Baldur's Gate III (2023)

I thought I could finish an act or two during my winter holidays but no, didn't even finish Act 1. I think I am quite near though. I knew this was a long game but I didn't expect it to be this long. Loving the world so I don't mind. No offence meant to my fellow Druid brethren, but I enjoyed the Underdark arc more than the Wilderness arc.

I ought to be less stingy with using spell slots and not feel a little guilty after using them (or spell scrolls.) I wish I could recast spells - or move moonbeams and the like - while in Wild Shape, but I suppose if the spells have verbal components, then it make sense that I can only concentrate on them as a non-human-language-speaking creature, and I'm unable to do anything else with them. I wish I could still hear my own thoughts though. Sometimes I pass background checks as a dire raven or something but then because the creature doesn't speak, I don't really get any information from passing the check.

Struggled in the area with the noxious fumes and explosive flower traps. Turns out the key for me was splitting the party and controlling them individually so I don't have wandering characters who casually just walk into traps (which they've already perceived) before I disarm them.

We're leaving charisma guy back in camp from now on because we're not really using his charisma.

I did it, might as well explain how I got there:

On how to fix your modded game save file: no, you can't. Patch 7 has essentially modified how some of the more important mods work (ImprovUI, for example) and their upgrades will be parsed as a whole new mod by the game. The only recourse you have is to downgrade your game to Patch 6.

How to downgrade: there's two ways it might work for you

• Right click on Baldur's Gate 3 on your Steam library > Properties... > Betas and select the only option. Note that this is a Patch 7 Lite and not the original Patch 6, so if you have mods that already were throwing temper tantrums on Patch 7, you're kinda SOL.

• Download the old depot files of Patch 6. You can check here and here on how to do it.

If you don't want to do any of that and you prefer to do a fresh save game, keep Baldur's Gate 3 at Patch 7 and:

• delete everything in the "Mods" folder. Use BG3MM to find the folder but it usually is in your install folder > Data > Mods.
• If you previously had Native Mod Loader installed , delete the folder generated by it called NativeMods and, to be double sure you got it all, delete bink2w64.dll and bink2w64_original.dll from the Bin folder.
• If you also had Norbyte's BG3 Script Extender, delete the DWrite.dll in the Bin folder.
• Right click on Baldur's Gate 3 from your SteamLibrary > Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of the game files to start with a blank slate and 100% sure the game will work.

After you've done all of this, decide whether you want to uniquely use BG3MM (the best choice, found here) or only use Larian's Mod.io loader. This is important because not all (effectively, a large part) of mods are going to be on Mod.io due to limitations set by Larian in order to make the platform usable for console players as well. Stick to just one mod loader because Larian's in built mod checker will deactivate all your mods and force you to enable them one by one if you change something in their composition or add a new one, so if you change mods or anything of the likes, always check the Mod tab inside Baldur's Gate 3 proper.

Finally getting the hang of the controls and gameplay, and that's making me want to play more.

I learned from Frieren that it's alright to have two mages in your adventuring party but you need a frontliner. However, for this particular adventure, I need a charismatic guy and a dexterous guy so to have those two, I need to choose between having a healer and a frontliner. I suppose my Moon Druid could in a way perform either of those roles so it could still work out. Or maybe a warlock could be a frontliner. Part of the experience of adventuring with a party is making do with however it's composed anyway, and unconventional setups, if they work, could be fun.

Maybe I could keep switching party members although it's a little taxing to stay on top of all these class and subclass features. Maybe I could do without a cleric since I haven't fully figured out how to go about them. Maybe I just do whatever keeps me alive.

I'm about 20 hours into BG3 but I feel like I've only scratched the surface. Astarion is one of the most recognizable faces of the cast of characters, and yet, I only just now stumbled upon him. I was wondering! I was thinking, "When the hell am I gonna find that white-haired guy that is so prominently featured on the cover art?" Turns out I was supposed to run into him almost immediately, but I didn't until I reached the Underdark and then exited to go back and clear the rest of the fog spots on the starting area map.

I have no idea how the rest of the game is going to turn out; I don't know if this will end up entering my personal pantheon of all-time greats or if I'm going to completely lost interest and never finish it, but with what I've experienced so far, it's very clear to me that no matter what, Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the highest quality video games ever crafted. As a product, it feels like it has no equal; unmatched in terms of what is on offer and how deftly it has been realized.

I started this game damn near immediately after finishing Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Damn, dude. I get what all the fuss about. I don't know if I've ever played a game that is this packed with detail, in just about every way a game can have detail. Everything from environments to the UI to the facial animations to the way your companions stand when speaking with NPCs, it's wildly impressive.

Right off the bat, the voice acting is second to none. I praised DAV's voice acting and stand by that, but this is just ridiculous in terms of how good it is. Every motherfuckin word is spoken so deliciously, every line delivered so authentically, haven't heard a single weak performance yet (10 hours in at time of writing).

Something else I noticed that I like is that you don't need to know anything to be engaged by the story. I have never played Baldur's Gate games and know nothing, but I'm following what I need to, and the way the story and lore are delivered is perfect. Nothing too dense, but also not so light that you feel like something larger is absent.

Likewise, the gameplay and mechanics are simple and accessible. There's nothing too overwhelming here.

The characters are exceptionally written. I don't mean that they're nice and fun and feel like fast friends; these companions feel like real individuals with their own interests and agendas. Some are courteous, some are standoffish, and some are downright hostile, and it couldn't be more interesting and engaging.

Choices matter, and boy, there are a lot of choices. Yet I don't feel paralyzed by them. I don't dread getting something wrong because the story goes on and things continue, which is not to say your choices don't matter - they do, and you will feel it when an interaction doesn't turn out the way you were aiming for - but it's not the kind of thing that you can't live with. And if you can't, you can always load from your most recent quicksave.

Damn, guys. Baldur's Gate 3 is the real deal. I see what the fuss was about. What a charming world and game. Very impressed and happy I dove into it.