Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback [Feedback] The Good, the Bad and the Future

So, I've played this Early Access for 120 hours now. I think I've got a pretty extensive impression so far. With that, I've decided to share my thoughts on what we've seen so far. I'm also coming from 6 years of 5th Edition (as DM and player) experience, 18 years of roleplaying, and 20+ years of gaming. (Crossposted from my thread on Reddit)

The Good

• Companions. Each of the recruitables we've seen so far I find to be impressive. A lot of people are complaining about them being tropes or, my personal favorite "Why are so many special, messed up people all here at the same time???" Tropes are always valid as a base for characterization. The truth is, people are not really all that different from each other, so similarities in personality types tend to emerge. As for the second... have you seen an average DnD party? These guys fit right in, believe me.
• The visuals. Not just the scenery, which is amazing (when the camera doesn't get stuck on rocks), but also the visual and somatic representations of spells and other abilities. It's exactly how I'd imagine a Forgotten Realms magic system to look. Seeing Gale summon fire into his palm while you aim, shouting "Ignis!" as he releases the bolt, and a satisfying impact from the spell are all very well done. I've yet to find a spell that didn't impress or have a look or feel that didn't match.
• The items. I was expecting maybe some random +1's here and there. What we got was so much better. When I see an item in a game that actually inspires me to add it to my own DnD game, you can bet I'm impressed. And it starts right away with the first goblin miniboss. He drops the Absolute's Bane item. Not only does this item trigger so many questions when you acquire it, it ties directly into the events of the story. At 2nd level. Only a couple items I would consider overpowered for tier 1 characters (1st - 5th level), but since enemies tend to be a bit stronger than their tabletop counterparts, it's actually not too bad.
• The encounters. I was afraid going in that we'd be seeing your typical array of early monsters. Goblins, koblolds, random wildlife... was I ever wrong. Worgs, bugbears, and ogres are commonplace; deadly enemies to low level parties. A pack of gnolls, redcaps, wood woads, and even spectators await off the beaten path. Enemy variety is an A+. While difficult (particularly the Underdark and githyanki encounters) none of the fights felt impossible.
• The world. Many players have likely either not played DnD or have played only recent, 5th Edition. Perhaps, only ever seen a stream with a homebrew setting. Baldur's Gate takes place in the main DnD canon: The Forgotten Realms. This Early Access is loaded with established lore references. Groups like the Zhentarim, Harpers, and Emerald Enclave are present. It references events such as The Decent, The Second Sundering, and the Time of Troubles. This on top of books and journals scattered all over make lore junkies like myself very pleased. I'm by no means an expert on Forgotten Realms lore, but I got a lot of the references and am very pleased Larian is connecting this game to actual canon and not setting it in a bubble apart from other events.
• The freedom. A lot of RPGs like this tow the "your choices matter" line. For many, it matters on the surface only. The final outcome remains the same no matter what you do or what choices you make. Larian seems to want to make a game where you can achieve multiple endings. Of this, I approve greatly. DnD is the core of this game, and core to that is players having ultimate freedom of choice.

The Bad

• Action Economy. This idea is central to combat in turn-based games: how much can you accomplish with limited resources per turn? Having a ton of options opens possibilities, but at the moment, it's a little too lopsided.
  • Bonus Actions: By definition, these are things that can be done while performing other actions. Speaking while moving, opening a door as you move through it (technically a "free action"), using simple spells like Healing Word or prepping abilities that modify your next action such as Zephyr Strike or Divine Smite. Currently, the BA can be used for too many things that can greatly tip the balance of a fight. Namely, Shove and Jump. Both of these are actions in 5th Edition, and I would encourage them to remain as such.
  • Consumables: Simply put, spell scrolls are astoundingly abundant. They're at every vendor, dropped by anything with a magical fart, and found in decaying old tombs. Not just in 5th Edition, but in DnD canon as a whole, spell scrolls are drastically more scarce. It takes exponentially more time and money per spell level to make a scroll. Taken to later levels, this will just result in a party of 4 fighters with hundreds of spell scrolls all concentrating on powerful defensives (only a caster with the spell on their class' spell list can use a scroll) like Blur or Haste or (heavens!) Time Stop while pummeling everything wither Meteor Shower. This is a huge opening for other incredibly broken things to happen. Things specifically not allowed in DnD and not expected of a game trying to abide by it's core structure. I'm not saying the party shouldn't find some scrolls here and there. After all, its one of the only ways a Wizard can fill their spellbook (Wizards need an actual spellbook, by the way).
• AI: Enemies don't know how to use their abilities. They don't know they can Dash, they randomly use Action Surge, they try to Sleep empty space when their target is out of range. They definitely know how to launch Gale 500m across the Underdark, though. I'm going to assume this is just incomplete, but at the moment, it allows for some pretty questionable decisions by the enemies.
• Concentration: The only thing that should break concentration without a check is unconsciousness or death. Prone is not dead. For the love of Gygax remove this. It is unendingly frustrating for some smelly goblin with a bottle of cooking runoff to wipe concentration for free. I'd rather him throw a rock and hit for 1 damage and Nat 1 the check. If there must be a concentration interruption on Prone, then the DC should be 10 and feats like War Caster should apply.
• Playing as Evil. Other than some (quite nice) boobs, there's no real incentive or indication to play evil. It doesn't even feel like an option. Joining them feels like something you set out to do after knowing what happens. It should be an organic decision; something that leads you on that path before you know about other options.
• Friendship. The only companion that I feel ever really considers the player character to be their friend is Gale. He is by far my favorite. Wyll and Astarion are almost there, and I get the feeling Lae'zel will never stop wanting to kill me. Shadowheart is an essay all on her own. Suffice to say, she's an excellent agent of her particularly shady mistress.
• The contrivance. There are a number of times during the story that NPCs or companions will just know things and it's either poorly explained or not at all. A good example is Halsin. While I like him as a character, he should know nothing of Illithids, ceremorphosis, or their tadpoles. There's no indication any significant amount of time passes between the abductions in Yartar (the opening cinematic) and the crash. Whatever is going on with The Absolute is incredibly recent yet this guy knows an awful lot that shouldn't be discernable from one dead tadpole.

The Future

• Bug Fixes. Obviously. I hope Larian takes whatever time they need to work everything out. I know Wizards of the Coast values a quality finished product and constantly seeks to improve. If this is reflected in the development of Baldur's Gate 3, we have nothing to worry about.
• Acknowledgements of character specifics. A fancy way of saying "Make character creation options matter." An example: I made a Cleric of Kelemvor (Light domain because Grave isn't available). Kelemvor and his clergy detest undead. One of their highest tenants is to destroy them. The skeleton we pop out of the chapel has two [Cleric of Kelemvor] tagged dialogues (one at the chapel and again at camp), but Astarion? If I roleplay this character accurately, she should smite him where he stands; an excellent opportunity for some really challenging decisions or divine guidance. Instead, it's the same as any other. So, I killed him because the only other option was to ignore his vampireness; something a devotee of Kelemvor, as well as many Paladins, could never do. Interactions like these need to be examined. Give me a reason to keep him around (or at least someone else who can pick a lock) like was done with "Talkative Skeleton". Spooky Skellybones alludes to having some actual connection to the Lord of the Dead himself.... and he's invulnerable so there's that.
• Are we the bad guys? Events place the party on rails at the start that leads them directly to the Grove and all the content therein. You find Wyll (assuming he didn't fly in to battle and get crit to death like he did on my second run), lots of likeable NPCs, some cute kids, and so on. There needs to be something that has the potential to set the player on the evil path before they ever see the grove. A fork in the road, if you will. Maybe instead of immediately going to battle with the goblins, Minthara or one of the other Drow are nearby to talk. You don't like what he or she has to say, head to the Grove and help the human adventurers and tieflings. Evil NPCs will lie, cheat, and manipulate to further their goals. It would be pretty easy to fool someone in this manner. Or just literally put another path that can bypass the Grove entirely.

I think Baldur's Gate 3 has every potential to be the game we all want it to be. I hope my insights resonate with some, but I wanted to share in order to have a discussion. We need to remember the game is in Early Access, and Larian wants feedback. Doing so in a constructive manner helps everyone.

Personal Note: From the same Kelemvor Cleric character I had, choosing to kill Connor forces me to fight a distraught, pregnant woman. I opted to knock her unconscious and leave the quest unfinished (she disappears after a long rest). This fight should end immediately after Zombie Conner is dead. Mayrina can hate me and run off, but I don't need to explain why potentially killing a pregnant woman on a good character is all kinds of wrong. I'm just glad I remembered the ability to knock people out, because her violence giver her condition was surprising, to say the least.

Very well written i agree with everything you wrote.
many on the forum and other places comment how to make this game more like tabletop rules instead of focusing how to make the game better and more immersive, i myself love the lore and have read between forgotten realms, Dragonlance and pathfinder well over 300 novels and all the small things in the game that connect me to that are really awesome

While somethings from tabletop should be incorporated like wizards only being able to learn wizard spells - because that makes sense or restricting long rest with supplies or some other manner that dosent break immersion, they shouldn't care if a fire bolt does 1d6 or a 1d10 because this isn't a tabletop simulator.

Just one more thing, many times i noticed timeline issues where i already know something or already killed someone which wasn't reflected correctly in dialog i hope these are bugs but if not please make sure the correct this as they break immersion

Well put, +1 on pretty much everything.

Im sorrry, but i dont quite understand some of your points so i need to ask ... maybe its bcs im quite new to DnD ... but:

Why cant Halsin know aout Illithids? I thought that ceremorphosis is common knowledge.
Also maybe im wrong, but i believe that tadpole he gets from that Drow was quite alive in that moment ... simmilar as that one we see getting out of that Dwarf. Wich kinda allows some study ...
Then, when he was captured and delivered to his cage within temple of goblin camp (unless they take him trough Underdark, wich i see inprobable) he had to go around that Absolute goblin priest (Gut i believe?) and she dont shut up for a second.

One dont need to be any scholar to connect the dots here ...
Tadpole was alternet with *some strange dark magic* ... Drow that was carrying this tadpole in his head, was leading pack of goblins ... in goblin camp they was forming some sort of cult, praising something called Absolute ... and then protagonist showing up the same marks of that *strange dark magic* telling him that he have tadpole in his head, but yet its dormant.
Halsin seem to be inteligent enough to understand that there is something going.


Here i dont quite understand what do you compain about. :-/
As dedicated cleric you should kill vampire ... and you are allowed to kill vampire. So everything is good, isnt it?
About talkative skeleton ... well, feel free to corect me if im wrong, but isnt graverobbing kinda against moral code of dedicated cleric? :-/

Or do you complain about that people dont *need* to kill Astarion, if they dont want to?
If so ... i believe that is not to harm here, after all ... there is many (and i believe you know as many) players who dont play his, or hers character as acurate as others. :P


Interesting ... i breaked the wand, so he cannot be ressurected ... it seem to me like something your cleric should do aswell.
But her reaction on killing zombie husband seem to me acurate, extreme for sure, but acurate. She dont seem to care about that child so much after all. :-/

Great post, OP. I agree with everything here.

Whoa! Impressive stuff OP. I believe that everything that you put in your post will be addressed.
People already talk about problems with the evil path, also scrolls and combat mechanics were already mentioned a lot.
AI needs some work that clear.

But Hey! Let's all wait for what Larian will get for us! I think they need like 1-2 more months for a big update - after that, we could tell what direction they take