Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Mega-threads and Guides Early Access gameplay feedback compendium

Moving into the game pretty slowly so im not terribly far in but i did want to chime in with a few things.

- Why is lighting a torch such a granular process? Do my characters really have no way to just light a torch? i really have to find another source of fire and use the dip command?
- If you jump somewhere please have companions that CAN make the jump do so
- Cantrips are doing a lot of damage early on because they are also doing environment damage. Fire Bolt specifically says "A flammable object hit by this spell ignites if it isn't being worn or carried." We shouldnt be taking double hits from these.
- The UI for characters / inventory feels redundant. Theres 3? screens for it? Charcter, inventory, equipment. I feel like this could be consolidated.
- Spell Duration needs to be in the tooltip. For instance there is no way to know how long Mage Armor will last until you cast it and look at the BUFF tooltip after the fact

Enjoying it a lot. Cant wait for just...more.

My first suggestion is this: make magic feel special by reserving special effects for magic, reduce the importance of surface effects, get rid of the 'dipping weapons in surface option' and most importantly make magic items (including spell scrolls) rare. I really didn't like the banality of magic items in DOS2.

My 30-hours of playtime critiques:

1) Perks / abilities / passives / etc DO NOT appear in the character sheet. For example, at level 2 for warlock I chose "Agonizing Blast" and "Devil's Sight" as additional passives. However, NOWHERE in the character sheet (or entire game) does it display that I now have these for my warlock. I would only know I have them because I remember picking them. It is a serious oversight to not have ALL of the character progressions and advancements display in the character sheet.

2) Unclear status effects on spells, lack of a compendium. Many spells that cause status effects are unclear in what they actually do. For example, "Blind." The tooltip on this spell states it causes "Blindness" that can be shaken off with a saving throw, but it does not state what the actual effects of Blindness are. Does Blindness mean that attacks can't be made? Or does it mean they just have less of a chance to hit? The tooltip on the spell is incomplete in this sense, and the lack of a compendium means that I cannot look it up anywhere in the game. Another example is "Silence," which creates a sphere in which all creatures are "Silenced." What does Silenced mean? Does it mean they are literally silent, or does it mean they cannot cast abilities? Again, the spell tooltip is unclear. This is true for MANY spells. Either expand the tooltips, or create a compendium where the player can read about status effects and what they do.

3) Hidden details on spells / abilities that are not listed in the tooltip. One example here being "Hex." If the concentration of Hex is ever broken, Hex can be recast on another target without the use of a spell slot. This is not mentioned on the tooltip. Another example is "Shatter," which is an AoE spell, but nowhere on the tooltip is it actually listed as AoE. It makes me wonder how many other spells have hidden effects that I am unaware of.

4) Inconsistent rules. The example here being if I cast "Darkness," why is it that my warlock with Devil's Sight cannot see or attack in the zone of Darkness? If the rules are supposed to follow D&D, then my warlock SHOULD BE ABLE to see and attack in the Darkness spell effect. In this game, that is not the case, and it is unclear why. Furthermore, how does this make "Darkness" any different from "Fog?" Perhaps this is a simple oversight in game design and programming.

5) Lack of a rulebook. If the entire game is based on the rules of D&D and even plays exactly like D&D with dice rolls, why not include an in-game rulebook? It's easy enough to google all sorts of rules, but at least including the basics would make sense. This of course would simply be a quality of life change, and an optional compendium that exists for players that want it.

Perception checks need to be more noticable. often times I succeed on a check, but I cannot see on what.

More body types. Maybe I want to play as a wizard with a little beer belly, or a lanky dwarf.

Currently no d20 roll on lockpicking, instead a bar like in DOS2. Would like to see how difficult the lock is to pick. However, on disarming traps there is a d20 roll.

I should not be able to lockpick some rocks that block the entrnce to a cave. Rather, make it a Strength check to see if I can move the rocks out of the way (specifically the rocks in front of the dragon's lair in the druid grove)

Jump definitely needs a keybind, i use it more than stealth

Funny enough they messed up silence in general, with plenty of creatures still capable of vocal things in the silence bubble

The rogue misses everything that makes this class my favorite in D&D. Sneak attack also when I have advantage, not just when I am sneaking. Sneak attack damage increase at higher levels. Dodge action. Bonus action disengage, while other characters should have to use an action for disengage. EXPERTISE.

In particular, whats up with the arcane tickster? They are all about that mage hand, yet they dont get it by default, but can choose to pick it or any other cantrip from their list. Also, only the arcane trickster should have an invisible mage hand. If my wizard casts mage hand, it should be visible.

Wizard of abjuration school only have a weak and useless arcane ward with 3 hp at level 4 with 18 int, it should be wizard level * 2 + int modifier which is 12 hp. Also arcane ward does not work like a temp hp and should not be overrided by effects that gives temp hps. Besides, arcane ward should be rechargable, so the buff should not disappear if it breaks, instead, casting any abjuration spell with more than lv.1 should recharge 2 * spell level hp to it. Also lack of reaction spells like shield and ritual casting with alarm makes abjuration wizard weak.

Please give us the option to make our own notes to quests in the journal. The information provided in the journal is often very limited and sometimes I just forget about things that, at first, seem minor, but are actually important.

-a UI specifically for spell casting is sorely needed, where I can easily view all currently memorized spells and cast them from that UI. Could even add casting functionality to the current spellbook menu

Making them full attacks that don't cost a bonus action would tip gameplay towards dual-wielding as it's always better to reduce your opponent's action economy, and some classes have features that require bonus actions; that forces players to consider whether or not dual-wielding is worth it.

Definitely fog of war is needed. Seeing all breaks the mystery for me (that was the case in DOS 2). Would love to see the unseen world blurred/greyed or just plain dark.

Remove fast traveling from any point. Tie it with travel points on map spread around the world in "safe" spots. Also, connect these "safe" spots with long rests, so that only in certain places you can "freshen" up. I want to travel, I want to move, I want to take my time and walk to certain places, without instant transmision. Oh, and maybe add a chance for a random encounter if we happen to revisit already seen places?

to be fair, that is exactly how arcane trickster is in the phb. you don't get mage hand as extra cantrip, you have to use one of you cantrip choices for mage hand.

wrong.

In PNP, they get mage hand plus 2 more cantrips. says so in the PHB, top of page 98

i just looked it up and i stand corrected.
i have no idea, where i got that idea from...

Map reveal improvements?

As the map reveals itself, the water bodies still remain covered (see spoiler image) since technically characters can't go there. But I think it would be better if they would reveal those parts when you get close to them as it can look like areas that remained unexplored and can be confusing.

Suggestions:

*Being able to click on a map/mini map to have the selected character move on it

*being able to rotate characters in character sheet view

*action and movement should be connected more fluidly, for example, once you reach the end of your movement, if you click to move again you should automatically spend your action to dash, not have to click the dash action, click to confirm it and then click again to move the 2nd time

Feedback:

- Disarming and unlocking chests should be worth it since they cost lockpicks / tools. A trapped and locked chest should not contain just an agate or 10 gold. (I'm looking at you Zentharim hideout), especially not after sneaking past several aggro npc's. Risk / reward kind of thing.

- Dialogue results should not only be a free pass or combat. Maybe the npc will turn you away and not talk to you anymore or extort you for money, something other than combat yes/no.

- Less combat please, some of us enjoy the story and the companions more than a full blown turn based slog fest chained back to back. Or give options to circumvent combat with dialogue or stealth more often. I do love me some nice stealth maps with traps, buttons and secret doors instead of obligatory fights around every corner.

- Remove vendor trash. Especially vendor trash that is unclear to be vendor trash like ropes.

- Baldur's Gate 1/2 didn't have many containers, and those that were there had something useful in them. If you want to decorate the place use containers that aren't interactable please.

- Please don't dump potions / actions / scrolls / spells etc in the same toolbar.

- Food should be useable directly from the inventory instead of having to drag it to a slot in the toolbar first.

- Sort inventory button, get rid of the empty slots in inventory when clicking it and order items by type in the 'all' tab.

- Please get rid of the blood on the bedroll in camp after the biting incident. It's kind of gross having to sleep in blood every night.

- Why is my female char putting her hands on her hips in cutscenes in such a masculine way? I'm getting Dragon Age: Inquisition gorilla vibes here

Or just don't have them be expended, I don't recall ever having purchased a set of thieves tools in a tabletop game when it wasn't at character creation.

Feedback:

-expand the party to 6 or 5 if you can't with 6.

-the longsword is too big.

-don't stop at lvl 14 or 12 for the game, expand to 20 please, you said you are going to give us multiclass, but lvl 14 for multiclass is a bit disappointing.

- More subclasses, the ranger have only two subclasses, i hope there is going to be more (gloom stalker, horizonwalker etc...). i know it is still Ea and some subclasses will not be implemented for obvious reasons (like the cavalier, gunslinger or samurai)

-we needs more origins for our characters (faceless, faction agent, far traveler, folk hero, inheritor, outlander, Pirate etc...) those i quoted are coherant with the game.

-Includes the psi classes , we have a tadpole who have psi powers, it is an opportunity to add them into the game.