I also don't understand why self restriction is such a problematic feature for some people. I did not use any scroll or potion (other than healing) in my first real playthrough (after EA), did shove only one time, did not look for magical items except what I found by chance (I missed a lot ...), used stealth in combat only for my Rogue, avoided Illithid powers and, above all, never started a fight from the meta instead from the flow of the game. I do the same in Honour mode, to a certain degree at least. In my current Honour mode I was nearly wiped in the Gith fight because I did the dialogue and the initiative went badly, and I was so furious about the 600 gold and the stress that I started the revenge fight from stealth (because they now were hostile) with a fireball scroll I found, shame on me. Why cannot people use self-restricting house rules to make Honour mode more difficult?
You play this game almost the same way as I do. My rules for BG3 are the same as for BG2 (I played BG2 + BG2EE a lot):
1) Don't die - permadeath all the time (this is RPG: death means journey ends & game over.)
2) Don't kill companions - even if I don't use them - unless otherwise dictated by plots.
3) Don't use one-time items - potions, scrolls, barrels, etc. - unless I'm about to break rule #1 above (I haven't used scrolls in combat in BG3 yet).
4) Talk first, fight later - always, even if it means I have to walk into a death trap/big ambush (examples: House of Grief, Hag's Lair, etc.)
I found BG3 is not nearly as hard as I had expected. For 500+ hours playing on Tactician, I have not died once yet, which is totally unexpected. To me, BG3 is unbelievably easier than BG2. As a result, to fully enjoy BG3, I prefer to use cantrips, low-level spells, basic abilities, stay away from alchemy and healing, delay leveling up, etc.. More often than not, Karlach does not rage, Moon Druid Jaheria does not transform, nobody in my party uses Haste, etc. After a fight starts, I more often than not try to tease enemies (so that I get a chance to see their full power), instead of killing them in the first 1 or 2 rounds.
Things I would like to see to make this game more difficult. The biggest issue is that there are too many resources, Too much camp supplies, too many scrolls, potions to be found, too much good equipment etc.
- reduce available found food by 70% - Long and short rests should be rationed
- No multiclassing. There is no way to balance multiclassing cheese
- remove the surprise enemy effect.
- (people wont like this one) Remove 50% of itemization. Too many weapons and armor.
- Random enemy attack as you're just exploring the map
- rez only through scrolls
- Reduce found scrolls and potions 60%
- Make pickpocketing very difficult.
I know many will disagree with the above but I hope we get a mode where you need to manage your recourses more and offers more of a challenge.
All these rule changes can be - most easily - done on the player's part - by you the player.
- reduce available found food by 70% => You can always sell or ignore or refuse to pick them up
- No multiclassing. There is no way to balance multiclassing cheese => You then just choose never to multiclass. So easy to get it done.
- remove the surprise enemy effect. => You can do what I do: chat first, don't surprise NPCs, only fight after a chat if you have to
- (people wont like this one) Remove 50% of itemization. Too many weapons and armor. => You can always ignore them!
- Random enemy attack as you're just exploring the map => You are not going to like this, I'd stop playing this game should this ever get implemented by Larian.
- rez only through scrolls => What do you mean??
- Reduce found scrolls and potions 60% => Just ignore all the scrolls in the game or as many as you wish.
- Make pickpocketing very difficult. => Well, you can always choose a character with -1 skill in Sleight of Hand when you wish to get caught pickpocketing.
We are not kids. BG3 is meant to be played by mature adults (due to its extensive adult contents). We don't need those parents, teachers, supervisors, developers hired by Larian Studios to come into us gamer's life, laying down some basic, easy-to-follow, extra gameplay rules for us to follow. If we don't like to cheese, then just don't cheese. Self-discipline. Easy enough.
Due to its RPG/DnD nature, BG3 cannot be genuinely hard to play. There is simply no way to make that happen. What can happen and what most players would like to see is, simply just make the game more interesting to play AND to replay. This is a totally different perspective. For example, from this perspective, "no multiclassing" would be really a setback, "reducing found scrolls... 60%" would make no real difference other than estrange wizard players, etc. In my opinion, the right way to making game more interesting to replay is NOT by arbitrarily making it "hard" (read: boring). Instead, how about Improving combat AI? - Examples: how about letting bosses use "smart tactics" against players - not just via legendary actions but also via some other creative kind of things?
