Baldur's Gate 3: The illithid conspiracy

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Shadowheart seems to have committed premeditated murder against Lae’zel and I can’t just kick her ass out? lmao. Reloaded and got a different result. Anyway, it was interesting cutscene.

Probably takes me like 20 minutes of real time for every five minutes of game progression (not solely because I’m savescumming, I swear) just because I’m curious about the dialogue paths and my computer is bad. Impatiently waiting for the PS5 release.


Senselessly provoked an owlbear because I think it’s the only way I’ll get a baby owlbear and some approval from difficult characters. I’m going to Hell…

 

[Classic]

Bad/Good news about going to Hell, you've already visited parts of it!

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Would be so sick if my party members got to keep longstrider after waking up like the camp pets. (Dog, owlbear, Halsin) Maybe they just aren’t sleeping.

I won’t have a Paladin this run unless I decide for some reason to use a hireling. Q about oathbreaking: is it only something that affects characters if they’re the dialogue… sayer…? Does Oathbreaking happen if someone’s in the party but not actively making the choice? Can a Tav avoid Oathbreaking by making a party member do something Oathbreaking?

 

[Classic]

How often are you able to have another party member handle dialogs for you?

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

I mean you can just have companions initiate conversations whenever and sometimes other parties start conversations automatically with whoever’s closest, like in battles. You can even avoid companion disapproval by having them say things they would disapprove of. (Other companions still approve/disapprove) Some companions also have unique dialogue when you do this.

 

[SabreCat]

You can even avoid companion disapproval by having them say things they would disapprove of. (Other companions still approve/disapprove) Some companions also have unique dialogue when you do this.

Whoa, I hadn't noticed that, how cool! Can you spoilertext an example?

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Oh, the unique dialogue: I think Karlach had some with an animal in the druid grove (I forget the specifics, but she mentioned her time in Hell) and I believe Gale has some with a flying cat I haven’t met yet.
Just animal based but there are probably more. I also watched a video on youtube of

Lae’zel talking with those refugees in the Grove about cats, but it was all text based and may have just been Githyanki specific.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

I’m surprised I’m not finding this on youtube but
I saw Karlach, in my very own playthrough, talking about Hell with some animal when she and Wyll were the only characters I had with Speak with Animals. I’m not sure if it was the squirrel or something else.

 

[SabreCat]

oh, I mistook what you meant. I thought you said that companions had special dialogue when you made them say something they would ordinary disagree with XD

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Oh, no, not as far as I know.

 

[lincolnic]

Been playing this non-stop since Saturday and having a lot of fun (currently somewhere in Act I, wandering around the goblin camp after freeing Halsin to kill the three bosses), even though I don't think I'm doing particularly well. I feel like a lot of the time I'm getting through battles by the seat of my pants rather than identifying any strong party synergies, though I probably could've invested in more support spells for everyone rather than just "that seems fun".

I do have a question about the Barbarian ability Enraged Throw, if anyone knows. Not sure if this is PS5 specific but I can't seem to get it to work as advertised. (Spoilers just in case someone doesn't want to read, I guess?) I know I'm supposed to be able to pick up items and creatures around me to throw, but it seems like whenever I use the ability I can only throw items from my inventory. What am I missing? I want to throw goblins at other goblins!

 

[SabreCat]

That's weird. You should indeed be able to move up next to an object or small enemy, activate the ability, then click first the thing you want to throw and then where you want to throw it.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Been playing this non-stop since Saturday and having a lot of fun (currently somewhere in Act I, wandering around the goblin camp after freeing Halsin to kill the three bosses), even though I don't think I'm doing particularly well. I feel like a lot of the time I'm getting through battles by the seat of my pants rather than identifying any strong party synergies, though I probably could've invested in more support spells for everyone rather than just "that seems fun".

The game seems to get a lot easier at level 5. (but, like, I know there's a whole lot left so this could change...) The hobgoblin leader was really hard for me, and the last goblin leader I took out, but then I turned level 5 and it was a breeze to murder the rest of the encampment. But unnecessarily violent.
-
I think I have encountered a bug in Grimforge. I should be able to tell Brithvar to free the gnomes but he's just disappeared. He didn't die in the battle; I was monitoring that and I think someone would take his place anyway. I can backtrack like an hour but I don't know what went wrong or if I can fix it.

 

[lincolnic]

That's weird. You should indeed be able to move up next to an object or small enemy, activate the ability, then click first the thing you want to throw and then where you want to throw it.

Yeah, it just immediately brings up a radial menu of my inventory. I've seen a couple of people on Reddit say that you can just back out of that radial menu and select something from the environment, I'll have to try it next time I play.

The game seems to get a lot easier at level 5.

Just like real D&D, I guess. I'm still level 4, but I managed to kill Minthara, so hopefully the other two won't be as rough. I didn't take Halsin with me because I'm not sure I can wipe out an entire goblin camp, bear druid or no.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

This bug is not very well-documented but I went back and sent some smokepowder bombs (?) I'd picked up back to camp before getting the runepowder stuff in the Grymforge and the conversation with Brithvar triggered like it should have after the battle. I don't know if this is what did it but I am perfectly happy to blame the six thousand items you can pick up in this game that you do not ever need to use. (at least on Balanced) The fight was a bit harder though because Astarion and Lae'zel were immediately mind-controlled which did not happen the first time. Whatever, I can make the bosses wet and electrocute them in the same turn now. Also, I didn't get approval from those two for telling on Philomeen to her gf like I did the first time! D*ng. (still got a silent disapproval hit from Astarion for stopping Nere from killing the slaves like, why put that in there?)

Anyway, I decided to just relax and let some traps go off without reloading and now there are infinite blastmines on some bridge? lol.

 

[estragon]

Yeah, it just immediately brings up a radial menu of my inventory. I've seen a couple of people on Reddit say that you can just back out of that radial menu and select something from the environment, I'll have to try it next time I play.

I've never tried to throw an enemy so I don't have a for sure answer, but one alternative that might work if you can't figure how to do it from the radial menu is to press L3 (push down the left analog stick as if it was a button), which gives you psuedo-mouse controls when using a gamepad. From there, if you click on an enemy and push maybe Square (X on an XBox Controller) then Throw might come up on the list of default interactions. Just an idea...

Even if this doesn't work for this instance, it's nice to be aware of the psuedo-mouse functionality. I do this when I want to talk to someone in an area where it would be too easy to accidentally steal with direct movement controls, for instance.

 

[estragon]

We're pretty far into Act 3 now and still no serious bugs and absolutely no sense of disappointment or that it's not as polished as Acts 1 and 2, beyond the obvious and inevitable issue of it being very CPU intensive because it's full of NPCs all over the place. It's a very well realized area and all the quests are working well, with a lot of payoff to decisions made in Acts 1 or 2. Maybe we're just getting lucky. We've also not encountered the stressful time pressure that is apparently a part of the act, which might just be the result of really focusing in on the murder mystery right away because it happened to be the first Act 3 story we were getting a lot of breadcrumbs for, so we killed Orin and Sarevok very early on. It could be possible that doing this improves the Act 3 experience in the game's current state, or at least makes it more relaxed and potentially turns off the way it interacts with other quests in a way that alleviates some potential bugs.

Unfortunately we probably won't be able to play again to finish for like ~2 weeks due to real life and this not being a game where you can make real progress in short sessions.

Something funny I didn't expect, spoilers for game presentation: There is a boss who sings their own theme song!!! More specifically, it's this (spoilers for a late game boss, although an extremely obvious one).

 

[SabreCat]

Re level 5: Fighters, Barbarians, etc. getting a second attack is a huge help for sure.
Especially when these extra attacks multiply on use of Action Surge, Potion of Speed, etc., which is a substantial buff over the way those things work in tabletop!

 

[estragon]

It's also when Wizards and Sorcerers can get Fireball, Druids get Call Lightning, Clerics get Mass Healing, etc. In general everyone starts to really feel more differentiated as being uniquely their class at that level.

 

[lincolnic]

I've never tried to throw an enemy so I don't have a for sure answer, but one alternative that might work if you can't figure how to do it from the radial menu is to press L3 (push down the left analog stick as if it was a button), which gives you psuedo-mouse controls when using a gamepad. From there, if you click on an enemy and push maybe Square (X on an XBox Controller) then Throw might come up on the list of default interactions. Just an idea...

I'll try both methods when I get home from work today, but I'm not sure this particular way would do it - Enraged Throw is a bonus action, and I don't believe those show up in the list of available actions when you push Square. But I do appreciate the reminder about getting pseudo-mouse controls! I don't think the game actually tells you that at any point.

 

[estragon]

But I do appreciate the reminder about getting pseudo-mouse controls! I don't think the game actually tells you that at any point.

Unless they patched it, there's even an optional puzzle at the end of Act 2 that I think only responds to pressing L3 to turn the left stick into a mouse-cursor. If you don't do that, your character just walks away instead of interacting with the one-off puzzle interface. They probably should just automatically shift into this mode if you're playing with a controller and initiate the puzzle, because it's the only moment in the whole series of Larian CRPGs made with this engine that feels this undercooked with a controller to me.

 

[lincolnic]

Unless they patched it, there's even an optional puzzle at the end of Act 2 that I think only responds to pressing L3 to turn the left stick into a mouse-cursor. If you don't do that, your character just walks away instead of interacting with the one-off puzzle interface. They probably should just automatically shift into this mode if you're playing with a controller and initiate the puzzle, because it's the only moment in the whole series of Larian CRPGs made with this engine that feels this undercooked with a controller to me.

Whaaaaat. Come on, game! That's just rude. I appreciate the heads up, though I'm still in Act I with no idea how much is left.

After all that conversation, I didn't actually get to see if either of the suggested Enraged Throw methods work, but only because when I was in combat I ended up having Karlach up on high ground and chucking greatswords and greataxes at enemies. I'll look more into it next time I have the opportunity. For now, I'm pretty satisfied with the way I cleaned out the rest of the goblin camp. I did the bosses in what I think is the opposite of the intended order -- Minthara first, then the hobgoblin, then Priestess Gut. The latter two of those I did tonight. No one was hostile after the Minthara fight, so I took my whole party up the stairs behind the hobgoblin and spread everyone out to cover both sides of the room. Then I had Karlach huck one of those exploding barrels straight at the hobgoblin to start the fight, which did a good deal of splash damage to the nearby mooks. Hobgoblin was dead before the end of the round, then I mopped everyone else up. I thought I'd be able to finish the rest of the camp similarly, but somehow that battle put the rest of the camp on alert, so Priestess Gut was back in the main entrance hall, surrounded by a ton of other goblins. I managed to sneak everyone up onto the rafters above the hall and saw that there was a brazier hanging directly above Gut, so I started once more by having Karlach throw an exploding barrel at her and then shooting the brazier to drop it down and ignite the barrel. I did the entire fight from up above and barely got hurt at all. Starting to feel like I understand how the game wants me to play a little more!

In any case, I made it to the Underdark and went exactly as far as activating the fast travel waypoint, but I'm gonna go back to the Grove and help Halsin there first. Got some loose ends nearby to tie up too.

 

[Adrenaline]

I wish the game was clearer about what quests are affected by advancing the story at certain points. A lot of things are still available after you get past those points, but some things aren't.

 

[SabreCat]

Oh jeez, I wasted so many superiority dice.

I thought "Evasive Footwork" was a buff that lasted until your next turn. Nope--it wears off at the end of your turn. So it's really only useful for penalizing opportunity attacks.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

As a sorcerer I’m basically long resting after every important encounter so I don’t need to worry about blowing Lae’zel’s sd any more than my spell slots. But I do need to choose more manouevre’s now, what to do…

I wish I’d done a bit more due diligence before making my first thing (made a shield, probably would have just made two armors) in the forge because I’m not doing that battle again, lol. Storm Sorcery did let me safely get out of the way (magic missile then fly) after baiting the boss. But it did target my Tav after…

 

[Classic]

Small bug:
Sentinel is a feat that lets a character make an opportunity attack if a melee-ranged enemy attacks an ally.
If your sentinel and an ally have the same initiative slot in combat, your sentinel's ally can provoke an opportunity attack from a foe to allow the sentinel to expend their own reaction on a melee attack.
All of this is working as intended, but the reaction's melee attack is still an... attack... as far as the game is concerned, and it generates any additional attacks that your character is entitled to if any.
Sentinel has just given one of my characters a kind of sneaky haste and I dig it.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Went through the Githyanki creche. Then went back to get some items and xp. Paused when I entered the training room and ran my cursor (?) over like two dozen characters named Youth <Whatever>, one of whom I earlier stopped from getting murdered. I guess I should let them live… even though I am just peacefully walking into a room and they’re the red ones. I know I’ll hit the level cap anyway. Maybe if I were close to level 8. But I don’t really think there’s anything left to do in Act 1. They will be spared, along with that anyone in the hatchery…

Don’t really get the bartering system. I was hoping just doing bullshit sidequests would land me a discount but it does not. Cursory googling said you should give merchants things for free to reap the rewards of their max attitude. Maybe so… I’ve done that to a few merchants but I don’t really know that I’ve come out ahead. I’m only buying a few intriguing magic items that I may (will not; not enough equipment slots) use. Well, I’ll offload garbage I’ve been storing at the camp to these merchants now that I’m moving on.

 

[SabreCat]

I suspect that cheesing the barter system is one of those things you can do if you want to hyperoptimize, but it's not really necessary for most playthroughs.

 

[Adrenaline]

As a sorcerer I’m basically long resting after every important encounter so I don’t need to worry about blowing Lae’zel’s sd any more than my spell slots. But I do need to choose more manouevre’s now, what to do…

Superiority dice are one of the things that refresh after short rests as well as long rests.

 

[lincolnic]

Whew, killed a Hag and finally got everyone to level 5. I'm extremely ready to start hucking Fireballs around, enemies beware! (Party members should probably beware too.)