Bravo! I just finished a 23ish hour playthrough completing every storyline I could figure out and what is there is a strong opening act and a GREAT first pass at an implementation of 5e rules. The characters are intriguing, the questing is strong and varied, the combat is fun and overall it just feels good. Below are my thoughts in no particular order about a variety of subjects including the storylines that I completed (so there will be SPOILERS):
1). The story structure. It's very similar to DOS2's opening act: there's a shipwreck, there's a group of survivors from the ship who come together because each is special and connected to the rest. And, of course, there is a shared goal of getting rid of/learning something about what has happened to each party member/possible protagonist (the Source and Godhood in DOS2/Tadpoles here). I think for DOS2 vets its going to feel there are a lot of familiar story beats, I certainly did, but for people who have never played DOS2, it's will work fine as it is a good structure.
2). The story beats that worked best:
a). The Druid Grove. This felt like D&D. There were strong interweaving quests: what to do with the Tieflings, what to do about finding Halesin, the wonderful twist with the healer and her "cure", the checks to decide whether you can save the child, the general politics around the Druids and what they were doing. It was well written and rewarding from the moment you stepped foot into the Grove and met Wyll to the resolution of the whole quest line which for me included a Rare magic weapon for beneath the wolf statue and a party at my camp with the Tieflings (a small bit about this later).
b). The Auntie questline. A really strong standalone storyline that I played through both ways I could think of and was just awesome both times.
c). The Goblin Camp. There was a ton going on here lot here and the writing was strong throughout. I will say this is where the game is closest in tone to DOS2 and the campiness is at times a bit overkill for the way I think about D&D. Still, it overall was very cool storytelling (especially the High Priestess resolutions).
3). The story beats that fell flat for me:
a). The party with the Tieflings and having a romantic encounter with one of your party members felt rushed/strange.I think Gale even says like "it's only been a few days" which is totally true to real life (people totally sleep together when they barely know each other) but it just didn't quiet click for me. I went to bed with Astarion but basically each party member mentioned that they were down or I could proposition them. It ended up feeling forced.
b). The Absolute. I don't know if I missed a key bit of exposition somewhere but "The Absolute" just sort of started being what everyone was talking about starting with the Goblin Camp and I never felt like I got an explanation of what it/she is and how it intersects with the Mindslaver Tadpole storyline that provides a lot of the narrative momentum. I just don't know what I missed because it made very little sense to me. To be clear, I talked to everyone in the Goblin Camp and everywhere else I could find. I got branded with the Absolute's brand. I used it to convince the Druegar that I was on their side so I could cross the Ebonlake. So I read a TON about the Absolute but I just didn't understand the vast majority of it or what a True Soul is...
4). The storylines that didn't wrap up or I couldn't figure out:
a). Grand duke. I couldn't find him anywhere after finding the Councilor in the burning Inn.
b). The Mastercraft Weapon. Couldn't figure this out after finding the bark.
c). The Githyanki Creche. Did I miss it? I ended up having to fight the Gith that were at the market on the west side of the Map but there wasn't a Creche anywhere.
d). The Tower in the Underdark. I got the Tower fixed and went to the roof and met that awesome clockwork man at the top (and used the line of the play I found so we could hug) and I found the mushrooms for the potion but that was all. It was really cool but felt a little strange not having a quest finish or something there.
e). The Nightsong. I feel like I missed it somewhere because my quest log says its in the Underdark and I explored 100% of that place (I think) so maybe it's across the Ebonlake.
f). Volo stabs out your eye then runs away....lol wtf.
5). Best places to Explore:
a). Goblin Camp. Just awesome with tons of different ways to solve the various questlines including just killing all the Gobbos with a giant bear.
b). The Underdark. Oh my. The beholder with the petrified Drow (BTW, I used "knock out" on that Drow in case I could talk to her after since even though I killed the beholder first she was still aggro even with it dead). The random jumping puzzle up to Aunties house. The Fungus city. The Bulette. The Random guy and his Hook Horrors. Man it was cool down there.
6). Gamplay & Combat. Overall, the gameplay felt great and I can see from the rest of the forum lots of people echoing some things that felt off to me too. Cantrip power is a bit all over the place and I'm not sure you need to do all the elemental ground stuff that DOS2 did. Jumping is a free way to get into and out of combat range with no issues (especially for fighters/high STR characters). The ability/skill checks would feel better if they were additive and not subtractive (hitting a 22 DC will FEEL much better than hitting a 6 even if there are the same numerically). The 4 player team would be better as 5 or 6 for variety of skills that you can bring but I also understand that it would stress encounter design a lot. Also without seeing these characters at level 5 it's hard to fully weigh in on the combat system since so much of any characters power comes at 5th level (3rd level spells, 2nd attack, etc). As it stands you basically need to bring: 1 lockpicker, 1 tank, 1 spell caster, 1 other DPS. So I made a Warlock. They were fine. They filled a ranged DPS/Charisma face role. But that did mean that I basically always had to have Astarion to pick locks and Lae'zal to stand in front and I could swap between Shadowheart, Gale and Wyll in the last spot. If you let it be 5 people being able to bring Shadowheart + Gale/Wyll would be a huge upgrade. Also....I want Halesin as a permanent party member. He was great. Lastly, I think you need to slightly rethink the RP/Social element a bit. Talking your way out of things should be really rewarding as it so often is in actual D&D. Not just EXP but truly strong alternate endings, etc are a great way to ensure people don't just min-max towards combat which I think at least in Act 1 you are pretty incentivized to do.
Oh and one button jumping with whole party please!
Overall, this is a great start! I'm excited to see if I can do a bunch of things differently the next time I play through it as a Ranger (since right now that's the only class not covered by the companions). To me, the most exciting part about playing this is thinking about the implementation of Baldur's Gate itself! This foundation with a giant, dangerous urban setting seems like a great Act 3 to this game.
Thanks for reading!
