Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General My Feedback for the EA

Currently waiting for D2 Servers to come back up and saw this thread:
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=791143#Post791143
“If the Steam chart is anything to judge by, there really isn't a lot of people invested into testing this game. Sure we passed a million copies sold on that platform alone, but most of them didn't even finish the product, let alone went through multiple playthroughs and left a valid criticism with their review (easily checked by their hours played tooltip next to their name)”
And thought I would give my thoughts on the game to do my part and give some feedback.

I currently have 248 hours on this game and really hope a lot of that is idle time haha. So obviously up front I love this game.
I discovered this game not through Baldur’s Gate but through DOS2 which was my first introduction to Larian games so my perspective is totally unbothered by the departure from previous BG styles.
Additionally I have never played D&D and did not understand many of the games core mechanics.
As a final disclaimer, this is obviously all my opinion and as such don’t wear your keyboard out ripping apart my post. Also, go make a thread and give your feedback as well!

First, things I love:
-Classic RPG feel/classes. This was biggest reason for finding DOS2, I was looking for a game to scratch that itch and in my opinion BG3 is even better. I love the class design in BG3.

-I love the look of this game, the artists have done a fantastic job. This sentence can’t begin to do justice to the game, really great job.

-The replayability (especially with multiplayer) is great. I love that I can play every class and have fun still. I am blown away by the amount of content in EA and how much I missed the first play through. I really hope that the standard of what I’m calling “Act 1” can be upheld throughout the game.

-Say what you want about the NPCs I know a lot of people don’t like them, I like some better than others, but I thought at least the voice actors have done a great job with everyone in this game. Including non party NPCs.

-The character creation screen is great. It’ll never be enough options but I love building a new character every time!

Criticism:
-My biggest and probably most controversial piece of criticism for this game is the barrier to entry. In short, the game is too hard at first. (I’ll pause for your laughter to subside) Again, I have 248 hours played I can complete the game quickly and easily, I’m not asking for any help. Instead, please consider if your counter argument requires preexisting experience or knowledge of D&D; that is still part of the issue. Think back to your first time playing this or another Larian game, or even the first time you played D&D. Imagine no one is there to teach you because it’s just you and the computer screen. This is how the average newcomer player would experience BG3. Obviously, I was able to overcome this, but unless you have a better explanation as to why what is in my opinion, a great game has not exactly caught fire (DOS2 included!), then I’d like to hear it. Also I wanted to play this game with my real life friends not just strangers, but no one else likes it! They say it is too confusing (So far I’ve let 4 people try it). If that is not a red flag, I don’t know what to tell you.
Of course mostly this centers around combat. Again, I hear your laughter, but before you wow me with your superior strategic mind, think about what class you play the most and what actions you take in battle on your turn. I have played many many hours online in multiplayer and I can tell you that most people I’ve played with rely on high ground and on one or two actions over and over. This is not because the game is so easy, but in fact because it’s so hard. To vary from these few actions can often turn a battle into a failure. I see the advice given on these forums time and time again, think about your positioning for a fight, but I feel it’s a bit dirty sometimes to deviate from how the players might in reality approach situations. For instance

***Beware of Spoiler below***

The fight at the bridge with the Gith Patrol. If you approach and speak with them as one might have really done, you find yourself fighting on the ground up close. To reload and then try combat from up high on the bridge feels disingenuous. When was the last time playing BG3 you intentionally triggered an ambush? Or do you sneak everywhere now and get the drop on everyone in fights? Don’t lie now…
I know much of this is deeply ingrained in D&D rules and highly controversial so argue away.
Additionally, as before, so much in combat is not clear to someone who has never played D&D, reactions are a big one, how your base stats affect rolls for hitting and damage, saving throws/checks. I love these mechanics but they just are not entirely intuitive or obvious. It’s a huge challenge to the game designers to make these things clear but I think it would go a long way.

Additional Criticism:
-I’m sure it’s coming and I really should include the character creation in the plus column (Hell, I’ll put it there too), but until we have more options, I’ll put it here: please add a lot more options for customizing everything.

***Beware of Spoiler below***

-Shoving is huge battle mechanic. I love doing it to the enemy and hate when it’s done to me, nowhere is this more apparent than on the boat at the end of early access. I realize dice is a crucial mechanic to this game *and I love it* but I do not like having my combat all of a sudden hinge on a single dice roll.
Do I want shoving removed? No. What is the solution? I don’t know.

-Playing a Wizard or other spell caster in multiplayer can be a little frustrating in that you don’t want to be burden and keep requesting rests but it feels bad holding your spells and then resting without having used everything, and it also feels bad using them too soon and having to go a few more battles using cantrips. Balance is a delicate thing, but I’m always in favor of breaking balance for fun, so I would like to see spell casters be able to use their spells a little more fearlessly.

-Inventory management. Selling to a shopkeeper should be much easier.

Final Thoughts:
-I know that’s more criticism than positives, but only because I don’t know how to even express how much I love the feel/art of this game. It is a wonderful game that I wish I could open more people’s eyes to.

-For me, balance is a non-issue. If one class is “broken” and far more powerful than others, I don’t care. To me almost every non PvP centric game should learn from this (Speaking of waiting for D2 to come online…). Being able to play how you want is what matters most to me. I hope that a nerf is never handed out once this game releases and I feel sorry for the person who feels they must always play the “best” class or strategy.

-Also, I left out any and all bug related comments. I assume that the current state would be unacceptable for day 1 but these days games have definitely changed what is acceptable to be left in a game on launch day, but please don’t embarrass yourselves and be the next major game to launch with a bug riddled game. As of now I am a huge fan and would be very disappointed if things like the same old ladders not working made it into release.

Thank you for the effort so far, I cannot wait to see the rest of the game.

Thanks for sharing.

I love this game, in part because I miss playing D&D... but none of my friends would ever want to play D&D. I also love how every turn is a puzzle, the combat unfolding like a turn-based table top game where I can look at my character sheet and problems solve based on what I'm equipped with.

I've played as a good elf ranger, a bad elf ranger, a dwarf fighter, a tiefling warlock, an elf druid, an elf moon druid, a githyanki fighter, a halfling warlock, a halfling thief.

All illithid choices, some illithid choices, no illithid choices.

I played to make Laezel as angry as possible, and it made the Githyanki encounter resolve in an entirely unexpected way.

I've missed a ton of things, and found new things in just about every playthough, and wondered how I missed this or that.

I've tried to work out how every spell could be useful, even if I never ever liked playing as a spellcaster in table-top D&D. And throughout I've had tons and tons of "ohhhhhhhh, that totally makes sense now" moments about the virtues of so many (personally) unused aspects of D&D. [The new dice roll and add-a-spell bonus being a prime example.]

There are so many encounters I thought were impossible... until they weren't because I stumbled onto a better point of attack, or actually examined the opponent's weakness.

It's all so great. And I can't wait until patch 6.


Shopkeeper Spoiler

Amen. I agree with you since day 1.
Combats are poorly balanced to the point that the basic tactic is to use the most common OP mechanics over and over again.

Make shove an action rather than a ridiculous bonus action everyone can make each turns + harder chances of success + push less far away so you're not OS if you're standing 15 feets away from a cliff.

Thanks for your feedback always good to read other peoples posts.

I dont know if its hard to grasp for new players unfamiliar to DND or RPG's in general. But find they have lots of good thigns added like the 'recommended stats' function for instance. What do you feel could be improved about it? Short introduction to what each statline does maybe?