Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback I stopped playing in Act III

The late game is not fun. I stopped playing in Act III. Trying to figure out why.

I don't like that I've been level 12 for a long, long time. The game hands out way too much XP. Max level means you have nothing to look forward to anymore.

I don't like the way anyone looks. The best armors are all completely overdesigned. The party looks like old money and posh, instead of a real fighting crew. All weapons, and Wizard staffs look weird and over-decorated.

Items are completely out of whack.

I don't like how the "best items" break the rules and are so far and beyond above everything else.

Spells don't feel powerful at all anymore, just when 6th level spells should be amazing. The best way to beat everything is to deal stupid amounts of weapon damage, with stupid amount of haste / bonus attacks. Chain Lightning means nothing.

Enemies start having powerful lore-detached abilities like Unstoppable that belong in an arcade game, not D&D.

The camp is ridiculous and has been for some time.

LV6 spells feel horribly underbudget when you get a single cast of it per long rest, 2 casts with Lorroakan's legendary staff, and it does half the damage of what any martial class is doing with 3-5 attacks with Balduran greatsword and venoms.

Problem is 90% of the game's legendary and very rare gear is martial gear, with massive power creep. Balduran Greatsword grants over 12+ extra damage on a melee swing. Melee gloves granting extra 4-6 elemental damage, then rings another 2 acid damage, then venoms another 8-10. If enemy can be paralyzed, you use that venom instead and get autocrits, and only autocrits for melee since they made the paralysis bonus only for being within 3m of the target.

Just look at legendary gear. A single legendary staff, the rest are melee weapons, a single bow, and only a single heavy plate armor and medium armor helmet. Sure, the medium armor helmet can be used by druids, but since it doesn't work while wildshaped it's useless for them. So it's only martial classes that will benefit.

It's just a martial class gear parade all game long.

Martial classes also get to use spell scrolls while having exclusive benefits over venoms and poison use. The balance between martials and casters is so lopsided.

So whilst I am still enjoying Act III despite the fact that it does feel incomplete (mostly for me in terms of the reactivity of certain companions e.g Halsin) I totally agree the martial/caster balance is totally lopsided.

Of course BG2 had insanely OP items e.g. the Robes of Vecna, so I'm happy that Larian went in that direction too, rather than using 5e's itemisation which is very bland.

For caster balance, my main three suggestions are the following - I think I might post a more fleshed out version of this post as a separate thread.

- Add a legendary (ideally in late Act II, early Act III), that allows you to maintain concentration on 2 spells at the same time. This is of course mega-powerful, but Chronurgy wizards can already (sort of) do this in tabletop - and I see this as one of the only ways of creating an item for casters that can be balanced against the martial items. I'd make the legendary a ring so it doesn't clash with other caster gear.

- Almost all the CC spells need a balance pass (see my extended post when its ready)

- Only arcane/divine casters can use arcane/divine scrolls. (Casters technically should roll a check if its higher level than what they can currently cast - but I'd ditch that here). Sadly I really don't see Larian ever doing this one as its quite contrary to their style of play, but I do think its needed personally.

Fully agree.
As soon as there were no EA players to keep them in check Larian screwed up.

During my initial run, I beelined to the Goblin Camp and Moonrise Towers, bypassing a significant chunk of Act 1. Surprisingly, I still managed to reach max level and got decked out with premium gear, all while glossing over much of the act 3's content.

In terms of companions, I sprinted past several and ended up with just Gale, Halsin, Jaheira, and Shadowheart. It's only now, on my second run, that I'm realizing how deeply tied Act 3's content is with these companions—though Halsin and Minthara seem to be exceptions.

I've since added the "Multiclass to Level 20" mod and the "Party Limit Begone" mod. Excited to dive deeper into Act 3 this time around. Still, there's a part of me that worries if the ending might not hold up to my expectations, given my initial experience.

I agree with you, I stopped continuing my first playthrough about halfway through Act 3 though I didn't get to level 12 early as I skipped certain encounters in Act 1.

The high level items are definitely too extreme, both in looks and power. I recall the discussion in EA about magic items and as it stands Larian has taken it even further than most people expected. It would be good to see the power of some of these items reduced, at no point should items be so powerful that character abilities are overshadowed. I do like the focus on martial classes though.

And don't even get me started on some of the enemy abilities and inflated, inappropriate stats ...

What bothers me most in act 3 is navigating the streets of Baldurs Gate with the godawful camera.

And here I was, afraid I'd hit 12 right before the last encounter with no time to enjoy being OP. Looking at you, DA:I.

Good to see I'm wrong.

Game of Thrones syndrome. As soon as GoT left the books behind it was straight downhill to American TV level.

Agree on many points. I don't care that much about the aesthetics, and I don't mind the idea of items being very powerful...but the idea that there are SPECIFIC items that are out of balance to the rest of the game is problematic, because they basically force you toward specific configurations.

I was surprised to discover the Level 12 cap (and yeah, spending a good third of the game with no level progression is...discouraging), and I agree with the concerns about underpowering caster classes, especially at higher levels.

I've also described the game as feeling 'incomplete'. The fact that there's no meaningful interaction with the Upper City was another disappointing surprise. BG1 and BG2 felt much larger, and much more 'open world'.

My biggest grievance thus far is about spell slots. Wizard, Cleric, Paladin, etc, it just feels underwhelming to have so few casts before being locked out of certain spells. Cast a level VI spell once and then have to rest? I like the whole "back to camp to rest" mechanic (mostly), but just to recharge spell slots? Ugh. I spend a lot of time using cantrips just to keep from using those oh-so-precious spell slots.

I stopped my initial playthrough at the beginning of Act 3, after reading that it wasn't considered complete. I'm now playing through my Tactician run and have begun Act 2. I've already seen improvements from my first run-through. Between my miss-nothing Tactician run mixed with some Starfield I figure Act 3 will be nice and fleshed out when I'm ready to hit it.

Is this optimal? Hell no. But this amazing game gets a pass from me. I don't want to finish it without the same wonder and joy that I had playing through the incredible first 2 acts. I can wait.

If YOU can't wait, then stop playing. Put on your big boy pants and stop crying and go away and play something else. It's pretty simple.

I feel kind of boring in ACT 3 too.

there is so many quest,my team just transport/enter a room,then go to the deep of that place, have a big fight,then finish.no other option. such as steel watch foundry, house of grief, house of hope,Cazador's palace.
not like the goblin camp there's so many details before I begin to kill them all/not kill them all.

Orin's quest is good,it make me feel urgent,and it can always make me surprise.but Gortash is doing nothing after I boom his foundry but just wait me to kill him.

As in the story,there's earthquake always cause by the brain,but actully I can have long rest as many as I want.it is out of charactor.

So in my suggestion,can it be some "days" limit in Act3,to make players choose to give up something.if the player dont want to give up anything,his has to fight without enought long rest.that also can make game feel not so easy in act3.

but I know it will make the caster more weaker. Or have in-game merchants sell more potions for caster and less for Martial classes

Fully agree. But do not forget that Wotc nerfed Mages with 5e. It is not Larians fault alone.

I have played wizards in every edition of DnD (well, from 2nd edition on) (Well....I mostly skipped 4th) and
1. Yes, they nerfed wizards a bit in 5e, but also boosted them in other ways. Personally I think the way wizards are done in 5e is VERY well done compared with other editions. In other editions of dnd, wizards feel next to useless at low levels but then accelerate to unstoppable gods at high levels. In 5e things feel much more even. Though frankly, even now, full casters outshine martials by a lot at higher levels.

2. What is wrong with BG3 is NOT at all a 5e problem. It is the result of a homebrew that is VERY generous to martials (which I don't even mind!) combined with totally absurd items, combined with many CC spells being outright nerfed, combined with *many spells being outright bugged.* In PnP, a level 12 wizard would stack up very nicely against a level 12 martial. Hell, they'd even stack up pretty nicely vs. Larian's homebrewed martials, nerfed spells and favorable rules for martials and everything (so long as you changed the "anyone can use scrolls" rule). It really is the outright bugged spells and the stupidly OP items that really push them over the edge.

Gameplay balance and design in a PC game always has to come first. This is not a religious sect with expectations of strict adherence to some holy text. A game must be adjusted for proper balance and working gameplay experience in the medium it's designed for regardless of what some rulebook states. Where 5e balancing or design fails to fulfill balance and gameplay needs for a PC game, Larian SHOULD homebrew. This is not a tabletop game, this is a PC game inspired by a tabletop game. Keyword inspiration, not an exact copy with pixels.

I will also bet good money most people playing this game won't be playing it in multiplayer campaigns or are even DnD TT players as a majority demographic, so the gameplay experience has to account for that. What works for a group of people in a multiplayer table top game does NOT necessarily work for a single player PC CRPG game. Which is why I imagine they spiced up the gearing experience; the problem is they only implemented gear for mostly martials, the consumable venoms/poisons/elixirs/potions are also largely martial favored, and then went and allowed martials to use spell scrolls out side scrolls of resurrection.

Plate and scale mail armor is also ridiculously strong in this game. Light armor has basically little upside. You are not sturdier against spells, and melee benefit from spells like invisibility and fly and can obtain universal elemental resistance with warding bond from a ring or shield. A ton of amulets and rings also give advantage and +1 rolls on saving throws for wisdom/int/charisma on top of permanent buffs like Githzerai mind barrier/deity donation buff giving +2 to saving throws each, so from that alone you get +4 saving throws to wis/int/cha checks on top of the amulet from act 3 granting advantage against int/wis/and CHA checks.

Plate boots also grant long strider and Freedom of Movement, so yet more resistances against magical CC available for martial classes despite having low baseline cha/wis/int stats. Like 4-5+ boots give immunity to difficult terrain, barbarian passive gives immunity to difficult terrain. All melee disadvantages can be geared away.

And the only thing a caster may have over melee, a chain lightning, ice storm, or fireball, or hypnotic pattern, a martial gains access to via scrolls and they are not hard to access because even if they are very expensive, stealing is so easy in the game.

I love this game so much that I have to be transparent about it:
TLDR: As wonderful as the game is I have to be honest Act 3 feels rushed and kind of breaks the immense fun, rush and trill that you get from the begging of it.

My take is more focussed on the roleplay and immersion in the story as that is what I play the game for. I like to expand on interactions with characters within my imagination even. And Acts 1 and 2 were done so beautifully, the player gets rewarded after a major fight and we all have time to rest and enjoy some relationship-growing moments with the party and I was hoping to get that at the end of Act 2 and beginning of Act 3 but instead, I got nonstop fights after fights, no rewards, no party, no relaxation, just RUSH RUSH RUSH. It makes sense in a way ya know the world is ending in days and yada yada, but at the same time no one counts how many long rests I took and that whole rushing made me loose that trill for playing the game. All roleplay relationship storylines felt too forced, rushed, just exhausting, reather than expanding on them they were trying to just...conclude them.. I wanted more personal scenes with the characters developing my bond with them rather than simply getting the Approval pop up. I wanted to have time for us, we deserved it. The carnival was a great opportunity and a big loud city surely has something that will "take our minds off our problems" but yet again we had to be the problem solver of every pupil. When are the characters going to have time for themselves, to reflect on the decisions they have made, on the stuff that happened? We just move on with our days. Where's the fun in that? Everyone became so ... serious. As realistic as this can be so are the consecutive feelings that come with it, in other words feels a bit like work. I have to go there I have to do that. When does the time come for a proper rest?

I may be whining at that point but the party at the end of Act 1 was such a good conclusion for the act that I saved and did all of the options, it felt like a real ice breaker like I got to know more about the characters. I want more of that. And at the end of Act 2 beginning of Act 3 it just felt like my DM wanted me to suffer. Kind of reminds me of Pathologic with the intent for immersive suffering, but I am not sure if that was the intent here.
This joy I had not felt since the first time I played Skyrim years ago even stronger than before was gone just like that, tho that might be a personal problem, I feel like I may not be the only one feeling this way.

I don't have to mention more about the rest of Act 3 as this thread does it better than I could ever.

This game raised our expectations high, showed us what it could be, how it can revolutionize gaming, and then, rushed to wrap it up. Whatever their reasons are though, I don't blame them. Larian Studios have made a game that requires so many sacrifices few are willing to make for which they are not at fault that they couldn't perfect.

EDIT: I may copy that and open a new thread for discussion

Yeah, but so far I found nothing in the game that would come close to the goblin camp - it is a vertical slice of the whole game taking advantage of every major system Larian build for the game. I also found it to be best quest in the game, with flexible objective that we can complete in whatever way feels narratively fit for our character, using our toolkit, while providing a satisfying narrative. That is a high standard that the game has been unable to replicate.

Personally, I have been enjoying act3 a lot, but it is very janky. Still, it has a scope and ambition that I find welcome, after act2 which I found rather dull.

No one said Larian shouldn't homebrew, so I'm not sure why you're saying this. In fact I even said I think some of their homebrew is good (weapon actions, some of the nerfs to some CC spells though I think they went TOO far with some of them, etc.) Even the shove shenanigans are mostly fun (though, you know, it does turn shove into a save-or-die spell whenever you're around chasms.)

What ISN'T fun, what feels absurd, is how OP the items for martials can get and how many CC spells are outright *bugged to make them weaker than they should be even within Larian's homebrew*. Some of these are outright inexcusable honestly. Not to say that casters don't get some absurd items too; but they're basically absurd items that make magic missiles into something with humongous damage output for some reason. Between the nerfs to CC and outright BUGS to CC and the blatant, overpowered per-missile buffs to MM it really feels like Larian is pushing casters into a really boring, damage-spamming build, something their martials can do for free (without burning spell slots) because of the crazy items they get access to.

I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just saying that even if 5e was to blame for the state of class balance, that's no excuse for letting that balance go live into a single player PC game. I do agree with you that the CC spells are nerfed. I'll do you one better, I got downvoted to oblivion on the BG3 reddit for suggesting even lv6 spells are vastly underbudget for a single lv6 spell slot, which warlocks don't even get, only for martials to put out similar damage without being tied to a single resource use per long rest ability, and the fact that spells have such a heavy cost but have similar chance of failure to land as melee abilities that don't cost any resources.

CC spells that don't land should refund the spell slot, as they already ate the action for that turn. Many CC spells, especially CC spells that are not hard stuns like Entangling Vines or Spike Growth , Fog, Darkness etc. SHOULD NOT BE CONCENTRATION SPELLS AT ALL. Dancing Lights should not be a concentration spell. Other casters besides wizard/sorc need ways to remove friendly fire off spells, or spells that have forced friendly fire should have significantly more potential for output than a spell that has no friendly fire component.

It also feels like some spells like call lightning and witch bolt even when upcasted do very poor follow up recast damage despite the initial upcasted cast damage.