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journeyman
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OP
journeyman
Joined: Jun 2022
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So I have really enjoyed Acts I & II but now that I'm into Act III I'm finding myself much less interested as the story has gotten... well, bloated and unfocused on the PCs I use. It's not confusing (I understand what's going on) but confused in it's telling because the game doesn't seem to pay attention to which characters you've chosen to use and rather just looks at which characters you have in camp. It's hard to describe exactly what's lacking but I think it comes down to too much integration of all of the NPC storylines or not enough in the first two Acts but integral in the third. Some of this is due to the first two acts just being more polished and smaller in scope so the storyline remains more cohesive and focused on fewer NPC party members so I found myself playing more "naturally" and not concerned if I was missing something because I was not using a particular NPC Party member. In Act III however, I find myself being distracted by what feels like too many main quests that seem to be tied to characters I haven't been using and having to kinda metagame so I don't either miss something because it's not clear if I can ignore it and save it for another playthrough using that Party NPC.
I dunno, I think the problem is that it's not clear if choosing not to invite a NPC to the party is going to cause problems in the future of the game so one naturally chooses to let everyone you meet sit in camp. What should have been done is to clearly let the player know is that each character has their own subplot that will add to the game but none of them are integral so you know it's okay to not have someone in camp in any single playthrough but as an enticement to choose them for another playthrough. Maybe...
Last edited by FuriousGreg; 03/09/23 09:56 PM.
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Sep 2023
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Agree. I stopped playing in Act III because it felt like a confusing, unstructured, overwhelming mess. The experience of wandering around the cacophony of the Lower City, excessively dense with quests, trying to work out which companion to have with me, is just stressful and anxiety-inducing.
Last edited by Ciderglove; 03/09/23 11:38 PM.
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Sep 2023
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To me, it's evident that Baldur's Gate 3 is not fully polished, especially when it comes to Act 3. This segment feels less refined and gives the impression that it was expedited towards completion. I'm hopeful that a definitive edition will be released that addresses these concerns in Act 3. Yet, even with potential improvements and added content, there's the inherent issue of players reaching level 12 before delving deep into most of Act 3's quests. In my subsequent playthrough, I utilized the "multiclass to level 20" and "party limit begone" mods. These not only provided a heightened sense of progression but also eliminated the need to continuously swap party members, which is particularly useful since many Act 3 quests are closely intertwined with companion narratives. On a lighter note, I found it amusing to embark on a GTA-style spree, battling endless city guards. Ultimately, I'm optimistic about the game receiving the necessary endgame enhancements in the future
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Jhe'stil Kith'rak
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Jhe'stil Kith'rak
Joined: Oct 2021
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I like how Act 3 feels like a real town and there’s so much to do in the space, with character moments everywhere. I just don’t like how incomplete it feels— some quests end abruptly, some moments are squandered if you don’t have the right party, some characters wrap up in unsatisfying ways (both from earlier acts and from BG2 but that’s a separate issue), some decisions aren’t acknowledged, bugs cut necessary material, and it can be confusing to navigate the quests sometimes.
On the other hand, Act 3 doesn’t have the theme park effect, and I quite like not knowing where to go sometimes. It gives ambience. I just wish my party had more to say during those moments where I’m wandering the same streets aimlessly.
I like Act 3 more than Act 2 overall, and I like how Act 3 is so different from the first half of the game, but I think it needs some polish and tying up of loose ends, particularly for recurring NPCs, companions, quests, and prior decisions.
Remember the human (This is a forum for a video game):
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Oct 2020
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I do enjoy many of the sidequests, and also a bit of freedom. Act two, whilst more polished, is also rather short and railroaded towards just one quest and then the finale. Going into Act 3 there's a *lot* going on all of a sudden, when most characters reach their finale, which for some ties into the main plot. Then there is the new companions who all want something, and these things tend to start off all in the same area, which is awkward, going to camp, switching out characters and going back into that shop, etc. I like the city part. Going to the circus, exploring the shops and pubs and talking to animals - the city is well done. But then, the ultimate endgame, I do not care for at all. The villains aren't fleshed out and overthrown in just a battle sequence, the actual end boss is just that, no personal stakes or anything, jsut a monster to kill and an easy one at that, and then a character you spent all game with is revealed to be.... Someone that should not be in the game, let alone with the weird motivations that sprawl all over the place. Ugh... That quest. I will never do that again, it was so dumb.
Hey, so I read a book and it kind of says there's a dragon. You should ask that dragon to help us. Because my son should've been a Paladin, but he's he's incapable of making good decisions, so he's a dumbass Warlock on rented power, but a tried and true paladin quest involving dungeons and dragons would normally really suit him, regardless.
Okay.
Dumb revelations about said dungeon, dragon and his old friend and fairly decent battle later...
Hey, did you get the dragon?
No. No, it was already dead. But we talked to someone weird and then it was not dead, and in fact, kind of angry at our frenemy-that-assumes-tentacled-benefits, but then we killed it. It's dead now. Again.
Who did you talk to?
Not relevant in the slightest, and frankly, you don't want to know. Especially since.. No, I don't want to talk about it. It's too dumb to ever mention again, so it will in fact never be mentioned again.
Oh, that's okay. If you defeated the dragon that turned out dead, then you are better than the dragon so we never needed the dragon in the first place.
Yeah, that;s what I thought too, but we went, anyway. I found a sword that's too big for Minsc to plausibly hold, even. It's good for killing dragons. But, we just did that without it, no problem. Maybe we'll find a Red One like we were alluded to in the first Act that will prove more of a challenge later.
This should have been cut content. Or rahter, just the enemy to kill with no dialogue or something. Just not this.
Last edited by rodeolifant; 04/09/23 01:40 AM.
Fear my wrath, for it is great indeed.
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2023
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I do enjoy many of the sidequests, and also a bit of freedom. Act two, whilst more polished, is also rather short and railroaded towards just one quest and then the finale. Going into Act 3 there's a *lot* going on all of a sudden, when most characters reach their finale, which for some ties into the main plot. Then there is the new companions who all want something, and these things tend to start off all in the same area, which is awkward, going to camp, switching out characters and going back into that shop, etc. I like the city part. Going to the circus, exploring the shops and pubs and talking to animals - the city is well done. But then, the ultimate endgame, I do not care for at all. The villains aren't fleshed out and overthrown in just a battle sequence, the actual end boss is just that, no personal stakes or anything, jsut a monster to kill and an easy one at that, and then a character you spent all game with is revealed to be.... Someone that should not be in the game, let alone with the weird motivations that sprawl all over the place. Ugh... That quest. I will never do that again, it was so dumb.
Hey, so I read a book and it kind of says there's a dragon. You should ask that dragon to help us. Because my son should've been a Paladin, but he's he's incapable of making good decisions, so he's a dumbass Warlock on rented power, but a tried and true paladin quest involving dungeons and dragons would normally really suit him, regardless.
Okay.
Dumb revelations about said dungeon, dragon and his old friend and fairly decent battle later...
Hey, did you get the dragon?
No. No, it was already dead. But we talked to someone weird and then it was not dead, and in fact, kind of angry at our frenemy-that-assumes-tentacled-benefits, but then we killed it. It's dead now. Again.
Who did you talk to?
Not relevant in the slightest, and frankly, you don't want to know. Especially since.. No, I don't want to talk about it. It's too dumb to ever mention again, so it will in fact never be mentioned again.
Oh, that's okay. If you defeated the dragon that turned out dead, then you are better than the dragon so we never needed the dragon in the first place.
Yeah, that;s what I thought too, but we went, anyway. I found a sword that's too big for Minsc to plausibly hold, even. It's good for killing dragons. But, we just did that without it, no problem. Maybe we'll find a Red One like we were alluded to in the first Act that will prove more of a challenge later.
This should have been cut content. Or rahter, just the enemy to kill with no dialogue or something. Just not this. Agreed it also makes no sense because in DnD lore aren't mind flairs the little tadpole and they eat the brain of the host? [spoiler][/spoiler] Doesn't that mean that the real Baldurian is dead? And that "The Emperor" is just the little tadpole that ate his brain and took over his body?
Last edited by Heisdarkness; 04/09/23 02:17 AM.
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Oct 2020
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I hadn´t even considered that, Mind Flayers rarely come up in our tabletop campaigns. We´ve seen them, but not in a sense that we got into into the science of their reproduction. Regardless. It´s mostly just about the timeline and his motivations. The Emperor´s Alter Ego did his crowning achievement well over a thousand years ago. How the hell is he suddenly around as a Flayer, discussing his past-few-years-or-so as his important personal history in a way to win you over? He doesn't think it'd be better to lead with who he *actually* is?
Because the history he shows you is really recent, I mean, at least when Stelmane was an adult, and secret doors in pubs don't last for a thousand years before getting walled over. The Rock's Wyrm wasn;t even decomposed when we found him, he'd been dead for not that long, either.
I mean, if he truly is Balduran, he'd have motivations to save the city - one of the 'reasons' to be doing what you're doing, for say Wyll, it;s the only one. But he doesn't give two shits about that.
He wants his freedom, as he's a seasoned adventurer/sailor.... But he also loves being a Mindflayer and can't wait to tell you how awesome that is, and also he joins the Absolute faster than you can kiss a duck once you decide Freedom is a good thing. At the same time, he willy nilly mind controls his 'friends' and Orpheus and promises to do the same thing to you, but then forgets about that entirely. Well. The dream in which that happens, we should all forget.
He's just all over the place. He's the seductive Daisy from before, he's Balduran, he's your loyal guardian, he's an evil mind controlling Illithid, he's advertisement for Illithig Powers, he's the Absolute's henchman.
And switches between those roles every time you converse with him, completely disregarding what was said before. That goes for this instance, too. It never comes up again that he's actually Balduran [Praise Helm]
Now, just the Emperor's journey alone is terrible, but now you're messing up an otherwise legendary character, too; and now I have to wrap my head around what Balduran's been up to these past thousand years. All the while the Emperor is with you the *entire* game, from your first dreams in camp, to the very final battle; whereas Gortash - who would actually be interesting to learn about - has two scenes. Orin has a few more with her shenanigans, but has nothing other than 'evil murderer that changes shape'
I would have been completely fine if the Astral Prism just had Orpheus in it, and the Emperor wasn't there. No dreams, no talking to him. We carry the thing, Oprheus helps us, we find that out in the same spot, but ultimately we can free him, and hope he will still protect us.
Fear my wrath, for it is great indeed.
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Sep 2023
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Is it possible that The Emperor was initially intended to be the mindflayer we encounter on the beach at the outset? The mindflayer in the intro, who implants the tadpole, certainly wears attire reminiscent of the Emperor's. Could there have been a branching narrative where players had the choice to spare him, leading to his recruitment as a (camp) follower or a later encounter? While it seems they might have fused The Emperor and Daisy's roles as the game progressed, it doesn't quite reconcile the timeline inconsistencies. The more you think about it, the less it makes sense.
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Oct 2020
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I suspect there may have always been an Emperor, but him being the actual ruler of what's remained of the Illithid Empire, which is on its last legs. So now you get a dynamic of the Emperor setting you up to go against the Gith, Daisy being the tadpole trying to win you over to become Illithid, the Gith being your primary ally against them, but Orpheus turning out to be your Guardian in the Prism - and that setting you up against Vlaakith [or the other way around]
That makes perfect sense for a primary plot.
Last edited by rodeolifant; 04/09/23 03:54 PM.
Fear my wrath, for it is great indeed.
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Sep 2023
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That does make a lot of sense. I don't know why they made him Balduran on top of merging him with Daisy. The character is really is all over the place.
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addict
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addict
Joined: Oct 2020
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I suspect there may have always been an Emperor, but him being the actual ruler of what's remained of the Illithid Empire, which is on its last legs. So now you get a dynamic of the Emperor setting you up to go against the Gith, Daisy being the tadpole trying to win you over to become Illithid, the Gith being your primary ally against them, but Orpheus turning out to be your Guardian in the Prism - and that setting you up against Vlaakith [or the other way around]
That makes perfect sense for a primary plot. That would have been a great plot. Instead we got a jumbled mess...
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2009
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I suspect there may have always been an Emperor, but him being the actual ruler of what's remained of the Illithid Empire, which is on its last legs. So now you get a dynamic of the Emperor setting you up to go against the Gith, Daisy being the tadpole trying to win you over to become Illithid, the Gith being your primary ally against them, but Orpheus turning out to be your Guardian in the Prism - and that setting you up against Vlaakith [or the other way around]
That makes perfect sense for a primary plot. There is no emperor or guardian in the artbook, but there is Orpheus and Daisy. Looks like last minute dumbing down from Larian to remove consequences from the game.
Last edited by Ixal; 04/09/23 05:09 PM.
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