this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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Baldur's Gate 3
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All things BG3!
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)
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This is an interesting take. I adore Skyrim and just yesterday started playing BG3. I am enjoying it, but I never did anything else with DND (parents thought it would make Jesus sad or whatever) and so I am finding it more complex from the get-go than I would like, but I’m trying to learn. I still do feel like I’m missing out on a lot by just going with “whatever” and not putting enough thought into character creation, spells, etc, but it’s a lot to learn and I’m only 1 day in :)
Skyrim, on the other hand, was very easy to pick up, start playing, and just…explore and discover. Because of that, I was eagerly anticipating Starfield but sadly I do not possess the platform required to play it so I am reading the reviews to see if it’s worth buying an entire XBox for. If it’s as great as Skyrim, yes. If it’s meh, no.
So, reviews like this make me wonder if the author enjoys and/or is already familiar enough with the steep learning curve for it not to get in the way and by extension the game itself. Would they have been fine with Starfield had they never played BG3? And is Starfield “simple” enough for me to have a great time, or is it too much of what the author complains about here? - Repetitive quests, limited choices, etc?
It’s a hard question to answer, and the stakes are higher for me because of the console thing. I guess I could send the console back at least if the game isn’t for me? Idk.
I've got a steam deck. BG3 runs fine on it and surprisingly so does Starfield. (albeit both on low graphics settings, but I'm cool with that). BG3 is also ok because it's turn based. Though, so far, any blips in fps in Starfield haven't messed up my being able to survive firefights.
BG3 has a steeper learning curve for sure. I love the character interactions and the voice acting is superb. Starfield is easier to just pick up and start playing. (though my first time navigating my ship was a WTF moment and the game threw you into a ship battle right away) The early battles are easy enough that even with flailing, you survive. Over time I've gotten more accustomed to the controls. FWIW, NPC dialog and interactions are more janky for sure than BG3. BG3 is so smooth and realistic with dialog and expressions.
Both games have abysmal inventory systems. hahahaha! So far, I'm enjoying both games. I've put BG3 down for a bit to allow time for Larian to clean up Act 3 a bit more. I'm 85 hours in and all of the story threads are coming together and the consequences of my choices are getting thick.
Starfield is a hit with me too. It's a grand exploration game. It scratches the Skyrim itch. It might be a looter shooter, but so far, I'm enjoying the quests. Eventually I will build outposts and build my own ship. There's no VATs any more, except in ship to ship battles where you can use the targeting system.
Unlike BG3, you aren't limited on how much you can develop your character. BG3 is capped at level 12 so you only get a few times to choose new spells/skills/abilities. Eventually, you're at your limit. Starfield has so many skills you can get, that I imagine that once you get many hours in, you'll be at such a high level and have so many skills that it will still be a blast to play. Early on, it's all so new, later on, you'll have so many options for things to do and how to do it that the gameplay will still feel fresh.
Long story short, I like both equally, but for very different reasons. Starfield is a big plate of good ole home cooking/mac and cheese. BG3 is a multi-course gourmet meal. I also have a steam deck, so I imagine that Starfield would play just fine on XBox.
Just heads up a lot of the act 3 bugs were addressed in the patch last week. I’ve encountered none in act 3 so far.
This is very helpful, thank you!
As someone who has run tabletop games including DnD for a few decades, your approach is perfectly valid. While any complex system can be gamed for optimal outcomes, it was designed to be roughly even enough that there are not a lot of choices that penalize you too much as long as you pay attention to vulnerabilities/resistances/immunities which can often be overcome with potions and other magic items.
Do what sounds fun and then have fun is not missing out on anything other than spending time not playing the game just to squeeze out edge cases. Some people enjoy that and thankfully the game caters to both casual players and optimizers.
Thanks for this comment. I seem to have made all the wrong choices. Which can be seen by the fact that every conversation has basically led to me fighting entire towns to such extent that I can no longer find vendors to sell to :p
I was considering just re-rolling and trying harder to please the NPCs. But if the playthrough is salvageable, I will stick it out.
I dunno, sounds like a fun time to me!
Currently on my first playthrough as a team player, but strongly considering going full on antagonist on a subsequent playthrough. Heck, on the first goblin base at the beginning I even saved before entering and after getting buddy buddy with them I saved and then loaded the prior save and just went in crossbows blazing for the fun of it to see how different the outcomes were.
This game is going to be very fun to replay with different approaches!
I think the next playthrough I'll have understood a lot of the basics better and understand how NPCs will react.
I really role played through this one as a weird barbarian stoner who would rather not fight if possible but when any NPC insults anyone in my party the fight is on.
Kind of like me in real life. But with a lot more crossbow action!
Hey thanks for this, I appreciate it. It makes me feel a lot better. Thanks!
I feel you. I spent a several hours learning about D&D character creation when I picked up BG3. And I spent a couple more hours crafting a back story that I used to influence my character traits. I've never played D&D before, but BG3 is the most fun I've had with a game in several years.
Well you're like 75% of the way to straight out playing DnD, so I highly recommend that if you can find a local group. It's magic.
Don't fret too much about your early-game spell/leveling decisions. Pretty early in the game, you get the option to re-spec any and all characters for a small fee. You can mess around with new synergies, or go so far as converting characters to an entirely different class, any time you want.
@OneCardboardBox @PrincessLeiasCat It's also trivial to get that fee back with some pickpocketing! You can really abuse that NPC
Oh good tip! Thanks!!
Oh that’s interesting - I’ll keep it in mind!
You're doing it right. Just keep playing, and you'll learn as you go. Don't be afraid to search for answers online, or compare D&D to BG3. Later, when you understand the system and a spell's impact to your journey, you can talk to Withers and respec your character, changing your spells and abilities. You can also just use an online guide. Many of the guides have optimized builds that work really well. That's what I did for my companions, since it was a bit much to learn every single class in one playthrough.
Edit: example, this Astarion build is off the hook amazing!