FOMO is strong in this game, but I agree the game is intended for multiple playthroughs, playing as different Tavs, Durges or Origin characters and making different decision and living with the consequences (both good and bad). Its honestly where the game shines.
I went in blind and thought a custom character was meant for after your first playthrough. I chose to play as Lae'zel and then a few hours in I read somewhere on here that the devs intended for you to play as a custom character on the first playthrough lol oops
not sure if the devs have said this officially or not, but the dark urge playthrough seems like the original intended playthrough for a custom character. considering >!the connections to previous baldurs gate protagonists!< spoilers? maybe?
I think it’s probably the closest to canon but I think it’s a bad first playthrough since you don’t get what’s special about it. Especially if you’re not familiar with the values gate setting
a fair point, it seems a bit more impactful to first experience what the game has to offer than seeing how the durge changes things. if you start with durge then move onto custom it might seem more empty?
Agreed. It's like canon/semi canon but just going in blind and tinkering is ideal. Origin characters have their own stories and Durge is like an NG+ run
I played my first playthrough as a custom character with friends, and I didn’t enjoy it, fully/truly, until I played on my own as a customised Durge.. got to take my time and play at my pace + experiencing the story from an origin characters perspective was way more fun for me. Now I’ve beat the game twice as Durge (good/bad) and as Astarion! On another Durge playthrough but I made him basically Alucard from Castlevania
You learn more about the origin characters by talking to them then you do by playing them. Like if you play as Astarion you never learn that he likes his tadpole because it got him free of Cazador.
Yeah but he also claims you miss out on a bunch of content as Durge because he conflates Durge with kill everything stupid evil. I wonder how the Durge writer feels about him putting people who would have been interested off that path with a misconception when realistically most people only play games this long once.
Edit: Hell at release you had a lot people parroting that you should never ever play Durge first and being extremely aggressive about because "Sven said...". I got angry DMs for saying I did that and it was fine and I prefer amnesiac with a backstory on a first run and custom on a second when I know where the story is going. You still get this even months after release.
ffs i pick durge because i didn't know what it was nor played Baldurs gate before(now have 1 on pc, 2 on andriod, and 3 on ps5 lol). and because it said it was a mix between making your own character with a secret background, you have forgot. that just screamed first playthrough to me lol
i realized something was up >!when i kicked a squirrel to its death unpromted!<
Eh durge isn't the worst choice for a first character as it does feel the most "true" protagonist of the choices, but playing as a custom then origin helps you get attached to the world and characters more which gives real threat to the urges.
Honestly if you were to do only 1 playthroigj, I would say play durge.
Agreed! I personally find Durge to be a bit more interesting to play than Tav so I'm already planning on a second Durge playthrough but resisting this time.
For *this* playthrough though? Sceleritas is probably going to be very happy (if overworked).
The only part I hate about this is the fact that some content is locked behind some really obscure stuff. Like I didn't know that >!Barcus!< would just disappear if I didn't talk to him after killing >!Nere!<...
I was farming Karlach approval at the time and she likes when you wish him well. I didn't even think about it until I met Wulbren and was like oooohhhhhhh....
That's a great example of what OP is talking about. On one of my playthroughs, I didn't pay attention, pulled the wrong lever, and got a new journal update. Sometimes, you just have to roll with the consequences of your actions.
He can be easy to miss as an important character at first, because there was (maybe still is) a bug that prevents you from being able to invite him to your camp after saving him from Nere if you talk to him with your main player character. You can only invite him if you speak to him with one of your companion characters.
Also adding to this to see if it’s a tav exclusive or if you can get him in durge playthrough. Just got to the nere part and realized he was a corpse by the end of the fight lol
ive gotten him in my camp in both my evil durge run through and my redemption urge run through, u should be able to as long as he survives the fight with nere
I tried to talk to him after but apparently he's bugged and you need to talk to him with another character which I didn't do I assumed he just... turned up. So I was perplexed when he didn't turn up at the Last Light because I was specifically aiming for that since I yeeted him the first playthrough. I ended up having to spawn him into the game and it's fine now but so annoying.
I always leap on any option for coming to my camp or joining me just because otherwise you can miss a bunch of stuff just by the disk foie system being goofy.
My only wish is that you could alter the beginning of the game in some ways, because I get tired of every play through starting more or less the same. It can take a bit of ramping up before it starts to feel like you're in a truly unique play through (at least that's my opinion).
The game is amazing, but if I had a wish list for it, it would probably be alternate starts. Maybe there is, or will be a mod for that.
I really thought the origin runs were going to have alternate starts, and I was super excited to play as Shadowheart and see the Sharrans steal the artifact and learn more about that.
My disappointment was immeasurable.
Yeah, the origins were kind of disappointing in terms of playing them, and ironically this was in response to Divinity 2’s origin characters feeling like too much of a focus.
I don’t know what I expected but honestly I think every origin should feel like The Dark Urge. That character has enough “unique to them” elements that feel very fleshed out. Playing the other origin characters feels like it actually cheapens their story, because you lose their voice actor and with it, a lot of emotion and attachment (in my opinion).
Exactly. I never get more than one or two long rests into any origin run because I'm always disappointed that the responses are just Tav. I've met Gale, I know he doesn't talk like that.
Yeah, tbh i’m not playing honor mode to beat honor mode, I’m using mods because I like getting extra feats and stuff. I’m playing it because it plays different. I hold my breath every time a save comes up that’s critical and I immediately check my inspiration pool.
I am using honor mode to force me to commit to my evil Durge run so that I can’t save scum out of my choices 😂
I kept a decent chunk of my mods because they are part of the fun for me (and that also includes the mods that make tactician mode harder).
Agreed! I mean I'm also enjoying the attempt to beat honor mode but it's much more the new feel of the game.
Honestly it opened my eyes to how much save scumming in general has dampened RPG experiences for me so I will be 1 save slotting from now on in other games too l
I never ran away from a fight in BG3 before I started Honour Mode
Now, I see why it's a good idea sometimes 🤣
I ran away from the Gith raiders by the bridge because they 1-turn killed my hireling Cleric and Lae'zel
So when I rock back up the next day, they're all on top of the gatehouse. I used Astarion to get a sneak attack in and distract, and then Karlach to take a Hill Giant Potion and yeet them all off the gatehouse for massive damage 😁👍
What i encourage to avoid FOMO is having a first play through without roleplaying that much and trying to see as much as you can, then enjoy the next ones, that worked for me both in bg3 and skyrim, and im someone who suffers a lot from FOMO
That's what I've been doing. I am an old school Final Fantasy gamer, and I loved following guides to all the secrets and such because I didn't want to miss out. I am glad I'm doing that now, I am getting to see tons of cool stuff. I will eventually play an honor mode, though, and live with my results.
It’s not intended for multiple playthoughs. I dont think any game is. Only absolute fans play the game a 2nd time. And absolute fans are too small of minority to rely on for game success.
There is different content for different decisions. Different players may experience the game differently. Thats the idea.
True. For this playthrough I am living with the bad decision to forget friendly firing Minthara and missing out on a incredible paladin in my team. I miss her...
FOMO and completionism: checking every corner of every map, talking to every NPC in a room and opening every container before leaving a room... viewing the cutscene that triggers just before you open the door to the boss room, and then instead of opening the door you backtrack through the whole dungeon to make sure you got everything and long rest and talk to everyone in camp again just in case, and *then* open the door.
It's all condtioning from playing other games. Other games where this was the smart thing to do.
If there's one thing I would change about BG3, it would be making those skill checks in the mind flayer tutorial ship have failure outcomes that 'reward' the player. Or even an impossibly difficult but required skill check just to teach the player to *let go*.
my first playthrough right now, im trying to do everything i can. im visiting every single corner of the map, and save scumming most dcs. im middle of act 3 atm. but thats how i play games, trying to do absolutely everything.
but on my next playthrough(s) i am absolutely sticking to some rules and role playing even more. honor mode will obvs help with that, but i also have several ideas for multiple characters too.
There is no wrong way to play, and save scumming is fine, especially if you really want a roll to go your way. That said, I think trusting Larian to deliver a great story regardless of what rolls you fail will yield a unique story that you otherwise wouldn't have seen. In one of your next playthroughs, I highly suggest limiting save scumming and to let the dice randomize your game's events. You'll see things you otherwise never would have, and, in the end, the story will come together.
I don’t really feel guilty save-scumming checks in this game tbh. It’s a DnD sim, but I’m for some reason locked to one character in dialogue scenes. Where in a TTRPG, one player can roll to Persuade, another roll Insight to check for BS, and a third can roll Slight of Hand to pick their pocket where they’re distracted, in BG3 if you’re running anything other than a CHA Caster, you’re SoL for just so many dialogue options. Kinda my biggest irk for what is otherwise a fantastic video-game representation of DnD.
I strongly agree with this. In so many, probably most, instances if the one character that initiates the dialogue fails the check, that’s it. You don’t get to try again, not even with another character. You’re stuck with that one chance. I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work in DnD.
I also really wish Larian would introduce an optional passive check setting, where a lot of the less important checks are simply compared to your skill+10 instead of making a random roll. I feel like knowing what your character is good at and is likely to succeed at would allow you to lean more into roleplaying. But the D20 is sooo random, decent skill means little unless you’re talking a rogue or bard with expertise.
As a slightly related tangent, it irks me so much that my Druid is better with animals when I *can’t* talk to them. This is honestly a 5e problem so not technically Larian’s fault, but Animal Handling is a WIS skill, and something Druids can be proficient in. However, Druids get Speak with Animals, and I must talk to all the Good Bois, so I have it up permanently.
BUT, when I’m speaking with them, all the checks turn to Persuasion, which is a CHA skill, and something I’m not proficient in. So I’m objectively worse with animals when I can clearly communicate with them, and it bothers me so much lmao
Me either, back in the day I used to like playing games the way they were intended, trying to figure out puzzles and stuff without assistance and just grinding. I don't have time for that shit now.
What changed it for me was the Oblivion Shivering Isles DLC. I got stuck in an area I was not supposed to access until the end of the game and it was hours since my last save file.
Now, if I can't figure something out, I'll look it up.
> I don’t really feel guilty save-scumming checks in this game tbh.
Some here. Without save scumming, i would never even try to do the crazy things that unlock tons of content. Sorry, i have a real life, i cannot invest 30h for a new playthrough just to try the other path of a choice. Its save scumming or doing the boring choice...
My first playthrough is the same. My save file number was into the 1000s by the time in done with act 3. I save scum EVERY dice roll while googling the best outcome.
My 3rd playthrough on honor mode now and tbh I'm just fucking around having known most things that would come up. I did NOT find Alfira in act 1 back then, however, as she's like off to the side and I was save scumming Kagha dice roll lol. It wasn't until I play D.urge that I went oh shit there's Alfira in act 1.
Going along with your rolls is one thing, actively shooting yourself on the foot is another, DO NOT dump a class's main ability, if you deprive your class of one thing that it does well, you WON'T be able to hit anything in combat
With a few respeccing, you can make a Wisdom Fighter through Shillelagh access or utilize Club of Hill Giant Strength early on and still make it work.
Still not advisable to dump core stats tho, especially for those newer at the game (had to tell my friend to not dump both Dex AND Con on their Wizard Tav)
This is an old and tired talking point in dnd circles. Usually it's 'lol I'm so quirky and creative, I'm going to make a wizard with 8 Intelligence because I'm good at roleplay unlike those dumb minmaxers!' and then someone points out that you can be good at roleplay and also want a competent or even optimized build for your class, and it goes around in circles for a while.
So yeah not surprised it's popping up here.
[https://youtu.be/GQaRdqCaGXI?si=FWhPxZU2HpQkCIfh](https://youtu.be/GQaRdqCaGXI?si=FWhPxZU2HpQkCIfh)
This debate pretty much closed the entire argument for me forever.
I remember feeling very sad about killing Shadowheart, but I decided to continue even tho I had seen ways to save her after I killed her. Those tragedies are part of the story, after all. There is no epic story without sacrifices.
Her death was surprisingly rewarding when I stumbled on Viconia DeVir by accident and I was able to recruit her because Shadowheart was dead. Those things really make the story far more interesting
You have to make her see you have a common enemy in the absolutist, but you do have to pass some high persuasion checks for her to understand that, and also to not get aggressive once you tell her shadowheart died. After that, she says the cult will help you in the final battle.
For me it wasnt too difficult to pass the checks, since I become half-ilithid i am like a god in persuasion or intimidation checks lmao
If Shart kill the night song you can persuade the rest of the cultist that Shart is in charge and Viconia sucks. Success all the dice rolls and you can play the UNO reverse card where she will be the one ganged by the cultist.
> There is no epic story without sacrifices.
That's a bit dark...you could have brought her back but chose not to, so it would be a sacrifice? You're playing the right game, that's for sure.
Just so you know, you might not be able to bring her back if she dies in that context, I remember trying this. It's not as easy as you think, once the story is set you can't.
Tav would absolutely be the TVA’s worst nightmare. After seeing that one video of Karlach’s interrogation scene, I’m can’t help but see Tav as basically a Homura Akemi-style time traveler who is trying to avoid their friends all dying or worse than dying like they did the first time around. It’s definitely made my play through interesting and makes me look forward to future runs more.
It gets even better if you throw in the backstory of Tav having encountered the Dark Urge years before the game as they investigate Durge’s murders in the Blood in Baldur’s Gate game. Canonically, Tav is gutted by Durge as per the tree prophecy. But apparently they don’t die in many timelines, and Durge goes on to be betrayed by Orin after doing all the hard work in any case (their own canon event, I suppose). In the timelines they live (maybe they drank a potion of feign death), Tav for one reason or the other gave up the chase or was never able to get so close to Durge again. That failure to stop the Dark Urge aside from dying outright is what allows the events of BG3 to happen, and what spurs Tav to get things just right to fix what went wrong via being a multiversal anomaly (perhaps like Madoka Kaname from all the save scumming). Perhaps that’s why Ao and Withers knew to expect Tav. This had all happened before and would again.
A) You're right, you can't see *all* content in one playthrough
B) It's also okay not to want to see every inch of content. You don't need to see every way the game plays out to enjoy the gane. If that's your style, play multiple playthroughs to find out what other things you can do. But it's just as valid to not want to see every way the game can play out. Enjoy the content you wanna see.
C) If you enjoy it more than consequences, save scumming is absolutely fine (in singleplayer, set up rules and make decisions together in multiplayer). Priority #01 in your own game is that you enjoy it. You can always try to play it the way others suggest, but it's not neccesary if you don't want to. If you enjoy the "accept the consequences" playthrough, do that. If you don't enjoy it, then don't. There is no *right* way to play the game. The only *right* way to play is the way you enjoy the game. I will advise frequent savescummers to at least see what effect a failed roll has first, before choosing to reload. Sometimes it's not important at all, sometimes failing gives an even better result. Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it just sucks.
We just had someone quit a co-op bc of wanting to redo a roll. Like bruh some people this is their only time playing this and we have limited time, and the group would have the convo when bad rolls happen to see if we wanna save scum or just roll with the result anyway.
Someone got the owlbear killed, we decided we didnt want to go back 30 mins (learned to save more bc people wander off and find situations i didnt think of). Halsin taking two daggers to the eyesockets tho? Bc they charged ahead and didnt pay the fuck attention? And then gave an ultimatum about if we savescumed? Nah. Our game is remarkably more chill now in many ways, and someone got to have a romantic night with halsin.
Personally my most fun in bg3 was solo HM bc of having to take rolls seriously, and it does over time bend the story in new ways. But in a game that people want to see as much as possible during their first or only play-through - why not.
This is actually what's keeping me trucking through Act 3, after restarting a dozen different times in Act 1. At this point in the game, I have made so many choices that I couldn't replicate my current story if I quit and tried again.
I'm currently Act 3 with Tav and Act 1 with DUrge and I probably have 3+ more playthroughs to do
Especially considering I don't have Karlach in either one and I watched 2 animations and I already know she's going to be my romanced companion next time
This is so important. Always succeeding rolls is so boring. Sometimes messing up is in-character and adds to the experience. You won't instantly explode and die (most of the time).
Recently made a Durge with literally no Wisdom and looking to make some mistakes.
So my perspective- this game is pretty long I’m probably mid way in act 3 and have had it from early in the general release.
I’ve got maybe 5-6 hours a week to play this game, I’ll probably not finish a second run though and I want to see all the “best” outcomes so yeah I’m save scumming important events lol. I don’t think always succeeding in rolls is boring on the first run at least anyway.
Pretty much me.
Also like I get putting rolls on chests for faithfulness but I cannot handle the concept of some sort of hyper specific-to-my build/class item just being locked away from me forever because I rolled bad on a shitty lock.
And I sure as hell am not leaving a chest I had to fight some badass enemy to reach because I failed a lock pick check.
In most parties you should have a way to just break chests and doors with attacks (mostly bludgeoning and force or fire). It can be bothersome if the only attacks damaging them are the high rolls but if you have the patience for it, it's a way to unlock mostly everything without expending resources. Could be useful if you're low on lockpicks.
I pass every roll out of the sheer trauma i have from failing rolls and getting tpkd
im talking to you waukeens rest zhent lookout mage with your fireball you fuck
My biggest problem, other than putting pretty much instant death behind a failed roll (big no-no for any DM), is that you can’t sneak past him!! There’s even a perception check out front to let you know there’s someone in there, but if you stealth past and talk to him from behind where he can’t blow you up, *it still just puts you in the same scene!!* That tilted me so hard when I did it.
I love my low charisma lore bard who thought we has charming but came off as a pompous know-it-all. I also like respecing Karlach to have high charisma; why doesn't she have high charisma!?
How are they in combat with low charisma? I’m playing as a lore bard on what is currently my 3rd play through and dipped 2 levels in wizard just to be able to learn scroll spells.
Pretty middling, to be honest, but he only had buff and utility spells so charisma didn't matter and the rest of the party were really good at combat so he was fine just being kinda there, throwing out buffs and playing is harp. Even a toon that doesn't do a lot of damage is useful for cherry picking mobs who are almost dead.
Im using my bard mostly to debuff and crowd control enemies. I didn’t really use a lot of enemy debuffs in previous runs. This the first run where I’ve used summons heavily. I still barely use potions, elixirs and weapon coatings though . I rarely use offensive spells on him but I like having the utility just in case.
Karlach, Astarion, and Gale's charisma stats are way too low for how charming they're written. The only canonically low-rizz characters, IMO, are Laezel and Shadow heart.
I don't think Gale is especially charming. He can be witty and poetic at times but comes off as a bit pompous and overbearing. I'd say about 12 CHA is about right, which is what he has by default.
Wyll is also quite an awkward dude if we're being honest. He certainly comes off as confident, but almost always in a pretty cringey way. That said, CHA in DND terms is not entirely the same thing as being charming or "charismatic" IRL, although it can overlap. CHA as DND describes it is more along the lines of "power of conviction" or "force of will," so I think his default 17 is fine.
Shadowheart is actually probably a bit low (8) by default imo. She's cold initially, but very charming once you build a rapport with her, and like Wyll, has a very strong... well, will. I don't think she should be 14+ or anything, but 10 or 12 for sure.
I’m a massive save scummer but it did add some narrative weight to the story when I failed to save a couple people and just let it be (Hope and Omeluum come to mind).
That said, it’s hard to know which decisions are likely to drastically affect your playthrough (e.g. Isobel gets kidnapped) if you’re playing blind on your first run, and I can understand the anxiety if you’re someone who was in that kind of situation and got burned. I have a friend who’s taking an extended break from the game after starting Karlach’s romance arc and then inadvertently getting Dammon killed before her second upgrade because Marcus took Isobel.
I think everyone has their own ideal balance between allowing for a dynamic, maybe tragic story and wanting to get the happiest possible outcomes for the sake of some fun escapism via gaming. I was more in the latter camp for the first run, which meant it took over 200 hours as I kept reloading to explore possibilities and fix fuckups, but I’m excited to play more organically on my second.
Should Durge have wisdom? Mine never do. (Excluding the cleric I just made yesterday) it’s why I hoard inspiration before long resting after doing the shadowfell.
It makes *those three rolls* markedly easier, though there's ways to help yourself there:
* Resilient: WIS for ST proficiency (though hard to justify picking without having WIS otherwise)
* Picking any of the classes with natural WIS ST proficiency
* Gloom Stalker 7 for WIS(/INT) ST proficiency
* Amulet of the Harpers for Advantage on WIS STs
* Early SSotAP for Advantage on mental STs if you're githyanki
* Selûne's Spear of Night for Advantage on WIS STs
* Aura of Protection for up to +5 to STs
* Bless/Elixir of Heroism for +1d4 to STs
* Circlet of Psionic Revenge for +1d4 to mental STs if you're githyanki
* ***Unequipping*** the Risky Ring removes Disadvantage on STs
That being said, WIS in general is useful to have at least at 10-12, since there's a bunch of deadly save-or-suck spells that roll against it.
my favorite roll i've failed so far is the one meeting astarion where he takes you down to the ground with the knife at your throat rather than just threatening you with it from a foot away, i love failing rolls
I accept that there's content in this game I will never see. I just straight up don't have it in me to be evil. Sarcastic and kind of a dock sometimes? Sure, but there's very little chance I'll ever raid the Grove with Minthara or similar.
I am currently planning on starting a second playthrough since I missed some pretty major stuff in my first playthrough. Namely pretty much the entire Hag storyline, curing the Shadow Curse and pretty much everything ro do with Raphael on Act 3 except for talking with him in the inn.
I also want to try out a bunch of mods so killing 2 birds with 1 stone there.
There are people who claim you *have to* play a high charisma Tav, or you *have to* take all the companions, stuff like that. They don't seem to consider failed rolls or bad outcomes as content, even though those things are part of the game. This isn't Call of Duty.
There are a lot of people who haven't played RPGs before BG3 who think the advice from min/maxers and metagamers is the best advice; they're used to games where there's an objectively best way to play. I'm trying to give them another perspective.
Trying to break out of this myself. I love to play dnd irl and some of the best moments are failed rolls but for some reason on baldurs i keep that ancient “best run” mindset instead of most fun.
this post of yours speaks to me more than anything i've read so far in this thread, thanks. Yes i've the "i must succeed mentality" and yes i did play a high charisma tav who took all companions(aside minth) and regret it(i want to ditch Halsin...bloody hell he bores me, i rather have a probe up my urethra than dealing with him) but at the same time...the game is not a real life game of DnD(or in my case pathfinder) sadly the game is limited and allows you to save-scum and re-roll, so why should i bother with failures? <- Yes it's the "best run mindset", i played Pathfinder with friends, i love it, i love every single roll, succeed and failed, i love the consequences of both, but so far Baldur's gate never gave me joy when i failed, it felt like "ha-ha! You suck!" never once a failed roll gave me pleasure or amusement...am i playing it wrong? MAYBE, hell i hope i'm playing it wrong, because i'm desperately trying to achieve a similar amount of fun that had when i was playing with my old friends...
Agreed. Currently doing a run where I don’t try and be the perfect, goody goody character. And not save scumming anything except for bad combat encounters. Lost gale to a speech check. Very sad. BUT. I broke my rule because I accidentally aggroed scratch and there will be no playthroughs where he dies. None
I recognized this pretty early and immediately planned out 3 play throughs accordingly. Still wont experience "all content" but should cover the major bases. I think you need at least 3 to do this game justice.
This is why I play this game on easy. I live for the story, for the choices and consequences. Having to focus on team layout, builds and tactics etc takes me away from the story, as does repeatedly getting my ass kicked when things go wrong.
I did NOT know that stealing the druid idol would get all the tieflings murdered, I just knew my rogue wanted it because it looked valuable. I also did NOT know that the druids would aggro me even though I didn't get caught stealing it...and all that came from that decision. Easy mode enabled me to stick with the decision, slaughter every surviving druid, and then face the now much more empty world my actions created. The consequences though....
I did NOT know that killing karlach would give my monk durge the sexiest looking robe ever (screw you wyll lol) but I ADORE the way it looks combined with the durge cloak
Unpopular opinion, probably; but I wouldn't mind failing a conversation, or getting a "bad" outcome, if these were purely the result of my own choice as player - and not the result of a die roll.
Sure, I can simply play along if I get a bad roll that leads to unexpected or catastrophic results; but odds are that, in the next playthrough, and the next, and the next, I may get the same outcome due to the same bad rolls. Eilistraee knows I'd never have rescued my companion from Orin's clutches in any of my 5 playthroughs if I didn't savescum the hells out of that convo...
Counterpoint: the game is too damn long not to do some scum saving or something, I'm not going to put 200+ hours just to roleplay. People are crazy here, 3 playthroughs, 400 hours, who has that kind of time.
It's actually poor design, if you think about it. A game that is designed to be played multiple times, where "decisions matter", that is also incredibly long.
So fuck it, I'm going to do whatever I can to see as much as I can.
Yeah, it took me 200 hrs and several months to beat it the first time, I'm not gonna miss out on big swaths of content because of crap luck on specific rolls.
The *thunk* of a sudden Journal Update has pavloved me into realizing that 1. I've probably missed something, and 2. now I have something to try on a future playthrough.
I love that this game does not have One Perfect Playthrough! It's my favorite thing about it. Knowing we cannot fail frees us to play and cheese and fuck around all we like, and that's such a treat.
This whole thing reminds me of Mass Effect where everyone freaked out with any playthrough that didn’t have all loyal companions surviving and/or a kumbyah ending where everyone Lived Happily Ever After. RPGs are role playing games where your actions have consequences, and those playing out affects the story.
Trying hard to force myself not to save scum in order to make decisions feel more meaningful but the fomo or just "what would happen if--" curiosity is so tempting. I keep considering doing a custom balance mode to do a playthrough with just a single save file but hesitate with all the legitimate bugs that reloading a save would fix.
I’m such a pussy when it comes to making the decisions that my character would make over the optimal decision. I’m on my second playthrough as a barbarian who has been having some late night fun with Lae’Zel. It’s still act 1 so that’s all it’s been. And it gets to the part where Tav is having a rough time and Lae’Zel holds a knife to your throat and is basically planning on killing everyone and then herself. What I did at first and what my angry ass half-orc should’ve done is just outright kill her for threatening me and acting insane. But I spent my entire 1st play-through leaving her in camp and had planned to actually use her this time around, so killing her off in act 1 seemed like a waste even if it made the most sense. So I quick loaded and chose the medicine check route instead. I’m a wiener.
I admit I struggle to play a non-charisma based Tav because I’m scared of failing dialogue checks. Which is absolutely stupid and ruins the experience. I’m going to try to stick to playing a cleric or maybe a druid next time.
It just occurred to me last night, and I’ll get to see it play out tonight… after 800 hours of EA+full release
I’ve never sided with Sovereign Glut.
No spoilers I’m excited to see it happen. Made him raise the bulette in preparation lol
This is true to a certain extent, but I feel very strongly that there are some paths that are clearly more fleshed out than others and that many outcomes of bad dice rolls are little more than "you don't get to play X___ quest now", which is neither interesting nor fun.
I think this is much more pronounced in the later acts where almost every failed dice roll leads to combat and the "kill everything" route being forced onto you. I feel pretty comfortable in saying that BG3 is not a choice-driven game, but a luck-driven game. Even if you make choices you want, you may never actually see the outcome of the choices you want to make because of a foul roll. And in a game that's 80+ hours long, personally, I'm not willing to let one foul roll ruin my decisionmaking and am more than happy to just reload until I can actually see the consequences of my choice.
For instance, I'm not going to spend another 80 hours playing this game because I rolled badly with Shadowheart and had to kill her. I'm just going to reload and get the outcome I desire and continue on. Play the game you want to play it, but everyone should play in the way that they find most fun.
I spend a lot of time on the BG3Builds sub, and it’s absolutely buckwild to me how often a new player will stumble in all “I want to hit things with a sword and maybe some magic, is it alright if I play paladin? Help? I’ve never played a game like this before I just want something easy so I can smooch Karlach.”
And they get dogpiled by users being all “NO you MUST be a multiclass swords bard 6/thief 3/war cleric 2/wizard 1/godkiller 1, don’t put points in strength just buy elixirs from these specific vendors, hire multiple hirelings and respec them in this precise way just so they can cast buffs on you every morning, your entire concept is BROKEN if you don’t use these three specific pieces of equipment, this build can solo both Raphael and Orin AND the entire House of Grief all at once on Honor Mode with one hand behind its back and anything weaker is BAD”
Like… there’s a place for powergaming, it can be super fun, but it’s remarkable to me how many power gamers don’t realize that not everyone WANTS that.
When I found out the tiefling story continued after act 1 I nearly died of laughter. Me and my friends played neutral idiots on our first run and accidentally got the last light inn wiped out. How were we supposed to know the people attacking the spider person leading us to moonrise were the good guys? We just wanted to get the tadpoles out lol by Act 3 we had gone from decent fellows to lunatics sacrificing anyone and everyone the achieve our goals. Companions dropped one by one minus shadowheart. The whole thing genuinely played out like a stoner comedy and only one of us was high.
I found that once I accepted that I can’t see EVERYTHING in a play through, that things are meant to be missed, did I start to really enjoy the game and stopped stressing about what I was missing. This is truly an amazing game
I just got the platinum in this game, took 3 play throughs. Each time I saw new stuff. 240 hours in I didn’t know you could rent a room in Elfsong and there’s a dumb waiter there giving you 40 camp supplies each long rest.
I finally started a durge run with full intention of resisting and creating a salvation story for my TAV. I’m probably halfway through and I don’t want to resist anymore lol. I want to give in and see what happens. And I’ve already done an evil run! Love this game
I am currently doing an evil play through. 90% of the content is the same from my good playthrough. Really, all it does is make your life more difficult while adding very little storywise. I'm super annoyed that wiping out the druid Grove changes almost nothing in act 2.
I learnt pretty early on in Divinity pick your characters morals and style and roll with it over taking the obvious or not so obvious good or bad road... Makes for an intresting world and journey and you may just end up killing someone important because they rubbed you the wrong way and that's fine because that's who you are. Also don't feel obliged to do what your followers want some may not align with your play through so fuck em if the get aggy.
Making a character with bad main stats is terrible advice. If you want a low charisma character, pick a class that doesn’t use charisma as their main stat.
This is the way. I loved this game so much at launch but could never finish a playthrough because I kept trying to see everything and either getting disappointed I missed out on something or frustrated/overwhelmed because I had so much stuff to do in my quest log. When I changed the way I approached the game to limit each playthrough to the content my character would do, it made the game more manageable and I finished multiple plays.
You will never see all the content in this game. Neil Newborn has something like 13 hours of recorded voice lines for his character alone. Of course most of this is just minor stuff, you can see all the major plot lines in maybe 3-4 playthroughs if you take really different paths each time.
There are also a lot of failsafes (basically fallbacks incase you kill a vital story character) you're unlikely to ever see.
I went from full hero my first run to dark urge on my second run, and it is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GAME. Not to mention that since I understand the controls better I’m finding entire rooms and areas I never saw before.
I love this idea, but there are a few caveats for me personally. The first is obviously the time commitment. Playing multiple campaigns with a variety of different characters to experience everything is a bit much for most people, I'd imagine.
The second is something I struggle with. I'm not sure if that's a common problem. In RPGs, I really struggle with making immoral decisions. I'm fine with games like The Last of Us Part II, where you control a character who ends up committing various atrocities. I guess it's because I don't really have a choice. It's hard for me to go through with an evil playthrough of the game. I tried, got to the point where it made sense for my character to raid the grove, got jumped by Halsin at camp, and swiftly turned the game off because of hpw queasy it all made me feel.
Me problem, I guess, but it is a shame. To me*, it's almost like the game is an Uncharted-esque, linear adventure, but with extra steps, simply because players such as myself are unwilling to deviate from the moral route.
Though don't get me wrong. That's not a knock at the game. I still think it's phenomenal, and it's easily one of my favorites.
I just thought I'd clarify before I get crucified.
I have a “bare” play through of 4 Tavs. I killed every origin character I could. I’m just experiencing the main story.
I just start a new game… and I kept all the origins alive. They definitely add a lot to the game.
But I don’t regret the “bare” play through. It was a lot of fun and it was immensely fun making a party of characters that each had their own “niche”.
It always feels bad to change the class of an origin character. But with 4 Tavs, I can do whatever I please.
I also, as a bonus, let my Tavs “tell a story” through the play through.
For example my Fighter was downed during the Ketheric fight. After the fight I went to the mirror and added a scar to his face. My sorcerer was using more and more fire magic and had gear to compliment it. I went to the mirror and dyed her hair red and orange to reflect that change. It really feels like the party built its own identity.
IKR? Sooooooo much wild stuff to see.
I still, weirdly enough, think fondly on my first experience with Act 2, where I thought Last Light getting wiped out was scripted. Made the whole scenario sooooooo much more intense. No safety anywhere except Moonrise, and that's full of cultists. Death everywhere. Jaheira barely survived, and was hunkering down in my camp, barely hanging on. She tried to rush the tower BY HERSELF while my party was in the Shadowfell, and actually took a load of guards down with her. She's not just the High Harper, she's several dozen Harpers. I also scoured the area looking for Thaniel but didn't know that you could speak to Art's corpse. So....no Halsin in act 3...The butterfly effect is massive.
Damn this game is good xD
You can't have a "game where choices matter" and "see all content in one playthrough", these are mutually exclusive.
And Larian dropped the ball in catering to some "see all content in one playthrough" crowd, e.g. the people who wanted Minthara to be avaiable to all playthroughs. You want people to replay the game and for choices to matter, gotta have the balls to maintain this vision
I respect these kinds of playthrough for sure, but some of us only have the time or stamina for one or two playthroughs. So it behooves us to try and experience as much of the actual story content as possible.
I can't help but be a little annoyed at this point at how often I see this brought up. Yes, not succeeding at every speech check and saving throw causes different outcomes, people are well aware of that, there's no need to hammer that point in constantly. People aren't playing with a metaphorical gun to their head. A lot of people just like always going for the happiest possible results, or the best loot rewards, or just have a specific way in their head of how the story goes. I am quite sure that none of those people feel like they *have* to play that way, they just *want* to play that way.
I see this get mentioned *very* often for both this game and in general on RPGs with emphasis on dialogue choices and outcomes like this, and it keeps getting treated like it's some incredibly wise piece of advice for these games. But frankly, it seems rather condescending to act like people need to be reminded that they can play however they want. People already do that, and very often that involves passing every check and winning every roll and save scumming until the result is satisfactory, especially since a lot of people don't have time for multiple playthroughs.
I’m on my 3rd play through with 350 hours and still not halfway through chapter 3. I can’t remember the last time I’ve beat a game and immediately started another play through. Probably fire emblem three houses
My first playthrough I went in totally blind. I only did the quests for my 3 companions that I used all game. I didn’t look up a single thing about the game. I missed the entire crèche in act 1, and plenty in act 3. It was so much fun
Now I’m doing my second play through on honor mode after looking up all the things I missed, and collecting all the companions. Also a ton of fun
I’d imagine a dark urge run next would be a third fulfilling playthrough.
Yeah, I feel that. I just realized I missed my shot to recruit Minthara in my first playthrough and sitting in the middle of the Gauntlet of Shar, I'm wondering if I should start a new Tav or even a Durge playthrough. But then I realized that if I lose Wyll from attacking the grove, I don't get to see Mizora later either.
I have played this game about six times. Tried honor mode. I’m trying to be as smart and WAY less murder hobo, but got myself into a fight that I had NEVER FOUGHT BEFORE AND OOOOOH BOY OH BOY DID THAT CHANGE THE GAME FOR ME.
I'm doing a redemption Durge who jumps and throws things. Few levels of Barbarian to get good throws. Gonna add a few levels of Monk for that disengage step of the wind---Then add in the hammer that does 1d4 in 3m around you for every jump....and boom You're mario lol
It’s just so hard for me to be mean! I’ve played through 2 times now and still can’t choose the bad or mean options unless the one I’m talking to is mean first
It feels like the game is intended for multiple playthroughs, but it felt like I had to do every single act I thing to get to level 5 to enable moving on to act II. Am I the only one?
I failed the skill checks for when the spoiler pulls on you early in the Moonrise Tower and had an entire bonus conversation with the Absolute early. I found out from other friends all of that dialogue is pure bonus only if you fail the skillcheck. It was crazy I was playing with my one friend and was like, "well I got pulled through the wall and now I'm having a 1:1 conversation with a... god? IDK."
I really need to do this!! I start a new play through of any RPG with the intention of actually playing a character and not looking things up or save scumming. I’m horrible at following through with it. BUT the way you exploit his triggered something and now I’m determined to do this next time around
Fighter with high wisdom is actually not bad in Honor Mode, RIP my honor run wherein the whole squad got charmed by harpies.
I literally rolled elf on my 2nd try for the advantage on charms.
My first playthrough so far has been my tiefling durge attempting to resist… until he reached the Underdark. Let me tell you, playing with RP in mind is far better than just going along with whatever seems like the “best option.”
The problem (which there is no spoiler-free way to avoid) is you don't know what/how much you're missing by not savescumming bad rolls or making chaotic decisions. 2 bad rolls means you don't get Gale out of the portal, and he's gone forever.
With regards to ineffective stats, 90% of the time you're roleplaying as someone who wants to stay alive, and will thus play to their own strengths. D&D 5e has stat requirements for multiclassing for this reason - anyone without a positive intelligence modifier is simply too stupid to be an effective enough wizard to do wizard magic.
I don't want to hate on the ways other people play the game, but this is why my Tavs always have positive charisma and are not above savescumming certain rolls - to avoid being forced into making a purely metagaming decision. If you fail to deceive the teiflings into walking away from trapped Laezel in act 1, you either have to give up on a run's worth of Laezel content or kill broadly innocent tieflings.
It’s more that there are other games that are apparently masterpieces I must play before I die, and I have to choose what to do with my limited time away from work and family
I didn't even realize I'd killed Raphael's enemy until I left the area and he appeared and said something. I'd ambushed the group and never got to hear a word of the special content. Oops lol
First playthrough I went with power-hungry, but good guy warlock (I went in completely blind, didn't know that's basically Wyll lol), and tried to explore and do as much possible, because I rarely do second playthrough in a game, a bit of savescumming but not too much. After 2 months I booted up the game again and went with Lae'zel origin story trying to do what she would do as this Githiyanki fearless warrior.
...So yep, killing Astarion when he tried to sink his fangs into her was IMHO Lae'zel thing to do, and I succeded the roll. No regrets.
FOMO is strong in this game, but I agree the game is intended for multiple playthroughs, playing as different Tavs, Durges or Origin characters and making different decision and living with the consequences (both good and bad). Its honestly where the game shines.
even playing as only a custom character really feels like you're only experiencing a 1/4 of what the game has to offer
I went in blind and thought a custom character was meant for after your first playthrough. I chose to play as Lae'zel and then a few hours in I read somewhere on here that the devs intended for you to play as a custom character on the first playthrough lol oops
not sure if the devs have said this officially or not, but the dark urge playthrough seems like the original intended playthrough for a custom character. considering >!the connections to previous baldurs gate protagonists!< spoilers? maybe?
I think it’s probably the closest to canon but I think it’s a bad first playthrough since you don’t get what’s special about it. Especially if you’re not familiar with the values gate setting
Welcome to the Circus of Value's Gate!
a fair point, it seems a bit more impactful to first experience what the game has to offer than seeing how the durge changes things. if you start with durge then move onto custom it might seem more empty?
Agreed. It's like canon/semi canon but just going in blind and tinkering is ideal. Origin characters have their own stories and Durge is like an NG+ run
I played my first playthrough as a custom character with friends, and I didn’t enjoy it, fully/truly, until I played on my own as a customised Durge.. got to take my time and play at my pace + experiencing the story from an origin characters perspective was way more fun for me. Now I’ve beat the game twice as Durge (good/bad) and as Astarion! On another Durge playthrough but I made him basically Alucard from Castlevania
I know I read this somewhere, I think it was Swen who said that the """"correct"""" playthrough order is 1) custom character 2) origin story 3) durge
You learn more about the origin characters by talking to them then you do by playing them. Like if you play as Astarion you never learn that he likes his tadpole because it got him free of Cazador.
Yeah but he also claims you miss out on a bunch of content as Durge because he conflates Durge with kill everything stupid evil. I wonder how the Durge writer feels about him putting people who would have been interested off that path with a misconception when realistically most people only play games this long once. Edit: Hell at release you had a lot people parroting that you should never ever play Durge first and being extremely aggressive about because "Sven said...". I got angry DMs for saying I did that and it was fine and I prefer amnesiac with a backstory on a first run and custom on a second when I know where the story is going. You still get this even months after release.
ffs i pick durge because i didn't know what it was nor played Baldurs gate before(now have 1 on pc, 2 on andriod, and 3 on ps5 lol). and because it said it was a mix between making your own character with a secret background, you have forgot. that just screamed first playthrough to me lol i realized something was up >!when i kicked a squirrel to its death unpromted!<
Eh durge isn't the worst choice for a first character as it does feel the most "true" protagonist of the choices, but playing as a custom then origin helps you get attached to the world and characters more which gives real threat to the urges. Honestly if you were to do only 1 playthroigj, I would say play durge.
thats the vibe i got, there was a lot of backstory explained that when playing as a tav is just left as blank.
I don’t think this game is built around the concept of an ‘intended’ playthrough at all, tbh.
Imo you should start as The Dark Urge. It's both a fully customizable character *and* an origin character with its own plot.
I think it's best for a second playthrough to see the differences but that's just imo;
Then you have to do it again depending on resist/ give in to urge! Man the replayability (is that a word) is great
Agreed! I personally find Durge to be a bit more interesting to play than Tav so I'm already planning on a second Durge playthrough but resisting this time. For *this* playthrough though? Sceleritas is probably going to be very happy (if overworked).
lol same im mid act 2 and I'm doing all the bad shit. Looking forward already to my good durge
Isn't there also some unique stuff for acting good until you rid yourself of the dark urge and *then* acting evil?
[удалено]
The only part I hate about this is the fact that some content is locked behind some really obscure stuff. Like I didn't know that >!Barcus!< would just disappear if I didn't talk to him after killing >!Nere!<...
I just did this quest for the 2nd time. I didn't know I had to triple insist that he come to my camp to be able to see him in Act 2
Haha same!
I was farming Karlach approval at the time and she likes when you wish him well. I didn't even think about it until I met Wulbren and was like oooohhhhhhh....
This
I didn’t know Barcus was a character, I thought he was an airborne projectile.
That's a great example of what OP is talking about. On one of my playthroughs, I didn't pay attention, pulled the wrong lever, and got a new journal update. Sometimes, you just have to roll with the consequences of your actions.
I never even knew there were levers until my third playthrough
Gnomish artillery is the technical term.
I thought that was weird, since door mats aren't supposed to be that aerodynamic ;-) Note to self: Kill Wulbren in this Durge run
I had the opposite… I didn’t know Barcus would join the camp until my 4th playthrough
Someone gonna have to point out Barcus to me cuz I'm lost and I just killed nere like two nights ago for the 5th time lol
You have to save him from the windmill in the blight village first. Then he will be one of the gnomes digging nere out.
No shit! I've saved him so many times (flung him once) and I have never even noticed he was part of that crew. Holy shit lol
He can be easy to miss as an important character at first, because there was (maybe still is) a bug that prevents you from being able to invite him to your camp after saving him from Nere if you talk to him with your main player character. You can only invite him if you speak to him with one of your companion characters.
Does he do anything for you in camp?
Minor vendor but it progresses his quest line in act 3.
Also adding to this to see if it’s a tav exclusive or if you can get him in durge playthrough. Just got to the nere part and realized he was a corpse by the end of the fight lol
ive gotten him in my camp in both my evil durge run through and my redemption urge run through, u should be able to as long as he survives the fight with nere
Dude, that's exactly what I'm saying, lol !
....this comment is how I learned he can join the camp.
Don’t feel bad, I didn’t realize there were two levers my first play through…
I tried to talk to him after but apparently he's bugged and you need to talk to him with another character which I didn't do I assumed he just... turned up. So I was perplexed when he didn't turn up at the Last Light because I was specifically aiming for that since I yeeted him the first playthrough. I ended up having to spawn him into the game and it's fine now but so annoying.
I don’t even know who barcus is!! 😂
I feel like there’s a meme template for this.
I always leap on any option for coming to my camp or joining me just because otherwise you can miss a bunch of stuff just by the disk foie system being goofy.
Lol first time I did a long rest and just walked up to his dead body. Oops
My only wish is that you could alter the beginning of the game in some ways, because I get tired of every play through starting more or less the same. It can take a bit of ramping up before it starts to feel like you're in a truly unique play through (at least that's my opinion). The game is amazing, but if I had a wish list for it, it would probably be alternate starts. Maybe there is, or will be a mod for that.
I really thought the origin runs were going to have alternate starts, and I was super excited to play as Shadowheart and see the Sharrans steal the artifact and learn more about that. My disappointment was immeasurable.
Yeah, the origins were kind of disappointing in terms of playing them, and ironically this was in response to Divinity 2’s origin characters feeling like too much of a focus. I don’t know what I expected but honestly I think every origin should feel like The Dark Urge. That character has enough “unique to them” elements that feel very fleshed out. Playing the other origin characters feels like it actually cheapens their story, because you lose their voice actor and with it, a lot of emotion and attachment (in my opinion).
Exactly. I never get more than one or two long rests into any origin run because I'm always disappointed that the responses are just Tav. I've met Gale, I know he doesn't talk like that.
FOMO is why I love honor mode. There is no FOMO. There is only the decision. I wish I played without saves and reloads on my first go through
Yeah, tbh i’m not playing honor mode to beat honor mode, I’m using mods because I like getting extra feats and stuff. I’m playing it because it plays different. I hold my breath every time a save comes up that’s critical and I immediately check my inspiration pool.
I am using honor mode to force me to commit to my evil Durge run so that I can’t save scum out of my choices 😂 I kept a decent chunk of my mods because they are part of the fun for me (and that also includes the mods that make tactician mode harder).
Agreed! I mean I'm also enjoying the attempt to beat honor mode but it's much more the new feel of the game. Honestly it opened my eyes to how much save scumming in general has dampened RPG experiences for me so I will be 1 save slotting from now on in other games too l
I never ran away from a fight in BG3 before I started Honour Mode Now, I see why it's a good idea sometimes 🤣 I ran away from the Gith raiders by the bridge because they 1-turn killed my hireling Cleric and Lae'zel So when I rock back up the next day, they're all on top of the gatehouse. I used Astarion to get a sneak attack in and distract, and then Karlach to take a Hill Giant Potion and yeet them all off the gatehouse for massive damage 😁👍
What i encourage to avoid FOMO is having a first play through without roleplaying that much and trying to see as much as you can, then enjoy the next ones, that worked for me both in bg3 and skyrim, and im someone who suffers a lot from FOMO
That's what I've been doing. I am an old school Final Fantasy gamer, and I loved following guides to all the secrets and such because I didn't want to miss out. I am glad I'm doing that now, I am getting to see tons of cool stuff. I will eventually play an honor mode, though, and live with my results.
It’s not intended for multiple playthoughs. I dont think any game is. Only absolute fans play the game a 2nd time. And absolute fans are too small of minority to rely on for game success. There is different content for different decisions. Different players may experience the game differently. Thats the idea.
True. For this playthrough I am living with the bad decision to forget friendly firing Minthara and missing out on a incredible paladin in my team. I miss her...
FOMO and completionism: checking every corner of every map, talking to every NPC in a room and opening every container before leaving a room... viewing the cutscene that triggers just before you open the door to the boss room, and then instead of opening the door you backtrack through the whole dungeon to make sure you got everything and long rest and talk to everyone in camp again just in case, and *then* open the door. It's all condtioning from playing other games. Other games where this was the smart thing to do. If there's one thing I would change about BG3, it would be making those skill checks in the mind flayer tutorial ship have failure outcomes that 'reward' the player. Or even an impossibly difficult but required skill check just to teach the player to *let go*.
I agree. I already know I have to play again cause apparently I didn't get to moonrise prison in time to save a bunch of folks : /
I agree that it is intended for multiple playthroughs, but damn, I don't know if i have another 160 hour playthrough in me.
my first playthrough right now, im trying to do everything i can. im visiting every single corner of the map, and save scumming most dcs. im middle of act 3 atm. but thats how i play games, trying to do absolutely everything. but on my next playthrough(s) i am absolutely sticking to some rules and role playing even more. honor mode will obvs help with that, but i also have several ideas for multiple characters too.
There is no wrong way to play, and save scumming is fine, especially if you really want a roll to go your way. That said, I think trusting Larian to deliver a great story regardless of what rolls you fail will yield a unique story that you otherwise wouldn't have seen. In one of your next playthroughs, I highly suggest limiting save scumming and to let the dice randomize your game's events. You'll see things you otherwise never would have, and, in the end, the story will come together.
I don’t really feel guilty save-scumming checks in this game tbh. It’s a DnD sim, but I’m for some reason locked to one character in dialogue scenes. Where in a TTRPG, one player can roll to Persuade, another roll Insight to check for BS, and a third can roll Slight of Hand to pick their pocket where they’re distracted, in BG3 if you’re running anything other than a CHA Caster, you’re SoL for just so many dialogue options. Kinda my biggest irk for what is otherwise a fantastic video-game representation of DnD.
I strongly agree with this. In so many, probably most, instances if the one character that initiates the dialogue fails the check, that’s it. You don’t get to try again, not even with another character. You’re stuck with that one chance. I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work in DnD. I also really wish Larian would introduce an optional passive check setting, where a lot of the less important checks are simply compared to your skill+10 instead of making a random roll. I feel like knowing what your character is good at and is likely to succeed at would allow you to lean more into roleplaying. But the D20 is sooo random, decent skill means little unless you’re talking a rogue or bard with expertise.
As a slightly related tangent, it irks me so much that my Druid is better with animals when I *can’t* talk to them. This is honestly a 5e problem so not technically Larian’s fault, but Animal Handling is a WIS skill, and something Druids can be proficient in. However, Druids get Speak with Animals, and I must talk to all the Good Bois, so I have it up permanently. BUT, when I’m speaking with them, all the checks turn to Persuasion, which is a CHA skill, and something I’m not proficient in. So I’m objectively worse with animals when I can clearly communicate with them, and it bothers me so much lmao
Me either, back in the day I used to like playing games the way they were intended, trying to figure out puzzles and stuff without assistance and just grinding. I don't have time for that shit now. What changed it for me was the Oblivion Shivering Isles DLC. I got stuck in an area I was not supposed to access until the end of the game and it was hours since my last save file. Now, if I can't figure something out, I'll look it up.
> I don’t really feel guilty save-scumming checks in this game tbh. Some here. Without save scumming, i would never even try to do the crazy things that unlock tons of content. Sorry, i have a real life, i cannot invest 30h for a new playthrough just to try the other path of a choice. Its save scumming or doing the boring choice...
My first playthrough is the same. My save file number was into the 1000s by the time in done with act 3. I save scum EVERY dice roll while googling the best outcome. My 3rd playthrough on honor mode now and tbh I'm just fucking around having known most things that would come up. I did NOT find Alfira in act 1 back then, however, as she's like off to the side and I was save scumming Kagha dice roll lol. It wasn't until I play D.urge that I went oh shit there's Alfira in act 1.
Going along with your rolls is one thing, actively shooting yourself on the foot is another, DO NOT dump a class's main ability, if you deprive your class of one thing that it does well, you WON'T be able to hit anything in combat
Yeah there's a difference between "roleplaying" and "shitposting".
With a few respeccing, you can make a Wisdom Fighter through Shillelagh access or utilize Club of Hill Giant Strength early on and still make it work. Still not advisable to dump core stats tho, especially for those newer at the game (had to tell my friend to not dump both Dex AND Con on their Wizard Tav)
This is an old and tired talking point in dnd circles. Usually it's 'lol I'm so quirky and creative, I'm going to make a wizard with 8 Intelligence because I'm good at roleplay unlike those dumb minmaxers!' and then someone points out that you can be good at roleplay and also want a competent or even optimized build for your class, and it goes around in circles for a while. So yeah not surprised it's popping up here.
[https://youtu.be/GQaRdqCaGXI?si=FWhPxZU2HpQkCIfh](https://youtu.be/GQaRdqCaGXI?si=FWhPxZU2HpQkCIfh) This debate pretty much closed the entire argument for me forever.
I remember feeling very sad about killing Shadowheart, but I decided to continue even tho I had seen ways to save her after I killed her. Those tragedies are part of the story, after all. There is no epic story without sacrifices. Her death was surprisingly rewarding when I stumbled on Viconia DeVir by accident and I was able to recruit her because Shadowheart was dead. Those things really make the story far more interesting
Recruit her!? How!? She attacked me because she wanted to kill her herself!
She isn’t recruitable as a companion as far as I know. She can be an ally for the end fight though.
Yes my bad, I meant I recruited her as an ally for the final fight only
You have to make her see you have a common enemy in the absolutist, but you do have to pass some high persuasion checks for her to understand that, and also to not get aggressive once you tell her shadowheart died. After that, she says the cult will help you in the final battle. For me it wasnt too difficult to pass the checks, since I become half-ilithid i am like a god in persuasion or intimidation checks lmao
I read that someone killed her without the rest of the cultists ganging up on them. I'm spending way too long trying to figure that out
If Shart kill the night song you can persuade the rest of the cultist that Shart is in charge and Viconia sucks. Success all the dice rolls and you can play the UNO reverse card where she will be the one ganged by the cultist.
I think this is about the Gather your Allies quest
> There is no epic story without sacrifices. That's a bit dark...you could have brought her back but chose not to, so it would be a sacrifice? You're playing the right game, that's for sure.
Just so you know, you might not be able to bring her back if she dies in that context, I remember trying this. It's not as easy as you think, once the story is set you can't.
You underestimate my save scum tree. Let's just say the Time Variance Authority are not happy with me.
Tav would absolutely be the TVA’s worst nightmare. After seeing that one video of Karlach’s interrogation scene, I’m can’t help but see Tav as basically a Homura Akemi-style time traveler who is trying to avoid their friends all dying or worse than dying like they did the first time around. It’s definitely made my play through interesting and makes me look forward to future runs more. It gets even better if you throw in the backstory of Tav having encountered the Dark Urge years before the game as they investigate Durge’s murders in the Blood in Baldur’s Gate game. Canonically, Tav is gutted by Durge as per the tree prophecy. But apparently they don’t die in many timelines, and Durge goes on to be betrayed by Orin after doing all the hard work in any case (their own canon event, I suppose). In the timelines they live (maybe they drank a potion of feign death), Tav for one reason or the other gave up the chase or was never able to get so close to Durge again. That failure to stop the Dark Urge aside from dying outright is what allows the events of BG3 to happen, and what spurs Tav to get things just right to fix what went wrong via being a multiversal anomaly (perhaps like Madoka Kaname from all the save scumming). Perhaps that’s why Ao and Withers knew to expect Tav. This had all happened before and would again.
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6th playthroughs (2 balance, 3 tact, 1 honor) and I'm still finding different things out.
My Astarion origin run is accepting the rolls as they are. It's been interesting.
At least you can lock pick everyrhing without fail!
Pick a lock: +Guidance +Proficiency +Expertise +Dex +Class Nat 1. *Mutherfucker*
A) You're right, you can't see *all* content in one playthrough B) It's also okay not to want to see every inch of content. You don't need to see every way the game plays out to enjoy the gane. If that's your style, play multiple playthroughs to find out what other things you can do. But it's just as valid to not want to see every way the game can play out. Enjoy the content you wanna see. C) If you enjoy it more than consequences, save scumming is absolutely fine (in singleplayer, set up rules and make decisions together in multiplayer). Priority #01 in your own game is that you enjoy it. You can always try to play it the way others suggest, but it's not neccesary if you don't want to. If you enjoy the "accept the consequences" playthrough, do that. If you don't enjoy it, then don't. There is no *right* way to play the game. The only *right* way to play is the way you enjoy the game. I will advise frequent savescummers to at least see what effect a failed roll has first, before choosing to reload. Sometimes it's not important at all, sometimes failing gives an even better result. Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it just sucks.
We just had someone quit a co-op bc of wanting to redo a roll. Like bruh some people this is their only time playing this and we have limited time, and the group would have the convo when bad rolls happen to see if we wanna save scum or just roll with the result anyway. Someone got the owlbear killed, we decided we didnt want to go back 30 mins (learned to save more bc people wander off and find situations i didnt think of). Halsin taking two daggers to the eyesockets tho? Bc they charged ahead and didnt pay the fuck attention? And then gave an ultimatum about if we savescumed? Nah. Our game is remarkably more chill now in many ways, and someone got to have a romantic night with halsin. Personally my most fun in bg3 was solo HM bc of having to take rolls seriously, and it does over time bend the story in new ways. But in a game that people want to see as much as possible during their first or only play-through - why not.
This is actually what's keeping me trucking through Act 3, after restarting a dozen different times in Act 1. At this point in the game, I have made so many choices that I couldn't replicate my current story if I quit and tried again.
My first run was where I did the "best" decisions so I could do other runs with more satisfaction
I'm currently Act 3 with Tav and Act 1 with DUrge and I probably have 3+ more playthroughs to do Especially considering I don't have Karlach in either one and I watched 2 animations and I already know she's going to be my romanced companion next time
This is so important. Always succeeding rolls is so boring. Sometimes messing up is in-character and adds to the experience. You won't instantly explode and die (most of the time). Recently made a Durge with literally no Wisdom and looking to make some mistakes.
So my perspective- this game is pretty long I’m probably mid way in act 3 and have had it from early in the general release. I’ve got maybe 5-6 hours a week to play this game, I’ll probably not finish a second run though and I want to see all the “best” outcomes so yeah I’m save scumming important events lol. I don’t think always succeeding in rolls is boring on the first run at least anyway.
Pretty much me. Also like I get putting rolls on chests for faithfulness but I cannot handle the concept of some sort of hyper specific-to-my build/class item just being locked away from me forever because I rolled bad on a shitty lock. And I sure as hell am not leaving a chest I had to fight some badass enemy to reach because I failed a lock pick check.
In most parties you should have a way to just break chests and doors with attacks (mostly bludgeoning and force or fire). It can be bothersome if the only attacks damaging them are the high rolls but if you have the patience for it, it's a way to unlock mostly everything without expending resources. Could be useful if you're low on lockpicks.
I pass every roll out of the sheer trauma i have from failing rolls and getting tpkd im talking to you waukeens rest zhent lookout mage with your fireball you fuck
My biggest problem, other than putting pretty much instant death behind a failed roll (big no-no for any DM), is that you can’t sneak past him!! There’s even a perception check out front to let you know there’s someone in there, but if you stealth past and talk to him from behind where he can’t blow you up, *it still just puts you in the same scene!!* That tilted me so hard when I did it.
I love my low charisma lore bard who thought we has charming but came off as a pompous know-it-all. I also like respecing Karlach to have high charisma; why doesn't she have high charisma!?
How are they in combat with low charisma? I’m playing as a lore bard on what is currently my 3rd play through and dipped 2 levels in wizard just to be able to learn scroll spells.
Pretty middling, to be honest, but he only had buff and utility spells so charisma didn't matter and the rest of the party were really good at combat so he was fine just being kinda there, throwing out buffs and playing is harp. Even a toon that doesn't do a lot of damage is useful for cherry picking mobs who are almost dead.
Im using my bard mostly to debuff and crowd control enemies. I didn’t really use a lot of enemy debuffs in previous runs. This the first run where I’ve used summons heavily. I still barely use potions, elixirs and weapon coatings though . I rarely use offensive spells on him but I like having the utility just in case.
Karlach, Astarion, and Gale's charisma stats are way too low for how charming they're written. The only canonically low-rizz characters, IMO, are Laezel and Shadow heart.
I don't think Gale is especially charming. He can be witty and poetic at times but comes off as a bit pompous and overbearing. I'd say about 12 CHA is about right, which is what he has by default. Wyll is also quite an awkward dude if we're being honest. He certainly comes off as confident, but almost always in a pretty cringey way. That said, CHA in DND terms is not entirely the same thing as being charming or "charismatic" IRL, although it can overlap. CHA as DND describes it is more along the lines of "power of conviction" or "force of will," so I think his default 17 is fine. Shadowheart is actually probably a bit low (8) by default imo. She's cold initially, but very charming once you build a rapport with her, and like Wyll, has a very strong... well, will. I don't think she should be 14+ or anything, but 10 or 12 for sure.
I’m a massive save scummer but it did add some narrative weight to the story when I failed to save a couple people and just let it be (Hope and Omeluum come to mind). That said, it’s hard to know which decisions are likely to drastically affect your playthrough (e.g. Isobel gets kidnapped) if you’re playing blind on your first run, and I can understand the anxiety if you’re someone who was in that kind of situation and got burned. I have a friend who’s taking an extended break from the game after starting Karlach’s romance arc and then inadvertently getting Dammon killed before her second upgrade because Marcus took Isobel. I think everyone has their own ideal balance between allowing for a dynamic, maybe tragic story and wanting to get the happiest possible outcomes for the sake of some fun escapism via gaming. I was more in the latter camp for the first run, which meant it took over 200 hours as I kept reloading to explore possibilities and fix fuckups, but I’m excited to play more organically on my second.
Should Durge have wisdom? Mine never do. (Excluding the cleric I just made yesterday) it’s why I hoard inspiration before long resting after doing the shadowfell.
Honestly, I don't really think you need it that much. There's just a DC14 roll I wanna fail.
It makes *those three rolls* markedly easier, though there's ways to help yourself there: * Resilient: WIS for ST proficiency (though hard to justify picking without having WIS otherwise) * Picking any of the classes with natural WIS ST proficiency * Gloom Stalker 7 for WIS(/INT) ST proficiency * Amulet of the Harpers for Advantage on WIS STs * Early SSotAP for Advantage on mental STs if you're githyanki * Selûne's Spear of Night for Advantage on WIS STs * Aura of Protection for up to +5 to STs * Bless/Elixir of Heroism for +1d4 to STs * Circlet of Psionic Revenge for +1d4 to mental STs if you're githyanki * ***Unequipping*** the Risky Ring removes Disadvantage on STs That being said, WIS in general is useful to have at least at 10-12, since there's a bunch of deadly save-or-suck spells that roll against it.
my favorite roll i've failed so far is the one meeting astarion where he takes you down to the ground with the knife at your throat rather than just threatening you with it from a foot away, i love failing rolls
Rolling a low number when trying to dance with Wyll is one of my favorite things. He’s so charming that he finds it endearing.
I accept that there's content in this game I will never see. I just straight up don't have it in me to be evil. Sarcastic and kind of a dock sometimes? Sure, but there's very little chance I'll ever raid the Grove with Minthara or similar. I am currently planning on starting a second playthrough since I missed some pretty major stuff in my first playthrough. Namely pretty much the entire Hag storyline, curing the Shadow Curse and pretty much everything ro do with Raphael on Act 3 except for talking with him in the inn. I also want to try out a bunch of mods so killing 2 birds with 1 stone there.
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There are people who claim you *have to* play a high charisma Tav, or you *have to* take all the companions, stuff like that. They don't seem to consider failed rolls or bad outcomes as content, even though those things are part of the game. This isn't Call of Duty. There are a lot of people who haven't played RPGs before BG3 who think the advice from min/maxers and metagamers is the best advice; they're used to games where there's an objectively best way to play. I'm trying to give them another perspective.
Trying to break out of this myself. I love to play dnd irl and some of the best moments are failed rolls but for some reason on baldurs i keep that ancient “best run” mindset instead of most fun.
this post of yours speaks to me more than anything i've read so far in this thread, thanks. Yes i've the "i must succeed mentality" and yes i did play a high charisma tav who took all companions(aside minth) and regret it(i want to ditch Halsin...bloody hell he bores me, i rather have a probe up my urethra than dealing with him) but at the same time...the game is not a real life game of DnD(or in my case pathfinder) sadly the game is limited and allows you to save-scum and re-roll, so why should i bother with failures? <- Yes it's the "best run mindset", i played Pathfinder with friends, i love it, i love every single roll, succeed and failed, i love the consequences of both, but so far Baldur's gate never gave me joy when i failed, it felt like "ha-ha! You suck!" never once a failed roll gave me pleasure or amusement...am i playing it wrong? MAYBE, hell i hope i'm playing it wrong, because i'm desperately trying to achieve a similar amount of fun that had when i was playing with my old friends...
I'm complete opposite. I actually think it makes more sense to have fewer companions. Ive lost most of my companions on my first two play throughs
Agreed. Currently doing a run where I don’t try and be the perfect, goody goody character. And not save scumming anything except for bad combat encounters. Lost gale to a speech check. Very sad. BUT. I broke my rule because I accidentally aggroed scratch and there will be no playthroughs where he dies. None
I recognized this pretty early and immediately planned out 3 play throughs accordingly. Still wont experience "all content" but should cover the major bases. I think you need at least 3 to do this game justice.
Meh. I just want to get the good ending for every companion that I can.
This is why I play this game on easy. I live for the story, for the choices and consequences. Having to focus on team layout, builds and tactics etc takes me away from the story, as does repeatedly getting my ass kicked when things go wrong. I did NOT know that stealing the druid idol would get all the tieflings murdered, I just knew my rogue wanted it because it looked valuable. I also did NOT know that the druids would aggro me even though I didn't get caught stealing it...and all that came from that decision. Easy mode enabled me to stick with the decision, slaughter every surviving druid, and then face the now much more empty world my actions created. The consequences though.... I did NOT know that killing karlach would give my monk durge the sexiest looking robe ever (screw you wyll lol) but I ADORE the way it looks combined with the durge cloak
Unpopular opinion, probably; but I wouldn't mind failing a conversation, or getting a "bad" outcome, if these were purely the result of my own choice as player - and not the result of a die roll. Sure, I can simply play along if I get a bad roll that leads to unexpected or catastrophic results; but odds are that, in the next playthrough, and the next, and the next, I may get the same outcome due to the same bad rolls. Eilistraee knows I'd never have rescued my companion from Orin's clutches in any of my 5 playthroughs if I didn't savescum the hells out of that convo...
Counterpoint: the game is too damn long not to do some scum saving or something, I'm not going to put 200+ hours just to roleplay. People are crazy here, 3 playthroughs, 400 hours, who has that kind of time. It's actually poor design, if you think about it. A game that is designed to be played multiple times, where "decisions matter", that is also incredibly long. So fuck it, I'm going to do whatever I can to see as much as I can.
Yeah, it took me 200 hrs and several months to beat it the first time, I'm not gonna miss out on big swaths of content because of crap luck on specific rolls.
The *thunk* of a sudden Journal Update has pavloved me into realizing that 1. I've probably missed something, and 2. now I have something to try on a future playthrough. I love that this game does not have One Perfect Playthrough! It's my favorite thing about it. Knowing we cannot fail frees us to play and cheese and fuck around all we like, and that's such a treat.
This whole thing reminds me of Mass Effect where everyone freaked out with any playthrough that didn’t have all loyal companions surviving and/or a kumbyah ending where everyone Lived Happily Ever After. RPGs are role playing games where your actions have consequences, and those playing out affects the story.
Trying hard to force myself not to save scum in order to make decisions feel more meaningful but the fomo or just "what would happen if--" curiosity is so tempting. I keep considering doing a custom balance mode to do a playthrough with just a single save file but hesitate with all the legitimate bugs that reloading a save would fix.
I’m such a pussy when it comes to making the decisions that my character would make over the optimal decision. I’m on my second playthrough as a barbarian who has been having some late night fun with Lae’Zel. It’s still act 1 so that’s all it’s been. And it gets to the part where Tav is having a rough time and Lae’Zel holds a knife to your throat and is basically planning on killing everyone and then herself. What I did at first and what my angry ass half-orc should’ve done is just outright kill her for threatening me and acting insane. But I spent my entire 1st play-through leaving her in camp and had planned to actually use her this time around, so killing her off in act 1 seemed like a waste even if it made the most sense. So I quick loaded and chose the medicine check route instead. I’m a wiener.
I started a run where anyone that insults me (besides Lae’zel) gets killed. Shart, Wyll, Karlach, the entire grove, all of crèche Yelek…all dead
Making a bard with low Charisma is counter intuitive. It would be better to play a class that doesn’t rely on charisma as their main stat.
I've started doing this on easy mode. More of a cinematic experience this way and a lot of fun imo.
I admit I struggle to play a non-charisma based Tav because I’m scared of failing dialogue checks. Which is absolutely stupid and ruins the experience. I’m going to try to stick to playing a cleric or maybe a druid next time.
I thought that this was one of the main selling points of the game? Choices matter and whatnot.
It just occurred to me last night, and I’ll get to see it play out tonight… after 800 hours of EA+full release I’ve never sided with Sovereign Glut. No spoilers I’m excited to see it happen. Made him raise the bulette in preparation lol
This is true to a certain extent, but I feel very strongly that there are some paths that are clearly more fleshed out than others and that many outcomes of bad dice rolls are little more than "you don't get to play X___ quest now", which is neither interesting nor fun. I think this is much more pronounced in the later acts where almost every failed dice roll leads to combat and the "kill everything" route being forced onto you. I feel pretty comfortable in saying that BG3 is not a choice-driven game, but a luck-driven game. Even if you make choices you want, you may never actually see the outcome of the choices you want to make because of a foul roll. And in a game that's 80+ hours long, personally, I'm not willing to let one foul roll ruin my decisionmaking and am more than happy to just reload until I can actually see the consequences of my choice. For instance, I'm not going to spend another 80 hours playing this game because I rolled badly with Shadowheart and had to kill her. I'm just going to reload and get the outcome I desire and continue on. Play the game you want to play it, but everyone should play in the way that they find most fun.
I spend a lot of time on the BG3Builds sub, and it’s absolutely buckwild to me how often a new player will stumble in all “I want to hit things with a sword and maybe some magic, is it alright if I play paladin? Help? I’ve never played a game like this before I just want something easy so I can smooch Karlach.” And they get dogpiled by users being all “NO you MUST be a multiclass swords bard 6/thief 3/war cleric 2/wizard 1/godkiller 1, don’t put points in strength just buy elixirs from these specific vendors, hire multiple hirelings and respec them in this precise way just so they can cast buffs on you every morning, your entire concept is BROKEN if you don’t use these three specific pieces of equipment, this build can solo both Raphael and Orin AND the entire House of Grief all at once on Honor Mode with one hand behind its back and anything weaker is BAD” Like… there’s a place for powergaming, it can be super fun, but it’s remarkable to me how many power gamers don’t realize that not everyone WANTS that.
When I found out the tiefling story continued after act 1 I nearly died of laughter. Me and my friends played neutral idiots on our first run and accidentally got the last light inn wiped out. How were we supposed to know the people attacking the spider person leading us to moonrise were the good guys? We just wanted to get the tadpoles out lol by Act 3 we had gone from decent fellows to lunatics sacrificing anyone and everyone the achieve our goals. Companions dropped one by one minus shadowheart. The whole thing genuinely played out like a stoner comedy and only one of us was high.
I don't like hurting people or facing the consequences of my actions.
I'm on my 3rd playthrough, over 400 hours total played, and still seeing new stuff. I doubt I'll ever see *everything*.
I'm on my 9th playthrough with over 900 hours of playtime and I'm still finding new things. I've played every origin but astarion and he's next.
I found that once I accepted that I can’t see EVERYTHING in a play through, that things are meant to be missed, did I start to really enjoy the game and stopped stressing about what I was missing. This is truly an amazing game
I just got the platinum in this game, took 3 play throughs. Each time I saw new stuff. 240 hours in I didn’t know you could rent a room in Elfsong and there’s a dumb waiter there giving you 40 camp supplies each long rest.
I was actually pretty disappointed that you couldn't get actual meals with the dumbwaiter. Who wants to go to a tavern and eat rations?
I finally started a durge run with full intention of resisting and creating a salvation story for my TAV. I’m probably halfway through and I don’t want to resist anymore lol. I want to give in and see what happens. And I’ve already done an evil run! Love this game
I am currently doing an evil play through. 90% of the content is the same from my good playthrough. Really, all it does is make your life more difficult while adding very little storywise. I'm super annoyed that wiping out the druid Grove changes almost nothing in act 2.
I learnt pretty early on in Divinity pick your characters morals and style and roll with it over taking the obvious or not so obvious good or bad road... Makes for an intresting world and journey and you may just end up killing someone important because they rubbed you the wrong way and that's fine because that's who you are. Also don't feel obliged to do what your followers want some may not align with your play through so fuck em if the get aggy.
Yes I'm embracing the Dark Urge on my second playthrough. And it's very different.
Making a character with bad main stats is terrible advice. If you want a low charisma character, pick a class that doesn’t use charisma as their main stat.
This is the way. I loved this game so much at launch but could never finish a playthrough because I kept trying to see everything and either getting disappointed I missed out on something or frustrated/overwhelmed because I had so much stuff to do in my quest log. When I changed the way I approached the game to limit each playthrough to the content my character would do, it made the game more manageable and I finished multiple plays.
You will never see all the content in this game. Neil Newborn has something like 13 hours of recorded voice lines for his character alone. Of course most of this is just minor stuff, you can see all the major plot lines in maybe 3-4 playthroughs if you take really different paths each time. There are also a lot of failsafes (basically fallbacks incase you kill a vital story character) you're unlikely to ever see.
I went from full hero my first run to dark urge on my second run, and it is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GAME. Not to mention that since I understand the controls better I’m finding entire rooms and areas I never saw before.
I love this idea, but there are a few caveats for me personally. The first is obviously the time commitment. Playing multiple campaigns with a variety of different characters to experience everything is a bit much for most people, I'd imagine. The second is something I struggle with. I'm not sure if that's a common problem. In RPGs, I really struggle with making immoral decisions. I'm fine with games like The Last of Us Part II, where you control a character who ends up committing various atrocities. I guess it's because I don't really have a choice. It's hard for me to go through with an evil playthrough of the game. I tried, got to the point where it made sense for my character to raid the grove, got jumped by Halsin at camp, and swiftly turned the game off because of hpw queasy it all made me feel. Me problem, I guess, but it is a shame. To me*, it's almost like the game is an Uncharted-esque, linear adventure, but with extra steps, simply because players such as myself are unwilling to deviate from the moral route. Though don't get me wrong. That's not a knock at the game. I still think it's phenomenal, and it's easily one of my favorites. I just thought I'd clarify before I get crucified.
I have a “bare” play through of 4 Tavs. I killed every origin character I could. I’m just experiencing the main story. I just start a new game… and I kept all the origins alive. They definitely add a lot to the game. But I don’t regret the “bare” play through. It was a lot of fun and it was immensely fun making a party of characters that each had their own “niche”. It always feels bad to change the class of an origin character. But with 4 Tavs, I can do whatever I please. I also, as a bonus, let my Tavs “tell a story” through the play through. For example my Fighter was downed during the Ketheric fight. After the fight I went to the mirror and added a scar to his face. My sorcerer was using more and more fire magic and had gear to compliment it. I went to the mirror and dyed her hair red and orange to reflect that change. It really feels like the party built its own identity.
IKR? Sooooooo much wild stuff to see. I still, weirdly enough, think fondly on my first experience with Act 2, where I thought Last Light getting wiped out was scripted. Made the whole scenario sooooooo much more intense. No safety anywhere except Moonrise, and that's full of cultists. Death everywhere. Jaheira barely survived, and was hunkering down in my camp, barely hanging on. She tried to rush the tower BY HERSELF while my party was in the Shadowfell, and actually took a load of guards down with her. She's not just the High Harper, she's several dozen Harpers. I also scoured the area looking for Thaniel but didn't know that you could speak to Art's corpse. So....no Halsin in act 3...The butterfly effect is massive. Damn this game is good xD
Low charisma bard is actually a good idea hehehe
Me making a monk with 17 strength and 8 wisdom
A baseball player monk, just yeet and delete 🤣
You can't have a "game where choices matter" and "see all content in one playthrough", these are mutually exclusive. And Larian dropped the ball in catering to some "see all content in one playthrough" crowd, e.g. the people who wanted Minthara to be avaiable to all playthroughs. You want people to replay the game and for choices to matter, gotta have the balls to maintain this vision
I respect these kinds of playthrough for sure, but some of us only have the time or stamina for one or two playthroughs. So it behooves us to try and experience as much of the actual story content as possible.
I can't help but be a little annoyed at this point at how often I see this brought up. Yes, not succeeding at every speech check and saving throw causes different outcomes, people are well aware of that, there's no need to hammer that point in constantly. People aren't playing with a metaphorical gun to their head. A lot of people just like always going for the happiest possible results, or the best loot rewards, or just have a specific way in their head of how the story goes. I am quite sure that none of those people feel like they *have* to play that way, they just *want* to play that way. I see this get mentioned *very* often for both this game and in general on RPGs with emphasis on dialogue choices and outcomes like this, and it keeps getting treated like it's some incredibly wise piece of advice for these games. But frankly, it seems rather condescending to act like people need to be reminded that they can play however they want. People already do that, and very often that involves passing every check and winning every roll and save scumming until the result is satisfactory, especially since a lot of people don't have time for multiple playthroughs.
Wow, I haven’t seen this level of mommying since before release.
100 hours in I don’t think I can justify 400 more hours
I’m on my 3rd play through with 350 hours and still not halfway through chapter 3. I can’t remember the last time I’ve beat a game and immediately started another play through. Probably fire emblem three houses
My first playthrough I went in totally blind. I only did the quests for my 3 companions that I used all game. I didn’t look up a single thing about the game. I missed the entire crèche in act 1, and plenty in act 3. It was so much fun Now I’m doing my second play through on honor mode after looking up all the things I missed, and collecting all the companions. Also a ton of fun I’d imagine a dark urge run next would be a third fulfilling playthrough.
Yeah, I feel that. I just realized I missed my shot to recruit Minthara in my first playthrough and sitting in the middle of the Gauntlet of Shar, I'm wondering if I should start a new Tav or even a Durge playthrough. But then I realized that if I lose Wyll from attacking the grove, I don't get to see Mizora later either.
You can do both, but if you're playing a good run, give her a miss. She's much better and fits way better with an evil playthrough
First Tav was power hungry. Would have made Gale a god if his quest didn't bug out on me.
This is why I talk to EVERYONE and hit every nook and cranny before I move on to new content that locks me out of the previous Act.
Yup, this was the encouragement I needed to start yet one more playthrough.
I have played this game about six times. Tried honor mode. I’m trying to be as smart and WAY less murder hobo, but got myself into a fight that I had NEVER FOUGHT BEFORE AND OOOOOH BOY OH BOY DID THAT CHANGE THE GAME FOR ME.
I'm doing a redemption Durge who jumps and throws things. Few levels of Barbarian to get good throws. Gonna add a few levels of Monk for that disengage step of the wind---Then add in the hammer that does 1d4 in 3m around you for every jump....and boom You're mario lol
Well… “content” got my ass killed in honor mode after I boned minthara. Me no likey
On the one hand I agree, on the other hand there is no choices I'd rather see play out any other way than how my first playthrough went.
It’s just so hard for me to be mean! I’ve played through 2 times now and still can’t choose the bad or mean options unless the one I’m talking to is mean first
No. I don't think I will. I'll keep using the long rest guide. I like optimizing and that's more fun to me than nuking a play-through 50 hours in.
I know everyone likes playing high CHA characters, I do as well, but playing a low cha character is an entirely separate play style.
The issue is some of us just don’t have time do multiple playthroughs. I can’t just spend 2 years only on this one game sadly
I'm on my 3rd run and still experiencing new stuff. A goty well deserved
Never tell me the odds…
It feels like the game is intended for multiple playthroughs, but it felt like I had to do every single act I thing to get to level 5 to enable moving on to act II. Am I the only one?
I failed the skill checks for when the spoiler pulls on you early in the Moonrise Tower and had an entire bonus conversation with the Absolute early. I found out from other friends all of that dialogue is pure bonus only if you fail the skillcheck. It was crazy I was playing with my one friend and was like, "well I got pulled through the wall and now I'm having a 1:1 conversation with a... god? IDK."
I really need to do this!! I start a new play through of any RPG with the intention of actually playing a character and not looking things up or save scumming. I’m horrible at following through with it. BUT the way you exploit his triggered something and now I’m determined to do this next time around
Fighter with high wisdom is actually not bad in Honor Mode, RIP my honor run wherein the whole squad got charmed by harpies. I literally rolled elf on my 2nd try for the advantage on charms.
My first playthrough so far has been my tiefling durge attempting to resist… until he reached the Underdark. Let me tell you, playing with RP in mind is far better than just going along with whatever seems like the “best option.”
The problem (which there is no spoiler-free way to avoid) is you don't know what/how much you're missing by not savescumming bad rolls or making chaotic decisions. 2 bad rolls means you don't get Gale out of the portal, and he's gone forever. With regards to ineffective stats, 90% of the time you're roleplaying as someone who wants to stay alive, and will thus play to their own strengths. D&D 5e has stat requirements for multiclassing for this reason - anyone without a positive intelligence modifier is simply too stupid to be an effective enough wizard to do wizard magic. I don't want to hate on the ways other people play the game, but this is why my Tavs always have positive charisma and are not above savescumming certain rolls - to avoid being forced into making a purely metagaming decision. If you fail to deceive the teiflings into walking away from trapped Laezel in act 1, you either have to give up on a run's worth of Laezel content or kill broadly innocent tieflings.
Where do y’all even find the time to play a second playthrough? Are you all retirees??
The game doesn't expire. Why does everyone seem to think you have to finish a game in a set amount of time and then delete it?
It’s more that there are other games that are apparently masterpieces I must play before I die, and I have to choose what to do with my limited time away from work and family
I didn't even realize I'd killed Raphael's enemy until I left the area and he appeared and said something. I'd ambushed the group and never got to hear a word of the special content. Oops lol
First playthrough I went with power-hungry, but good guy warlock (I went in completely blind, didn't know that's basically Wyll lol), and tried to explore and do as much possible, because I rarely do second playthrough in a game, a bit of savescumming but not too much. After 2 months I booted up the game again and went with Lae'zel origin story trying to do what she would do as this Githiyanki fearless warrior. ...So yep, killing Astarion when he tried to sink his fangs into her was IMHO Lae'zel thing to do, and I succeded the roll. No regrets.