Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback [SPOILER] Moon puzzle feedback

This is a proposed tweak to the moon puzzle solution (the one gating the underdark in the goblin camp) so mega spoilers ahead.

The trick to this one is noticing the beam of light hitting one of the circles in order to properly place the colored moons. The thing that bugs me is that the black moons go in the beam of light while the white moons go in the opposite circle.

Why not reverse the two? It makes more intuitive sense to me to match the white moons to the light beam, as lit objects tend to be bright.

Maybe I missed a clue in the environment; maybe there’s something to the Selune sigils I didn’t catch. Still, I feel the challenge of the puzzle should be in manipulating the moons rather than figuring out the proper combination. It’s just as hard to get the moons in the wrong order and very tedious to switch them around once you’ve realized your mistake.

No, it doesn't need fixing. You missed a lot. There is at least one mural that shows the right formation, there is a priestess journal not to far that gives the whole solution, and black moons going in the beem of light is simbolic for Selunites mission (cast away all darkness).

That’s fair. I haven’t done the puzzle in a while, so I’ll go check in Patch 9, but I seem to recall some room for interpretation in the first two clues.

The mural could be oriented either way in the room. The beam of light could match the top or the bottom of the mural, for all I know. Also, I don’t remember the journal saying the black moons match the beam of light, just that the moons need to move around.

As for the last clue about the Selunite’s mission, I like it. It make in-world sense, but it needs to be reinforced a lot to overcome basic human intuition about light. I was confused for a long time by the existence of two goddesses of night, so it would be helpful to players like me if the important lore minutia was more salient.

If memory serves, the journal mentions how the maker of the puzzle is worried it won’t be enough to keep intruders out. It could also mention the Selunite mission statement as a clue about dark moons and light.

Maybe it does? It’s worth investigating.

The journal doesn't leave any room for interpretation and doesn't say anything about the beam. It says that the full moons should be aligned with stars (wich are always placed inside that top circle) and the darkness should stay below (dark moons go to the bottom circle).
I agree that they could stress a bit somewhere that Selune is all about light and casting shadows away even during the dark time (night).

There are multiple clues to solving the puzzle and multiple ways of bypassing it all together, so I don’t see an issue. Even if one needs to look a bit for a solution or tinker to find solution by trial and accident it still works fine.

After a little research, I realized I hadn't noticed the small stars placed in the top circle. I'd seen them on the mural and thought they were supposed to match up with the beam of light, but that's my mistake : they match the identical stars in the top circle on the temple floor. That's the clue that unambiguously orients the mural in the room; I missed it plain and simple.

So I guess in the end the beam of light is kind of a red herring. It's the most visible element in the room but isn't actually helpful in solving the puzzle. Well played, Larian. Ya got me.

I'm still kinda annoyed that most people - Swen included in his demonstration - say that the 'solution' is to walk over to the lever that bypasses and auto-solves the puzzle for you and pull it. I hate that, personally.

Agreed. I think they should remove the level. There are other ways of getting to the Underdark if people don't want to complete the puzzle.

Niara you are absolutely right. Maybe this alternative approach takes revenge and falls back on the player? It could be that characters who have the Sage background, for example, are not granted the XP / inspiration for it: THE PHASES UNFOLD - Solve the moon puzzle that seals the door to the Underdark....

I myself have not been so far in the game, but would advocate that the XP / inspiration should be granted only with direct solution path.

I think that using the lever shouldn't grant inspiration, yeah, but Idolike having the lever there. I feel like it's the only way to the underdark that the characters would really know about. Every other way in feels like metagaming that characters would only try because we the players know about them. Like the spider's lair? Why would the characters ever cast featherfall and try that route? For that matter, why would players do it if they didn't already know about that route other than to just see what happens? I also learned on the forum that if you were the hag's mask, you can take an entry into the underdark through her lair, but again, why would the characters ever find out about that? And again, why would a player find out unless they were just randomly trying stuff?

Wait, I'm confused. I thought the lever in the room with the puzzle could be used to reset the puzzle. Does the lever really solve the puzzle?
What???

But given that a perception check (a fairly easy one) is needed to see the lever, it's not impossible. If true, that...weird.

Maybe it's just a EA thing? I hope ><

As someone who naturally loves exploration, I would. I don't always try everything but I love to have a good overview of the whole area, scout all available paths before going forward. I legit just missed that the lever could be used like this...I don't know how xD

Heheh then there's me who manages to fail the perception check 6 times in a row But yes, it solves the puzzle if you unlock it.

Personally though on my very first playthrough without ever playing previous BG games, I didn't have an issue solving the puzzle. Just by following the story along and paying attention it was clear who Shar and Selune are and the note from the deceased dwarf explorer made the solution clear.

They put the switch there most likely so people don't have to interact with every single thing in order to progress, which is the easy solution true. But there are people who don't like to explore, so it's pretty much intended for them. I personally try to seep every ounce of content out of the game so shortcuts are blasphemy to me

Not a fan of this puzzle at all, for several reasons:

-The pattern you are trying to get to is not even slightly clear from the mural.
-Also it's not even clear the mural is relevant to the puzzle. Realistically there's a natural break point between the main activity in the area with the mural and when you need it. The player might have encountered it days ago real time.
-The orientation of the puzzle is only explained by the beam of light and a journal. The rest of the time books are flavour or if they have something you need to know they present it unobtrusively enough that a skim read would pick it out.
-Even when you know the pattern, and the orientation, the puzzle is kind of fiddly
-... or you can just make a spot check and flip a lever

And IMO it's not so much that the lever is the problem but the acknowledgement that this puzzle is putting the player through a lot of work doing something they aren't normally doing in the game in order to just progress through an empty room. The lever need to be there because being generous the puzzle is far too obscure, but stating it bluntly, it's a badly designed mess. I get the ambition but it's just not going to play out that way the vast majority of the time.