So, I've finished the Early Access content and wanted to comment about the supposed "excessive" use of elemental surfaces and explosions...
One thing I've appreciated about your reviews here is you seem to have no expectation of how a BG or D&D game ought to be, and seem to be willing to analyze the game in a more neutral fashion.
A sequel can't be evaluated in a vacuum, because it doesn't exist in one. Nobody talks about episodes 7-9 outside the context of their status as Star Wars films. Fallout 3, DA 2, etc.
Sure it can. And people can actually judge some of the lesser Star Wars movies as mediocre without having to compare them to the top films in the series. Obviously people frequently make comparisons, but that doesn't at all have to be your criteria on whether you want to watch those movies. I've never watched Episode II for example, not because people talk about how much worse it is than ESB or New Hope, but because people say it's a straight up bad movie on its own.
Fallout 3 is another solid example imo. It can be compared to its predecessors but no one is obligated to have to do that to judge whether it's a game they'll enjoy. And many gamers did play it, mostly ignorant of the older games.
At that point though, there's zero reason for something that stands entirely on its own to be a sequel. Which would make the property a bad sequel. But this getting real close to old arguments, so I'm stopping here.
If everyone hasn't already you should send Larian your feedback (the launcher has a feedback button you can click). I did and thus have now thoroughly secured myself the title of "crazy dude who very politely sent us an insane amount of feedback"
(I can only assume anyways )
Just got the final email responses from all the feedback I sent them (I'm pretty sure I broke their system, but in my defense, it really should have included some basic formatting options). I've had to reformat it a bit so that it works on the forum. But the formatting was done in word so it was a lot more legible than what you'd see here.
I also broke it up by topic. So it wasn't just one massive block like seen here.
Anyways, for the very brave here this is the feedback I sent to Larian. I believe this qualifies as "an insane amount of feedback"
Maybe it won't get listened to. Maybe an intern looked at it and "noped" out of there. But it felt good to write anyways.
(Spoilered so it doesn't take up half the thread. Plus there are some plot spoilers.)
Classes
Fighters
Weapon Styles
- Weapon styles need to be reworked. When you crunch the numbers, Great Weapon Fighting does an average of like 1.33 extra damage per hit. How can that possibly compare to an archer getting +2 to their attack rolls? (it doesn’t)
- Protection likewise only works in very short ranges. Far too short a distance to be much practical use. Especially with the combat encounters happening over much larger areas compared to what you’d see in pen and paper.
Clerics
- They need an alternative offensive cantrip to Sacred Flame. Sacred Flame is very unreliable and its damage isn’t even that good. It’s the equivalent of attacking with a dagger with 14 dexterity (4.5 average damage). Except at least with a dagger you benefit from positioning.
- Without a good cantrip, and access to Spiritual Weapon, the Trickery Cleric in particular feels unnecessarily weak at range. Shadowheart feels this especially. Guiding Bolt is a limited use spell after all.
- The absence of spiritual weapon often leaves clerics with little they can use their bonus action for besides healing word, shoving, or jumping.
Rangers
- I like what you’ve done with it but the bonuses it gets just feel a bit too generic. It really needs its own unique first and second level abilities.
Rogues
- The lack of expertise with them really hurts rogues. Rogues are kind of funny because in pen and paper their Thief and Assassin subclass don’t gain any subclass features between 3rd and 9th level (just base Rogue features and then possibly feats). Expertise (at 3rd and 6th level) serves as a way to keep each rogue feeling unique. Arcane Tricksters don’t have this problem as much because their spellcasting continues to get better.
- The Thief being able to get two bonus actions (including two bonus action attacks) gives them such a huge advantage over the Arcane Trickster that it is hard to justify playing anything other than a Thief.
Warlocks
- The ability to cast Find Familiar unlimited amounts is fine. But it may be an idea to set a limit on how far a Familiar can go from its caster. 100 feet is the PnP standard (at least for it communicating with its caster).
Wizards
Arcane Recovery feels like it could be more prominently displayed. At the moment it is very easy to miss because it’s just put in with the other abilities in the hotbar.
Backgrounds
- Backgrounds could really benefit from providing some unique text response options at some points in the game. Examples.
"[Acolyte] Uhh sorry I know my prayers and nothing you are doing looks like a prayer."
"[Soldier] Ahh I heard of this formation gets used by goblins. Best to put your swords down now.
Nothing you are doing is surprising me."
- Because at the moment backgrounds don’t feel like they do enough.
Spells
- Spells really need more in the way of descriptions. Especially when it comes to how long they last. There is a little number in the game that shows this but it really is not obvious or clear.
Lesser Restoration is a good example of a spell that needs to be clear about what conditions it cures. Because it didn’t work on petrification for me in the Underdark (even though it is a “condition”).
- Having said that, you’ve done an amazing job with creating content for spells that people otherwise might not have taken (Speak with Animals, Jump, Speak with Dead, etc)
Skills
- You’ve overall done a phenomenal job of incorporating all these skills into the game. It’s crazy to see stuff like Animal Handling actually being relevant.
Some skills still feel very underutilized.
- Acrobatics
- History
- Medicine (this could be used for examining corpses)
- Performance
- Survival
While others feel like they could involve more passive checks or could be used in dialogs using more of a threshold system
- Arcana
- Insight
Companions
- I don’t mind companions approving or disapproving of my actions or the things I say. But very often it feels like they are disapproving of what I am doing without even giving me the chance to explain myself.
For instance, I agreed to kill the Duergar for the Myconids and someone in my party disapproved of this. Well, guys, we’re surrounded by a whole swarm of weird fungi people who seem to really be big on mind controlling people and turning them into their servants. I don’t want to anger them. Maybe that is why I’m playing along.
Point is, if something I say in dialog is so egregious to these companions I should have the chance to defend myself to them before they show their disapproval. Maybe I have a good reason for doing what I am doing.
Even when it comes to the actions you take I feel like there should be more opportunities to defend yourself against the scorn of your companions.
- I like that NPC’s aren’t optimized. But Shadowheart really doesn’t work with 9 dexterity. Simply because she lacks a good ranged option (because Sacred Flame sucks). Maybe switch her dexterity for her charisma. That would give her 12 dexterity and 11 charisma (after her racial traits are accounted for). This is much more balanced.
Dialog
- The NPC and companion writing in the game seemed pretty solid. I really have no further complaints in that regard.
- The plot and the factions can be a lot to take in. But I think you’ve done a good job of keeping exposition digestible.
- For the most part reply options were diverse in terms of what options you had. But there were a couple of cases where I felt a bit limited in terms of what you can say.
- It’s not clear to me why at the beginning of the game (after the crash) my character shouldn’t immediately have the option to ask someone where the nearest large city is. Why should my character trust some random druids or some hag about my infliction? Why wouldn’t I search out a large city and try to find an archmage or powerful cleric that could actually help me? I get that there are goblins about but I’m not even given the chance to really ask anyone about this (or if there is anyone I can ask it’s buried in someone’s dialog). It feels like a big dialog gap.
- Another example of a lack of dialog options concerns the widow during the hag quest. By the time I met her I had about 8000 gold in my party, more than enough to pay to resurrect her husband. Yet my only option was to use this sketchy wand I got from a hag even though I had every reason, given our past experience with her, not to trust this hag.
I’d preferred to have the option to give her some money to travel with his corpse to Baldur’s Gate to look to have someone resurrect him there. She could even travel with the tieflings who I just saved. If the money isn’t enough then I also tell her to get in contact with me for more.
This would give good aligned characters a reasonable option for how to end this quest. At the moment they are sort of left with no good options without any good reason for it.
- Another example is the mummy you encounter in the tomb (the one that comes to your camp later). I kind of felt like I should have been able to argue that no life truly matters (including my own).
Quests
- [PLOT HOLE] It’s not clear to me why Gale can’t just draw energy from the fast travel/ waypoints. You know those Netherese sources of magic that apparently are everywhere in this area. The ones that seemingly have unlimited magical power and can transport anyone where they need to go, an unlimited number of times? Yea. Maybe just get rid of the magic nature of the waypoints. Also having to hold a magic item in his hand doesn’t seem all that much different than touching one of these waypoints to me.
I don’t even have an option to ask him about this. At a minimum I should be able to bring it up.
- The masterwork weapon quest needs some work. The quest outcome is really unsatisfying. Not only are the weapons only +1 weapons, but unless you have someone in your group that can benefit from a +1 dagger, sickle, or greatsword, they feel really lacking.
Plus given the anti-magic properties of the bark shouldn’t these weapon do something at least related in some way to magic suppression? Like making a creature hit by the weapon have disadvantage on concentration checks?
Having to go all the way through the Underdark for a +1 weapon really feels unsatisfying.
- Other than the dialogs and quests I noted above, I’ve been really satisfied with the quests in this game. You have provided really meaningful options for resolving quests here and I’m really impressed by the diversity of options you’ve brought to the table.
- Druids especially have been well represented here. There is a nice degree of diversity in terms of their opinions and you reflect these views with some great characters. This is not something that past DnD games have done nearly as well.
Written Material
- The books in the game were a nice addition. I like that you actually took the time to write a page or so for each and they help to explain some of the factions a bit more than what you’d get out of the dialog. It’s a nice callback to the original games, which featured their share of books, as well.
Items/Stores
- There are too many generic +1 magic items in the game. Ditch them. Focus on making unique magic items that people will want to use and will want to acquire.
- There is a lack of a distinctive store to go to in the game. Baldur’s Gate 1 had the smithy in Beregost and High Hedge, not to mention the Sorcerous Sundries later into the game. Shadows of Amn had Ribald’s (which was right next to you when you escape the lair). This adventure has … uhh … some traders in the druid grove?
- Most of the traders in the druids grove are also off to the side. I actually missed them for the first 20 hours of my first playthrough because it was not apparent where they were.
- This first area really needs a clear store. Something like a wizard tower or very distinct building. Because finding traders at the moment is frankly too much of a pain and that one you encounter while walking into the druid grove really doesn’t offer enough to count for this.
- The druid grove traders also aren’t even that close to the grove waypoint either. So they aren’t convenient to use.
- Thieving tools getting destroyed on failure is annoying. This never happened in the original BG games, and honestly it isn’t even necessary. I’m fine with damaging the lock after too many failures. But you really shouldn’t need more than one thief tools (unless multiple people in your party want to use them).
- Why are thieving tools and trap tools separate? In pen and paper they are one in the same. Just keep things straightforward for people and let them not only open locks but also disarm traps with them (provided they succeed).
Reputation/Alignment
- I don’t like the lack of any local reputation or worldwide reputation system. I get that 5E is trying to move away from using alignment, but it doesn’t feel like you are gaining a reputation, one way or the other, while progressing in this game. Other than with your companions I mean.
Gods/Worship
- Why can only clerics choose a deity to worship? In Neverwinter Nights 2 you could choose one (or none) regardless of your class. This is the way you should go with this.
Environment
- Visually the games environments are pretty stunning. I especially liked the wall paintings in the druid grove and a lot of the finer visual details that were included in the environment.
- The lack of a day/night cycle, which BG1 and BG2 had, is really detrimental. It removes such a unique aspect to gameplay and to pen and paper in general. Night time also provides an opportunity to have encounters that you might not see during the day, opening up a ton of new quest opportunities. If you need to rethink the resting system to make this work I would say absolutely do it.
- There was way too much walking through empty areas. The hag’s lair is the worst for this. This entire section is kind of unnecessary. Like I get it we are underground and its spooky. But plugging the gas emitters is just repetitive and not very fun. Neither is all the walking through empty areas.
Baldur’s Gate 2 largely learned from this with Baldur’s Gate 1, by making tighter, more packed maps. Siege of Dragonspear probably went too far in this direction by having too many encounters on each map. But even still at the moment there is just a lot of empty space in this game.
- You’ve probably heard this a million times. But area after area of random ground effects gets kind of tiring fast. Maybe tone this down. Not everywhere needs to be on fire or spewing poison or acid.
- Jumping is really clunky when moving around areas. If I won’t take fall damage I should just be able to easily move across areas. Jumping (when necessary) should just be a part of that. Doing it one by one and using a button for it is a huge pain.
- Finally, there are way too many empty containers on these maps. Why not just have way more containers that have usable stuff in them? Especially nicknacks and things of little importance. Baldur’s Gate games after all have always given you way more gold and objects than you’ll ever need or use in any game.
Searching through all these containers and finding nothing is not fun. Also, an Alt key that reveals containers that have something in them doesn’t solve the core issue of there just being too many empty containers in the game.
Encounters
- Monsters each feel pretty unique. Like an ogre feels distinct enough from say a bugbear or hobgoblin.
- I’m fine with the big bad under the Blighted Village being a really powerful phase spider. But I think it would work better if you just had to fight regular giant spiders (or even a souped up version of giant spiders) in that cave before that point instead. It’s really odd to be fighting phase spiders when we haven’t even seen regular spiders by this point.
Also phase spiders are supposed to phase in and out of the ethereal plane. You shouldn’t see them doing this giant white streak of teleporting across the map. It should be a more subtle phase in, and out, of the plane.
- I know intellect devourers are cool but a level 1 party taking on 3 of them really takes away from just how challenging they should be to a party. Maybe describe them as something like “newborn intellect devourers” instead? (immature also works) That way there is some explanation for why they are so much weaker than they should be. The crash shouldn’t weaken their resistance to non-magic weapons let alone their other abilities.
- There is a lack of random encounters in the game. Maybe I just missed it, but I never saw any indication of you being able to run into any random encounter. The encounters could be combat related but don’t have to be. Either way, I think the game could use some.
Combat
- So many enemies seem to want to have a ranged option and it often comes down to using alchemist's fire. I’ve seen alchemist's fire used more in this game than in 3.5 years of DMing and playing 5th edition.
Connections to Earlier Games
- If the party goes to Avernus (I mean outside of the intro) it would be a nice thing to have a reference to Caelar Argent and her ultimate fate. It could even be something as small as a note you find that references her fate (whatever it happens to be). Sven has said that Siege of Dragonspear is recognized by the company as being “part of the BG story.” This would be a really nice way to do that.
- I’ve loved the little callbacks to the original games I’ve found. Like the mention under Belladona flowers of them being used as protection from Lycanthropy, but instead causing more harm than curing (a reference to BG1 and the werewolf island). Same with the references to Faldorn.
Graphics/UI
General
- You should get some kind of warning or prompt if you are fast travelling to a waypoint that has hostile enemies nearby (like if you’ve done something to make the goblins hostile and then try to fast travel to their camp).
- You should have some kind of way of knowing if you are going to take damage from jumping downwards. Maybe a red circle if you are going to take damage and fall prone.
- The journal and the spell selection screen could look more like a spell book and a journal.
- The game could use a random name generator during character creation
- Save files could be separated by character, that way it's easier to switch between playthroughs.
Inventory Screen
- You can’t switch between characters in the inventory screen. This is really annoying from the standpoint of wanting to move items around and then equip them.
- The button to sort your inventory is super nondescript. It should be more prominent.
Spell Screen
- I like the spell icons. They are a nice modern take on the old spell icons.
- The tiny number that explains the number of rounds a spell lasts is not helpful
Sound and Music
- The voice acting in the game is on point. They did a really good job with the casting here.
- The music in this game is solid. The only problem with it is that the battle music is the same. That needs more variety. But it’s a minor gripe in what is otherwise an excellent score.
- Player characters need more voice sets to choose from.
Modding
- For Baldur’s Gate 3 to have the same kind of longevity as its predecessors it's really important that it be as moddable as possible.
- Through a lot of hard work fans of BG1 and BG2 managed to find a way to add quests, new NPC’s, joinable NPC’s (companions), items, areas, artwork, scripts, and subclasses (kits) into the game. Not just into a separate module but rather into the main campaign itself.
- You don’t need to produce any kind of tool for this. But the easier it is for modders to add in quests, npc’s, and dialog, the better.
That's great feedback. And even while I can't sign under all of it (eg. I didn't find it difficult to find traders in the druid grove as I talked to everyone there first), I can sign under 90% of it. You nailed it with Sacred Flame, haha.
I found the druid grove a bit difficult to first figure out from a navigating standpoint. But maybe that is just how my brain works. So I think I just stuck to where I knew so I wouldn't get lost.
For that reason I also missed out on the goblin interrogation there.
Going through it kind of reminded me of the dwarven city (Vergen) in the Witcher 2 (although not as bad). Just a lot of twists and turns and going up and down a lot. At first at least it felt easy to get lost in. So while I did go through sections of it initially I guess I just avoided doing so because it felt a bit confusing.
Actually kind of related. But right now imps are funny to use. As a warlock i could summon mine, turn it invisible, and then send it against enemies in the underdark half way across the map. When it got near enemies I'd have it hide. Then just kept attacking with it. The turn after i attacked, if it was still alive, I'd have it cast invisibility and then bonus action hide. Then attack the next turn again. Rinse and repeat.
If enemies managed to kill it the best part was they would sometimes just magically know where i was. So they'd trot across the map looking for me.
So that was where my suggestion for familiars only getting 100 feet came from.
Lathander's a good deity.Well okay, duh. I mean he's a deity I like :P
Question for people playing the EA, I remember there being backgrounds for surface drow being available. Is Ellistraee a possible deity choice for paladins and/or clerics?
One month ago one of the writers, Kevin VanOrd (the writer for Lae'zel, Wyll, Kagha, Dror Ragzlin, and all of the myconids) did a live stream of BG3 where he revealed, among other things, the following:
It's hard to say right now if the story's game will feel better playing an origin character over a custom character or vice versa
All the companions are meant to be ten times deeper than DoS2's companions
There will be more content for EA. Does not know if any new companions or classes will be added
They plan to have eight companions, possibly more, and potentially including companions that won't be origin characters
There will be more companions than DoS2 but possibly less than BG2. Part of the "less than BG2" bit is because they want all the companions to have fleshed out stories
Doesn't know if duergar will be a playable race
The tutorial was the last thing that was made before EA went live, so it changes the context of some things that happen afterward. One that he mentions is Lae'zel's recruitment, which he said he'll be going back and revising so it better reflects the time the two of you spent on the nautiloid
It's important for the team that they stray away from the idea that whole races are evil and instead people are seen as individuals, following in line with WOTC's new direction. That's why alignment isn't going to be very important in this game
Not sure if they'll stick with having a fixed party after Act 1 or not. One reason he gives for having a fixed party is because it can be hard to experience a character's full story arc if they aren't in your party enough, and for the writers, continuing their arc into the second act when you haven't experienced it enough is very hard.
Gale wasn't originally planned for EA, but his writer and voice actor were so good that he got pushed through anyway
He doesn't think it's possible to have an origin character for every class
Believes that Wyll is the most good-aligned of all the origin characters so far
Said that Lae'zel has "the most incredible love scene in the game"
All origin characters will be romanceable by PCs of any gender
There will be more origin characters than in DoS2
The devs were surprised at the thirst for Halsin. In Kevin's case, he didn't know about Halsin's update look as the original look for Halsin was old and wizened
Doesn't know if origin characters will be playable in EA
It's possible that we'll get to go to other planes in the full release, though we won't be going to space to meet up with the githyanki
His headcanon age for Lae'zel is around 21-22
Kagha will be getting new lines in a later content update
There will be a new recruitment for Lae'zel for in case you find her dead body and resurrect her. Also, the devs don't typically allow NPCs to be resurrected, so it sounds like that mechanic won't be coming any time soon.
It's a significant detail that githyanki PCs don't know what this purification protocol is that Lae'zel keeps talking about
The devs have talked about getting companions more involved in skill checks, but he's not sure what will happen with that
They want the evil route to be viable and more complicated than just "I'm evil"
Said that romances with origin characters won't be one-time flings, then added "depending on the origin"
No plans at the moment for low intelligence dialogue
When asked if there were plans to include githzerai, he is answer was never say never, but ultimately he doesn't know the answer
When asked why the Drow aren't an elf subrace, he said he doesn't know but thinks it has to do with the tagging system and because there's such a difference between Drow and other elves
Companion quests won't be like in Dragon Age where some areas were locked unless you had a certain companion with you. You'll be able to complete parts of the quest without them and they'll react in turn (such as meeting with the githyanki without Lae'zel in your party)
At some point Wyll's recruitment scene is likely going to be set up to trigger automatically when players get close enough so people don't miss him so much
Doesn't know if interactions between warlock PCs and their patrons will be a thing, but it's been discussed
They're working on adding the ability to swap out companions while in dialogue if your party is full and that this should be coming out soon
Compared to DoS2, playing as a custom character should be much more satisfying (he said "playing as an origin" but I'm pretty sure he meant custom characters)
There'll be more Detect Thoughts options
Things that limit player agency will usually always be removed, and he specifically mentions that the bit of lore about Lolth-sworn Drow all having red eyes only will likely be removed since they offered a range of eye colors for players
It used to be assumed that githyanki would all have yellow skin, but because custom githyanki characters can have different skin colors the writers had to go back and revise any lines that mentioned yellow skin.
Said that Kagha isn't evil, but it's more like she's flirting with evil. Ultimately she's just trying to protect her people
Wyll is the kind of person who believes in the "right thing" over the "nice thing"
The devs have talked about being able to Indiana Jones the Idol of Sylvanus, so maybe we'll get to do that at some point
What's in EA right now isn't all of Act 1 but is most of it
One of the main highlights, to me, is the fact they might be reconsidering the much-criticised decision to stick with having a fixed party after Act 1.
"It's important for the team that they stray away from the idea that whole races are evil and instead people are seen as individuals, following in line with WOTC's new direction. That's why alignment isn't going to be very important in this game"
I don't see why this makes alignment less important. If anything, having more individuals makes alignment even more informative, since you can't just look at an orc and go, "Yeah, probably evil."
"It's important for the team that they stray away from the idea that whole races are evil and instead people are seen as individuals, following in line with WOTC's new direction. That's why alignment isn't going to be very important in this game"
I don't see why this makes alignment less important. If anything, having more individuals makes alignment even more informative, since you can't just look at an orc and go, "Yeah, probably evil."
All interesting stuff. I agree with this. I immediately thought that alignment would be more important if we arent going to write off characters based simply on their race.
I hope it's both (Races arent uniformly good/evil, and that alignment is more important). It does seem like they are putting nuance into evil roleplay, so that makes me think alignment will be nuanced too. That's good, at least.
"It's important for the team that they stray away from the idea that whole races are evil and instead people are seen as individuals, following in line with WOTC's new direction. That's why alignment isn't going to be very important in this game"
I don't see why this makes alignment less important. If anything, having more individuals makes alignment even more informative, since you can't just look at an orc and go, "Yeah, probably evil."
Have to agree here. Having races being more variable in alignment doesn't mean the alignment system is now redundant. If anything, it makes spells like Detect Evil even MORE important in games now.
To clarify, I'm not against taking uniform alignments away from races. I've been playing good goblins, kobolds, and Gnolls for years. Just the idea that alignment is somehow negated in importance by this shift.
Comments
At that point though, there's zero reason for something that stands entirely on its own to be a sequel. Which would make the property a bad sequel. But this getting real close to old arguments, so I'm stopping here.
Just got the final email responses from all the feedback I sent them (I'm pretty sure I broke their system, but in my defense, it really should have included some basic formatting options). I've had to reformat it a bit so that it works on the forum. But the formatting was done in word so it was a lot more legible than what you'd see here.
I also broke it up by topic. So it wasn't just one massive block like seen here.
Anyways, for the very brave here this is the feedback I sent to Larian. I believe this qualifies as "an insane amount of feedback"
Maybe it won't get listened to. Maybe an intern looked at it and "noped" out of there. But it felt good to write anyways.
(Spoilered so it doesn't take up half the thread. Plus there are some plot spoilers.)
Classes
Fighters
Weapon Styles
- Weapon styles need to be reworked. When you crunch the numbers, Great Weapon Fighting does an average of like 1.33 extra damage per hit. How can that possibly compare to an archer getting +2 to their attack rolls? (it doesn’t)
- Protection likewise only works in very short ranges. Far too short a distance to be much practical use. Especially with the combat encounters happening over much larger areas compared to what you’d see in pen and paper.
Clerics
- They need an alternative offensive cantrip to Sacred Flame. Sacred Flame is very unreliable and its damage isn’t even that good. It’s the equivalent of attacking with a dagger with 14 dexterity (4.5 average damage). Except at least with a dagger you benefit from positioning.
- Without a good cantrip, and access to Spiritual Weapon, the Trickery Cleric in particular feels unnecessarily weak at range. Shadowheart feels this especially. Guiding Bolt is a limited use spell after all.
- The absence of spiritual weapon often leaves clerics with little they can use their bonus action for besides healing word, shoving, or jumping.
Rangers
- I like what you’ve done with it but the bonuses it gets just feel a bit too generic. It really needs its own unique first and second level abilities.
Rogues
- The lack of expertise with them really hurts rogues. Rogues are kind of funny because in pen and paper their Thief and Assassin subclass don’t gain any subclass features between 3rd and 9th level (just base Rogue features and then possibly feats). Expertise (at 3rd and 6th level) serves as a way to keep each rogue feeling unique. Arcane Tricksters don’t have this problem as much because their spellcasting continues to get better.
- The Thief being able to get two bonus actions (including two bonus action attacks) gives them such a huge advantage over the Arcane Trickster that it is hard to justify playing anything other than a Thief.
Warlocks
- The ability to cast Find Familiar unlimited amounts is fine. But it may be an idea to set a limit on how far a Familiar can go from its caster. 100 feet is the PnP standard (at least for it communicating with its caster).
Wizards
Arcane Recovery feels like it could be more prominently displayed. At the moment it is very easy to miss because it’s just put in with the other abilities in the hotbar.
Backgrounds
- Backgrounds could really benefit from providing some unique text response options at some points in the game. Examples.
"[Acolyte] Uhh sorry I know my prayers and nothing you are doing looks like a prayer."
"[Soldier] Ahh I heard of this formation gets used by goblins. Best to put your swords down now.
Nothing you are doing is surprising me."
- Because at the moment backgrounds don’t feel like they do enough.
Spells
- Spells really need more in the way of descriptions. Especially when it comes to how long they last. There is a little number in the game that shows this but it really is not obvious or clear.
- Having said that, you’ve done an amazing job with creating content for spells that people otherwise might not have taken (Speak with Animals, Jump, Speak with Dead, etc)
Skills
- You’ve overall done a phenomenal job of incorporating all these skills into the game. It’s crazy to see stuff like Animal Handling actually being relevant.
Some skills still feel very underutilized.
- Acrobatics
- History
- Medicine (this could be used for examining corpses)
- Performance
- Survival
While others feel like they could involve more passive checks or could be used in dialogs using more of a threshold system
- Arcana
- Insight
Companions
- I don’t mind companions approving or disapproving of my actions or the things I say. But very often it feels like they are disapproving of what I am doing without even giving me the chance to explain myself.
- I like that NPC’s aren’t optimized. But Shadowheart really doesn’t work with 9 dexterity. Simply because she lacks a good ranged option (because Sacred Flame sucks). Maybe switch her dexterity for her charisma. That would give her 12 dexterity and 11 charisma (after her racial traits are accounted for). This is much more balanced.
Dialog
- The NPC and companion writing in the game seemed pretty solid. I really have no further complaints in that regard.
- The plot and the factions can be a lot to take in. But I think you’ve done a good job of keeping exposition digestible.
- For the most part reply options were diverse in terms of what options you had. But there were a couple of cases where I felt a bit limited in terms of what you can say.
- It’s not clear to me why at the beginning of the game (after the crash) my character shouldn’t immediately have the option to ask someone where the nearest large city is. Why should my character trust some random druids or some hag about my infliction? Why wouldn’t I search out a large city and try to find an archmage or powerful cleric that could actually help me? I get that there are goblins about but I’m not even given the chance to really ask anyone about this (or if there is anyone I can ask it’s buried in someone’s dialog). It feels like a big dialog gap.
- Another example of a lack of dialog options concerns the widow during the hag quest. By the time I met her I had about 8000 gold in my party, more than enough to pay to resurrect her husband. Yet my only option was to use this sketchy wand I got from a hag even though I had every reason, given our past experience with her, not to trust this hag.
- Another example is the mummy you encounter in the tomb (the one that comes to your camp later). I kind of felt like I should have been able to argue that no life truly matters (including my own).
Quests
- [PLOT HOLE] It’s not clear to me why Gale can’t just draw energy from the fast travel/ waypoints. You know those Netherese sources of magic that apparently are everywhere in this area. The ones that seemingly have unlimited magical power and can transport anyone where they need to go, an unlimited number of times? Yea. Maybe just get rid of the magic nature of the waypoints. Also having to hold a magic item in his hand doesn’t seem all that much different than touching one of these waypoints to me.
- The masterwork weapon quest needs some work. The quest outcome is really unsatisfying. Not only are the weapons only +1 weapons, but unless you have someone in your group that can benefit from a +1 dagger, sickle, or greatsword, they feel really lacking.
- Other than the dialogs and quests I noted above, I’ve been really satisfied with the quests in this game. You have provided really meaningful options for resolving quests here and I’m really impressed by the diversity of options you’ve brought to the table.
- Druids especially have been well represented here. There is a nice degree of diversity in terms of their opinions and you reflect these views with some great characters. This is not something that past DnD games have done nearly as well.
Written Material
- The books in the game were a nice addition. I like that you actually took the time to write a page or so for each and they help to explain some of the factions a bit more than what you’d get out of the dialog. It’s a nice callback to the original games, which featured their share of books, as well.
Items/Stores
- There are too many generic +1 magic items in the game. Ditch them. Focus on making unique magic items that people will want to use and will want to acquire.
- There is a lack of a distinctive store to go to in the game. Baldur’s Gate 1 had the smithy in Beregost and High Hedge, not to mention the Sorcerous Sundries later into the game. Shadows of Amn had Ribald’s (which was right next to you when you escape the lair). This adventure has … uhh … some traders in the druid grove?
- Most of the traders in the druids grove are also off to the side. I actually missed them for the first 20 hours of my first playthrough because it was not apparent where they were.
- This first area really needs a clear store. Something like a wizard tower or very distinct building. Because finding traders at the moment is frankly too much of a pain and that one you encounter while walking into the druid grove really doesn’t offer enough to count for this.
- The druid grove traders also aren’t even that close to the grove waypoint either. So they aren’t convenient to use.
- Thieving tools getting destroyed on failure is annoying. This never happened in the original BG games, and honestly it isn’t even necessary. I’m fine with damaging the lock after too many failures. But you really shouldn’t need more than one thief tools (unless multiple people in your party want to use them).
- Why are thieving tools and trap tools separate? In pen and paper they are one in the same. Just keep things straightforward for people and let them not only open locks but also disarm traps with them (provided they succeed).
Reputation/Alignment
- I don’t like the lack of any local reputation or worldwide reputation system. I get that 5E is trying to move away from using alignment, but it doesn’t feel like you are gaining a reputation, one way or the other, while progressing in this game. Other than with your companions I mean.
Gods/Worship
- Why can only clerics choose a deity to worship? In Neverwinter Nights 2 you could choose one (or none) regardless of your class. This is the way you should go with this.
Environment
- Visually the games environments are pretty stunning. I especially liked the wall paintings in the druid grove and a lot of the finer visual details that were included in the environment.
- The lack of a day/night cycle, which BG1 and BG2 had, is really detrimental. It removes such a unique aspect to gameplay and to pen and paper in general. Night time also provides an opportunity to have encounters that you might not see during the day, opening up a ton of new quest opportunities. If you need to rethink the resting system to make this work I would say absolutely do it.
- There was way too much walking through empty areas. The hag’s lair is the worst for this. This entire section is kind of unnecessary. Like I get it we are underground and its spooky. But plugging the gas emitters is just repetitive and not very fun. Neither is all the walking through empty areas.
- You’ve probably heard this a million times. But area after area of random ground effects gets kind of tiring fast. Maybe tone this down. Not everywhere needs to be on fire or spewing poison or acid.
- Jumping is really clunky when moving around areas. If I won’t take fall damage I should just be able to easily move across areas. Jumping (when necessary) should just be a part of that. Doing it one by one and using a button for it is a huge pain.
- Finally, there are way too many empty containers on these maps. Why not just have way more containers that have usable stuff in them? Especially nicknacks and things of little importance. Baldur’s Gate games after all have always given you way more gold and objects than you’ll ever need or use in any game.
Encounters
- Monsters each feel pretty unique. Like an ogre feels distinct enough from say a bugbear or hobgoblin.
- I’m fine with the big bad under the Blighted Village being a really powerful phase spider. But I think it would work better if you just had to fight regular giant spiders (or even a souped up version of giant spiders) in that cave before that point instead. It’s really odd to be fighting phase spiders when we haven’t even seen regular spiders by this point.
- I know intellect devourers are cool but a level 1 party taking on 3 of them really takes away from just how challenging they should be to a party. Maybe describe them as something like “newborn intellect devourers” instead? (immature also works) That way there is some explanation for why they are so much weaker than they should be. The crash shouldn’t weaken their resistance to non-magic weapons let alone their other abilities.
- There is a lack of random encounters in the game. Maybe I just missed it, but I never saw any indication of you being able to run into any random encounter. The encounters could be combat related but don’t have to be. Either way, I think the game could use some.
Combat
- So many enemies seem to want to have a ranged option and it often comes down to using alchemist's fire. I’ve seen alchemist's fire used more in this game than in 3.5 years of DMing and playing 5th edition.
Connections to Earlier Games
- If the party goes to Avernus (I mean outside of the intro) it would be a nice thing to have a reference to Caelar Argent and her ultimate fate. It could even be something as small as a note you find that references her fate (whatever it happens to be). Sven has said that Siege of Dragonspear is recognized by the company as being “part of the BG story.” This would be a really nice way to do that.
- I’ve loved the little callbacks to the original games I’ve found. Like the mention under Belladona flowers of them being used as protection from Lycanthropy, but instead causing more harm than curing (a reference to BG1 and the werewolf island). Same with the references to Faldorn.
Graphics/UI
General
- You should get some kind of warning or prompt if you are fast travelling to a waypoint that has hostile enemies nearby (like if you’ve done something to make the goblins hostile and then try to fast travel to their camp).
- You should have some kind of way of knowing if you are going to take damage from jumping downwards. Maybe a red circle if you are going to take damage and fall prone.
- The journal and the spell selection screen could look more like a spell book and a journal.
- The game could use a random name generator during character creation
- Save files could be separated by character, that way it's easier to switch between playthroughs.
Inventory Screen
- You can’t switch between characters in the inventory screen. This is really annoying from the standpoint of wanting to move items around and then equip them.
- The button to sort your inventory is super nondescript. It should be more prominent.
Spell Screen
- I like the spell icons. They are a nice modern take on the old spell icons.
- The tiny number that explains the number of rounds a spell lasts is not helpful
Sound and Music
- The voice acting in the game is on point. They did a really good job with the casting here.
- The music in this game is solid. The only problem with it is that the battle music is the same. That needs more variety. But it’s a minor gripe in what is otherwise an excellent score.
- Player characters need more voice sets to choose from.
Modding
- For Baldur’s Gate 3 to have the same kind of longevity as its predecessors it's really important that it be as moddable as possible.
- Through a lot of hard work fans of BG1 and BG2 managed to find a way to add quests, new NPC’s, joinable NPC’s (companions), items, areas, artwork, scripts, and subclasses (kits) into the game. Not just into a separate module but rather into the main campaign itself.
- You don’t need to produce any kind of tool for this. But the easier it is for modders to add in quests, npc’s, and dialog, the better.
For that reason I also missed out on the goblin interrogation there.
If enemies managed to kill it the best part was they would sometimes just magically know where i was. So they'd trot across the map looking for me.
So that was where my suggestion for familiars only getting 100 feet came from.
just saw that on Reddit :
https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/jfvegd/spoiler_paladin_deity_options_from_game_files
(Possible Deities for Paladins)
Question for people playing the EA, I remember there being backgrounds for surface drow being available. Is Ellistraee a possible deity choice for paladins and/or clerics?
We'll get you to a "Devoted" companion approval stage yet!
Don't hold your breath :P
But I will choose to hate/tolerate it for legitimate reasons, and that means taking stock of the positives as well.
Source.
One of the main highlights, to me, is the fact they might be reconsidering the much-criticised decision to stick with having a fixed party after Act 1.
I don't see why this makes alignment less important. If anything, having more individuals makes alignment even more informative, since you can't just look at an orc and go, "Yeah, probably evil."
All interesting stuff. I agree with this. I immediately thought that alignment would be more important if we arent going to write off characters based simply on their race.
I hope it's both (Races arent uniformly good/evil, and that alignment is more important). It does seem like they are putting nuance into evil roleplay, so that makes me think alignment will be nuanced too. That's good, at least.
Have to agree here. Having races being more variable in alignment doesn't mean the alignment system is now redundant. If anything, it makes spells like Detect Evil even MORE important in games now.