make that character.
I wish companions would stay on the map when you dismiss them instead of disappear to your camp, it would make much more sense, at least in these early parts of the game. Like they'd go and hang out just inside the gate to the Grove or something similar. For example, when I met up with GithGirl I had already filled up the party, so she went directly to camp. But then to continue the "creche" plotline she obviously needs to be in the party. But to change party members you have to go into to the camp and narratively "end the day" and I don't think that makes much sense. Narratively, that is, the mechanical aspect is what it is of course. But once again a game is pushing a yalla yalla scenario but not shaping itself to suit it.
Finally, every time they say "creche", I imagine it's some kind of food. Like a quiche, or a crepe, or a mix of the too. Something french.
@kanisatha I disagree slightly on your comment about Larian NPCs all being across the board unlikeable. Whilst I very much don’t like Astarian so far I find Gale and Shadow Heart to be both quite likeable characters in their own ways. Gale isn’t giving me an Evil vibe so far. If I had to guess with Shadow Heart I’d be more inclined to say she is of a neutral alignment. The very fact that her first inclination is to get the tadpole out of her head compared to Astarian who seems to want to see if it is possible to find a way to control it would signify to me that she doesn’t automatically have evil thoughts. Obviously it also signifies self preservation but even so I get more of an Evil vibe from Astarian than I do Shadow Heart or Gale. Obviously it’s all down to opinion and personal preference on what we like in characters.
Okay, fair enough. But for me, the fact that she (loyally?) serves Shar would be sufficient to write her off as someone I would not be able to get along with.
What I would love is for someone to play through the whole EA game making the best good/moral/ethical choice in everything, from dialogue choices to decisions/actions to even calling out and getting in the face of any companions or NPCs that say or do anything questionable, and including reloading if a dice check for the good choice is failed, and then report back on where each of the five companions stood by the end of Act 1 in their attitude towards the PC. If at least one of you playing the EA would at some point feel inclined to do such a run, I would be grateful for your feedback.
@kanisatha I disagree slightly on your comment about Larian NPCs all being across the board unlikeable. Whilst I very much don’t like Astarian so far I find Gale and Shadow Heart to be both quite likeable characters in their own ways. Gale isn’t giving me an Evil vibe so far. If I had to guess with Shadow Heart I’d be more inclined to say she is of a neutral alignment. The very fact that her first inclination is to get the tadpole out of her head compared to Astarian who seems to want to see if it is possible to find a way to control it would signify to me that she doesn’t automatically have evil thoughts. Obviously it also signifies self preservation but even so I get more of an Evil vibe from Astarian than I do Shadow Heart or Gale. Obviously it’s all down to opinion and personal preference on what we like in characters.
Okay, fair enough. But for me, the fact that she (loyally?) serves Shar would be sufficient to write her off as someone I would not be able to get along with.
What I would love is for someone to play through the whole EA game making the best good/moral/ethical choice in everything, from dialogue choices to decisions/actions to even calling out and getting in the face of any companions or NPCs that say or do anything questionable, and including reloading if a dice check for the good choice is failed, and then report back on where each of the five companions stood by the end of Act 1 in their attitude towards the PC. If at least one of you playing the EA would at some point feel inclined to do such a run, I would be grateful for your feedback.
I'm basically doing this at the moment, but i'm not finished yet. I can say that most party members besides Gale don't have much patience for the heroic act. Gale seems to be the fan favorite at the moment and i'm inclined to agree, he comes off as the most normal and least hostile of them all.
@kanisatha "Okay, fair enough. But for me, the fact that she (loyally?) serves Shar would be sufficient to write her off as someone I would not be able to get along with."
Yeah, its kinda hard to like someone devoted to a deity that plans to eradicate all life on the planes. She's tried it twice so far. She's also one Cyric's very few allies.
No, she's still supposed to show up there. It's definitely a bug. Try reloading an earlier save? There will be at least two autosaves from the intro section.
I also suggest having a gander at whatever forum or site they want you to report bugs in and report your happenings there.
Yeah, I will try to reload when I get back to it, to see if bug persists. There are tons of bug report topics at Larian forums, so I'll post a note there.
I would wonder if this has something to do with poor optimization. My CHARNAME literally levitated for a second or two until the game allows me to move him around the surface map. Probably most of the creatures were just failed to load up. It was like the world was empty.
Ok I reloaded, and this indeed helped. Everything looks OK know. I may wait for a patch or two though. Those textures loading with delay are killing me. I've got considerably good laptop, definitely meeting the recomennded specs, and the game is loading textures like crazy ?
Some of the bugs are pretty funny. My halfling once inexplicably grew to the size of a human for a single piece of dialogue before shrinking back down. People who fall in combat may flail around at mach speeds while their limbs grow to the size of half the map. A goblin from another dimension may enter combat alongside you
I have to emphasize again how much there is to explore. Backtracked to a few locations and found things I didn't see there previously. It seems like there is a way to get to any blank spot on the map. It gives me BG1 vibes to have this much open space to run around in instead of doing important quests and stuff.
Everyone seems to want characters who are a little nicer and less evil so new companions who will be added will likely lean towards good alignment, assuming Larian is listening to anybody.
Some of the bugs are pretty funny. My halfling one inexplicably grew to the size of a human for a single piece of dialogue before shrinking back down. People who fall in combat may flail around at mach speeds while their limbs grow to the size of half the map. A goblin from another dimension may enter combat alongside you
I have to emphasize again how much there is to explore. Backtracked to a few locations and found things I didn't see there previously. It seems like there is a way to get to any blank spot on the map. It gives me BG1 vibes to have this much open space to run around in instead of doing important quests and stuff.
Everyone seems to want characters who are a little nicer and less evil so new companions who will be added will likely lean towards good alignment, assuming Larian is listening to anybody.
I think Larian unlocked only those NPC's we have right now in EA, because they want as many of EA players to test and evil path as possible. It's clearly they are proud they made playing bad guys more meaningful than it was in other games. I'm sure the final release will contain some good-aligned NPC's too.
Some of the bugs are pretty funny. My halfling one inexplicably grew to the size of a human for a single piece of dialogue before shrinking back down. People who fall in combat may flail around at mach speeds while their limbs grow to the size of half the map. A goblin from another dimension may enter combat alongside you
I have to emphasize again how much there is to explore. Backtracked to a few locations and found things I didn't see there previously. It seems like there is a way to get to any blank spot on the map. It gives me BG1 vibes to have this much open space to run around in instead of doing important quests and stuff.
Everyone seems to want characters who are a little nicer and less evil so new companions who will be added will likely lean towards good alignment, assuming Larian is listening to anybody.
I think Larian unlocked only those NPC's we have right now in EA, because they want as many of EA players to test and evil path as possible. It's clearly they are proud they made playing bad guys more meaningful than it was in other games. I'm sure the final release will contain some good-aligned NPC's too.
Well, that *is* what many people asked for. It's far from my own playing style, but lots of people complained that in BG1+2 you couldn't really roleplay evil, because you had no meaningful choices in several quests.
I think it's safe to assume they didn't make a game for chaotic evil only. And if what @WarChiefZeke described really is the opinion of many who got the EA and are playing, I'm sure we'll see other companions in the future.
Everyone seems to want characters who are a little nicer and less evil so new companions who will be added will likely lean towards good alignment, assuming Larian is listening to anybody.
I'm seeing that critique a lot too. While I'm sure that they'll add some characters to better fit with a good alignment, they may have also just overtuned the "evilness" of the current companions. It makes sense to me that they shouldnt adore your NPC out of the gate, but maybe Larian will dial back the antagonism from a 10 to a 7.5 or something.
We'll have to see. I have also heard that Larian intends for each character to have a meaningful arc, so the evil/neutral NPCs may seem abrasive now but get better later. We'll have to wait and see on that front.
Alright so maybe I missed something here. But regarding Gale's uhh condition. Why can't he drain the waypoints (ancient runes)? They clearly use the weave, they have no limit on how often they can be used, and they are very powerful (compared to say teleportation circles that have material costs even when they are permanent circles).
Are there any time limits to the quests? I've been thinking about taking a long rest but the druid leader seemed like she wanted things sorted out soon. I don't want to push things heh.
I have been meaning to talk about resting. There seems to be a bit of tension here, with the main plot making you feel like resting is a really bad idea, and storyline events only happening on rests.
I don't know about you, but if I had a mind flayer parasite in my head and I thought I only had a few days to live I would try to rest as little as possible until I found a cure.
I know they tell you it has been altered to some degree, but iirc nothing tells you that you won't die in a matter of days.
I don't think there are any time limits though. Its been days and the druid leader hasn't done the thing.
So I don't know about time limits for the main quests but it turns out there is a limit for one of the minor quests in the druid grove/tiefling place. I missed the encounter but looking into it online it seems like if you rest its not available the next day.
Are ghostwise halflings non existant in 5e? I miss this subrace. In fact if I ever decide to roll a halfling, I would pick this subrace.
They were in the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide but only as like a bare mention (they get +1 wisdom and the ability to speak telepathically to anyone within 30 feet). But recently WoTC decided to cut that book from the accepted books in Adventurers League (officially organized play). Since they are a pretty rare subrace in the lore (largely restricted to the Chondalwood) I could see them easily get overlooked here.
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Yeah, I will try to reload when I get back to it, to see if bug persists. There are tons of bug report topics at Larian forums, so I'll post a note there.
I would wonder if this has something to do with poor optimization. My CHARNAME literally levitated for a second or two until the game allows me to move him around the surface map. Probably most of the creatures were just failed to load up. It was like the world was empty.
I'm so sorry for asking about exactly that and *then* noticing your post, which would have made my later question unnecessary. My brain was in power saving mode after 22h of work. Apologies for not paying attention and reading all the posts carefully before asking.
And thanks to all you people for sharing your experience with those of us who are still hesitant about the game itself, not fond of EA, or lacking the necessary hardware. I was (and still am) so curious about the game, but worried to step into a mine field in this part of the forum.
Yeah that's very nice of all you to share your impressions, feedbacks, etc.
I read a lot this subforum so your feedbacks feel more legit to me than the ones I read on Reddit for example.
Thanks !
One thing I will stress from my point of view is that I do not find the characters I have encountered so far to be anything like the over the top (not my words lol) characters from DOS. I find the characters to fit much more in tone with what I was hoping. The only one so far that I think might fit more into the DOS style would definitely be Astarion. He does feel a bit exaggerated to me at times but he is the only one of the NPCs that I feel might fit into that catergory so far. It doesn’t help that I don’t like him in general though to be fair (vampires ?).
I think my favourite NPC would be Shadow Heart (minus her name). I quite like her blunt sarcastic tone. A few people have said that the NPCs come across as hating you in this game. I honestly haven’t got that vibe at all so far. A bit untrusting maybe? Yes. I think I would be as well if I got suddenly thrown into this situation. But I definitely don’t get a vibe that any of them hate me.
I’m quite enjoying Gale so far. He reminds me of a not quite so despicable version of Edwin. He clearly rates himself as a wizard. He’s cocky. But not quite evil to the point of being a total idiot like Edwin. I’ve only known the character a little while obviously so that may change lol I also must say that I’m enjoying using him as a mage. I feel the turn based format makes me more likely to take advantage of his spells. In BG1 and BG2 I was more of a cleric buffer. I didn’t often use Mages I often found myself forgetting to use them in the heat of combat. I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I’m enjoying using him in combat. I like throwing a magic Missile (which you can select each target that each missile hits ?) and then being able to retreat him a bit after he has used a spell. I know it’s a small thing but I’m liking being able to select multiple targets with one cast of magic Missile. It makes finishing off an almost dead enemy with one Missile and then dedicating the last couple to another enemy pretty cool. I suppose you could argue that I’m enjoying the class more then Gale as a character himself but either way he is fun.
I am loving the Ranger class so far (my main character). Loving the change to favoured enemies they have made. I feel the choice I made in the end for this was probably a poor one and might try a different choice with my next build but Ranger actually feels useful in this game. I feel like a Ranger can be useful in close combat (like back in the BG1 and BG2 days). Recent versions in other games always make them so focused on archery that they seem to be only good for that one purpose but it doesn’t feel that way currently in BG3.
A small note on Stadia. I have exceptionally fast internet and I have noted that on occasion there is still some major stream issues. Just something to consider for anyone maybe thinking of buying on Stadia.
As a bit of constructive criticism and something I’m hoping might improve with time and patches, that I find the camera to be a bit of a nightmare when spinning it around. The only thing I can compare it to is my experience with Neverwinter Nights 2. It makes me feel a little sick when it goes off on one ? I tried turning the speed down in the settings but it didn’t seem to do anything. Maybe I used the wrong setting.
Anyway just wanted to give a small update. I’m probably no way as far into the early access as some due to my limited time to play these days but have got to say that so far as a ‘game’ (and ignoring peoples different points of view on if this should be BG3) that it is shaping up to be fantastic once they iron out all the early access issues obviously. The combat is much faster than DOS. It seems to flow very nicely. I have died a few times In some very stupid ways that I shall not disclose ?
I hope everyone else playing early access is enjoying it as much as I am ?
Part of this I think is the approval/disapproval system. As you play further you'll see your responses getting more and more feedback using it from your companions. I find it to be a bit annoying myself. It would be one thing if I had significant choice over my companions, but at least at this stage (16 hrs in) I really don't. At least not compared to BG1/BG2.
Sidenote: D:OS1 also had no companions I truly liked and enjoyed having in my party. At best, couple of them were tolerable, and that was the extent of it. Obviously, every person is going to have some NPC companions in every game that they dislike. But seems to me, Larian's companions are just across-the-board dislikeable, especially for anyone who strongly favors the 'good' side.
Without the character sheets clearly spelling out what each characters alignments are (only the cleric gets any descriptor and even then its just "evil cleric") it's hard to guess how characters are going to react to your actions or dialog choices to begin with. Especially when they don't want to talk to you much. I get 5E was trying to dial back significantly on alignment but as a player there is something to be said for having quick to access insight into a party member like their alignment (regardless of whether or not it is realistic, because enjoyment should trump realism).
And yea I know I can use the buttons at the top. But I really shouldn't need to. At a minimum there should be a way to sort by weight, price, and time acquired.
Edit: And I just found it. The little square button to the top mid right.
Yeah, I wish there could be a way to set default way of sorting, and those buttons on top would be the way to change default settings.
Would every evil person want to risk death for some minor possibility of a side benefit?
But that's a problem with 5th edition and, to an extent, also this game. Since nobody is good or evil, lawful or chaotic anymore, who is to really say which is which. Paladins can serve demons. Your good character can suddenly massacre a small village and there are no alignment changes or any other mechanical game changes to reflect it. I don't understand the world anymore.
Speaking of paladins, I hope Karlach becomes a companion later on. Heavily implied she will be given your conversation with her. Guess we'll see.
Shadowheart also comes of as more well-rounded once you spend more time with her, but I still don't think the writer was aware of how she comes of with all the broody edges and darkness. So far she seems like a less harridan Morrigan and I think she shows promise, character-wise.
I haven't really engaged with Wyl yet. His introduction was a bit over the top. Then again, if I was allowed to make a character that shouts one-liners and third person "scriver to rescue!" battlecries I totally would make that character.
I wish companions would stay on the map when you dismiss them instead of disappear to your camp, it would make much more sense, at least in these early parts of the game. Like they'd go and hang out just inside the gate to the Grove or something similar. For example, when I met up with GithGirl I had already filled up the party, so she went directly to camp. But then to continue the "creche" plotline she obviously needs to be in the party. But to change party members you have to go into to the camp and narratively "end the day" and I don't think that makes much sense. Narratively, that is, the mechanical aspect is what it is of course. But once again a game is pushing a yalla yalla scenario but not shaping itself to suit it.
Finally, every time they say "creche", I imagine it's some kind of food. Like a quiche, or a crepe, or a mix of the too. Something french.
What I would love is for someone to play through the whole EA game making the best good/moral/ethical choice in everything, from dialogue choices to decisions/actions to even calling out and getting in the face of any companions or NPCs that say or do anything questionable, and including reloading if a dice check for the good choice is failed, and then report back on where each of the five companions stood by the end of Act 1 in their attitude towards the PC. If at least one of you playing the EA would at some point feel inclined to do such a run, I would be grateful for your feedback.
I'm basically doing this at the moment, but i'm not finished yet. I can say that most party members besides Gale don't have much patience for the heroic act. Gale seems to be the fan favorite at the moment and i'm inclined to agree, he comes off as the most normal and least hostile of them all.
Yeah, its kinda hard to like someone devoted to a deity that plans to eradicate all life on the planes. She's tried it twice so far. She's also one Cyric's very few allies.
Shar is essentialy D&D's big bad.
Ok I reloaded, and this indeed helped. Everything looks OK know. I may wait for a patch or two though. Those textures loading with delay are killing me. I've got considerably good laptop, definitely meeting the recomennded specs, and the game is loading textures like crazy ?
I have to emphasize again how much there is to explore. Backtracked to a few locations and found things I didn't see there previously. It seems like there is a way to get to any blank spot on the map. It gives me BG1 vibes to have this much open space to run around in instead of doing important quests and stuff.
Everyone seems to want characters who are a little nicer and less evil so new companions who will be added will likely lean towards good alignment, assuming Larian is listening to anybody.
I think Larian unlocked only those NPC's we have right now in EA, because they want as many of EA players to test and evil path as possible. It's clearly they are proud they made playing bad guys more meaningful than it was in other games. I'm sure the final release will contain some good-aligned NPC's too.
Well, that *is* what many people asked for. It's far from my own playing style, but lots of people complained that in BG1+2 you couldn't really roleplay evil, because you had no meaningful choices in several quests.
I think it's safe to assume they didn't make a game for chaotic evil only. And if what @WarChiefZeke described really is the opinion of many who got the EA and are playing, I'm sure we'll see other companions in the future.
I'm seeing that critique a lot too. While I'm sure that they'll add some characters to better fit with a good alignment, they may have also just overtuned the "evilness" of the current companions. It makes sense to me that they shouldnt adore your NPC out of the gate, but maybe Larian will dial back the antagonism from a 10 to a 7.5 or something.
We'll have to see. I have also heard that Larian intends for each character to have a meaningful arc, so the evil/neutral NPCs may seem abrasive now but get better later. We'll have to wait and see on that front.
So I don't know about time limits for the main quests but it turns out there is a limit for one of the minor quests in the druid grove/tiefling place. I missed the encounter but looking into it online it seems like if you rest its not available the next day.
They were in the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide but only as like a bare mention (they get +1 wisdom and the ability to speak telepathically to anyone within 30 feet). But recently WoTC decided to cut that book from the accepted books in Adventurers League (officially organized play). Since they are a pretty rare subrace in the lore (largely restricted to the Chondalwood) I could see them easily get overlooked here.
I've yet to see any mention of her. But I could have missed something.