I agree that Honour Mode is essentially a means to lock yourself into playing a particular way, one that meets the game where it's at, according to what the devs thought would be entertaining. I have zero self-control. I would not hold myself to a single save if the game mode didn't make that the whole deal. I also wouldn't respec for every encounter either, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't seek out every advantage to rework stat blocks till my companions are all pretty beast mode. Not having established Stat blocks for the companions removes an element of replay which was present in the original games, like trying to find the optimal itemization or multiclassing for a given character based on their starting block, though I'm not sure the game would be all that enjoyable without the Companions being able to change class and such now. Clearly it would have been better to have a dozen more companions so we didn't have to do that just to get the party comp we're after, but locking us into Class would feel a bit much, now that I'm used to redesigning the companions in this way.
Still they could place more limits on it at the highest difficulty, if they wanted to recapture some of that stuff from BG1. You know like Dual classing and such to hit the right breakpoints. Here though I do all the things that are allowed, camp casting zombies, rotating characters for their spell slots, using a bunch of consumables and OP spells. Everything I would typically ignore as too tedious/annoying, but for some reason seems worth it once you slap "honour" on it all. Of course this changes a bit once I've got the Golden dice, but until they see me rolling, I'd just do whatever it took.
For Minthara, I agree that she's just about the only thing the Evil path has going for it. I think it's a little annoying that she received probably the most feedback of any companion during EA, but then she's all instantly eclipsed by Karlach upon the game's full release. Don't get me wrong, I love Karlach, but she wasn't available for recruitment in the game for most of the EA. I feel somehow positive that Karlach will be on the box cover and the banner art by the time BG3 is made all definitive, but Minthara has been just as patient right? She should have been an Origin so people would know to look out for her.
Her recruitment path and romance has been the buggiest of them all though. I've played so many runs now where she goes all wonky at some point, and yet here we are, still trying every conceivable trick to get her in the mix, just because the performance is that fantastic. I think we were crystal clear about wanting more Minthara, like pretty much from day 1, which makes it frustrating that her recruitment is not very obvious. I suspect most people will play this entire game not realizing what they traded out there in terms of Classic character, just for some leather armor, pajamas, and a nice pair of boots. It's too bad, cause this might be one of my favorite performances ever in an RPG. I mean Lae'zel still has my top spot, of course, but Minthara has been neck and neck pretty much the whole time.
It would be different if she had a supporting cast for Villainous recruits, you know like Sazza or Nere or whoever to balance things out, sorta like the good guys have all their hangers on. As it stands though, the path of Villainy just locks you off too much to make it feel worthwhile, especially if you're not even sure you can get a romance out of it without things breaking. Much is tied to that stuff for a sense of completeness in the 3rd act. I'd hate to lose her now.
Villainy is more fun when there are "Good guys" to manipulate. She's more interesting to me as a Villain, when she has characters like Wyll and Karlach in tow. Those interactions are more interesting than her banter with Astarion or Dark Shadowheart. I feel like they want the Evil party to be way too concordant the way it's set up. This doesn't fit with my remembrances of BG1/2, where it was totally possible to have a party with say Edwin and Minsc together, or Jaheira partied up with the Zhents. Just going by the first people we met, the initial party comp in BG1 would have been Charname & Imoen, Monty & Xzar, Jaheira & Khalid, so basically covering all the bases for a mixed alignment party. In BG3 the party breaks come super early, which doesn't leave much time to have fun as a Villain before the Good Guys just bounce. Like we don't even get a blackmail option, or some way to pin the blame or stoke the flames of internal division to stay in the drivers seat.
I think the aging on my favorite returning Elf was a bit extreme for creatures who can live hundreds of years, they could dial that back and I wouldn't complain. Mainly though I just want a chance to recruit her myself and bring her into the fold. I think if we could change Companion haircuts that would also go a real long way. There are a lot of trims that will probably look dated in pretty short order. Nobody ever realizes that hair trends are happening until after they're over hehe. I think we can get a lot more mileage out of some looks than others. Like any of the Classic haircuts from Princess Bride or big 80s hair, things like that are going to hold up because they're timeless, but just looking back at any game specifically for the hair and you can usually date it pretty accurately, like down to 5 year increments.
I'm fully attached to the other aspects of their visualization, but hair and makeup just seem like things we should be able to tool around with at the mirror. I have zero interest in changing anyone's facial morphology, but I also find it frustrating that Shadowheart's portrait doesn't update after she changes her hairstyle. For Characters that had incremental changes to their visualization, it might be cool to have some pre-established alts. So Minthara with Rocker hair, Scratch as a Labrador etc. I can get behind that a bit more than just a wholesale reimagining of a character's visualization which would irk me at this point.
I also just want an actual Expansion so it will dove tail the same way the previous games in the BG franchise handled it, with a proper curtain call and anticlimax dungeon crawler. I would be much more interested in that than a Definitive Edition, or an Enhanced Edition, or a Special Edition. Any Rehash Edition of that sort is kind of annoying, since it makes me think of Star Wars post 1997, when all I want is the OST from 30 years earlier hehe. Granted one can't really keep tinkering forever without running the risk that you ruin the thing everyone fell in love with in the first place, by making it feel overwrought or like it's trying to reinvent or one-up itself constantly, instead of moving on to the next chapter. I don't know though, once you float the suggestion that more things can change, then we just don't know until those changes are made. The thing I tend not to dig is when the newest version supplants the earlier iteration such that it's just lost. So like sure, make whatever special edition, just give us a bonus disc with the theatrical release too, if that makes sense.
Anyhow just some knock ons and nods
Last edited by Black_Elk; 27/01/24 06:23 PM.
