Hi,
after my first Play Through here are my 2 major concerns:
Disclaimer: I write it pretty drasticly to enforce my point, but i want to start by saying that i very muched enjoyed the first play through. It is a good game for that stage. Surely a lot to improve on but generally on the right tracks! with that being said, lets go.
Dialogues:
I started out with a Ranger wich i dumped right away, because of his main stats. I found myself in Dialogues with 90% CHA rolles. So i made a fighter taking CHA as 3rd and picking proficiency in Persuation and Intimidation.
While it is not unreasonable, that most of the skillchecks in a conversation are for Persuation or Intimidation, it´s very unpleasant if you do not run a character that can afford to have a high CHA value and/or no proficiency in the CHA related skills.
This is the very reason in pen and paper the player group tends to have a "party face". This works around the problem, because just as in real life: Not everybody is good at social interaction. But if one of your group is good at it, you can leave it for them.
In BG3 however there is not an option to switch the character that leads the word, once you are in a dialogue.
I think this might be the solution already. Allow to use the best roll of the group to be applied, like it is done in Kingmaker for example. Or to select a character for a certain dialogue option.
If a party gets busted stealing in a camp full of goblins, the party would not let the CHA7 "Am barbarian Am SMASH!" dude try to talk the party out of the situation. And this barbarian, traveling with his companions for a while, would very well know, that another party member is more skilled in persuading people and remain quiet.
This could only make problems for dialogue options, that are either class specific, or go against the NPCs story line. So it might be forbidden to use Shadowhearts persuation roll, if that dialogue option is one she does not agree with. But that should be doable.
Throwing/Shoving stuff.
This ist jus way way way to powerful. Even at level4 i found myself not even using my actions to attack with a weapon, but just to dash and shove people or to throw oil.
While i like the idea of interacting with such elements, it has gone far beyond the goal IMHO for multiple reason.
1) realism: I know, yes, its fantasy. But how reasonable is it, that everyone keeps freakin cask of oil, exploding powder, exploding liquer, poison or acid EVERYWHERE in his house? It is too much. High % Alcohol in a kitchen or storage room? sure. But that should be about the line that is to be respected^^
also: Not every oil burns right away when in contact with fire. Or even explode....
2) balance offensive: If i am a level 4 fighter and can easily deal higher DPS by throwing worthless garbage items like oil flasks, thatn by using my actual 2 handed weapon, we do have a problem. If a level 1 fighter can throw stuff, that is basicly a level 1 wizard spell, we do have a problem aswell. that throws of the balance heavily.
3) balance defensive: AC is a stat that is hard to maximize in DnD. What shall be a reason to run e.g. a defensive cleric in heavy armor, with a shield and a defensive buff like SoF, if easily 80% of the damage you take does not target your armor class? like every little goblin has flaming arrows that deal damage even if they miss. nevermind all the above mentioned oil casks + alchemist fires etc. Not wearing an Armor whatsoever wouldn´t have made the game significantly more difficult, because with all that splash damage its very useless. I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea.
4) balance in tactics: This is a two edged sword. I like the idea of creating difficult terrain for the enemy e.g. by throwing oil, or blocking passages with objects. For the tactical part not the DPR. I think that really adds to the game. It has two issues however: Firstly, noone bats an eye if my group walks throw a goblin camp and basicly covers everything in oil and moves their Boxes around the camp. While i like the tactical aspect, i dislike that i can do it whereever is want ahead of time, since it seems to be not considered an aggressive behavior. That maskes it too strong. It should alarm the guards, so you either need to do it stealthy or in combat, wich is costing your actions, so you have an actual tradeoff. Secondly its instantly turned into DPS not tactics, because you throw 1 alchemist fire with really anybode, and everything instantly explodes into flames and your full melee sword and board fighter just did 50+ damage and generated DoTs on everybody. nice. Why do i have my Greatsword again?
