Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Feedback after 8 hours

First of all - the forums have a huge security viability. NEVER EVER send a plaintext password which I used for registering in the verify email. It's 2020 and you're making mistakes from 2000.

Now onto the game itself:
Quick details on system: Geforce 1050, Steam, Windows 10, at first used Vulkan, but after it crashed in Druid's Grove, switched to DX11 (performance also slightly improved)
Also, I will post actual bugs on a separate thread in bug subforum.

* Character Creation
- There's a lack of darker shades for hair colors, notably red/crimson. All the reds are either too light or too bright, and the only darker option (Black Red) is pretty much black - only in most generous lighting can you see a hint of red.
- Minor nitpick, but I wish that when I was looking at fullbody/upper part, I was looking from eye level instead of below it. It's hard to see face details when not zoomed fully in.
- Transition from your character to "whom you dream of" is very abrupt. First 15 seconds I sat confused at what just happened. There should either be some transition, or some more prominent blurp of text explaining what to do next.

* Combat
- If I had multiple people acting on same initiative step, clicking "End Turn" would sometimes result in it just switching control to another character without doing so - yet I couldn't understand what was the trigger for that. Sometimes it would switch to a character who had done action and moved already, and once I clicked End Turn not noticing that I had another character who didn't act at all and it Ended Turn without doing this switch.
- If you're outside of movement range for melee attack, clicking on enemy does nothing. It would be nice if instead the character moved as close as possible to target if I do so
- Disengage as Bonus Action makes Opportunity Attacks a thing which simply doesn't exist. The only two ways you as a player can get OA'd is either forgetting to click Jump button, or misclicking. Not to mention that it encroaches on Rogue's Cunning Action (which now is pretty much a Dash Button) and Monk's (if you ever add that) Step of the Wind.
- Speaking of Cunning Action, Dodge isn't implemented either. It's a great defensive action available to everyone, and it's extra good on Rogues thanks to Cunning Action.
- Off-hand attacks don't add Str/Dex to hit roll. By 5e rules, they should only not add it to damage - the 'to hit' roll should be unaltered compared to main hand attack.
- Trying to cast a spell by clicking on portrait returns "Invalid Target" (tried with Lesser Restoration on every party member)

* Class-specifics
- Sneak Attack could be a modal ability. Most rogues have one attack (two if dual wielding), so they will almost always attack one enemy per turn. Why should I click each time I want to perform sneak attack, instead of attacking and letting game figure out if I am eligible for it? Not to mention - by 5e rules, you can sneak attack in opportunity attacks, which the game doesn't support now, because the ability isn't a modal.
- I understand that Great Old One's 1st level ability doesn't translate to a video game well, but maybe it could have given some other minor ability instead of nothing?
- Thief Subclass change to gain a second bonus action is a very surprising buff to rogue's combat capability, as you can use it for offhand attacks. Was that really the intention?

* General game things
- Game absolutely never pauses, not when menuing, not even if I am single player, not even if I click Esc, and sometimes you can't even enter turn-based mode because "there is combat nearby". If I ever need to take a break (phone call, toilet, w/e), I better damn hope I am in a calm spot.
- Quitting the game warned me about "Cross Save in progress, do you really want to close?", but I don't see any indication when is it happening. How am I to know when is it safe to click Yes?
- Quitting the game immediately closes LariLauncher. I don't think that's great thing, when you have "Submit Feedback" as one of functions there.
- A party of four is fairly limiting number, considering there's 5 origins, and you yourself might be a custom origin character (not to mention any other companions if you add them). An increase to 5 would feel really nice.
- Rolls displaying is very inconsistent. You have the huge rolls during dialogues, with all the detail. Then you have passive rolls in dialogues, like Knowledges or Perception, and you are kept fully blind on them. Then in Combat Log, they are sometimes way over the top - like Sneak Attack's long ass formula to decide dice amount, or Dueling bonus called "Character Weapon Damage Boost". Yet you cannot see those rolls without hovering over at all. What about if every single roll displayed the final number clearly, but then if you wanted nitty gritty details, then you hover over and see the rest?
- It's completely unclear when you have Illithid power to exert in dialogue, and when you don't. Some sort of visual indicator would help out.

* Exploration
- Left Alt doesn't highlight a lot of things, including some containers, like Wooden Barrels. It would be great if there were two buttons to highlight - one would function like Left Alt, and other would highlight everything interactable.
- Talking to people, who only say a line or two and I cannot say anything back to them, is slooooooooooooooooooooooow. Why bother with two transitions to only give me a single filler line? Can't they simply speak their line without zooming onto their model in high detail, like every other RPG does? I don't want to waste 20 seconds per such line.

* Toolbar
- If you change spells anyhow (level up, or just memorizing new options), every single one of them returns back to toolbar. I would like to never see some of them (like True Strike or Resistance, lol), but each time I change something, they worm their way back, cluttering the toolbar

Overall opinion:
It's promising, however, one thing is clear - this is not Baldur's Gate 3. Nor is it Divinity: Original Sin 3, as some people like to troll. It's something new, and I wish this didn't try to ride the hype train of calling itself what it isn't. But at least it is a good game, past all the issues. After EA ends and it releases out proper, I've no doubt this will be a great game and I will play it - but I am certain there's not a speck of nostalgia in this and for this I am sad.

Pretty spot on on everything, I guess it's becoming clear changes in gameplay such as disengage as a bonus action to everyone has been really breaking the game flow so far in combat.

I also agree that it doesn't have the feeling of the old Baldurs' Gate games, and it doesn't come from the combat being turn based at all. To me, it comes from (as I've stated in other posts) the lack of class and character flavor mostly. As for the writing itself, I feel it is a bit too early to judge it but I'm not sold on the companions at all (it doesn't help that they're not friendly at all) and I feel more classic fantasy tropes would have been better to start with and to expand upon first.

Plus the reaction system and in general the ruleset need a overhaul as somehow all intellect devourers are "level" (rather than HD) 1 and yet somehow that level 1 is stupidly powerful.

I hope the writing isn't fully implemented yet - in the encounter with the wounded mind flayer they stayed there, like statues - in DA, they interjected a lot, perhaps even too often.

Yes, "Level" doesn't really make sense, technically, but I think playtesters wanted the 'Level' indicator there as a way to see at a glance how strong the enemy was to help them decide if they want to engage them in combat. Enemies can have various dangerous abilities (especially the higher you go in level) which can make them more threatening than their HP could indicate, and that isn't always going to be obvious.

Lots of good input!

* Combat
- If I had multiple people acting on same initiative step, clicking "End Turn" would sometimes result in it just switching control to another character without doing so - yet I couldn't understand what was the trigger for that. Sometimes it would switch to a character who had done action and moved already, and once I clicked End Turn not noticing that I had another character who didn't act at all and it Ended Turn without doing this switch.

I had this issue as well, there were times where one character simply seemed to skip their turn when in effect they were simultaneous with someone else. Perhaps if you have a simultaneous Initiative put some kind of indicator that you do not hit end turn but switch to next character? I would have thought that if the game focused on character A, once i did their actions then I would end that characters turn and jump to next character, but it actually skips the next one. I will have to watch closer for this in the future.

I quite agree. The game in itself seems to live up to its promises and I really like what I've seen so far. However, a recognizable tune here and there (does anyone remember that sound when a weapon was identified in BG2?) or a (more elegant and somewhat smoother) user interface that graphically reminds you at least a bit of BG2 (i did like the "rest" icon :-)) would really tickle that nostalgia nerve of those like me who have waited for this for roughly 20 years.

I appreciated the spell icons!