OT: Video Games/Computers/Gadgets/Gizmos

[KidA24]

Well, played BG3 for a couple hours yesterday, made a Sorceror.

Today, had a few hours to play, tried to launch the game, it crashed.

BG3 tells me to verify the integrity of the game files and now it is completely redownloading the game... at about 1% per minute. Hooray.

[MikeIsGood]

Shadow Monk is bananas. This is the most powerful I've felt compared to the builds I played in EA. I am straight-up wrecking things. I am tentatively planning to single-dip into Rogue/Thief to pickup that extra bonus action.

So this would need to be a three-level dip in order to pickup Thief, since Rogues get their subclasses at level 3. To the best of my understanding*, this only negates one key ability for the Shadow Monk, but it's a big one - shadow strike. I still may do it. I'd pick-up 2d6 sneak attack damage, that sweet, sweet bonus action, and dash and sneak as bonus actions so that I can preserve actions for full attacks and ki for flurry.

[Sauce Boss]

Shadow Monk is bananas. This is the most powerful I've felt compared to the builds I played in EA. I am straight-up wrecking things. I am tentatively planning to single-dip into Rogue/Thief to pickup that extra bonus action.

So this would need to be a three-level dip in order to pickup Thief, since Rogues get their subclasses at level 3. To the best of my understanding*, this only negates one key ability for the Shadow Monk, but it's a big one - shadow strike. I still may do it. I'd pick-up 2d6 sneak attack damage, that sweet, sweet bonus action, and dash and sneak as bonus actions so that I can preserve actions for full attacks and ki for flurry.

Not related, but what’s your party comp?

[MikeIsGood]

Shadow Monk is bananas. This is the most powerful I've felt compared to the builds I played in EA. I am straight-up wrecking things. I am tentatively planning to single-dip into Rogue/Thief to pickup that extra bonus action.

So this would need to be a three-level dip in order to pickup Thief, since Rogues get their subclasses at level 3. To the best of my understanding*, this only negates one key ability for the Shadow Monk, but it's a big one - shadow strike. I still may do it. I'd pick-up 2d6 sneak attack damage, that sweet, sweet bonus action, and dash and sneak as bonus actions so that I can preserve actions for full attacks and ki for flurry.

Not related, but what’s your party comp?

I just picked up Karlach. Going to give her a whirl for a while with Shadowheart and Gale. My Shadow Monk supports thieving ok enough for now (and I don't really like Astarion anyways). You?

I also forgot to note what my * was above. I think BG3 could do a better job of surfacing in-game what the roadmap is for classes and subclasses. I am sure they want to strike a balance with keeping it simple for players who are new to D&D, but right now it isn't balanced at all. You have to look on the web to figure out what skills you get when.

About my only complaint so far, aside from the initial saving issue.

[Sauce Boss]

So this would need to be a three-level dip in order to pickup Thief, since Rogues get their subclasses at level 3. To the best of my understanding*, this only negates one key ability for the Shadow Monk, but it's a big one - shadow strike. I still may do it. I'd pick-up 2d6 sneak attack damage, that sweet, sweet bonus action, and dash and sneak as bonus actions so that I can preserve actions for full attacks and ki for flurry.

Not related, but what’s your party comp?

I just picked up Karlach. Going to give her a whirl for a while with Shadowheart and Gale. My Shadow Monk supports thieving ok enough for now (and I don't really like Astarion anyways). You?

I also forgot to note what my * was above. I think BG3 could do a better job of surfacing in-game what the roadmap is for classes and subclasses. I am sure they want to strike a balance with keeping it simple for players who are new to D&D, but right now it isn't balanced at all. You have to look on the web to figure out what skills you get when.

About my only complaint so far, aside from the initial saving issue.

I started as an Oath of Ancients Paladin and right now I’m wandering about with Astarion, Shadowheart, and Gale. I was planning to use Karlach if she seems cool when I meet her or to have Lae’zel because she seems integral to the story; I was thinking two melee and two casters would be fine enough. But in the context of BG3 I’m finding Astarion’s skills very useful despite not particularly liking his character. It makes me think if I absolutely need Karlach/Lae’zel I could end up re-rolling as a high charisma Rogue or a Bard. I also accidentally broke my Paladin oath and save scummed; that could get annoying from an RP perspective.

[ReginaldDwight]

Im tempted by BG:3 but I wont blow the hardware requirements away.

[PintSizedBox10]

Spent a solid 25mins in the character creation only to go Human monk

[Sauce Boss]

I retract my earlier waffling, my Paladin is awesome and going Oath of Ancients was the right call to have a wee bit of Druid in me (speak with animals is too good). There’s an easy way to completely respec, including your class, so unless you hate the way you look just push on and you can re-configure yourself without restarting. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m going to be playing the game more than once and that’s just something I almost never do. Soooo much choice.

Another note, just like in 5e, Guidance is a must if you don’t have it as a cantrip. It’s implemented really well and is basically an always on bonus to skill checks.

[Ayt]

Im tempted by BG:3 but I wont blow the hardware requirements away.

What do you have for a GPU? Also, this isn't really a game where you need insane framerates.

[The Wet Whistle]

Another note, just like in 5e, Guidance is a must if you don’t have it as a cantrip. It’s implemented really well and is basically an always on bonus to skill checks.

Keeping Shadowheart around as a constant guidance factory. That cantrip is a godsend


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[MikeIsGood]

I retract my earlier waffling, my Paladin is awesome and going Oath of Ancients was the right call to have a wee bit of Druid in me (speak with animals is too good). There’s an easy way to completely respec, including your class, so unless you hate the way you look just push on and you can re-configure yourself without restarting. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m going to be playing the game more than once and that’s just something I almost never do. Soooo much choice.

Another note, just like in 5e, Guidance is a must if you don’t have it as a cantrip. It’s implemented really well and is basically an always on bonus to skill checks.

I can't recall - did you play the original BG games? Or IWD? I just cannot imagine not playing them more than once.

And they are dwarfed in comparison to this game, even just in A1. It's actually pretty mind blowing just how differently I could see things playing out. I think I mostly just resolved the major conflict of A1, and it felt like there were innumerable ways to do it. I've thought back multiple times like 'oh ****, I forgot I never did X to figure out how it impacts this.'

A1 character spoiler:

Spoiler:

A friend of mine shared that Minthara can actually be a companion. Not sure I'll ever see that happening with how I prefer to RP, but it's really interesting.

[FrieAaron]

Quick thoughts on the Palia closed beta:

It's a familiar gameplay loop. Gather and craft to be able to make better tools to gather and craft better stuff and build/upgrade your home. People who like those kinds of games will enjoy it enough to kill time with it. It's very Animal Crossing.

It falls down a bit as an MMO for me. I'm sure it's possible to make an MMO with no combat, but the group content here is extremely limited. The most engaging I've seen so far is cooking as a group, one person can chop ingredients while the other stirs it, etc. But that amounts to clicking in a very simple rythm game for chopping and holding left click for stirring. Gathering goes faster as a group - anyone chopping the tree or mining the same node gets the resources and you get a buff that makes it faster to fish together, etc, but that's about the extent to the group content. It's not super engaging.

It's also missing some very basic stuff that I would consider essential for a social MMO. You currently can't sit or lie down, etc. So you can visit other people's homes currently and build all this furniture but can't engage with it in any way. And while there's essentially zone-wide chat (max of 25 people), you can't actually speak to people directly around you with speech bubbles or anything like that.

[jschligs]

Quick thoughts on the Palia closed beta:

It's a familiar gameplay loop. Gather and craft to be able to make better tools to gather and craft better stuff and build/upgrade your home. People who like those kinds of games will enjoy it enough to kill time with it. It's very Animal Crossing.

It falls down a bit as an MMO for me. I'm sure it's possible to make an MMO with no combat, but the group content here is extremely limited. The most engaging I've seen so far is cooking as a group, one person can chop ingredients while the other stirs it, etc. But that amounts to clicking in a very simple rythm game for chopping and holding left click for stirring. Gathering goes faster as a group - anyone chopping the tree or mining the same node gets the resources and you get a buff that makes it faster to fish together, etc, but that's about the extent to the group content. It's not super engaging.

It's also missing some very basic stuff that I would consider essential for a social MMO. You currently can't sit or lie down, etc. So you can visit other people's homes currently and build all this furniture but can't engage with it in any way. And while there's essentially zone-wide chat (max of 25 people), you can't actually speak to people directly around you with speech bubbles or anything like that.

That's a bummer. I'd probably stick to AC or Stardew for the gathering type stuff and any other MMO for that part.

[MikeIsGood]

Absolutely bananas. I'm so happy for Larian, the BG franchise - and mostly for CRPGs. As a long-time fan of the latter two there, when CRPGs have seen far better days, it's crazy to see not just the quality of the game produced but also how well its being taken to by an audience far wider than the genre usually sees.

[Sauce Boss]

Absolutely bananas. I'm so happy for Larian, the BG franchise - and mostly for CRPGs. As a long-time fan of the latter two there, when CRPGs have seen far better days, it's crazy to see not just the quality of the game produced but also how well its being taken to by an audience far wider than the genre usually sees.

It’s been really gratifying to watch it peak so high as a fan of all three. It’s also great for single player, story driven games to have a game like this achieve so much.

I can't recall - did you play the original BG games? Or IWD? I just cannot imagine not playing them more than once.

I did not, but I enjoy D&D and video games, so I have always been well aware of their relevance. Speaking more generally to re-playability, usually I wrap up a run of a game and move in to the next thing. There’s not much I’m looking forward to the rest of the calendar year, so maybe I’ll get to just really soak this one in and get two or three runs through.

[BMatt07]

After seeing all the praise for BG3, it's making me want to jump in. I've ever played any previous game in the series.

Seeing so many developers coming out saying that consumers shouldn't expect this level of polish from games moving forward makes me want to support it, along with the fact that there's no microtransactions.

Is it hard to learn / understand the DnD aspects of the game?

[Ron Swanson]

Baldur's Gate and CRPG's in general have never really been my thing, but I'm 100% here for all the attention and praise it's getting. Hopefully this shows the industry that the genre can still thrive rather than another year of pumping out more loot shooters or Soulsborne clones.

[WeekapaugGroove]

After seeing all the praise for BG3, it's making me want to jump in. I've ever played any previous game in the series.

Seeing so many developers coming out saying that consumers shouldn't expect this level of polish from games moving forward makes me want to support it, along with the fact that there's no microtransactions.

Is it hard to learn / understand the DnD aspects of the game?

I too am getting some FOMO with this game. I've never really played a game like it and only dabbled a little in D&D as a teen in the 90s. Game does look cool as **** though and I might give it a go.

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[MikeIsGood]

Baldur's Gate and CRPG's in general have never really been my thing, but I'm 100% here for all the attention and praise it's getting. Hopefully this shows the industry that the genre can still thrive rather than another year of pumping out more loot shooters or Soulsborne clones.

It's so wonderful that an RPG I actually enjoy is the AAA thing everyone is playing right now (deservedly), as opposed to me kinda forcing myself into playing a Soulsborne game just because that's basically what all the good RPGs are in the past five years.

[MikeIsGood]

After seeing all the praise for BG3, it's making me want to jump in. I've ever played any previous game in the series.

Seeing so many developers coming out saying that consumers shouldn't expect this level of polish from games moving forward makes me want to support it, along with the fact that there's no microtransactions.

Is it hard to learn / understand the DnD aspects of the game?

I too am getting some FOMO with this game. I've never really played a game like it and only dabbled a little in D&D as a teen in the 90s. Game does look cool as **** though and I might give it a go.

Good title to jump in on. No fear on not playing the original two games; it's one of those things where you'll pick up on the easter eggs or tiebacks if you did play the originals, and not know any different if you didn't. This may change slightly in the later parts of the game for a couple reasons, but the devs have commented the intent was for anyone to enjoy the game. Which makes sense considering BG2 came out over 23 years ago.

They do a good job teaching you the mechanics as part of the game, too. I think some never-D&Ders in this thread commented on as much from playing the EA.